abigail_lo's reviews
379 reviews

Simple and cliché, but still sweet.

So sexualized, but still good plot!

It really alternated between a 2-star and a 4-star. the parts about water, numbers, the economy? if I wanted to read about those, I'd read an AP Environmental Science book. yes, I knew there would be some parts about that, but did it all have to be so dry? the action scenes, shootouts, torture descriptions: what can I say? they were really good, and I do love some blood and guts.

I really liked the premise & plot of the book, and the surprise twist at the end was unexpected, but the overall execution of this book was a bit too childish for my tastes. If only Ms. Martin wrote for older teens!

I kind of wish Bishop had developed Asia's reasons for doing what she did a bit more though. It felt a little fake for Asia to be doing all those things just to perhaps star in some TV series. And Meg was leaning a bit toward the Mary Sue side for my taste: everybody likes her--even the Elementals!--and she's clueless. Granted, her cluelessness was explained but it just grated on my nerves a tad bit too much. But I'm still intrigued enough to need the next book now!

Yes, the premise was pretty much ridiculous, and the ending was predictable. But damn it, the romance was too cute!

2 stars for the majority of the book, but taking into account the times i legitimately wanted to throw my kindle across the room lowers the rating to 1.5 starsfirst, the good parts: that prologue thing is straight fire. and sometimes liggett's writing really shines through in a particular sentence or turn of phrase, and that always made me really happy.but look, i have too many problems with this stupid book to list them all, so here are the first few i could think of:1) how does this plot make any sense? like, i get that men are sexist pigs, but

Spoiler

how does it make any sense for them to send 16-year-old girls off into the wilderness, drug them, and wait for them to either kill each other or be skinned by the poachers? wouldn't that just make the girls more violent and less prone to becoming good little wives?

how the actual fuck

is this supposed to make any sense?2) why, for the love of all that is good, is there another stupid stockholm romance? for reference: "stockholm romance" is the term i just invented for when the girl is saved or kidnapped (or both) by a hero that usually has evil intentions, only for the girl to fall in love with him, which makes the hero realize how wrong he was, and they set off into the sunset, the end (see stockholm's syndrome). they are incredibly common and extremely problematic -- bad guys cannot be redeemed! they're just bad! don't risk getting yourself into an abusive relationship because you think you can fix him!