Title: Pawn (The Blackcoat Rebellion #1)
Author: Aimee Carter
Release Date: November 26th, 2013
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Page Count: 346
Source: ARC from Harlequin Teen
First Reaction: WHAT?! Whoa. Slow down there, crazy.
YOU CAN BE A VII. IF YOU GIVE UP EVERYTHING.
For Kitty Doe, it seems like an easy choice. She can either spend her life as a III in misery, looked down upon by the higher ranks and forced to leave the people she loves, or she can become a VII and join the most powerful family in the country.
If she says yes, Kitty will be Masked—surgically transformed into Lila Hart, the Prime Minister's niece, who died under mysterious circumstances. As a member of the Hart family, she will be famous. She will be adored. And for the first time, she will matter.
There's only one catch. She must also stop the rebellion that Lila secretly fostered, the same one that got her killed …and one Kitty believes in. Faced with threats, conspiracies and a life that's not her own, she must decide which path to choose—and learn how to become more than a pawn in a twisted game she's only beginning to understand.
[Summary Source: Goodreads]
THE REVIEW
So there's Kitty. She takes this great equalizer test on her 17th birthday and it is decided she is a III (out of VII), destined to work in the sewers for the rest of her short life. Which wouldn't be so bad if her placement wasn't on the other side of the country from her very smart, likely to rank VI in a month on his 17th birthday, boyfriend, Benjy. In order to keep this from happening, Kitty follows her friend Tabs into prostitution. She'll hide in the clubs for a month and then marry Benjy. And it's a great plan, until the Prime Minister hunts Kitty down in the clubs and offers her the opportunity to become a VII. What he doesn't mention is that she'll be Masked - totally outwardly altered - to look like the Prime Minister's niece, who he's plotting to kill (because that's what you do with rabble rousers.) Which is why Kitty says yes and wakes up two weeks later looking like someone else. And that is when shizz gets REAL.
I Liked:
- Kitty: This chick's a tough, problem solver. She's not always right and sometimes she does things that aren't the smartest, but she believes them to be her best option and she follows through. For that, I respect, like and root for her.
- The Dystopia: SAY WHAT? I'm not going to get into specifics because that would be spoilers. But even if I did spoilers, I wouldn't because I need everyone's jaws to drop when they find out what exactly goes on behind the scenes in this one. I mean, the world building is dastardly, dark and disturbing. It honestly doesn't consider anyone's emotional stability. It's sadistic and really holds nothing back. I mean, I was reading this book one afternoon and I stopped at the end of a chapter to take a quick nap before going out and I had a nightmare. Like, what even.
- Knox: Know is an interesting guy. I'm not sure what his deal is. I also definitely don't understand his relationship with the real Lila (who I honestly couldn't care less about because she's so ridiculous, but I see her purpose, so okay). But I like whatever's going on here. I do hope we get more on him in the next book. Otherwise I might be sad. Until then, though, you have my attention.
- Daxton: I'm actually quivering in my boots. This is a truly evil dude. I mean, again, I'm not going to give anything away, but a lot of the spoilers in this book involve Daxton and I swear I just want to hide under a bed every time he's mentioned because I don't even want to be around when he's in the same room. (As if I live in a book, whatever, okay.)
- The Twists: Again, I obviously can't tell you what the twists in this one are, but I didn't see any of that coming and oh boy is it good. I'm actually really excited to see how that all plays out in the next book.
- What Comes Next: I really, really can't wait to see how the next book goes down. This book is one scary dark beginning with crazy twists definitely promises more. And the best part is, based on Book One, I definitely have no idea what's coming up. I can't even pretend I have an idea of what's going to happen next. I just hope it's as frightening as Book One.
- Benjy: Okay. It's not that I didn't like Benjy. But he just kind of stood there. Which is great because that meant that, even though Kitty was doing a lot of what she was doing to be with him, she was the one making the decision. Benjy understood that she was going to do that how she wanted to do that and, even though he didn't love it every time, he didn't try to take charge. But the problem with that is that he didn't do anything. I'm kind of hoping he'll step into a larger role when this is all said and done.
The long and short of it?
Plot: What was it I said? "Dastardly, dark and disturbing"? Yeah, I'm sticking with that.
World Building: There may have been a few holes, but this whole plot was insanely dark and scary and twisty - I was too busy freaking out to notice.
Character Development: Everyone but Benjy seems to get a fair crack at character development. But there are a lot of characters in this book, so that's a pretty good statistic.
Prose: Nothing too fancy, but it's less about the words and more about the story they convey. And descriptions were good enough to give me nightmares. So.
Would I Recommend This Book?: If you love dystopia or like your books nice a dark, this is the one for you. And, trust me, even if you're done with dystopia, make time for one more because this one's worth it.
Are you? Done with Dystopia, I mean? And if you're not, do you have this one on your Holiday Wish List? I mean, it should be there anyway. But if you need more convincing, leave me a comment down below and I'll see what I can do.
