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Ebook, 400 pages
Expected publication: November 4th 2014 by Entangled Teen
Series: The Book of Ivy #1
Source: Received from publisher for review
From Goodreads:
What would you kill for? After a brutal nuclear war, the United States was left decimated. A small group of survivors eventually banded together, but only after more conflict over which family would govern the new nation. The Westfalls lost. Fifty years later, peace and control are maintained by marrying the daughters of the losing side to the sons of the winning group in a yearly ritual. This year, it is my turn. My name is Ivy Westfall, and my mission is simple: to kill the president’s son—my soon-to-be husband—and return the Westfall family to power. But Bishop Lattimer is either a very skilled actor or he’s not the cruel, heartless boy my family warned me to expect. He might even be the one person in this world who truly understands me. But there is no escape from my fate. I am the only one who can restore the Westfall legacy. Because Bishop must die. And I must be the one to kill him…
I thought I knew where this book was headed. I thought, as I read the first few chapters, that this was textbook dystopian, and I’d be bored. Well, I was wrong.
The beginning had me worried I was right with all the “typical” YA tropes: Arranged marriage, small group of people trying to “fight back” against the “evil leaders”, etc. I was pretty much sure I knew how the whole thing was going to unfold.
But then. Things started to change. The world wasn’t as cut and dry as it seemed. Neither were the villains. And the whole book started to take on a very, very different tone. Of course, Bishop is not the evil minion that her family insisted he would be. But is his family? As the days go by, and Ivy gets a more well-rounded look at the world around her, it becomes harder and harder to decipher good from bad, truth from lie, right from wrong. Everything she has ever known is turned upside down. And the best part is, I didn’t know the answer! It just isn’t that simple. The Book of Ivy raises all kinds of questions for Ivy, Bishop, and the reader. There were political issues, and familial issues, and the biggest of them all, morality issues.
As pieces of the story unraveled, I found myself absolutely floored at the revelations. My head was spinning, and just when I thought I knew who or what to root for, like Ivy I would be thrown through another loop.
Ivy was certainly a character that I could feel for. While she wasn’t always completely likable, she made sense. She’d certainly been through a lot during her life, and didn’t really have a lot of support. Her family was quite focused on their mission and preparing Ivy for it, and weren’t really focused on building Ivy up as a person. Bishop was insanely likable, and it was easy to see that he cared for people in general. There is no instalove (quite the opposite!) and no love triangle of any kind. Ivy’s father and sister were quite cold, and unfeeling so it was hard for me to like them, but it made it very easy for me to see why Ivy was so eager to try to please them. I can’t say much more about anyone without giving things away, but the motives and complexity of the characters added to the overall feeling of uncertainty surrounding the book.
When I finished the book, I had two thoughts: The first was I need the sequel NOW. The second was wait- that was 400 pages?! That was by far the fastest 400-paged book I had ever read. Once I got into it, and realized it was not at all a cookie-cutter dystopian, I absolutely could not put it down.
YAY FOR DYSTOPIANS THAT CRUSH THE MOLD!!! I’m so sick of average dystopians at the moment. Gosh. Boring. If I read another, I might scream. But this?! I’m in. I’m adding it, even though the girl on the cover looks like she has that knife tucked a bit too far behind her back and … uncomfortable much?
I cannot tell you how happy I was! Because of my known love for dystopian, I have become a bit.. inundated with review books that have been okay, but so typical. This was NOT! And I was so, so excited and pleasantly surprised!
And you’re right, she looks like she is about to stab herself! Silly girl.
Sometimes it really pays off staying with a book, doesn’t it? I do hate slow beginnings though- so I’ll keep that in mind when reading it- that it does get a better, and a hell lot better by the sounds of it. Love ones that do actually follow the standard but makes it stand out from the rest (which, you don’t get that often lately, boooo.) I don’t mind characters that aren’t always likable as long as you can understand them, so that wouldn’t bother me. 🙂 Glad you enjoyed it so much!
Yes! I was seriously thinking “no, no, not another one!” but then it really wasn’t AT all! I mean, like you said, some elements were the same, but even the core of the book, the main point, was different!
I was curious about this book. I like it when there isn’t a ‘good’ side and a ‘bad’ side in a war. No insta love or love triangle? Okay, now I have to read this book!
Yep, it was SO refreshing. IN fact, there was insta-hate instead of insta-love! It was kind of fun to see how much she tried to hate Bishop. And, no other random dudes!
One of my bookish pet-peeves just in general is cliche dystopians. I mean strong female protagonists and rebellions are all good and well, but sometimes you just want something different, you know? And that’s where this sounds absolutely fantastic! Definitely going to have to give this a try. I love complex villains and any book with no love triangle or instalove is good with me. 😀 Thanks for sharing Sharon and, as always, BRILLIANT review! <3
~ Zoe @ The Infinite To-Read Shelf
Yep! Exactly- I was getting SO sick of the cliches in dystopian. It was like no one knew what to do, so it was the same thing, just dressed up differently. But I do feel like this one steps outside the box. The female is kind of a confused mess, and there IS no real “good side”. It is kind of awesome!