Author: Alexandra Blogier
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Publication Date: January 23, 2018
Pages: 256
Format: E-ARC/NetGalley
RAISED AMONG THEM.
Li has a father and a sister who love her. A best friend, Mirabae, to share things with. She goes to school and hangs out at the beach and carefully follows the rules. She has to. Everyone she knows--her family, her teachers, her friends--is an alien. And she is the only human left on Earth.
A SECRET THAT COULD END HER LIFE.
The Abdoloreans hijacked the planet sixteen years ago, destroying all human life. Li's human-sympathizer father took her in as a baby and has trained her to pass as one of them. The Abdoloreans appear human. But they don't think with human minds or feel with human hearts. And they have special abilities no human could ever have.
FIT IN OR DIE.
When Li meets Ryn, she's swept up in a relationship that could have disastrous consequences. How far will Li go to stay alive? Will she save herself--and in turn, the human race--or will she be the final witness to humanity's destruction?
*I received this book from NetGalley & Delacorte Press in exchange for an honest review*
Review: I'll be honest, I was a little worried going into this book based on its low ratings on Goodreads. I was definitely pleasantly surprised to find it wasn't as bad as it was being made out to be.
So lets start with the things I loved. I really liked the whole premise of the story. Li being the last human left on Earth, trying to hide and fit in with the alien race, the Abdoloreans, who took over the planet. Throughout the book, Li is worried about doing as well as the Abdoloreans on the assessment while still hiding her secret that she was one of them. With the fact that the Abdoloreans were more intelligent and stronger, and even had some skills Li as a human didn't, it made things quite a challenge for her. She only succeeds as much as she did because of all the training her Abdolorean father had been giving her since she was little.
Family & Friends. Another thing I loved was how close Li's Abdolorean dad and sister were to her. They did absolutely everything in their power to protect her and help her secret stay hidden. They loved her as if she wasn't any different from them most of the time. But they also knew she was different and helped her to blend in as much as they could. They gave her as much encouragement as possible that she would succeed despite being different. I definitely don't think Li ever would have survived like she did if she didn't have them. Also, her friend Mirabae. She didn't actually know Li was human until Li told her late in the book, but for the most part, she didn't even let that information faze her and her friendship with Li. The only time she let it make a difference in their friendship was when she was unhappy about her own failures and tries to blame it on Li, which she later regrets and apologizes for. Li had a really good friend in Mirabae generally and it showed. It definitely helped her having such a close friend for her fitting in with the Abdoloreans.
The things I didn't love so much.
We get some vague information about what happened, but no detail. We learned in a few sentences why the Abdoloreans took over earth and how the humans were killed. It was pretty vague and I feel like it was rushed through to get to the romance part. I honestly feel like if we were given maybe a chapter or two about this, really getting into the background of what caused the current events, it would have really enhanced the overall storytelling and gave much more meaning to Li's survival and why we shouldn't like the Abdoloreans. I also feel like this would have helped me connect to and feel for Li earlier on in the book than I did.
The romance. It completely overshadowed the Sci-fi/dystopia themes of the book. Li fell hard for Ryn after just looking at him and talking to him for like 5 minutes. After that, she was thinking about him literally all the time. While she's at home, in training, with other friends. It was too much. And then the fact she couldn't focus on anything but him when he was around and that they were just constantly like lovey dovey with each other just really played down the whole tone of the book and Li needing to survive. I wouldn't have minded the romance with Ryn if it wasn't so overdone. He genuinely seemed like a nice guy and really cared for Li.
The ending. This was mixed. I was happy for Li after what her dad told her, about what he did when he was saving her. But I also saw everything else coming. I saw what happened with Braxton coming since he hated on her so much during the assessments since Li was his main competition, and I saw Li going on the run and Ryn joining her because why not? With the heavy romance it wouldn't have a realistic ending without him.
If this book wasn't so heavy on the romance, and had more background and information about the people and events, I would have given it more stars. But for the story it did have I give it a solid 3. It was a good story, but definitely needs to be expanded upon. If it ever gets a sequel, which the ending definitely leaves open for, I would give it a shot if it gives some of the background and answers some of those questions we have about everything.
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