Hey hey everyone! I was gifted by the amazing Charity Ryan with an ARC copy of her debut novel Red Aberrant. Yesterday was her release day and I'm here to give her an honest review.
The synopsis:
After working well for many generations, a weakness in the government system was brought to light. Including fiery, seventeen-year-old Hadley, not all people are meant to fit the molds. These people are called Aberrants, and they are prophesized to rise up together and wipe out the government system as Rhymori knows it.
As the Last Aberrant, Hadley muscle strain the Government's most prized possession and source of power, inset the final stages of the Aberrant's plan in motion. But can she do this and keep those around her safe?
Let's do an overall:
Overall, I liked the book. There were parts that I would have done different but the story was good. The two big things in this review I will cover are the characters and the pacing of the plot.
Characters:
Overall, I feel that the characters are all unique and bring something new to the table but I don't’ think they were used well together. One thing I will mention about my own writing, I like to write groups of threes, usually two boys and one girl. But I did like how Ryan did this with two girls and one boy. Group of threes led me to get to know the characters better and I feel like I understand them better.
Hadley King:
I liked Hadley but I had a few comments about her. I think she was supposed to be our strong female lead but she ended up being a bit flat for me. She didn’t show much emotion and I didn't really feel any of that strong leader I hoped for. She did have a few moments were I cheered her on but then there were other times where I questioned everything about her decisions. I think she did bring something new and different than the other characters but I hope in the next book or two, we get to know more about heart.
Rachel Wagner:
Rachel made me question a few things. In the beginning of the book, we get her point of view but I didn’t think this added to the book. I feel like we could have learned all this information from Hadley but I do think she played an important role. She is a close friend to Headley and becomes her motivation. I think she was well rounded and she did grieve her brother in an apport way but I felt like that dragged the story down a bit.
Spencer Wythe:
Out of the three, I love Spencer the best. I think there is something about male character start I end up connecting to them more. I like how we saw his backstory and how it became relevant to the end and climax. I think that he could have been used a few more times early in the book. I think we could have also been introduced to him earlier. He’s a rounded character and the one I relate to the best, as I said.
Pacing:
One thing I like about a story is the pacing. For the most part, I think this story could be restructured. The first act, to me, took up the first half of the book. To get to the story took way to long.
The whole thing with Hadley choosing whether or not she was going to expect took so long and I felt like most of act one was about Rachel dealing with the departed and death of her brother. This does add to the story but at the same time, it overshadowed what I really want to read about.
Since act one took so long, act two was quick and not much was there. I think there were about two or three chapters for act two. Act two is where most of the action and getting to know each character. Bonding and world building are the best part of act two and it was glanced over to me.
Act three and the climax felt a bit jagged. Out of the whole book, this was my favorite part. The action keep coming and I loved it. It grew and grew but then there are times where It would drop. I feel like the attention by Ryan was to give the reader a quick break but it didn‘t come across well to me. Also something that was a bit of ao moment for me is when Spencer and Hayley kiss. I called this from the binning. When you’re writing in the dystopian genre, there are tropes that people love to read but I didn’t liked how she did this one, the romantic subplot. I would have rathered Hadley and Spencer stayed patterns than this rushed love thing. When we hit the very last moment of the noel, I felt that Hadley’s wish made the whole book feel useless. What was the point. But when we get the epilogue, I’m once again ready for the next book. I can’t wait for the rest of his series.
Final words:
I’m so greatful to Charity Ryan for letting me be an arc reader. I loved her work but there are places where she can improve throughout her next novels. I can’t wait to see her grow and became an amazing author.
Kimberly
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