Review: Pawn by Aimee Carter

Title:  Pawn

Author: Aimee Carter

Publisher:  Harlequin Teen 
Publishing Date: November 26th 2013

Pages: 352
Genre:  YA Dystopian

Series: The Blackcoat Rebellion
Source: Audio

  

YOU CAN BE A VII IF YOU GIVE 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.

I was super duper excited for this book. It sounded amazing, unique, and intense. The book did not disappoint. It was oh my amazing, intense, and oh so unique. I find it really hard to find unique in Dystopian these days, and since Hunger Games, the intensity just has been hard to match. This book did it for me. Not the same intensity of course. But intense for sure! Oh and did I mention amazing. I was a bit skeptical going in, finding many dystopians lacking for me lately, but this one renewed my hope in the genre. Loved  it! 

In the future way in the future... yes all dystopians seem to start that way.... the world is a bit oppressed under a government that chooses to make it better for those they deem worthy and the rest can kind of well does it matter what they do. Its up to them to survive. So many things determine how you become worth. First of all families are allowed a certain amount of children... forgive me but I believe its 2. All the rest are extras and have to live in a foster home of about 40 children... til they become of age and take a test to determine how much of an asset they will become to society. There isn't really any details of what is on the test but it sounds like it consists of normal school knowledge and maybe more. The number 1 is the lowest and number 7 the highest... of course that seems to be only for the prime minister and family. So basically 6 is the highest you can get. The lowest number gets sent off to elsewhere... that is a whole other can of worms that I can't get into. So The MC, Kitty Doe (all extras get Doe as their last name) takes her test. She get a 3 and tries to hide to keep from being shipped off away from her boyfriend. While in hiding she gets offered an opportunity to become a 7. She doesn't seem to find a catch so she does and wakes up with a new face. The face of Lila Hart, the prime ministers niece. She must live as her, look like her, be her. While being Lila Heart she finds that nothing is what it seems and the Prime minister and family is sick, twisted, and just plain evil. Sorry for the long story not so short. 

Oh wowzers OK where to start with my thoughts. First I want to say this book was way more than I bargained for, but in a good way. There was so much more depth and shock in this book then I have experienced in a lot time. The depth of shock is even extreme. I felt so many emotions in this book but the one I felt the most... Anger... just pure unadulterated anger. This anger was not towards the book or the writing or anything to do with the quality or enjoyment of the book but the characters, the story, the outcome, it was just a whole lot of whoa that is just messed up. I also experienced a bunch of good emotions and lots or rooting for the MC. It was just all around a well rounded emotional read. I am probably talking in circles but this book just does that to me. 

So OK the story... screwed up, messed up, holy camoly I would have ended myself before living in this world. If you weren't privileged from the very beginning you were screwed. You lived in a house of 40 or so with one mother, no identity, never knowing your parents, lived without proper education, and well it just pretty much sucked. Of course as I learned later on, being privileged wasn't all unicorns and rainbows either. Why because the whole system sucked and the Prime Minister was pretty much a sicko on steroids. 

I hated the Prime Minister with every ounce of energy that existed within me, but I loved Kitty Doe. She made my list of favorite main characters. She wasn't perfect. She didn't think things all the way through and she seemed a bit selfish at the beginning. As time went on and I was able to see more of Kitty, she became more and more awesome. With every secret that was revealed and every truth uncovered, she became angrier and more aware of others around her. The consequences were no longer a simple how will this affect me and those I love but everybody involved, and there were so many involved. She grew a backbone and discovered what she truly capable of. 

There were so many other great characters too. Benjy, the boyfriend, Knox the fiance, and Grayson the cousin. All rocked. I really couldn't say who rocked most  but I think my heart fell for Knox just because of his hidden caring side, sarcasm, and banter. Grayson was the sweet one that well can't say more about him than he was just super sweet and really understanding. He was able to keep himself out of the limelight and he made others think he was oblivious but nope, actually really cunning. Benjy was super loyal, thoughtful, understanding, forgiving, and pretty much selfless.

 So yes three wonderful guys and no love triangle. Kitty's heart only belongs to one guy from the very beginning way before we even met her. So no insta love either. In fact the love was sweet and not the focal point. The story stayed true to what it was meant to be. A thrilling, shocking, pretty whacked dystopian. 

I never knew what was going to happen, where the chips would fall, or how it all would end. No real cliffhanger but pretty much still left me hanging and I am so stoked to get he next one..... unfortunately it's a ways away. 

So yeah, it was a powerful read for me, one I can't stop thinking about. It is on my list for the best of 2013. 

Aimée Carter was born and raised in Michigan, where she currently resides. Her first novel for young adults, THE GODDESS TEST, will be published by Harlequin Teen on April 19th, 2011. The sequel, GODDESS INTERRUPTED, will follow in January 2012.
Find her on Twitter at @aimee_carter.