Title: Broken City
Rating: ★★★★
Genre: YA / Dystopia
Publisher: Smashwords
Release Date: February 7, 2011
Review:
Twenty-year-old Deeta Richards has a lot to deal with. She’s young and unmarried, though she cares for her siblings as well as the unofficially adopted children of her best friend, Tom, and Professor Jepson. I love well-done dystopia and Broken City was one of those books I couldn’t put down.
What I Loved:
1. Okay, so I love a realistic romance, not one of those wishy-washy, cry your heart out, type teenage romances that seem all too common. Deeta has an unspoken love for her best friend, Tom. She won’t admit it to him because she barely admits it to herself.
2. Recreation of a post-apocalyptic world. I love a well-developed dystopian society, one with thought-out and detailed rules (think Veronica Roth). The society in which Deeta lives is a crime-ridden “murder for the barest of necessities” kind of place. There seem to be no rules except stay away from the Andaks.
3. Star-crossed love. So, I should be way beyond the star-crossed lover thing, but when we find out what Tom is Andak, I felt that familiar fluttering in the pit of my stomach. And I know that he and Deeta had to make it work. There was just no other option – at least not for me.
What I Didn’t Love:
1. Deeta’s reaction to Andak society. This was her first trip outside her compound and she’s kidnapped (who didn’t see that coming!) and brought into the Andak society. And we find out that the Andaks are filthy rich. Though Deeta resists her new living arrangement and longs to get home, she adapts to Andak society life a little too easily.
2. I wish the trip outside the compound had been more detailed. After all, Deeta has been dreaming of it her entire life and then when we finally get to go outside, it’s dark. We can’t see anything. And she’s kidnapped – also in the dark. It was a little underwhelming.
Overall, I would recommend this book. I loved the idea that one’s love for friends and family can make all the difference. Tom was quiet and mysterious and had a smoldering love for Deeta that we could all see though she seemed blissfully clueless. The story was great as both a dystopia and a new adult romance.
Synopsis:
deeta richards has never seen the outside world. before she was born a banking crisis brought civilization to an end and now no one leaves the safety of the compounds unless they need to, but deeta still dreams of seeing more than the building she was born in.
tom is in the guard, this group are the only people that the tribal elders allow to leave the compound and tom knows only too well that deeta could never survive the harshness that exists outside. then tragedy strikes and deeta and her Sister jan find themselves captured by a hostile tribe. why does Tom know so much about these people? and why do they know so much about him? as this mystery draws to a climax, they discover that their friend Tom is not quite what he seems…
