Thursday, July 14, 2016

Review: Gifted

GIFTED
H.A. Swain
Young Adult/Sci-Fi
Feiwel & Friends
336 pages
Available Now
Source: ARC from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
In Orpheus Chanson's world, geniuses and prodigies are no longer born or honed through hard work. Instead, procedures to induce Acquired Savant Abilities (ASAs) are now purchased by the privileged. And Orpheus's father holds the copyright to the ASA procedure.

Zimri Robinson, a natural musical prodigy, is a "plebe"--a worker at the enormous warehouse that supplies an on-line marketplace that has supplanted all commerce. Her grueling schedule and her grandmother's illness can't keep her from making music--even if it is illegal.

Orpheus and Zimri are not supposed to meet. He is meant for greatness; she is not. But sometimes, rules are meant to be broken. Here is a thriller, love story, and social experiment that readers will find gripping--and terrifying.


MY THOUGHTS
Gifted takes a little while to settle into, a futuristic world where young people have brain surgeries to catapult them to fame and fortune in music, arts or entertainment making it initially (and likely purposely) challenging to relate to Orpheus and his ilk. Zimri, being a lowly plebe and hardworking factory girl is of course easy to root for from the beginning, and watching as Orpheus finds himself walking a mile in her shoes makes their story a satisfying one.

Zimri is a young woman who's lost both parents to a world where one company single-handedly determines who is worthy of wealth and status and who is not, and though she's much easier to connect to than Orpheus, we never get to know either of them very well. Her relationship with her grandmother is the strongest of all those in this tale, the depth of her love and loyalty toward the woman who's always been there for her something that shines brightly from the pages. Zimri's friendship and eventual romance with Orpheus stays firmly on the surface, a few highlights and cute moments scattered throughout as they prepare to facedown Orpheus's father and the CEO of Chanson Industries–the company responsible for the brain surgeries–but we never delve too deeply into the emotional complexities that typically accompany a star-crossed type of romance.

Additionally, the final confrontation between Zimri, Orpheus and his father is shorter and less intense than expected, a few pulse-pounding moments as things fall apart holding our attention before everything is remedied quickly and easily, denying us the gritty details of a revolutionary action. All that being said though, Gifted is still a quick, enjoyable read, a look into a future that hopefully never comes to pass but isn't entirely hard to imagine given our fixation on the entertainment world as a whole.

Rating: 3.5/5

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This book was sent to me by the publisher free of charge for the purpose of a review
I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.

20 comments:

  1. The dystopian genre isn't my favourite to begin with so I wasn't really interested in this one, Jenny. But, it sounds like it's a quick read if you're in the mood for something that doesn't require too much thinking.

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  2. Brain surgery? No thank you. Sounds like it could've used a bit more character development. Still, and interesting premise. Gross, but interesting.

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  3. I absolutely love this cover. Great review Jenny, this sounds so interesting.

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  4. It sounds interesting and different. I didn't know about this one so thanks for the discovery

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  5. Hmm, this is such an intriguing world and I'm glad that you enjoyed this novel, for the most part. I've been reading a lot of books, though, lately where the ending is a little underwhelming so I'll probably hold off on picking this up for now. Great review, Jenny!

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  6. It's a true dystopia! I feel like those books are a dying breed. Thanks for the review, I've been considering this book for some time without really knowing what it was about.

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  7. It's a true dystopia! I feel like those books are a dying breed. Thanks for the review, I've been considering this book for some time without really knowing what it was about.

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  8. It's a true dystopia! I feel like those books are a dying breed. Thanks for the review, I've been considering this book for some time without really knowing what it was about.

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  9. Interesting premise. I'm intrigued and would like to read this one. Thanks for your honest review. Glad you liked it for the most part.

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  10. I read Swain's other novel Hungry and wasn't wowed. This sounds like it might have a bit more promise.

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  11. It sounds like a lot of potential, but falling a bit flat. Bummer!

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  12. Too Sci-fi for my taste, unfortunately. :( Also, I'm so glad to see you! :)

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  13. That's crazy...buuut, I'd want brain surgery and then I could like draw!

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  14. After all the build-up, I would be disappointed by such a confrontation and all the easy fixes too. It's my pet peeve. But so much about this book sounds awesome, even if the characters are a bit hard to relate to.

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  15. Oh this sounds like it is an interesting world. Don't like the quick remedies or unanswered questions, but at least it was entertaining enough. Might wait for the next book to decide.

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  16. I love dystopias and the world does sound interesting. The cover is lovely Jenny.

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  17. Woah, this sounds really unique premise-wise but I'm worried about the quick-fixes and unanswered questions you mentioned. I do like that it's a quick read though, we need that from time to time :)

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  18. Based on your review, Jenny, this doesn't sound like a perfect book, but you've somehow still... sold me on it? It might just be that I'm a sucker for these sorts of worlds. Also, the fact that it centers around CREATIVITY has me intrigued. We're STILL squabbling over whether creativity and talent is more nature or more nurture, so it would be interesting to see how this book (series?) chose to tackle that.

    (Also, major cover lust. Just sayin'.)

    Thank you for bringing this book to my attention! It honestly wasn't on my radar at all. <3

    - Lexie

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  19. Interesting premise, but I would have a problem getting into this book and keeping my attention because of the flaws you mentioned.

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  20. This doesn't sound half bad as far as dystopians go, although I'm not sure if I'll be reading it any time soon. Not sure if I'm over my dystopian burn out!

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