Pawn by Aimee Carter
ebook, 346 pages
Published November 26th 2013 by Harlequin TEEN
Age Group: YA
Series: The Blackcoat Rebellion #1 
Source: eARC from Publisher (Via NetGalley)
Summary:
YOU CAN BE A VII. IF YOU GIVE UP 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 have a little secret to share with you guys. Are you listening? I am a little burnt out on dystopian. Shh! I know that is practically blasphemous to say around the YA blogosphere. Dont’ get me wrong- I loved the Hunger Games, and plenty of other dystopians, but then it seemed like every other book was a dystopian and well, they all kind of started to look the same to me. And I got kind of bored of reading the same formula over and over again. BUT Pawn was getting such good early reviews from bloggers that I love and trust so I just had to give it a try. And I have to say, I am really glad that I did. Pawn didn’t seem to be just like all the other dystopians out there, and it was really well executed. I was already a fan of Aimee Carter’s Goddess Test series, and I am really impressed with the world building that she had in Pawn. There are plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing and the world is awful and disgusting enough to have you completely invested in the series. I can’t wait to see what is going to happen in the next book because something needs to be done! This blackcoat rebellion needs to start stirring the pot because I would hate to live in this world.
Kitty AKA fake Lila is just as disgusted with this world as I am. She is spunky, and defiant, but at the same time she is vulnerable and scared because she feels like she is completely powerless in this world. She has trouble reading so she had a reader for her big coming of age test. This test will determine what kind of life they will have. The scores are 2-7 and you need a 4 or above to have any kind of decent life. Because Kitties reader was slow she couldn’t finish the test and she scored a 3. She is basically cast aside as a 2 or a 3. But that is just the start of her journey. She ends up a prisoner of the ruling family, pretending to be one of them.
There are so many political ploys in this book, it was hard to keep up with all of the lies. I was fascinated by the world that Aimee Carter created. The elsewhere disgusted me. I totally did not see that nightmare coming. The only thing that bugged me a little was that other than Kitty and Benji (and a little bit knox) I couldn’t really love any of the characters. Everyone else in the family or book that we got to know was hiding something, lying about something. None of them seemed very trustworthy to me, so it was hard for me to get to know them. I felt skeptical of everything about them. I hope we get to know Celia and Knox a little better in the next book because I really want to like Knox.
I do love Kitty and Benji though. Benji’s loyalty is impressive. You can tell that he really loves Kitty. There is no love triangle and no diversion to the romance. It’s Benji and Kitty right from the start, even when they are apart from each other. The next book in the Blackcoat rebellion series looks like it is going to be even more action packed than this one. A lot of this book was setting up the players and the world. There was more fast paced action in the second half of the book, but the way the book ended I know the next book is going to be full of action and maybe even the start of a rebellion. I sure hope so at least! I am really interested in this series. I’m glad I gave Pawn a try. It was even better than I expected.
About Aimee Carter
lol – glad you were able to enjoy another dystopian. 🙂 I couldn’t really connect with anyone either. Not even Kitty. I agree, the world building was great though.
Honestly, I totally get why you’re getting burnt out by dystopians! The dystopian genre has been so saturated with HG copycats and cliches that it has been really hard to find a good dystopian. Nonetheless, I’m glad you were able to really enjoy Pawn. I’m not sure how I feel about the fact that this book mainly is just setting up the characters and the world. Seems to me that almost makes this one a ‘filler’ book. But nonetheless, both Kitty and Benji seem like awesome characters, and it’s great that their romance is just the two of them from the start. Even with the lack of development (or likability!) with the secondary characters, it seems as if I’ll be adding this one to my TBR.
Lovely review, Michelle! <3
I didn’t even think we got to know Benji at all. He was certainly a secondary supporting character. Knox got way more time front and center and I think we got to know him and Kitty the best. All of the others I didn’t feel any sort of connection to.
I like your review and I should really get this book so I can read it soon!! 🙂
Thanks for the review and the introduction to Pawn. I’m always looking for a good dystopian.
Penny, I am super picky when it comes to dystopians and I loved this one! I hope you check it out