Powered By Blogger

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Review of The Essence by Kimberly Derting


The Essence is a dystopian young adult novel written by Kimberly Derting. This novel is the second installment of the Pledge series. The first is titled The Pledge while the third novel is still untitled. The untitled book is set to be released in 2014. 


an advance copy of this book was provided by Simon and Schuster through Goodreads

THIS REVIEW WILL ONLY MAKE SENSE IF YOU'VE READ THE PLEDGE

i vaguely remember reading the first book. i looked back on what i said about it and my memory was jogged about how i didn't love it or hate it. i liked it enough to read the second one. i wish i didn't. i found myself screaming at this book all day. it's a shame that i had to bring in the new year reading this, it was exhausting.

the first book ended with Charlie defeating the evil queen Sabara and taking the throne. This book starts with a prologue about a queen plotting Charlie's death. then you're reunited with all the oldies but goodies. Charlie is dealing with a dark secret while Brooklyn, Charlie's best friend, is dealing with her traitorous father who wants the old caste system back. and that's the only two things that are interesting.  Charlie's secret is that SPOILER Sabara's essence is still alive inside Charlie.

i can't remember if that was hinted at in the end of the first book but this particular conflict for the heroine is what made me dislike this book. it's not Sabara that i have a problem with, it's Charlie. she is so fucking annoying. all of the decisions she makes about her secret are stupid. they only make more bullshit for her to deal with and it was unnecessary. most of the issues Charlie and everyone around her deal with are Charlie's fault. what good has ever come from keeping a secret in a young adult book? nothing, that's what. i just can't stand that Charlie lets herself be victimized BY HERSELF.

and because i couldn't stand this book enough, a weird love triangle is thrown into the story. Yay!!! that's exactly what i didn't need. it was random and poorly put together. i didn't understand why Charlie needed another love interest. she has enough problems with someone trying to kill her and the uprising that's happening inside her kingdom. that would have been enough to keep me reading. i didn't need this teenage melodramatic bullshit.

to end the review, i just want to say that i will be reading the third book. i'm two books in. i might as well finish the series. here's hoping the Charlie dies in the next book!

RATING IS 2 STARS




No comments:

Post a Comment