A Guy, a Girl, and a Teen Book Blog

A Guy, a Girl, and a Teen Book Blog

Thursday, November 28, 2013

Perfect Ruin by Lauren DeStefano

Title: Perfect Ruin
Author: Lauren DeStefano
Pages: 356
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: October 1, 2013
AR Levels: Book Level - 4.9, Interest Level - 6th and up, Points - 13.0
Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17339241-perfect-ruin

In a nutshell: Morgan lives on Internment, a floating city that seems perfect, but when a girl turns up murdered, she finds herself wondering if there's a better world out there. Yet, even contemplating such things could brand her a traitor in a place where change is frowned upon and leaving is impossible.

I'd recommend it to grades: 8 and up

I'd recommend it to: fans of The Giver, The Hunger Games, the Matched series, the Lunar Chronicles, and the Delirium series

What I liked most about this book: This is a sci-fi fairytale in which everything is beautifully dark - the characters, the plot, the language, THE GORGEOUS COVER! It nods to The Giver and other recent books featuring strictly planned societies, but it's fresh enough that it's not a copy. It's this wonderful roller coaster of light airiness and dark underbelly, and I loved it. Give me book 2! ;)

Single favorite moment (without getting spoiler-y): On Internment, marriages are planned before babies are even born, and young children are given clear betrothal bands to wear on necklaces around their necks. When becoming teens, they begin to wear their bands on their hands, and when they get married, they fill their bands with the blood of their spouses, forever bonding them to one another, which is just another telling example of how this book is both beautiful and dark...and creepy in a good way.

Star rating (where 5 stars is awesome and 0 stars is atrocious): 4 stars. I'd have given this 5 stars, but the cliffhanger at the end left me wanting more, and something about the pacing of this one was a bit off. It was rushed in places and slow in others, but overall, it's definitely a page-turner.

No comments:

Post a Comment