Even though the story has some great elements and characters
347818
Quite superficial. Even though the story has some great elements and characters, it races through the events. The author should/ could have taken more time to elaborate, organiseren decreased the number of events. Ik stoppen reading after book 2
4821943
I enjoyed this story a great deal, but there were definitely some things I didn't care for so much.  Certain things about the relationship between Charlie and Colin were a bit annoying to me.  Charlie was often clueless and insensitive to Colin's needs in the relationship and how much he truly loved and needed her to support him.  However, on the other hand Colin was extremely needy when it came to Charlie, borderline obsessed or atleast dependent on her.

Also, I didn't love how the chapters flip flopped around from present day to a year or two prior although that did help understand their relationship from the beginning.  And I thought the book was a little long or atleast seemed to drag on at times.  However, I am in the process of reading the second book and plan to continue the series.
2432907
It has characters you can identify with. and has a great story.
4088345
There is a lot of great in this book... Characters, world, story... And those great components kept me from tossing the book aside in frustration. I expect a few errors to sneak past editors, but there are SO MANY mistakes that should have been caught. Like scones being breakfast foods, not candleholders. But, obviously with a four-star rating, I still enjoyed the story and am enough of a glutton for editorial punishment that I have book two queued up for my next read.
4193059
This was an entertaining read for me, but it had a number of issues that distracted and detracted from it being a 4 or 5 star rating.  I enjoyed the setup and the universe that was created -- the lore, and the way it was revealed, worked well in the context of the story, exposing you to the information as the character discovers it and changing their world views in the process.  The characters are generally well developed and interesting, and some of the interactions and the situations make for a great story.  But as those details of the story emerge, that's when I started to see problems.

First - Arun is different than his fellow marines - because he still cares and has empathy.  This is called out repeatedly, and is illustrated in his way of helping the Aux with the 'party'.  However, after the party gets busted, he doesn't really seem impacted by the possibility that all of the Aux involved may be summarily executed - in fact, he doesn't seem to ever check on them or mention them in passing with the exception of the one ex-cadet who was hidden away by the aliens.  Its all treated as a high-school prank, albeit one where the cost of getting caught could be death of all involved.

Next - the conspiracies.  There seem to be a lot of them floating around, ranging from drugging of the cadets and sabotage, to rebellion and resistance movements. And all of the 'leaders' from the various races seem in on the deal.  This despite the repeated highlighting of how difficult it is to find a quiet place to chat without observation.  None seemed well explained, but they are used repeatedly as the causation for any number of events. There's even the random twin brother who shows up (having already been a marine for several years) even though there is no mention of Arun being frozen after birth to delay his aging.

Finally, the length.  There is a bunch in here that could have been culled to tighten this up.  Hearing how Arun is hated by his company over and over, mainly due to his infatuation with another cadet from a different unit, is just tiring.  I can see how his unit was sick of it, because the readers were certainly getting tired of it as well.

Overall this book ended up giving me the feeling of a cross between Harry Potter / Hogwarts and Sara King's The Legend of Zero series.  Inspired by parts from each, but not necessarily as good as either.  Still an entertaining read, just not the top of my list.
3324626
I want to give this story more stars, but there are a few aspects that I find too far fetched which brings it back to 3.

The story is well written, the characters are very relatable and easy to like. But my issue with the story is how so many characters have special powers or abilities for one reason or another. Yet, there's no explanation as to why. It's just - here are 5 people and they're all enhanced for some reason.... that will miraculously work to their advantage in the end. I love paranormal stories, but there has to be some reason or explaination or secret government testing or ANYTHING for that matter to explain why there are so many people with abilities.

Other than that, the story is well written to show how Jade is struggling to overcome her limitations because she's an empath. She's a very likable character and the author does a nice job of making you want to root for Jade you succeed.

I'd recommend reading the book, and am hoping the author goes into more detail about why in future novels.
586601
Although the back and forth was irritating at times, I did enjoy the story and characters.
2309856
The first book was already a terrific story, but I will admit that the plot wasn't it's strongest aspect.  It wasn't bad, but it was the most standard part of a story that was so unique in every other aspect.  That problem doesn't exist here.  Instead of exploring what happens if the prophetic hero failed this book asks "What happens after the great evil is defeated?"  It's something that remains surprisingly unexplored, mostly because the story usually ends after the evil empire falls.  A majority of the book is just spent trying to pick up the pieces left behind by the last book's conflict and having the characters make tons of mistakes and learning from them.  Every problem presented is complicated in its own way and the characters often have to think outside the box in order to solve things and often the best they can do is to band-aid over some things until they can think of a better solution.  It's much more nuanced than just trying to stop a malevolent ruler and it's wonderful to see Vin and Elend get back up after getting thrown into the dirt over and over again.  However, what really elevates this book in my eye is the ending and without giving much away, let me just say that it uses genre expectations to set up one hell of a curveball.
1627779
3.5 stars. This was a hard book to review because a) I liked the story and enjoyed reading it, and b) I had real difficulty with the behavior of the hero. When an author sets up the conflict of a book and it is the main issue of the story she must make readers genuinely believe that the conflict is real and serious. In this story our hero, Simon, has loved his best friend's sister, Meg, for years. She is also in love with him. So what's the problem? Her brother, in an effort to be super responsible, arranged for her to marry another one of their friends. When Simon and Meg are found in a compromising position (nothing happened) they are forced to wed. Sounds like a great solution, right? No! Simon feels so guilty about the change in circumstances that he just can't move forward with Meg. The reader is not given a great deal of insight into Simon's self-torture. It is not until the end of the book that I really understood what was bothering him. Plus, there was quite a bit of ruminating going on for large portions of the story. It was a likable book and a nice next installment in the series, but these issues really bothered me.

Review provided after reading ARC.
4234602
To be transparent, I'm one of Jeremy's 200 free download readers in exchange for an honest review. This is also the first Jeremy Robinson book I've read.
I really enjoyed the story (and its structure) and the character development of Effy and her team4.5 stars there from me. Also, the island came alive in my mind and I could see the characters in their settings.
So why a 3-star? Too many times, I found myself confused and backtracking in the story to see if I had missed something, only to discover the scene/action/moment didn't transition well as the author and mehoped. This repeated weakness is the book's major flaw because as a reader, I don't want to stop, become confused, or struggle to understand something that abruptly changed when it wasn't part of the plot.
That said, I think it's still a really cool story, but it's not the story's final, edited draft.
4355278
Characters are great, but there interaction were some what stunted. The story was good but it to had some places that just didn't fit well within the story.
2891399
I find myself in the odd place between knowing this is a great book and not enjoying it as much as I wanted to. There is so much that this book has going for it but there are also quite a few things that brought it down for me.

The book starts off rather strong with a  great opening line and  a seemingly immediate pull into the world, however it slows down significantly after that initial opening. It has a lot to do with the fact that the overall story is one of detail and depth, it requires set up to get to that point the book opens with. I found that my interest waned quite a bit towards the beginning because it took so long to get to the meat of the story. The writing is similar to what you would find in literary fiction, it's very fluid, with wonderful details and noticeably higher vocabulary...however while this is a good thing it is also a downfall for me. There are moments where things are far too lengthy, for instance there are some sentences that are literally a paragraph long. It felt like I was going no where fast, I'd read for hours and then realize that I'd only managed about 60 pages at most. The overall plot is one of mystery, intrigue, and historical clue finding; much like the DaVinci Code but targeted for the YA audience. I enjoyed seeing the past unravel in an unlikely fashion and I loved seeing real history being incorporated with fiction in a way that other than few points it could have very well been an actual event that occurred. I thought having actual people from history involved in this storyline was a fantastic touch and brings  a sense of realism to it.

The characters are interesting in their own rights but I found that i didn't connect to most of them. Nora, our main character and narrator, is a extremely intelligent high school student who takes classes at the university on scholarship. She knows Latin which is a skill she uses quite frequently throughout the novel as she translates letters from a woman named Elizabeth. She also has a entertaining wit about her, but the company she keeps leads to me dislike her a bit. Chris is likeable but besides his humor he's fairly forgettable in the overall story, he felt like a plot piece. Adriane has far more personality and it's one that I simply couldn't stand, she's a closet-smart girl and she's fairly impersonal when it comes to most situations yet she's friends with Nora. This is actually a subject that comes up in the book and I like that it was acknowledged but I failed to see the point of their continued friendship when it's obvious there is very little there. Max is interesting and for most of the book I wasn't exactly fond of him, he has a temper and he seemed too emotional about fairly stupid things but I liked where his character ends up. Then there is Eli, who is the only character in the book I actually liked. He's funny, sarcastic and one of the only ones capable of thinking things out clearly; I found myself looking forward to the scenes where he was involved.

All of the characters have secrets, and it's not something they are good at hiding. To me it was obvious when someone didn't seem right and there are even a few instances where Nora knows she's being lied to, but it adds a level of intrigue to the story that makes it hard to put down. The ending was a tad disappointing and while most of the story is tied up I found myself wanting more out of the ending.

This is one of those books where I can see why everyone loves it so much and I can completely understand their reasoning. It's certainly a finely crafted novel with fantastic depth and it's like an ultimate historical mystery, but due to personal issues with it I couldn't enjoy it to the fullest.
4757251
I love the idea behind the story. I think it's a great world and the story is solid. My hangup was with the descriptions of the scenes and what was going on. The "visuals" that the author attempts to create are, in my opinion,  overly done and sometimes contradictory. It's a great story,  but the issues mentioned,  pulled me out of the story just long enough to ruin the fantasy for me.
2020611
Characters not all that well developed, but the story was engaging.
3097237
This is a great story and there are a few things in it you are going to notice that really do set it apart. firstly i loved the use of the vernacular and the rhyming slang. i don't know if everyone will catch on to it but it really does add an element of fun to what you are reading. you have to imagine the words that rhyme with the word you are reading. it is a great element of variety to the story. Secondly, this does what any great story should do in that it makes you want to keep going. I think it took me two days to read this and i normally read very slowly.
As for the plotline, i think it rolls along at a steady pace until a little over half way and the twists are a bit unexpected but when they start to roll in on you. as the reader, you don't really catch on to everything that is set to happen. it keeps on going that way right up until the last page. that makes for a great ending but then i see she has a number of other stories out there. if you like sexy stuff, mystery, period drama, or just a great story laced with charm and clever wit then i think you have found a great book to read.
3862750
The story was great, and taking in to account the age of the main character, it still seemed to be chaotic and all over the place. I'm looking forward to reading the next book, hoping there will be a bit less chaos.
667947
There were a few missed opportunities to make more in depth characters but the story was great.