Everything changed on The Day. The day the windows shattered. The day the power stopped. The day Dol's family dropped dead. The day Earth lost a war it didn't know it was fighting.
Since then, Dol has lived a simple life in the countryside -- safe from the shadow of the Icon and its terrifying power. Hiding from the one truth she can't avoid.
She's different. She survived. Why?
When Dol and her best friend, Ro, are captured and taken to the Embassy, off the coast of the sprawling metropolis once known as the City of Angels, they find only more questions. While Ro and fellow hostage Tima rage against their captors, Dol finds herself drawn to Lucas, the Ambassador's privileged son. But the four teens are more alike than they might think, and the timing of their meeting isn't a coincidence. It's a conspiracy.
Within the Icon's reach, Dol, Ro, Tima, and Lucas discover that their uncontrollable emotions -- which they've always thought to be their greatest weaknesses -- may actually be their greatest strengths.
It sounds pretty cool, doesn't it?
It doesn't sound like it would be very confusing, or repetitive, or like it would leave you with more questions than answers, does it?
Well, it does. I'm not saying it wasn't worth the read, but it was confusing, and, after reading the book twice, I'm still not sure what the four main characters "are" in terms of their weird powers and their strange inner connection to each other.
I did, however, enjoy the interesting aspect of these "Big Brother" alien invaders and how the whole society changed around their invasion and their loyal followers. I thought the dynamics between the main characters was unique, but I was confused by some of their motivations and morals.
Things I Liked:
I think my favorite character was definitely the computer, which goes by a myriad of different science-fiction inspired names. "He" was quirky and had more personality than the evil villain Ambassador that we meet once and her right-hand-man Colonel Catallus possessed.
I liked the glimpses readers got of Tima's background. We didn't have a whole lot of character development from any of the four main characters, but the bits we got into Tima's past helped show readers that she has the potential to be a deep and complex character. Same with Lucas's inability to side with the other three, or his mother and her oppressive army.
I was really interested in the brief bit of mystery that was peppered into the ending about the origin of how the aliens came to be drawn to earth.
Things I Didn't Like:
Dol needs to let go of the freakin' pig. We barely met the people she shared her whole life with (the Padre, Bigger, Biggest, and Ramona Jamona the pig) yet all she talks and thinks about is this pig. Maybe it's just supposed to be another symbol for a scene later, but it got annoying after a while. All the readers ever really knew about this pig is that she had soft ears and she pooped in the Church the day Dol was taken away. Either Stohl needed to expand on the relationships between Dol and these characters, or she needed to cut the pig out.
I wanted to understand why the Ambassador was bothering to educate Tima, Ro, and Dol, if they were just tools to begin with. Obviously she wants to treat her son with the best she can give, but I don't understand why she felt that the others were just as special, or why anyone thought it would be a good idea to have them interact with each other so freely.
What is Fortis's deal????
Overall Impression:
It was an interesting start to a new series, and I'm definitely interested in reading on to see if the four can shut down all 13 icons, and if Ro will actually act out on Lucas as all signs point to him doing eventually. I'm also interested to see the new "twist" of what these four children are and what they were made to do.
I was a bit confused through a lot of this book, but the read is non-stop and it ends on a can't-put-it-down kind of note.
Blonde Rating: 2.5/5
GoodReads Rating: 3.7/5
Amazon Rating: 4/5
Thanks for reading,
The Blonde
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