Not a fan. It was just so predictable and there wasn't anything truly special that I hadn't seen before.

What I loved… it was very reminiscent to The Hunger Games, but with plot twists and turns. There was a lovely romance element that didn't distract from the story. There was a good amount of greek mythology aspect to the book. I love that and it kept me drawn to the story. The world building was spectacular. Riser is quite possibly my favorite character. He's a bit rough around the edges, but who doesn't love a bad boy?

What I didn't love… there were scenes that were too descriptive, which ordinarily isn't a bad thing. It made the book feel like it was dragging. There were also times I felt like some scenes weren't as descriptive as I would have liked. It took a bit of time to get into.

This was a great start to a series and I'm interested to see where it goes from here.

Despite the glaring similarities to dystopians like The Hunger Games and The Maze Runner, the premise of this book was really cool and well-executed. The characters were very realistic and I enjoyed their growth immensely.

An interesting book! I greatly enjoyed this one from beginning to end. Full review coming soon on my blog.

Unique cross between The Maze Runner and The Hunger Games

DNF @ 40%

Good tropes, good flow, but nothing riveting or unique.

List of tropes (used ineffectively):
Dystopia
Sci-Fi
Dead parents
saving siblings
hardened girl
animal friends

Yes, I do like these tropes, but Grey did not need to throw them all in. Choose a couple and elaborate. It honestly felt like these tropes were thrown around like m&ms.
In addition, the author didn't know what parts of the mundane to skip over and what parts to focus on. SOOO, she threw caution to the wind and left no detail unturned. TOO MUCH.

This book was so weird. That’s basically all I have to say. The premise of the Trials was really intriguing to me and I did actually enjoy that part of the book, but there was A LOT of buildup to get there. I also had a hard time with the whole “borrowing someone else’s body” thing and the double consciousnesses and all of that. It was just kind of confusing and I felt like it made it so the author could conveniently explain away some things: “Of course she didn’t have this ability, but the girl whose face she was wearing did which made it so she could do this special thing”. The whole family relationships are strange too. Overall, I think this was just a very complicated world and it wasn’t explained all the way.

The book started out as really confusing and I'm afraid it didn't get any better the further I read. I was really hoping I would end up loving this but I guess it just wasn't for me. I do love the idea behind it and the writing in itself was great but I just wasn't as committed to the story as I would have liked. The book didn't hold my interest and I kept comparing it to other YA dystopian novels. That cover is badass though, is it not?

I received an e-arc to read and review.

ARC kindly provided by Netgalley for an honest review.

Lovely world building and enjoyable characters, but too similar to several other dystopian novels (red queen, hunger games etc).

I read this book in sort of two halves. I read the first 55% and then needed a contemporary read break, but knew I wanted to come back to finish it. I don't feel like I lost interest necessarily during my break, but I would say this teetered on the edge of losing me. It's very detailed in the beginning of the story as there is much to explain so the reader isn't completely lost. Usually upon finishing a book I feel like I can type up a short summary of what I think would be helpful for potential readers. With this book though, I'm not so sure what I say is going to flow smoothly.

The world as it stands now has been left battered and desolated by war. There's really only two sides of people now. Those who were on the losing side of the war and those on the winning. The losers are ruled by an Emperor who separated the empire into colors: Gold, Bronze, Silver: classes of people who determine the social status: royalty, the workers, the slaves, etc... Then there are the Chosen, specific children of Gold families. What's left of Earth will soon be destroyed, at least uninhabitable for generations to come by an asteroid that is heading straight for the planet. Scientists planned for and created Hyperion - a space station to house Golds so that humanity can continue on.

Maia, was the daughter of a gold family. Her father is seen as a traitor and was murdered, and her mother abandoned them. She has been in hiding for 7 years at the start of the story in what is called "the pit". The picture painted in my head is one scary situation - dark, damp, cannibalism, murder, basically in the pit it's every man or woman for themselves...and you better not show weakness because like a predator to its prey, you will not survive! She's given a unique and rare opportunity to participate in the Shadow Trials and win a spot on Hyperion for her and one other with her.

A few frustrations. A glossary of words would have been helpful at the beginning to explain the different houses and their colors, and various terms. Secondly, I found similarities in the Shadow Trials to that of the games in The Hunger Games. I couldn't decide whether this irritated me or intrigued me.

There is a romantic interest in the story...perhaps more than one to which I will leave for the reader to discover. I don't mind sci/fi (which this definitely falls in) as long as there is also a love story.

Overall, where the story leaves off in a cliffhanger of sorts, I was invested enough in the story and it's characters to want to know what's going to happen next.

Favorite Quotes:
"I'm a lot of things, Digger Girl, but a hero isn't one of them."

Riser scares me the most. Because he possesses the one thing the Archduchess does not. The ability to make me vulnerable.

"But I mean it when I said I would never hut you. You're the only thing that makes me want to be better."

Language Rating: 0 (none)
Mature Content Rating: 0 (none)
Final Rating: 3.5 stars