Oppression b Jessica Therrien
Interpretation: 3/5. Nice plot but not memorable. Still worth reading.
Btw, don't you find the frog in a jar cute!? I found it in a site somewhere and thought, Hey why not use this as my supposedly "star" for rating the books in my reviews!? ;;)
Well isn't the cover lovely!? I am a sucker for breath taking covers so I guess I am easily deceived by what's on the outside rather than what's on the inside. The blurb (for me) on the other hand didn't really scream: "Hey! Read me! READ ME!!!" Unless you're a fan of mythological themed story lines, you won't end up reading this book. But the cover is really really reallyyy nice. Something you'd want people to see on your collection of young-adult reads. Something that made me want to give this book a chance.
The story was about Elyse who is an orphan and who ages slowly. She has a guardian, Aunt Betsy who, from the beginning of the book, just died. She also has a best friend, Anna who knew about her condition since they were children and although she is now in her mid-30s or 40s and has a daughter while Elyse still looks like she is in her early 20s, Anna remained Elyse's best and only friend. Until one day, Elyse found out that she is not alone, that there are still others and that she doesn't have to live in isolation anymore. They are called the Descendants. Descendants have gods as their ancestors and each and everyone has a "special ability" depending on whom they descended from. Elyse has the power to heal which makes her a healer (duh) and also the "chosen one"-- the descendant who's going to end the war and save them all. Half of her body heals while the other half poisons. Elyse is torn between her decision to fulfill her destiny as the redeemer or to save her best friend Anna who has Cancer. The whole healing thing works when Elyse draws blood and Iosef (the wise old man) told her that the more severe the bruise/sickness is, the more blood she has to draw. And when it comes to Cancer, Elyse will most likely die if she wanted to cure Anna.
Quite frankly this book disappointed me. From the great reviews I have read I was expecting this book to exceed my expectations! That I was wrong to judge it from its blurb. There was not so much of the action I wanted. The romance between William and Elyse happened too fast. One day they were going out on a date and the next day they were kissing and saying I love you to each other. I mean... as much as it's rampant for YA reads to adopt "love at first sight" themes, I still wanted them to take things slowly. As for William, he has a lot of potential but he lacks the swoon factor :-( I wasn't engaged with the plot. I didn't feel connected with the characters. I don't even know what's going on halfway through the book! =)) There was no depth in the story. No surprising twists. The book is plain.. and bland. Although I must say it was well-written (in its grammatical sense). Just that, it wasn't for me. I want to like it.. love it, even. But I just can't find a reason for me to love it. I don't even get the essence of the war. They say they are being oppressed but you can't feel the oppression they were talking about. You can't feel The Council's cruelty. You can't sympathize with them. Mostly the book talks about Anna's confusion in making a decision. I mean, it's reasonable that she wanted to give her life for her best friend's sake but I find the conflict lacking so much depth. But I've got to admit, it's heart warming to know that Elyse will sacrifice her life for her best friend. It's understandable because Anna is the only person (besides her guardian, Aunt Betsy) who knew about her condition and who has been there for her all along. My favorite scene though was the Human Evasion Test. It gave life to the book, made it exciting even if it was short-lived. Towards the last quarter of the book I just can't wait for it to end. I didn't want to give up on it and not finish reading it. I just have to know if towards the end the story gets better.. but it didn't. So there, in conclusion the book was not for me but I'm sure for some people they will come to love and enjoy this one. :-) The plot is light and like-able. I still say you guys should give it a chance and find out if the story works for you.
My favorite line:
“You’ll never lose me, Ellie,” he said with an unexpected brush of his lips on mine. “I’ll always find you.”
Part where I felt Elyse's pain:
“You know, Anna,” I spoke with a shaky voice. “All my life I’ve had to carry around the burden of being the one who lives, watching everyone I love age and die. You don’t know what that’s been like, to feel powerless as the world steals everything right out from under you. Well, maybe you do. But I won’t let that happen to you, to Chloe.”
