Pawn by Aimée Carter

PawnPawn by Aimée Carter
Series: The Blackcoat Rebellion #1
Published by: Harlequin Teen on November 26, 2013
Genre: Dystopian, Romance
Pages: 346
Source: NetGalley
Buy on AmazonBook Details
Rating: ★★★★

YOU CAN BE A VII. IF YOU GIVE UP EVERYTHING.

For Kitty Doe, it seems like an easy choice. She can either spend her life as a III in misery, looked down upon by the higher ranks and forced to leave the people she loves, or she can become a VII and join the most powerful family in the country.

If she says yes, Kitty will be Masked—surgically transformed into Lila Hart, the Prime Minister's niece, who died under mysterious circumstances. As a member of the Hart family, she will be famous. She will be adored. And for the first time, she will matter.

There's only one catch. She must also stop the rebellion that Lila secretly fostered, the same one that got her killed ?and one Kitty believes in. Faced with threats, conspiracies and a life that's not her own, she must decide which path to choose—and learn how to become more than a pawn in a twisted game she's only beginning to understand.

The first thing I have to say about Pawn is: WOW it has a lot of twists! Seriously. So many bombs were dropped and twists were made that I didn’t see coming. They fit in well with the story and totally worked, but I was not prepared! It was like BAM BAM BAM and my eyes were like O_O   X_X   o_O   ^_^

Moving on!

I loved the world building in Pawn. There’s something about this kind of caste/rank system that pulls me in. I like the idea of numbers and tests. It, along with the rebellion aspect, reminded me a lot of The Selection. If you lay them out, the overall ideas are quite similar: a caste/number system, a girl who has a low number who is given the chance to have a high number, a monarchy type government, and a rebellion. Vaguely similar ideas, and I loved them both!

I wasn’t 100% sold on the romance, but I think that’s fine because it wasn’t the center of the story by any means. The romance does have its place, but it’s a nice side story. The main focus of Pawn was the plot and the rebellion. So if you love the romance, that’s an excellent bonus! If not, it’s no big deal because it’s just a small part of the book.

The rebellion is what really kept me hooked on this story. It’s so deeply intwined in the story and there are so many unexpected twists! I’m REALLY curious to see how everything pans out!

The characters were another interesting part of the story because there are a lot of them, but they each have their own story. There are different motives and agendas, but most of the characters are pretty merciless and cutthroat. It’s a bit crazy O_O But that’s why it’s so interesting!

I think it’s great to see Carter pull off a book like this. I personally think that Pawn was quite different from The Goddess Test, but I love both books for different reasons. It just goes to show that Aimée Carter has no problem expanding into other genres and totally rocking them!

The Verdict

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17 comments

  1. I’ve read this one too! It was pretty neat, particularly all the face-swapping stuff. Niiice! But, I wasn’t convinced when they made Kitty taller. Ehh, for me, it wasn’t as well grounded as the rest of the premise. But it was a nice read. 🙂

  2. I loved the testing system. It was very evocative of our current “you can be anything if you study hard enough (but not really) because we’re such a meritocracy (but only if you fit a certain definition of smart)” system that we have these days. I could totally see how our current attitudes could get more extreme and codified and turn into the system in this book.

    Whitley recently posted: …no.  No I did not.
  3. I am now much more interested in reading this one! It sounds really good and I also think the idea of the caste system (like in the Selection which I loved) is really interesting! Awesome review 🙂

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