By: Ally Condie
Published by: Dutton Books
To Be Released on: October 28th, 2014
Source: arc from publisher in exchange for a honest review
Rating: 4 Stars- I Enjoyed It!
Add it to Goodreads
Can you hear Atlantia breathing?
For as long as she can remember, Rio has dreamt of the sand and sky Above—of life beyond her underwater city of Atlantia. But in a single moment, all her plans for the future are thwarted when her twin sister, Bay, makes an unexpected decision, stranding Rio Below. Alone, ripped away from the last person who knew Rio’s true self—and the powerful siren voice she has long hidden—she has nothing left to lose.
Guided by a dangerous and unlikely mentor, Rio formulates a plan that leads to increasingly treacherous questions about her mother’s death, her own destiny, and the complex system constructed to govern the divide between land and sea. Her life and her city depend on Rio to listen to the voices of the past and to speak long-hidden truths. (quoted from Goodreads)
I love it when I'm excepting one thing with a book, and get something completely different. Ally Condie treated me to something I was not excepting. When I first read that Atlantia had Sirens, I, for whatever reason, thought mermaids. For the record, there are NO mermaids in this book. What this book has, however is an unpredictable plot line, a pretty cool world, some great characters, a well paced romance, and a few twists.
Atlantia's world is two worlds in one. There's an Above and a Below. As in an UNDER SEA WORLD!! Who doesn't want to visit a world like that? I mean there's a reason why I picked #TeamBelow in Penguin Teen's blog tour for Atlantia (read about that here). There are both humans and sirens whom make up these worlds. Though many of the sirens live below, and for a reason. Mixed into this world is a history that is complex. For Rio, all she's ever wanted to do is go to the Above. When her mother dies, her sister leaves her, and she's left alone, she suddenly finds herself in the middle of something she never thought possible.
With more questions than answers, Rio sets out to figure out a way to get to the Above, save her sister, find out what really happened to her mother, and embrace a secret she closely guards. Rio soon realizes that things are not as they have always seemed. Betrayals, twists and learning to follow her own heart, vs what she needs to do, make Rio into a character who becomes much stronger than she first seems. I liked Rio. I liked learning more about her, and the history of the sirens, and why the world is split into a Below and an Above. I also loved that at the heart of this story is a story of love. Not in the sensual love or romantic love, love there is some romance, but love as in the love only sisters can have. That played a crucial role in this story.
Ally Condie is a talented writer. Her writing is layered, and beautiful. She's one of the few authors who's writing makes it impossible for me to quickly read through her book. Instead of quickly telling a story, and filing me in on the details later on, Ally paces her story telling, and includes all the details as she's going. Nothing is missed. Everything little detail great or small is fit into her story, which works perfectly for Atlantia. There is a lot to the story of Atlantia, which means there are time the story moves quickly, and other times the story is slower passed. There are things that need to be explained, and built up in order for the story to come together nicely. During the times that the story moved a little slower I didn't feel quite as engaged with it, nor was I as interested as I was when the story flowed more easily.
Overall the story is great. I liked it. I liked how unpredictable it was for me. Especially the ending. I liked reading about the siren history, and getting to know Rio, and some of the other characters. The romance in the book was just right and kept me wanting more. But, there was something that I needed a little bit more of to really love the book like I wanted to. I can't even say what the something was. I'm a fan of Ally Condie's. I like her books. I like that Atlantia was not was I was excepting it to be. I love that in a YA book market that is saturated with series, this is a standalone. However, I will say that I wish this book had been stretched out to a duology, as I wanted a little more.
If you're a fan of Ally Condie's, I would recommend picking up Atlantia.
Check out my Team Below giveaway!
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