Book Review

Book Review: Flawed by Cecelia Ahern

Flawed by Cecelia Ahern

Description: “Celestine North lives a perfect life. She’s a model daughter and sister, she’s well-liked by her classmates and teachers, and she’s dating the impossibly charming Art Crevan.

But then Celestine encounters a situation in which she makes an instinctive decision. She breaks a rule and now faces life-changing repercussions. She could be imprisoned. She could be branded. She could be found FLAWED.

In her breathtaking young adult debut, bestselling author Cecelia Ahern depicts a society in which obedience is paramount and rebellion is punished. And where one young woman decides to take a stand that could cost her everything.”

Review: YA dystopian novels (and their movie counterparts) are overdone, I decided to give this one a shot because of A) the author and B) it sounded intriguing. I  found this book to be a refreshing change from the recent dystopian novels, there was no instalove or love triangles or wars. There is some violence (aka branding a person) and intense scenes in the story.  The first half of the book was a little slow and bland but picked up in the second part. It was an enjoyable read but not one to write home about. Celestine as a character is a little weak, I’ve read some other reviews that declare her to be unbelievable but I felt her back and forth questioning (of who to trust/what to do) is extremely realistic. She grew up with strict societal rules stating that all Flawed are lesser beings, now everything she grew up believing has been turned upside down.  I did find her slightly frustrating though; she was wishy washy and I kept hoping she’d come in her own as a strong female character. The idea of branding people in specific places based upon their crime was interesting and brought me back to my English Lit classes (“The Scarlet Letter” anyone?). I wish there was more information on the other characters, I found them more intriguing than Celestine. Each character had an agenda that was fueled by something personal, I would love to find out more about them (especially the grandfather). I also wish there was more backstory of why/how these society rules came about (more than just one sentence). I will be reading the next book because I am curious about what happens. I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to people who liked the Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld.

*please note that I received an advanced copy of the book from NetGalley

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