Review: Uninvited by Sophie Jordan


Uninvited
Sophie Jordan
Series: Uninvited, #1
Released: January 28th, 2014
Publisher: HarperTeen
Rating: 4 stars
Word Rating: FUN!
Reviewed by: Mel

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The Scarlet Letter meets Minority Report in bestselling author Sophie Jordan's chilling new novel about a teenage girl who is ostracized when her genetic test proves she's destined to become a murderer.

When Davy Hamilton's tests come back positive for Homicidal Tendency Syndrome (HTS)-aka the kill gene-she loses everything. Her boyfriend ditches her, her parents are scared of her, and she can forget about her bright future at Juilliard. Davy doesn't feel any different, but genes don't lie. One day she will kill someone.

Only Sean, a fellow HTS carrier, can relate to her new life. Davy wants to trust him; maybe he's not as dangerous as he seems. Or maybe Davy is just as deadly.

The first in a two-book series, Uninvited tackles intriguing questions about free will, identity, and human nature. Steeped in New York Times bestselling author Sophie Jordan's trademark mix of gripping action and breathless romance, this suspenseful tale is perfect for fans of James Patterson, Michelle Hodkin, and Lisa McMann.

Carriers are like a cancer to this once great nation. And like any disease, sometimes the only way to battle it is with poison.


Wow. I’ll be honest; I was not expecting Uninvited to be this good. Sophie Jordan’s first YA series, Firelight, was not exactly what I had hoped for so I went into this one cautiously, a little worried that I would not enjoy it as much as everyone else. Anyway, perhaps ‘good’ is an understatement, even. Uninvited is a refreshingly fun dystopian that made it difficult for me to put down; within just hours I managed to fly through this.

Davy had the life everyone else at school wanted. She is a music prodigy, able to play piano, guitar, flute etc. and even can sing with a voice like no other—damn, even I was jealous of her amazing musical abilities. I’ve been playing piano since I was eight and only about to finish my grades. I’ve also played guitar and flute but I gave up on those since piano was enough for me. And my ability to sing? Let’s just not go there. Not only is Davy exceedingly brilliant with her musical abilities, but also she had a bright future. She was going to go to Julliard; she was going to get married to her boyfriend that she loves so dearly, all the girls were envious. But when she gets home one day, something is off. There’s a man in her house that she’s never seen before. Her parents have worry draped on their shoulders. Soon, Davy discovers that her DNA shot that she did earlier that year had come back positive. She has the Homicidal Tendency Syndrome (HTS), also commonly known as the kill gene. And this kill gene, turns her once perfect life upside down.

I know many people felt that Davy’s character was unlikable, whiny and naïve. Nevertheless, I ended up loving her personality. When Davy is told that she has the kill gene, she is in complete denial. She doesn’t have urges or ideas of killing people. She’s still the Davy that she was at the start of this year. But no one listens to her, her best friend strands her, and other girls are no longer jealous of her. What’s to be jealous of when her boyfriend her left as well? To be frank, I was sympathetic towards Davy. And I hated everyone else. Especially the company that decided to be searching for people who could be holders of this disease. Only 17% in and I wanted to smash her best friend’s face, her boyfriend’s face, everyone’s face. Sophie Jordan certainly does well at creating a character that we can understand, fend and feel for. My only complaint with Davy’s character is that she felt too weak at times. I didn’t mind her weakness in general, it was intriguing to have a weak character in a dystopian world—however the amount of times someone rescue her (namely Sean) was annoying. I wanted her to grow tougher in this book. Hopefully I will see some of that in the sequel.

Uninvited really makes you wonder what our world would be like if the kill gene existed. Personally, I think Sophie Jordan did a spectacular at painting the scenario of a realistic world with people living with the kill gene. There would be real fear. Terror. Prejudice among citizens. I like how Jordan also adds short excerpts of interrogations, interviews, letters, information booklets and transcripts between each chapter to give us readers a better grasp on the world and additional world building with some facts about HTS. One of my larger complaints with Jordan’s latest is that I wanted more world building, a little bit more history of the world and other main characters.

Uninvited follows a teenage girl who struggles to believe her new identity, as we read about her day by day life that is tough and entwined with lingering terror and fantastic action; it also brings attention to more hypothetical questions about our Earth’s future. A fun and engaging read. I recommend.

5 comments :

  1. What a great review! I cannot wait to get my hands on this one!

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  2. Looking forward to reading this one. Glad you enjoyed it, Mel.

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  3. This is such a fascinating concept; I'm really looking forward to seeing how Jordan handles it! I am a little nervous I'll be one of those people who don't like Davy, but hopefully everything else keeps me reading anyways!

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  4. I'm being to get my hands on a copy of this one! Everyone's been saying good things about it and did stray away at first since I wasn't all that much of a fan of the Firelight series either but this story just looks so original. I like how it's also a two part series so I know already it won't drag on and on and become annoying.
    Great review :)
    Lily @ Lilysbookblog

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  5. Totally love the sound of this book and how genuine Davy sounds, even though it's set in a unrealistic world. I'll be picking this up soon and I look forward to it!

    Jeann @ Happy Indulgence

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