Review: The Almost Girl by Amalie Howard

Title: The Almost Girl
Author: Amalie Howard
Published: January 7th 2014
Source: Copy given by author for honest review
Genre: Young Adult Dystopian
Buy: Amazon ~*~ Barnes & Noble
Add to your Goodreads shelf
Caution: May contain spoilers

Seventeen-year-old Riven is as tough as they come. Coming from a world ravaged by a devastating android war, she has to be. There’s no room for softness, no room for emotion, no room for mistakes. A Legion General, she is the right hand of the young Prince of Neospes, a parallel universe to Earth. In Neospes, she has everything: rank, responsibility and respect. But when Prince Cale sends her away to find his long-lost brother, Caden, who has been spirited back to modern day Earth, Riven finds herself in uncharted territory.

Thrown out of her comfort zone but with the mindset of a soldier, Riven has to learn how to be a girl in a realm that is the opposite of what she knows. Riven isn’t prepared for the beauty of a world that is unlike her own in so many ways. Nor is she prepared to feel something more than indifference for the very target she seeks. Caden is nothing like Cale, but he makes something in her come alive, igniting a spark deep down that goes against every cell in her body. For the first time in her life, Riven isn’t sure about her purpose, about her calling. Torn between duty and desire, she must decide whether Caden is simply a target or whether he is something more.

Faced with hideous reanimated Vector soldiers from her own world with agendas of their own, as well as an unexpected reunion with a sister who despises her, it is a race against time to bring Caden back to Neospes. But things aren’t always as they seem, and Riven will have to search for truth. Family betrayals and royal coups are only the tip of the iceberg. Will Riven be able to find the strength to defy her very nature? Or will she become the monstrous soldier she was designed to be?

My Thoughts:

It's been awhile since I've been interested in a new dystopian YA novel. I don't even know what it was that attracted me to this one. Maybe it was in the synopsis, or the loveliness of the cover. Either way, it was a nice change of pace for me, and it reminded me of when I first started to love YA.

Riven was my kind of girl: very strong, not just in action but also on the inside. While there was romance, which I'll get to in a second, there was a lot more when it comes to the world and the characters that kept the story together. The depth of the world was difficult for me to follow, but written well. It had me wanting to punch people, but that always happens in dystopias, right? But, let's talk about Caden. Sweet Caden. It's funny, I always have to have some sort of romantic element to keep me tied into books like this. Otherwise I get bored. I like feeling the romantic tension between the characters, and that was definitely there between Riven and Caden. Oh man... the kiss. THE KISS. Wow.

The Almost Girl was a pretty good read. Riven is someone you want to be, and Caden is someone you want to love. Amalie Howard has written a very intriguing dystopian tale. It's nice to get back to my YA roots and I'm glad I picked this one up.

My Rating: