The Book of Ivy

A classical dystopian story with a spin-off, and simply as beautiful as the cover! ^_^

And not that the short-haired girl with the white dress and knife in hand is actually a truthful representation of Ivy, if I come to think about it, but the overall image still manages to fit the story perfectly.
I don’t know, maybe it is perfect by contradiction, or because it sets the right mood for the story, or simply because it shows just how many faces all characters seem to have in this story simply by being a bit deceitful.
Do I make any sense here or am I wasting my breath (as well as the tips of my fingers)?

Well, just take my word for it when I tell you that, as beautiful and intriguing the covers is, the story follows its lead.

Half of the book seemed to be predictable, I thought I’ve seen it all before, but that was not the case – and the ending actually came with a bang. And it’s not that I didn’t enjoy the predictable parts of it, because Ivy had a lovely voice and even though she was a bit naive, she had a great heart and I loved to find more about the world she lived in – as seen through her eyes.

Also, her relationship with Bishop, at the slow pace they managed to set, was lovely. He was patient and caring, and helped her when her fragile world came down crashing. They were slowly becoming friends, starting to trust each other and fall into each other’s arms. You are right, it is a bit of a cliché and I wished for more banter between the two of them, but they were still cute together. And I am left with wanting more.

Plot related, I am not sure if I buy the reasons for taking down the regime. I didn’t find anything wrong except for the forced marriages (which weren’t actually that forced in some cases). And it is not like I agree with them, people should make their own choices, but I also think there might be worse things in this world and I wanted the intrigue to be more solid. Then again, Ivy was naive so maybe I was taking it all down with a grain of salt, but she surely wasn’t.

On the other hand, I did like the whole drama behind these 2 families. I can’t wrap my head around all of it still, but I am all for drama that gets overshadowed by romance. Or at least in this case – and I am not even sure why that was, but it seemed to work.

I was sorry for Ivy, for everything she went through and the broken trust that left her feeling so alone. I felt for her decision, I know she was right to take that path, and I think that she is stronger than most characters in the same kind of books (and similar situations), because she took matters into her hands.. And I admire her for it.

Conclusion:
A pretty great dystopian story that has a lot of potential for the sequel. Though the pacing was a slow, it was pretty short (or so it felt) and I was left with this feeling of longing, because I’ll have to wait more than a year for the next book to come out. And I need it now!

Happy midnight reading!

Early review: ARC received from the publisher for review. Thank you!
Expected publication: November 4th 2014 by Entangled: Teen

PS:
I have a question though maybe I’ll get my answer in the next book, why did Bishop get to choose?
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