Not For Me

I don't even know where to start with this one, tbh. It seemed like it was going to be a pretty solid book. I had ~some~ issues with it at the beginning, but not enough to take away from my enjoyment of reading (or I guess, listening, since I had an audiobook). However, after her mother's trial, at like 75%, the book took a nosedive.

I think the main problem for me was the pacing. I liked that there wasn't too much time spent on the military training, but some of that felt too rushed. The reader needed a bit more time to understand what the military was about and why Phaet was pretty much selling her soul to the devil to join the military. As well, I felt like I didn't understand the full purpose of the training. It seemed like pretty standard and generic military training but I feel like there should have been more space related training to make it a bit more plausible considering they lived on the moon. I just feel like there was something lacking in the military training, considering it was such an important part of Phaet's character growth.

It was pretty obvious that there was a rebellion but considering we didn't learn about it until 75% through the novel, specifically at her mother's trial, it seemed to really come out of nowhere. And the reasoning behind it was kinda confusing. I THINK it was about the fact that wealth isn't distributed equally -- or as equally as it could be -- but they seemed to put a lot of emphasis on the fact that the Earth's history wasn't a part of THEIR history. It was weird. And just everything after that made me dislike the book more and more and more. I think I would have liked it more if we knew about the rebellion at the beginning .. or if it had more ... meaning.

The OTHER thing we learn about at the end is much more interesting than the rebellion, but because of the timing, it just made me roll my eyes even more than I previously had. I am just IDK MAN. This one is okay but it's not that good. I think the author had some good ideas but the execution just didn't work for me.

I also didn't really like Phaet's relationship with Umbriel because it seemed like he wanted one thing and she wasn't really sure what she wanted, but went along with what he wanted so she didn't hurt his feelings. It irked the crap out of me. At the end she is like "I'm glad I just nodded and didn't verbally agree to being TOGETHER with him" and I was like confused because 1. she had already promised to be with him before but wasn't feeling it, just thought it would be good for her family and 2. she was running off with another guy. I didn't really like Umbriel to begin with but his interactions with her and the way he spoke to her as if she owed him a relationship because he was nice to her were really off-putting.

But that doesn't mean I like Wes either. Is he better than Umbriel? By a small margin and only because we have to compare them. But Wes like idk he was basically a paper towel to me: useful in some cases but might as well throw it out after use. He was like a knock off Four imo but okay we can roll with it. If it switches into his perspective, at least we know what Phaet's fate is (ha ha, see what I did there. Okay I'm going now)

I guess most of my problems revolved around the pacing but also the lack of communication to the audience about what was happening. I just feel like so much more could have been explained -- and there was ample opportunity to do so -- and it just wasn't so it could be "shocking" and a "plot twist" (I guess?) but instead it just left me wondering what was happening and why there weren't more hints from the beginning. I also am not sure how I feel about the "romance"? Both felt so forced and I just couldn't deal with it. Anyway, I don't know if I would necessarily recommend this one. It is a pretty standard dystopian novel that doesn't really add a whole lot to the genre in my opinion. I think if I had been reading and not listening to this one, I wouldn't have finished it.

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