ACID
Ratings8
Average rating2.9
15
Ratings8
Average rating2.9
"Jenna Strong is a futuristic Jason Bourne."--Justine Magazine Fans of Matched and Divergent will be hooked by this fast-paced, nail-biting survival story, featuring an unforgettable heroine reminiscent of Katniss Everdeen and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’s Lisbeth Salander. The year is 2113. In Jenna Strong’s world, ACID—the most brutal controlling police force in history—rule supreme. No throwaway comment or whispered dissent goes unnoticed—or unpunished. And it was ACID agents who locked Jenna away for life, for a horrendous crime she struggles to remember. But Jenna’s violent prison time has taught her how to survive by any means necessary. When a mysterious rebel group breaks her out, she must use her strength, speed, and skill to stay one step ahead of ACID and try to uncover the truth about what really happened on that terrible night two years ago. They’ve taken her life, her freedom, and her memories away from her. How can she reclaim anything when she doesn’t know who to trust? Winner of the North East Teenage Book Award "Great suspense . . . excellent characters and gripping action."--TheGuardian.com
Reviews with the most likes.
Ooof. Not great. Shallow worldbuilding (wordbuilding is basically...“it's dystopian U.K. in the future... duh!”) and a convoluted plot typical of dystopian YA novels written around the time of Hunger Games and other books of the genre.
Pros: quick paced, interesting protagonist, several plot twists, minor romantic elements
Cons: elements of the ending were problematic
For Parents: kissing, violence, nothing graphic
Seventeen year old Jenna Strong has spent the last 2 years in prison for the murder of her parents, agents of ACID (Agency for Crime Investigation and Defense), because she didn't like the boy they'd picked to be her LifePartner. Sprung by a mysterious organization for reasons she doesn't understand, her life outside quickly goes downhill.
Jenna's an interesting character in that she's sympathetic for readers, but apparently quite prickly to people around her in the book. She's standoffish and quickly alienates several of the people trying to help her, though in her defense, she's given little reason to trust the people helping her. She's pretty street smart, though she does make some decisions that cause her serious problems.
While I saw a few plot twists coming the book goes in a lot of directions I did not anticipate, making it a fun book to read.
There are minor romantic elements that enhance what's happening with Jenna without becoming the focus of the story. And while there is some kissing, there's no other sexual content.
There's a variety of violence in the book (which involves some prison scenes, an interrogation, bombing and more) nothing is graphically described.
Part of the ending required Jenna to be an angry teen who doesn't care that the adults around her know more about what's happening than she does and are better prepared than she is, just that they're not doing what she wants, which was kind of annoying. It also depended on an adult making some very stupid decisions, which I questioned while I was reading. Having said that, I did like the ultimate resolution.
It's a quick paced book with some very tense moments.
Interesting at the beginning, then tumbles downhill and never gets back up.
