Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Book Musings: Possession

Possession
Possession by Elana Johnson

Full discretion: Elana is one of my favorite people in the YA world. She has been so, so nice to me. Trying not to let this color my review!

I first started reading this while standing in the middle of the floor of my room. Through the first two or three chapters I didn't move--from standing in the middle of the floor in my pajamas. The voice is incredible, and Elana tosses you straight into the story. We all know dystopian isn't necessarily my thing, but this book is my favorite of the numerous dystopian books this year. 

The book has so many incredible things going for it. The amount of mind-boogling that goes on is completely incredible. The constant shifting of alliances, Vi's character development as she learns to trust someone other than herself, and then has to question that trust is fabulous, as well as her personal ties to the corrupt government. The lines of good and bad are blurred in a way I haven't seen before, and the ending will leave you reeling, absolutely guaranteed, and I think this is what I most learned from Elana's book, how to not be afraid of going where the story needs to go. 

There are a few road blocks. Elana's mentioned that she has issues with setting, and I see it here. Sometimes I had a hard time figuring out where they were, or how they got there. Also, I had a hard time imagining exactly what life in the Goodgrounds was like, since we first see Vi being arrested and never really see her "normal life." It's a trade-off for starting the story so quickly, but it also may be my freakish desire to know absolutely everything about the world of a story. 

Overall, I would say you absolutely must read this book Also you must go say hello on Elana's blog, and check out her query-writing ebook, because it is one of the best out there for writers, and dude, Elana is cool.