Wasteland
Author: Susan Kim & Laurence Klavan
Series: None
Genre: Young Adult, Romance, Dystopia
Release Date: March 26, 2012
Publisher: HarperTeen
Summary:
Welcome to the wasteland.
The citizens of Prin don’t have the problems that plague typical teens. At 15, they marry. At 17, they reproduce. And at 19, they die.
There’s also the looming threat of rampant disease, acid rain, starvation, and brutal attacks by the variants – hermaphroditic outcasts that live on the outskirts of Prin.
Esther thinks that there’s more to life than toiling under the relentless sun. Her best friend is a variant, and she longs to join the fringe community, to escape the judgment of Levi, the corrupt ruler who controls the Source. When a mysterious stranger named Caleb arrives in town, shady pasts begin to unravel, and the two rebels realize that they must team together to fight for their lives and for the freedom of Prin.
Wasteland is the thrilling first book in a fast-paced trilogy with high stakes…of life or death.
First Sentence: Esther ran across the broken asphalt.
I received an ARC of Wasteland through ARCycling. Thank you ARCycling! (:
My Review:
Wasteland, Wasteland, Wasteland. I had such high hopes for it, partly because of the awesome title and partly because I wanted to find a dystopian novel or series that I would absolutely love. After reading Wasteland, I can safely say that that still hasn’t happened yet. Wasteland was such a disappointing read, with so many things I didn’t like.
Right from the very first chapter, I knew that I wouldn’t enjoy reading Wasteland. Esther, one of the main characters in the book, was simply a selfish brat. First of all, instead of doing work to survive like all the other kids her age, plus kids even younger than her, Esther sneaks off from work to play a game. A game. In a place where children starve to death, disease run rapid, and acid rain fall, Esther sneaks off of work to play a freaking hide-and-seek race game, expecting to live and leech off her older sister for free. No girl, just no. She was immediately added to my “Heroines I Hate List.”
When Esther had drawn the Harvesting as her assignment at the last lottery, she’d cursed her luck. Then she ignored the task and instead headed to the overgrown fields and vacant lots to play with Skar. (ARC 11)
Wasteland is told using eight different point of views: Esther, Eli, Skar, Caleb, Sarah, Levi, Micah, and Kai. (I’m not sure if Wasteland is exactly told using eight point of views, there might be more. It was too much to keep track of.) The most annoying thing of all is that the book switches between different characters’ point of view without any warning, sometimes even doing so three times in the same chapter. I will be reading a chapter told from Esther’s point of view, when suddenly, two paragraphs pop up telling us the story from Eli’s point of view, then goes back to telling us the story from Esther’s point of view. It was very confusing to read and ruined the flow of the book.
The world-building in Wasteland was also done half-way. Susan Kim and Laurence Klavan describes some things, like why variants are the way they are, but never explained many other things, like why anyone over the age of 19 dies, why the weather is the way it is, who made the rules, and how the world in Wasteland came to be. To make matters even worse, the world-building was mainly done using info-dump. (At least it wasn’t info-dumped on us all at once.)
“But you are Shunned,” he said. He spoke not with concern, but with hostility. “If anyone were to for you, this is the first place they would try. Your presence can only bring trouble for my partner.” (ARC 165)
To make matters even worse, I even saw the plot twists in Wasteland coming from a mile away. They were so easy to predict and guess because there were some really glaringly obvious clues. When the big reveals came, I nearly jumped off my seat and shouted, “Really? It took you that long to figure out something as simple as that?”
With any luck, she would soon find it and bring it back to him, as trusting and unquestioning as a dog. And just as easily satisfied, with a little affection and a good meal. (ARC 55, 56)
There’s really nothing positive I can say about Wasteland. It slightly entertained me, but at the same time, Wasteland also bored me. Nothing about it was unique and brings something new to the dystopian genre. Wasteland is just one of the typical dystopian books that explains almost nothing about its world and could have been a lot better.
I think I should really avoid reading books that make only the children at a certain age survive for whatever reason in a dystopian world from now on. First Gone, a book I couldn’t even finish, then Taken, a book that greatly annoyed me, and now Wasteland. Yep, this topic is definitely not the one for me.
I don’t think I have to say that I definitely don’t recommend Wasteland to anybody, right? I will also definitely not be checking out the rest of the trilogy, if there is even one.
8 different points of view! That’s insane…Wasteland definitely sounds like a bit of a bland read. Although I might give it a try if I have time later :) In terms of dystopians, have you tried reading Reboot? It came out recently and is pretty amazing.
Nara recently posted…Book Discussion: Point of Retreat by Colleen Hoover
I know! To make matters even worse, it’s 8 different points of view and you can’t tell when which one will end wherever and which one will begin.
I definitely need to read Reboot, I’m actually planning on reading it next month. Hopefully it’s as good as you say! :D
Kelly recently posted…ARC Book Review: Wasteland – Susan Kim & Laurence Klavan
It’s hard enough for authors to write good books with switching POVs. Some can pull it off and others just shouldn’t even try. But I would think it would be even more impossible for an author to pull off 8 different Povs. I don’t want to sound harsh, but what were they thinking?
And I hate it when a book changes POVs in the middle of a chapter without warning. It’s annoying and throws of the flow of the book. And it’s hard to keep up with.
It sucks that you can’t find a good dyestopian book. I usually love that genre and most of my favorite books are from there.
Great review :D
Kimberly recently posted…Stacking the Shelves (44)
Exactly Kimberly!
The worse thing was, I was expecting it. I was so shocked and confused, thinking I read “Esther” as “Eli,” but I wasn’t.
You’re so lucky you have a lot of favorite dystopian books Kimberly, I don’t even have one favorite one! (I’m not including The Hunger Games because that’s such a genetic answer.) D:
Kelly recently posted…ARC Book Review: Wasteland – Susan Kim & Laurence Klavan
Really too bad you didn’t like Wasteland at all :/ I hate it when books with potential fail to live up to them. And, um, EIGHT points of view or maybe more??? How is anyone supposed to keep track of that? Great job with explaining why it didn’t work.
Taylor @ Reading is the Thing recently posted…I’ve joined Bloglovin!
Yeah, at least I’m not alone on this. I hate being the black sheep. :P
And yeah, there were so many POVs in Wasteland and you don’t know when which one ends and which one begins that it was SO hard to keep track of. It was a nightmare.
Thanks! (:
Kelly recently posted…ARC Book Review: Wasteland – Susan Kim & Laurence Klavan
Oh noes! I was kinda looking forward to this one. I didn’t download it from Edelweiss, though, and I’m glad I didn’t! Esther sounds awful! And 8 points of view (or more) would just be exhausting. 3 is pushing it enough!
And if I hadn’t wanted to steer clear of this just from that, you got me with this line:
“The world-building in Wasteland was also done half-way.”
I am a world-building whore. I neeeeed the world to be set. If I have too many questions or the world doesn’t make sense, I’m not going to enjoy the book at all. I was curious about this one, but now I’m definitely not reading it anytime soon, if I read it at all. Great review, Kelly! <3
Jessi @ Auntie Spinelli Reads recently posted…Undersea Spoils (29)
You saved yourself when you didn’t download Wasteland from Edelweiss Jessi, I heard that a lot of people couldn’t even finish the book.
There might be even more than 8 different POVs, it was so hard to keep track since we don’t know when one will end and when the next one begins.
And yes, especially in a dystopian novel! How can you have a great dystopian novel when the world-building is done half-way? -grabs Wasteland and shakes it-
Thank you Jessi! (:
Kelly recently posted…Top Ten Books At The Top Of My Summer TBR List
When I first heard of this I was kind of excited. It looked promising, the plot sounded interesting, it seemed to have a lot going for it. Then the reviews started rolling in…and I totally changed my mind. With how long my TBR list already is, I think I will steer clear of this. I have yet to see one good review :(
Yeah, sadly Wasteland doesn’t have any good reviews for it. ):
I don’t want to dislike the book – the premise is amazing and it sounds good, but the way it was just done wasn’t good.
Kelly recently posted…Book Review: Immortal City – Scott Speer
Good honest review! Too bad this book wasn’t a winner. It is hard to find good dystopian books that aren’t boring. Better luck next time. ;)
Thanks Cali! (:
Yeah, so few dystopians fail to impress me. The only dystopians I really like so far is The Hunger Games, Partials, and All Our Yesterdays – which you should definitely try Cali! :D
Kelly recently posted…Summer Lovin’ Readathon: Day 1 – Class Orientation + Teaser Tidbits
I feel like so many dystopians nowadays just follow a certain ‘plot’ if you will. there are so many possibilities with dystopian and it saddens me that so many of them are the same, no matter how much the actual dystopia varies
Yeah, dystopians nowadays are basically the same: a corrupt/”evil” government, a group that wants to overthrow it, a war, etc. It’s like, where are the unique dystopian nowadays?!
Kelly recently posted…Stacking the Shelves [47]
Great Review!!! i havent read this book yet,but been wanting to.. i have to agree with how you feel about the character Esther–i would get ticked off of that part… It is a bummer to learn about the multiple view points and where you wouldnt be able to tell who is who..Im a little iffy on checking this book out but would probably see if i cant catch it at the library or something..
Thanks Sarah! (:
Yeah, to sum it all up, Wasteland was basically a mess. >___< And I hope you'll like this one better than I did Sarah! Kelly recently posted…Stacking the Shelves [54]
I had not heard about this book yet ( I’m always finding new books in your blog lol )
I’m really not into dystopians nowadays. Idk, there so many of them that looks the same to me.
And 8 different points of view? Seriously? No… just no. 2 or 3 points of view is my limit hahaha
great review!
Awesome review!
Great timing too as I was just looking for something for my brother’s birthday next week.
Keep up the great work.