Avalon
Author: Mindee Arnett
Series: Avalon #1
Genre: Young Adult, Romance, Science Fiction, Dystopia
Release Date: January 21, 2014
Publisher: Balzer & Bray
Summary:
Of the various star systems that make up the Confederation, most lie thousands of light-years from First Earth – and out here, no one is free. The agencies that govern the Confederation are as corrupt as the crime bosses who patrol it, and power is held by anyone with enough greed and ruthlessness to claim it. That power is derived from one thing: metatech, the devices that allow people to travel great distances faster than the speed of light.
Jeth Seagrave and his crew of teenage mercenaries have survived in this world by stealing unsecured metatech, and they’re damn good at it. Jeth doesn’t care about the politics or the law; all he cares about is earning enough money to buy back his parents’ ship, Avalon, from his crime-boss employer and getting himself and his sister, Lizzie, the heck out of Dodge. But when Jeth finds himself in possession of information that both the crime bosses and the government are willing to kill for, he is going to have to ask himself how far he’ll go to get the freedom he’s wanted for so long.
First Sentence: Stealing a spaceship shouldn’t be this easy.
My Review:
I’ll admit it, it was a struggle for me to finish Avalon. I could put down the book for days and not even think about it. Avalon isn’t the kind of book I’ll read the first place, but when I won a pack of books that included an ARC of Avalon, I felt obligated to read and review it. Don’t get me wrong, Avalon certainly isn’t a bad book, it’s just not the kind of book I usually choose to read.
The first half of Avalon started off slow with the exception of the first couple of pages. In the first half of the book, Mindee Arnett slowly eased us into her world by giving us little pieces of the world-building. The first half of Avalon tells us things like what is located where and who does what, slowly gives us a more in depth history on most of the characters’ background, and slowly went into the real important part of the story. Honestly, the first half of Avalon was hard to get through. It didn’t make me want to continue and read on more, but other bloggers who have already read Avalon advised me that the payoff in the second part of the book would be worth it since there’s a lot more action there, so I continued to read on (not like I wouldn’t have read on anyways or else I would feel ultra guilty about DNFing a book that I won).
Celeste smiled up at Jeth, her lips parting in a sensual gesture, an inviting smile. An outside observer would think she had only one thing on her mind. No one would guess these two, both just seventeen, were actually casing the place. (ARC 1)
Speaking of the world-building, Avalon‘s world-building was nicely done. Before I went into the book, I was expecting to be confused by all the newly introduced space terms. However, to my surprise, I wasn’t confused with any of the new terminologies and inventions introduced and used at all; it all made sense to me, although I won’t pass a terminology quiz on the terms and world-building if you give me one. Everything in Avalon just made sense as I was reading it.
However, I do have a small problem with how parts of the world-building and big reveals were delivered though. I counted more than ten pages of info-dump in which a character was explaining about something related to the world-building after a big reveal that had happened in Avalon. It was long and tedious to read and I wish that Mindee Arnett found another way to give us all the world-building information without using more than ten pages of dialogue info-dumping.
“Right.” Jeth’s heartbeat quickened, his grip on the empty data cell tightening. One last con. That was all. Then he would finally be free. (ARC 180)
There was also some romance in Avalon (dear goodreads, why do you insist that there isn’t any romance in Avalon?) and honestly, it wasn’t needed. I’m not sold on the couple. They have absolutely no chemistry together (sorry, but admiring the other person’s look doesn’t mean that the characters have some chemistry to me) and when they were together, I honestly felt like sleeping until that big twist happened.
The main problem I have with Avalon is that it is not a unputdownable book (is that even a word?). While I was reading Avalon and something else came up – it could be anything: I have to wash the dishes, drink water, go to the bathroom, etc. – I easily put down the book and didn’t feel the urge to do the chore quickly so I can continue to read Avalon asap. Even those huge plot twists and big reveals didn’t keep me invested in Avalon. Avalon was missing that certain addictive element for me; I wasn’t personally invested in it nor would I care if I didn’t ever finish reading Avalon.
This was Hammer’s realm, one of conmen and kingpins, where everything was a gamble, a game of cards.
And where Jeth had only ever held a losing hand. (ARC 304)
Overall, in the end, I don’t know what to think of Avalon. I don’t know if I’ll like it any better if it’s my type of book. All I know is that Avalon will must likely disappoint Firefly fans by the description Cee from The Novel Hermit gave me of Firefly, so if you all want to read Avalon because it’s recommended for fans of Firefly, don’t get your hopes up and make your expectations too high.
I’m finding it so interesting that I’ve seen some bloggers that enjoyed the second half more but then others that enjoyed the first half. I’m assuming it’s what type of genre you enjoy more. I enjoyed the first half more. I liked the creepy elements and wished they’d gone through the entirety of the book. I’m not a huge action fan so the end was meh. I also saw the twists coming and never felt surprised by anything that happened.
Kristen@My Friends Are Fiction recently posted…Review of Into the Still Blue by Veronica Rossi
You’re actually the first person I know that enjoyed the first half of Avalon and not the second half, but it’s good to know that the first half of Avalon is well liked too! And I prefer my books to have some action spread throughout the book and not for it to just wait until the end to get to the action part. :P
I was so bored with the first half of Avalon that even if the twists would have surprised me originally, my boredom made it unsurprising if that makes any sense.
Kelly recently posted…Judge A Book By Its Signature: I Hunt Killers + Game – Barry Lyga
I hope unputdownable is a word because I just used it in a review :P If not, I’m all for making up words. I’m getting so sick of romances where all they only talk about how good looking the other person is and “fall in love.” I’ve read a couple of books in a row now where the author can’t stop talking about how beautiful the main characters are. It makes me yearn for average looking characters :/
Stephanie (Hopeless Romantics) recently posted…Review: Shatter Me
The angry red lines under the word “unputdownable” insists that it’s not a word, so… ):
But totally to making up words! ;D
YES YES YES. Nowadays, almost every young adult romance focus on “oh that guy is so hot” or “that girl is fineee.” I want more than that; I want authors to make me feel the character’s chemistry.
I’ve only read one historical romance with average looking characters and boy, was it refreshing!
Kelly recently posted…Top Ten (Okay, Nine) 2014 Debuts I’m Excited For
Good review. I like this author and there has been a lot of so-so reviews for this, guess I will just have to read it and find out for myself. ;)
Thanks Cali! :D
Ha ha, I hope you enjoy this one more than we did. ;D
Kelly recently posted…Top Ten (Okay, Nine) 2014 Debuts I’m Excited For
The world building was very nicely done! I really loved the science fiction aspect of things. I didn’t actually notice that there were any infodumps, but maybe that’s because I actually liked reading the explanation bits and so didn’t see them as infodumps? lol
A lot of people really seem to dislike the romance! I actually didn’t mind it, but I’d definitely say that it wasn’t completely necessary. As in, including it didn’t really affect my overall opinion of the book, but if it wasn’t included, wouldn’t make much of a difference either.
Nara recently posted…ARC Review: Uninvited by Sophie Jordan
I noticed the info-dumps because I was SO bored after 3 pages of explanation from Sierra (that is how you spell her name right? I don’t have my ARC with me anymore).
That’s exactly why people dislike the romance – it wasn’t needed. The romance was just in Avalon for the sake of having a romance. Honestly, nowadays every single young adult book has some kind of romance in it. :l
Kelly recently posted…Book Review: Racing Savannah – Miranda Kenneally
I won an ARC over Christmas too…and it sucked. :( But I couldn’t not read it…I mean, I won it. So I know how you feel. I haven’t heard anything particularly good about Avalon, so I think I’ll skip it. Info dumps bore me to tears. And if it’s that putdownable (that should totally be a bookworm word or something), then I know I’ll get bored. I have a short attention span. ;)
Cait D recently posted…Afterworld (Otherwise titled: The Review I Don’t Want to Write)
Yeah, I hate to be ungrateful for winning an ARC of Avalon because I really appreciate winning it, but it was just not my type of book. :l
Yep, there’s some info-dump in this one and Avalon also doesn’t really draw you in into the story.
You’re not alone with the short attention span! ;D
Kelly recently posted…Book Review: Racing Savannah – Miranda Kenneally
Great review! I’m not sure whether to read this book. Half of the bloggers is really content with the books and the other half doesn’t like it that much. Slow books are never really my thing and meaningless romances are a big irritation for me in books. But I do like sci-fi and good worldbuilding, so maybe I will read it sometime:)
Eveline @ Eveline’s Books recently posted…My Most Anticipated Releases of 2014
Thanks Eveline! (:
Well, it really depends on whether or not you think you’ll get through the first half of Avalon. Once you do, Avalon is action-packed and entertaining.
Kelly recently posted…Book Review: Uninvited – Sophie Jordan
I was disappointed in this book overall. It never connected, with anything. The plot or characters. But it wasn’t terrible. I rated it 2 stars because I’m not interested in reading more from this series.
Yeah. Many people including me had that problem with Avalon too. ):
I’m sadly not interested in reading the sequel either, although I’ll LOVE to see the cover.
Kelly recently posted…Book Review: Uninvited – Sophie Jordan
Your review reminds me of how I felt about Above by Leah Bobet. That was a book, I absolutely SHOULD HAVE LIKED. But for whatever reason, it didn’t hook itself into my soul. I mean, the world building was vague. And sometimes I’m okay with that – but that was a little too much. And while the mc’s voice was beautiful and poetic or whatever… Um. Nope. I had no idea what he was saying sometimes. No idea at all. Especially after the fact. I couldn’t tell you any of the terms that book came up with. So I can get how you understood the world but could never pass a test on it.
I’m a sucker for sci-fi, and after These Broken Stars, I’m in the mood for world-building and character development. Is that too much to ask?
So I think I might enjoy the info dump – as long as I have NOTHING else to do. And maybe all my other books have mysteriously vanished.
Okay, so not that bad. I am still interested, but I’ll proceed with caution. Since sci-fi is the genre I like to write the most, I want to know what to do. But I also want to know what NOT to do. So I think this’ll do it for me (:
Joanna V recently posted…Life of a Blogger (7)