Pawn by Aimee Carter

Pawn by Aimee Carter
Series: The Blackcoat Rebellion, #1
Source: Negalley
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Publication Date: November 26, 2013

YOU CAN BE A VII. IF YOU GIVE UP EVERYTHING. 

For Kitty Doe, it seems like an easy choice. She can either spend her life as a III in misery, looked down upon by the higher ranks and forced to leave the people she loves, or she can become a VII and join the most powerful family in the country.

If she says yes, Kitty will be Masked—surgically transformed into Lila Hart, the Prime Minister's niece, who died under mysterious circumstances. As a member of the Hart family, she will be famous. She will be adored. And for the first time, she will matter.

There's only one catch. She must also stop the rebellion that Lila secretly fostered, the same one that got her killed …and one Kitty believes in. Faced with threats, conspiracies and a life that's not her own, she must decide which path to choose—and learn how to become more than a pawn in a twisted game she's only beginning to understand.

Pawn was a big fat meh for me. I went into it with average expectations for a dystopian - I wasn't expected to be head over heels with it, but I kind of wanted to like it... the problem was that I just couldn't wrap my head around it.

The numberings, the testings, the Harts and the population law with fines... none of that made sense to me. For one, the number system is ridiculous. Depending on how high you score on a test, you're given a number. That number dictates who you are, what you'll do and how smart you are. The testing process is legitly messed up, yet no one seems to think that it's wrong? Some numbers are passed down, faked, and others are just not worth anything. I's are automatically sent into a wasteland to die.

Yet... everyone seems to think that this is okay. There's not even a murmur of discontentment anywhere. The Harts are in control. Why are they in control? We never get any plausible back story on them, nor do we really get a backstory on any of it... the believability level is zilch.

Since I don't really wanna go on a rampage, I'll move on to the characters. I found Kitty to be a pretty flat character. I never understood what motivated her, or why she did what she did - I couldn't really get into her mind. I liked that the story started out with an existing relationship, but there's a slight chance that it'll continue on the same path, which I find to be sad.

A lot of the twists to the plot were revealed early on, and I feel like the big surprise was saved up until the end for shock factor. And it did shock me, but not necessarily in a good way. My biggest problem with Pawn was without a doubt the unbelievable dystopian society. All in all, Pawn really wasn't for me. I didn't particularly enjoy it, but I didn't hate it either.