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Title: Imperfect
Author: Tina Chan
Published By: CreateSpace (2013)
Synopsis:
Kristi lives in a Perfect world, where everyone is genetically made to be Perfect. Except Kristi. Without the specifications, she is looked upon as an Accident—clumsy, imperfect, wrong. She has never met another Accident in her life, because all in except her case, the government takes the Accidents away from society. Where they go, nobody knows. Then Kristi’s parents are arrested for being spies and she discovers another Accident, Chelsa—then things really start happening.
Review:
I had a great impression of Imperfect when I first saw it, but it did not live up to my expectations. There were a lot of things I disliked about this book, and at the same time, a lot of things I liked. Truthfully, I would have liked this a lot better had it not been for the ending. I am personally not a fan of cliffhangers. Some cliffhangers are done well, but in this case, it left me feeling unsatisfied.
What I liked: The dystopian element was well-developed, complete down the last detail, and was very believable. The beginning of the book hooked my attention, even if it was dragged out later on. I really enjoyed the author’s suspense writing; a mystery would be mentioned, and then pages later, it would come back and unravel. In a couple of these cases, it was so prolonged that I did wonder if the mystery would even be unraveled, but it always was. The writing itself was another thing I liked. It was definitely aimed for an older audience, and not by topic, but by wording and sentences, and I appreciated that. Some people may not like the fact that there was barely any romance in this book, but believe it or not, that was an element I was very happy about. Though some romance inevitably sneaks in, it is only there in the background and never makes its way to center stage.
Downsides: I could easily tell this was a self-published book by the typos. Which of course doesn’t diminish the quality of a book on its own, but it can create a very unprofessional feel which can translate to a negative view of the story itself. There were quite a few questionable words that I found myself skipping over, though I will credit the author that eighty percent of the time, it was mostly just written, “They cursed,” rather than actually say what they said. I did see one or two actual swear words, but they were framed as part of the dialogue/sentence and, though I definitely believe the author could’ve done something else instead just as well, they were not just thrown in there for the fun of it.
The characters were likeable, but not lovable. I did not appreciate the lack of emotion and the jumping from scene to scene. In one scene, Kristi is in a burning building trying to escape, and it seems that she is not even panicking. Once she gets out, she says, “Phew,” and goes to find somewhere to sleep, as if it had not even happened. There seems to be no aftermath to anything, and when replaying it later, there is no emotion or terror at the memory. This happened over and over at every action. Also, the action kept jumping from place to place. I really would have loved some more connection with the characters.
Negative Content/Notes:
A few curse words.
Overall:
Overall, though, it was a good read. I made my way through it, and liked (some of) it while it lasted. From reading it I can guess most teens will LOVE Imperfect; but me…well, I guess I’m just not a normal teen. 😉
Rating: 3.5 / 5.0
Recommended to: Ages 12+