Book Review: Phoenix Island

So time has just gotten away from me.  I feel like I've done absolutely nothing.  I meant to write and post this review earlier, but heck, it's still early enough, right?  Phoenix Island is the first ARC I have ever received and I was so excited to get it.  It releases on the seventh along with the first episode of the TV series it inspired, Intelligence.  I'm super excited for Intelligence and can't wait to see how they tie into each other.

Now, this book was underwhelming, and you have no idea how much I hate writing that down.  I wanted to read this book, so, so, so, so bad.  I may have set my standards a little too high, though, because in the end I just couldn't get into it.

My biggest problem was Octavia.  Pretty much, the only female character in the whole book, and she was nothing special.  In fact, she depended on the guy's for absolutely EVERYTHING.  It wasn't trying to be sexist, I don't think, but the way the book is written makes it very guy-centric with no room for the strong female character.  I was glad to see that there were female characters, though, because before I even started reading I had the impression that there wouldn't be any.

Now, before I go any further, let me tell you that this is very, very similar to Lord of the Flies.  For those of you who haven't read that book, I seriously recommend it.  I had to read it for school and thoroughly enjoyed it.  But having read that book (albeit being a couple years ago) this book wasn't that original.  I even felt like I saw some parallels between characters.  If you were a fan of Lord of the Flies, pick this one up!  If that's your bread and butter, you'll love this one, I promise.

It is really guy-centric, though.  Not something I would have picked up if it weren't for the fact that Intelligence was based off of it.  The main character, Carl, spends a lot of time talking about wrestling and his knuckles.  There's also a large deal of obsession over the city of Philadelphia.  I mean, neither of these things are bad, but they took up to much room.

The storytelling voice was dry at some parts.  The flashbacks were boring when they were meant to shed light into the characters.  There were a lot of parts that you just can't believe in, even with a good imagination, this book took things a little too far.  Besides Carl there weren't any flavors to any of the characters.  Disappointing.

But there was good!  The action scenes were heart-racing and intense.  The details and images sometimes made perfect pictures in my head, like I was watching them on a screen (although for those with weak stomachs: it can get pretty gross).  At parts my heart was clenching in sadness, fear, and, at parts, I felt empowered by the wise things coming out of characters mouths.

This is not a light read.  In fact, it's a rather heavy one, even though the page count doesn't way in at that much.  I do want to read the next installments of this series, and I don't think it was really as bad as the picture I'm painting.  It just wasn't my cup of tea, and that's disappointing.

Overall, I'm giving this book 2 3/4 stars.