Pawn by Aimee Carter
Series: The Blackcoat Rebellion #1
Publisher: HarlequinTeen
Source: Publisher
ISBN: 9780373210558
Release Date: November 26, 2013
Pages: 304
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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 refreshing change to read. As much as I love science fiction and dystopian fiction it can get tiresome. It can seem like it’s always the same story repeating over and over, but I was pleasantly surprised with Pawn. Even with testing everyone to sort them into their deserved class Pawn brought a new spin to the genre. It could be that it had a heavier political spin to it than other books I have read, but either way I enjoyed it.
Kitty grew up in an orphanage and struggles with reading. During the testing she is unable to finish and only scores a III. III’s have little rights and receive little pay for the work they are assigned. Shortly after her test she is offered a chance to become a VII by posing as the president’s recently deceased niece (Lila).
Kitty is soon swept up into a game of cat and mouse between the president, his sister (Lila’s mother), and the grandmother. The entire time you are reading the book you don’t really know if each party is as good or bad as they are portraying. You never know who Kitty should trust. The grandmother, Augusta, was a formidable foe. She is incredibly smart and has no conscience. She is willing to kill off members of the family if it suits her end game.
Aimee Carter developed a fascinating world with this series. When I found out what Elsewhere really was I was disgusted. The world building developed at a nice pace. The book wasn’t too slow, but it had nice spurts of actions along the way. The book wasn’t heavy on the romantic aspect, but you could see that in future books it has the possibility of opening up into more.
