Review | Pawn by Aimee Carter

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.




Review:

If there's one thing Aimee Carter knows how to write then it's a quick, effortless read. I finished this in a matter of hours and barely registered the fact that I gotten through so many pages without it feeling like it dragged. 

There are some aspects that I loved and that I hated. I loved the idea of being Masked. Essentially it's when your body is turned into somebody else. It's creepy, screams government conspiracy, and has a whole lot of problems that come with it. Kitty, our MC, has been Masked as Lila, a level 5 (which is the highest level in this universe). A Level 5 has everything and anything. Mansions, money, fame. Essentially, every level below gets less and less. Level 4s are pretty respected, but anything under Level 3 and basically you're dirt and doing all the "crappy" manual jobs. Kitty, a level 3, gets the opportunity to be Lila because they have similar eyes which is something the Masking process cannot alter.

I felt like Kitty kind of blended into this version of a perfect Lila. So much so that Kitty and Lila started becoming the same person. [spoiler] You really begin to notice this when we actually meet Lila who is in hiding and not dead [/spoiler] I loved meeting some of the other characters though such as Lila's fiancé Knox and her brother Greyson. I despise Benjy. I don't know why, but I do. Something about his character just makes me roll my eyes and go 'ugh'. 

I did feel like there was a bit of a The Selection feel to Pawn. I think it's because of the rebellion and politics and marriage with royalty/politics. There's not much more than that in terms of similarity, but I just kept getting the same feel for the two novels. 

I definitely enjoyed it. Carter's writing is simple and easy to read and the characters are likeable enough. Some plot twists were predictable, some weren't (Elsewhere, anyone?), but it was enough for me to really enjoy myself.

Rating: 4 stars
Read: March 2014