Slated

when i first started this book, i nearly put it down a couple of times, i felt it was very slow to start with and i was confused as to what was going on, i felt like I had been slated. once the book got going after 100+ pages i finally started to enjoy it. i did enjoy the writing style, it was very fresh to read.

the main character kayla i really enjoyed reading about her and her dreams (visions)

ben one of the other main characters was really intriguing to read, kayla felt like she knew him, but that was impossible, right? the ending with ben damn near tore my heart out, i hope the 2nd book brings more answers.

after getting into this book i ended up throughly enjoying it and had trouble putting it down, and im now anxiously awaiting for the 2nd book in the series to be released so i can read it.

this book is for anyone who loves dystopian type books.

cant wait to see what happens next and also what this author writes in the future

thanks to the reading room for providing me with a copy in exchange for review

I have never been a great lover of dystopian novels in the past, until my interest in the genre was kindled by the “Hunger Games” series – since then I have read several novels with dystopian contexts and enjoyed a great many of them. When I received a copy of “Slated”, courtesy of “the reading room” and the publisher Hachette Australia (thank you!), I was immediately intrigued by the concept of “slating” – the process of wiping young offenders’ memories to give them a clean slate, a new future and the chance to start their life anew.

Kyla Davis has been slated 9 months ago and is being released from hospital to meet her new family – Mum, Dad and sister Amy. With her memory erased, the world is an alien, confusing place for Kyla as she is trying to fit into her new life and family. Like an infant, she must learn the most basic things about her environment as well as herself, her mood constantly monitored by the “Levo” fitted to her wrist – a device which gives off warning signals if the wearer’s mood gets low or feelings are to strong, and which can cause unconsciousness or even death if levels are allowed to fall below a certain level.

Plagued by nightmares which Kyla believes are somehow connected to her previous life, she begins to question the reason why she was “slated” in the first place – could she have been a terrorist, an enemy of the government, a killer even? Or is there an even more sinister reason? But as other people around her disappear never to be seen again, Kyla soon learns that in her new life she cannot trust those around her, or ask too many questions.

Slated is a very cleverly crafted YA dystopian thriller, built around a girl’s quest for self-discovery common to coming-of-age novels – but this time with a twist, as the question of “who am I?” may very well spell death for Kyla. Like an amnesiac, every day Kyla reconnects a little bit more with the self she has lost, often in disjointed little pieces of a puzzle she must try to fit together without arousing suspicion. As part of this journey, Kyla grows as a character as the novel progresses and she discovers hidden memories, talents and emotions inside herself – maturing from a rather bland, boring and subservient character into a determined and resourceful young woman. I would have liked to see Kyla being even more feisty towards the end of the book, a bit more of Lucy emerging in her – but maybe the author has saved this for the sequel of this novel.

A lot of the themes in this novel are targeted at the YA audience – and yet also contain interesting universal concepts such as the question: what makes us who we really are? Can our personality / fate be changed by simply erasing our past, or is it too deeply ingrained in our genes to make a difference? This made for an interesting premise, especially when Kyla discovers that some other “slateds” had volunteered to have the procedure done to them to escape a traumatic childhood and make a fresh start. Which presents an interesting topic for the whole nature vs nurture debate ….

Personally, I would have liked a bit more background knowledge about the dystopian society Kyla lives in – I get the whole concept of mind control, but the passivity of the population in the face of children’s disappearances would only be understandable in an environment of total oppression – which to me was never really obvious from the context of the novel. However, all in all the author has done a great job in bringing Kyla’s world to life and engaging the reader’s interest in her circumstances. Unfortunately we will have to wait for the sequel to get the answers to Kyla’s questions about her past – and I admit I am very interested to find out what happens next.

My rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars.

interesting concept