A Review for ACID by Emma Pass

Posted by Donna
Release Date: April 25th, 2013
Finished Date: May 7th, 2013

Publishers: Corgi 
Source: For Review 

Format: Paperback
Pages: 431 

Buy: Amazon UK / Amazon US / The Book Depo

2113. 

In Jenna Strong’s world, ACID – the most brutal, controlling police force in history – rule supreme. No throwaway comment or muttered dissent goes unnoticed – or unpunished. And it was ACID agents who locked Jenna away for life, for a bloody crime she struggles to remember.

The only female inmate in a violent high-security prison, Jenna has learned to survive by any means necessary. And when a mysterious rebel group breaks her out, she must use her strength, speed and skill to stay one step ahead of ACID – and to uncover the truth about what really happened on that dark night two years ago.

The Review: I was excited to receive ACID that I started it within a few days of receiving it, and while the story had such a strong start, after a few chapters it slowly started getting weaker. And so in the end, it was impossible for me to love it, but I certainly didn't hate it.

As I said before the plot started off strong but no sooner than things getting interesting, I started to lose interest. It was pretty easy to figure out what had happened to Jenna before she did, and because of this there was no excitement and nothing to grip me to the edge of my seat with anticipation. So of course, by the time Jenna figured everything out, I was over it and all the surprise was taken out of what I was reading.

As for Jenna, she starts out as a strong main character. We see her kicking the butt out of a guy who she's in prison with, and we see her trying to get on with her life as much as she possibly can. However, when she's sprung from prison, Jenna doesn't come across as the kick-ass character that she once was - which was slightly disappointing. It isn't until the last few chapter's that we start to see her once again, becoming the kick-ass character she was. I guess you could say my expectations were very high when it came to Jenna. I'd seen all the glowing reviews comparing her to likes of Lara Croft, so of course I was expecting awesomeness from her, but in my opinion Jenna never came across that way. I felt she was somewhat lacking as a character, and although she did have her moments, I don't feel like the author took the time to explain what it was really like for her to be in the prison or what it was like to 'kill' her parents. 

Max as the love interest was a weak character. Nothing screamed out to me about him, even when he's gone in part of the story, it was easy to forget he was even in the story. It was good how his character was wove into the story but that's about it. Sorry Max!

The government; ACID, were probably the highlight of the book for me, even though they were the bad guys. It was interesting to unravel the laws that had put in place and how they kept everyone under control. As a dystopian, Emma Pass did a good job bringing something dreadful and scary to the table, and making it work so well. Especially since ACID aren't the only players in this story. We have two other groups trying to take control, and that's NAR and FREE. Once again, I enjoyed their stories and loved seeing how they wanted to make an impact if they could over throw ACID.

The story did have many good and bad points and some of the  information I felt was irrelevant and some was not. Near the end, there were a few chapters that I felt didn't need to be there because they didn't really have any impact on the story. But then everything picked up again towards the end. 

The ending, I guess I could say it was enjoyable, if not predictable at times. I think it could have been put together better but still, it was one of the best parts of the story. The epilogue was a good added bonus that I believe felt right. Not a lot of authors take the time to write epilogues, but I'm glad Emma Pass did and I felt everything was concluded well. 

In all, Emma Pass's ACID didn't live up to my expectations, but it was still an enjoyable read. I still believe many people will love, so it's definitely worth a read.