Review : Struck by Jennifer Bosworth

Summary (from Goodreads)

Mia Price is a lightning addict. She's survived countless strikes, but her craving to connect to the energy in storms endangers her life and the lives of those around her.

Los Angeles, where lightning rarely strikes, is one of the few places Mia feels safe from her addiction. But when an earthquake devastates the city, her haven is transformed into a minefield of chaos and danger. The beaches become massive tent cities. Downtown is a crumbling wasteland, where a traveling party moves to a different empty building each night, the revelers drawn to the destruction by a force they cannot deny. Two warring cults rise to power, and both see Mia as the key to their opposing doomsday prophecies. They believe she has a connection to the freak electrical storm that caused the quake, and to the far more devastating storm that is yet to come.

Mia wants to trust the enigmatic and alluring Jeremy when he promises to protect her, but she fears he isn't who he claims to be. In the end, the passion and power that brought them together could be their downfall. When the final disaster strikes, Mia must risk unleashing the full horror of her strength to save the people she loves, or lose everything.

Personal Thoughts

If you have seen the book trailer for Struck, you would have understood why I was so excited to read the book. Professional-looking and sophisticated, Struck's trailer really captivated me. Even the premise sounded utterly exciting. However, the book's content failed to impress me and I found myself being totally disappointed.

Mia Price is addicted to lightning. Whenever she's struck by lightning, she feels a rush of energy. Because of her craving for lightning, her family, which consists of her mother and brother, move to LA. Soon LA is nearly destroyed by a disastrous earthquake. In the aftermath of the earthquake, two factions arise ; The Followers ,led by Prophet, and The Seekers. Both groups are interested in Mia and she finds herself stuck in between them.

The premise for Struck was interesting and it was very promising. For one, it was very unique and it definitely had the possibility to really shine. Secondly,the ideas in the book were fascinating  However, the book was devoid of many things. I have always thought that the best aspect of a dystopian book is the world, the author creates using his/her imagination. In my opinion, the world-building was poor. To be honest, I learned next to nothing about Mia's world. Nowhere in the book are we given explanations about why the whole lightning thing occurs. There's also no mention of why the earthquake was located in LA. I was left with countless unanswered questions that infinitely bothered me. I hate feeling like a fool while reading because I don't understand what's going on. It makes me feel clueless and stupid. All in all, the ideas in the book were confusing to the point where I felt like throwing the book into a corner.

My second issue with Struck lies in the religious aspect. Ok, so I knew there were cults in the book and I expected some religion in it, but the religion in Struck was so overwhelming. Everything was about God. Don't get me wrong. I'm a believer. I have a faith, but I didn't like how God was portrayed in the book. If I wanted to read a book based on religion, I would probably have picked up a religious book of some sort. But I was looking for entertainment and action when I started Struck. Struck had the possibility to be fast-paced ,action-packed and thrilling, in general. With Mia's 'lightning powers' , a lot action scenes could have been portrayed, but the story ended up being bland.

Even the characters were, somewhat, vapid. I don't think I connected with any of them and none of them were really appealing or memorable, not even the main character. I didn't dislike them, but I didn't love them either. Strong connections with the main character always make me love the book I'm reading. There was nothing frustrating about Mia's voice, but something was missing to make her voice sound alluring and likable. I would really love to see some character development in the next book and I feel that with growth and maturity, the characters in Struck could turn out to be incredible.

There was instant-love in this novel. I felt basically no chemistry and no tension between the Mia and Jeremy. Their relationship had no sparks whatsoever, according to me. I also disliked how Mia forgave Jeremy for trying to kill her so easily. It was just unrealistic and unbelievable.

Personally, I didn't enjoy Struck, but that doesn't mean others will not enjoy  it. I'm quite sure that the book will charm many readers, but Struck just wasn't the book for me. It's really too bad since Struck was one of my most anticipated reads of 2012.

Rating

Cover : 4/5

Plot : 2/5

Characters : 2/5

Writing : 2/5