Review : Mind Games by Kiersten White
Title : Mind Games (Mind Games #1)
Author : Kiersten White
Publisher : HarperTeen
Publication Date : February 19th 2013
Goodreads - The Book Depository
Fia was born with flawless instincts. Her first impulse, her gut feeling, is always exactly right. Her sister, Annie, is blind to the world around her—except when her mind is gripped by strange visions of the future.
Trapped in a school that uses girls with extraordinary powers as tools for corporate espionage, Annie and Fia are forced to choose over and over between using their abilities in twisted, unthinkable ways… or risking each other’s lives by refusing to obey.
In a stunning departure from her New York Times bestselling Paranormalcy trilogy, Kiersten White delivers a slick, edgy, heartstoppingly intense psychological thriller about two sisters determined to protect each other—no matter the cost.
Personal Thoughts
Oh Mind Games! Why did your gorgeous cover and exciting synopsis force me to read you?
Mind Games is yet another example of a brilliant cover drawing in the reader. I'm sorely disappointed by this book. I had such high hopes for it, but they were crushed when I finally got to read it.
The characters in Mind Games really did not work for me. The book is told in the POV of Fia and Annie, two sisters. Fia was the younger sister, but she was the bolder and fearless one. I went into the book expecting to love her. However, I never could identify with her character. One main reason for that is the lack of development her character had. In my opinion, she wasn't as fleshed out as she could be. Fia had the potential to be one amazing character, what with her being an assassin, but the author failed to make her stand out. Not being able to connect with her is what led me to dislike her. Her older blind sister, Annie, was no different. In fact, I would say that she was even harder to appreciate. She had to be the worst sibling to ever be written about. Not only was she naive, but she was incredibly selfish and thought only about herself. Her younger sister was risking her life for her and she still failed to see that the school they were at was simply using Fia and Annie did nothing to stop them. She was so wrapped up in her own world that she refused to see what was going on with Fia. I also hated how she always tried to control Fia and the decisions she made. As for the secondary characters, to be honest, there wasn't one who was remotely interesting or who stood out to me.
The world building in Mind Games was also very flawed and inadequate. The reader is thrown into the story without any background information as to what is going on. Over the course of the story, I thought maybe the world would get clearer, but that did not happen. All the while I was reading, I felt like I was on a cloud of confusion, not knowing what was going on. The writing was also strange and completely awkward. Kiersten White a used writing style that I'm guessing was supposed to appear original and intriguing, but to me it felt choppy and unprofessional. Her use of flashbacks was also not something I thought she handled masterfully. There was absolutely no flow between the chapters because of the flashbacks. One chapter would be from 10 years ago and the next would be to the present and another would be to 5 years ago. I was left in a state of confusion because I could not for the life of me remember what happened in that chapter. To be honest, when I tried to think of anything positive from this book, I came up with nothing. Mind Games just wasn't the book for me. With all the issues that I had with the book, I found myself being dreadfully bored. I expected an action-packed book about a girl who assassin's people. All I got was a set of annoying characters along with a non-existent world-building.
Mind Games was a book that brimmed with potential, with a unique idea behind the book. Unfortunately, the poor characterization, the awkward writing and the weak world building obstructed the book from becoming a truly exceptional one. At this point, I'm not sure whether I want to continue this series or not. I will probably just wait for reviews to come in before I dive into the next installment. Although Mind Games might have not worked for me, there's a possibility that you might enjoy it, so definitely give the book a shot!
Rating
Cover : 4/5
Plot : 2/5
Characters : 2/5
Writing : 2/5
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