Review : Altered by Gennifer Albin

Summary (from Goodreads)

Title : Altered (Crewel World #2)
Author : Gennifer Albin
Publication Date : October 29th 2013
Publisher : Farrar, Straus & Giroux
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Life. Possibility. Choice.
All taken from Adelice by the Guild—until she took them back.

But amid the splendid ruins of Earth, Adelice discovers how dangerous freedom can be. Hunted by soulless Remnants sent by Cormac Patton and the Guild, Adelice finds a world that’s far from deserted. Although allies are easy to find on Earth, knowing who to trust isn’t. Because everyone has secrets, especially those Adelice loves most. Secrets they would kill to protect. Secrets that will redefine each of them. Torn between two brothers and two worlds, Adelice must choose what to fight for.

In this thrilling sequel to Crewel, Adelice is about to learn how tangled up her past and future really are. Her parents ran to protect her, but nothing can save her from her destiny, and once she uncovers the truth, it will change everything.

 Personal Thoughts

I adored Crewel by Gennifer Albin for it's unique dystopian society and wonderful characters, which explains why I was beyond thrilled to start Altered. Unfortunately, my expectations for this book were way too high and while I thought Crewel was brilliant, Altered was a complete mess according to me.

The characters in Altered drove me mad, to the point where I hated them. These were the same characters that I grew to cherish in the first book, but their frustrating decision-making skills and other elements made me really dislike them in this installment. Adelice, the main character, was a strong, brave and pretty great character in the first book, but in this one, she was a completely different person. She would make illogical decisions that constantly put herself in the face of danger and that's not a characteristic I appreciate in a character. You can be a risk-taker, but think before you're making any kind of decision. In addition, her fluctuating feelings between Jost and Erick also bothered me, but I'll get more to that later. Erick was another character I grew to dislike in this book. No matter what, going after your brother's girlfriend is seriously low. Jost was probably the only one I enjoyed in this novel because he remained true to himself. I liked that despite not being at the Guild that he still deeply cares for his daughter. In addition, Altered introduced us to some new secondary characters none of whom I found to be particularly interesting except maybe for Dante, who had interesting shades to him.

Now onto what went completely wrong for me: the bloody love triangle. See, nothing in the first book led me to believe that Adelice actually had any feelings for Erick. I knew Erick had feelings for her, but Adelice? I should have known that this would turn into a dreaded love triangle when I read the first book. My biggest problem with it was how quickly Adelice turned her affection from Jost to Erick. It was unbelievable and made me want to call Adelice a few choice words. Plus, they admitted to loving each other rather quickly. I hate when authors do this. They make you fall for this love interest in the first book and just when you're comfortable with the first love interest, the main character turns to the other guy. It makes me lose respect for the characters. I disliked how Adelice didn't even give a thought to Jost and just ran into Erick's arms (and bed) after an argument she had with Jost, which by the way, could have been solved with communication. So, the romance ended up completely ruining my experience of the book.

Besides the disastrous love triangle, I also had trouble adjusting to the new world. The world-building in the first book was stunning, unique and all sorts of creative, but in this one because they are no longer at the Guild, the author had to refresh the world-building and this time, it didn't impress me as much as I wanted it to. Plus, some of the twists and revelations about the characters and the world-building didn't work for me and they came across as too ambitious to me. I also did not feel like much happened in the book and there were moments when my attention started to stray away from the book.

In the end I thought Altered suffered from middle-book syndrome and I honestly don't know if I have any interest reading the final installment of the trilogy when it comes out next year. I don't know if I can recommend this one to anyone because I personally disliked it very much. Definitely check out other reviews before deciding.

Rating

Cover : 4/5
Plot : 2/5
Characters : 1/5
Writing : 3/5