Author: Gemma Malley
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Published: March 29th 2012
Series: The Killables #1
Source: paperback (borrowed)
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Summary: Everyone accepted that people were different physically. But inside? Inside, they were different too. You just had to know how to tell, what to look for.
Evil has been eradicated. The City has been established. And citizens may only enter after having the 'evil' part of their brain removed. They are labelled on the System according to how 'good' they are. If they show signs of the evil emerging, they are labelled a K . . . But no one knows quite what that means. Only that they disappear, never to be seen again . . .
Review: The first 2 pages of The Killables were extracts from a Wikipedia article. Apparently the entire book was based on an unreliable source, nice. I decided to overlook that because I was just so intrigued by the premise!
The first few chapters were pretty good, world building was a little lacking but The City sounded really interesting. However, I started thinking. How does one define evil? Is it not evil for a mother to despise her own child? Is it not evil that people are made to judge each other? And yet, it is evil to feel angry. Evie seems to think that everything she does and thinks is evil. That was really hard to grasp and her constant self loathing was really getting on my nerves. And then there is Raffy. He did not forgive his brother, up till the end. Really? Holding a grudge for someone that saved your ass, not cool bro. Both Evie and Raffy doesn't seem to grow as characters, they remain child-like despite going through so much. Their relationship is also really odd, it is built on comfort/habit, there isn't a real connection between them. Lucas on the other hand was a much better character. He grew throughout the novel and he was so much deeper, much more human-like. Evie doesn't seem in love with Raffy and she seems to be forcing herself. She is just giving into whatever Raffy says or wants, can we please have a stronger female character. Damsels in distress is such an overused character. I don't get the whole love triangle trend going on in all dystopian novels and I think it is starting to spoil my appetite for this genre.
Another issue I had with The Killables was the constant repetition! Evie's dream was repeated for about 4-5 times? It was a copy and paste of the ENTIRE scene without any changes. Even the epilogue was that same scene -.- At least a few words were changed up...
The explanations of the ranks, the Evils, The City etc. was constantly tossed around every few chapters. WHY? It was unnecessary and tiresome to constantly be reading about the same things that have been slight rephrased.
Obviously it was not all bad since I finished the book in about 2 days. The storyline was good, pretty interesting actually and it was the main reason I actually bothered finishing the book. I was hooked to the storyline and it helped me ignore the bad bits in the book. The twists in the story were amazing! I did not expect all the truth revelations. This story would have worked perfectly in a less touchy topic, what a pity.
Overall it was a very disappointing read, I was so excited for it! I kept turning the pages hoping for something, anything to save the book but I was left with an emptiness. I guess I just wasn't convinced enough that Gemma Malley knows the definition of evil and that the system is really that awesome. It's difficult to flow with the story when you don't believe in it.
My rating:
Recommended for anyone who enjoys a good plot with adventure and of course die-hard dystopian fans!
The Killables has successfully forced me to put on hold the rest of my dystopian TBR books. Reading 4 books of the same genre in less than 2 weeks was a bad idea and I've learnt my lesson. I need some time to 'recover' from my overdose of dystopia. :P This may have affected my review for The Killables because so many people seemed to have enjoyed it. :/ So don't let my review deter you from checking it out!
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