Thursday, January 16, 2014

Icons by Margaret Stohl

Margaret Stohl and I are adorable! Love this pic! 
Everything changed on The Day. The day the windows shattered. The day the power stopped. The day Dol's family dropped dead. The day Earth lost a war it didn't know it was fighting. Since then, Dol has lived a simple life in the countryside -- safe from the shadow of the Icon and its terrifying power. Hiding from the one truth she can't avoid. She's different. She survived. Why? When Dol and her best friend, Ro, are captured and taken to the Embassy, off the coast of the sprawling metropolis once known as the City of Angels, they find only more questions. While Ro and fellow hostage Tima rage against their captors, Dol finds herself drawn to Lucas, the Ambassador's privileged son. But the four teens are more alike than they might think, and the timing of their meeting isn't a coincidence. It's a conspiracy. Within the Icon's reach, Dol, Ro, Tima, and Lucas discover that their uncontrollable emotions -- which they've always thought to be their greatest weaknesses -- may actually be their greatest strengths. (from Goodreads)

Flo's Review
This was an interesting one for me because it was 4.5 stars for me until the end...now it's 3.5. If you want to know why, and you've read the book, check out my spoilery review on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/804280392?book_show_action=false

I listened to the audiobook of this one, and the reader did a good job, though it was a little funny hearing her try to do an automated, robot-like tone for the Research Memorandums. This book was non-stop action, and I found myself wanting to be back in the car so I could find out what happened next. When I am really into an audiobook, I will want to pick up the print book and keep reading so I don't have to wait until I am driving again. This happened with Icons, but I made myself be patient so I could listen to the whole thing. I also found myself thinking about the story during the work and at times when I was not driving, and that is another telltale sign for me that a book is really leaving an impression.

Ro. That's my boy! I have so much love for Ro. I think I like him most because with him what you see is what you get. He obviously feels things very deeply, and he feels them purely and intensely as well. When he's happy, he's happy. When he's excited, he's excited. Granted, when he is mad...stay out of his way! I loved reading about how he and Dol complimented each other. Rage and Sorrow. I never really felt like Dol and Lucas complimented each other in the same way, which is why I had a problem with the love triangle in this story. 

The end of the story left us with a lot of unanswered questions. I understand why -- to keep our interest, to keep the story going -- but I think the reader should have gotten a bit more to go on. I had the impression at the end that Dol and the other Icon Children knew more about themselves than we as the reader did (through what Lucas found out and through the book). But, alas, we are still very much in the dark. The end of the story did set up Book #2 nicely, so I hope I can get an ARC of it sooner than later so I can see how everything progresses.

1 comment :

  1. I hope this wasn't a Dead to You sort of ending. I was at a solid 4 stars until the VERY end. I ended up giving it 2 stars.

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