LBOY2015 Shortlist Review #5: 'Riot' by Sarah Mussi

'Riot' by Sarah Mussi

Review by Christopher Moore

 Summary:

England is struggling under a recession that has shown no sign of abating. Years of cuts has devastated Britain: banks are going under, businesses closing, prices soaring, unemployment rising, prisons overflowing. The authorities cannot cope. And the population has maxed out.

The police are snowed under. Something has to give. Drastic measures need taking.

The solution: forced sterilisation of all school leavers without secure further education plans or guaranteed employment.

The country is aghast. Families are distraught, teenagers are in revolt, but the politicians are unshakeable: The population explosion must be curbed. No more free housing for single parents, no more child benefit, no more free school meals, no more children in need. Less means more.

But it is all so blatantly unfair - the Teen Haves will procreate, the Teen Havenots won't.

It's time for the young to take to the streets. It's time for them to RIOT:

OUR RIGHTS, OUR BODIES, OUR FUTURE.


Review:

The novel is more plot- than character-driven but that's fine and the sterilisation of the school leavers from poorer classes is so strong that it actually ensnares and intrigues the reader from the first gruesome pages. The story reads like a sucker-punch to the face. It's bold with a fast-paced narrative and plenty of action.

Mussi flicks emotional switches at the right times though, allowing us to identify with her characters even though her characters read, for me anyway, as physical, ideological representations in this dystopian Britain. That's not to say they're bad characters and in fact, I think it mostly works for this kind of story.

Tia is an interesting enough narrator though I felt at times, there was some repetition with her language; in particular the "flipping" curse word stripped her of some of her credibility as a teen - and in general, I felt like she could have been pushed even further (to the extent that Day was in Marie Lu's Legend trilogy). She also lapses into Americanisms which conflicts with the London setting. The only other thing that irked me was that the antagonist read a bit cartoony when I wanted more depth to match the gravity and severity of the law that's being implemented.


Overall, it's a fast-paced story with a good backstory and setting that will please fans of Sophie Kenzie and Marie Lu.

 Rating: 4/5 Stars  ★ ★ ★ ★ 

Christopher Moore:

Christopher is a co-founder of the YAfictionados blog and is best known as the YAblooker. He is a twenty-four year old book blogger who has previously worked in marketing and consumer insight for various publishing houses and writes in his spare time. He loves to travel and will read anything YA-related and some general fiction and fantasy.

Follow Christopher on Twitter: @YAblooker

Find Christopher on Goodreads: Christopher Moore

LBOY2015 Shortlist Review #3: 'Only Ever Yours' by Louise O'Neill

'Only Ever Yours' by Louise O'Neill

Review by Sarah Nuttall

Summary:

freida and isabel have been best friends their whole lives. Now, aged sixteen and in their final year at the School, they expect to be selected as companions - wives to wealthy and powerful men.

The alternative - life as a concubine - is too horrible to contemplate.

But as the intensity of the final year takes hold, the pressure to be perfect mounts. isabel starts to self-destruct, putting her beauty - her only asset - in peril.

And then into this sealed female environment, the boys arrive, eager to choose a bride.

freida must fight for her future - even if it means betraying the only friend, the only love, she has ever known...

Review:

Only Ever Yours is the debut novel of the talented Louise O’Neill. A satirical novel on society’s obsession with female beauty and the pursuit for physical perfection, it was well received by the YA community as well as being shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize and winning the inaugural YA Book Prize.


freida and isabel have been best friends their whole lives; born from the same batch of eves they are genetically engineered women designed to be the right standard of physical beauty and perfection. Along with their sister eves for twelve years they have attended The School awaiting the day of The Ceremony, the day were they will finally discover which role they will receive on leaving school – companion, concubine or chastity. The greatest of these is the companion; a role which allows the eve to be owned by a husband and the possibility of having sons. Next, are the concubines; designed for sexual pleasure. And lastly, is the common chastity; remaining at the school to develop the future generations of eves to attain their futures. The chastities teach the eves the rules; be pretty; do as you’re told; don’t be different; and don’t break the rules. They eves are drugged with pills to help them sleep and keep their weight within target. Their classes revolve around learning skills that men will find useful and critiquing the beauty and weight of their fellow eves. The pressure is immense and when the boys arrive to claim their brides the eves descend into the final rounds of their high pressure game of "'win or lose"; for this is what they were designed for; this is why they were made. 


I was absolutely floored the first time I read Only Ever Yours and having read it a second time it still has had a strong emotional effect on me. Although the story is fiction, it comes from such an honest core, using our society’s obsession with physical beauty so that it offers more of a reflection on modern society that, on the surface, may resemble a standard YA dystopian novel. The eves are trained to analyse, critique and manipulate each other all in the name of beauty and by conforming to one type of beauty, the eves are faceless; mere clones encouraged to have no personality. The eves viciously attack each other’s physicality; the eves with the highest beauty rankings setting the standards and implementing a self-perpetual cycle that cannot be broken. The onslaught is relentless.


Social media and TV offer no reprieve to the eves; instead, it is used to reflect back to them the standards and ideals they must achieve. It’s a frightening parable but one which will resonate with most. Who amongst us hasn’t witnessed someone’s physicality described negatively? Hasn’t seen a magazine label a woman too skinny, too fat, or simply labelled a bitch? Read a description of a woman’s age and beauty rather than her profession achievements? A mere glance on the internet can bring up the worst and nastiest comments from faceless commentators, with users hounded off social media by taunts of weight, beauty or accusations of stupidity. The most popular cosmetic surgeries across the world are breast augmentation, nasal surgery and eyelid surgery as women across the world alter their faces and bodies to achieve one goal. Butt implants are the fasting growing surgery. It’s a vicious onslaught and although it’s a personal choice and, for some, surgery may have a positive life change, perhaps some would feel happier with their perceived imperfections if there were more standards of beauty than what’s currently reflected.


The desire for physical perfection is summed up perfectly by O’Neill. The standards don’t make our eves happier or healthier, indeed they make them less so; physically and spirituality they are stupid, dull, insipid and mean. The eves are constantly pulling each other down but are never content or happy. Indeed, our happiest characters are those that have accepted themselves and their bodies. It’s a positive and much needed message and one I hope younger women will see and champion because there is beauty in everyone and to deny your beauty to fulfil another’s standard is a loss to the world.


Only Ever Yours is a truly remarkable book, not only for its positive messages, but for introducing us to the wonderful O’Neill who I’m sure will continue to create wonderful books and interesting books. For a debut author, her writing is exceptional; great dialogue, complex and interesting characters and an uncanny ability to understand and connect with her characters. I understood the motivations and could empathise with the characters in the book; from isabel’s attempt at defiance to freida’s overwhelming desire to be a companion; megan’s drive to be Number One and Darwin’s confusion at the eves' interlocking love/hate relationships. A truly wonderful book and one that deserves to be in every school library.  

Rating: 5/5 Stars  ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Sarah Nuttall

Sarah is an active contributor for the YAfictionados blog site. She has written posts for the Waterstones blog and has worked as a bookseller (for 9 years), a Children's bookseller (for 6 years) and is now a manager at her local bookstore. Needless to say, Sarah is a valued member of the YAfictionados team - a true Children's and YA literature expert.