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Review: Gambit

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THANK YOU to Netgalley and the Author for giving me the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Published 30th March 2015

 Title: Gambit
Author: C.L. Denault
Publisher: REUTS Publications
Book: #1 in The Prodigy Chronicles 
Genre: Dystopian
Found: Netgalley
Rating 2 Voodoos

In Earth’s battle-ridden future, humans have evolved. Those with extraordinary skills rise to power and fame. Those without live in poverty.
Sixteen-year-old Willow Kent believed she was normal. But when a genetically-advanced military officer shows up in her village and questions her identity, long-buried secrets begin to emerge. With remarkable skills and a shocking genetic code the Core and its enemies will do anything to obtain, Willow suddenly finds the freedom she craves slipping through her fingers. Greed, corruption, and genetic tampering threaten every aspect of her existence as she’s thrust, unwilling, into the sophisticated culture of the elite Core city. To ensure peace, she must leave the past behind, marry a man she’s never met, and submit to the authority of a relentless officer with a hidden agenda of his own.
Her life has become a dangerous game. How much will she sacrifice in order to win?

-Netgalley

What.

I almost wish I didn’t push through with this book, but it was a point of pride. I was supposed to be amazing dammat!
Set in the UK from Scotland to London, it had an interesting feel. The outer villages were almost medieval with the Core (London) being a high tech hub. There was little bleeding together going on, they were almost like different countries. Past land and Future land. When they crossed from one to the other though I found it odd, when she was in the villages, they gave her expensive scented oils for her bath which was sort of gave it all a decadent rich-person feel, but when they were in the Core it was bottles of ‘raspberry soap’ that she used, which put me in mind of the over chemicalled raspberry washes you can find in supermarkets which are generally terrible for you and quite cheap. The bath oils had given me a luxurious idea about the Core which it just didn’t live up to. It wasn’t the only contrast-as-if-by-switch thing either. Reece turned up and was awful and we hated him and he was never getting Willow to do as he wanted. Then suddenly we liked him. Well, I say we, Willow was on her own there. Just once, I’d like a story where the MC falls for the person they’re meant to be marrying. I mean really. I’m betting her Fiance’s not too happy about the situation either, but you don’t see him being petty and silly. Well we don’t see him, maybe he is silly and petty too.

I found Willow Immature and while Reece had some character development through the story, she really didn’t. She was an arrogant brat and seemed to just be difficult over everything for no reason at all. I wonder if she was meant to come across as strong, but the way she went about things just made her seem simply childish. She reacted to every situation by saying NO and stamping her foot. It never changed anything and just wasted a lot of energy on her part. This is possibly how she was able to go from being slim but curvy to being scrawny.
And her ‘inner tiger’ made me think about the ‘inner goddess’ what’s her face had in 50 Shades of Grey. This sort of had an explanation, but not really…and it was just as distracting to the storyline and I found myself skipping large sections of her internal thoughts towards the end.

This book also had some unfortunate luck when it came to timing. In the storyline, someone happened to apply all sorts of things – including heat tools – to the main’s wavy hair to straighten it and give it shine, before she thought “My hair had never looked this healthy.” right on the tail of a bit of a blow up over some horrifically ignorant things a stylist apparently posted online about naturally curly hair which circulated through people I follow on instagram, and was a discussion between my friends and I. Ironically her hair would have been more healthy before the heat and chemicals were applied… Someone else also happened to obsess over her physical state…demanding to know if she was ‘un-compromised’ and talking about scans and such (may seem odd for a ‘future’ book but there’s a reason sort of explained if you pay attention and think about it). She’d done some pretty vigorous riding about the place prior to this which everyone seemed to ignore – because that kind of activity can affect that kind of thing I felt it was rather odd it wasn’t brought up but what really annoyed me though was I happened to read it literally RIGHT after I’d watched one of those myth busting videos on upworthy – one specifically about the hymen and this part of the book didn’t fit in with my re-education. Again, not the authors fault, so I’ve tried not to let it affect my rating, perhaps even giving it an extra half just to make sure but they certainly didn’t help me enjoy it.

All in all a brilliant premise unfortunately let down by the immature main character. If you have a higher tolerance than I do, it might not bother you enough to let you enjoy the story.

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