Review: Water
My rating: [rating=1]
Summary:
Elemental powers in the palm of her hand…and it won’t be enough to save her. When Kaitlyn Alder is involuntarily introduced to a life of magic, she becomes part of an organization hell-bent on saving the Earth. Just as her new-found life holds promises of purpose, romance, and friendship, the organization divides and a rogue member holds Kaitlyn hostage. Now one of the most terrifying men the human race has to offer stands between her and Earth’s survival.
Review:
(I got this book from NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.)
I’m honestly not sure what I’m supposed to think of this book. On the one hand, the idea of a group of people gifted with elemental powers, and who use them to protect the Earth, is interesting in itself, when humans in general become more and more aware of environment-related problems. On the other hand… the way this group goes at it is definitely flawed and dysfunctional. And not “dysfunctional, yet still efficient”—rather the contrary, in fact, considering how blind most of them seem to be to the one who’s going to betray them.
Come to think of it, those characters often behaved inconsistently, be it the leader or the heroine, Kaitlyn (who is badass in some ways, but definitely annoying in many others). The love story thrown in almost from the beginning felt placed there because… I’m not sure why, actually. Just like I kept on questioning the Seven’s methods. Abduction? Check. Giving you a choice that isn’t one, because if you choose the wrong pill, you’re not given back to freedom? Check. “Training” that involves attempted rape and other close to torture measures? Check. I’m all for training in harsh circumstances, but this was pushing it too far, leaving me with the feeling that the only interest behind it was to objectify the feminine character. It didn’t empower her in any way, at least not in my eyes.
And then Kaitlyn still forgives that crap, not to mention how the other characters react to it in a “deal with it, it’s no biggie” manner. Uh, guys? Attempted. Rape. Get it? I can read about such themes—they do have their place in literature—only here, the conclusions they lead to are seriously screwed up. As a woman myself, it’d be almost like telling me “if you don’t want to be molested, then you shouldn’t have a vagina.” I wish men in this story had been portrayed as being more human, all that simply.
I don’t know, but I’m not sure I’d like to know the saviours of the Earth are that kind of people. It seems that if you’re a woman, working with them means nothing but trouble, abuse, and getting discarded once you’ve outlived your usefulness. Rather… distateful.
Also, why the two third person point of view shifts, when all the rest was in first person? I could have understood more of them, or going first-person only, or going third-person all the way. But this was just weird, in terms of writing.