Monday, March 26, 2018

Book Review: The Dark Interpect

Title: The Dark Intercept
Author: Julia Keller
Genre: Teen, Young Adult, Dystopiam, Sci-Fi
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Two worlds, within one world. One for those of privilege, both intellectual and financial; the other the remnants of our broken planet left behind. The Dark Intercept starts out with an interesting concept that there is a world within the atmosphere of the Earth that is entirely enclosed and perfectly balanced out with human existence. The problem? Not everyone can fit... and so some are left behind on 'old Earth' who despise those whom got upgraded, those whom destroyed it all and wouldn't even try to fix it. 

Our lead teenage gal is an interesting character, even if much of her personality seemed a bit soft to me at first. As the privileged daughter of the inventor of New Earth she has more power and influence than even she realizes at time. 

Convenience
Yes I know if you've read a lot of my reviews I say similar things. But here's the thing; cheap, convenient or just too easy situations drive me insane. They are a sigh of a poor ability to create elaborate (but easy to follow) plots that truly have the reader believing every moment of the story and each characters decisions. 
There is a large turning point in the story (about 75% through) that had me so enraged I had to switch books I was reading at the time to cool off before returning to The Dark Intercept. 

Not All Bad
That said, Julia Keller's writing is not all bad. Her development of characters and even plot is not so bad at all. I could definitely see some moments of brilliance shine through. But as we near the end these great moments taper off and become the landscape upon which weaker ideas, plot and reactions from characters were built upon. 

Overall 
It's really too bad that The Dark Intercept doesn't have more of what I really wanted; better foreshadowing and more twists and turns that weren't written in just because a character can say something like 'I'm so-and-so and therefore I can do this banned activity or gain access to this secure area'. There's no creativity or overall brilliance in this type of storytelling. 

I'd like to see the characters grow alongside the story and with the reader as we progress. While the concept of the Intercept and it's ability to 'control' people on New Earth is cool and all it just wasn't enough to keep my interest. 

Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.

1 comment:

Leonore Winterer said...

I don't know...the basic idea sounds interesting, but somehow, I'm not really intrigued by the blurb, which doesn't happen often. Paired with your review, this one is difnitely not for the to read list (phew!).