Selected

Title: Selected 

Author: Evelyn Lederman

Genre(s): Science Fiction, Teen 

Rating: 2/5 stars 

This is a frustrating book. The premise and social commentary opportunities should have made it amazing. And yet it wasn't. 

There are sooo many errors throughout this book it's painful. Between basic typos and punctuation issues to sections that jump around for no reason to statements or descriptions that immediately contradict each other; it's just annoying to read. (I checked the published text and it has the same typos and problems as my copy).The concept and idea is good. Some of the writing near the beginning is alright but it's like Evelyn Lederman only had moments of brilliance surrounded by poor writing the majority of the time. 

It feels like characters in Selected only have emotions of indifference or anger. Considering the children are ripped from their homes and taken away on an alien spaceship; everyone seems to be relatively okay with things. Yes there are moments of crying and attempted sadness but never once did I feel anything for these characters except major frustration that they weren't MORE upset. 

The romance is awkwardly handled and feels like we're in an 8-12 year old book. Chaste kisses, lame comments about how pretty someone is and a lack of desire really turned me off. When I was 14 years old I know if I liked any boy(s) I was much more obsessive about it and certainly didn't think about how I was too young or have thoughts about how it was inappropriate. Apparently the heroine Kara is a 14-year old prude.

If you want to read about kids being selected for possibly horrific futures just re-read Hunger Games. Trust me there is nothing here worth any amount of time (unless you want to edit or re-write Selected). 

Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review. Don't believe me? Check out the other books I've had eARCs for that I gave great reviews to. I always give my opinion whether good or bad. ;)