Review: The Almost Girl by Amalie Howard

The Almost Girl by Amalie Howard

Published January 7th 2014 by Strange Chemistry

(first published December 29th 2013)

Paperback: 416 pages

Series: Sounds like a series....

Genre: Young Adult Dystopia/Science-Fiction
Heat Rating: Kissing

Source:  I got a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange of an honest review.
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Summary from Goodreads

Seventeen-year-old Riven is as tough as they come. But coming from a world ravaged by a devastating android war, she has to be. There’s no room for softness, no room for emotion, no room for mistakes. A Legion General, she is the right hand of the young Prince of Neospes, a parallel universe to Earth. In Neospes, she has everything: rank, responsibility and respect. But when Prince Cale sends her away to find his long-lost brother, Caden, who has been spirited back to modern day Earth, Riven finds herself in uncharted territory.

Thrown out of her comfort zone but with the mindset of a soldier, Riven has to learn how to be a girl in a realm that is the opposite of what she knows.  Riven isn’t prepared for the beauty of a world that is unlike her own in so many ways. Nor is she prepared to feel something more than indifference for the very target she seeks. Caden is nothing like Cale, but he makes something in her come alive, igniting a spark deep down that goes against every cell in her body. For the first time in her life, Riven isn’t sure about her purpose, about her calling. Torn between duty and desire, she must decide whether Caden is simply a target or whether he is something more.

Faced with hideous reanimated Vector soldiers from her own world with agendas of their own, as well as an unexpected reunion with a sister who despises her, it is a race against time to bring Caden back to Neospes. But things aren’t always as they seem, and Riven will have to search for truth. Family betrayals and royal coups are only the tip of the iceberg. Will Riven be able to find the strength to defy her very nature? Or will she become the monstrous soldier she was designed to be?

I don't know where to begin this review. I have not given a lot of low ratings in the past few years, so putting my emotions down for something like this can be hard.

First, I want to say that I am really disappointed. I generally love Strange Chemistry books but this one came out a totally miss for me. The basis of the story is that a 17-Year-Old girl named Riven is a Legion General and a right hand to a young Prince of Neospes. She reverts back to the Otherworld (modern day earth) in order to save her Prince Cale by bringing back his twin brother (won't tell you why!)

Modern day earth is different from her current android filled world, so Riven has to adjust and learn how to be a girl in manners that are foreign to her. Finding Caden would prove a task difficult enough. Bringing him back and not getting attached would prove a different story.

Here are some major points.

- I like the story, it was kind of interesting in some points before it got out of control. I wouldn't call this a dystopia. Science-fiction/horror fits it well, especially with the machines her father was building out of dead people. The plot line was cool.

Everything else that didn't sit well with me...

- So okay, the story was pretty good at first but then it got ugly from there. My first irritation was the fact that at the beginning she says she took 3 years of blending into modern day earth's society. Ah.... really? Cause she stuck out like a sore thumb. I did not know blue and green hair was blending in... (blue and pink? whatever) I also did not know that modern day high school students drive around on a Ducati. Riven is also as anti-social as it get's around her fellow peers. Another thing that puts you on the spot if your a complete and total outcast with a nasty attitude.

- Slut bashing... Yeah I didn't want to get into this but then I found I couldn't let it go. Caden has a girlfriend when he meets Riven. They automatically decide they don't like each other, for no reason other then property issues I guess? I guess Caden's girlfriend get's all territorial and Riven decides to call her a bitch, so in turn the girlfriend Sadie? calls her a dyke and Caden just sits back and smiles. Riven doesn't let it go, and this relationship takes on a healthy start. Sitting back and allowing your current girlfriend to be called a bitch? Why are you with her then? because as far as I am concerned, Sadie did nothing to Caden. Plus, Riven keeps right on bashing her even after they leave earth for Neospes. In one part she says...

"Sorry, but she deserved way worse, and you know it."

Why did she deserve way worse? You came right in and played open mouth with her boyfriend and you're telling me that the other girl deserve it worse? No Riven, if anyone deserved something it was YOU and not the poor girl you keep right on bashing. How is this okay for teenage girls to read? Isn't it bad that it happens in HS without the need of it being in books?

- The romance over all was terrible. Besides cheating on the girlfriend. The way the two got together was odd and did not click at all for me. I didn't like that Caden was such a push over. I did not like that he couldn't stand up for his girlfriend, nor did he play tonsil check with Riven while still with his girlfriend. I thought he was a weak male lead, and you know what? In the end, they do deserve each other on the fact that they are both terrible.

- For a Legion Commander, Riven did not impress me and I have given her an entire book to do it. Her sister Shae was stronger in my opinion. Not to mention, every mess they find themselves in, they conveniently get out of it thanks to other people or whatever. Series, there was maybe one part in the back that was actually action and the other was just mind numbing.

- The plot takes an odd turn that I could have lived without off...

- One more thing. There was a bit in a plot where Riven is given a new identity in order to move around Neospes and since they ran out of soldier ranks she is given the rank of a whore. Um... why? and how did her parent allow this? No, not only did she allow this, she kind of sat back and giggled at Riven's discomfort. Ironic really and totally redundant to the story, especially since Caden has been given the rank of a lord... why couldn't she just be a lady?

So there, it was just one big pile of steaming mess. I wanted to like it, and I did finish it. Took forever. The more I read it and thought about it thought. The angrier I got.