I just wanted to love this book and I'm just sad that I didn't.

I expected to absolutely L O V E this book because this is how it was sold to me:
- a dystopian amusement park labeled as mystery

…that’s it, that's all I knew. I was absolutely sold with just that and I am still disappointed.

— overall thoughts: 1.5 —

I flew through this book if thats a consolation… probably because I didn’t really care about what was happening

Spoiler

and people, actually the automatons or whatever you call them, were dying and disappearing, left and right, and I absolutely could not care less. I didn't get a sense of danger or anticipation, things just happened.

As I said I actually went into this book expecting to like it and I actually did, at first. I am a big fan of morality topics being discussed in a dystopia kind of world (i.e. Arc of a Scythe) that was really the only saving grace but even that… wasn’t explored??

Which weighed heavily for me since that’s basically what I read the book for. I wanted to more talk about how these automatons came into play but all Ana kept talking about was how she kept getting epiphanies but how she wasn’t supposed to be getting these epiphanies cuz she’s a robot and owen owen owen owen owen.

“Why would someone say a story that isn’t true? Maybe because it’s fun to believe in a fantasy.
It helps them feel better about their own lives. Even if the story doesn’t end well.”

The theme park and its rules weren't really fully laid out, they were just thrown here and there to justify an action which brings me to my next point.

I absolutely hated the romance. It felt so rushed and Owen is the embodiment of the basic male love interest. There was just nothing that made him different to me and he wasn't like... his own person, if you get what I mean. I couldn't separate him as a character aside from being the love interest.

Spoiler

They were literally about to die or get caught and he literally STOPS AND SAYS: "You're perfect." LIKE ?!?

I hate it when dystopia stories force a romance like, just give me the story without all these lovey dovey because I didn't come here for that. If I wanted the lovey dovey, I'll be over there reading a contemporary romance. Contemporary romances had a less basic love story than this to be honest.

I had no attachments with the characters whatsoever and this is coming from a person who gets emotionally attached to the protagonist’s pet animals (*cough* church, mister kindly, eclipse *cough*). and Ana kept saying she was “evolving” somehow but like… why???…how???…we all knew that this is the "I'm not like every other girl” trope (which I'm starting to hate now) but I need an explanation as to how we got here!! especially since this is a sci-fi novel

Being in Ana's head and experiencing all the story through her was also annoying because her dialogue and thoughts were so stiff which fits with her being a hybrid, but then when she out of the blue states that she feels something else and is supposedly 'Evolving' into something more, she is still stiff and annoying.

It's important to note that I am a person who has loved lovey-dovey books in the past okay. I am a Jennifer E. Smith maniac.

Here have a small list of quotes I found stupid in the later 50% of the book because I came here for the sci-fi:
- “I never meant to fall in love with you”
- I quote “When I met you...something changed.”
- And OF COURSE, they had to use the “it’s better to have love and lost than to never have loved at all”
- “You’re perfect”

The mystery. WHY is this labeled as a mystery. Actually, I get why but that part of the plot is just so extra non-sensical to me because they spent more time talking about how they fell in love rather than the mystery aspect of it. Not that it was so blaringly obvious to me but when they revealed it, I was just sitting on my bed going like "oh."

Spoiler

where is the build-up?? all the interview and courtroom scenes honestly did not even give me that much information. it was everything we all knew.

I came in here for the mystery okay. I was expecting a good mystery.

This book had SO much potential: if this had a darker tone and the amusement park system and the outside world was explained and explored more, I feel like I could have loved this. And of course if I was actually attached to the characters.
- scenes feel jumpy

I like stereotypical plots when I ask for it and are done in an enjoyable manner, don’t get me wrong. But when I’m reading SCI-FI/DYSTOPIA I expect THE CRAZIEST PLOT YOU CAN THINK OF that STILL MAKE SENSE!!

plot: ★★☆☆☆
writing style: ★☆☆☆☆
world building: ★★☆☆☆
characters: ★☆☆☆☆
themes: ★★★☆☆
pacing: ★★☆☆☆
page turner: ★★★☆☆

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