Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Dystopian Fantasy
Release Date: August 15th, 2013
Buy Links:
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Book Description:
Sixteen-year-old Michelle is a product of the Institute's eugenics program, where people are bred like livestock. One doctor decides which kids get to grow up, and which disappear.
Only Culls walk into the slum outside Institute walls, and they never come back. Michelle has survived every purge, and she's about to win a luxurious life as a breeder.
Then the doctor banishes her brother Seth and her boyfriend Brian, and she risks everything to find them in the cutthroat slum. She's in trouble until handsome Dillon stakes a claim to her.
Michelle is mortified, because Norms are practically animals. But the doctor is using the missing boys in a twisted plan and she needs Dillon's help to stop him. Michelle and her friends must find Seth and Brian, but a plague is spreading, the doctor is after her and Dillon isn't thrilled to help her find her lost boyfriend.
"Enhanced"
by Courtney Farrell is a young adult dystopian novel set in a future where
babies are pretty much made in test tubes to have specific skills and brain
power, and those that don't live up to the Institute's expectations are thrown
out like garbage. The "Enhanced" live within the Institute's walls
whereas all of the "Unenhanced," or "Norms," as they're
more regularly called, live in slums on the outside.
When the
book starts, we are immediately thrown into the action as we follow Michelle,
Brian, and their friends and family through their lives as Enhanced teenagers.
I kept waiting for the inevitable explanations about what happened to the
society that we all know and how it evolved into this genetics fueled
experiment that our characters are a part of. However, except for a few vague
references about a war, we never really get the explanation on how or why
society crumbled.
This was
my biggest problem with the book. I wanted more world building and background
on what was happening, but I never got it. Yes, I understand that some sort of
war happened and all of this genetics tampering was a result of trying to build
super soldiers, but I was still left in the dark about a good portion of what
was going on. Who was fighting in the war? Are other countries like this? How
many walled off institutes are there and do they all have slums full of Norms
around them?
I'm
always for reading a good dystopian young adult novel, but I love it more when
the author portrays society's downfall to show how things got to the dystopian
setting. I would have rated "Enhanced" higher if I had gotten some
background information and answers to my questions.
Another
issue I had was the instant attraction between Michelle and Dillon. She meets
him when she first goes over the wall, and he saves her from a possible
dangerous situation. However, once that situation is under control, he
continues being overly friendly and familiar with her, even though Norms are
usually servants to the Enhanced and are trained to keep their eyes down and
only speak when spoken to. The complete ease he had with Michelle right off the
bat was a little off for me, because I would have thought he'd have to overcome
his years of treating Enhanced as if they were better than him.
The
relationship between Brian, Seth, and Max seemed more realistic and organic to
me. The boys meet Max and his gang soon after they're sent beyond the wall and
develop an alliance over time. Max sees these boys and their Enhanced genes as
useful assets to his team and the boys see Max as someone who could provide
them food, shelter, and safety. It's only after these three have been together
for awhile that they start to actually bond and care for each other beyond just
an alliance for survival.
Besides
the lack of background information and the too strong too soon connection
between Michelle and Dillon, I did enjoy this book. Once I got over the whole
‘What is happening to the world?’ question and just went with it, I was able to
follow and get into the story quite easily. The characters were thought out and
each had unique personalities, the plot was sound, and our main conflict had
considerable stakes.
I also
liked the pacing of this book. I've read other reviews that have had issues
with the fast pace, but I think it worked. Farrell created a story and kept it
defined to one book, when a lot of other authors would have made a series
surrounding this one issue. It made sense that things were moving fast, and I
thought Farrell did a great job of letting us know when there were time jumps
by subtly having the characters mention the passage of time instead of listing
it with the chapter title.
"Enhanced"
is a book that I would recommend to my friends, even if I had qualms with some
things. The story was overall a good one, and it kept me turning the pages to
see what would happen next.
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I write YA fiction now! My first novel, Enhanced, launched in September 2013 with Crescent Moon Press. Enhanced is about a teen girl born into a eugenics program, where ruthless doctors breed people like livestock. The sequel, tentatively titled Run From Iron Torr, is in the pipeline. In other news, I am nearly finished with the first book in a new dystopian series. Right now the title is Bait, but we'll see what my publisher says. Titles can change right up to the last minute.
Thank you for reviewing Enhanced today. The sequel, called Sacrificed, will launch in 2014 with Crescent Moon Press.
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