Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Review for Captured by Erica Stevens

2 Stars. Lacking Plot and Personality.

I love stories about vampires and Captured had some new ideas that were interesting. I liked that this book had a dystopian feel to it. These characters lived in a world ruled by vampires with humans either living as servants, slaves or as a part of a rebel group in the woods. Also, Braith’s condition and why he was drawn to Aria were things I hadn’t seen before. However, when it came to the actual plot and characters of the book they just didn’t do anything for me. Honestly, this book didn’t feel like it had much of a plot at all, which it easily could have if the author hadn’t waited until the very end to introduce certain characters and facts.

The writing was wordy and there was a lot of telling. There were a number of scenes I wish I would have gotten the chance to see, like when Aria saves a young boy in the beginning of the book. It seemed liked an important moment, one that set the plot of the book in motion, and yet we’re only told about it. As the book continued I noticed less of its wordiness, but I continued to crave more description.

Aria herself had an interesting backstory, one that made her sound liked a strong female lead, however, she didn’t actually come off that way. Anything strong about Aria was left in her backstory and the things we see her doing make it feel like she’s suffering from Stockholm syndrome. The few strong moments we actually see her have were mostly just her being stubborn.

Braith on the other hand, had a little mystery to him, but it felt liked the most redeeming quality about him was that he was good looking. Sure he didn't kill Aria, but he also had a reason not to. And, we’re told that he treats her better than other vampires treat their slaves, but we never see how other slaves are treated so we really can’t compare. It felt like he manipulated her, and she gave him way too much credit for just about everything he did. By the end of the book I still couldn’t understand why Aria liked him at all, nor why we were supposed to believe that Braith actually had feelings for her. It just felt like they never really got to know one another, and yet there was supposedly some kind of bond growing between them? At the end we’re supposed to believe that she needs him and can’t be without him and I just didn’t understand why. She even said she’d rather risk dying to stay with him and have her family think she’s dead instead of just going home. For a girl whose family was her entire life, who spent a good while at the beginning of the book talking about her twin brother and hating not being near him, well this just made her sound completely brainwashed.

As for the other characters, we barely see Max and Jerico/Jack is introduced at the very end. Most of the story is just Aria locked in her room. It felt liked she spent a lot of time not really doing anything, and there wasn’t much of a plot. Also, there was a big twist where Jerico actually knows Aria, but it doesn’t really work since we’re only told about it at the very end. Jerico/Jack’s name isn’t even mentioned until he just shows up. If we had seen Aria and Jack interacting in the beginning of the book I would have liked this better, and honestly it should have happened sooner as it was the only real plot element the book had.

By the end of the book I felt like I was forcing myself to read the last twenty percent. I will not continue with this series.
 

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