lisaluvsliterature's review against another edition
4.0
I don't read a lot of suspense types of stories, but as I do enjoy watching those movies, this book was definitely one that fit into something I might like. And as I read it, I could totally see it being a movie. While at first I had a little issue telling the difference between some of the characters, specifically the two girls, after a while it got to make more sense. The idea behind Project Pandora was very intriguing, although I would have liked a bit more background information. You really felt for the characters, especially as their minds began to flash back to what they had done in the past, or what they were in the middle of doing. You felt the connection between the teens for sure. Hades, one of the main characters, and Elizabeth, or Persephone, had a connection that you really rooted for. Although at first Hades came off as a psychopath, which really he probably was, you really got to feeling for him the more you read about his life and what he'd been subjected to. On Goodreads it lists this as a series, and I could see there being more to the story, so I'll be interested to see if it does go on.
This is a very easy read, lots of excitement to keep you turning pages, needing to know just what is actually going on, and who is pulling the strings of these teens.
This is a very easy read, lots of excitement to keep you turning pages, needing to know just what is actually going on, and who is pulling the strings of these teens.
itsmandyj's review against another edition
3.0
I really liked the idea behind this book, but felt like the execution was a little scattered. The chapters bounce around between 4 characters which made it hard to follow.
The ending of this book was surprising and I'd be interested to see where the next book goes.
The ending of this book was surprising and I'd be interested to see where the next book goes.
leahkarge's review against another edition
2.0
momwithareadingproblem's review
I received an eARC of this book via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of this review.
I really, REALLY wanted to like Project Pandora by Aden Polydoros. First off, did you see that cover?! It’s drool worthy! Plus assassins, government experiments, the whole cloak and dagger feel of the blurb….yeah I was super excited to read it. However, it just didn’t live up to my expectations, and after reading to just pass the halfway mark I set it down, unfinished. Where do I even start?
Please note that since I technically didn’t finish the book, this review is my opinion and reasons why I didn’t finish, not a reflection of the author’s writing.
What Worked
The format for Project Pandora was really interesting. In fact it was the book’s saving grace for me. As the reader, you are dropped into the middle of the story with not much background on the characters, what they are doing or even how they are doing what they are doing. It helps to build the suspense. Between the chapters though are case notes about the characters which give insight into what they’ve been trained to do. While I didn’t finished the book, I did skim through to read all the case notes. I found them more interesting than the actual story.
Hades! This kid is supposed to be the dark horse of the book, the creep. However I fell in love with him. He’s a very dark character, twisted, and the only one who seems to remember and be immune to the directives.
What Didn’t Work
The head hopping!!!! Oh my goodness, y’all I had no clue whose POV I was in half the time I was reading. The characters blurred together as their voices (aside from Hades’s) just weren’t distinct enough for me. I lost count of the times I had to go back to the beginning of the chapter to figure out who was narrating at the time. For me this was a big problem. There were too many characters to try to keep them straight, not to mention how each character had two separate lives (the normal teen and the assassin).
The whole two people in one body thing was weird for me. Technically they were the same person, but whenever a specific sentence was said that would trigger them to become an assassin and know things/people they didn’t know before. It was all very strange and not well explained….granted I didn’t finish the story. Maybe it’s explained later on?
The plot was nonexistent. At least I never picked up on it. AND I was pass the midway point of the book! I should have at least known what the assassins were doing at this point, right?!
Underage drinking and drugs. Look I get it, you think I’m a prude and you’re right. I know 16 and 17 year olds drink and some get their hands on marijuana, but I don’t like to see it in books geared towards the young adult crowds, ESPECIALLY when peer pressure is involved. Big turn off for me. I nearly set the book down at that point.
My Conclusion
Overall, Project Pandora isn’t a bad read. The author’s writing is decent and the characters were intriguing, even if I never really picked up on the plot. However, it just wasn’t my kind of book. I enjoy science fiction, but I lean more towards robots, aliens, and dystopia. If you enjoy thrillers and suspense with a dash of sci-fi, I recommend you give it try.
I really, REALLY wanted to like Project Pandora by Aden Polydoros. First off, did you see that cover?! It’s drool worthy! Plus assassins, government experiments, the whole cloak and dagger feel of the blurb….yeah I was super excited to read it. However, it just didn’t live up to my expectations, and after reading to just pass the halfway mark I set it down, unfinished. Where do I even start?
Please note that since I technically didn’t finish the book, this review is my opinion and reasons why I didn’t finish, not a reflection of the author’s writing.
What Worked
The format for Project Pandora was really interesting. In fact it was the book’s saving grace for me. As the reader, you are dropped into the middle of the story with not much background on the characters, what they are doing or even how they are doing what they are doing. It helps to build the suspense. Between the chapters though are case notes about the characters which give insight into what they’ve been trained to do. While I didn’t finished the book, I did skim through to read all the case notes. I found them more interesting than the actual story.
Hades! This kid is supposed to be the dark horse of the book, the creep. However I fell in love with him. He’s a very dark character, twisted, and the only one who seems to remember and be immune to the directives.
What Didn’t Work
The head hopping!!!! Oh my goodness, y’all I had no clue whose POV I was in half the time I was reading. The characters blurred together as their voices (aside from Hades’s) just weren’t distinct enough for me. I lost count of the times I had to go back to the beginning of the chapter to figure out who was narrating at the time. For me this was a big problem. There were too many characters to try to keep them straight, not to mention how each character had two separate lives (the normal teen and the assassin).
The whole two people in one body thing was weird for me. Technically they were the same person, but whenever a specific sentence was said that would trigger them to become an assassin and know things/people they didn’t know before. It was all very strange and not well explained….granted I didn’t finish the story. Maybe it’s explained later on?
The plot was nonexistent. At least I never picked up on it. AND I was pass the midway point of the book! I should have at least known what the assassins were doing at this point, right?!
Underage drinking and drugs. Look I get it, you think I’m a prude and you’re right. I know 16 and 17 year olds drink and some get their hands on marijuana, but I don’t like to see it in books geared towards the young adult crowds, ESPECIALLY when peer pressure is involved. Big turn off for me. I nearly set the book down at that point.
My Conclusion
Overall, Project Pandora isn’t a bad read. The author’s writing is decent and the characters were intriguing, even if I never really picked up on the plot. However, it just wasn’t my kind of book. I enjoy science fiction, but I lean more towards robots, aliens, and dystopia. If you enjoy thrillers and suspense with a dash of sci-fi, I recommend you give it try.
jbrooxd's review
4.0
Dark and violent. Not my style of book but the story was intriguing, and I had to know what was going on. Strong suspense/mystery. (Drug use, language, violence/abuse)
I received an electronic ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
I received an electronic ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
lailalostinpages's review against another edition
4.0
*4.5* oooohhh deaaarrr looooordddd.
This book was amazing from page 1. I fell into a reading slump around the time I was supposed to read it and it really helped me get out of my slump. It was so easy to fly through and the pace was exactly the way I wanted it to be. Fast at times, taking its time when it needed to.
I was haunted by how GORGEOUS Hades is. I mean, everyone, I’m telling you to go get yourself a Hades and I demand Aden Polydoros to tell us who inspired him to create Hades so we can go date that person or, better yet, have his babies.
Literally, nothing about this book was done in a way that’s anything less than perfect, in my POV. All the characters had their flaws and they were so real and I got attached to almost all of them. I didn’t care much for Shannon and Tyler at first but I began to love them towards the end. I can’t wait to see how all the characters will develop further in the upcoming sequel (BETTER HURRY UP AND PUBLISH IT SOON)!
To read my full review, click here: https://lebookworm7.wordpress.com/2017/08/10/blog-tour-project-pandora-by-book-reviewgiveaway/
This book was amazing from page 1. I fell into a reading slump around the time I was supposed to read it and it really helped me get out of my slump. It was so easy to fly through and the pace was exactly the way I wanted it to be. Fast at times, taking its time when it needed to.
I was haunted by how GORGEOUS Hades is. I mean, everyone, I’m telling you to go get yourself a Hades and I demand Aden Polydoros to tell us who inspired him to create Hades so we can go date that person or, better yet, have his babies.
Literally, nothing about this book was done in a way that’s anything less than perfect, in my POV. All the characters had their flaws and they were so real and I got attached to almost all of them. I didn’t care much for Shannon and Tyler at first but I began to love them towards the end. I can’t wait to see how all the characters will develop further in the upcoming sequel (BETTER HURRY UP AND PUBLISH IT SOON)!
To read my full review, click here: https://lebookworm7.wordpress.com/2017/08/10/blog-tour-project-pandora-by-book-reviewgiveaway/
mermaidmoonqueen's review
1.0
I received this book from the publisher on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Project Pandora by Aden Polydoros tells the stories of four teenagers, 2 boys and 2 girls, as they attempt to live normal lives while also being a part of "Project Pandora." Shannon and Tyler (Artemis and Apollo) are a part of the foster care system while also going to school together. And in their spare time... they kill people. Elizabeth (Persephone) is the daughter of a senator who just wants to be normal and have some fun. And then there's Hades, the outlier in all of this, who isn't normal but isn't everything he appears to be either. We follow the four of them as they attempt to figure out just what Project Pandora is.
So here's the thing: I really REALLY wanted to like this book. I honestly did. I even wished for it on Netgalley because I really liked the synopsis. Unfortunately, it fell really flat for me, to the point where I'm giving it a 1 star rating. Let's get into why I disliked it.
The first is that this novel has more plot holes than a piece of swiss cheese. There is literally so much in here that didn't make sense, or was so surface level, including the whole reason for the project. At one point, one of the heads of the project says that it aims to "make this country great again." Sound familiar? Yeah. But the thing is, that's the only explanation we get for why this project exists. Why are they making 17 year olds kill people??? To make America great again, clearly!! How?? Who knows?? The reader certainly doesn't, not even by the end. But that's not the end of it. Hades clearly remembers Nine (who he was in love with) but doesn't recognize her through most of the novel. Even with surgeries, there's no way to change a person THAT much. And all the characters have memory loss, conveniently, but can recall things whenever they really think about it. That's not how memory loss works...
Another thing I disliked about this novel was the writing. It was so much telling and absolutely no showing. The different points of view also had no distinction between them. Without the heading at the beginning of the chapter, you would never know which character was speaking. They all had the same voice and there was no difference between them. This novel was such basic storytelling that it was basically "then this happened and then this and then this." It was very painful to read. There was nothing compelling about the writing. There were no emotion invoked at all.
The final thing I disliked was the characters. Like I said, there were 4 points of view but honestly, there was no difference in the characters. They all sounded the same and Tyler and Shannon's plots were basically the same, just with genders switched. There was no need to do 4 points of view. In my mind, if he wanted to tell the story of these 4 characters, they should have been two separate books. One for Hades and Persephone and one for Apollo and Artemis. And there were WAAAAAAAAAAAAY too many names for all the different characters. 3 ways to refer to one character is too many. The ONLY character I felt that was even remotely interesting was Hades, but his whole "who am I" deal quickly became old.
Ultimately, this book suffered because the plot wasn't strong enough to carry the weak characters and the characters couldn't carry the weak plot. Ultimately, this book just failed all around and I don't think it's worth the time. Possibly, this book might appeal to 10-13 year old boys who want action and shooting. But even then I'd recommend the Alex Ryder series or Artemis Fowl over this book.
[booktubeathon 2017: read a book with a person on the cover]
Project Pandora by Aden Polydoros tells the stories of four teenagers, 2 boys and 2 girls, as they attempt to live normal lives while also being a part of "Project Pandora." Shannon and Tyler (Artemis and Apollo) are a part of the foster care system while also going to school together. And in their spare time... they kill people. Elizabeth (Persephone) is the daughter of a senator who just wants to be normal and have some fun. And then there's Hades, the outlier in all of this, who isn't normal but isn't everything he appears to be either. We follow the four of them as they attempt to figure out just what Project Pandora is.
So here's the thing: I really REALLY wanted to like this book. I honestly did. I even wished for it on Netgalley because I really liked the synopsis. Unfortunately, it fell really flat for me, to the point where I'm giving it a 1 star rating. Let's get into why I disliked it.
The first is that this novel has more plot holes than a piece of swiss cheese. There is literally so much in here that didn't make sense, or was so surface level, including the whole reason for the project. At one point, one of the heads of the project says that it aims to "make this country great again." Sound familiar? Yeah. But the thing is, that's the only explanation we get for why this project exists. Why are they making 17 year olds kill people??? To make America great again, clearly!! How?? Who knows?? The reader certainly doesn't, not even by the end. But that's not the end of it. Hades clearly remembers Nine (who he was in love with) but doesn't recognize her through most of the novel. Even with surgeries, there's no way to change a person THAT much. And all the characters have memory loss, conveniently, but can recall things whenever they really think about it. That's not how memory loss works...
Another thing I disliked about this novel was the writing. It was so much telling and absolutely no showing. The different points of view also had no distinction between them. Without the heading at the beginning of the chapter, you would never know which character was speaking. They all had the same voice and there was no difference between them. This novel was such basic storytelling that it was basically "then this happened and then this and then this." It was very painful to read. There was nothing compelling about the writing. There were no emotion invoked at all.
The final thing I disliked was the characters. Like I said, there were 4 points of view but honestly, there was no difference in the characters. They all sounded the same and Tyler and Shannon's plots were basically the same, just with genders switched. There was no need to do 4 points of view. In my mind, if he wanted to tell the story of these 4 characters, they should have been two separate books. One for Hades and Persephone and one for Apollo and Artemis. And there were WAAAAAAAAAAAAY too many names for all the different characters. 3 ways to refer to one character is too many. The ONLY character I felt that was even remotely interesting was Hades, but his whole "who am I" deal quickly became old.
Ultimately, this book suffered because the plot wasn't strong enough to carry the weak characters and the characters couldn't carry the weak plot. Ultimately, this book just failed all around and I don't think it's worth the time. Possibly, this book might appeal to 10-13 year old boys who want action and shooting. But even then I'd recommend the Alex Ryder series or Artemis Fowl over this book.
[booktubeathon 2017: read a book with a person on the cover]
molokovell0cet's review
3.0
*Disclaimer: An ARC of Project Pandora by Aden Polydoros was provided to me by Entangled Teen via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not effect my opinion in any way.
Actual Rating: 3.5 stars
--
Initial Post Reading Thoughts:
Well that was definitely intriguing! I'm not sure I've ever read a story like that before. I really enjoyed the multiple POVs that were used in this story, especially once we discover how all of these characters are connected. The story was a tad slow paced and I'm not sure how I really felt about the writing style just yet, but the concept was very unique and intriguing!
--
What I Liked
The Unique Concept. Project Pandora has a pretty creative and unique storyline. While it did remind me a little bit of the Winter Soldier’s storyline within Captain America: Winter Soldier/Civil War, it added it’s own twists and original concepts to make it it’s own.
The Multiple POVs. I’m a sucker for multiple character perspectives. It’s just something that I love within a story, especially when it’s done right. There were four POVs within Project Pandora and we quickly come to realize who each of these characters are and how they are all connected to one another.
The Connections. As mentioned above, each of the featured characters are connected even though they have no idea that they are. I really liked that aspect of this story and how everything slowly unravels to reveal how exactly each character is connected.
Hades. What can I say? I love a great evil / damaged character. They always end up being some of my favourite characters. They all have such interesting pasts and you want to learn more about what made them the way that they are. Hades was the perfect example of this type of character.
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What I Didn’t Like
The Pacing. Project Pandora moved at a bit of a slow pace for me personally. I struggled a bit at first to really get into it. I did however really start to get into it about 40% of the way through! From that point on the pacing was great!
The Lack Of Answers? I get it, this is going to be a series and obviously you can’t have all of the questions answered right away within the first book. However, I did still feel as though not enough questions were answered. I didn’t need it all, but I would have liked a little bit more you know? Most of the only answers we got were toward the end of the novel and I really would have liked them to have been expanded on a little more.
--
Overall, Project Pandora was a very intriguing and unique story that featured some great characters! The ending to this first book in the series was intense and I can’t wait to see where the story goes in book two!
hollymbryan's review
5.0
Wow, wow, WOW. That was my immediate reaction once I finished reading Project Pandora. That was quickly followed up by oh, my heart! and oh no how long do I have to wait for book 2?! I was really blown away by this book, and if I didn’t know ahead of time that it was the *debut* of a young author, I would’ve sworn it was written by someone who had a fair amount of experience under their belt.
I will try to explain why I loved this book so much without giving too much away, because you really do want to experience this for yourself. Like I said, the writing is top-notch, and you’d have a hard time pointing to anything about Aden’s craft that would tell you he’s a debut author. The concept is also fantastic: a secret project run by some dastardly folks to create children programmed to rise to the top levels of the military and political systems who can be “activated” when the project needs them. And, oh yeah, they can also be activated to kill on command. I mean, how cool (yet frightening) is that idea? The plot raced along at a steady clip, too, interspersing action where the teens have been activated as assassins with research notes, flashbacks, and some truly gut-wrenching soul searching on the part of the teens.
The teens themselves - Tyler/Apollo, Elizabeth/Persephone, Shannon/Artemis, and Hades (just Hades) - each have distinct personalities and stories of their own that keep them from running together in the reader’s head. The adult “bad guys” are some truly awful human beings, and there is no love lost on the part of this reader, at least, for any of those folks. The teens, though... that’s a different story. These teens are morally ambiguous characters - none more so than Hades, who was hands down my favorite character - and the reader has to reckon with that ambiguity in deciding whether or not we will identify with and root for them.
Even though I’m in my low-forties, I read almost exclusively YA, and I often connect with the characters on a personal level; ie, I identify with them in thinking about the teen I used to be, who I was at that age. Reading this book, though, I identified more as a mother in comparison to these characters. I mostly felt an overwhelming desire to protect them; I started thinking of them almost like my own kids. I couldn’t stop imagining my own son (he’s only 9 yet) in a similar situation. I also kept wondering what these experiences would do to a person who is at such a vulnerable (on so many levels) stage in their lives and, most importantly, in their brain development. I also looked at the adult actors from my stance as a parent, wondering who could possibly do such things to any child in their care. It was an unusual and rare, if not entirely new, way for me to experience a YA book. There have been others where I connected on a maternal level with the characters, but they’re few and far between. The fact that this is a debut and evoked such an emotional connection from me just blows my mind.
I don’t want to say much more, because I feel like I’ll just keep repeating myself in saying how amazing this book is and how much it made me *feel*, which is something you might expect from a contemporary but not necessarily a thriller. Plus, I don’t want to give anything away, and I want each reader to approach it as fresh as possible. I do feel like I should mention, though, that this was actually a difficult book for me to read, and it is one that took me longer than normal. The main reason is because of the emotions it evoked, coupled with some of the themes explored in the book. The last book I remember absolutely loving while at the same time finding it very difficult to read was The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly, which is another one of those rare books that I approached and read more as a mother than as a former teen or “just” a reader. I also want to note that there are a few scenes of abuse depicted in the book that were *very* difficult for me to read and reckon with, and I am someone who has no personal experience with child abuse. I just want to mention this as a possible trigger for some readers.
Overall, this was an incredible book, a slow-burning thriller that goes far beyond the action we see on the surface, probing an emotional depth that I wasn’t expecting. Project Pandora makes us consider what makes a person “good” or “bad” and how culpable someone may be for actions that are a result of brainwashing or programming. When I picked up this book, I wasn’t expecting to feel as if my heart was bleeding, and I cannot say enough about the talent of this author in being able to wring such emotions from me. I *still* just want to cradle Hades in my arms and tell him he’s worth so much more... ugh! My heart STILL hurts - and that’s the sign of an amazing book, in my opinion! I cannot recommend this highly enough, and I’m frankly a wee bit desperate for the second book now.
Rating: 5 gut-wrenching, heartbreaking stars!
Thanks so much to Entangled Teen for the early review copy, and to Chapter by Chapter for including me on the tour! This is my honest rating and review and is purely voluntary on my part.
I will try to explain why I loved this book so much without giving too much away, because you really do want to experience this for yourself. Like I said, the writing is top-notch, and you’d have a hard time pointing to anything about Aden’s craft that would tell you he’s a debut author. The concept is also fantastic: a secret project run by some dastardly folks to create children programmed to rise to the top levels of the military and political systems who can be “activated” when the project needs them. And, oh yeah, they can also be activated to kill on command. I mean, how cool (yet frightening) is that idea? The plot raced along at a steady clip, too, interspersing action where the teens have been activated as assassins with research notes, flashbacks, and some truly gut-wrenching soul searching on the part of the teens.
The teens themselves - Tyler/Apollo, Elizabeth/Persephone, Shannon/Artemis, and Hades (just Hades) - each have distinct personalities and stories of their own that keep them from running together in the reader’s head. The adult “bad guys” are some truly awful human beings, and there is no love lost on the part of this reader, at least, for any of those folks. The teens, though... that’s a different story. These teens are morally ambiguous characters - none more so than Hades, who was hands down my favorite character - and the reader has to reckon with that ambiguity in deciding whether or not we will identify with and root for them.
Even though I’m in my low-forties, I read almost exclusively YA, and I often connect with the characters on a personal level; ie, I identify with them in thinking about the teen I used to be, who I was at that age. Reading this book, though, I identified more as a mother in comparison to these characters. I mostly felt an overwhelming desire to protect them; I started thinking of them almost like my own kids. I couldn’t stop imagining my own son (he’s only 9 yet) in a similar situation. I also kept wondering what these experiences would do to a person who is at such a vulnerable (on so many levels) stage in their lives and, most importantly, in their brain development. I also looked at the adult actors from my stance as a parent, wondering who could possibly do such things to any child in their care. It was an unusual and rare, if not entirely new, way for me to experience a YA book. There have been others where I connected on a maternal level with the characters, but they’re few and far between. The fact that this is a debut and evoked such an emotional connection from me just blows my mind.
I don’t want to say much more, because I feel like I’ll just keep repeating myself in saying how amazing this book is and how much it made me *feel*, which is something you might expect from a contemporary but not necessarily a thriller. Plus, I don’t want to give anything away, and I want each reader to approach it as fresh as possible. I do feel like I should mention, though, that this was actually a difficult book for me to read, and it is one that took me longer than normal. The main reason is because of the emotions it evoked, coupled with some of the themes explored in the book. The last book I remember absolutely loving while at the same time finding it very difficult to read was The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly, which is another one of those rare books that I approached and read more as a mother than as a former teen or “just” a reader. I also want to note that there are a few scenes of abuse depicted in the book that were *very* difficult for me to read and reckon with, and I am someone who has no personal experience with child abuse. I just want to mention this as a possible trigger for some readers.
Overall, this was an incredible book, a slow-burning thriller that goes far beyond the action we see on the surface, probing an emotional depth that I wasn’t expecting. Project Pandora makes us consider what makes a person “good” or “bad” and how culpable someone may be for actions that are a result of brainwashing or programming. When I picked up this book, I wasn’t expecting to feel as if my heart was bleeding, and I cannot say enough about the talent of this author in being able to wring such emotions from me. I *still* just want to cradle Hades in my arms and tell him he’s worth so much more... ugh! My heart STILL hurts - and that’s the sign of an amazing book, in my opinion! I cannot recommend this highly enough, and I’m frankly a wee bit desperate for the second book now.
Rating: 5 gut-wrenching, heartbreaking stars!
Thanks so much to Entangled Teen for the early review copy, and to Chapter by Chapter for including me on the tour! This is my honest rating and review and is purely voluntary on my part.