strangecandy's review
3.0
The storyline was what initially got my attention. It reminded me of Children of Blood and Bone but beyond that I had a hard time getting invested in this story. It's an interesting plot. Humanity is now enhanced with the help of a chemical substance that can make you more beautiful, smarter, stronger...basically perfect. Those few who have not been enhanced live in the wilds and are considered "untamed". The enhanced are on a mission to convert all those untamed to their way of life. That was what initially interested me but I kept wondering about where this took place, what was the time frame, what was "the turning" or what was up with the spirit world? None of these were fully answered. So I would have liked to have more world building to help me get more into the story. I may give the next book a try but we will just have to wait and see.
emitchellwrites's review
5.0
It took me a while to add a review thanks to... life, but here you go!
Madeline Dyer has a way with imagery. From the first sentence to the last, you see everything exactly as she wanted you to, but it's never too much and it's unique in it's verbiage. The story was original too, and really, aren't we looking for that? Her dystopian world feels like it could be happening around the corner right now, or in two hundred years. I never felt bogged down with the science, but it felt explained enough that I believed it. This book is definitely worth a read. I can't wait for book two!
Madeline Dyer has a way with imagery. From the first sentence to the last, you see everything exactly as she wanted you to, but it's never too much and it's unique in it's verbiage. The story was original too, and really, aren't we looking for that? Her dystopian world feels like it could be happening around the corner right now, or in two hundred years. I never felt bogged down with the science, but it felt explained enough that I believed it. This book is definitely worth a read. I can't wait for book two!
muddypuddle's review
1.0
I'm so glad I'm finally done with this book. Repetitious and boring are my first two thought when connecting adjectives to it. Lousy world building. No surprises, huge forays into the dream world, it seems like the same scenes were rewritten over and over with slightly different changes or additions. Not my cuppa tea at all. Surprised I finished it, actually. Not at all recommended.
thewoollygeek's review against another edition
5.0
I haven’t read anything dystopian this year or in awhile before the outbreak of COVID so it’s a refreshing read for me to come back to this genre, I’m so glad I did, this felt totally unique and fresh , something quite different from a lot of the dystopian books out there. I loved the author’s writing style, so easy to jump into, it feels smooth and flowing (if that makes any sense at all) I loved the journey 7 goes on and she really is run through the mill. It’s a wonderful read and I cannot it to jump into the sequel
Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion
Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion
brenda4346's review against another edition
4.0
This is my first book by Madeline Dyer. I myself don’t read a lot of dystopian YA books but this book was good. I gave the book 4 stars for the follow reasons, although the storyline was good it took quite sometime to get into the story and the writing was okay but there was a lot of redundancy at times that did help build up a scene but other times I felt they were just used to fill the page. I thought Seven would’ve been stronger so I’m definitely hoping in book two her real potential comes out. I really liked how fight scenes, the Enhanced, and the Spirits were described. I did love how book one ended so I’m looking forward to the next book.
samanthaeatonwrites's review
4.0
Couldn't put it down
I really enjoyed this book and look forward to the rest of the series.
Seven was really a heroine I could root for - she was imperfect, conflicted, and real. I could identify with her struggle to choose the easy way versus the way that meant more work and pain. Something almost everyone struggles with at one point or another.
I'd recommend this book to anyone who likes young adult sci-fi/dystopia.
I really enjoyed this book and look forward to the rest of the series.
Seven was really a heroine I could root for - she was imperfect, conflicted, and real. I could identify with her struggle to choose the easy way versus the way that meant more work and pain. Something almost everyone struggles with at one point or another.
I'd recommend this book to anyone who likes young adult sci-fi/dystopia.
heameljon's review against another edition
3.0
I was provided an Advanced Reader Copy from Netgalley and the publisher for an honest review.
Untamed by Madleline Dyer was a unique perspective on a dystopian story. The characters were likable and the story moved at a fast pace. I enjoyed the first installment in the "Untamed" series.
In Seven's world there are two types of humans; Enhanced and Untamed. Seven is Untamed. The Enhanced hunt the Untamed in an effort to convert them, feeding the Untamed concoctions to enhance any feature one could imagine making them into "perfect" humans. The Untamed view the Enhanced as human robots with no emotions or thoughts of their own. They fight hard to hold onto what little is left of a normal humanity. So many Untamed have been captured and converted. A raid on Seven's home village has forced her and a small group to go on the run. During the raid, Seven learns that she is a powerful Seer. Will her new skills help to save all this is left of humankind?
Untamed by Madleline Dyer was a unique perspective on a dystopian story. The characters were likable and the story moved at a fast pace. I enjoyed the first installment in the "Untamed" series.
In Seven's world there are two types of humans; Enhanced and Untamed. Seven is Untamed. The Enhanced hunt the Untamed in an effort to convert them, feeding the Untamed concoctions to enhance any feature one could imagine making them into "perfect" humans. The Untamed view the Enhanced as human robots with no emotions or thoughts of their own. They fight hard to hold onto what little is left of a normal humanity. So many Untamed have been captured and converted. A raid on Seven's home village has forced her and a small group to go on the run. During the raid, Seven learns that she is a powerful Seer. Will her new skills help to save all this is left of humankind?
chelsea_not_chels's review
4.0
More reviews available at my blog, Beauty and the Bookworm.
Untamed has been on my radar for a while and, to be honest, I had been avoiding it because I didn't think it would be very good. I'm not quite sure what instilled this thought in my mind; maybe it was because it sounded like a generic young adult dystopian and my experiences with those have been mixed at best, maybe it's because the cover rubbed me the wrong way; the visual, to me, is lovely, but the way the title and author name are formatted grate on my nerves for some reason that I can't quite put my finger on. But Untamed is turning a year old today, so I decided to give it a read--and I'm delighted to say that I was very, very wrong about that "it won't be good" impression that had somehow instilled itself in my brain.
The story follows Seven, a teenage girl who is one of the last Untamed in a world of people who have mostly been Enhanced. Enhanced people have mirror-like eyes while the Untamed have normal eyes (I love this; special eyes are one of my favorite tropes) and the Enhanced aren't really capable of emotions, supplementing their feelings with bottled concoctions that can replicate the feeling of emotions, but only positive ones, like calmness. This whole thing is kind of akin to how the inhabitants of Wonderland consume emotions derived from captured Earthlings or "oysters" in Syfy's awesome miniseries Alice.
The Enhanced can also consume other substances to give them super-human abilities like super speed; the substances, both the ability-givers and the emotions, are called augmenters, and once you've been augmented, the Untamed say you can never go back. This seems particularly true for Seven, who finds herself kidnapped by the Enhanced while out raiding with other members of her group. She's dragged back to the Enhanced city and promptly augmented and given the new name of Shania, which I hated because all I could think of was Shania Twain. Seriously, the lyrics of "Man, I Feel Like a Woman" were running through my head for the duration of the book, and that was not really appropriate mood-music.
Seven gets rescued, but her very presence puts her entire group in danger, and soon they--or what's left of them--are running from the Enhanced, who seem to think that Seven is the key to them becoming all-powerful or something. Seven really only gets support from her group because she turns out to be a Seer, a skill that has cropped up in her family before but which she hadn't previously shown an affinity for.
Seven's Seer skill was pretty neat. When she falls asleep, she enters the Dreamland, and has visions of things that will happen in the future, some of them more clear than others. Though, in retrospect, the usefulness of this skill is somewhat questionable because at least one of the visions doesn't actually come close to coming true in the book. It might be reserved for a future book, but the content of the vision combined with the note the book ended on doesn't make it seem likely, and Seven actually never really did anything to avert that one, so maybe her visions aren't all they're cracked up to be after all? Intentional or plot hole? The world may never know. Anyway, she has to always wear a pendant passed down from her mother, another Seer, that protects her, or else she might get stuck in the Dreamland and never return. And there's something about a symbolic bison who shows up there, which was neat but which I'm not really sure I understood the full symbolic significance of.
This book also deals with an interesting topic that I don't think a lot of young adult books do, and that's addiction. It manifests itself a little differently in this, and it's kind of implied that it might be because Seven is Special, but she's definitely addicted to augmenters once she receives them, and she spends much of the book battling that addiction in secret, because bringing it out into the open could show her group how much she really is like the Enhanced, and then they might ditch her. I've never had an addition (except maybe buying nail polish) but I thought Seven's came across as realistic. She spends so much of her time fighting against the urge to give in, while simultaneously fighting to not let anyone else know in case they hate her for it. To tell you the truth, I kind of sneered at her for this, groaning about why didn't she just get rid of the augmenter, while at the same time knowing that it wasn't that simple for her. It made her a not-entirely-savory character, which is unfortunate but also true to life.
Though the writing, editing, and general characters were excellent, there were two things that I didn't particularly like about this book. First, the main plot is a bunch of people running from another bunch of people, and not a heck of a lot actually happening other than this. I'm going to make a comparison here that many will find flattering but isn't meant to be: it's like in Mad Max: Fury Road, where the bulk of the movie is literally some people driving to a place, and then turning around and coming back. Sure, there's some fighting that happens along the way, but in the end it's kind of a fruitless road trip. There wasn't a lot of substantive plot underlying this. But that does bring me to the second thing I didn't like: the "romance," if you can even call it that. It didn't feel like a romance at all, not even one of the more subtle young adult variety. It was more like "I am aware of your presence and oh suddenly I am in love with you," and while I liked both characters involved, I didn't like how this "relationship" suddenly appeared without having too much development behind it. It was just "meh" at best.
I think this story holds a lot of promise. Seeing Seven's abilities develop will be interesting, and I'm also curious as to if she and her companions will try to penetrate the Enhanced civilization and bring it down, or work from the outside; if Seven will end up taken by the Enhanced again and have to fight to regain herself and her freedom, a la the Uglies series; and if her relationship will develop into something a little more substantial (I hope it does). The writing here is excellent, far above the quality of most indies, and I could definitely tell how much work Dyer put into making sure it was publish-ready. I really appreciate that. I do wish that a bit more had actually happened in the book, but I think it's well set up for the sequel (I don't know when that's scheduled to come out) and I'll definitely pick up the next book when it arrives. This was a solid young adult dystopian novel, and while it wasn't my absolute favorite, I think it's definitely worth a read.
3.5 to 4 stars out of 5.
Untamed has been on my radar for a while and, to be honest, I had been avoiding it because I didn't think it would be very good. I'm not quite sure what instilled this thought in my mind; maybe it was because it sounded like a generic young adult dystopian and my experiences with those have been mixed at best, maybe it's because the cover rubbed me the wrong way; the visual, to me, is lovely, but the way the title and author name are formatted grate on my nerves for some reason that I can't quite put my finger on. But Untamed is turning a year old today, so I decided to give it a read--and I'm delighted to say that I was very, very wrong about that "it won't be good" impression that had somehow instilled itself in my brain.
The story follows Seven, a teenage girl who is one of the last Untamed in a world of people who have mostly been Enhanced. Enhanced people have mirror-like eyes while the Untamed have normal eyes (I love this; special eyes are one of my favorite tropes) and the Enhanced aren't really capable of emotions, supplementing their feelings with bottled concoctions that can replicate the feeling of emotions, but only positive ones, like calmness. This whole thing is kind of akin to how the inhabitants of Wonderland consume emotions derived from captured Earthlings or "oysters" in Syfy's awesome miniseries Alice.
The Enhanced can also consume other substances to give them super-human abilities like super speed; the substances, both the ability-givers and the emotions, are called augmenters, and once you've been augmented, the Untamed say you can never go back. This seems particularly true for Seven, who finds herself kidnapped by the Enhanced while out raiding with other members of her group. She's dragged back to the Enhanced city and promptly augmented and given the new name of Shania, which I hated because all I could think of was Shania Twain. Seriously, the lyrics of "Man, I Feel Like a Woman" were running through my head for the duration of the book, and that was not really appropriate mood-music.
Seven gets rescued, but her very presence puts her entire group in danger, and soon they--or what's left of them--are running from the Enhanced, who seem to think that Seven is the key to them becoming all-powerful or something. Seven really only gets support from her group because she turns out to be a Seer, a skill that has cropped up in her family before but which she hadn't previously shown an affinity for.
Seven's Seer skill was pretty neat. When she falls asleep, she enters the Dreamland, and has visions of things that will happen in the future, some of them more clear than others. Though, in retrospect, the usefulness of this skill is somewhat questionable because at least one of the visions doesn't actually come close to coming true in the book. It might be reserved for a future book, but the content of the vision combined with the note the book ended on doesn't make it seem likely, and Seven actually never really did anything to avert that one, so maybe her visions aren't all they're cracked up to be after all? Intentional or plot hole? The world may never know. Anyway, she has to always wear a pendant passed down from her mother, another Seer, that protects her, or else she might get stuck in the Dreamland and never return. And there's something about a symbolic bison who shows up there, which was neat but which I'm not really sure I understood the full symbolic significance of.
This book also deals with an interesting topic that I don't think a lot of young adult books do, and that's addiction. It manifests itself a little differently in this, and it's kind of implied that it might be because Seven is Special, but she's definitely addicted to augmenters once she receives them, and she spends much of the book battling that addiction in secret, because bringing it out into the open could show her group how much she really is like the Enhanced, and then they might ditch her. I've never had an addition (except maybe buying nail polish) but I thought Seven's came across as realistic. She spends so much of her time fighting against the urge to give in, while simultaneously fighting to not let anyone else know in case they hate her for it. To tell you the truth, I kind of sneered at her for this, groaning about why didn't she just get rid of the augmenter, while at the same time knowing that it wasn't that simple for her. It made her a not-entirely-savory character, which is unfortunate but also true to life.
Though the writing, editing, and general characters were excellent, there were two things that I didn't particularly like about this book. First, the main plot is a bunch of people running from another bunch of people, and not a heck of a lot actually happening other than this. I'm going to make a comparison here that many will find flattering but isn't meant to be: it's like in Mad Max: Fury Road, where the bulk of the movie is literally some people driving to a place, and then turning around and coming back. Sure, there's some fighting that happens along the way, but in the end it's kind of a fruitless road trip. There wasn't a lot of substantive plot underlying this. But that does bring me to the second thing I didn't like: the "romance," if you can even call it that. It didn't feel like a romance at all, not even one of the more subtle young adult variety. It was more like "I am aware of your presence and oh suddenly I am in love with you," and while I liked both characters involved, I didn't like how this "relationship" suddenly appeared without having too much development behind it. It was just "meh" at best.
I think this story holds a lot of promise. Seeing Seven's abilities develop will be interesting, and I'm also curious as to if she and her companions will try to penetrate the Enhanced civilization and bring it down, or work from the outside; if Seven will end up taken by the Enhanced again and have to fight to regain herself and her freedom, a la the Uglies series; and if her relationship will develop into something a little more substantial (I hope it does). The writing here is excellent, far above the quality of most indies, and I could definitely tell how much work Dyer put into making sure it was publish-ready. I really appreciate that. I do wish that a bit more had actually happened in the book, but I think it's well set up for the sequel (I don't know when that's scheduled to come out) and I'll definitely pick up the next book when it arrives. This was a solid young adult dystopian novel, and while it wasn't my absolute favorite, I think it's definitely worth a read.
3.5 to 4 stars out of 5.
ashwiid94's review
5.0
I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.
Untamed was an amazing dystopian novel about the struggle to overcome addiction and stay pure human. In this world, set in an area resemblant of the deserts of Africa, there are two groups: The Untamed, the normal humans; and The Enhanced, those who take stimulators that make them superhuman. The Enhanced are determined to change all Untamed into Enhanced, a change that the Untamed with literally die trying to avoid. Seven is an Untamed, who is kidnapped and tortured by the Enhanced. Her tribe rescues her, but once she returns, everything is different. Untamed is the story of Seven and her tribe struggling to stay alive and Untamed, and avoid the Enhanced that so desperately want her.
I was absolutely enthralled throughout this tale. There were many nights where I stayed up way too late just to see what happened next. Though there are some predictable moments (as in pretty much any book), most of the time I did not expect what was coming. Madeline Dyer is an incredibly strong writer, and the character development throughout the story line shows that. I am so excited to read the next two novels in the series to find out what happens to Seven, and if she can remain Untamed.
Untamed was an amazing dystopian novel about the struggle to overcome addiction and stay pure human. In this world, set in an area resemblant of the deserts of Africa, there are two groups: The Untamed, the normal humans; and The Enhanced, those who take stimulators that make them superhuman. The Enhanced are determined to change all Untamed into Enhanced, a change that the Untamed with literally die trying to avoid. Seven is an Untamed, who is kidnapped and tortured by the Enhanced. Her tribe rescues her, but once she returns, everything is different. Untamed is the story of Seven and her tribe struggling to stay alive and Untamed, and avoid the Enhanced that so desperately want her.
I was absolutely enthralled throughout this tale. There were many nights where I stayed up way too late just to see what happened next. Though there are some predictable moments (as in pretty much any book), most of the time I did not expect what was coming. Madeline Dyer is an incredibly strong writer, and the character development throughout the story line shows that. I am so excited to read the next two novels in the series to find out what happens to Seven, and if she can remain Untamed.
maitaylor01's review
5.0
If you are a fan of dystopian fiction, I can't recommend this book highly enough. I felt invested in Seven and the rest of the Untamed almost instantly, feeling their suffering as they fight for survival. As soon as I finished this book, I had to buy the second book straightaway and I am now desperately awaiting the next instalment!