Reviews tagging 'Car accident'

Обречённая by Teri Terry

2 reviews

junglejelly's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Being a prequel and knowing what happens to the two main characters, I was a bit hesitant going into Fated. But I devoured this book so quickly. Easily the best book from the Slated story.

The characters are written so brilliantly and complex, it's hard not to actually see them as real. Terry really has this incredible ability of bringing characters to life.

I did at times find it a difficult read with the violence and grief. But I think it's testament to how well Terry writes and gets your emotions so quickly.

I'm so glad Terry wrote this prequel, giving us more insight into

Kyla's mum, the start of the Lorders, Dr Lysander and even Nico!

.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders and Vomit

Minor: Cancer, Terminal illness, Car accident, and Classism

rinku's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

 Fated is the prequel to the Slated trilogy but I would still recommend reading it after the main series. We learn how the world of Slated came to be and meet some familiar characters. 

The first part of the story is a quite slow introduction to the world and the characters. Ava and Sam live in post-Brexit Britain a few years in the future where live has become quite troublesome. Sam is the daughter of the new prime minister after the old one resigns while Ava lives in a poorer part of the city. 

But after this first part, it gets so much more dramatic and there’s more action. The situation escalates with more aggressive attacks by regime opponent

where Ava’s dad dies which was so sad

which leads to tightened security measures for teenagers since the regime sees the fault with them. Those security measures include the introduction of the death penalty and the Lorders which we already know from the Slated series. It was well depicted how the situation escalated but it was a bit too drastic and hence unrealistic how fast it went. Ava and Sam have to find their way in this new world which leads to them coming closer to each other but risking losing everything. Some moments of the story were more predictable, but it was generally so interesting and terrifying from time to time.  

I feel a bit ambivalent though concerning the ending:

It was so shocking that Sam’s dad would execute his own daughter just to keep his reputation. I got goosebumps because of this since you know there’s no way she can escape this situation – but then, she does. It’s maybe a bit hard to say but I honestly didn’t like this? The ending would’ve been way more impactful if Sam had actually died, but oh well

. 

I’ve read quite a few books by Terry in the last time and I’m still not sure what I think about her writing. It’s a bit too simplistic since she only describes what is absolutely necessary and barely anything else. Furthermore, there is much telling and there are too often dialogues with nothing in-between. 

When looking at the main characters, Ava and Sam, I generally liked them, even though their narrative voices were quite similar. This goes not for the way they see the world and think about certain things, so it was interesting to see the contrast between them. Besides Ava and Sam, there are many other female characters that are working together to protect each other, and characters known from the main series as well. Here, I especially loved to see

Nico’s past that helps understand him better as a character

. The only critique I have concerning the characters is that the relationship development between Ava and Sam was just not shown enough and the romantic dimension is mostly only implied. 

As a prequel to Slated, this book is absolutely perfect and is able to encapsulate the spirit of the main series. As a single book though, there are just some things lacking that it’s not quite a five-star read, like the development of characters or the pacing of the story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Blood, Police brutality, Car accident, and Death of parent

Moderate: Gun violence and Alcohol