A review by aacinonyx
The First Sister by Linden A. Lewis

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

2.0

I'm not sure where to begin here... spoilers ahead for those of you who care. 

This book has split character point of views. There are technically three point of views. The first sister, Lito, and Hiro. I say technically because Hiro's point of view is from a recording they made for Lito. I love the concept! Having whole chapters dedicated to a transcription of this recording of Hiro explaining themselves to Lito is interesting, however, I found that the execution of it was lacking. My main grievance with it is because they speak just like the author's writing. They would say direct quotes and use dialog tags! No one quotes themselves and then says "I demanded". 

and Lito oh my goodness. I can not get behind this boy. During the big moment where
he's like "if only I knew how awfully they treated the Astors! I would never have allowed that to happen!
Yet he quite literally ignored the harassment of an Astor on the bus earlier in the book. Why was this earlier scene included if he felt so strongly about the treatment of astors? Even his excuse for not stepping in to protect the astor from harassment was "not my job". I cannot believe that this is the same character that decided to
risk everything to join the rebel astor faction or whatever they call themselves. 

My frustration continues with the implants that rapiers and daggers receive. We have just learned that rapiers and daggers have some quasi communication through these implants. Then on the first mission Ofelia and Lito are tasked with, Ofelia takes a little too long for her portion of the mission Lito gets concerned and LEAVES HIS POST TO FIND HER. You can communicate through the implant!!! why are you physically going to find her if you just need to "think" at her?? Lito continues to
ruin the mission by killing an innocent astor kid he thought was threatening and Ofelia is all pissed about it. We find out later that Ofelia is special because she can control other implant users with her implant... Why did she let Lito kill the kid?
Clearly both of these things needed to happen so that the plot could move forward but it it incredibly frustrating that that is the case. 

Lastly we come to the First Sister. Hers was the most interesting of the story lines for me. However, I felt blindsided for her
sudden love for Ren?
They didn't actually have any meaningful conversations that made me feel like they were falling in love. Then in the end when the First Sister discovers the truth about
Ren there is no conversation about this? She just lets Ren go?
What was the point of this plot line? There could have been something interesting there with the first sister confronting
Ren about their "love" in front of Lito and have Lito be like Nahh that's my partner Hiro! Ren/Hiro would have to explain themselves and actually make a decision about who/if they are in love, but no, All we get is "hey i'm not who you thought I was" and the First Sister just is ok with it?
how boring. 

All in all the book was entertaining enough to read since I finished it, but I don't think I will be continuing the series. 
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