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A review by emilyusuallyreading
Pure by Julianna Baggott
3.0
The premise of Pure is fascinating. In the wake of nuclear war, survivors are either hidden in safety within a giant dome or else they are struggling as "wretches" in the outside world and fused to their surroundings. Babies have melted into the arms of their mothers. Pressia has a doll head for a fist and Bradwell has birds in his back.
The world-building of Pure is exceptional. Julianna Baggott did not take the easy way out to create the stereotypical Big Bad Government and Strong Heroine who overcomes it. Her world is fully fleshed out to the point where I was startled and haunted by the descriptions. I had prickly chills as I saw through the eyes of these characters, in a good way. I even like the third person present tense. It's unusual, but it works.
Another thing that I appreciate about Pure is the way that it handles romance. Certain YA dystopias are so romance-focused that the Big Bad World seems like only an unfortunate annoyance. The romances in this book develop naturally and slowly and do not take center stage above the action and twists.
Even though the world-building and writing style of Pure are impressive compared to much of YA dystopian fiction, I was overwhelmed. This novel is long. It consists of more subplots than actual plot, more world-building than characterization, and more perspective-changes in narration than necessary. I'm a quick reader and often will finish a book in a day or two. This one dragged on for a couple of weeks. There were too many subplots and descriptions to keep me interested for long. I found myself putting the book down again and again.
Certain plot points are predictable and even a little contrived. Over and over again, the teens survive solely by coincidence (meeting someone they know among a post-apocalyptic wasteland, finding an obscure clue, being connected in some weird way, defeating bad guys, being rescued, etc, etc). I know there's a writing quote somewhere that goes something like: writers may allow bad things to happen by coincidence, but they should never save the day by coincidence. As the story wrapped up, every discovery and achievement seemed a bit too easy.
The world-building of Pure is exceptional. Julianna Baggott did not take the easy way out to create the stereotypical Big Bad Government and Strong Heroine who overcomes it. Her world is fully fleshed out to the point where I was startled and haunted by the descriptions. I had prickly chills as I saw through the eyes of these characters, in a good way. I even like the third person present tense. It's unusual, but it works.
Another thing that I appreciate about Pure is the way that it handles romance. Certain YA dystopias are so romance-focused that the Big Bad World seems like only an unfortunate annoyance. The romances in this book develop naturally and slowly and do not take center stage above the action and twists.
Even though the world-building and writing style of Pure are impressive compared to much of YA dystopian fiction, I was overwhelmed. This novel is long. It consists of more subplots than actual plot, more world-building than characterization, and more perspective-changes in narration than necessary. I'm a quick reader and often will finish a book in a day or two. This one dragged on for a couple of weeks. There were too many subplots and descriptions to keep me interested for long. I found myself putting the book down again and again.
Certain plot points are predictable and even a little contrived.