Stephanie Diaz

READ IN ENGLISH

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I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review, thank you!

This is the first book in the Extraction series.

I only read the blurb till 'toxic moon' and thought, this is a book I've got to read! (I read the whole blurb only seldom, out of fear for gigantic spoilers that are sometimes placed in them for reasons I don't get)

Unfortunately, the whole moon-situation is just a very small part in Extraction, as the biggest part of the book is filled with some kind of a Hunger Games and Divergent clone. I expected there would be some similarities, but the stories are so alike it annoyed me. It only added more cruelty and sadism.

First, the world. It's divided in sectors, like the Districts and they all have their own job. The people at the Core are very cruel to the people of the other sectors (Surface, Crust, Mantle and Lower) because those sectors rebelled against the Core (Does that ring any bells?) Clementine lives on Surface, a place that makes District 12 looks like a meadow filled with pink fluffy unicorns dancing on rainbows. Because no one ever lives past twenty, when the workers are replaced with fresher -younger- people, and they are quarantined (killed).

There's one chance out of this misery: Extraction. Although it sounds not very nice, it's chance to become a Core Citizen (and to survive). To be Extracted your Promise must be as high as possible, because every year the 16-year old with the highest Promise will be chosen. At birth, brainwaves are measured, and only the highest scoring half will get a chance to enhance their Promise. Promise is the kind of thing that asks you to know the numbers of Pi 26 digits after the comma. That's of course, a very useful tool. And, besides they look for obedience and physical strength.

It won't come as a surprise that Clementine is Extracted. Let her training begin...

This is where it starts to look like Divergent, a lot. To name some of the things that gave me a deja-vu.



* There is a scene in which they throw knives

* She falls in love with one of the instructors

* This instructor is just like her, very special, and also not from the Core

* There's Insta-hate between her and another instructor

* There is a scene that looks like the Catch the flag one from Divergent

* All people are being drugged to make them obedient...

* But, surprisingly, the injection doesn't work on Clementine



And for The Hunger Games:



She also got some kind of personal relationship with the big bad guy...


The Evil Scheme that obviously features this book was mostly weird.



How can you possibly turn the core of a planet into a space ship?



The toxic moon thing in the end disappointed me as well, as it's not what I expected it would be...

The second book, Rebellion, will be published in 2015, but I don't think I will continue with this series.… (més)

Extraction has some Hunger Game qualities; the Core and iits Developers are very similar to the Capitol, and the Earth levels are very similar to the Districts. It also has some Divergent similarities with Clem being allergic to the injection that subdues all of the extracted thus making her different from most of the citizens. Clementine is also a rebellious strong female who fights for the underdog even though she has a attained a better life for herself. I would have liked it more if it had been a stand alone title. I'm tired of series and felt that this one just went on a little too long. Having said that, I'll still be interested in reading book two which is sure to involve a reappearance of Sam and Commander Charlie, as well as hopefully Fred. I also predict that Marden will play a big role in the second book.… (més)