The Killables by Gemma Malley
Mar. 29th, 2012 10:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
Evil has been eradicated. The City has been established. And citizens may only enter after having the ‘evil’ part of their brain removed. They are labelled on the System according to how ‘good’ they are. If they show signs of the evil emerging, they are labelled a K … But no one knows quite what that means. Only that they disappear, never to be seen again …
After the world’s ravaged by The Horrors, a neurological surgical procedure is developed to abolish evil. The procedure is mandatory for all who live in the City, its citizens then being labelled according to their level of goodness. The A’s are the best, the Ds the worst. The most deviant are labelled K, who are taken away for a procedure called the New Baptism and are never heard from again.
16-year-old Evie works for the government, changing people’s labels according to what the System dictates. She’s engaged to Lucas, an A label, high ranking civil servant 12 years older than her who keeps the System running. But Evie loves his brother, Raffy, who’s known to have deviant tendencies. When she discovers that Raffy will be redesignated as a K, they have to escape but doing so uncovers secrets that the City will kill to protect …
Gemma Malley’s YA dystopia, the first in a trilogy, is a disappointing tale that does little new with the genre and revolves around two unlikeable characters.
Evie’s a passive character who needs to be told what to do - even her escape from the City is engineered for her. Though explainable in the context of the world she lives in, it made for frustrating reading, as she persistently refuses to stand up for herself. The potentially interesting relationship with her mother – particularly Evie’s guilt at being such a disappointment – doesn’t really go anywhere, with her mother’s hostility getting a trite explanation.
The love triangle is dull and a little icky given the age difference between Evie and Lucas and the fact that Raffy behaves like a petulant, possessive toddler. I didn’t understand what any of them saw in each other and the idea of the brothers being opposites (Lucas – blond and emotionless; Raffy dark and brooding) felt cliche. I wish Evie had stood up for herself with them rather than being a victim.
Exposition is heavily used to world build, which didn’t hold my attention. There’s genuine horror in the scenes where Evie discovers what happens to those who undertake the New Baptism, but the moral discussion on how to treat the victims is superficial and I was uncomfortable at the idea that they were prone to homicidal violence.
Ultimately although I’ve really enjoyed Gemma Malley’s other work, this left me very disappointed and I won’t be reading on.
The Verdict:
Gemma Malley’s YA dystopia, the first in a trilogy, is a disappointing tale that does little new with the genre and revolves around two unlikeable characters. I found Evie to be far too passive and her love interest Raffy was a petulant, possessive toddler prone to tantrums. The love triangle with Raffy’s brother Lucas was icky given that he’s 12 years older than Evie. Although I’ve enjoyed other books by Gemma Malley, this book left me very disappointed and I won’t be reading on.
THE KILLABLES was released in the UK on 29th March 2012. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the ARC of this book.
Evil has been eradicated. The City has been established. And citizens may only enter after having the ‘evil’ part of their brain removed. They are labelled on the System according to how ‘good’ they are. If they show signs of the evil emerging, they are labelled a K … But no one knows quite what that means. Only that they disappear, never to be seen again …
After the world’s ravaged by The Horrors, a neurological surgical procedure is developed to abolish evil. The procedure is mandatory for all who live in the City, its citizens then being labelled according to their level of goodness. The A’s are the best, the Ds the worst. The most deviant are labelled K, who are taken away for a procedure called the New Baptism and are never heard from again.
16-year-old Evie works for the government, changing people’s labels according to what the System dictates. She’s engaged to Lucas, an A label, high ranking civil servant 12 years older than her who keeps the System running. But Evie loves his brother, Raffy, who’s known to have deviant tendencies. When she discovers that Raffy will be redesignated as a K, they have to escape but doing so uncovers secrets that the City will kill to protect …
Gemma Malley’s YA dystopia, the first in a trilogy, is a disappointing tale that does little new with the genre and revolves around two unlikeable characters.
Evie’s a passive character who needs to be told what to do - even her escape from the City is engineered for her. Though explainable in the context of the world she lives in, it made for frustrating reading, as she persistently refuses to stand up for herself. The potentially interesting relationship with her mother – particularly Evie’s guilt at being such a disappointment – doesn’t really go anywhere, with her mother’s hostility getting a trite explanation.
The love triangle is dull and a little icky given the age difference between Evie and Lucas and the fact that Raffy behaves like a petulant, possessive toddler. I didn’t understand what any of them saw in each other and the idea of the brothers being opposites (Lucas – blond and emotionless; Raffy dark and brooding) felt cliche. I wish Evie had stood up for herself with them rather than being a victim.
Exposition is heavily used to world build, which didn’t hold my attention. There’s genuine horror in the scenes where Evie discovers what happens to those who undertake the New Baptism, but the moral discussion on how to treat the victims is superficial and I was uncomfortable at the idea that they were prone to homicidal violence.
Ultimately although I’ve really enjoyed Gemma Malley’s other work, this left me very disappointed and I won’t be reading on.
The Verdict:
Gemma Malley’s YA dystopia, the first in a trilogy, is a disappointing tale that does little new with the genre and revolves around two unlikeable characters. I found Evie to be far too passive and her love interest Raffy was a petulant, possessive toddler prone to tantrums. The love triangle with Raffy’s brother Lucas was icky given that he’s 12 years older than Evie. Although I’ve enjoyed other books by Gemma Malley, this book left me very disappointed and I won’t be reading on.
THE KILLABLES was released in the UK on 29th March 2012. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the ARC of this book.
