💬 Review The Book of Ivy (The Book of Ivy #1) by Amy Engel

Sbenny.com is trusted by 1,312,726 happy users since 2014.
Register

feyrearcheron1

APK Fanatic Lv5️⃣
Member for 4 years
Name of the eBook you are reviewing: The Book of Ivy (The Book of Ivy #1) by Amy Engel



Link to the content you're reviewing on our site (optional): 📖 eBook Download - The Book of Ivy (The Book of Ivy #1) by Amy Engel

This is a young adult dystopian novel set in a post apocalyptic America that's been decimated by a brutal nuclear war. The survivors of the war are trying to rebuild civilization, but there's conflict over who should rule. Eventually the Lattimer family wins and the Westfall family loses, and throughout their reign they have maintained peace by conducting a series of arranged marriages every year. The daughters of the losing side marry the sons of the winning side, and their goal is to repopulate society.

For this book, we follow our main character Ivy who's 16 years old, and it's her turn to participate in the marriage ritual. Normally, the girls don't know who they're marrying, but Ivy has known who she's going to marry since she's been preparing for this moment; Bishop Lattimer, the President's son.

She's been taught all about the Lattimer family and what to expect, trusting what her father and sister have told her over the years. But the more time she spends with Bishop, the more she questions everything she knows. He's not the cruel person she expected, but she can't let that distract her.

Because her marriage to him isn't meant to have a happily ever after, especially since she's been tasked to kill him.

Review:
This is a typical YA dystopian about our main character Ivy who lives in this world set in the future after a nuclear war which divided the United States in half. After the war, the remaining survivors tried to band together to decide how best to lead the nation. The Lattimer family thought having authoritative rule over everyone would keep the peace among humans since they wouldn't have the burden of making life altering choices, only those in authority would. And the Westfall family went against that, saying that a democracy would be far more suitable since people would have a choice in how they choose to live.

In the end the Lattimers won and took rule over the nation, bringing about a series of changes such as arranged marriages. These arranged marriages are set up in order to grow the current population, and the younger the parents are the better the chance at having babies who are born with no deformities. So, at sixteen years of age, the boys from the East are set up to marry girls from the West. Our main character Ivy, who is now sixteen, is ready to partake in this year’s set of arranged marriages. Usually the girls have no idea who their partner is, but our main character has already known who she is to marry; Bishop Lattimer, the President's son. For two years, she's been preparing about how to deal with this. With her father and her sister at her side, she feels she's ready to get this marriage over with. Then comes the Ceremony, where she marries Bishop and goes home with him, expecting him to get her straight into bed because that's what newly married couples do.

Except, he doesn't force her. He gives her a choice. He gives her space when she needs it because he knows this arranged marriage isn't easy. He’s taking it one step at a time, treating Ivy with respect. But, while the gesture is touching, it makes Ivy's mission harder. Which is not to fall in love with him or to have babies with him, but to kill him. Growing up, her father and sister have been telling her how different the world can be if there was a Westfall as a leader and not a Lattimer. That the possibilities and choices of how a person lives could be endless. No arranged marriages, no limited job options, no babies if you don't want to have any, no fence (which is essentially their prison system, all criminals are sentenced to punishment outside of the fence which borders the city. The terrain is gruesome, there’s no food or water, the weather system is unpredictable). But when she meets Bishop, and she hears his side of things, and what he envisions for the future of Westfall, she begins to second guess everything she's taught to believe is true.

This book made me laugh, cry, even sob a little. There were moments I was even truly mortified. This book was everything I expected and then everything I didn't. I knew this book was going to be predictable, I knew things that were going to happen just based on the synopsis alone. But, while it was the typical YA dystopian I expected, there were some things that still completely took me by surprise, which I definitely was not expecting. I loved the plot of this book, the story line, the world she developed (even though I do not want to live there!), and especially, the characters.

I saw myself in Ivy at so many different points of this book. She doesn't conform to anyone's expectations, she speaks her mind especially when she knows it's probably going to hurt people, but I loved that. Honesty is something I value a lot personally, and to see it in fiction makes me appreciate it more because it doesn’t have to be there, the author could choose to spare the other characters’ feelings and leave certain things out of the plot, but in this case she didn’t. And what I loved even more, was that Bishop encouraged Ivy. He pushed her to say what's on her mind, made sure she voiced her opinion. He always asks questions and gives answers that are beyond what's necessary because even though he's the President's son, he's learned to think and develop opinions on his own. This book drove me wild and I could not put it down. But I didn't give it a full 5-star rating because while reading this I just knew it wasn't going to be a 5 star book, like I just had that feeling. I still loved this book and the plot and the characters, and will definitely read this again someday when I’m feeling nostalgic.

Would you recommend this to other users? I would, but it's definitely not for everyone. If you're younger you might enjoy this, but if you're in the mood for something easy to read or you're feeling a bit nostalgic and you miss the dystopian genre, you should give it a try. It is a bit centred on the romance though, so keep that in mind.

Rating(1-5): ⭐⭐⭐⭐
 
Top