This is a review of the first look (60 or so pages of the book). The Legacies shows a lot of promise in a line of books about competitive billionaire kids (and the scholarship kids fighting to join their ranks). Think Ace of Spades, Inheritance Games, Gossip Girl vibes.
Three Manhattan prep school students have been assured since birth that they’ll join their parents in the ranks of a secret society that guarantees they’ll remain in the 1% for life. Finally, at the beginning of their senior year of high school, it’s time for initiation – a week of tasks culminating in formal admission to the society.
This book shifts between the legacy kids’ perspectives and also the voice of the unlikely scholarship student also nominated to join the society. The kids’ parents are also introduced as relevant characters. It seems that most, if not all, of the characters are hiding their true motivations.
In the first 12 pages, the author introduces at least four major mysteries. The book is engaging from the start. Expect a standard YA writing style: short, to-the-point sentences and chapters with multiple POVs. It’s nothing out of the ordinary, and neither is the idea - there are so many recent books about high-school-kid competitions to join elite society. Having said that, I was intrigued enough to read the rest of the book.
My one hesitation is that I couldn’t tell if any of the characters was supposed to be sympathetic or one to root for. None of them seemed like people you’d root for or against in a competition because their personalities were not well established. Maybe the author will develop the characters further as the novel progresses, but it was weird not to feel any inklings of any emotions toward any of the characters.
Three Manhattan prep school students have been assured since birth that they’ll join their parents in the ranks of a secret society that guarantees they’ll remain in the 1% for life. Finally, at the beginning of their senior year of high school, it’s time for initiation – a week of tasks culminating in formal admission to the society.
This book shifts between the legacy kids’ perspectives and also the voice of the unlikely scholarship student also nominated to join the society. The kids’ parents are also introduced as relevant characters. It seems that most, if not all, of the characters are hiding their true motivations.
In the first 12 pages, the author introduces at least four major mysteries. The book is engaging from the start. Expect a standard YA writing style: short, to-the-point sentences and chapters with multiple POVs. It’s nothing out of the ordinary, and neither is the idea - there are so many recent books about high-school-kid competitions to join elite society. Having said that, I was intrigued enough to read the rest of the book.
My one hesitation is that I couldn’t tell if any of the characters was supposed to be sympathetic or one to root for. None of them seemed like people you’d root for or against in a competition because their personalities were not well established. Maybe the author will develop the characters further as the novel progresses, but it was weird not to feel any inklings of any emotions toward any of the characters.