This book fell far from my expectations. The plot was simple yet the book was confusing. There were many unnecessary details added to the story. We learn in the first chapter Elise is asexual (which didn't affect the plot in any way) which lead me to believe there would not be any sex in this book. I was wrong. That wasn't a big problem for me, it just didn't need to be there. The first chapters of the book are chaotic. You are thrown right into the story with no explanation of to what's happening. I like when a story starts with action, it just could have been executed better. The final thing I found confusing throughout the book was the use of they. At the very beginning I thought everyone in the society went by they/them. I don't care what pronouns people use, it just gets hard to follow when someone uses they in a group of people.
The book would have gone on much longer if Bastion hadn't been introduced. He does everything Elise says she can do, but ten times faster. While I am glad for that, I did not like Bastion as a character. Some of the times he and Elise were talking I felt the words he chose came off as manipulating. Whenever Elise thinks of giving his chip up to somebody he begs her not to. He starts talking about his dreams and how he doesn't want to be a AI slave to whoever gets possession of him. At one point in the story he gets mad at her and controls her sight and sound so she is blind and deaf. Overall, his character can come off as almost evil sometimes.
Finally the last thing I wanted to cover was the ending. I was eager to find out what happens with the chip, Elise, and another character (whose name I won't mention to avoid spoilers), but it was like the book reached its climax, and instead of going down the climax hill they show you in school, it plummeted off the end of a cliff. The book got exciting then the littlest thing happened and everything was pretty much back to normal. There was no gradual slope as everything got resolved.
Judging the book as a whole, I wouldn't recommend it. The only reason this book isn't getting one star is because there were some interesting parts, and I got it for free. If a second one came out would I read it? Maybe, but I wouldn't pay for it. On an ending note, I know many people liked the cover of this book, but I didn't. I feel her hair doesn't have as much detail as the rest of the cover and I find the eyes creepy.
The book would have gone on much longer if Bastion hadn't been introduced. He does everything Elise says she can do, but ten times faster. While I am glad for that, I did not like Bastion as a character. Some of the times he and Elise were talking I felt the words he chose came off as manipulating. Whenever Elise thinks of giving his chip up to somebody he begs her not to. He starts talking about his dreams and how he doesn't want to be a AI slave to whoever gets possession of him. At one point in the story he gets mad at her and controls her sight and sound so she is blind and deaf. Overall, his character can come off as almost evil sometimes.
Finally the last thing I wanted to cover was the ending. I was eager to find out what happens with the chip, Elise, and another character (whose name I won't mention to avoid spoilers), but it was like the book reached its climax, and instead of going down the climax hill they show you in school, it plummeted off the end of a cliff. The book got exciting then the littlest thing happened and everything was pretty much back to normal. There was no gradual slope as everything got resolved.
Judging the book as a whole, I wouldn't recommend it. The only reason this book isn't getting one star is because there were some interesting parts, and I got it for free. If a second one came out would I read it? Maybe, but I wouldn't pay for it. On an ending note, I know many people liked the cover of this book, but I didn't. I feel her hair doesn't have as much detail as the rest of the cover and I find the eyes creepy.