The Western Pirate Dystopian You Didn't Know You Were Looking For

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“I'm not an animal. And I'm not your weapon. I'm not your anything.”
This was so different! A fast-paced, crawling pirate-like dystopian with Poe Blythe, a grieving, hotheaded captain, at the front of it. Some people described this as feeling like a western and I'd have to agree! It's very survivalist, with the futuristic setting and a gold-mining ship on a river to complete the setting.

Even if you didn't like the Matched series I'd give this a try. The chapters are super fast, the action is intense, and the whole story has a deeply romantic feel to it. Poe is out for revenge on the raiders that killed the love of her life, and she creates a deadly ship as her weapon. She is calculated and definitely not someone to mess with, ever. The twists were always turning and the book never felt long, even when I put it down for a few months. I picked it back up and remembered everything I had already read.

My only critiques would be how underdeveloped the world-building and characters felt. I would have loved to hear more of Poe's thoughts, especially for the last 1/3, to explain her actions. And more side character development please! The world was fine as it was, but could have used more placement and explanation to fully involve the reader. Overall, I don't regret picking this one up at all and it was a different read than anything I've otherwise read.