Book Review: Schism

you can find the book at:
GoodReads | Author’s website | Amazon | Bookdepository
my review:
Rating: ★★☆☆☆

*This review is not spoiler-free*

~ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review~

Set years after a virus wiped out the older population, the only survivors are prepubescent children. SCHISM follows Andy and her friends as they are forced to love their home in Bermuda and return to the US. Soon they band together with other fellow survivors in search of a new home.

SCHISM wasn’t all that bad. It was adventurous and fast-paced. I’ve been wanting to go back to reading more dystopian types of books. And I guess I was sort of satisfied. But my opinions on this book were quite divided.

A big weakness of this book is that, in my opinion, too much happens. In this one book alone, the time frame is quite long and wasn’t delved into that much. So much happens that the suspense that should be there didn’t have much of an impact because whatever issue there was, it was basically resolved in the next few pages.

As I was reading, I kept thinking that this one book could’ve easily been written as two, maybe three. Many things happen and could’ve been much better if they were expanded on.

• Like more time spend in Bermuda to help us understand how they developed their skills. (because I don’t think it’s possible to be naturally good at being a doctor – there’s a reason why they train for so long and it didn’t seem plausible that Andy could ‘inherit’ her father’s medical skills.)
• The pacing in this novel was sub-par. One moment they’re in Bermuda, next, they’re in New Mexico, Colorado and finally New York. Like I mentioned before, if expanded more, the events in book one alone and would’ve been a much more enjoyable book if most of the scenes weren’t skipped over in favour of the more boring ones. (they get to the US by boat- the journey and implications alone with such an act could’ve been really interesting to read about)
•  Character-wise, it’s lacking in diversity. It felt like the author was ticking off some imaginary tick box on what to include in a dystopian novel. Everyone is beautiful. Everyone is smart. (see: Andy inheriting her father’s skill) They were all black and white, fitting the stereotypical qualities you usually see in novels like these.

Overall, I believe the author had something with this novel. So much could’ve been explored in terms of setting, history and development.

Kindle Edition, 274 pages

Published March 14th 2016 by Delirious Pixie

ASIN: B01D0KTJYO