Review: Gravity by Melissa West

Gravity
(The Taking, #1)
By: Melissa West
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Published: Oct. 30, 2012
Genre: YA
Rating:


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In the future, only one rule will matter:

Don’t. Ever. Peek.

Seventeen-year-old Ari Alexander just broke that rule and saw the last person she expected hovering above her bed—arrogant Jackson Locke, the most popular boy in her school. She expects instant execution or some kind of freak alien punishment, but instead, Jackson issues a challenge: help him, or everyone on Earth will die.

Ari knows she should report him, but everything about Jackson makes her question what she’s been taught about his kind. And against her instincts, she’s falling for him. But Ari isn’t just any girl, and Jackson wants more than her attention. She’s a military legacy who’s been trained by her father and exposed to war strategies and societal information no one can know—especially an alien spy, like Jackson.

Giving Jackson the information he needs will betray her father and her country, but keeping silent will start a war...

My thoughts...
Holy crap this story is amazing! I honestly am having trouble coming up with a review that conveys how awesome this book is. I don't really know what I was expecting going into the book. I HATE to compare books but I was suspecting something similar to Obsidian but this one was... wow. I loved the aliens in this novel and even though I'm not a huge dystopian reader (my knowledge goes as far as Hunger Games), the dystopian added another level to the story. If you think about it, Melissa took YA and molded it together with not only SciFi, but dystopian, romance, suspense, and horror. All I can say is thank you, Heather (publicist) for allowing me the opportunity to read this. Without you, I would not have this new addiction.

Imagine a future where coexisting aliens were our best chance at survival. In return for them returning our damaged Earth back to livable conditions, they ask that they be allowed to "Take" the essential energy from our body in order to be able to survive on Earth and over time when they acclimate to our planet, be able to live with us. A world where you rarely have real food for nourishment. Instead you take a pill that fills you up and gives you the nutrients you need. At night you put this device on your face that leaves you blind and paralyzed so that an alien can come into your room for the "taking"... every night at midnight starting at the age of ten. That is the future that Ari lives in. The world that Melissa creates is a creepy one but she writes it so well that you feel like it could be possible.

I really enjoyed the characters in this story. Ari is a really strong character. She doesn't take the spoon fed B.S that's handed to her. Even though teaming up with Jackson goes against everything she knows, she does it anyways because she feels that is the only way to stop the upcoming war between the humans and aliens. She uses her standing as the next commander and gets intel on what the humans are planning against the aliens. Only, she doesn't realize how bad things really are until she starts her training at her father's facility.

The author doesn't take the easy route with giving us a cutesy fluff YA with aliens. Nope, there are some pretty horrific parts when it's coming up to the war. In an effort to come up with ways to attack the aliens they have test subjects where they do horrific things to them to figure out what their options are as far as weapons go. However, I was mollified with the bonus of the romance aspect of the story between Jackson and Ari. One thing I can tell you is to be prepared for a cliffhanger at the end. This author knows how to leave you on your seat swearing at the book because you have to wait, who knows how long, just to figure out what happens next.

Favorite quote...
"I feel like death, look worse, and want nothing more than to crawl back into bed and continue my dream from last night, which may or may not have included a certain boy from another planet." -Ari