Review: The Book of Ivy (The Book of Ivy #1) by Amy Engel

The Book of Ivy by Amy Engel

My rating: 1 of 5 stars
Received: Bought
Publication Date: November 11th 2014
Publisher: Entangled: Teen
Point of View: 1st person & Female
Genres & Themes: YA, Dystopia, Romance, Family, Secrecy, War-setting, Plotting.

BLURB:

After a brutal nuclear war, the United States was left decimated. A small group of survivors eventually banded together, but only after more conflict over which family would govern the new nation. The Westfalls lost. Fifty years later, peace and control are maintained by marrying the daughters of the losing side to the sons of the winning group in a yearly ritual.

This year, it is my turn.

My name is Ivy Westfall, and my mission is simple: to kill the president’s son—my soon-to-be husband—and restore the Westfall family to power.

But Bishop Lattimer is either a very skilled actor or he’s not the cruel, heartless boy my family warned me to expect. He might even be the one person in this world who truly understands me. But there is no escape from my fate. I am the only one who can restore the Westfall legacy.

Because Bishop must die. And I must be the one to kill him…

REVIEW:

My name is Ivy Westfall, and my mission is simple: to kill the president’s son—my soon-to-be husband—and return the Westfall family to power.

So the premise is grandiose. AMAZING. I didn’t want to expect much from this book, but how could I not, with that enticing blurb and beautiful cover? In fact, it all screamed KICKASS! And a kickass dystopian book is always welcome. Always. But this book barely contained any action. There was secrecy and plotting, of course, but no real and convincing execution around them.

In fact, if I were the main character, not only would I have been DEAD, but also very very BORED. Ivy doesn’t have a choice; she must marry Bishop, the president’s son. In her post-apocalyptic world, every sixteen/seventeen-year-old boy and girl must take a spouse to procreate. And, if that doesn’t work out, they have one thing left: work. If they don’t follow the rules, they are excommunicated and not-so-gently pushed on the other side of the fence.

And those people generally die.

But Ivy and her family want everything to change. By killing Bishop and the president, her own father will be able to gain power and integrate democracy to their ‘nation.’ It’s a really good plan and, had it been put to execution with more seriousness and fatality, it could have been a grand success.

But then there’s Bishop, the sweet, thoughtful and enigmatic Bishop, who (inconveniently) stole Ivy’s heart. Now the plan…she has doubts. Is it the right thing to do? Does he deserve it? She kept asking those questions ALL PLOT LONG. And the thing is, I knew from when they first arrived in their house and Bishop showed himself to be kind to her that everything has been jeopardized already. Ivy was never a criminal, and I didn’t want her to be one, but some action would have been very welcome in the plot.

I honestly tried to enjoy this, but Ivy and Bishop’s relationship was so so TAME. And predictable. Unsurprising. Sleep-worthy. I saw no chemistry between them, let alone feel any captivating atmosphere throughout the read. Another thing that I didn’t enjoy was the pacing: it was slower than in any dystopian book I have read before, Allegiant aside – not sure if any book could ever beat this latter. Probably because not much is happening. The writing was okay, but very standard when I believe it could have been richer in term of vocabulary.

Ivy was sincerely annoying. Overall okay, as a person, but her personality bent toward recklessness oh so many times: Keep your mouth closed, I tell myself. Just shut up. But I can’t […] and My head knows what a terrible idea this is, screaming me to stop, that’ I’m taking things to far, but […] and Against my better judgement […]

No! If your instinct tells you to NOT do something, then perhaps the wisest thing to do would be listening to it. For once. Needless to say, she was repeatedly busted. She also must have gotten some special treatment because, if I look at the world she lives in, many would have been suspicious toward her and investigated more in her personage to finally put to pieces …everything and resolve the puzzle.

I tried to but didn’t agree with her at many points. For instance, she said: Sometimes pain is the only language certain people understand. I don’t believe that. I don’t believe you ought to hurt some to make them listen to you but, hey, it’s personal plus very controversial. As this is: I don’t want to give up like my own mother. Now, is it because someone commits suicide that they ‘give up’? Not sure, but I certainly didn’t like how easily and with no second thoughts she uttered those words.

There barely was any world-building. The setting did vary but they weren’t described enough and absolutely not exploited. The author’s main idea was a good one and quite interesting but her not developing it at its full potential backfired, because I couldn’t believe and imagine this story at one hundred percent in my mind.

For those who want a QUITE simple and uneventful dystopian read, mostly focused on the characters and the romance (filled with angst), this could probably work for you. I wanted more, though. It could have been so much more.

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