Slated | Teri Terry | Review
“Kyla’s memory has been
erased, her personality wiped blank, her memories lost for ever. She’s been
Slated. The government claims she was a terrorist, and that they are giving her
a second chance - as long as she plays by their rules. But echoes of the past
whisper in Kyla’s mind. Someone is lying to her, and nothing is as it seems.
Who can she trust in her search for the truth?” Source
Slated is set in the not too distant future in a worryingly believable
version of the UK. It tells the story of Kyla who has gone through a process
called Slating meaning her memory has been erased leaving her to start her life
all over again with a new family.
The process of Slating was introduced as a
way to eradicate young terrorists and other criminals. All those who have been
Slated are required to wear a Levo which is like a non-removable bracelet that
monitors the wearer’s emotions. These reminded me of a mixture between the
tracking devices worn by some of the Crims in the Uglies series and the collars
from Battle Royale. Anger and violence can cause the Levo number to drop too
low and this should cause the wearer to blackout but Kyla soon discovers she is
different when anger causes her levels to rise rather than fall.
Despite what has happened to her and not knowing anything about who she
used to be Kyla is quite a strong protagonist. Whilst overall I didn’t dislike
her I also found her actions frustrating at times although I guess they are
understandable under the circumstances. There are several other characters who
play an important part in the story however the one that stood out to me in particular
was Kyla’s mother, or rather her new mother. She seemed to have the most
interesting background story which left me wanting to know more about her
family in particular her parents who played a crucial part in the existence of
Slating.
Terry’s writing style is clear and concise and effortlessly takes you
on Kyla’s journey alongside her. She is able to make you question yourself
throughout and wonder what you would do in Kyla’s position under the terrifying
circumstances that are all too plausible. As there are so many dystopian young adult novels around right now it would be easy to get it wrong or become repetitive
but Terry has created a world which still manages to feel fresh and
interesting. The story itself isn’t as action-packed as some comparable titles,
instead it is much more realistic as we follow Kyla’s day to day life
post-Slating. This aspect in particular makes it so easy to imagine your own
everyday life being changed in the same way and because the edits Terry has
made are so convincing it’s hard not to picture yourself emerged in her version
of our world.
Slated wasn’t quite as
engaging as some of the other books I have read in this genre but I did really
enjoy it am looking forward to hopefully finding out more about the development
of Slating and of course Kyla’s past life in the second installment Fractured. 4/5
Like the sound of this one, another to add to my never ending reading list! x
ReplyDeleteI pretty much felt the same way about this book and thought it was worth 4 stars, see we still feel the same about some books, haha :)
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