Feiwel & Friends
April 04, 2017
352 pages
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** Review of Flawed #1 Flawed **
Celestine North lives in a society that demands perfection. After she was branded Flawed by a morality court, Celestine's life has completely fractured--all her freedoms gone.Perfect is a great conclusion to the story started in Flawed. Readers now know about the Guild, about being Flawed and what happened to Celestine . . . now it's time to find out what that will all mean and if things will continue on or if there will be change.
Since Judge Crevan has declared her the number one threat to the public, she has been a ghost, on the run with Carrick--the only person she can trust.
But Celestine has a secret--one that could bring the entire Flawed system crumbling to the ground. A secret that has already caused countless people to go missing.
Judge Crevan is gaining the upper hand, and time is running out for Celestine. With tensions building, Celestine must make a choice: save just herself or to risk her life to save all Flawed people.
And, most important of all, can she prove that to be human in itself is to be Flawed?
I had a hard time being certain of just how much time had passed from Flawed to Perfect (it's mentioned a few times but felt contradictory), but it has not been very long at all. Just weeks or months ago Celestine was the gifted math student who had everything all planned out and knew just what her future held. Until that day on the bus. Now, as the most Flawed person in history, Celestine's life is completely different.
The division of the story between the two books was really nicely done. We got Celestine's personal tale and introduced to the Flawed system in Flawed and now we can see the bigger picture and what the future might (or could) hold in Perfect.
Celestine lives in the fictional, but very real feeling country of Humming. Recent international political events/developments/elections give Perfect even more of a timely feel. They also make it even more thought provoking. From the way that Crevan feels about the Flawed, about the Guild and how the Vital party feel about the same things to how individual people react or don't, I could see more parallels to real life this time. (Whether it's because they were more present in the narrative or because of what's happening in the world, I don't know.)
I also found myself thinking about the larger implications of such a system, or such a society. What it would mean for a person in x situation or at x time in their lives. It definitely had me curious.
I loved that while the book takes on the whole Flawed system and what society has developed (or devolved) into, it was still very much about Celestine, her thoughts and feelings and decisions and her safety. She wasn't that One Girl Mysteriously Chosen For No Reason To Save Us All, but - for a very specific reason - was central to things and important on a grander scale.
Perfect does a great job giving us a deeper look at Celestine's character, her past and who she really is while also showing us more of society, of the Flawed and of the national mindset. It really manages to give us the 'big picture' and great characters.
review copy received from publisher, via NetGalley
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