Perfect ~ Cecelia Ahern (earc) review {@FeiwelFriends @Cecelia_Ahern]

Perfect (Flawed #2)
Feiwel & Friends
April 04, 2017
352 pages
add to Goodreads/buy from Book Depository/or Amazon

** 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.

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?

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.

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

Flawed ~ Cecelia Ahern (earc) review [@Cecelia_Ahern @FeiwelFriends @mackidsbooks]

Flawed (Flawed #1)
Feiwel and Friends
April 05, 2016
368 pagesadd to Goodreads/
buy from Book Depository/or Amazon

Celestine North lives a perfect life. She's a model daughter and sister, she's well-liked by her classmates and teachers, and she's dating the impossibly charming Art Crevan.

But then Celestine encounters a situation where she makes an instinctive decision. She breaks a rule. And now faces life-changing repercussions.

She could be imprisoned. She could be branded. She could be found FLAWED.

In her breathtaking young adult debut, bestselling author Cecelia Ahern depicts a society where obedience is paramount and rebellion is punished. And where one young woman decides to take a stand that could cost her-everything.

The idea of legislating or policing morality, is not something new. How it's done in Flawed is - or at least feels - that way, though.

Dystopian novels with authoritarian governments , strict societies, even our own histories has examples of rules, regulations or laws being made, ostensibly for the greater good, that work to separate a section of people from society. Whatever the intended goal was, it is rarely the (entire) outcome.

The premise of Flawed did feel a bit reminiscent of books like Delirium by Lauren Oliver where there's this 'good' thing being done, to help solve a problem they had and the main character accepts it's goodness, its rightness and doesn't think too much of 'outsiders.' I feel like that's its own archetype now, though. The characters themselves, what's being done and why, it's all very original.

I liked Celestine from the beginning. Her love of rules, logic, sense and being factually correct makes her view of the Guild, the Flawed, the whole system intriguing. It also leads to an incident that is interesting but also makes complete (yes) sense that is her 'mistake' and gets her into trouble.

The character we get in Celestine and the way that author Cecelia Ahern approaches not only what finding people Flawed means for society but also for an individual, is compelling, thought provoking and really pulls you into the story. It is one of those things that you want to say would never happen but (especially as its established and presented in the novel) you can see how it would.

The author does a great job showing how all facets of a persons life are impacted - some are definitely a surprise and places I wouldn't think would see effects. Celestine is a great character for the focus to be on. With her acceptance of the system and her belief in its rightness we're able to see, with much more frankness, just how wrong things are than if we'd had a 'rebel' main character.

I very much enjoyed Flawed, Celestine's character and growth we see in her, all while she stays true to that character we were first introduced to. While their society is not one I like, I love how fully the author has imagined it and brought it to life.  There was much more to Flawed than I anticipated and the ending - along with all that transpired up to that point - really has me ready to read Book 2!

(The last thing I want to say is that if Celestine reminded me of any other character, it was Katniss from The Hunger Games series. Though I won't tell you from which part of those books she minded me of her.)




Question: Wasn't The Book of Tomorrow supposed to be a YA book? (Or marketed to YA readers?)