Publication Date: February 28, 2012
Goodreads Description:
Elyse knows what it means to keep a secret. She's been keeping secrets her whole life. Two, actually. First, that she ages five times slower than the average person, so that while she looks eighteen years old, she's closer to eighty. Second, that her blood has a mysterious power to heal. For Elyse, these things don't make her special. They make life dangerous. After the death of her parents, she's been careful to keep her secret as closely guarded as possible. Now, only one other person in the world knows about her age and ability. Or so she thinks. Elyse is not the only one keeping secrets. There are others like her all over the world, descendants of the very people the Greeks considered gods. She is one of them, and they have been waiting for her for a long time. Among so many of her kind, she should not be very remarkable--except for the prophecy. Some believe she will put an end to traditions, safeguarded by violence, which have oppressed her people for centuries. Others are determined to keep her from doing just that. But for Elyse, the game is just beginning--and she's not entirely willing to play by their rules.
Review:
Opression is a relatively quick read, a mostly fast-paced, plot-driven novel with lots of action. It was fun while reading; and Therrien comes up with some interesting new ideas about Greek Gods and their Mythos. It is a pretty strong debut, and infinitely better than most of the other YA books taking on the Gods right now. (Yes, Goddess Test and Starcrossed, I'm looking at you.)
Unfortunately, Therrien's characters seriously lack consistency; and this inconsistency can be found in all of her characters, to varying degrees, but especially Elyse, Will and Kara. Of these three, Kara's conflicting actions and character traits are the most easily reconciled because we are allowed to see her motivations toward the end of the novel. Elyse and Will, however, remain an odd mixture of excellent traits and terrible ones. Elyse at times appears very strong, smart and independent. Sometimes she gets really angry when she sees bad things happen, and gets ready to take on injustices. At other times she just meekly allows other people to tell her what to do or what she can or cannot know. Similarly, she can completely dismissed REALLY TERRIBLE THINGS from her mind right after they happen so that they will not ruin her or her friends' fun. Will, likewise, can go from a really sweet, romantic guy to bit of a jerk without much warning. He keeps things from her 'for her own good.' And, naturally, there is Instalove with a lot of MeantToBe thrown in.
There are also some pretty serious (possibly spoilery!) holes in the world building. It doesn't really make sense that everyone within the world of the Descendants knows about the prophecy, but no one really does anything about it for most of the novel. Nor does it make sense that - knowing Elyse is supposed to lead their upcoming war - the "adults" within their community take a hands-off you'll-figure-it-out approach to her education. Also, what is with these "kids" going to school for 80+ years? (Presumably it is a result of the complete lack of required attendance policy they seemed to have?) Along the same lines, what is with allowing all these student to be taught by the previous leader of a rebellion and the husband of the woman who predicted the next one? It seems to me that the Council would exercise a bit more control over who was teaching the next generation.
I didn't really like how extreme the cliff hanger was - the last chapter almost seemed like it would do better as the first chapter of the next book - , nor did I think the novel was flawless, but I do think that Oppression was a pretty nice series start, and I will give the sequel at least the Library try.
Downloaded to my Nook from Barnes and Noble
Review also on Goodreads