Slated by Teri Terry Review

Slated (Slated #1), by Teri Terry
Publication: January 24, 2013, by Nancy Paulsen Books
Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Dystopian, Romance
Pages: 346
Format: Paperback
Source: Gifted
Rating: ½

Debut author Teri Terry has written a brilliantly compelling, original and thought-provoking novel about an uncomfortably plausible future.
Kyla has been Slated—her memory and personality erased as punishment for committing a crime she can’t remember. The government has taught her how to walk and talk again, given her a new identity and a new family, and told her to be grateful for this second chance that she doesn’t deserve. It’s also her last chance—because they’ll be watching to make sure she plays by their rules.
As Kyla adjusts to her new life, she’s plagued by fear. Who is she, really? And if only criminals are slated, why are so many innocent people disappearing? Kyla is torn between the need to know more and her instinct for self-preservation. She knows a dangerous game is being played with her life, and she can’t let anyone see her make the wrong move . . . but who can she trust when everyone is a stranger?

I'm seriously wondering if I'm losing hope for the awesomeness of dystopian novels. *frowns* This was a horrible novel. I just can't believe the kind of patience that I lost, and what I truly thought of the message and the whole plot. It all seemed so bland and all of my thoughts and opinions on everything seemed to dissipate in a moment where the novel actually sucked all of the happiness and eagerness out of me and threw it away into nowhere, into the dust of my hope.

Before reading, this had been on my shelf for a while now, and I was really hoping that it'd be amazing, since everyone was already talking about it non-stop. I went along with the great hopes (as I usually do) and voila, we've got a sucky novel.

You know, it's crazy... how wrong you can be about a book. Us readers probably always expect a book to be amazing, when you think about it. If you pick a book up, it shows that you have some sort of interest and you're willing to see what the author will give you through their writing and through the characters and plot. We expect everything to be 5 stars, as for enjoyment and willingness are probably the two major points onto why we actually go and get a book. You know what I mean? But with this one, all of my expectations for new dystopian books to be good have vanished. I have tons on my shelves, and of course I'll still read them, but I won't be craving for success as I now know that there's a small chance for it, looking at my likings of books and everything like that.

So what did this book hold? Just about all of the cheesiness that the most weirdest dystopian book you can ever imagine holds. Kyla wakes up, and she doesn't know who or where she is. *wide mouth forms* Yeah, and it turns out that she's been Slated, where she's done a criminal act that she can't seem to remember. Apparently, she's a terrorist, and now she's getting a second chance at life although she feels that she shouldn't. Who is she? Why are people disappearing? And of course, she's torn between the good and the bad.

Divergent? Hah, this is such a mix of many books that I've read before that I'm not willing to take it any much longer. The fact that her memory has been erased is used so often in novels that from the moment we found out that she's a "terrorist" and when she believes that there has to be something else to her story, I began to map out and plan the events of the novel since I was so sure that I knew what was going to happen. Each time we read a dystopia, I feel like we go through the same cycle of events all over again and then we see a forbidden romance that's secretive, and yeah, I'd like to barf because authors are supposed to trick us and make our minds go completely wacko.

The only cool thing that Terry added into this was that Kyla was a terrorist. It shows a different side of most protagonists and caused us to wonder what would happen next with her. Hey, it was nice if we found out a perspective before Kyla was Slated so we actually could've been in t he event where she went crazy and performed the criminal offence, where that'd been a complete different story we're talking about here. How can it be believable if we didn't actually read in the POV of the girl that formed this novel? What are we going to see, flashbacks? *rages* So that tells you that I surely didn't enjoy the plot.

Of course. IT WAS BORING. I'm seriously unsure onto why I didn't DNF this in the first place, as this rating is so low anyways. But I guess that I was waiting for the good to come out of this, and to tell you the truth, I actually left this sitting for two weeks as I went on vacation and already had began it before I went and left it at home. Then it got even worse because I already had forgotten a little bit and I had to return from sunshine to darkness in the book and sucky weather. Yay, me. >.< I really don't feel like going through the deepness of the plot and storyline and start raging at you and ranting to my complete extent, as I'd definitely like to finish a book tonight with happy thoughts. But let's just say that it was such of a disaster that we'll just swift by and pretend it never happened. Alright?

The only brightness in the sun that I saw of this was the cover and Kyla. It's the writing that affected her past and the puzzles that we never got answered because she surely doesn't know either, and I did like her character, to be honest. Her cluelessness wasn't so bad that she didn't know what to do with herself and she was interesting. I liked her mysteriousness and how for her, we had to look in between the lines to really figure out who she is and her role as a protagonist. I'm still trying to answer my own questions, but I'll surely go onto the reviews of the next two books and read spoilers where I can find out what happened in the end. I'm sure that I will vomit, though.

There was no sunrise here. I feel like Grumpy Cat after completing this novel, and I will try to get the negativity and this review as far away from me as possible. With such a horrible world setting, and boringness of the plot, I can only say that there'll be a few people who will enjoy this book: Those who aren't used to reading lots of dystopia, as I am, and those who enjoy no details. If you're like me, and need details, let's just all get Slated and get our memories wiped as we seriously don't want to be reminded of the events of this novel. Meh.

How do you feel about the dystopias that are being released lately?