Avery Hastings

Davis has been genetically engineered to be perfect - she's what's known as a Prior. Since birth, even before birth, her parents were able to pick and choose the kind of daughter they wanted. Davis is beautiful, athletic, intelligent, and driven to be the best ballerina she can be - just like her mother was.

Cole comes from the wrong side of the tracks, literally. As an Imp - the derogatory term for the imperfect, the geneserians, the unenhanced - he's segregated by law into tiny tin shacks across the river from the Priors. Imps are second class citizens, forbidden from fraternizing with the Priors and only allowed to work the lowest-paying jobs possible. Cole is a cage fighter in the underground (and very illegal) FEUDS, and his sponsor is the current mayor.

Davis's dad is a politician campaigning to be the new mayor. His platform is total and complete segregation -- for the good of all citizens. If he's elected, Priors and Imps will never look at each other again. They will never speak. Imp news won't even be shown on Prior television.

When a mysterious illness starts killing Priors - previously thought to be immune to nearly everything - it shouldn't come as a surprise that the government covers it up. After all, when the mayor sponsors illegal fights, it's obvious that there's a lot of corruption.

Davis and Cole find themselves drawn to each other, and may be each other's only hope in the screwed up world they live in.

Feuds is the latest in the YA dystopian trend, and is unfortunately very similar to many more popular books. I think it's probably very difficult to write a good dystopian novel now -- it's been such a trend for so long that you'd have to do something totally different to stand out. Feuds, I hate to say, does not stand out.

From the first few pages, it's easy to see the similarities to other YA dystopias. On the first page of Feuds, Davis has a dream that she's performing in her ballet aptitude test, the one that will determine whether she qualifies for the Olympiads, and she finds that Imps are watching her. Not just watching her, but laughing, howling even, at her mistakes. When she wakes up, her vitals monitor tells her that she's well outside the normal range -- she's obviously had a nightmare. This obvious distrust, even fear, of outsiders, reminded me of a number of recent books. Under the Never Sky comes to mind, with Aria's distrust of the "savage" Perry. I also thought of Divergent and the Factionless, who live on the edges of society and strike fear into the hearts of whoever happens to stumble across them.

I was also reminded of Divergent when Davis's father tells her what it was like before segregation separated the Priors and Imps: Davis's father had told her horror stories of what the city had been like back when the Imps were fully integrated. Crime - rapes, shootings, theft - it was through the roof until Kensington started pushing segregation. Sounds strikingly similar to the reason for establishing the factions, right? Also, Davis is relatively unharmed by Narxis, the awful disease that's made its way through many of her friends. Just another similarity to Divergent, in which Tris is able to resist a number of serums meant to control her.

Other similarities were (obviously) Romeo & Juliet, but also the movie Gattaca and Scott Westerfeld's Uglies series. But enough on the similarities -- I'm starting to bore even myself with these comparisons.

Onto the world building, my favorite part of dystopias, and another area that Feuds failed.

If my math is correct, the book takes place around 2137 (it had been nearly seventy-five years since Kensington's death in 2062), yet not too much is different. People still drink Grey Goose, and froyo is still the snack of choice. Even technology hasn't advanced that much -- Priors use P-Cards for access (not too different from the ID badge I access my office with) and DirecTalks are really just tiny cell phones that can be worn as bracelets. Hospital staff still use computers to enter data, and it's as easy as ever to hack in with just a username (printed on any staff ID) and password (written down next to the computer). Where is the retinal scan, the DNA test, the voice recognition that I've come to know and love? People really just use cards for access? Shouldn't they at least be implanted somehow? We're 123 years in the future!

But don't get me wrong, not everything is bad. I liked Davis's relationship with her friends, especially Vera, although it was sorely neglected in the book. I also liked Cole's relationship with Worsley, the only Imp with medical training. Even Davis and Cole's relationship was fine, though it progressed a little more quickly than I would have liked (although I have to admit, it did follow Romeo & Juliet nicely, what with the characters being absolutely devoted to each other after one kiss).

The thing that I probably liked the most was Davis's relationship with Terri, her stepmother. Many books try to make the stepmother awful, evil, and out to get the stepdaughter. In this case, Terri is wonderful, loving, and arguably a better parent than Davis's biological father. Terri genuinely cares about Davis and wants to make sure that she's still able to go out and have fun with her friends, despite participating in her father's campaign events. She offers to make her post-workout snacks and defends her when her father's campaign manager insults her clothing choices or implies that she isn't dressed like a proper lady. I honestly thought that Terri was going to intervene when Davis told her father that the government was covering up the sickness that had killed many of her friends, and her father basically told her to shut up and go to the hospital... But maybe that's coming in the next installment.

Final rating is 2.5/5 for a good story in theory with poor execution.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the free copy.… (más)

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales

Quick & Dirty: I really enjoyed this novel, though I wish the focus had been more on the plot than the romance.

Opening Sentence: It was the grand pas classique.

The Review:

In Feuds, Priors have been created, the perfect, beautiful, strong humans that have been genetically enhanced. Imps are “imperfects”, regular people like you and I, who are looked down upon by the Priors. Davis is a Prior, and her father is running for office, while Cole is doing cage-fights as an Imp, because it’s the only way he can earn money to support his family. When Cole is ordered to get close to Davis and take a picture of him kissing her — the Imp and the Prior— he enters her world, and is surprised by the strong connection he feels towards her. A deadly disease affecting only the Priors, a discriminatory society, and her father’s campaign just might tear the two star-crossed lovers apart. Or worse: kill them.

I liked the duel point of views in Feuds, though Cole’s chapters were my favorite. They were generally more action-packed, though both characters were wonderfully diverse, with realistic and relatable emotions. In my opinion, the characters were the strongest point of this story. I really, really enjoyed them. You got to see as both of them worked through what was going on with the mysterious disease. They had different passions, and different ways of life. They were just very different people, that contrasted highly. Davis was rich, with a powerful daddy, one of the elite Priors. On the other end of the social structure there was Cole, a Gen, or “Imp”, someone who is imperfect. I especially liked how Davis described ballet, something she was clearly passionate about, and how she worked so hard for her position as a respected ballerina just waiting to earn her spot in the Olympiads.

Cole and Davis had such different lives, but they managed to work well together. Their relationship was cute, and the chemistry was clearly there. They managed to make each other better people, and being together opened eyes to flaws in their former reasoning. Being together, they developed into different, stronger people with good moral compasses. I liked their relationship, though it moved pretty fast, and was a clear case of insta-love. Gag. Thankfully enough, I enjoyed each of them as individuals to not let the love-at-first-sight thing get on my nerves too badly, and I did enjoy them as a couple. They leaned on one another, something that I appreciated. Even Cole could give his testosterone a rest for a second and cry in front of Davis. It was adorable how she comforted him.

The world-building in the book is something I wish could have been improved. There was this whole issue of the bias between Gens and Priors. Davis’s dad was running for office, his campaign boasting that he was for complete segregation between Gens and Priors. It was a world full of discrimination and I wish Davis had more of an intention to fix that. The romance was basically the main focal point of the story, which bothered me. The world’s problems faded into the distance somewhat. It was rather like The Selection series in that manner. I hope that in book two, with the relationship established, the more pressing problems like the unfairness of the world will come to light and be focused on more.

Altogether, I really did enjoy this book. It had a simple but pretty writing style with amazingly-made characters. I wish it had used the “show, don’t tell” rule more, but that barely bothered me. There were a couple of unsuspected plot twists that will obviously be explored more in book two: speaking of book two, where is it? I don’t even see a title! The pacing is a bit slow in the first half, but it speeds up a lot in the second, with Davis taking more and more risks. I wish Cole had been more honest with Davis in a certain scene, that was the only time I disliked his character. Something I will say is that the concept of the FEUDS did play a part in the story, but I felt that it faded to the background after the first couple chapters. Another comment of mine is that there were a lot of moments where things seemed convenient for the characters, as if the author didn’t want to spend an extra page where they figured out the problem. I think that people who enjoyed the star-crossed love of Romeo and Juliet will enjoy this book, especially if you are a dancer. I’m sure you’ll relate well to Davis!

Notable Scene:

It was ridiculous. It was impossible.

Freedom was one thing. It was remote, but still possible, maybe, if he could win FEUDS. With enough ambition, hard work, and drive.

But a freedom, in which he and Davis were together. Impossible.

And freedom without her took on a different meaning. It felt like just another set of trappings.

FTC Advisory: St. Martin’s Griffin/Macmillan provided me with a copy of Feuds. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.… (más)

I was not aware that FEUDS would have such a similar feel to the likes of Romeo and Juliet's forbidden love, angst and secrets. Set in a dystopian world, with a sci-fi twist, the combination of it all is promising and entertaining with great writing and favorable characters...

In this dystopian world, society has been divided into two: the Priors - the rich, the elite, the powerful. They have been able to genetically improve humans to be smarter, stronger and flawlessly beautiful. The Imps, are the imperfects - they are normal humans, they have flaws, are not as smart and live in the Slants outside of town where everything is dirty and rundown. It is illegal of Priors and Imps to be involved with each other...

Davis is a dancer, ballet is her profession. She strives to be the best of the best in order to follow in her mother's footsteps and compete in the Olympiads. She is privileged, and often times she reminds herself how lucky she is. Her father is an important person in society, and she believes in him and the rules - Priors are superior and Imps are dangerous savages.

And then she meets Cole.
Teen love, always so rushed, pure and open.

Cole walks in and is completely smitten with Davis' beauty. He instantly feels connected to her in ways he never knew he could. He would never intentionally harm her in any way, and will do whatever he can to protect her. Even from himself... Cole is a fighter. He has been fighting in the Feuds for a long time now. He doesn't like it, but he thinks that this is the only way that he can provide for his family and then their ticket out of this life. Meeting Davis was definitely not expected.

And then Cole learns who Davis is.
Davis learns who Cole is and what he does.
Things do not bode well for them. Their lives start unraveling at a fast pace...
Especially when Davis shows signs of being sick with the virus that is killing off Priors at a pretty quick rate.

Oh, how I wish there was more! I feel like I got shorted on some details regarding the the importance of the Olympiads (perhaps in book 2?); and most of all, there is certain detail that Davis learns about herself and her family, which she barely had a chance to investigate, but never confronted her father with - she had the knowledge and the moment for it, but... I feel that this would have been something hugely pivotal for the first book, something more for us to grasp onto besides the expected cliffhanger ending.

Overall, I am anticipating that the series will get better with more details, history, reveals and twists! This is definitely a book that will keep you thinking about the "what if's"... just like Romeo and Juliet's story.

In my opinion, if you liked MYSTIC CITY by Theo Lawrence and/or BLACK CITY by Elizabeth Richards you will definitely enjoy FEUDS too!

*An eGalley was sent from the publisher for an honest review. All thoughts are my own.… (más)