Dark Parties by Sara Grant
The Blurb On The Back:
Every tiny act of defiance adds up. Maybe this one snowflake can start an avalanche.
Neva keeps a list of The Missing - people like her grandmother who have vanished. The people that everyone else pretends never existed.
In a world isolated by the Protectosphere - a dome which protects, but also imprisons - Neva and her friends dream of freedom.
But a forbidden party leads to complications. Suddenly, Neva’s falling for her best friend’s boyfriend, uncovering secrets and lies that threaten to destroy her world - and learning the truth about what happens to The Missing …
16-year-old Neva’s spent her whole life believing that only toxins exist outside the Protectosphere, a vast electrical dome that protects Homeland. Better off than most, she’s descended from one of the founding families and her father serves on the ruling Council, but Neva knows that something’s wrong. Resources in the Protectosphere are dwindling and teenagers are encouraged to procreate to increase the population. Worse, people are disappearing, their friends and families pretending that they never existed. People like Neva’s grandmother.
Neva and her best friend, Sanna, decide to rebel. When they have a dark party (where they shut out all light from a room and stop the surveillance cameras from looking in) to see which of their other friends is with them, Neva mistakenly kisses Sanna’s boyfriend, Braydon, kindling a passion that’s more intense than her feelings for her own boyfriend, Ethan.
When Neva’s father gets her a job working in his Ancient History Department, she uncovers secrets about Homeland that no-one could have imagined. As she battles her growing attraction for Braydon and tries to fight the government, she soon finds that everything she cares about is in jeopardy, including her very life ...
Sara Grant’s debut novel is a YA standalone dystopia told in a literary style that emphasises character over plot.
Neva’s excellent first person voice emphasises her youth, confusion and determination to stand against oppression. Grant gives her some wonderful turns of phrase, the world building is vivid and I believed in her friendship with the spiky Sanna.
As a plot junkie, I was a little disappointed by the contrivances used to propel the story forward by putting Neva into and saving her from jeopardy. The last quarter in particular seemed disjointed and a little rushed and for me the reveal about what really happens to The Missing was telegraphed too early. Also, the relationship between Neva and Braydon is based on little more than hot kisses. Neither shows much interest in learning about the other, which made me disbelieve some of the things Braydon does for Neva later whilst Neva’s guilt at her betrayal of Sanna felt like little more than lip service given that it doesn’t stop her from doing what she wants to do.
Notwithstanding my issues with the plot, ultimately the quality of the writing carried this book for me and I look forward to seeing what Sara Grant does next.
The Verdict:
Sara Grant’s debut YA novel is an interesting standalone dystopia with vivid world building and told via an excellent first person voice. The style is more literary than some other YA dystopias out there and Grant has some wonderful turns of phrase. However I found the plot too contrived at times and rather rushed in the final quarter and didn’t really buy into the central relationship between Neva and Braydon although I do very much look forward to reading Sara Grant’s next book and think that she will become an author to watch.
Every tiny act of defiance adds up. Maybe this one snowflake can start an avalanche.
Neva keeps a list of The Missing - people like her grandmother who have vanished. The people that everyone else pretends never existed.
In a world isolated by the Protectosphere - a dome which protects, but also imprisons - Neva and her friends dream of freedom.
But a forbidden party leads to complications. Suddenly, Neva’s falling for her best friend’s boyfriend, uncovering secrets and lies that threaten to destroy her world - and learning the truth about what happens to The Missing …
16-year-old Neva’s spent her whole life believing that only toxins exist outside the Protectosphere, a vast electrical dome that protects Homeland. Better off than most, she’s descended from one of the founding families and her father serves on the ruling Council, but Neva knows that something’s wrong. Resources in the Protectosphere are dwindling and teenagers are encouraged to procreate to increase the population. Worse, people are disappearing, their friends and families pretending that they never existed. People like Neva’s grandmother.
Neva and her best friend, Sanna, decide to rebel. When they have a dark party (where they shut out all light from a room and stop the surveillance cameras from looking in) to see which of their other friends is with them, Neva mistakenly kisses Sanna’s boyfriend, Braydon, kindling a passion that’s more intense than her feelings for her own boyfriend, Ethan.
When Neva’s father gets her a job working in his Ancient History Department, she uncovers secrets about Homeland that no-one could have imagined. As she battles her growing attraction for Braydon and tries to fight the government, she soon finds that everything she cares about is in jeopardy, including her very life ...
Sara Grant’s debut novel is a YA standalone dystopia told in a literary style that emphasises character over plot.
Neva’s excellent first person voice emphasises her youth, confusion and determination to stand against oppression. Grant gives her some wonderful turns of phrase, the world building is vivid and I believed in her friendship with the spiky Sanna.
As a plot junkie, I was a little disappointed by the contrivances used to propel the story forward by putting Neva into and saving her from jeopardy. The last quarter in particular seemed disjointed and a little rushed and for me the reveal about what really happens to The Missing was telegraphed too early. Also, the relationship between Neva and Braydon is based on little more than hot kisses. Neither shows much interest in learning about the other, which made me disbelieve some of the things Braydon does for Neva later whilst Neva’s guilt at her betrayal of Sanna felt like little more than lip service given that it doesn’t stop her from doing what she wants to do.
Notwithstanding my issues with the plot, ultimately the quality of the writing carried this book for me and I look forward to seeing what Sara Grant does next.
The Verdict:
Sara Grant’s debut YA novel is an interesting standalone dystopia with vivid world building and told via an excellent first person voice. The style is more literary than some other YA dystopias out there and Grant has some wonderful turns of phrase. However I found the plot too contrived at times and rather rushed in the final quarter and didn’t really buy into the central relationship between Neva and Braydon although I do very much look forward to reading Sara Grant’s next book and think that she will become an author to watch.