Review: Mystic City by Theo Lawerence

 

Mystic City by Theo Lawerence

Rating: 2/5 Stars

Genres: Dystopia, Magic

Release Date: October 9th, 2012

Source: NetGalley

 

 

Synopsis:

Aria Rose, youngest scion of one of Mystic City's two ruling rival families, finds herself betrothed to Thomas Foster, the son of her parents' sworn enemies. The union of the two will end the generations-long political feud—and unite all those living in the Aeries, the privileged upper reaches of the city, against the banished mystics who dwell below in the Depths. But Aria doesn't remember falling in love with Thomas; in fact, she wakes one day with huge gaps in her memory. And she can't conceive why her parents would have agreed to unite with the Fosters in the first place. Only when Aria meets Hunter, a gorgeous rebel mystic from the Depths, does she start to have glimmers of recollection—and to understand that he holds the key to unlocking her past. The choices she makes can save or doom the city—including herself.

My Review:

With a stunning cover, and even more intriguing synopsis, I pretty much was jumping up and down in excitement for this book. I mean, memory loss? Count me in! I’ve always loved that type of stuff, and mixed in with a superb-sounding dystopian world, I thought I would fall in love with this book. Unfortunately, the opposite is pretty much true. Mystic City just had way too many glaring problems that prevented me from even liking this book.

However, let’s start with the good. I really enjoyed the concept of Mystic City. It was really unique! The magic incorporated throughout the book was very interesting to read about, and the history of the society was also fun to learn about. It was definitely original, so I have to give the author kudos for coming up with something so intricate! The technology in this book also captured my interest. It was very futuristic-y, and matching that with the kind of old-fashioned people was an interesting and fascinating match. I really enjoyed that part of the book!

The ending also saved this book for me. I’m glad I stuck with it, because the ending was pretty much what I was hoping the entire book would be. We get some action, some answers, and the rebellion I was waiting for. This gives me hope that the next book will be much better than this one, but I’ll only be picking the sequel up if I see some seriously amazing reviews. But the ending definitely gives the next book some potential.

But, even though I liked those things, the rest of the book pretty much was all bad. My biggest pet peeve in this book had to be our main character, Aria. I tried so hard to try and like her, but she was just insanely unlikable. She didn’t have any personality, and unfortunately, she didn’t have any brains either. She missed everything obvious. And when I say everything, I really do mean it. She just could not see what was in front of her. And everyone claimed she was smart, which just further annoyed me, since she was clearly not. Since Aria missed everything, the book was extremely boring for me, since I had figured everything out in the first 10% of the book, while she took 90% to put the obvious pieces together. This lead me to not only be annoyed with Aria, but extremely bored throughout the book.

There were also a ton of stereotypical things in this book, from the insta-love, to the main character, to the parents. Just everything screamed cliché. The insta-love, for starters, had to be the most stereotypical out of everything. It was a good attempt, and I see why it has reason, but I was still not fond of it at all. Things moved to fast, I didn’t see the connection between Aria and the guy, so it just felt unnatural. I didn’t like it at all. And the love triangle was just as bad as the insta-love was. I didn’t really appreciate it. I understand that it was part of the story, but I just wish it could have been a little more unique.

So overall, Mystic City was a total flop for me. Aria, the main character, the predictability, the insta-love, love triangle; all these things made me strongly dislike this book to the point where I was extremely tempted to DNF this one. But, the concept and ending semi-redeemed this book for me. While the sequel does have some potential, unless there are raving reviews about it, I will definitely not pick it up. I would recommend this book if you’re feeling adventurous and want something with a unique concept, and don’t mind figuring everything out before the main character does. Otherwise, I can’t really say that I’d recommend this one to anyone.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts!