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Valentina
Remarkable dystopian fiction told in the sharp voice of a heroine with a chip on her shoulder
Most of the world is burning or flooded. The temperate zones are still habitable, and one small island is teeming with climate refugees. Life in the Badlands is dangerous, disease-ridden, violent, and controlled by gangsters and terrorists. But Valentina lives high in the privileged Citadel, at the heart of the heavily protected Green Zone. She is the president’s daughter, sheltered, spoiled, and arrogant. When she makes a secret trip to the Badlands, however, with her friends, Pippa and Damian, she is forced to face up to the realities of life on the island and to the responsibilities her position brings with it. Features a map and a glossary.
Most of the world is burning or flooded. The temperate zones are still habitable, and one small island is teeming with climate refugees. Life in the Badlands is dangerous, disease-ridden, violent, and controlled by gangsters and terrorists. But Valentina lives high in the privileged Citadel, at the heart of the heavily protected Green Zone. She is the president’s daughter, sheltered, spoiled, and arrogant. When she makes a secret trip to the Badlands, however, with her friends, Pippa and Damian, she is forced to face up to the realities of life on the island and to the responsibilities her position brings with it. Features a map and a glossary.
266 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
May 27, 2020
Valentina had the potential to be a gripping read, but, sadly, I found myself unable to connect with the characters. In fact, it was more than just being unable to connect with them – I disliked pretty much all of them.
I cannot decide if the depth of this one was lacking intentionally to make it simpler for younger readers, or if it simply wasn’t fleshed out in the way it should have been. Whatever the case, I found myself unable to connect with this one at all. Some may enjoy it, but it wasn’t for me.
I cannot decide if the depth of this one was lacking intentionally to make it simpler for younger readers, or if it simply wasn’t fleshed out in the way it should have been. Whatever the case, I found myself unable to connect with this one at all. Some may enjoy it, but it wasn’t for me.
December 25, 2015
From the sky, it was impossible to tell who was legal and who was illegal and where one zone finished and the next began. OK, that might seem like a trite and sentimental observation worthy of one of John's disciples to be followed by a hippy hymn, but tell me I'm wrong, if you can."I liked it for the most part. Valentina reminded me of a dystopian version of Sophie FitzOsborne in A Brief History of Montmaray but occasionally a bit childish with unfortunate echoes of Marguerite's cliched sarcasm in A Thousand Pieces of You. She did, though, win over the reader with passages like "At this point, I wish I could relate some danger that did befall us, or a growing sense of danger and threat, a darkening of the sky, an unshakeable feeling of foreboding. The truth is that for the rest of the morning we drove leisurely across the mountains, where the only living things we saw were some sheep and a herd of ponies...." or this:
"I knew I was heading into dangerous waters where thousands of girls had perished before.I really understand him. He's not as bad as people say. I see the real him. I can save him.
Yeah, sister, believe that if you must. But I think two paracetemol and a large dose of reality might be a better bet
Although it seems Ireland would be underwater if all the things that happened in Valentina actually happened, the world-building in this book was pretty good.The part I didn't like was the whole Valley of the Thrushes thing and occasional parts of the beginning ( of course the school uniform must be "incredibly dull.") Valentina had a quirky and unique voice for the most part that started out a bit kiddish but got better.
"The Valley of the Thrushes was a communication-free zone and I didn't look forward to a week without my beautiful, mobile technological friendOkay, so we get the fact that Valentina is selfish and spoiled, and in fact, McDermott does her character quite well. She understands herself better than her older counterparts like Tris. And of course,
"It wasn't exactly a riot of colour up there in the Valley of the Thrushes"There were also times I couldn't understand whether she was being sarcastic or not during her visit to the Valley of the Thrushes ( I also did not understand why she went there in the first place though that was more me than the book I think)
"You could explore your inner creativity through creative writing, healing dance, healing art, 'finding your inner voice', traditional drumming. Or you could do yoga or meditation. Wow, I could hardly contain my excitement! Group meditation, individual meditation.... walking meditation. The last one meant you walked around on your own and thought deep thoughts. That appealed to meOkay, so if she was being sarcastic, why did McDermott use an exclamation mark. If she wasn't, well, what self-respecting fourteen year old girl gets excited over meditation?
Otherwise, though I basically overcame my initial issues with this book, especially with the ending. It reminded me in some respect of the better Romanov fiction books, and though it was not a didn't-want-to-end book, I'm glad I read it.
November 17, 2020
This book was pretty average. The plot wasn’t that great but what made it entertaining was the main character, Valentina. She is naive and arrogant due to her sheltered and privileged upbringing. A lot of the book was her comical thoughts which is what made me continue reading. It was good to read something different than my usual genres but I won’t be looking to read another book by this author any time soon.
December 24, 2020
I hate to give any book such a low rating but after double checking that it’s supposed to be YA I felt I had to. It reads the same as my 8yr old daughters books, I’d have a very hard time believing the main character is 10 let alone a teen. DNF about 1/4 of the way through
May 20, 2015
Det meste af kloden er oversvømmet eller udtørret. På en ø, som er undsluppet de værste naturkatastrofer, bor Valentina i Fortet - en stærkt bevogtet lille del af øen, forbeholdt de rige og priviligerede. Valentina er præsidentens datter; beskyttet, forkælet, arrogant.
Provokeret af sine venner, den norske klimaflygtning Pippa og den temperamentsfulde Damien, indvilliger hun i at tage på en hemmelig tur til Ødemarken uden for Fortet. Det bliver en livsfarlig tur ikke alle vender hjem fra.
Valentina er præsidentens datter, forkælet, arrogant og meget irriterende. Hun har ikke mange venner, og de få hun har, behandler hun ikke særlig godt - i hvert fald ikke i starten af bogen. Der flytter en ny familie til Fortet og Valentina bliver venner med drengen, Damien, der er stik modsat hende - vild, uden pli og charmerende.
Damien og Pippa begynder at prikke til Valentinas nysgerrig om hvor meget dem der har magten skjuler for den almindelige befolkning og de beslutter sig - med præsidentens tilladelse, selvfølgelig - at besøge et af ydre områderne, for at kunne se med deres egne øjne hvordan det er derude. Valentinas bror er en del af modstandsbevægelsen og hun glæder sig meget til at se ham.
Ingenting går dog som de har planlagt og pludselig er Valentina og Pippa i stor fare! De må stole på hinanden og på de mennesker de møder. Valentina ser folket i ødemarken med nye øjne og det går op for hende at de håber at hun bliver den næste præsident. Hun finder også ud af sandheden om hvorfor hendes bror flyttede hjemmefra og hvilke planer der ligger for hende, hvis hun altså kommer hjem i et stykke!
Denne bog er desværre ikke helt så god som jeg håbede. Jeg synes bagsideteksten lød virkelig spændende, og selvom den dystopiske tanke ikke er ny, var det her alligevel lidt anderledes. Selvom der står at der er en ungdomsbog, kan den fint læses af de yngre læsere også. Sproget er virkelig nemt - meget talesprogsagtigt, og det synes jeg faktisk ødelægger bogen lidt. Især Valentinas tanker og samtaler med sig selv er meget barnlige og de bidrager ikke med det der ekstra som indre tanker ofte gør.
Selvom Valentina forandres, modnes og vokser gennem bogen er hun stadig bare den opblæste, forkælede og arrogante præsidentdatter og jeg synes virkelig ikke hun var nem at holde af. Damien forventede jeg at se meget mere til og det er som om han bliver skrevet ligeså hurtig ud af handlingen som han kom ind i den. Man kan dog tydeligt mærke at både ham og Pippa kommer fra meget anderledes kår end Valentina og det giver anledning til en del skænderier, misundelse (især fra Valentina som nok inderst inde godt ved at hun ikke er sød ved sine venner) og forklaringer.
Bogen har fået 3 stjerner, mest fordi jeg stadig synes tanken bag er rigtig god, jeg er bare ikke vild med udførelsen - desværre!
Provokeret af sine venner, den norske klimaflygtning Pippa og den temperamentsfulde Damien, indvilliger hun i at tage på en hemmelig tur til Ødemarken uden for Fortet. Det bliver en livsfarlig tur ikke alle vender hjem fra.
Valentina er præsidentens datter, forkælet, arrogant og meget irriterende. Hun har ikke mange venner, og de få hun har, behandler hun ikke særlig godt - i hvert fald ikke i starten af bogen. Der flytter en ny familie til Fortet og Valentina bliver venner med drengen, Damien, der er stik modsat hende - vild, uden pli og charmerende.
Damien og Pippa begynder at prikke til Valentinas nysgerrig om hvor meget dem der har magten skjuler for den almindelige befolkning og de beslutter sig - med præsidentens tilladelse, selvfølgelig - at besøge et af ydre områderne, for at kunne se med deres egne øjne hvordan det er derude. Valentinas bror er en del af modstandsbevægelsen og hun glæder sig meget til at se ham.
Ingenting går dog som de har planlagt og pludselig er Valentina og Pippa i stor fare! De må stole på hinanden og på de mennesker de møder. Valentina ser folket i ødemarken med nye øjne og det går op for hende at de håber at hun bliver den næste præsident. Hun finder også ud af sandheden om hvorfor hendes bror flyttede hjemmefra og hvilke planer der ligger for hende, hvis hun altså kommer hjem i et stykke!
Denne bog er desværre ikke helt så god som jeg håbede. Jeg synes bagsideteksten lød virkelig spændende, og selvom den dystopiske tanke ikke er ny, var det her alligevel lidt anderledes. Selvom der står at der er en ungdomsbog, kan den fint læses af de yngre læsere også. Sproget er virkelig nemt - meget talesprogsagtigt, og det synes jeg faktisk ødelægger bogen lidt. Især Valentinas tanker og samtaler med sig selv er meget barnlige og de bidrager ikke med det der ekstra som indre tanker ofte gør.
Selvom Valentina forandres, modnes og vokser gennem bogen er hun stadig bare den opblæste, forkælede og arrogante præsidentdatter og jeg synes virkelig ikke hun var nem at holde af. Damien forventede jeg at se meget mere til og det er som om han bliver skrevet ligeså hurtig ud af handlingen som han kom ind i den. Man kan dog tydeligt mærke at både ham og Pippa kommer fra meget anderledes kår end Valentina og det giver anledning til en del skænderier, misundelse (især fra Valentina som nok inderst inde godt ved at hun ikke er sød ved sine venner) og forklaringer.
Bogen har fået 3 stjerner, mest fordi jeg stadig synes tanken bag er rigtig god, jeg er bare ikke vild med udførelsen - desværre!
September 9, 2015
Here's a link to my blog, An Abundance of Novels , for more reviews.
Valentina is a dystopian YA novel set on the island of Ireland, way in the future. It follows the absolutely mad escapades of Valentina , fourteen year old daughter of the president of the State of Free Citizens, as she leaves the safe haven of the Citadel, and travels to the badlands. If that isn’t enough to get you hooked I don’t know what is? To be honest, the main reason I picked this book is because it was written by an Irish writer, and it has been an age since I read anything Irish so I thought I’d give it a go.
First things first, Valentina is both a terrible and wonderful narrator. She’s astoundingly annoying, like all fourteen year olds. But as aggravating as it might be, McDermott really captures the teenage voice, and I got more used to it as the book went on. As annoying as I found Valentina at the beginning, I had grown quite fond of her before the end.
The plot is absolutely mental, completely ridiculous and I loved it. As realistic as Valentina was , the plot wasn’t. There is too much nonsense going on to take it seriously, but once I suspended my disbelief I really enjoyed it. However it was a little slow to start with, but as the narrative unfolded I became more and more interested. Give it a hundred pages before you give it up, it takes a while to kick in. Also, a big thank you to McDermott who didn’t throw in a clichéd YA romance, finally a dystopian YA novel without a love triangle.
The world building in Valentina is fantastic. The island is divided into three zones, the green, amber and red zones, with the Citadel (where Dublin used to be) reigning over the rest of the island. The State of Free Citizens is a safe haven from the climate change and mass migration that is crippling the rest of the island. The politics relating to immigration in Valentina is really interesting, and quite topical the moment because of the issue with allowing refugees into the EU.
I think I was a little old for this book, and I would have enjoyed it a lot more if I was 12 to 16 years old. Valentina is a quick but thoroughly interesting read. I would especially recommend it to anyone interested in dystopian fiction, but is a little tired of the formula most YA dystopian seems to be following.
Three stars
Here's a link to my blog, An Abundance of Novels , for more reviews.
Valentina is a dystopian YA novel set on the island of Ireland, way in the future. It follows the absolutely mad escapades of Valentina , fourteen year old daughter of the president of the State of Free Citizens, as she leaves the safe haven of the Citadel, and travels to the badlands. If that isn’t enough to get you hooked I don’t know what is? To be honest, the main reason I picked this book is because it was written by an Irish writer, and it has been an age since I read anything Irish so I thought I’d give it a go.
First things first, Valentina is both a terrible and wonderful narrator. She’s astoundingly annoying, like all fourteen year olds. But as aggravating as it might be, McDermott really captures the teenage voice, and I got more used to it as the book went on. As annoying as I found Valentina at the beginning, I had grown quite fond of her before the end.
The plot is absolutely mental, completely ridiculous and I loved it. As realistic as Valentina was , the plot wasn’t. There is too much nonsense going on to take it seriously, but once I suspended my disbelief I really enjoyed it. However it was a little slow to start with, but as the narrative unfolded I became more and more interested. Give it a hundred pages before you give it up, it takes a while to kick in. Also, a big thank you to McDermott who didn’t throw in a clichéd YA romance, finally a dystopian YA novel without a love triangle.
The world building in Valentina is fantastic. The island is divided into three zones, the green, amber and red zones, with the Citadel (where Dublin used to be) reigning over the rest of the island. The State of Free Citizens is a safe haven from the climate change and mass migration that is crippling the rest of the island. The politics relating to immigration in Valentina is really interesting, and quite topical the moment because of the issue with allowing refugees into the EU.
I think I was a little old for this book, and I would have enjoyed it a lot more if I was 12 to 16 years old. Valentina is a quick but thoroughly interesting read. I would especially recommend it to anyone interested in dystopian fiction, but is a little tired of the formula most YA dystopian seems to be following.
Three stars
Here's a link to my blog, An Abundance of Novels , for more reviews.
March 25, 2013
I really wanted to like this book. I really, really did. The concept was interesting and the cover is pretty cool but it is just… How do I explain this book? Poorly written would be one way except I’m pretty sure the author, who is well educated in the English language and art of writing, is a good writer.
Maybe then it is the age range the book is targeted for. It feels like it was definitely aiming for the younger end of young adult. The end of young adult that’s not really adult at all. See the reason I say this is because the characters are so flat. It’s the typical problem of writing down to your audience and instead of believing your audience is smart enough to understand what the characters are like by having them act that way, the main character tells us how the other characters are and the audience is just supposed to take that as the way it is.
Months are rushed by so quickly in this book as well, with the only notion of time passing being when Valentina tells us time has passed. This also counts towards the flawed character building. Are we supposed to gather that in this passing time there has been many interactions between the characters and Valentina which is why she knows them so well while the audience barely knows them at all?
Valentina herself was not particularly well thought out as a character. One minute, without rhyme or reason, the most well off girl in the city is acting like she hates everything about her spoilt life, even though she has never known anything else and therefor that lifestyle should be nothing but normal to her. And then the next minute she’s acting like a spoilt little “bitch” who’s too good for everyone and blah blah blah. It didn’t make any sense.
Basically this isn’t much of a review, I couldn’t get far enough into this book to enjoy it (if it gets better later on, it might not). Maybe if I was 12 and dipping my toes into the dystopian genre this would be a good book to read; but I’m not and I cannot review it as such. I expected more character development and better pacing from an author with an MA, MLitt and PhD. He should have either fleshed his characters out more, not dumbed down his work for his audience, or wrote the book in 3rd person. One of those would have made this book better, all of them may have made it pretty brilliant. This just feels like a first draft, not a finessed novel which is what I expected from Kevin McDermott.
Maybe then it is the age range the book is targeted for. It feels like it was definitely aiming for the younger end of young adult. The end of young adult that’s not really adult at all. See the reason I say this is because the characters are so flat. It’s the typical problem of writing down to your audience and instead of believing your audience is smart enough to understand what the characters are like by having them act that way, the main character tells us how the other characters are and the audience is just supposed to take that as the way it is.
Months are rushed by so quickly in this book as well, with the only notion of time passing being when Valentina tells us time has passed. This also counts towards the flawed character building. Are we supposed to gather that in this passing time there has been many interactions between the characters and Valentina which is why she knows them so well while the audience barely knows them at all?
Valentina herself was not particularly well thought out as a character. One minute, without rhyme or reason, the most well off girl in the city is acting like she hates everything about her spoilt life, even though she has never known anything else and therefor that lifestyle should be nothing but normal to her. And then the next minute she’s acting like a spoilt little “bitch” who’s too good for everyone and blah blah blah. It didn’t make any sense.
Basically this isn’t much of a review, I couldn’t get far enough into this book to enjoy it (if it gets better later on, it might not). Maybe if I was 12 and dipping my toes into the dystopian genre this would be a good book to read; but I’m not and I cannot review it as such. I expected more character development and better pacing from an author with an MA, MLitt and PhD. He should have either fleshed his characters out more, not dumbed down his work for his audience, or wrote the book in 3rd person. One of those would have made this book better, all of them may have made it pretty brilliant. This just feels like a first draft, not a finessed novel which is what I expected from Kevin McDermott.
November 10, 2015
3.5 stars
Valentina is the president's daughter living in the Citadel with the high and mighty families of the island. The island is the only place in the world still habitable for humans and it is divided up into three zones: the Green Zone, the Amber Zone and the Red Zone also called the Badlands. The people in the Amber and Red zones are mostly refugees, terrorist and antiterrorist groups fighting each other. The government in the Citadel only controls the people living inside the Green Zones, but it doesn’t try to help the refugees in the Badlands.
Valentina is oblivious to the world outside of her protected Citadel. She is arrogant and only thinks of herself. Until someday two of her friends take her outside the capital, outside the Green Zone and into the Amber Zone. There Valentina is faced with the life of the refugees and with things she never thought she would have to face.
There are two things this book was lacking, first the writing style and second description. The way McDermott wrote this story is on the one hand fitting to the story, but on the other hand you missed a lot of the story. This is also the effect of the lack in description. Characters were hardly described, so were the events and the world the book is set in.
Three things that I very much enjoyed about this story are the story line, the pace and the characters. The story line was very interesting. Valentina’s journey from the Green Zone to the Badlands comes with many adventures and her trip back doesn’t go smooth. The pace this story is medium to fast, something that can be expected since there isn’t a lot of description. You move through events very quickly. The characters aren’t described much, but they do go through huge developments and they all learn something from each other.
In the end if you’re new to dystopian fiction and you’re looking for a quick read than this is the book for you. It has fast pacing and a good story line, but if you want description and a lot of world building than this book is not for you.
I would love to give this book a 3.5 star rating since it really is in between 3 and 4 stars. However that is not possible here so it has to do with 3 stars, because it is not worth the extra 0.5 star.
Valentina is the president's daughter living in the Citadel with the high and mighty families of the island. The island is the only place in the world still habitable for humans and it is divided up into three zones: the Green Zone, the Amber Zone and the Red Zone also called the Badlands. The people in the Amber and Red zones are mostly refugees, terrorist and antiterrorist groups fighting each other. The government in the Citadel only controls the people living inside the Green Zones, but it doesn’t try to help the refugees in the Badlands.
Valentina is oblivious to the world outside of her protected Citadel. She is arrogant and only thinks of herself. Until someday two of her friends take her outside the capital, outside the Green Zone and into the Amber Zone. There Valentina is faced with the life of the refugees and with things she never thought she would have to face.
There are two things this book was lacking, first the writing style and second description. The way McDermott wrote this story is on the one hand fitting to the story, but on the other hand you missed a lot of the story. This is also the effect of the lack in description. Characters were hardly described, so were the events and the world the book is set in.
Three things that I very much enjoyed about this story are the story line, the pace and the characters. The story line was very interesting. Valentina’s journey from the Green Zone to the Badlands comes with many adventures and her trip back doesn’t go smooth. The pace this story is medium to fast, something that can be expected since there isn’t a lot of description. You move through events very quickly. The characters aren’t described much, but they do go through huge developments and they all learn something from each other.
In the end if you’re new to dystopian fiction and you’re looking for a quick read than this is the book for you. It has fast pacing and a good story line, but if you want description and a lot of world building than this book is not for you.
I would love to give this book a 3.5 star rating since it really is in between 3 and 4 stars. However that is not possible here so it has to do with 3 stars, because it is not worth the extra 0.5 star.
March 26, 2016
The full review is available on The Basic Bookworm
Valentina by Kevin McDermott is a young adult fiction novel that incorporates dystopian themes with adventure and humour. I have been eyeing this book on Book Depository for so long, and I recently gave in and purchased it. I was drawn in by the description, as I love dystopian novels. Unfortunately, the novel didn’t live up to my expectations, and I’ll explain why shortly.
Humour made an appearance numerous times in the book, in the forms of sarcasm, sass, and typical teenage thoughts. I loved how sassy Valentina’s character was, and how she projected this sass outward to other characters. It kept me entertained, which I appreciated. I think that McDermott got the teenage attitude and humour spot-on, which deserves praise.
It was stated in the book that Valentina’s character was 14; however, I found that her ‘voice’ seemed more mature than her age. I believe that her dialogue better suited a character who was roughly 20. This made her character less relatable and unrealistic. From personal experience, I know that most 14-year-olds do not speak the way that Valentina does. Therefore, I found Valentina’s character to be lacking in accuracy.
The book was fast-paced, which could be seen as either a positive or negative thing. In this case, I found it to be a negative, as I was left confused more than once. While I reading, I would be thinking, ‘Ok, so this is happening… I wonder if this or this were to happen’, only to find that another complication would overlap the one that I was currently reading (does that make sense?). This constant stopping-and-starting of complications affected the novel’s structure. I had no idea when the resolution would occur, as all of these problems were beginning to ‘snowball’. If I may be a little dramatic here, I sometimes felt like I was drowning in problem after problem.
Valentina by Kevin McDermott is a young adult fiction novel that incorporates dystopian themes with adventure and humour. I have been eyeing this book on Book Depository for so long, and I recently gave in and purchased it. I was drawn in by the description, as I love dystopian novels. Unfortunately, the novel didn’t live up to my expectations, and I’ll explain why shortly.
Humour made an appearance numerous times in the book, in the forms of sarcasm, sass, and typical teenage thoughts. I loved how sassy Valentina’s character was, and how she projected this sass outward to other characters. It kept me entertained, which I appreciated. I think that McDermott got the teenage attitude and humour spot-on, which deserves praise.
It was stated in the book that Valentina’s character was 14; however, I found that her ‘voice’ seemed more mature than her age. I believe that her dialogue better suited a character who was roughly 20. This made her character less relatable and unrealistic. From personal experience, I know that most 14-year-olds do not speak the way that Valentina does. Therefore, I found Valentina’s character to be lacking in accuracy.
The book was fast-paced, which could be seen as either a positive or negative thing. In this case, I found it to be a negative, as I was left confused more than once. While I reading, I would be thinking, ‘Ok, so this is happening… I wonder if this or this were to happen’, only to find that another complication would overlap the one that I was currently reading (does that make sense?). This constant stopping-and-starting of complications affected the novel’s structure. I had no idea when the resolution would occur, as all of these problems were beginning to ‘snowball’. If I may be a little dramatic here, I sometimes felt like I was drowning in problem after problem.
June 11, 2014
I really hated this book at the start, how Valentina was so spoilt and such an unlikable character. But as the story went on i couldnt put it down. Not written very well but an excellent concept and storyline.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews