Uninvited

Uninvited #1

by Sophie Jordan

When Davy Hamilton's tests come back positive for Homicidal Tendency Syndrome (HTS)—aka the kill gene—she loses everything. Her boyfriend ditches her, her parents are scared of her, and she can forget about her bright future at Juilliard. Davy doesn't feel any different, but genes don't lie. One day she will kill someone.

Only Sean, a fellow HTS carrier, can relate to her new life. Davy wants to trust him; maybe he's not as dangerous as he seems. Or maybe Davy is just as deadly.

Genres: Young Adult, Dystopia, Science Fiction, Romance, Fantasy, Fiction, Audiobook

384 pages, Hardcover

First published January 28, 2014

About the author

Pseudonym:
Sharie Kohler

Sophie Jordan took her adolescent daydreaming one step further and penned her first historical romance in the back of her high school Spanish class. This passion led her to pursue a degree in English and History.

A brief stint in law school taught her that case law was not nearly as interesting as literature - teaching English seemed the natural recourse. After several years teaching high school students to love Antigone, Sophie resigned with the birth of her first child and decided it was time to pursue the long-held dream of writing.

In less than three years, her first book, Once Upon A Wedding Night, a 2006 Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Nominee for Best First Historical, hit book shelves. Her second novel, Too Wicked To Tame, released in March 2007 with a bang, landing on the USA Today Bestseller's List.

Reviews

[Khanh, first of her name, mother of bunnies · Rating 2 out of 5]

"I ALWAYS KNEW I WAS DIFFERENT."

I groaned out loud as I read the very first sentence of the narrative.

Davy is the picture perfect spoiled, pampered princess who is firmly ensconced in her fluffy, warm cocoon of a life. It took no less than the jaws of life to knock her off the fucking pedestal on which she has planted her throne.

This book suffers from two main things: one of the most unconvincing premises I have ever read in a book that aspires to be a dystopia, and a heroine with whom I found hard so sympathize due to her own overwhelming insistence that she is special. This book completely fails at explaining Homicidal Tendency Syndrome, which is completely ludicrous since it is the very backbone of the book, and the heroine is the most annoyingly perfect I have ever read. Boy slove her. Girls want to be her. She is wealthy. She is adored by family, friends, a miniture pillar of the community. Early acceptance to Juilliard? Boom. Perfect boyfriend? Boom.

Fuck you.

I hate perfection. I completely loathe perfection. I cannot relate to perfection. If I wanted perfection, I would gaze upon Tom Hiddleson's face for eternity. I do not want to read about a perfect character. I do not want to hear a character emphasize, for the umpteenth time, that she is different, that she is special. We are all fucking special, get over it. This book is about DNA and how certain indications within a person's DNA foretells a person's homocidal tendencies.

Special, huh? Special DNA, eh?

Are you fucking kidding me?!



Anyone with the slightest piss of knowledge of DNA knows that DNA is what makes us unique. Unless you an identical twin, you are different. You are born different. There is nobody like you, like me, like your cousin's sister's best friend's ex-boyfriend. We are all fucking special, get the fuck over yourself. I do not want to hear it out of a character's mouth, and I particularly I do not want to keep hearing about it over and over and over and OVER as I read the damn book.

The sad part about this is that this is not even a terrible book, it was just mediocre. It underperformed. It did not live up to its potential. It had so much promise, especially in the character development, but overall, the character almost ruined it for me.

The Special Snowflake: I found it immensely hard to sympathize with our main character due to her tendency to label herself as a special snowflake. Davy, our heroine, is so perfect!



So utterly special, and damned if she doesn't remind us of its every opportunity she has. From the very first statement, she tells us that she is one in a million. She is singular. The very first sentence of the book's first person narrative is of Davy telling us how utterly different, how completely unique she is. Davy is fucking perfection in the form of a 17-year old wealthy, blonde, child prodigy.

I hate perfection. I want character. I want imperfection. I want anger, I want a heroine who is not merely book-smart, I want a character who thinks. I don't want a character who clings onto the vestige of her perfection the way a sorority girl clutches at her very last pair of Ugg boots at a clearance sale.

How is Davy special? Well, she has been distinguished almost since birth. A musical prodigy.

When I was three years old, I sat down at the piano and played Chopin. I don’t know where I heard it. I just knew how to place my fingers on the keys...how to make them move. Like one knows how to walk, it was just something I knew. Something I did.

Ok. I can accept that. But wait, that's not all! She can also sing like a motherfucking lark.

All my life I heard words like gifted. Extraordinary. Blessed. When everyone discovered I possessed a voice to rival my skills with an instrument, I was called a “prodigy.”

Yawn. Ok, so she's musically talented. That's still acceptable. WAIT, THAT'S NOT ALL? She's also brilliant.

"And as if being a music prodigy isn’t enough, when you were four years old you walked into my room and finished the puzzle that had been kicking my ass for the past week.”

Everyone knows she's special. From her parents.

“They know you’re special. That’s why they chose you. You’re not like the others—”

To the people who recruit her to train her to be in charge of killers. Out of all the people with the killer gene in the United States, Davy is chosen, one of only 10 girls, to lead. Why? Why Davy? What distinguishes her from the rest?

You have the breeding the other girls lack. Gentility, if you will...it’s important that you don’t lose that here. We’re going to train you to be tough...a skilled fighter.

Wait, what? WHAT? BREEDING? Her BREEDING? How the FUCK is that going to help her when she's dealing with a bunch of potential killers?! Oh, wait. She wasn't selected only for her breeding and gentility, whew. Davy's other immense talent which is going to help her when she's facing down a ton of kids who want to rip her throat out is going to be...her singing? Get the fuck out of here.

Mitchell cocks his head. “Why Davy?”
Stiles studies him a moment before answering, “Your sister was an exceptional student. A talented musician and singer."

Are you fucking kidding me?!

In the words of her own teammate...

The girl who beat up Skinny snorts and mutters beneath her breath, “A freakin’ Mary Poppins. Maybe she’ll sing for us.”

Bravo. Bravo.

But wait, that's not all! She's also got the perfect boyfriend, the one who chose her above all other girls.

...every girl at school trips over herself when he bestows that smile on them.
But he chose me.

But wait, that's not all! She's also got the perfect love triangle alternate love interest, the one who chose her above all other girls.

The girls flank [Sean], talking, moving their hands animatedly with every word. They remind me of butterflies ready to launch into air. They’re so obvious in their attempts to impress this boy.

Always. Always. There are ALWAYS a million girls flocking and desiring the boys who fall for her, and inevitably, the boys are drawn to her like iron to a magnet.

Denial, It's Not Just A River In Egypt: Ok, so Davy's special, smart, beautiful, innately magnetic. That's annoying, yes, but that's not enough to make me hate her. What makes me dislike her is her insistence on emphasizing that she is different. The rules do not apply to her.

Davy is branded as having the Homicidal Tendencies Syndrome. She's aghast. It must be wrong. She is perfect. It cannot happen to her.

I press a hand to my chest. “I’ll never accept it.”

I understand that she needs to cling onto this belief, but she is so resistant to change and she is so unadaptable, that I could not like her. She is snobby. She thinks only of herself. She thinks of herself as the one sole exception, the one mistake in the testing. She hates the other kids who have similarly been labeled with HTC. She is accepting of this syndrome in others, but not within herself. It does not occur to her that others feel this way about themselves, too. She is closed-minded. Davy is selfish, she is incapable of thinking of anyone beyond herself.

I’m different. The exception. It’s arrogant thinking, but all I can cling to.

To her credit, Davy does grow up, but it is too little, too late, and it feels forced, like a politician deliberately trying to brand themselves down to relate to normal Average Joe.



The Setting: Is best summed up in one single gif.



Since the beginning of time, society have tried to identify criminals before they commit a crime. They have tried to predict the type of people who are more likely to be violent, killers, thieves. From phrenology to racism, these attempts have never been proven. DNA testing only goes so far. In order for me to buy this book's premise, the book had to have done a very good job of explaining how this whole Homicidal Tendency Syndrome (HTS). It didn't.

I don't know how HTS was diagnosed. I don't know what in a human's DNA pinpoints this tendency. This book is as vaguely pseudo-science as they come. I don't know how society accepts the imprisonment and stigmatization of this syndrome in the future---and it is a near future---2021. HTS is in a person's DNA, so did all the murder and crimes in the past come from people who have had this syndrome? Nope. Book doesn't say. If it was a sudden onset, how was it explained, since this cannot be a mutation, happening so close to the future. How did all this state and federal legislation come in place? What about the societal impacts? Why were not more people outraged by the labeling and the imprisonment of their loved ones---and they are loved ones. Even current criminals have family, friends. In 2021, people who have never committed a crime gets labeled and suddenly everyone is OK with them being tossed into a facility and tattooed to indicate their capability for violence?

Fucking bullshit, that's what it is. The snippets of interviews and legislation and news in front of every chapters do absolutely nothing to make the scenario more convincing.



2021. If the book didn't mention the actual year, I would have no idea that it took place any time beyond 2014. There is no mention of clothes, there is no mention of technology. With the very, very rapid onset of technological changes, I expect to hear some sort of inventive science that would give me a good idea of a futuristic setting. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. It could as easily have taken place tomorrow.

The Romance: The saving grace of this book. You will likely never hear me say that again. I found the romance convincing, and the love story mostly believable. The only character in this book that I liked is the love interest. He is complicated. He has had a tough-luck life. He is relatable, he is sympathetic. He is someone Davy should aspire to be.

A nothing who showed up here today when I needed someone most.
A nothing who marched into the bathroom when Brockman cornered me.
A nothing who picked me up when I was stranded and out past curfew.
“But you’re not nothing. If you’re saying you’re nothing, then...what does that make me?”
Dropping his arm, he turns and leaves my room. Only the echo of his voice stays behind, lingers on the air, in my head.
Perfect.

Quotes taken from an uncorrected galley subject to change in the final edition.

[Krista · Rating 5 out of 5]

First glance: boring cover but awesome concept.

Then: OH MY GOSH! Her hair is DNA...shaped like DNA. As a science major this is blowing my mind! -- Obviously I'm a nerd.

Now: I love this cover.



UPDATE (SHORT REVIEW):

A really entertaining book that you can devour in one sitting. An average female protagonist fighting for her life in a not-so-average world. If you're a fan of Amy Tintera's Reboot, Suzanne Young's The Program, or Kristen Simmons' Article 5, then you'll want to get your hands on a copy of Uninvited.

[Emily May · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe I'm being generous. Or unfair. I can't decide exactly how I feel about Jordan's latest young adult novel - Uninvited. I recently had my low expectations trampled on by her impressive contribution to the new adult craze - Foreplay - and couldn't wait to see what more she had to offer. But Uninvited was a disappointment. It suffered from flaws in the very foundation of the story and the characters, even though the author's writing was compulsively readable enough to make me sail through it in a day and still up my rating to three stars. It's a combination of addictive, fast-paced plotting and a worn out, unconvincing story. It's entertaining, but also has a disappointingly weak protagonist. It wasn't bad and yet it could have been so much better.

There is much to celebrate and Uninvited will no doubt be an easy sell for many teens. The plot moves at a breakneck pace, dragging us into the action and drama from the very first chapter and delivering new punches at every turn. It reminded me somewhat of Divergent in this sense - I found myself simultaneously shaking my head at the ridiculous ideas I was asked to believe and reading on like a crazy person in my need to see what would happen next. Even in this you can see that Jordan is used to writing books for adults or "new adults" in the mature themes she doesn't shy away from incorporating. There are plenty of descriptions of violence that aren't sugarcoated for a younger audience... and I kinda liked that. In fact, this book contains that which is perhaps most important when writing a good dystopian book - a very real sense of fear, frustration and helplessness. I've read plenty of dystopian books that have failed to convince me that things are really that bad, but there's no danger of that here.

The story is about a music prodigy - Davy Hamilton - whose life is ruined when she is tested for and found to have Homicidal Tendency Syndrome (HTS), also known as the kill gene. Abandoned by her friends, feared by her parents and forced to change schools, Davy finds that other carriers like her might be the only people she can turn to. Even though the idea is a bit daft (well, it is), it sort of half works. I can see what the author was trying to do and many interesting ideas are brought to the table... about nature vs nurture, about humanity, about evil and hypocrisy, but I do think the romance dampens all the other powerful messages floating around. So many ideas are pushed aside by the spotlight stealing cliche of a good girl/bad boy romance. I thought we were going to learn something important but it turns out it's another one all about being saved by lurrrve.

And I thought Davy was a weak character. It was probably a deliberate move in a bid to make us more sympathetic towards a girl who'd been accused of being a killer, but it actually made her more annoying. A lot of emphasis is placed on who she's going to find to protect her - and many opportunities are set up for Sean to swoop in and save her ass - and she had a tendency to be mind-numbingly stupid. She stupidly puts herself in a lot of dangerous situations and constantly requires saving by Sean, neither fact particularly endeared me to either of them. But the worst bit of all was when Sean knelt over Davy, pushing her down into the bed, just to prove that she was vulnerable to anyone who wanted to rape her. It made me feel pretty sick.

Hmm, I'm not sure if I'll be continuing with the second book. I think I might just wait and see what the reviews are like before making a decision. But I will look out for more of Jordan's novels.



Find me at:

[Pavlina Read more sleep less blog · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 BRILLIANT STARS




Lately I'm in mood for YA :))Wow it was amazing!!!The kill Gene was an interesting concept to me and unique!From the beginning till the end the plot keep me captivate!Uninvited blends together romance, action and science fiction!With fantastic characters and an ending that keeps your interesting for the next book!!

Davy Hamilton has the perfect life....
She has her friends, a boyfriend that loves her and she has many talents..She only has a few months left of her senior year and once she graduates she will be attending Julliard.Her whole future has been planned...

Until the day she will learn that she has HTS...
And what exactly is this???

The killing gene (HTS)


Goverment has discovered a test to find which people have it and if you have it, it means that at some point in your life you are going to kill another human...



After Davy is diagnosed with the gene everything falls apart...She loose her friends and her boyfriend.
Once Davy starts her new life as a carrier she will meet new friends but nothing will be easy for her...
One of them is Sean..and they immediately become close...
but
Can Davy trust someone that is bound to be a killer?




At the beginning Sean trying to push her away.. but at the same time he is all around her and help her..I loved both characters!Davy is shy,sweet but also she was a fighter!!I don't know what I have done if I were in her place..Sean <333 he is a part of my heart!I loved him and I would liked to know what he was thinking.. (I don't know why but from the momment I meet him I had in my mind Robbert Pattison) :)) He is the opposite of Davy...he didn't have an amazing life...he was grew up in the foster care system and has known that he carried the HTS gene since he was a kid....So you can imagined how must be his life... :(

I hope in the next book we get more about the secondary characters because they were really interesting!If you are a fan of dystopian books I'm sure you will love it!!I will be waiting for the next book!!

[Wendy Darling · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars Fast, enjoyable read--the Minority Report-like premise is intriguing, and the action-oriented plot keeps the pages turning.

Weird that there's a bit of revisionism in the story, though. At one point Davy slaps her ex-boyfriend and gets into trouble for it, but she explains the reason for the slap as something totally different to two separate people. I also wish that some of the plotting/dialogue was more subtle and more complex, that it wasn't so easy for Davy to get out of different scrapes, and that the pacing and tension were better, especially towards the end. The climax was over before I'd even realized it.

But the fight choreography is well done, it's kind of cool that Davy has a musical background, and I'm definitely interested in reading the sequel. Fun read! Some room for improvement for sure, but hey. Throwing in a cute guy with smoke-blue eyes and sun streaked hair goes a long way towards making up for that.

An advance copy was provided by the publisher for this mini review. Which only appears here because Kate is doing the official one for the blog.

[Giselle · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick read that leads us into a dystopian society where future killers can be identified with a gene test. The last thing Davy expected was to be found positive - her perfect life as a popular, smart, future Julliard student down the drain.

What I found very interesting about this dystopian story, and also one that makes it stand out from the others, is how it doesn't completely start out as one. We get to see the actual developments of a very scary dystopian society where people's rights become non existent, and extreme measures are unfairly taken to control the country. It's set in the not-so-far future where this HTS Killer gene is well-known and government control is beginning, but we experience through our protagonist' eyes the change in society into one that is morally unjust, and infinitely scary. It's also depicted in a plausible light; I could easily see the general public react in the same way if we were faced with friends and family members' positive diagnosis of a gene we were all conditioned to fear. This is also how the government is able to get so out of line. People are afraid, and they see what the government is doing as right. On the other hand, with such a high crime rate that induces panic all around with this new detectable gene, the government can't just do nothing either. It gives us something to think about.

I do wish we'd gotten to see a bit more of the happenings outside of Davy's perspective. We get a few glimpses from conversations that are shown between each chapter which I highly enjoyed, but I was dying to know what exactly was going on at the camps and how everyone was reacting to these new measures. As for Davy, I did not expect her story to go in the direction that it did at first, which was a nice surprise. The writing makes it an incredibly quick read even though the pacing could be inconsistent. The first half of the book can be a bit slow. We get into some more intense developments in the second part where we're treated to very well described fight scenes and thought-provoking situations. Situations that are already starting to change Davy into a tougher, rougher version of who everyone else thinks she already is - albeit I wish she didn't have to be saved by Sean so many times throughout the book. I wanted her to out-smart these people for once. She is definitely growing as a character - for better or worse, I guess that's subjective.

An engaging start to a new series, Uninvited throws us into a story where fear, helplessness, and a constant threat of violence are ever-present. It's got well-developed characters, a great romantic sub-plot, and tons more potential to come!

--
An advance copy was provided by the publisher for review.

For more of my reviews, visit my blog at Xpresso Reads

[Rayne · Rating 1 out of 5]

***May contain spoilers***

1.5 stars

Not long ago, I picked up Firelight by this author, and even though I thought Jordan was a skilled author when it came to her writing, her plotting was formulaic, Twilight-esque and a huge waste of what was one of the first modern paranormal YA romance with dragons. In spite of all that, I didn't hate it. So I decided to give Uninvited a try.

Uninvited brings to the table a very interesting concept, thought-provoking even. It takes root in the endless debate of Nature vs Nurture, and does a fairly decent job at creating a society that's paranoid and prejudiced and stepping over ethical lines because of their fear. But that's as far as I can go in commendations with this novel. Aside from Davy, the protagonist, having to face head-on the prejudices she once harbored, there's little else of substance in this novel. That's mainly due to the lack of world-building in this novel. There was a lot of effort placed into all these entities that want to eradicate Carriers. But what about the opposition? What other methods have been implanted to ensure the well-being of society? What about psychological and psychiatric procedures? What about privileges available for those who can pay them, which is one of the first things to happen when there's a mass paranoia about something? There's nothing, just like there's no exploration of the actual theme of the novel. There's no deep philosophical examination of what it would mean to carry this gene, no particular discussion of the exaggeration of dangers mass panic tends to wreak upon situations like this in society. There's only one instance when some debate comes on after some Carriers organize a mass shooting, but it comes halfway throughout the novel and is quickly dismissed, only used to push the second half of the novel with the concentration camps.

Like most YA books lately, the fascinating concept that claims to examine an aspect of our society is only the mediocre hand-painted background in a high school play that's there so that some teenagers can go around playing grown-ups and make-out. The first part of Uninvited is basically Twilight, while the second one felt like I was rereading Divergent. It follows the same patterns of both novels: the first heavily focusing on this girl moving from place A to place B and only thinking about the gorgeous new guy she met, even wondering "What I am to him?" after having only seen him twice and exchanged two words with him; the second places her in a highly competitive camp where they teach them to be dangerous and she must face the harassment of everyone because she's a girl.

Davy is the typically beautiful girl that doesn't know it and that everything with a penis within a 100 miles either falls for or wants to rape. Throughout the entire novel, someone was always making passes at her or loudly proclaiming that they could rape her, that she was there for entertainment alone. Even her boyfriend wanted her for sex, because, of course, anyone but "the one" will only try to use your for sex. Of course, the main guy will be there to save her from each and every instance when someone threatens to take advantage of her. The only time she actually stands up for herself, one of her friends tell her that she did wrong in suddenly developing a smart mouth and trying to defend herself. That that was just "asking for it".

The worst part is that this disgusting misogyny is not given to the "bad guys" alone, but basically everyone in this novel expresses blatantly sexist views, including the main guy, who did not make a single appearance in the story in which he did not remind Davy that she needed protection, that she had to be protected, that she couldn't protect herself, even when she does the ultimate act to save him, he insists she needs him to protect her. The rest of the girls in this novel were more than willing to prolong this view. Only one girl is given some emphasis on the latter part of the novel, and she was a total push-over. During the first half, there are two girls, one her previous best friend who didn't wait a second before taking over her popularity crown, stabbing Davy in the back, trying to get her boyfriend and then trying to screw her over because... I don't know, that's what Mean Girls taught us? That all friends when you are popular are just backstabbing bitches that want everything you want? And even if that was true and her ex-best friend wanted all she had, would she really had been the type to lie so that she could get in more trouble for no reason at all? What did she had to gain from that? Anyway, the other girl that we meet in the first part of the novel is another Carrier, a dark-skinned one that obviously has to talk incorrectly, and the way she "survives" is by sleeping with the disgusting teacher. She claims that's the only way she could survive in the 3 lines she's given in the novel, but survive how? That teacher had absolutely no authority, no power over anything. He was just their glorified babysitter and he did nothing but read magazines and eat junk food, when he was not harassing young girls, that is. He could do absolutely nothing, so why denigrate one of the few speaking females in the novel this way? Of course, the only other girl in the novel is an antagonist in the latter part of the novel. That's all.

As if the rampant sexism wasn't enough, this novel is riddled with every YA P/N cliche out there and some of the most idiotic plot devices I've ever read about. Aside from the typical beautiful, good girl that's clueless about the real world and needs to be protected by the mysterious, misunderstood, beautiful bad boy, we have the always original "let's pair up for a group project". And at least Twilight had the decency to make them Biology lab partners and Nevermore had them work on works of literature, here they only have to make... a biography of the other person. What high school gives that assignment? What type of specialized program for dangerous kids does that? That has to be the laziest writing example I've seen of that plot devise to get the two protagonists talking and getting to know each other. It was almost offensive how stupid it was. And then, of course, the main guy points out a quirk no one that has known her for years had ever pointed out to her, in spite of the fact that he has only seen her about 3 times, and then tops it with "Maybe none of the were really paying attention." There's not a single character in this novel that comes across as anything else but one-dimensional. They are all poorly developed, often stereotyped, and mostly just there for the convenience of the protagonist.

When the second half of the novel rolls around, and Davy is about to be shipped off to a training camp, another big example of lazy writing unashamedly presented itself. This woman comes and tells Davy that, out of thousands, only 50-something kids were chosen for this camp and that she was extremely lucky to get a spot at all. But then Davy decides she doesn't want to go anywhere without Sean, the love interest, and she tells the woman. Instead of telling Davy more about how exclusive this camp is and how all these kids were specifically chosen because they were special, she says "okay". Yeah, that's right, the woman that was just talking about this supposedly extremely limited, super exclusive camp, said "well, if he impressed you, he has to be special, I'll check him out" because, conveniently, they had one vacant spot and, instead of picking another kid from the super special list, she just decided to randomly give it to the recommendation of a random chick. All so that she could get Sean in the second part of the novel. Wasn't there any other way to get him there? One that wasn't so completely and unrealistically idiotic?

The worst thing about this novel is that it is not completely horrible, it's just so frustratingly mediocre it's hard not to hate it. Jordan has a nice prose, but she insists on wasting her talent of formulaic works that, instead of delivering their promises of great concepts, stay in the cliched and overdone areas of melodramatic teen romance, incompetent protagonists that need constant saving, and blatant sexism. If I had read this book years ago, when I was younger and not fed up with this YA recycled mediocrity, this book would've probably been a 2 or a 3 star rating for me, but at this point, novels like this are just exasperating and even kind of offensive. Jordan can do better than this, but I'm not sticking around to see if she ever does.

[Valeria Andrea]

I hope she kills EVERYONE around her in the book.
Yes.
Yes.
That would be awesome.

[Trina · Rating 3 out of 5]

---Reread in 2019---
Feels more like 3 stars to me now. I think it was a bit inappropriate to center a very privileged white girl in this story and make it dystopian because the type of discrimination that Davy faces is very real in the current world*. (Although the story IS about her recognizing her privilege so IDK.) There are detainment centers and refugee cities, and lots of talks about building a wall on the US/Mexico border. This just doesn't feel so fictional right now*, so you know, this might be hard to read for many people.

However, I read my old review and wow, past Trina had some of the exact same thoughts that I had while re-reading this. I kind of wish some of our (US) government officials would read this because it's a good lesson in how discrimination affects people.

*Although I'm saying "right now," these issues have always been present in the US! I do not mean to diminish that fact. I'm speaking as a comparison of my awareness in 2014 vs 2019, as well as the political climate in the US that has highlighted them for me.

---Original Review (2014): 4 stars---
I really enjoyed Uninvited. The topic feels cutting edge and thought provoking. I felt that a possible future in which scientists have discovered a gene that causes violent tendencies was very realistic. A large focus of the novel is how these people who are marked as carriers are discriminated against by the rest of society and it felt to me like that discrimination in and of itself seems to be what actually causes them to act on their tempers. It's a great study of self-fulfilling prophecy. Ironically, reading this book made me feel very angry at the situation and I was usually hoping the main characters would just haul off and start punching people in the face! And then I'd get to thinking, omg if this were real, would I have the HTS gene? It's sort of terrifying, thinking about if you were in Davy's situation. It leaves you thinking about the world and about yourself.

I also really enjoyed that in this novel we are seeing sort of the beginnings of a dystopian government emerge. There is an agency in charge of handling the gene testing and dealing with the carriers. Throughout the book we see this agency gain more and more power within the existing US government, which other than this agency seems much the same as it currently is in 2014. (This book is set in 2021.) I know this is marked as dystopia, but I don't see it as that. In most dyspotians a corrupt government is already in place and being rebelled against. I'm sure there will be some rebelling in the sequel, but I have to say it was refreshing to see more of a pre-dystopia setting. I have actually been looking for this, to see how things started. I loved it!

These things above, I would rate a 5 star experience.

The reason I gave it 4 stars were personal quirks (4 stars is still very good to me though), and they are probably spoilery, so I'm going to hide the next part. Davy gets bullied or beat up quite a few times throughout the novel, and WITHOUT FAIL Sean always come out of no where to step in and defend her. He would be no where around and then all of a sudden Davy's attacker would be pulled away from her and she'd realize he'd swooped in. Did he have a radar? Not only did I think this was a little too easy, but I wanted to see Davy win her own fights, and also it gave me a mental image of Sean being not much more than a gorilla, pounding someone's face in and beating his chest in triumph. For personal reasons, this made Sean unattractive to me as a love interest. I understand that coming to her defense and being protective was endearing, and yes the topic of this book was violence and anger, and being put in situations that would make you act out. But having dated some men who probably would be carriers of the HTS gene in this universe, it's just a personal turn off to see a love interest act in that way. So it failed to have the romantic swoon for me. Again, that's just personal.

Basically though, I do recommend this book!

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

See more reviews at YA Midnight Reads

Carriers are like a cancer to this once great nation. And like any disease, sometimes the only way to battle it is with poison.

Wow. I’ll be honest; I was not expecting Uninvited to be this good. Sophie Jordan’s first YA series, Firelight, was not exactly what I had hoped for so I went into this one cautiously, a little worried that I would not enjoy it as much as everyone else. Anyway, perhaps ‘good’ is an understatement, even. Uninvited is a refreshingly fun dystopian that made it difficult for me to put down; within just hours I managed to fly through this.

Davy had the life everyone else at school wanted. She is a music prodigy, able to play piano, guitar, flute etc. and even can sing with a voice like no other—damn, even I was jealous of her amazing musical abilities. I’ve been playing piano since I was eight and only about to finish my grades. I’ve also played guitar and flute but I gave up on those since piano was enough for me. And my ability to sing? Let’s just not go there. Not only is Davy exceedingly brilliant with her musical abilities, but also she had a bright future. She was going to go to Julliard; she was going to get married to her boyfriend that she loves so dearly, all the girls were envious. But when she gets home one day, something is off. There’s a man in her house that she’s never seen before. Her parents have worry draped on their shoulders. Soon, Davy discovers that her DNA shot that she did earlier that year had come back positive. She has the Homicidal Tendency Syndrome (HTS), also commonly known as the kill gene. And this kill gene, turns her once perfect life upside down.

I know many people felt that Davy’s character was unlikable, whiny and naïve. Nevertheless, I ended up loving her personality. When Davy is told that she has the kill gene, she is in complete denial. She doesn’t have urges or ideas of killing people. She’s still the Davy that she was at the start of this year. But no one listens to her, her best friend strands her, and other girls are no longer jealous of her. What’s to be jealous of when her boyfriend her left as well? To be frank, I was sympathetic towards Davy. And I hated everyone else. Especially the company that decided to be searching for people who could be holders of this disease. Only 17% in and I wanted to smash her best friend’s face, her boyfriend’s face, everyone’s face. Sophie Jordan certainly does well at creating a character that we can understand, fend and feel for. My only complaint with Davy’s character is that she felt too weak at times. I didn’t mind her weakness in general, it was intriguing to have a weak character in a dystopian world—however the amount of times someone rescue her (namely Sean) was annoying. I wanted her to grow tougher in this book. Hopefully I will see some of that in the sequel.

Uninvited really makes you wonder what our world would be like if the kill gene existed. Personally, I think Sophie Jordan did a spectacular at painting the scenario of a realistic world with people living with the kill gene. There would be real fear. Terror. Prejudice among citizens. I like how Jordan also adds short excerpts of interrogations, interviews, letters, information booklets and transcripts between each chapter to give us readers a better grasp on the world and additional world building with some facts about HTS. One of my larger complaints with Jordan’s latest is that I wanted more world building, a little bit more history of the world and other main characters.

Uninvited follows a teenage girl who struggles to believe her new identity, as we read about her day by day life that is tough and entwined with lingering terror and fantastic action; it also brings attention to more hypothetical questions about our Earth’s future. A fun and engaging read. I recommend.

~Thank you HarperTeen for sending me this copy!~

[Amelie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ich konnte mich leider nicht dazu bringen, hier auf den "liked it" Button zu drücken. Denn gemocht habe ich das Buch schlicht und einfach nicht. Ich mochte die Thematik, die es aufgemacht hat, das schon, und die Idee, dass Gewaltbereitschaft angeboren ist, bietet auch sehr viel Diskussionsstoff. Was macht man mit den Trägern eines solchen Gens? Die Art, wie hier damit umgegangen wurde, war zwar an vielen Stellen nicht realistisch, aber sie regt zum Nachdenken an und das muss man diesem Buch definitiv lassen.
Was man dem Buch auch lassen muss, das war ein interessanter (und seien wir ehrlich swooniger) Love Interest. Er hatte Tiefe, er war interessant... Um ehrlich zu sein hätte ich das Buch viel lieber aus SEINER Sicht gelesen. Das liegt vor Allem auch daran, dass Davy einfach ein wandelndes Jugendbuchklischee ist. Davy ist der absolute Übermensch. In der Schule super, ein musikalisches Wunderkind, bereits an der Julliard angenommen, obwohl sie nicht mal mit der Schule durch ist, super beliebt, den heißesten Boyfriend, den die gesamte weibliche Schülerschaft (inklusive ihrer besten Freundin) will, und obendrauf noch aus reichem Elternhaus mit einem Vater, der die örtliche Bank besitzt und daher auch viel Einfluss hat. Wunderhübsch ist sie natürlich auch, aber das ist ja eh eine YA Seuche. Davy erfährt in diesem Buch also, dass sie das Killergen hat. Und ab diesem Punkt kann man einfach ALLES, was hier geschieht schon vorhersehen. Ich möchte nicht spoilern, aber glaubt mir, was ihr euch jetzt vorstellt, genau das passiert auch -_-
Wirklich interessant wurde es eigentlich erst später im Buch, aber auch da wurde es auch erst so richtig seltsam und unrealistisch. Besonders an diesem einen Punkt, an dem Davy eine Waffe in die Hand gedrückt bekommt und eine Entscheidung treffen muss... Dass man da vielleicht mal denjenigen umbringen könnte, der einem das alles antut, auf die Idee kommt sie nicht einmal... Aber auch so war das einfach... MEH alles. Ich jedenfalls werde nicht weiterlesen. Auch weil mir hier in der Geschichte die Unterstützung für Carrier komplett gefehlt hat und der "wissenschaftliche" Aspekt die reinste Katastrophe gewesen ist. Wenn man mehr in diese Richtung gegangen wäre und auch weiterhalb INNERHALB der Gesellschaft agiert hätte, dann hätte ich dem zweiten Teil sicher noch eine Chance gegeben. Aber so? Ich traue Sophie Jordan einfach nicht zu, dass sie die Geschichte so weiterspinnen kann, dass sie so gesellschaftskritisch wird, wie ich sie mir wünschen würde und wie die Thematik auch einfach verlangt.

Insgesamt ist die Idee an sich sehr interessant, aber das Drumherum leider NICHT. Gerade das Verhalten der "besten Freundin" hat mich so aufgeregt, dass alle Chancen dieses Buches, mir noch zu gefallen, irgendwie verbaut wurden. Ich werde mich aber jetzt vielleicht mal Büchern zuwenden, die eine ähnliche Thematik haben, das aber von einer anderen Seite aus angehen. "Forsaken" liegt ja beispielsweise noch auf meinem SuB...

[Lina Lovegood · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fand es ziemlich gut, hat einen auf jeden Fall zum Nachdenken gebracht. Die Protagonistin hat eine große Entwicklung mitgemacht, was ich persönlich wirklich gut fand. Bin gespannt, wie die Reihe weitergeht.

[Tami · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fangen wir beim Cover an. Es ist wunderschön und hat mich sofort angesprochen. Vor ein paar Jahren las ich Firelight von Sophie Jordan, was ich damals ganz nett fand, also hat auch der Autorenname mich angesprochen. Sie hat einen schönen Schreibstil und tolle Ideen.

Nur bei der Umsetzung wirkte es in meinen Augen schwach.

Die ganze Idee klang ja toll mit dem Mördergen und alles. Auch das Setting war nett und ganz typisch - Irgendwo in Amerika, Highschool, weißes Mädchen als Protagonistin, Partys usw.
Damit hatte ich kein Problem.

Nur kommen wir zum lahmen Teil (MEINER Meinung nach) - nämlich der Handlung und den Charakteren.
Davy Hamilton ist perfekt. Sie ist ein Wunderkind, wunderschön, schreibt perfekte Noten und hat ein perfektes Leben - Allein diese Gegebenheiten lassen einen doch schon SOFORT wissen, dass sich das alles bald ändert. Gähn.
Und das passiert auch sehr schnell, denn Davy hat - Überraschung -, das Mördergen. Plötzlich ist ihre alleralleraller beste Freundin von KLEIN auf das größte Ekel und schert sich einen Dreck um Davy (Ich hasse unrealistische beste Freundinnen. Sowas würde eine FREUNDIN im echten Leben doch niemals tun, selbst wenn man Aids hätte. Come on). Und ihr fester Freund, welcher auch zufällig der beliebteste Kerl der Schule ist, will Davy zunächst nur beistehen, um zu versuchen, sie flachzulegen.

Dann wird eine random Person an einem random Ort vorgestellt - die 5000 Seiten lange Beschreibung des makellosen Aussehens, den hohen Wangenknochen und dem abweisenden Ausdruck im Gesicht, hat mich IHIHIRGENDWIE vermuten lassen, dass das der neue Love-Interest ist.
Doppel-Gähn.

Dann plätschert die Geschichte so vor sich hin. Davy bemitleidet sich die ganze Zeit selbst und - Vorsicht, Spoiler - dann tut sie es wieder.
Davy behandelt andere Gen-Träger total intolerant und voreingenommen und verurteilt sie alle, während es sie ja so verletzt, dass ihre "Freunde" und ihre Mutter sie nun verurteilen wegen des Gens.
Davy durchwandelt in der Geschichte keine Veränderung, sie entwickelt sich nicht weiter. Die Geschichte plätschert trotz der "spannenden" und "packenden" Szenen vor sich hin und Davy findet es furchtbar, dass sie eine Mörderin ist (Das Gen bestimmt ja auch wer man ist. Charakter und so).


Für mich wirkte diese Geschichte lieblos. Da ich selbst Autorin bin, weiß ich, was es für eine Arbeit ist, ein Buch zu schreiben. Es steckt viel Zeit und Mühe dahinter. Wenn ich etwas hart klinge, dann nur, weil ich mich tierisch aufrege über das, was man nur zu einfach hätte besser machen können (MEINER Meinung nach, ich spreche nur für mich).

Die Moral von der Geschichte kommt nicht an, es gibt keinen roten Faden (demnach war mein Interesse im letzten Drittel komplett flöten gegangen - der Protagonist braucht doch einen Herzenswunsch, irgendwas, das erreicht werden muss!)
Die Lovestory ist bescheiden. Auch wenn es durchaus sehr, sehr schöne Momente gab - das ist eine Stärke von Frau Jordan. Aber Charakterentwicklung, Heldenreise, Plot ... naja. Mein Salat ist es nicht.
Werde mir kein Buch mehr von Sophie Jordan holen. Ich kaufe wohl auch keine Fortsetzung von Infernale.


Zum Schluss möchte ich jedoch mein größtes Lob an Friederike Walke aussprechen, der Sprecherin des Hörbuchs. Sie hat eine wundervolle Stimme und es ist unglaublich toll ihr zuzuhören.


http://www.randomhouse.de/Hoerbuch/In...

[thebookelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sehr unvorhersehbares & spannendes Buch. Leider wurde ich mit Davy nicht so richtig warm und manchmal passierten einige Wendungen so schnell das ich den Zusammenhang nicht verstanden habe, trotzdem muss ich jetzt unbedingt Teil 2 anfangen, weil die Geschichte einfach super spannend ist!

[Angela · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read more here:
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This book wasn't bad it was just okay. The second half of the book is definitely better and stronger than the first half.

This book is an easy and a fast read. But sadly a bit predictable. I knew what was coming WAY before it would happen. I also felt a lack of "bonding" with any of the characters.

I just really got tired of hearing Davy complain about how shes nothing now and has nothing...

WE GET IT... and with that attitude you're probably right about sucking so much.. like come on girly you're surrounded by buff dangerous boys stop crying and start living. grab sean by his face and kiss him... do something!!! YOU'RE ALREADY BRANDED BAD! DOESN'T MEAN YOU NEED TO BE BRANDED BORING TOO!!!


alkj;aslkj;fklajs;dklfj UGH I think if the books romance would have played out better then I would have liked this book more. It was what really brought this book down. The other thing that bothered me was that EVERY single dude had rape eyes for Davy... like come on there are six other girls. Like everyone even her boo keep talking about how she's bound to be raped... All the boys see Davy and automatically must rape her! Tt was just a little much.

I don't know; this book wasn't the worst book I've read all year but it wont be making the top of my list either.

I just wanted more.

[Montzalee Wittmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Uninvited by Sophie Jordan is a book that is a good possibility of what it would be like if we had a way to check for the "kill gene". Sure the debate between nature and nurture is going now but it would be out the window if we had the gene finder and people would be forced to be tested for it. This shows what happens to a few of these people and even if they weren't disposed to kill, the way they are treated some just might turn to killing for self defense. Great social commentary book.

[Jenniferxoxo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Was für ein geniales Buch....ich kann es gar nicht recht in Worte fassen aber ich fand es einfach super. Dave, Sean und Gil sind mir einfach so sympathisch. Ich hätte gerne jetzt sofort band 2!!!

[Octavia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished this book in 3 hours. 3 HOURS! I wanted to savor it. I swear I did! But this book, this story! It was meant to be devoured! Review to come soon!



Ms. Sophie Jordan, I am going to take a moment to be über creepy and say, you are the most evil, twisted, brilliant, amazing and absolutely FABULOUS woman ever. I think...you may be a genius and I sort of love hate you right now, in the best way possible.....



 

Erm....sorry about that guys but it needed to be said!

If you follow me on twitter you already know I'm going to gush and rant about how completely phenomenal this book is. You know I'm going to squeal and go gif happy and I'm going to start disowning you and damming your cows if you don't pre-order it NOW. But I don't care about what you know. I have to get all this off my chest and you bookish folks are the perfect audience!

I went into Uninvited with average expectations. It had a pretty cover, an intriguing blurb and a new (to me) author. It was only logical for me to go in expecting "oh that's pretty nifty".  Who knew I would finish this book and be a babbling idiot?! That it would be so amazing that I literally had a mid-day dance party where I squealed and yelped at the piece of greatness sitting on my computer? Uninvited was so amazeballs that I took the term "read it in one sitting" and made it literal. I did not move, did not stretch, did not pause, did not snack or take a bathroom break while I read Uninvited. Somehow I managed to devour it in 3 hours and even though I genuinely wanted to savor every word on every page I couldn't bring myself to slow down. I needed to know what was going to happen next. How it was going to happen. To whom it would happen to! I wanted needed to know all of the things and Jordan did a magnificent job of not only answering any questions that popped up, but of keeping me engaged. Not once did I even think "hmm I should take a break from this". Jordan had her claws in me so deep, and as she yanked my feels out of my chest and danced on them I blissfully floated away. I'm telling you guys, she has major skills.

The entire concept of Uninvited is one that was original but also somewhat plausible. Scientist have discovered a gene within people that can tell if they will become a murderer. A simple, test that supposedly can tell you if little Sally down the street will grow up and some day kill everyone in her house. A test that has the power to strip you of you identity, your future and any hope of surviving. Soon the entire country was making this testing mandatory, they were treating these people as though they had already killed a slew of people. They panicked.

When I was earning my license to carry a firearm my instructor asked "If you are alone and someone attacks you what will you do." My reply came hesitantly but I said "I would do my best to protect myself" and his reply has never left me. He said "Wrong. You will be afraid, and you will forget your common sense and panic. There is nothing wrong with fear, but I have to teach you how to see around that fear and not do something stupid."

I felt like this held extremely true for Uninvited. America, was afraid. Afraid of the fact that some "test" could potentially tell who would be a murderer. Who, had the potential to swiftly and without any remorse end them, their families, their friends. And because of that fear America panicked in the worst possible way and did something so stupid that I actually lost a little bit of respect for my country.

After this mind fuck of a concept, Jordan introduced us to characters that made you stop and appreciate their individuality. From Davy's determination and occasional naivety, to Sean's confidence and loyalty, to Gil's completely adorable geek vibe yet brave tendencies! I loved these three so much, and to watch their worlds crumble, no matter how different their backgrounds, it just broke my heart. I wasn't joking when I tweeted that I teared up. In fact, to be completely honest, I found myself whipping away tears on two occasion. Something that I've never done. There was just something so raw, so tangible, about that lack of humanity portrayed in Uninvited and it pissed me off that people could and would do such things to their own. To human beings with rights and dreams and feelings! But it just goes to show how thin that precious veil of humanity, that we all cling to so tightly, is.

Seeing how truly fragile our "humanity" is kind of rubbed me raw. To see someone who has been working so hard, is an A+ student, a music prodigy on her way to Juilliard with not a violent bone in her body be physically branded a killer, just destroyed my heart and pissed me off. Everything she had, her friends, her family, her very future was taken away from her because some crackpot in a white jacket said she has a gene (HTS) that increases the likelihood of her becoming a killer. It was this grouping, this completely ridiculous conclusion that made me tear up by how weak fear can make a country and how one person can gain so much power from that fear. It was just too real, too believable (not the kill gene that was banana's!), too much.

Uninvited has the characters, the plot, the pace and the balls to be one of my favorite books I've read in 2013. It was gritty in places but tried to make light of the bleak world contained within the pages.  The writing was captivating but appropriate for the characters ages, and above all it ended in a way that satisfied me but still made me yearn for the next in the series. Now go pre-order it!

[Jan (lost pages) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meinung:
"Infernale" ist mein erstes Buch von Sophie Jordan. Hierzulande ist sie ja schon mit ihrer Firelight-Trilogie bekannt. Ihr neustes Jugendbuch ist mir aber schon vor einige Zeit ins Auge gestochen und ich war beinahe kurz davor mir das englische Original zu besorgen, bis es dann ganz plötzlich in der Vorschau vom Loewe Verlag aufgetaucht ist.

Mir hat der Start in die Geschichte leider überhaupt nicht gut gefallen. Wir lernen Davy als ein Mädchen kennen, das wirklich perfekt ist. Sie ist schlau, sieht gut aus. Ihr fällt es leicht jedes Instrument zu spielen, hat viele Freunde und einen attraktiven Freund. Ihre Zukunft sieht fantastisch aus - ihre Träume scheinen alle in Erfüllung zu gehen. Kurz gesagt war sie mir von Anfang an zu glatt, zu langweilig. Schon allein der erste Satz "Ich habe schon immer gewusst, dass ich anders bin" hat mich die Augen verdrehen lassen. Klar, ein perfektes Leben zu führen macht Davy auch so anders, so speziell. Sie vermutet nämlich nicht, wie man aus dem Satz vielleicht noch lesen könnte, dass in ihr etwas Gefährliches steckt. Da ist sie später genauso schockiert, wie ihr Umfeld.

Zudem war ich echt bestürzt, wie schmalzig die ersten Seiten sind. Davy und ihr Freund waren echt unerträglich zusammen. Das war Kitsch von der feinsten (und schrecklichsten) Sorte. Als dann Davys Leben plötzlich aus den Fugen gerät und sie positiv auf das Mördergen getestet wird, tritt ein neuer Kerl in ihr Leben. Sean sieht noch besser als ihr aktueller Freund aus und benimmt sich im ersten Moment wie ein Bad Boy. Ich mochte ihn nicht. Bis hier hin ist "Infernale" ein großes Klischee für mich und ich hatte Angst, dass sich dieses Drama durch die gesamte Geschichte zieht.

Glücklicherweise bekommt Sophie Jordan so ungefähr ab der Hälfte des Buches etwas die Kurve. Die Handlung wird von Kapitel zu Kapitel spannender und es gab hier und da Momente, die sogar etwas schockieren können, weil das Szenario schon schreckliche Züge annimmt, die für einen selbst unbegreiflich erscheinen. Und ganz besonders erfreut und erstaunt war ich über die Tatsache, dass sich Sean total wandelt. Aus dem mürrischen, unnahbaren Typen am Anfang wird im Verlauf ein Kerl, der den Beschützer raushängen lässt, dabei aber viel netter wirkt.

Zwei Szenen im Buch haben mich stark an Bücher erinnert, die ich dem Genre schon gelesen habe. Der Part in dem Trainingslager, wo Davy gegen ihre Mitstreiter kämpfen muss, hätte auch in "Die Bestimmung" gepasst. Zudem haben mich gerade da Davy und Sean irgendwie an Tris und Four erinnert. Dann gab es eine Stelle im Buch, in der Davy mit ihrem Team eine Aufgabe erfüllen musste und dabei im Wettstreit mit anderen Teams stand. Das hat mich sehr an einen Teil aus dem zweiten Band von "Die Auslese" erinnert, wo Cia unter ähnlichen Umständen arbeiten musste. Mir ist klar, dass das Rad nicht neu erfunden werden kann, aber mir ist dieser Vergleich direkt durch den Kopf geschossen und ich habe unmittelbar diese Parallelen gezogen. Das kann einen stören, muss aber nicht - spannend waren diese Momente ja trotzdem.

Betrachte ich "Infernale" stilistisch, so kann ich nicht meckern. Jordans Buch lässt sich schnell und flüssig lesen und die Autorin schafft es gekonnt, spannende Momente aufzubauen. Ebenfalls positiv zu erwähnen ist die kaum auffallende Liebesbeziehung, die sich zwischen Sean und Davy entwickelt. Die Thematik, die angesprochen wird, ist super interessant. Ehrlich gesagt wüsste ich gar nicht so genau, in welche Sparte ich dieses Buch stecken würde. Es hat dystopische Züge, wobei der Part mit dem Mördergen schon ziemlich abgehoben wirkt. Infernale ist eben ein Mix-Buch. Die letzten Seiten machen definitiv Lust auf mehr, und auch wenn das Werk einige Macken für mich hatte, hätte ich dennoch Lust, mir die Fortsetzung mal etwas genauer anzuschauen.

Fazit:
"Infernale" von Sophie Jordan hatte einige gute Seiten, leider aber einige Aspekte, die mir überhaupt nicht zugesagt haben. Besonders am Anfang haben die Klischees die Oberhand und ich war zeitweise richtig genervt. Die zweite Hälfte ist deutlich besser und spannender und mit dem Verlauf der Handlung bin ich so zufrieden, dass ich sogar die Fortsetzung im Blick behalten werde.

[Natalia · Rating 2 out of 5]

"A world so afraid of carriers, it makes killers out of the innocent."

2 stars, but only because it was an audiobook and the reader was doing a very good job. Otherwise it would have been 1 star.

Ugh. UGH! Why is it that I so often start out reading a new book all enthusiastic and optimistic and interested, but then get utterly disappointed? I honestly thought I was liking this book, I did, but after the initial world building was done and the characters were introduced, it all started to fall apart. I mean, could this world get any more ridiculous? And this is supposed to be our modern world several years into the future. Year 2021, to be precise. Right.

Call me jaded, but I just can’t suspend my disbelief to that extent. This book completely lacks science. Yes, there isn’t an ounce of science to the “killer gene” theory. It would have made more sense if the author made it some kind of a contagious disease and not a gene factor. Because with every new chapter I read, there were reports of more, and more and MORE carriers, like it was a pandemic. I wonder if by the end of the second book they will discover that half of the world population have this gene. Not that I'm going to read it.

And what does the stupid government do to the carriers? They are excluded from every part of normal human life. They can't go to schools and colleges, can't have good jobs. Even after some minor infringement they get collar-like tattoos. Society ostracizes them, friends abandon them, they are being treated like plaque. And on top of that all, by the middle of the book, all carriers are being herded to Concentration Detention Camps. Based solely on one gene test! Well, as far as I know, having a particular gene doesn't guarantee that things are going to happen in a certain way. It's more like there is a greater probability and risk, but it is not set in stone. So why, tell me, why, do you decide to treat this risky group with violence that just makes them want to snap and go for revenge that much sooner? And how can they not take into account that the majority of these people are completely harmless, sometimes even more so than regular people.

"If you don't have any violent tendencies, chances are you will definitely leave here fully conditioned with them". And boy, isn't that the truth!

Our MC Davy Hamilton is just this kind of person. She is not prone to violence at all, but all her friends abandoned her the second they learned about the results of her test. Hell, her boyfriend, who professed his love the other day dumped her, in a nasty way too! Even her own parents were behaving ridiculously. The only person who treated her as if nothing had happened was her older brother Mitchell.

Davy annoyed me a lot. I didn't have a problem with her being a sheltered and pampered princess in the beginning of the book. However, what I had a problem with was her judgmental attitude. She labelled all carriers as monsters without regard to their personalities. Except herself, of course. Because she was a super special snowflake who was different from other people. *Eye roll* And even as the story unfolded and Davy was forced to be among other carriers and interact with them, she didn't change her attitude. Yes, she made an exception for a couple of new people, but that's it. Everyone else was evil be default.
I wish I counted the number of times Davy said: "I'm not a killer, I'm different, I'm not like them." Get over yourself, Davy, everyone is different from everyone else. She even went as far as judging if a person was a killer based on their looks alone! Multiple times! This girl drove me to distraction.

"I'm different. The exception. It's arrogant thinking, but all I can cling too."
This is Davy Hamilton for you, guys.

All in all, very disappointing. I wish authors of dystopias would pay more attention to world building.

[Zoe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Carriers are like a cancer to this once great nation. And like any disease, sometimes the only way to battle it is with poison.

I have a confession to make: I’m a sucker for anything related to medical thrillers – especially if the medical aspect has anything to do with genetics. Uninvited is no different as I found myself devouring this action-packed novel.

Uninvited is set in a futuristic United States not too far from our own in which the government has discovered a gene that determines the predictability of you becoming a murderer. Named the Homicidal Tendency Syndrome (“HTS”), government officials are soon dragged across the county, instructed to test every citizen for the gene.

17-year-old music prodigy Davy Hamilton is arguably the last person you'd expect to get tested positive for the gene. Yet somehow she does. Forced into a world of prejudice and labeling, Davy must learn to adapt to an entire new world - one where she is considered a culprit.

Before the diagnosis, Davy had a loving family, the perfect boyfriend, a supportive best friend, and a scholarship to Julliard. Her future seemed bright; until it's all ruined when she tests positive. Now her parents are afraid of her and her boyfriend and best friend have abandoned her. She would have been an easy character to sympathize with - if only she wasn't so judgmental. Throughout the story, Davy constantly judges and looks down upon other people with HTS, when she has the syndrome herself. I found it hard to care much about her because of that.

I’ll hand it to Mrs. Jordan – the world she has created is so very plausible – almost eerily so. It doesn’t take much imagination to visualize how discovering a gene like the HTS could to do to society; and I feel like Mrs. Jordan portrayed that aspect of the story really well. People’s reactions were just so realistic and I could really see something like that happening in the future if such a scenario played out. The thing is, there were just errors in the science of the story she created that left me with quite a few questions.

So, every human is born with 46 chromosomes – 23 from each parent. On each chromosome are thousands of thousands of genes, which are made up of DNA. Genes and DNA determine everything about us - from our hair color to our eye color and our height.

When chromosomes or genes are altered or “mutated,” that’s what causes a genetic disorder. However, in Uninvited we hardly learn anything about HTS. We don’t know which of the 46 chromosomes was altered to create this syndrome. We don’t know what the cause of this disorder is. Is it hereditary or is it simply something that just happens? And we never learn how this one mutated gene genetically turns people into so called “killers.”

While the world-building and characterization aren't flawless, I did find myself engrossed in the action of the plotline and am looking forward to seeing what the sequel has in store.

[Marius Kulin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Meine Meinung
Seitdem ich damals überraschenderweise die Post mit dem Stäbchen und dem Brief vom Loewe Verlag erhalten habe, bin ich gespannt auf dieses Buch. Da ich auch in der Schule schon mit diesem Thema konfrontiert wurde, bin ich nur umso gespannter und interessierter gewesen, was es mit diesem Buch auf sich hat.

Die Idee eines Mördergens ist, wie die Autorin auch in ihrer Danksagung erwähnt, uralt. Schon Philosophen wie Plato und Aristoteles waren sich nicht einig, ob unsere Gene uns bestimmen, oder nicht. Mittlerweile ist klar, dass beides eine Rolle spielt. Doch die Autorin geht vom Extrema aus und schafft damit eine grandiose Grundlage für eine spannende Geschichte, mit viel Potenzial.

Da wir uns im Jahre 2021 befinden, ist die Welt nicht wirklich anders als wir sie kennen, 2021 ist immerhin genauso weit entfernt, wie 2011. Das Setting ist also alltäglich, nichts besonderes und trotzdem hat es mir ausgesprochen gut gefallen. Es war einfach echt und vor allem abwechslungsreich. Der Leser verweilt nicht ewig lange an einem Ort, ändert teilweise komplett die Umgebung. Das fand ich toll.
Die Gesellschaft ist folglich durch HTS und all den verbunden Vorurteilen und Erwartungen daran, bestimmt. Träger werden ausgestoßen, auf eine unmenschliche, dumme Art und Weise. Es kommt richtig gut das Anfangsstadium einer beginnenden Dystopie zum Vorschein.

Die Storyline ist der pure Wahnsinn. Das Buch hält sich nicht lange mit zähen Vorspann auf. Davys Leben ändert sich von jetzt auf gleich und das spiegelt die Geschichte deutlich wieder.
Der Leser lernt durch das gesamte Buch packend, spannungs- und aufschlussreich verpackt die Gesellschaft und das Handhaben mit Trägern kennen. Diese Informationen bekommt er/sie zusammen mit der Protagonistin, Davy, in kleinen Häppchen serviert.
Desweiteren ist die Geschichte sehr abwechslungsreich gestaltet. Es kommt immer wieder zu unerwarteten Situationen, wo ich mir als Leser gedacht habe, ich weiß was jetzt kommt, und dann war es doch nicht so. Teilweise kommt es sogar, gerade zum Ende hin, zu mittelschweren bis großen „Plot Twists“, die der gesamten Geschichte eine neue Richtung und somit eine neue Spannungskurve schenken. Den Verlauf, den dieses Buch einschlägt, hat mir erstaunlich gut gefallen.
Die natürlich vorhandene Liebesgeschichte war zwar durchaus präsent, aber noch lange nicht Hauptaugenmerk. Es war gerade Anfangs sehr zärtlich, kurzweilig und in dem genau richtigen Maße!
Besonders hervorheben möchte ich, die Gefühle für mich als Leser. Ich werde eher selten in ein so starkes emotionales Gefühlschaos versetzt, wie es in diesem Buch der Fall war. Gefühle wie Hass, Verzweiflung, Mitleid, Empörung, Spaß, Neugier und Ekstase sind unglaublich nahe beieinander. Im einem Moment bin ich noch unterhalten und muss schmunzeln, im nächsten Moment könnte ich ins Buch steigen und allen für ihren idiotischen Fanatismus und ihr damit verbundenes Verhalten eine runterhauen. Gerade Empörung und Hass werden oft beim Leser heraufbeschworen und im Nachhinein war das toll! Ich konnte mich so richtig in die Geschichte hineinversetzten.

Davy ist sehr authentisch. Sie ist nicht perfekt, hat ihre Fehler, die wir als Leser auch gut vor Augen geführt bekommen, aber sie hat auch ihre Stärken.
Vor allem ihr „Fall“ macht sie mir so sympathisch. Sie war, und das weiß sie selber, ganz Oben angekommen und hatte Alles, was sie sich wünschte, ist dabei trotzdem nicht eingebildet oder hochnäsig gewesen und musste dann trotzdem bitter auf dem harten Boden der neuen Realität aufprallen.
Ich hatte Mitleid mit ihr, konnte ihre Handlung nachvollziehen und mich in sie hineinversetzten. Sie ist einfach wie ein ganz normaler Teenie gewesen.
Aber nicht nur das, Davy ist wirklich eine kleine Kämpferin. Einerseits handelt sie zwar ähnlich fanatisch, und verurteilt andere Träger, aber das ist nachvollziehbar in meinen Augen, andererseits gibt sie aber nicht auf. Steht auf. Kämpft. Dabei überschreitet sie nicht das Unmögliche, ist eingeschränkt. Authentisch eben. Keine Heldin. Hat Grenzen. Einfach ein 17-Jähriges Mädchen mit HTS, das versucht klar zukommen und zu Überleben.

Der Schreibstil ist super einfach zu lesen. Die Geschichte ist fließend geschrieben und man kommt ohne weiteres sehr gut voran.
Besonders gut gefallen hat mir, dass die Autorin auch mal ein bisschen lockerer geschrieben hat und mal ein „Halt die Fresse“, um es im krassesten Fall auszudrücken, mit eingebaut hat. Denn wenn wir ehrlich sind, das sagt, oder denkt, zumindest jeder von uns einmal. Dadurch wurde es halt einfach alles lässiger und ungehemmter.

Mein Fazit
Alles in allem habe ich absolut gar nichts an diesem Buch auszusetzen.
Die Storyline ist abwechslungsreich, spannend und interessant mit vielen actionreichen Szenen gestaltet. Als Leser kann man sich gut in die Geschichte hineinversetzten und erlebt sie in allen erdenklichen Gefühlslagen mit. Es macht einfach rundum Spaß. Der Schreibstil ist angenehm ungehemmt und die Idee der helle Wahnsinn. Dieses Buch ist erschreckend realistisch und unglaublich einfach vorstellbar.
Von mir gibt es eine hundertprozentige Kaufempfehlung.

[Jay G · Rating 3 out of 5]

Want to see more bookish things from me? Check out my youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfer...

Davey Hamilton has the perfect life, so when she discovers she is a carrier for Homicidal Tendency Syndrome (HTS), she is more than surprised. Having HTS means that she will one day kill someone simply because of her genetic predisposition. Her life is completely flipped upside down when her friends and boyfriend desert her and she is uninvited from her fancy private school. That's when she meets Sean, a boy who also has HTS and she needs to decide whether to trust him or not.

The premise behind the book was so intriguing to me but I felt that it just didn't live up to my expectations. I found it to be very slow at times and I was bored. I was also a bit disappointed with the ending, it seemed to happen way too quickly in my opinion and felt a bit rushed. I realize that it is meant to have a sequel but I was still wanting more in this book. The relationship between Sean and Davey was a huge no for me, I just didn't feel like they had any chemistry other than the fact that they were both carriers. I did enjoy the parallels between those with HTS and pretty much any minority group in society today. It was absolutely disgusting the way they were treated based off of something they were unable to control, like their genetics. It was a real eyeopener to be honest.

Overall, it was average in my opinion

[Muse-ic ♬ · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5
If only it were that simple: blaming people's murderous and violent tendencies on a gene that can be discovered through a DNA test.

Honestly had a bit of a rough time reading this. Not because it was a bad book, but because it was rather dark. I've read dark and violent books before, but this particular book reminded me all too well of all the shit through which our world is suffering. It left a bad taste in my mouth. I had goosebumps and the works.
For example, all the carriers were rounded up, after four or five of them--a serious minority--went and did a mass shooting. You know what sucks? This book was only published three-ish years ago. In this book, that mass shooting was supposedly the biggest in history. I don't remember the exact number, but you know what else sucks??
The fact that we have had the biggest mass shooting in history, and it was bigger than a fictional one.
I hate the fact that this is the world we live in and that it is not fictional. It is so PATHETIC!
I hate the fact that we are called "humans" because we supposedly display characteristics of "humanity", when, in reality, the number of people who show true humanity really isn't that significant.

Wow, this is getting really depressing.......

All that aside, the book was mediocre. I didn't care for any of the characters.
Davy didn't strike me as anything special. She's pretty flat for the most part. She is a musical prodigy who was supposed to go to Julliard before it was found that she's a carrier.
I know one of the biggest problems in this book was that carriers of the HTS (homicidal tendencies syndrome) gene wouldn't be able to get jobs because they were branded dangerous.
HOWEVER, musicians can be their own bosses. People can hire them to play gigs, but they could also, say, go to New York City and play on the streets every day. Davy, if you are the prodigy you constantly say you are, then you could probably make a decent amount of money doing that. Maybe even touring different big cities, with security if necessary. I am aware that at this point in time it is not possible....but think on it.
Guess what? Davy is another gorgeous girl who had a gorgeous boyfriend who looks at her features and says things like ew my eyes are to big and far apart!*Sigh*

Sean is always saving Davy. Always. I'm over it.
We don't know Gill very well even though he's one of the more important characters. Why? Because the focus was put on Sean.

Does anyone else find it strange that a boy can use his finger to lift a girl's chin to stress a point or something? First of all, what the heck? You gave you permission to touch her? Second of all, we never see girls do this. Why? Because it's weird! Who does that on a whim?? Just because you like her, DOESN'T mean you can do that!

When Brockman is a f*cking pervert!When he put his hands on her shoulder, Davy says something along the lines of : "I don't pull back because I was raised to be polite."
What the F*CK!
TO HELL WITH POLITENESS!!!!!!!!!!!!
If someone making unwanted advances, you MAKE A POINT! Don't worry about hurting the poor baby's feelings!
Also, when Davy does try to stop him, he doesn't stop. But when big buff burly Sean comes into the picture, he stops! It's sad that the world works this way!

Honestly this book made me angry so many times. I don't know if I care enough to read the second one. Right now, I don't care. Will I care in the future? Maybe.
To be honest, this isn't the first time I tried to read Uninvited. I started reading it a while ago, then got bored and put it down. For the most part, my initial instinct was correct.
So for now, I'm relying on that initial instinct and my instinct now and deciding that I probably won't be reading the next one.

[Rashika (is tired) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book. Is just. It’s hard to form words because it is just so damn good. I am stunned. I was a little wary going into this because I had NOT enjoyed Jordan’s Firelight. Maja’s review did re-assure me to a certain degree and gave me the push I needed to finally read the book.

Which I am really glad I did because otherwise I would have been missing out on a lot of awesome.

The book reels you in right from the start. It has a powerful opening that makes you want to read more. You have the main character finding out she has the kill gene and her life turns upside down. Her friends don’t want to be associated with her anymore, her boyfriend, who had claimed to love her, tries to work things out but even he cannot overlook the fact that his girlfriend may be a killer. What is even worse is that even her own parents turn on her. They treat her like she is bomb waiting to be triggered, like she is some kind of monster and not their child.

My heart broke for this wonderful young girl who had everything snatched from her because there was a ‘possibility’ that she would go all bzerk and kill people. It hurt when I had to see her friends shun her and treat her like crap. It hurt when her parents refused to discuss what was going on and instead avoided it. It broke when her dreams were snatched away from her.

Jordan manages to capture the cruelty of the human nature. She is shunned by society because of something that she had no control over. All these innocent people (and some not so innocent people) were treated like livestock. But humans did what they do best; they blamed a whole group for the crime of certain individuals.

The characters in this book are wonderful. From Davy (whose name reminded me of Captain Davy Jones, it still does) to Sean to Mitchell.

I believe it was Mitchell’s character that stuck out the most of me. He was the one person who didn’t turn his back on his younger sister. The one person who would have had more reason to do so then everyone else (siblings rivalry), but he didn’t. He stuck with her. His own heart breaking at how his sister was being treated. I was actually surprised by how sincere his character was. I do hope we get to see more of him in the next book.

Davy herself was a very strong main character. She starts of as a naïve privileged girl who cannot quite wrap her head around what just happened to her but she slowly grows as a character. She starts accepting her situation even while seeing the injustice of it. She pays close attention to her instincts and learns to navigate in this new world she has been thrust into.

I don’t have much to say about Sean though, the romance between the two lurks in the background but that isn’t the focus of the book. He was a good enough love interest, I could find no fault with him (I am not implying he is perfect). I’ll have to admit to being initially annoyed with the fact that he seemed to be a cliché (he was closed off) but when he was the first one to make a move, I decided that didn’t matter. At least he didn’t pull the ‘you’re not safe with me’ card.

Their relationship is slow to develop and *gasp* there is no insta-love (unlike in Firelight).

But in the end the book wasn’t about romance. It was about how a girl adjusts into her new life as a possible killer.

This wonderful book reminded me why I love YA and why I was once obsessed with the Dystopia genre.

A book with a strong message and a psychological undercurrent I definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a good gritty and powerful YA.


This review has also been posted on Tangled in Pages

[Debbie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Uninvited isn't a story about survival and murder. It's a fucking love story. Despite all of the lovey-dovey bullshit, nothing about this makes sense. The romance mostly drives the story with the typical bad boy falls for the good girl theme and the characters are beyond pathetic. I thought this book would be more exciting, more action packed, but I didn't get what I wanted. If I paid for this, I would be demanding for my money back.

Davy is a mess. All she does is whine and complain. I don't understand the appeal of her other than she's 'innocent'. She judges everyone without a care in the world and believes that the doctors all made a mistakes, she doesn't have the kill gene. It's just not possible for someone so 'gifted'. Reading about her and how special she is made my head hurt. I also hated just how unrealistic everything is. Davy and her friends go to a camp and there are eyes and ears everywhere so what do they do about this? Well, Davy and Sean don't touch but they ever so casually speak of their plans for running away. They somehow get away from the camp without much trouble. Yeah fucking right. That's not realistic, even if nobody heard their plans, it's a place full of legit killers. There would be a least a few people awake and video cameras! They got out without a scratch and I hated how anticlimactic it all is.

Sophie Jordan has some of the greatest book ideas. The idea of people being quarantined for having the 'kill gene' is amazing! The way that people are still finding ways to fight people and judge them for how they're born is interesting and I instantly fell in love with this idea. However that's the only thing I fell in love with.

Overall, this is not worth it. Sure, it's a great idea that will easily reel readers in but the character, unrealistic adventures, and disgusting romance ruins Uninvited. I don't recommend this to anyone unless you're not sick of romances taking over the story and the romances being the most typical thing ever.

[Kassidy · Rating 4 out of 5]

*4.25*

This is an interesting and enjoyable read! This future would is very intriguing and it was interesting to think about what it would be like if we discovered a gene that predicts violence.
There are dark themes and this book brings up many topics about teen violence and the issues of the world we live in today.
I liked the main character Davy, she has her head on straight and even though she had terrible things happen to her, she kept going. She did complain at times, but I think it's understandable and realistic.
I also enjoyed the dash of romance. I think it's done very well. The side characters are very entertaining and it was so cool getting to know them and their stories.
This is a brutal story and some parts were hard to read, but it made me think and it was really eerie to put myself in Davy's situation.
The beginning of this book was a little slow for me, but it definitely picked up. I like the turn that it takes towards the end and I am definitely intrigued to read the next book!
I think fans of The Darkest Minds would really enjoy this book. It reminds of a little of that series, but not as intense or complex.
This isn't a super unique or original idea, but it is a realistic view into what could happen in our future and a thought-provoking read!

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly good!

Inhalt
.................

Davys Leben verändert sich, als sie positiv auf das Homicidal Tendency Syndrome (HTS) getestet wird. In ihrer DNA liegt die Anlage für eine hohe Gewaltbereitschaft, sie könnte eine tickende Zeitbombe sein. Von heute auf morgen muss sie ihre Schule wechseln, wird unter staatliche Kontrolle gestellt und kann vom Colllege nur noch träumen. Davy versucht ihr neues Schicksal zu akzeptieren, doch Verrat und neue Herausforderungen bringen sie an ihre Grenzen. Auf einmal ist sie zu Dingen fähig, die sie nie von sich erwartet hätte...

Mein Eindruck
.....................................

"Infernale" ist ein Buch, das mich positiv überrascht hat. Ich hatte mit einer ganz anderen Schiene gerechnet: eher ruhige Töne, viel Gefühl und eine Welt, die mehr Kulisse als Vordergrund ist. Stattdessen ist die Stimmung des Buches knallhart und sehr intensiv. Davy wird vom wohlbehüteten Nest in fast schon einen Alptraum verstoßen. Allles das sie kannte, alle Menschen, die sie kannte, wollen nun nichts mehr von ihr wissen. Sie wurde vom beliebten Mädchen zur Ausgestoßenen und das nur wegen ihren Genen.

Gleichzeitig befindet sich die ganze Gesellschaft im Umbruch. In den letzten Jahren hat sich herausgestellt, dass es einen Zusammenhang zwischen Gewalttaten und einer bestimmten genetischen Veranlagung gibt. Je deutlicher der Zusammenhang wurde, umso mehr Risikogruppen wurden getestet, bis schließlich der Test zur Pflicht für alle wurde. Diejenigen, die positiv getestet werden, stellen von heute auf morgen ein Risiko dar. Sie werden gemieden, geächtet und ausgegrenzt. Homicidal Tendency Syndrom (HTS)-Träger werden als Kriminelle abgestempelt, bevor sie auch nur eine Straftat begangen haben. Im Laufe des Buches zeigt sich deutlich, wie dieser neue Aspekt der Forschung außer Kontrolle gerät und eine regelrechte Verfolgung startet.

Davy steckt in allem mittendrin und muss erst lernen, mit der Situation umzugehen. Hier war ich positiv überrascht, ich hatte mit mehr Drama und Zickenallüren gerechnet. Stattdessen geht sie, nach einer anfänglichen Naivität ihrem alten Freudeskreis gegenüber, recht vernünftig mit der Situation um. Davy fügt sich ihrem neuen Schicksal und versucht, das Beste daraus zu machen. Bis sie allerdings von den Ereignissen um sie herum schier überrollt wird...

Das Buch geht stellenweise ganz schön an die Nieren und nimmt kein Blatt vor den Mund. Es stellt schonungslos dar, wie Menschen andere Menschen angreifen, verfolgen und unterdrücken. Irgendwann braucht man sich gar nicht mehr zu fragen, wer eigentlich der HTS-Träger ist. Es zeigt auf, was passiert, wenn Menschen in einen Wahn geraten, die Angst anderer ausnutzen und zu viel Macht an sich gerissen haben. Es zeigt auf, was geschieht, wenn wir Menschen uns nur von Vorurteilen leiten lassen und den gesunden Menschenverstand abschalten. Dass "Infernale" so ernst, so realistisch und beängstigend ist, hätte ich nicht erwartet.

Man darf allerdings nicht vergessen, dass trotz starker Botschaften, "Infernale" nicht frei von Schwächen ist. Gerade Davy ist zu Beginn ernorm naiv und ihre "Freunde", sind die Bösen aus dem Bilderbuch. Auch gibt es so einige Figuren, die entweder nur schwarz oder weiß gezeichnet sind. Bei manchen wird ganz pauschal auf ihr Gen abgestellt, um zu begründen, warum sie nun derart schrecklich böse sind. Das fand ich etwas schade, denn eigentlich sollte das Buch ja zeigen, wie verwerflich es ist, Menschen nach ihren Genen "vorzusortieren". Da bleibt die Autorin nicht ganz konsequent.

Fazit
.............

"Infernale" hat mich persönlich von sich überzeugen können. Satt einfach nur eine gute Idee parat zu haben, hat es diese eindrucksvoll umgesetzt und aufgezeigt, wohin dieser "Fortschritt" führen. Das düstere Setting, insbesondere das außer Kontrolle Geraten der Machthabenden ist hier nicht nur Rahmenprogramm, sondern Hauptattraktion. Auch Hauptfigur Davy hat mir nach anfänglicher Naivität letztendlich gefallen. Ich hätte mir nur gewünscht, dass sich die Autorin mehr den Motiven einzelner gewidmet hätte, statt ab und an nur auf das Gen zurückzugreifen. Alles in allem sehr fesselnd, erschreckend und empfehlenswert.


Starke Botschaft, erschreckendes Szenario mit kleineren Schwächen
3,9 Sterne

[Maja (The Nocturnal Library) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars
Considering my horrid experience with Firelight, Sophie Jordan’s YA paranormal project, I started Uninvited a bit wearily, honestly not expecting much. And yet, not even 50 pages in, I found myself wound so tightly I could barely breathe.

Jordan did an excellent job of building this mistrustful, terrified society. Parents turning on their children, boyfriends turning on their girlfriends, best friends turning on each other, for no reason other than two recessive genes combined. Fear and mass hysteria are worst enemies of mankind, and combined with the financial interests of some huge company, they make the most dangerous thing in the world.

The horrible injustice of it all burned my throat as I struggled to understand how an entire nation could become so close-minded and prejudiced in such a short period of time. How does one go from ‘innocent until proven guilty’ to ‘guilty simply for having the so called kill gene’? Are we really that easily manipulated? I’m afraid the answer to that question came to me just a bit too quickly, and it wasn’t one I wanted to believe.

Ostracized by her friends and completely abandoned by her formerly loving family, Davy suddenly finds herself completely alone in a world unknown. The rules she lived by for the first 17 years of her life no longer apply. One minute she is a former child prodigy, a well-loved and well-cared for girl, already accepted to Julliard, girlfriend of the most desirable boy in school, with her life all planned out – the next, she is no one, a person with no friends, no family, no name and no rights. She is fair game to every bully and predator out there, and the law is never on her side.

At the beginning, the author took a great risk by making Davy just as prejudiced as her peers, just as ready to judge and turn her back on someone without bothering to find out the first thing about them. She discriminated even while being discriminated against. However, the worse her situation got, the more she realized how unimportant outward signs of violence – forced upon those like her by the government – really are. Little by little, Davy changed the frame through which she viewed the world, and built herself into the person she needed to be to survive.

The strong philosophical undertones, the never-ending nature vs. nurture discussion, make Uninvited a much better book. This isn’t a story you’ll breeze through. If you pay enough attention, it will force you to consider things you’d rather not think about.

Thought-provoking and deeply disturbing, Uninvited is a perfect read for those who enjoy their dystopias with a slightly more realistic edge.

[Tabetha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fast-paced read that leaves you wanting to read the sequel--
I appreciated that the voice of Davy was not too young, and not dumbed down to appear young. The action kept me on the edge, and it was difficult to put down. Major chemistry between Davy and Sean...And non-stop action scenes that keep the pages turning very quickly...will definitely read Unleashed ASAP!