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Face
Who never wished for a perfect face? A better me?
Sixteen year old True lives in a world of face Updates, where every face is perfect, and the beauty advantage has gone. Only True’s face isn’t perfect anymore- she’s gone Maverick, her new face leaves people on edge. True’s family life has torn apart; Dad has left in uncertain circumstances. Cliff is a boy hiding behind the face of a movie star. Rumour is, he’s a Natural. When he sends True three freaky photos, she knows that despite what he claims, none of the photos show the real him. Drawn to Cliff by family circumstance, True must discover who wears the mask, and what lies underneath. Faces manipulate, faces hide. Faces change.
Face deals a contemporary and compelling twist to the themes of prejudice and attraction.
Sixteen year old True lives in a world of face Updates, where every face is perfect, and the beauty advantage has gone. Only True’s face isn’t perfect anymore- she’s gone Maverick, her new face leaves people on edge. True’s family life has torn apart; Dad has left in uncertain circumstances. Cliff is a boy hiding behind the face of a movie star. Rumour is, he’s a Natural. When he sends True three freaky photos, she knows that despite what he claims, none of the photos show the real him. Drawn to Cliff by family circumstance, True must discover who wears the mask, and what lies underneath. Faces manipulate, faces hide. Faces change.
Face deals a contemporary and compelling twist to the themes of prejudice and attraction.
- GenresYoung Adult
209 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 6, 2014
5 people want to read
About the author
Bridget Brighton
3 booksI am a new author, passionate about exciting new, fresh ideas in fiction!
I have a degree in Psychology, and a decade of work in the book publishing industry before becoming a published author myself.
I write for Young Adults and Adults.
I have a degree in Psychology, and a decade of work in the book publishing industry before becoming a published author myself.
I write for Young Adults and Adults.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 22, 2014
Creative. Contrived. Confusing.
The premise was imaginative, fresh, and quite possibly the best part of the novel. Characters are likable but disappointingly meager. World building and story progression are strained and convoluted. This is listed as a YA romance however there is no significant promise of such a relationship.
Face is staged in a dystopian community where technological advances have created a world of lookalikes deemed beautiful and the only acceptable form of existence. Society dictates facial updates be uploaded from an early age in order to achieve this. The problem lies that there are those who’s persons are unable to tolerate such an update rendering them outcasts, Naturals.
True is a sixteen-year-old girl who feels rebellious in the wake of her superficial friends and dysfunctional family life consisting of an absentee father and pregnant mother. She makes a subtle nonconformist move when she tweaks her face by adding a smile blocker aka maverick feature leaving her an oddity amongst her peers and teachers in her virtual school of avatars. The very same day she meets Cliff, who becomes a novelty himself as he dons the avatar of a famous movie star and is rumored to be a Natural. The two strike up an awkward friendship (intended to be romantic) that threatens societal norms as True discovers family matters may be more complicated than she thought.
This work turns out to be confusing and displeasing.
The first half of this novel is spent trying to decipher context and meaning behind dialogue and concepts mentioned. This schema is refreshingly new, there should have been more time spent on developing a framework for these characters and their lifestyle. It was difficult to follow the character’s logic and to understand the implication of True’s choice to wear a Maverick feature beyond knowing it was significant.
The idea that modern tendencies evolved in such a way that everyone was beautiful, leaving no one beautiful, was crafted in an innovative way, but was poorly executed as was the allusion of enacting a full circle where non-conforming features became the new norm. Furthermore, It did not make sense to create such dissonance between Naturals and Society Norms only to have the novel end the way that it did. At that point, any hope of the story redeeming itself was thwarted.
I wanted to love this, but was unable to move past the disconnect between this fascinating dystopian world and the outcome of its characters.
* This book was received from the Author in exchange for an honest review. *
www.candidbookaddict.com
The premise was imaginative, fresh, and quite possibly the best part of the novel. Characters are likable but disappointingly meager. World building and story progression are strained and convoluted. This is listed as a YA romance however there is no significant promise of such a relationship.
Face is staged in a dystopian community where technological advances have created a world of lookalikes deemed beautiful and the only acceptable form of existence. Society dictates facial updates be uploaded from an early age in order to achieve this. The problem lies that there are those who’s persons are unable to tolerate such an update rendering them outcasts, Naturals.
True is a sixteen-year-old girl who feels rebellious in the wake of her superficial friends and dysfunctional family life consisting of an absentee father and pregnant mother. She makes a subtle nonconformist move when she tweaks her face by adding a smile blocker aka maverick feature leaving her an oddity amongst her peers and teachers in her virtual school of avatars. The very same day she meets Cliff, who becomes a novelty himself as he dons the avatar of a famous movie star and is rumored to be a Natural. The two strike up an awkward friendship (intended to be romantic) that threatens societal norms as True discovers family matters may be more complicated than she thought.
This work turns out to be confusing and displeasing.
The first half of this novel is spent trying to decipher context and meaning behind dialogue and concepts mentioned. This schema is refreshingly new, there should have been more time spent on developing a framework for these characters and their lifestyle. It was difficult to follow the character’s logic and to understand the implication of True’s choice to wear a Maverick feature beyond knowing it was significant.
The idea that modern tendencies evolved in such a way that everyone was beautiful, leaving no one beautiful, was crafted in an innovative way, but was poorly executed as was the allusion of enacting a full circle where non-conforming features became the new norm. Furthermore, It did not make sense to create such dissonance between Naturals and Society Norms only to have the novel end the way that it did. At that point, any hope of the story redeeming itself was thwarted.
I wanted to love this, but was unable to move past the disconnect between this fascinating dystopian world and the outcome of its characters.
* This book was received from the Author in exchange for an honest review. *
www.candidbookaddict.com
September 26, 2014
I stayed up all night reading this book. It had me so enthralled with the story that I did not notice it was almost dawn until I had only 30 pages left. At that point you have to finish the book; it was not like I gave myself the option of just sleeping and reading it tomorrow.
After I finished all I wanted to do was read it again immediately.
It was a bit slow in the beginning as I was trying to get the feel for the dystopian society, but it really started to pick up when I did. Each book has their own one that usually has a different commentary on modern society. While beauty standard was a big part of the book, I found the commentary on fans and the media really interesting.
True is a great character because she is so unapologetically her. For most of her life she had been getting the same updates as her best friend, Seven. The book starts out with them getting their new face update. But, luckily (depending on who you ask, ie not Seven) something goes wrong and True's new update has gone Maverick. Going Maverick means that there is usually one feature that does not match the congruous and symmetrical face update. True gets one dimple.
True had been fascinated with the idea of going Maverick and now she is. No matter how many times Seven demands that True update her face again, True denies. Even though her Maverick face causes a lot of drama for her, she keeps it.
Cliff is the new boy at the school. I laughed at the fact that he sent her weird pictures and you know what everyone's mind jumps to. But the pictures were not like that at all. Cliff has a personality that sticks out among all the other characters. While this society favors sameness and perfection, Cliff is anything but.
I have to admit I was incredibly surprised by the ending. I did not think that the book would end like that. Which when I reflect on it, there might a been a bit of me that would venture that happens. However, the rest of me was rooting for a different ending that I know understand to have been an impossible ending. The ending of Face is amazing though. I love it when pieces of the plot come together nicely into an ending I never would had expected.
Overall, I would recommend this book to all those who love dystopias and young adult fiction. (I am already pestering my younger sister to read it so that we can discuss it.)
Great characters, great plot, great writing. What more could I ask for?
After I finished all I wanted to do was read it again immediately.
It was a bit slow in the beginning as I was trying to get the feel for the dystopian society, but it really started to pick up when I did. Each book has their own one that usually has a different commentary on modern society. While beauty standard was a big part of the book, I found the commentary on fans and the media really interesting.
True is a great character because she is so unapologetically her. For most of her life she had been getting the same updates as her best friend, Seven. The book starts out with them getting their new face update. But, luckily (depending on who you ask, ie not Seven) something goes wrong and True's new update has gone Maverick. Going Maverick means that there is usually one feature that does not match the congruous and symmetrical face update. True gets one dimple.
True had been fascinated with the idea of going Maverick and now she is. No matter how many times Seven demands that True update her face again, True denies. Even though her Maverick face causes a lot of drama for her, she keeps it.
Cliff is the new boy at the school. I laughed at the fact that he sent her weird pictures and you know what everyone's mind jumps to. But the pictures were not like that at all. Cliff has a personality that sticks out among all the other characters. While this society favors sameness and perfection, Cliff is anything but.
I have to admit I was incredibly surprised by the ending. I did not think that the book would end like that. Which when I reflect on it, there might a been a bit of me that would venture that happens. However, the rest of me was rooting for a different ending that I know understand to have been an impossible ending. The ending of Face is amazing though. I love it when pieces of the plot come together nicely into an ending I never would had expected.
Overall, I would recommend this book to all those who love dystopias and young adult fiction. (I am already pestering my younger sister to read it so that we can discuss it.)
Great characters, great plot, great writing. What more could I ask for?
June 18, 2014
Face is a fast-paced romance with a twist.
Have you ever noticed how CONFUSED and HYPOCRITICAL our current attitude to beauty is?! We are all outwardly urged to accept ourselves as we are, and celebrate our individual differences, whilst in reality, most of us quietly wish we were more beautiful and imagine our lives to be different, with more choices, if we were...
“Face” instantly levels the playing field- it begins with the idea that we can all change our faces as easily (and safely) as we change our clothes. Suddenly everybody is flawless and the beauty advantage is gone. So what happens next? Humans must compete...
True is sixteen and her new face is different, it puts people on edge. But isn’t this what she wanted? True’s family life has torn apart; Dad has left in uncertain circumstances. Cliff is hiding behind the face of a movie star. Rumour is, he’s a Natural. When he sends True three freaky photos, she knows that despite what he claims, none are of him. Drawn to Cliff by family circumstance, True must discover who wears the mask, and what lies underneath. Faces manipulate, faces hide. Faces change.
Have you ever noticed how CONFUSED and HYPOCRITICAL our current attitude to beauty is?! We are all outwardly urged to accept ourselves as we are, and celebrate our individual differences, whilst in reality, most of us quietly wish we were more beautiful and imagine our lives to be different, with more choices, if we were...
“Face” instantly levels the playing field- it begins with the idea that we can all change our faces as easily (and safely) as we change our clothes. Suddenly everybody is flawless and the beauty advantage is gone. So what happens next? Humans must compete...
True is sixteen and her new face is different, it puts people on edge. But isn’t this what she wanted? True’s family life has torn apart; Dad has left in uncertain circumstances. Cliff is hiding behind the face of a movie star. Rumour is, he’s a Natural. When he sends True three freaky photos, she knows that despite what he claims, none are of him. Drawn to Cliff by family circumstance, True must discover who wears the mask, and what lies underneath. Faces manipulate, faces hide. Faces change.
February 18, 2015
a very good read. Thought the concept was good and liked how the author portrayed the future of how the world could be. Thank you for letting me read this and having the opportunity to review
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews