Review: Tarnished by Kate Jarvik Birch
Tarnished (Perfected #2)
by: Kate Jarvik Birch
Publication Date: Dec. 1, 2015
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Genre: Dystopian
Age Group: Young Adult
Source: e-ARC received via the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Page Count: 219 pages
Order Links: Amazon | B&N
My Rating: 3.5/5 stars
Freedom comes at a cost...
Ella was genetically engineered to be the perfect pet—graceful, demure...and kept. In a daring move, she escaped her captivity and took refuge in Canada. But while she can think and act as she pleases, the life of a liberated pet is just as confining as the Congressman’s gilded cage. Her escape triggered a backlash, and now no one's safe, least of all the other pets. But she's trapped, unable to get back
to Penn—the boy she loves—or help the girls who need her.
Back in the United States, pets are turning up dead. With help from a very unexpected source, Ella slips deep into the dangerous black market, posing as a tarnished pet available to buy or sell. If she's lucky, she'll be able to rescue Penn and expose the truth about the breeding program. If she fails, Ella will pay not only with her life, but the lives of everyone she's tried to save...
Ella was genetically engineered to be the perfect pet—graceful, demure...and kept. In a daring move, she escaped her captivity and took refuge in Canada. But while she can think and act as she pleases, the life of a liberated pet is just as confining as the Congressman’s gilded cage. Her escape triggered a backlash, and now no one's safe, least of all the other pets. But she's trapped, unable to get back
to Penn—the boy she loves—or help the girls who need her.
Back in the United States, pets are turning up dead. With help from a very unexpected source, Ella slips deep into the dangerous black market, posing as a tarnished pet available to buy or sell. If she's lucky, she'll be able to rescue Penn and expose the truth about the breeding program. If she fails, Ella will pay not only with her life, but the lives of everyone she's tried to save...
After that monster cliffhanger at the end of Perfected, I was hoping Birch would write another book in the series. Naturally, when I saw Tarnished appear for review, I jumped at the chance to return to the seriously disturbing world where human girls are kept as pets. My heart ached for Ella, as she has been separated from the boy she loves and is now on her own.
While Ella is pretty obsessed with being reunited with Penn, her eyes are opened to the true horrors of NuPet and what they are doing, as well as how the black market operates. While finding Penn is still the most important thing to her, she can't pull the wool over her eyes and pretend none of this other stuff isn't happening. I commend her for taking a stand and fighting for what's right, even as naïve as she is.
One character from the first book makes a surprising appearance and I have to say I did not expect them at all, considering what happened previously. The friendship that develops between them really worked though and I was glad for it.
I loved Penn just as much as I did in the first one and I'm glad he also dared to be defiant and make the decisions he did. He respects Ella and the fact that she is going to make her own decisions from here on out. They are a team and I enjoyed seeing them in that capacity.
We do get quite a bit of action and adventure in this book, as well as some suspense. I thought it would be a dualogy, but Birch definitely left the ending open for another book, as well as raised some pretty important questions. Ella's story is definitely not resolved, so I am hoping we will see another book in this series!
1 comments
This whole concept has me so curious and its something you don't see all the time. I may have to give this series a shot. Great review!
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