book review: MIND GAMES by Kiersten White

MIND GAMES by Kiersten White
256 pages

Expected publication: February 19th 2013 by HarperTeen 

 PREORDER LINKS:

B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/mind-games-kiersten-white/1110155576

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Mind-Games-Kiersten-White/dp/0062135317

Review also posted on:
Goodreads
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/527052425

 First Impressions AKA judge a book by its cover: Ahhhhh! So pretty. Points :)


RATING: 4 out of 5 stars  ***beware of spoilers in red***

I received MIND GAMES as an ARC. Firstly, I would like to thank Goodreads for making the giveaway possible and Harper Collins for actually mailing the book to me :)

OK, onto the review:

Mind Games, you confuse me. I don't know how to categorize you. You weren't exactly a "thriller", but you had the pacing of one. But the fact that you weren't a thriller yet had the pacing of one made you sparse when you shouldn't have been sparse :(

The Eh

Here's why your pacing was brisk: You didn't describe your setting very much at all. I knew that we were in Chicago, then we were England, they we were in St. Louis, etc. But other than that, I had no real grasp of the setting. Understandably, with first POV, it's harder to describe, but at the same time, it could have totally pulled off a unique and personalized description of the settings since there are 2 POVs.

Your explanations were few and far between. Because of this, you felt a bit shallow in the sense that you heavily relied on the plot to keep things moving. You tried, I'll give you that. You tried to give back story and flashbacks. But those weren't exactly the explanations that you needed, though they were still nice to read. I wanted to know WHY you'd want to have an organization (view spoiler) WHY Annie believed that only the Keane School (view spoiler) WHY Mr. Keane is so evil and mysterious (and please don't tell me by just saying that he just it). But of course, you are just one lonely book in a trilogy and I guess I'll have to wait.

And wait I will.

The Good
MIND GAMES was a memorable read and here is why:

1. Fia: Here, Mrs. White's writing worked oh-so-well. I really got the broken sense, and I love loved love (see what I did there?) the repetition of the little details. The little details are what make Fia's character so intricate, so beautiful and ugly and strong and weak, all at the same time. I personally never get annoyed with stream of consciousness unless the character comes off as irksome without a good reason. Fia is cold-calculating-harsh-angry, but I loved reading her POV because I understood why she was that way.

2. The writing: As mentioned above. Granted, it was sparse sometimes when I would have liked a little more oomph, but generally I'd say that the writing worked because I really aided the character voice.

3. Annie: I. Don't. Like. Annie.
Shocker.
I actually really really disliked Annie from the start when she was fretting and worrying because right off the bat she seemed so...useless. And I guess Mrs. White was trying to juxtapose her with Fia's bad-ass attitude, but you don't have to be bad-ass to make a difference. IF you really want something to change, you can work to the limits of your abilities to make it happen. And Annie didn't. And by doing nothing, she made Fia go through so much crap. That's why, although I felt like she was intended to be characterized as the sweet, soft, gentle counterpart to Fia, I did not like Annie.

But oh. OH. The twist.

I had to applaud Mrs. White's guts there because OH.

Now, everything makes sense (I do feel kind of bad because I kind of wanted to make Annie disappear too, but I guess Fia beat me to it) And I am still applauding because it's not like the twist is utterly unique or epic, but that it was a MIND twist because the whole time I though I was supposed to be rooting for Annie alongside Fia because wasn't this a book about two sister's fighting for each other until the very end? How could it be so cold...so brutal... Honestly, it could have risked turning the reader away from Fia. But for me, it didn't, and that is the greatest test--when the protagonist does something truly horrible and selfish by all moral standards yet you as the reader stand by them. Luckily, it's only fiction :D

You had me fooled there, MIND GAMES. Kudos.

So here's the breakdown

If you don't mind flashbacks, non-chronological story telling, dual POV, slightly sparse writing, and angry protagonists, go for it and read MIND GAMES. The plot twist might feel totally random at first and you might want to yell at the book for being utterly nonsensical, but if you step back (just as you should step back and see how the repetition actually helps!) then things might start to click. MIND GAMES is not one of those books that left me in awe and tears and a screaming desire to highjack the next book.

It made me question my relationships with the characters. But ultimately, once I pulled through, it made me think.