***The Tales Compendium blog is currently on hiatus. However you can still following along via the Instagram feed!***

Thursday, September 22, 2011

All These Things I've Done by Gabrielle Zevin

Title: All These Things I've Done
Series: Birthright #1
Author: Gabrielle Levin

Release Date: 6th September 2011

My Rating: 5/5

Blurb:
In 2083, chocolate and coffee are illegal, paper is hard to find, water is carefully rationed, and New York City is rife with crime and poverty. And yet, for Anya Balanchine, the sixteen-year-old daughter of the city's most notorious (and dead) crime boss, life is fairly routine. It consists of going to school, taking care of her siblings and her dying grandmother, trying to avoid falling in love with the new assistant D.A.'s son, and avoiding her loser ex-boyfriend. That is until her ex is accidentally poisoned by the chocolate her family manufactures and the police think she's to blame. Suddenly, Anya finds herself thrust unwillingly into the spotlight--at school, in the news, and most importantly, within her mafia family.

In A Nutshell:
The first in a new dystopian trilogy, All These Things I’ve Done is intriguing and suspenseful with plenty of surprising plot changes. It is set in a society that doesn’t take much of your imagination to believe our world could become like Anya’s. Can’t wait for book two!

My Review:
I totally loved Gabrielle Zevin’s latest novel, All These Things I’ve Done, a dystopian story set in New York, 2083.

All These Things I’ve Done is suspenseful and intriguing and I was constantly surprised by the direction the story took and what was thrown Anya’s way. She is strong, independent, resilient and loyal. She is extremely family orientated, looking after her grandmother, brother and sister, and keeping the peace with her extended family who now run the family business. There is a lot of responsibility sitting on her shoulders and she doesn’t trust a lot of people, keeping things close to her chest.

I think the fact that chocolate, coffee and paper are all illegal, isn’t so hard to believe. Unlike other dystopian stories where we can’t actually imagine life turning out in that way, this situation hits home more than others because it seems more likely and the reader can relate more to the idea, and therefore the story.

I am absolutely giddy with excitement to hear this book is going to be part of a trilogy as I would love to be sucked back into Anya’s world, especially with the potential directions the story could take after the ending of All The Things I’ve Done.

Thankyou to Pan Macmillan Australia for this review copy.

Second Opinions
Words on Paper
Irresistible Reads

4 comments:

  1. I adored this book too, and I'm so glad that there's a trilogy in the works! Thanks for the review. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. This sounds awesome! Great review, as always :) Might have to borrow it from you if possible, hehe. xo

    ReplyDelete
  3. LOL @ being giddy.

    love the review jess :)

    (i could cope without chocolate, but i need chips in my life... and thai ;))

    ReplyDelete
  4. I've definitely been wanting to read this one. Imagine chocolate and coffee being contraband! *gasp!*

    Seriously though, I love the concept of this book and from everyone I've talked to whose read this says the characters are all well written and interesting.

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...