Review of Shallow Pond by Alissa Grosso

Grosso, Alissa.  Shallow Pond.  flux, 2013. 

The Bunting sisters have lived in Shallow Pond, Pennsylvania all their lives and people constantly mistake one sister for another.  The oldest sister, Annie, has raised the two younger girls ever since their mom and dad passed away.  The youngest sister, Barbara, nicknamed “Babie”, is a senior in high school and wants nothing more than to graduate and leave Shallow Pond forever.  Babie’s best friends are always trying to pair her up with guys at school, and when a new, handsome orphaned guy named Zack Faraday arrives at school, Jenelle and Shawna decide he would be the perfect date for Babie for the town’s winter carnival.

Although Babie feels an instant connection with Zack, she has no desire to have a relationship that might cause her to want to stay in Shallow Pond.  She doesn’t want to end up like Annie, now twenty-six, who was dumped by her boyfriend, Cameron Schaeffer, when she was a high school senior, or like her other sister, Gracie, now twenty-one, who works as a cashier in the town’s only grocery store.

Cameron Schaeffer has recently returned to Shallow Pond after losing his job, and Gracie has fallen in love with him.  Babie is not happy with Gracie over this development because she was hoping that Cameron and Annie would reunite.  When Cameron leaves town unexpectedly, Gracie hurries to find him.

Annie has been sick, and when she begins to get even worse, her sisters rush her to a hospital where she is treated by one of their father’s friends.  It turns out that she has a mysterious genetic illness and could soon die.  This revelation releases a series of events that take the book in a totally different direction!

Told in first person by Babie, this novel started out very slowly and repetitious.  The same scenes kept reoccurring—Babie hates Shallow Pond, and her friends love it.  Babie doesn’t want a boyfriend, but she is drawn to Zack.  Babie talks to Zack and then runs away from him.  Finally, about midway through the book, the plot began to branch out.  

Science fiction fans and readers who love a good romance will enjoy Shallow Pond.  I recommend it for high school and public libraries.  I give it four out of five fleur de lis!

Review of Beta by Rachel Cohn

Cohn, Rachel.  Beta.  Disney Hyperion, 2012.

The island of Demesne, created from an underground volcano, is said to be the most desirable and exclusive place on earth.  It has the purest air; the scenery has the perfect aesthetic; and the water around it has healing properties.  It is inhabited by the most rich, famous, and wealthy people in the world.

Clones on Demesne are created in order to serve residents on the island and to create an atmosphere of happiness and fine living.  The clones have been fitted with a brain chip so that they can mimic human feelings, a GPS wrist chip for tracking, and a facial brand, which designates their type of service.  They don’t need human food; their only nutrition is special strawberry shakes, which are loaded with chemical components.

Elysia is a sixteen-year-old clone—created in a lab—as a Beta, an experimental teenage model. Elysia’s “first”, her original human, had to die and her soul had to be extracted in order for Elysia to become a clone. Elysia is purchased by Mrs. Bratton, the wife of the governor of the island, to replace her rebellious teen daughter, who has gone off to college on the mainland.  She is also to serve as an athletic trainer to the Bratton’s son, Ivan, who will soon be joining the elite private army training on the mainland Base and to help care for the Bratton’s young daughter, Leisel. 

Elysia is having flashbacks about a handsome young man from her first’s past and thinks she may be defective.  However, she doesn’t want to tell anyone because she feels she has many privileges other clones do not.  What she eventually figures out is that clones are actually an oppressed society ruled and owned by the wealthy; clones can be forced to do anything and are easily disposed. 

There is growing tension on Demesne.  The privileged teenagers are secretly using ataraxia, an illegal drug that gives its users a profound feeling of dreamy happiness and contentment.  There are growing protests against using clones as servants and rumors of a group of clone “Defects” planning an insurrection so that they can gain their freedom.

Elysia’s choice about what she should do with her life is ultimately made easier by the events unfolding on the island and how she feels about her adoptive “family” and her relationship with a boy.  Although she has done some planning, some last minute decisions could end up causing her death.  I don’t want to say more than that for fear of revealing too much!

What a wonderful new dystopian series this is!  The lush world- and character-building that Rachel Cohn has created gives the reader wonderful descriptions of the luxurious Demesne, its surroundings, and its inhabitants.  I so want to visit this island; unfortunately, I could not afford it! 

Beta’s main character, Elysia, is a very strong female protagonist.  Since she doesn’t understand context, she takes everything very literally, which only adds to her likability.  Her character grows from someone who is innocent and unsure of herself into a mature, self-assured young woman.

The humans on the island take the clones for granted and think they are quite superior to them.  There is also another group, aquines, which have been genetically engineered to produce a new kind of human race.  They are peaceful, religious zealots and mate for life.  Demesne citizens also look down upon these aquines as inferiors.  It’s no wonder that there is such strife on the island!  The author is able to capture the disdain that the privileged feel toward both groups.  Readers will feel it oozing from the story.

Beta is a wonderful book, filled with a caste hierarchy, greed, wealth, control, and class warfare.  There are some real surprises thrown in—things that were extremely unexpected.  The novel slows down a little near the middle, but gradually picks up speed and ends in a cliffhanger!  Readers will not be able to put the book down!

There are three additional books planned for this series.  I recommend it for high school and public libraries.

**Reviewer’s note:  The copy reviewed was an ARC received from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.