Dark Parties

Title: Dark Parties

Author: Sara Grant

Pages: 320

Pub: 2011; Little Brown

Genre: Young Adult, Dystopian

Etc: NetGalley ARC

The Short of It

Living beneath the Protectosphere; what’s outside?

The Long of It

Neva is sixteen and has only heard about the outside world through her grandma.  But those stories don’t come any more because her grandmother has gone missing like so many other people in her world.  She knows that something is wrong and that the government is behind it, but she doesn’t know what she can do about it.  Feeling like the only way to find answers is to form a group, Neva and her best friend Sanna create the “Dark Party”.  Sanna brings her boyfriend into the scheme of things and although Neva is attracted to him, she’ doesn’t really trust his dedication in exposing the government for the controlling entity that it is. 

The Thoughts about It

Freaky dystopians are not a fave of mine.  It is hard for me to not want to hide beneath the covers and quiver.  Perhaps it’s all of the conspiracy theories that I devoured as a teen, or my early introduction to Farhenheit 451, Anthem, 1984 et al.  REGARDLESS, I normally don’t jump for joy.  (Ahem, wouldn’t jumping for joy for a dystopian almost be wrong?!)

But, duuuuddeee.  Dark Parties was pretty freakin’ cool.  Neva is a tough teenager especially when you figure her daddy controls all of the fake thoughts that are being passed down to the society.  Lies, lies, lies.  Oh and hides history?  What?  Plus, the Protectosphere seems pretty realistic.  And there are some horrid things that go on in this lil’ world.  Ya’ll.  For realz if I was a youngster reading this I would have had freakin’ nightmares.  And even though what they do isn’t so original (I sorta think that maybe the originality of dystopian has ceased to exist) how it is portrayed and through the characters is terrifying.

As for the characters and subplots (ie read LOVE), they were pretty mediocre.  The triangle (‘cuz there’s gotta be one right?!) didn’t step in the way of the adventure or Neva going all kick ass.  She still stayed true to her goals and what she thought would ultimately be the best. 

Yup. This one is a recommender.