Review: Uninvited

Title: Uninvited (Uninvited, #1) by Sophie Jordan
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pages: 384

When Davy Hamilton's tests come back positive for Homicidal Tendency Syndrome (HTS)-aka the kill gene-she loses everything. Her boyfriend ditches her, her parents are scared of her, and she can forget about her bright future at Juilliard. Davy doesn't feel any different, but gene don't lie. One day she will kill someone.
Only Sean, a fellow HTS carrier, can relate to her new life. Davy wants to trust him; maybe he's not as dangerous as he seems. Or maybe Davy is just as deadly.

I can't ever hide from this night. No matter that I did it to save Sean's life, I am what everyone always thought.A killer. 

- Sophie Jordan, Uninvited

Thank you Netgalley and HarperTeen for providing me with a copy of this book!

Uninvited was that book I'd hoped it to become one of my favourite's, a book with a sequel I'd be dying to read. It definitely had its good sides, but why oh why, did it feel like such a disappointment?

Before summing up all the things I didn't like about this book, I'd like to point out the ones I found myself enjoying. For starters, I loved the little addition at the end of each chapter. You don't notice it at first, but after having read the enitre book, that was some crucial world building. We didn't get the reason why it started in the first place, yet it brought depth to the world itself. It was also very nice to know certain things before the protagonist did. The plot was original and I loved it. It was probably the only reason - apart from the awesome cover - that got me to read it. The concept of there being a valid reason of why sociopaths would do certain things was wonderfully thought of. People living on the edge of society, treated like animals... It's horrifying, yet something accurate if this book would become reality.

Uninvited started off with Davy coming home from school and there's something going on. You're on the edge of your seat, turning page after page to find out what it is. After Davy's discovery of posessing the kill gene, you know things are about to get messy. Even if it isn't triggered yet, it will soon. That's when the slow page pops up. It keeps dragging on and on and I was wondering if the whole topic of the book is going to be Davy's journey to her inner killer. That's when the second part, Mount Haven, begins. From there, I managed to read it in one sitting. The sudden action and fighting was a bonus in overall. The were these moments when I felt like reading Divergent by Veronica Roth because of teens being trained together. There's very high competition and people are constantly being send away. I quickly set the thought aside, because it is different in so many ways. The ending decided it would be three stars. With the thought of Mount Haven being a heavily guarded camp, they managed to pull their stunt off way too easily.

With a three-star book, there's always those issues. Uninvited is one, and this is no exception. Davy was a character I couldn't relate to in any way, and didn't feel very believable either. Her being a Mary Sue wasn't something I enjoyed, nor was the attempt of the author of making her realistic. Only adding one flaw to her character isn't going to do it, and will even create the opposite effect if that certain flaw is naivete. Davy took it to a whole new level by trusting everyone, and always throwing herself in situations where she's constantly assuming that everything will be okay. Since she's in a camp with sociopahts, and she's one, it's not. To talk about her discovery with having the kill gene: it's understanble if you have difficulties accepting it at first, but denying it throughout the entire book got on my nerves. She's judging people with the kill gene of being dangerous and all, when she's not going to accept that she's one of them. Davy wasn't what I expected to be. There certainly were other issues that were a lot smaller and didn't irritate me as much as this one. They were a lot smaller and didn't irritate me at all while reading. It was only after I realised I didn't love a certain character and wasn't in love with the author's writing.

So Uninvited wasn't what I expected it to be, but it I did love the plot and the second half of the book. To eventually read or not read the sequel, that's the question. I probably will, just because I love the world so much. For now I hope to see Davy have a sociopath moment in the sequel, that would be perfect.