This is a decent read but a little flat in the characters.

We are, of course, fascinated with the notion of teen assassins, especially, as in this book, genetically engineered and brain washed assassins. We are fascinated in the same way that horror movies fascinate. We like to be scared, to consider scenarios, however improbably. Something about the juxtaposition of the weak and innocent with highly trained killer. We can conceive of the possibility of someone people routinely ignore as an assassin. This doesn't have the teeth of some other series, largely because of the lack of character depth. I liked the details about the organization, the mythology framework, the promise of corruption and eugenics to come.

PROJECT PANDORA by Aden Polydoros is a YA thriller about teens that are physically and mentally groomed to be assassins, leaders, and otherwise societal influencers to complete an unclear agenda from a shady governmental agency under the title Project Pandora.
Very quickly the book establishes that these four teens that are being followed have been programmed to carry out tasks for the agency and at the same time not remembering accomplishing those tasks when they become themselves again. It's as if the agency has created dual personalities for each of them. As their mental programming starts to backfire, they start to become more aware and question their entire lives. One of the four, Hades, is unique to the other three because he never properly took to the programming, so his dual personalities bled together, making him more aware, yet constantly teetering on insanity because of it. Some of the teenage interactions are a little sappy, to the point that I was consciously yearning to get back to the story and I would have really liked a little back story of the man that is their agency contact so that he was a little more that just a voice. That all being said, as the book moves along, I was rooting more and more for the good guys, the four teens, to rise up against their oppressors and break free from their mental shackles.
A fascinating construct for a book, with a potential for many more book in the series, PROJECT PANDORA is a fun adventure for the YA reader community that left me thinking about the story long after I finished reading it.

Too many aliases and subplots for me to follow along or to care about what was happening. Did not finish (made it about halfway through.)

This sounded like a book that I would really enjoy but never quite connected with the characters. After about 75 pages, I decided not to finish it.

The first thing that caught my eye about this book was the Greek mythology code names everyone had. Zeus, Hades, Persephone, Apollo, Artemis. I am a big lover of Greek mythology (ask my collection of Rick Riordan books!) so that was an immediate plus to me. And, though the blurb for the book centers around Tyler and Shannon (Apollo and Artemis), I found myself more drawn to Hades and Elizabeth (Persephone).

Even though there were four main perspectives for this book, I really didn’t have any trouble keeping them separate. And I liked how each perspective gave the reader a different look at the same basic story.

One downfall was that it seemed like the story took awhile to really get going. Not saying the stuff in the beginning wasn’t completely necessary, though. I enjoyed it and it definitely moved the plot along. It just seemed to me like the part of the story that the summary focuses on just took awhile to get moving. I was 40% into it before Tyler even really started noticing that weird stuff was happening.

Let’s talk about Hades and Elizabeth really quick before I let you go 🙂 I really liked that Aden brought the Persephone / Hades myth into this story. It’s always been one that has fascinated me and it really explains part of why the two characters are so drawn to each other. I think it added a nice depth to them and, was one of the reasons they were my favorite characters.

Tyler has evidence of being in fights, but his memory is spotty and he doesn't know why he can't throw away the strange burner phone tucked away in his book bag. The girl he crushes on in school also has one, and there's a creepy young man dressed in black that seems to have followed them that seems familiar, yet not.

Project Pandora is a YA novel and the start of a series, which thematically feels like a bridge toward a dystopia from our present. Elements in the novel can recall other works, such as the artificial uteri that gestate the fetuses stolen from IVF clinic which are likely meant to reflect the society in Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. There are also references to systematic beatings, misuse of psychotropic medication and sensory deprivation, which brings out the worst fears people have about psychiatrists and eugenics.

The book is written as a number of "case files" and transcripts of interviews that had made up Project Pandora. Though I knew that Tyler is supposed to be the main character, I was drawn more to Hades and Elizabeth's story, as it seemed to have more emotional substance than Tyler and Shannon's half.

The tie from the Project's code names to the characters in their "real" lives takes a while, but once the connection is made, the earlier chapters make far more sense. This is part of the problem with having unreliable narrators with memory gaps.

There are a lot of action sequences, which gives this a more cinematic feel. It's a solid start to the series, and one that teens will definitely be able to relate to.

http://deborahmaroulis.com/2017/08/19/youve-been-activated/

Switching between four points of view, we are introduced to four teens who have been mind-controlled into becoming trained killers.

Only the memory blocking begins to fail . . .

This is another entry into the killer teens subgenre, in a contemporary setting. It took me a while to get into it as the voices sounded largely the same, making it difficult for me to tell the characters apart, though as the story builds, that becomes less of an issue.

I think teen readers will enjoy the tension and action; adults are more likely to wonder what the point of teenage mind control is, when there are so many more effective methods, such as hiring hitmen. Particularly when the kids, as described, don't take elementary precautions--not watching for surveillance cams, etc.

Also, what's the point of the project? But this is a series, and no doubt all will be made clear. Polydoros writes vivid action scenes, and manages to create a sympathetic anti-hero in Hades especially, resulting in insta-love romance.

Altogether it's got all the elements for a popular teen series.

Wow, wow, WOW. That was my immediate reaction once I finished reading Project Pandora. That was quickly followed up by "oh, my heart!" and "oh no how long do I have to wait for book 2?!" I was really blown away by this book, and if I didn’t know ahead of time that it was the *debut* of a young author, I would’ve sworn it was written by someone who had a fair amount of experience under their belt.

I will try to explain why I loved this book so much without giving too much away, because you really do want to experience this for yourself. Like I said, the writing is top-notch, and you’d have a hard time pointing to anything about Aden’s craft that would tell you he’s a debut author. The concept is also fantastic: a secret project run by some dastardly folks to create children programmed to rise to the top levels of the military and political systems who can be “activated” when the project needs them. And, oh yeah, they can also be activated to kill on command. I mean, how cool (yet frightening) is that idea? The plot raced along at a steady clip, too, interspersing action where the teens have been activated as assassins with research notes, flashbacks, and some truly gut-wrenching soul searching on the part of the teens.

The teens themselves - Tyler/Apollo, Elizabeth/Persephone, Shannon/Artemis, and Hades (just Hades) - each have distinct personalities and stories of their own that keep them from running together in the reader’s head. The adult “bad guys” are some truly awful human beings, and there is no love lost on the part of this reader, at least, for any of those folks. The teens, though... that’s a different story. These teens are morally ambiguous characters - none more so than Hades, who was hands down my favorite character - and the reader has to reckon with that ambiguity in deciding whether or not we will identify with and root for them.

Even though I’m in my low-forties, I read almost exclusively YA, and I often connect with the characters on a personal level; ie, I identify with them in thinking about the teen I used to be, who I was at that age. Reading this book, though, I identified more as a mother in comparison to these characters. I mostly felt an overwhelming desire to protect them; I started thinking of them almost like my own kids. I couldn’t stop imagining my own son (he’s only 9 yet) in a similar situation. I also kept wondering what these experiences would do to a person who is at such a vulnerable (on so many levels) stage in their lives and, most importantly, in their brain development. I also looked at the adult actors from my stance as a parent, wondering who could possibly do such things to any child in their care. It was an unusual and rare, if not entirely new, way for me to experience a YA book. There have been others where I connected on a maternal level with the characters, but they’re few and far between. The fact that this is a debut and evoked such an emotional connection from me just blows my mind.

I don’t want to say much more, because I feel like I’ll just keep repeating myself in saying how amazing this book is and how much it made me *feel*, which is something you might expect from a contemporary but not necessarily a thriller. Plus, I don’t want to give anything away, and I want each reader to approach it as fresh as possible. I do feel like I should mention, though, that this was actually a difficult book for me to read, and it is one that took me longer than normal. The main reason is because of the emotions it evoked, coupled with some of the themes explored in the book. The last book I remember absolutely loving while at the same time finding it very difficult to read was The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly, which is another one of those rare books that I approached and read more as a mother than as a former teen or “just” a reader. I also want to note that there are a few scenes of abuse depicted in the book that were *very* difficult for me to read and reckon with, and I am someone who has no personal experience with child abuse. I just want to mention this as a possible trigger for some readers.

Overall, this was an incredible book, a slow-burning thriller that goes far beyond the action we see on the surface, probing an emotional depth that I wasn’t expecting. Project Pandora makes us consider what makes a person “good” or “bad” and how culpable someone may be for actions that are a result of brainwashing or programming. When I picked up this book, I wasn’t expecting to feel as if my heart was bleeding, and I cannot say enough about the talent of this author in being able to wring such emotions from me. I *still* just want to cradle Hades in my arms and tell him he’s worth so much more... ugh! My heart STILL hurts - and that’s the sign of an amazing book, in my opinion! I cannot recommend this highly enough, and I’m frankly a wee bit desperate for the second book now.

Rating: 5 gut-wrenching, heartbreaking stars!

Thanks so much to Entangled Teen for the early review copy, and to Chapter by Chapter for including me on the tour! This is my honest rating and review and is purely voluntary on my part.

Project Pandora, written by Aden Polydoros is the first book in the Assassin Fall series.  It’s a dark and gritty story that focuses on Project Pandora, a secret program designed to create a team of teenage assassins.  Using mind control and psychotropic drugs, the Project Pandora doctors have systematically “programmed” these teens from birth to “activate” when they hear the phrase “Olympus is Rising.”  They could be in the middle of anything – at home, at work, at school, anywhere -- but as soon as they hear that phrase, they immediately switch over into assassin mode until the mission they’ve been assigned is complete.  As if that isn’t alarming enough, once they come out of that “activated” state, the teens have no memory of what they have done or the murders they have committed.  Creepy, right?  Why on Earth would anyone want to turn a bunch of teenagers into assassins? What’s their endgame with this project?  And how have they gotten away with it thus far? As soon as all of these questions started swarming around in my head, I knew I was hooked...

The novel follows the perspectives of four teens who have been trained/brain washed by Project Pandora.  First, there’s Tyler and Shannon who, when they aren’t in full-on assassin mode, appear to be pretty typical teenagers.  They go to high school, do normal teen activities, and they also both happen to live with foster families.  Then there’s Katherine, who is also a fairly typical teen, although she is also the daughter of a senator and has a bit of a rebellious streak because she’s tired of her parents expecting her to be Little Miss Perfect all the time.  Lastly, there’s Hades.  As you can probably guess based on his name, there is very little about Hades that is typical.  Hades is also the only one of the four who is aware of his role in Project Pandora.

So what happens when those who have unknowingly been a part of this project slowly begin to realize they are not fully in control of their minds and bodies and are committing crimes while under someone else’s control? Can they break free?  And most importantly, can they stop Project Pandora, which clearly has been created with a sinister purpose in mind?

LIKES

There's so much to love about Project Pandora.  It's one of the more unique storylines I've read and it appeals to both my love of science fiction and my love of fast-paced thrillers.  Here are just a few of the book's highlights for me:

Multiple Points of View.  Sometimes multiple points of view works for me, sometimes it doesn’t.  In the case of Project Pandora, however, I thought presenting the story through the eyes of several who are under the influence of mind control was truly fascinating.  The reader gets to follow these characters through their day-to-day lives, see what happens to trigger them to flip over into assassin mode, and then watch them flip right back over once the kill has been made.  It does make for a somewhat disjointed narrative at times as characters like Tyler and Shannon start having these almost out-of-body  moments while they’re in the middle of a “job” as if they’re watching themselves kill people.  I think the disjointedness is to be expected though since both you and the characters you’re reading about are simultaneously trying to piece together what is happening and why.  As I was reading scenes like these, I kept thinking what an incredible film this would be.

Hades.  Hades quickly became my favorite character in Project Pandora.  I don’t know if that was supposed to happen, but I always find morally ambiguous characters so fascinating, and Hades is about as morally ambiguous as they come.  He’s definitely what I would consider to be an anti-hero.  Not only is Hades aware that he is participating in this project, he even goes so far as to tattoo notches on his forearm to keep track of how many he has killed.  Even though he’s a hardcore killer who seems pretty content to do what he does, there’s still just something about Hades that made me very sympathetic to him.

Dark and Full of Action and Suspense.  Pretty much everything about this book is dark, twisted, and full of mystery and intrigue.   The idea that a group of people could be twisted enough to turn a bunch of children into weapons was mind blowing, and I just couldn’t stop reading until I knew if these kids would be okay or not.   If they broke free of the mind control, would they be safe or would the others involved with the Project come after them if they suddenly went rogue?  Would the people behind this project be brought to justice for both the murders they’re responsible for and for what they did to these children?  There’s just so much there to keep sucking you into the story and turning those pages!  I literally could not put this book down once I got started.

Unique Format.  In addition to using alternating chapters from the four teens to tell the story, the author has also inserted case files throughout the novel.  In an almost flashback-like fashion, these case files provide insight into each of the main characters while they were going through the ‘programming’ phase of the Project.  I thought it was a creative way to add background information about each character and about the inner workings of the Project itself. It also lent the novel an almost sci-fi feel, which I really liked.

DISLIKES/ISSUES

Overall I really enjoyed the read.  I did, however, have a couple of areas where I just wanted a little more from the story.  I'd classify these as my own personal reading quirks though and they probably wouldn’t faze most other readers.

Not enough connection with the characters.  Even though I had tremendous sympathy for them because of what had been done to them and felt outraged by the whole concept of the project, I just didn’t really feel all that connected to any of the characters on a more personal level.  I feel confident that this will change now that this first book has laid all of the groundwork for the rest of the series and we can focus even more on the characters.

Needed more information about the Project and its motives.  I really wanted more information about Project Pandora.  We’re given a number of hints to indicate what it’s all about, but I thought a lot of the information was a bit vague and was left with more questions than answers.  Again, I'm sure my questions will be answered in future books, but I’m just impatient, haha



FINAL THOUGHTS

If you’re looking for a light and fluffy read, this is not the book you’re looking for.  On the other hand, if you like a book that will take you on a dark and twisted, action-packed ride, with a plot that’s a conspiracy theorist’s dream, then Project Pandora will blow you away!



RATING:  4 STARS

Thanks so much to Netgalley, Entangled Teen, and of course to Aden Polydoros for allowing me the opportunity to preview and review Project Pandora.

I don't know how a book can be heart-breaking and hopeful at the same time, but this one is. Three teens who aren't what they seem, another who doesn't really know who or what he is. Forced to do horrible things to help some adults put forward their own agenda. Is it too late? Can they become who they want to be? Will they ever be able to live their own life?

I can't begin to describe how amazing this book was! A mysterious and thrilling plot with a great writing style combine to bring us an absolute page turner about brainwashing, a secret organization, and four brainwashed teens trying to break free from Project Pandora. I highly recommend for fans of Divergent and The Hunger Games

Project Pandora was interesting, creative, and fun to read. Hades, Persephone, Artemis, and Apollo are code names for four seemingly normal high school students by day but assassins by night. But under the careful instruction of Zeus, their memories of their kills and who each other are, aren't always clear.
This book intrigued me. I liked the concept that we knew each of the characters by their real names but also understood who they were by the Greek names. It was clever and well written. It had a good balance between the assassin part of the story and the teen angst that wasn't over done. I'm excited to read more!

Awesome book and awesome idea! I loved everything,especialy characters and writting style!

I did not finish the book. My soft heart couldn't handle that sometimes the character knew he was doing bad things yet couldn't stop himself. I can't handle the fact he could kill and couldn't stop it!

Tyler tries to be a good kid, work hard at school and keep out of trouble to not cause his foster family any grief. But when his phone rings, a phone he has no memory of even owning, and the words "Olympus is rising" are spoken on the other line, Tyler finds himself responding "Pandora's box is opening" and somebody winds up dead. Tyler has no idea what is going on, what he is doing, or even who he is. But he is just a small part in a very large, dangerous picture.

I had originally been interested in this book when I first found it on Netgalley, everything about it intrigued me, from the synopsis to the cover, and I wanted to get my hands on it. Well, I anticipated a good read, but nothing prepared me to the reality of this book. Oh my geez, this book! This is the first book by Aden and it was such an amazing ride. I was sucked into the pages right from the start, losing track of time until next thing I knew, the book was over. This was not an easy, happy read, full of danger, murder, torture, lies, confusion, pain, secrets and not a happy ending, but I would not change a single thing about this story. This is not my first book dealing with brainwashed teens who have been programmed as spies, but it was unique on it's own, and I was kept guessing and on the edge of my seat because nobody was safe.

Even though the book's synopsis pretty much only mentions Tyler, there are actually four main characters: Tyler, Shannon, Elizabeth and Hades. The story alters in chapter narration between the four characters, with official Status Reports separating the chapters from the Project Pandora team. Tyler and Shannon both seems to be good kids, living with foster families, being regular teen things...until they are triggered to go on a kill mission that they complete and then promptly forget completely about. I though they were interesting characters, but kind of hard to get to know since they didn't even know themselves, they felt incomplete. Elizabeth is in an entirely different situation, where she comes from money and politics, with rules and strict boundaries that she chafes at, wanting a chance to be herself and not the puppet her parents want her to be.

And that leads me to Hades, who is my most favorite character and he gets his own little paragraph here. He was complicated, and that is putting it mildly (Elizabeth's friend summed him up nicely as a "#hotmess). He was a dangerous predator, capable of murder in many ways, and he enjoyed what he could do. I was confused by him, horrified by him and then filled with empathy and hope for him. He was a much more fleshed out creature than any other the three in the book, and I could not help but to empathize with him. If anyone needed a hug, it was this guy. His loneliness and despair practically dripped off the pages and I wanted so much more for Hades than he was ever given. He was different from other three because he knew who and what he was and what he was expected to do, fully aware of the torture and degradation that he would have to suffer at his "masters" hands. When he would make comments about not being a real person, and that he was just a corpse to get him through his life, I felt compelled to do something, to fix something...He was so real and so damaged, but by far my favorite person in this book, regardless of what he has done.

The book started with confusion and danger, with pieces to the puzzle being slowly dropped for the reader and the characters to try and piece together, until we have so much revealed and then the story ended. I need to read more, and I need it ASAP! I can't remember the last time I was so lost in a story, and when I reached the end I kept hoping I was wrong and there were more pages...somewhere... But, alas, that was the end and I will get my hands on the next book. I was blown away by this book, it caught me just right I think, and I have high expectations from what Aden will create next.

I received this title in return for my honest review. Follow the tour for the book by visiting my blog at http://smadasbooksmack.blogspot.com/

I received an eARC of this book via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of this review.

I really, REALLY wanted to like Project Pandora by Aden Polydoros. First off, did you see that cover?! It’s drool worthy! Plus assassins, government experiments, the whole cloak and dagger feel of the blurb….yeah I was super excited to read it. However, it just didn’t live up to my expectations, and after reading to just pass the halfway mark I set it down, unfinished. Where do I even start?

Please note that since I technically didn’t finish the book, this review is my opinion and reasons why I didn’t finish, not a reflection of the author’s writing.

What Worked
The format for Project Pandora was really interesting. In fact it was the book’s saving grace for me. As the reader, you are dropped into the middle of the story with not much background on the characters, what they are doing or even how they are doing what they are doing. It helps to build the suspense. Between the chapters though are case notes about the characters which give insight into what they’ve been trained to do. While I didn’t finished the book, I did skim through to read all the case notes. I found them more interesting than the actual story.

Hades! This kid is supposed to be the dark horse of the book, the creep. However I fell in love with him. He’s a very dark character, twisted, and the only one who seems to remember and be immune to the directives.

What Didn’t Work
The head hopping!!!! Oh my goodness, y’all I had no clue whose POV I was in half the time I was reading. The characters blurred together as their voices (aside from Hades’s) just weren’t distinct enough for me. I lost count of the times I had to go back to the beginning of the chapter to figure out who was narrating at the time. For me this was a big problem. There were too many characters to try to keep them straight, not to mention how each character had two separate lives (the normal teen and the assassin).

The whole two people in one body thing was weird for me. Technically they were the same person, but whenever a specific sentence was said that would trigger them to become an assassin and know things/people they didn’t know before. It was all very strange and not well explained….granted I didn’t finish the story. Maybe it’s explained later on?

The plot was nonexistent. At least I never picked up on it. AND I was pass the midway point of the book! I should have at least known what the assassins were doing at this point, right?!

Underage drinking and drugs. Look I get it, you think I’m a prude and you’re right. I know 16 and 17 year olds drink and some get their hands on marijuana, but I don’t like to see it in books geared towards the young adult crowds, ESPECIALLY when peer pressure is involved. Big turn off for me. I nearly set the book down at that point.

My Conclusion
Overall, Project Pandora isn’t a bad read. The author’s writing is decent and the characters were intriguing, even if I never really picked up on the plot. However, it just wasn’t my kind of book. I enjoy science fiction, but I lean more towards robots, aliens, and dystopia. If you enjoy thrillers and suspense with a dash of sci-fi, I recommend you give it try.

I found the overall story here interesting, but had a little trouble with the writing style. It was a bit confusing with the 4 different POVs, I think because the voices didn't seem unique enough. The romance didn't really work for me either - seemed a little contrived just to move the story along. But part of my problem was that the story seemed to take a long time to have much of a plot, especially for a thriller-type story. It ended strong, and I'd be willing to read the next one to see where the story is going. Definitely not a typical YA book (and I wouldn't recommend for readers on the young side - lots of dark stuff in this one.)