I actually ended up buying this book for the premise and cover even after getting it on Netgalley and have tried a few times to get into it but it's just not for me sadly. DNF.

I unfortunately forgot to download the e-book on my kindle before it was archived and/or lost interest in the book because it’s been on my tbr for way too long, so I wasn’t able to read and review it (on time). Since I Must give a star rating, I’ve given it 3 stars to stay neutral/in the middle. Sorry to the publisher for not having gotten around to actually read it.

I just couldn't get into this DNF at 35%, it just fell flat, there was a lack of world building, and the characters weren't stomg enough to carry the book.

This book is the kind of book I like to read curled up with a cup of coffee in my hand ready for some excitement in my brain while in the comfort of my home. Being of one of my all time favorite genres dystopian I really and truly loved this novel!

The concepts of how humans destroy and rebuild themselves in different situations and always find a way to have hope is what I love about dystopians. Humans are emotional and hugely flawed and it’s so cool to think about how someone would act in any given situation. Or even how I would act.

Imagining Old Earth being this desolate, dirty, and destructive place where death is an every minute occurrence and people are at each other’s throats for any grain of food is an awful, but not too unimaginable reality. There are places on earth today where people are starving and doing anything they can for a few pennies here or there to get enough food to feed their families. It’s why I find books like this to be so good and so necessary because they show not only what could be but also what is in a very real way.

Violet's dad is in charge of New Earth, and those who are stuck down below on the original Old Earth have essentially been abandoned. Who'd want to go back there? Especially when life on New Earth is totally safe and happy. The Intercept prevents most crime, and monitors your emotions, through an implant all citizens are required to have. Life is perfect! Except it's not. Violet's crush is engaging in dangerous, subversive behavior, and traveling to Old Earth. Why? Could something be wrong with the system upon, which, New Earth is based? Spoiler: Yes.

Although Keller deals with really big issues here, like autonomy and privacy, she doesn't do so in a terribly engaging fashion. This is much less about these issues than it is about one girl's quest to figure out, and stand up for, her own beliefs. There's nothing wrong with that. But taken as a whole, this angsty book about the eradication of angst is less than hugely memorable.

I thought that this was a decent book, but I did have some issues with it. I felt like the characters and the relationships weren't really developed to their full potential. And I felt that with all the info dumping they did on us throughout this novel, I couldn't get things straight about things. I felt it made the lack of development worse. But overall I did feel that her writing got better as the book progressed, and I think I will check out the next book and see where it takes the story.

Violet is the daughter of president of New Earth, which is kind of a new planet that has been created right above Earth to save all the "right" people when old Earth was pretty much dead. New Earth's residents have this device in them called the Intercept which is crime-prevention device that monitors and provokes emotion. It makes New Earth the perfect place where everyone lives in comfort and safety.
But when her long-time crush, Danny Mayhew gets into an altercation on Old Earth and doesn't tell her why, she starts to investigate on her own to find out what he is hiding. While investigating why Danny keeps going back to Old Earth, Violet ends up finding out more than she wishes for which leads her to question her whole life.
This book had a lot of promise but at the same time I felt like I was reading some little bits from here and there from other dystopian books. It was good on some aspects, some things were originals but others? Not so much, overall 3 out of 5 stars. I'm not sure if I will be continuing the series.

I loved this book! The full review will be posted soon at kaitgoodwin.com/books! Thank you very much for this wonderful opportunity to connect books to their readers!

"The Dark Intercept" was an ok science fiction novel that I feel could have been much better had it been shorter. There were too many info dumps that, instead of clarifying things, made it all seem muddled. Hopefully the second in the series will keep the technology explanations more succinct. I'm willing to give the sequel a try.

(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

When the state controls your emotions, how hard will you fight to feel free?
In a radiant world of endless summer, the Intercept keeps the peace. Violet Crowley, the sixteen-year-old daughter of New Earth’s Founding Father, has spent her life in comfort and safety. Her days are easy thanks to the Intercept, a crime-prevention device that monitors emotion. But when her long-time crush, Danny Mayhew, gets into a dangerous altercation on Old Earth, Violet launches a secret investigation to find out what he's hiding. An investigation that will lead her to question everything she's ever known about Danny, her father, and the power of the Intercept.

In speculative fiction, there are two things that are a must for me: detailed world-building and strong character development. They are two hallmarks of great storytelling. Sadly, for me, they were both lacking in this book.

Don't get me wrong - the plot was there. In fact, it was a very interesting idea that seemed to come together very well. From a plot POV.

However, the world-building was vague, at best. I didn't get the feeling that I knew the ins and outs of New (or Old) Earth - I don't know if the author was planning to use more of the world in future books so didn't bother to share here but it felt a bit thin...

The characters, well, the less said about them the better, I would think. Violet was shallow and whiny and didn't stop talking about Danny; Danny treated Violet like crap and she was okay with that; the rest of the characters weren't sufficiently built-out to form any real kind of impression of them.

Would I recommend this? Oddly, yes. It is the first in a series and it may be worth investing in the first for a bigger payoff later in the series.


Paul
ARH

Reminiscent of Minority Report, but not quite as successful as getting me to buy into the complex world depicted in the novel. I think a lot of people will enjoy it, but I couldn't quite finish the novel and never made it over the hump of the first half.

Could not get into it. Started it over several times and could not get further than the first couple of chapters.

DNF at 12%.

I read the first bit of this book and three days later had no memory of it or desire to return.
There just wasn't enough for me to care about the characters, and I had no idea of their ages - the protagonist doesn't seem 16 at all. She felt more like a late twenties woman.
The action of the first bit was nice, but felt too much like "start with action to draw your readers in."

I ended up confused. I really wanted to like this book, but I doubt I'll return to it.

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for the opportunity.

Two worlds, within one world. One for those of privilege, both intellectual and financial; the other the remnants of our broken planet left behind. The Dark Intercept starts out with an interesting concept that there is a world within the atmosphere of the Earth that is entirely enclosed and perfectly balanced out with human existence. The problem? Not everyone can fit... and so some are left behind on 'old Earth' who despise those whom got upgraded, those whom destroyed it all and wouldn't even try to fix it.

Our lead teenage gal is an interesting character, even if much of her personality seemed a bit soft to me at first. As the privileged daughter of the inventor of New Earth she has more power and influence than even she realizes most of the time. That is until it’s really perfect for her to use it...

Convenience
Yes I know if you've read a lot of my reviews I say similar things. But here's the thing; cheap, convenient or just too easy situations drive me insane. They are a sign of a poor ability to create elaborate (but easy to follow) plots that truly have the reader believing every moment of the story and each characters decisions.
There is a large turning point in the story (about 75% through) that had me so enraged at how simple it was (and shouldn’t have been), I had to switch books I was reading at the time to cool off before returning to The Dark Intercept.

Not All Bad
That said, Julia Keller's writing is not all bad. Her development of characters and even plot is not so bad at all. I could definitely see some moments of brilliance shine through. But as we near the end these great moments taper off and become the landscape upon which weaker ideas, plot and reactions from characters were built upon.

Overall
It's really too bad that The Dark Intercept doesn't have more of what I really wanted; better foreshadowing and more twists and turns that weren't written in just because a character can say something like 'I'm so-and-so and therefore I can do this banned activity or gain access to this secure area'. There's no creativity or overall brilliance in this type of storytelling. Clever situations and solutions are a much better way to gain your readers attention and get buy in.

I'd like to see the characters grow alongside the story and with the reader as we progress. While the concept of the Intercept and it's ability to 'control' people on New Earth is cool and all it just wasn't enough to keep my interest.

I do love a good dystopian novel. They keep coming and going 'out of fashion', and they are definitely a hit or miss when it comes to the plot because of how formulaic they are, but I do love reading them and reading about how bad some authors think our world is going to turn out to be. How cheerful...



The State controls your emotions. What would you pay to feel free?

In a radiant world of endless summer, the Intercept keeps the peace. Violet Crowley, the sixteen-year-old daughter of New Earth’s Founding Father, has spent her life in comfort and safety. Her days are easy thanks to the Intercept, a crime-prevention device that monitors and provokes emotion. But when her long-time crush, Danny Mayhew, gets into a dangerous altercation on Old Earth, Violet launches a secret investigation to find out what he's hiding. An investigation that will lead her to question everything she's ever known about Danny, her father, and the power of the Intercept.

Because of my love for dystopians, I was really looking forward to reading The Dark Intercept. It had all of the things that I look for when reading a dystopian. Unfortunately, this book just wasn't for me and it definitely a book where I preferred the concept to the final product. The concept is brilliant: there's a machine that manages crime by making you relive your worst memory over and over again, it keeps track of all your emotions... But it just didn't cut it for me...





"Maybe if you carried bad memories around long enough, they started to change how you walked, how you talked. How you thought."

- Julia Keller, The Dark Intercept





The main reason why I feel like this book didn't work out is because of the world-building (or lack of). There just wasn't any. Why was New Earth built? What happened to Old Earth? Why did they feel like the Intercept had to be used if all of the 'good' people had moved to New Earth? How did they choose who to migrate up to New Earth? HOW was New Earth built? These are all questions that I was asking myself as I reading this book, and I was hoping that I would get answers to the questions but I never did. The world building was just so VAGUE. If you're going to have a 'new world', then you need to answer the basic questions. Readers need to know what happened to the old world in order for a new one to be built. They may seem like really picky things, but in order for world building to actually take place, the reader needs to understand what has happened.

Also... the pacing... God, it was dreadful. The whole book (apart from the last 50 or so pages) was sooooooo slllloooooowwwwww. It seemed like a massive chore to get through the book and I had to really motivate myself to read about 10% each night. The last 50 pages were awesome. There were plot twists and PROPER ACTION and just what I wanted, and it's what the whole book needed to stop it from being a 1 star book. Those last 50 pages is what made me give this book 2 stars. Even though the ending was rushed and was mega fast (compared to the rest of the book), I was glad to finally have some action taking place.

There is a second book coming out in November 2018 called Dark Mind Rising... Will I read it? I don't know... I'm intrigued as to whether Julia Keller can make this world better and answer the aforementioned questions, but it's not exactly a book that is anywhere near the top of my TBR.

Disclaimer: this book was sent to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review

After reading the synopsis, I was intrigued at the concept of this story. Imagine a crime-prevention device collecting and controlling emotions. Hmmm... It somewhat reminded me of movie, Minority Report. The device serves to prevent crime...right?!? Hmmm... There seems to be secrets behind trying to control people/society.

Anyways, the plot twists were interesting enough. The characters were somewhat well written; however, the world-building/setting seemed muddled. Don't get me wrong, description of these two worlds started off well enough to get me interested, but then, it went downhill from there. Dialogue among characters seemed forced and awkward. I didn't feel much chemistry with them. Moreover, I disliked one particular character trait, namely, Violet as she continued to pine over Danny. It was pretty evident from the start. Well, I better not say anymore on that. I try not to spoil it for those that have not read the book yet.

All in all, The Dark Intercept has an interesting concept that is reminiscent to that Steven Spielberg film Minority Report which was based on a story by science fiction writer Philip K. Dick. The story was definitely thought-provoking; however, the writing could have been better. It needs more work on the world building and character development. But, I wouldn't count this read out. This idea, just like Minority Report, is something to really think about... It's as if, "what if it really happened?" kind of thoughts.

Cool concept, I think it is super unique but unfortunately I do not believe it was executed well, at all. I will not be writing a review.

This was wasted potential. It was a great idea but it just sucked eggs.

'The Dark Intercept' is a bold and imaginative first book in an exciting YA science fiction series that fans are definitely going to love. The plot of the story was very in depth and original, which is hard to come by anymore. I really liked learning about this future the author created and about both the New Earth and the Old Earth. And then there's the whole Intercept topic, which is a huge part of the story. I loved learning about the Intercept - how it came to be, what it does, what it's supposed to do, and what it can be capable of, among others. It really made me sit back and think about what life would be like if something like this was in our world today. It's a fascinating and horrifying thought and one that can be argued for both the positive and the negative. I'm looking forward to learning more about the Intercept and the world the author has created for the series.

The characters were pretty well rounded with distinctive traits and flaws, which made them realistic. I had a personal issue with the writing style, however. I strongly prefer the first person point of view, and this book is told from the third person. I never seem to connect with the characters as deeply (or barely at all) when the writing isn't done in the first person. It's my own quirk and has nothing to do with the author's writing or the book itself. Just my personal preference. But it always has a pretty big impact on my reading experience, and this was no exception. The plot was full of action, suspense, and tons of questions. Eventually, the answers are given to us - so there really weren't any big cliffhangers (which I'm grateful for). I thought the main plot of Danny and Violet along with their secrets was interesting and I liked watching them work through everything together while watching their relationship grow and change. Overall, I think this was a fantastic start to a promising new series that fans of science fiction and dystopias are going to want to pick up.

Unfortunately, this book couldn't hold my attention and I've decided to DNF it. Thank you for the opportunity to read this book early.