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Anarchy

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Member Reviews

Omg talk about a roller coaster read wow this book kept me on the edge of my seat threw out I just couldn't put it down this writer keeps you hooked and once your hooked your not letting go I found this book thrilling the characters were fantastic and well thought out and the little clues all the way threw keep you guessing until the end this book stays with you long after you close the book this book is well worth the read I promise you wont be disappointed

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I've waited too long to review this and didn't make any notes so can't really point out specific things that I really enjoyed.

However I will say this was very gripping, I'd requested this due to the Comparing of THG.

The writing was wonderful, but I think it could be hit or miss for people (I personally love it) I've missed a GOOD Dystopian setting and this ticked off all of the boxes, I can't wait to carry on with the Trilogy

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So the first thing that I saw about this book was that it was the new Hunger Games. Instantly I was desperate to pick it up and read. After all with the Hunger Games is over a decade old – time a new book takes over our lives.

This is a dual aspect story with alternative chapters filling between Grace and Hayden , our two protagonists. Both are on opposite sides. And both tangle in a forbidden love. Let the drama begin.

I really wanted to love this book – I could see the potential, and there is no way that I’m not continuing this series – but I did have a couple of issues. One was the romance. While I do like a bit of romance, when I’m reading a book that promises action I do like that to dominate. But this is only my personal opinion.

If your after a book that promises action and a tease of romance then this is the book for you.

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Read the full spoiler-free review here: http://www.shaniamua.com/2018/08/anarchy-by-megan-devos-spoiler-free.html

The writing was very descriptive. I couldn't put the book down and read it in one sitting. I can kind of describe the book as "addictive" to read. Anarchy is fun, enjoyable and beautifully written. I can't wait to read the next book in the series!

Thank you to Orion Books for sending me an early copy!

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Well, I am completely taken aback and pleasantly surprised by Anarchy, I was expecting it to be a typical YA type novel with characters I could love to hate and an overused, tired plot base but wowee was I wrong!

Anarchy began and ended with a bang, characters that rocked and a plot base to rival many a bestseller.

In Anarchy, the world has basically ended. “No rules, no government and no guarantee that you’ll be saved.” The city has been split into sections with each section belonging to a faction- Blackwing and Greystone are the key players in this book.

Hayden is the leader of Blackwing and he is the one of the youngest leaders in the area, his base camp is in prime location to know everything that happens around them. He’s young, but forced to grow up too quickly he’s also a force to be reckoned with.

His best friends Kit and Dax also the same but with their own unique quirks that make them their own kind of special -weapons master, tech guru you name it.

They’ve grown up together and go on raids together. It’s on one of these raids into a rival camp for supplies that Hayden meets Grace – our leading lady. Similar age to Hayden, similar back story, only she’s the enemy and Hayden finds himself caught by her.

Or does he?

Grace is the daughter of Blackwing’s rival camp Greystone and as such expected to pull her weight in this world that has gone to the dogs. But Grace is different – she doesn’t want to be like her brother or the others at the camp.

Anarchy is a story of loss, finding love and learning that not everything is as it seems. It’s a fresh taste of war and clashes between factions. It’s new beginnings in a world that doesn’t do them any favours.

I was pleasantly surprised by the content of this book. As I mentioned above I was expecting a typical YA novel with a tired plot but I was taken aback by the romance in this book! I wasn’t expecting that!

The writing style had a nice flow to it with an ease of reading and characters that were good and solid. I appreciate a solid foundation and characters and Anarchy provided this in abundance.

Ultimately this was a book that kept on giving and I’m really looking forward to the next one and to see where the story goes.

Bravo Megan DeVos!

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"The Hunger Games for a new generation," boasts Anarchy's tagline. We're already off to a presumptuous start. If this book is The Hunger Games, then Fifty Shades of Grey is Pride and Prejudice. Instead, Megan DeVos's Anarchy is classic dystopian romance in which the scenarios are contrived, the worldbuilding doesn't hold up and the perils of a post-apocalyptic wasteland can't hold a candle to the true love blooming between its protagonists. And I enjoyed almost every second of it.

I guess this is a guilty pleasure kind of book. If Anarchy was a fanfic, it would be a pretty good fanfic. It follows the conventions of fanfiction pretty damn well, eschewing things that fanfic readers typically can do without such as political realism for juicy angst and sexual tension. So it doesn't surprise me at all that DeVos was originally a self-published writer on Wattpad.

Now, I'm not a literary snob. I live for well-written fanfiction and love juicy angst just as much as the next person. I'm happy for authors to get exposure on any platform, including sites like Wattpad, AO3 and ff.net. But to the Anarchy marketing team, just please don't tell me this has anything to do with The Hunger Games. At best it's a budget Divergent which, if you know my opinion on it, is already a budget version of three or four actually good dystopian novels.

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For starters, Anarchy's worldbuilding has a major believability problem. The novel takes place about 15 years after a vaguely explained war that sent the planet back into the Dark Ages without involving nukes. Cities have been abandoned save for a population of savages called Brutes, and survivors live in camps in the wilderness where their main source of supplies is by raiding other camps and occasionally venturing back into the nearest city.

Anyone with a basic grasp on common sense immediately sees the big question mark. Since the world is now back at pre-Industrial Revolution levels of technology, there's no manufacturing going on. Even if you assume that most of the consumable goods in a metropolis have somehow survived the extensive bombing, they are going to be used up at some point--likely far before fifteen years have passed.

Raiding is an inherently unproductive activity that simply extracts others' resources without creating new resources, yet in DeVos's world raids seem to offer a limitless supply of modern amenities. Out of petrol? Bandages? Ammunition? No problem, we'll just go raid a neighbouring camp that magically has all of these things even though the world ended and no one has manufacturing capabilities! It's honestly ridiculous how people in Anarchy use toothbrushes, tampons and PLASTIC BOTTLES OF WATER. Blackwing reads less like post-apocalyptic anarchy and more like a summer camp for horny teenagers where the shower water occasionally runs out. Oh no, guess the world is really ending now.

But hey, before you start thinking too hard about how none of this remotely makes sense, here's some unfulfilled pining and a bit of we-really-shouldn't-do-this smooching. Let's focus on the real issues, guys.

As clichéd as Hayden and Grace are, don't kill me...I actually liked them. It was a hard pass while rolling my eyes kind of like, but I still had a fun time reading their story. This is one of those stories you can acknowledge are cheesy and contrived to the nth degree while still admitting that yeah, they're entertaining. That's thanks in large part to the romance being quality in a cheesy, feel-good way. I could have done with some kind of warning about the explicit sex though. It's not bad, and it helps that the protagonists are older than the usual YA leads at 21, but the softcore porn was a surprise when this book is, again, marketed after the romance-wise squeaky-clean Hunger Games.

Plot? What plot? I would bet that the Anarchy series wasn't originally written as the several books under one arc but rather one long work the publishers were forced to split into several volumes, because besides its romantic angst Anarchy has no rising action, central conflict or climax whatsoever (no, that kind of climax doesn't count). A few unlinked things just happen, and then the novel ends without resolution. This could be the first few episodes of a CW show now that I think of it.

Anarchy is melodramatic. It's clunky. It takes itself a bit too seriously when its protagonists think thoughts like this:

Sometimes I got so used to this malevolent world we lived in that I forgot what a true tragedy it really was.

And this:

What a cruel twist of fate that the only person to ever make me feel anything was the one person I couldn't have.

I had great fun with it anyway, and as long as you don't expect intellectual stimulation you can too. Megan DeVos writes snappy, readable prose, partly negating Anarchy's frustrating lack of good story. I wouldn't be surprised if she returned in a few years with a legitimately great novel.

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'Anarchy' is the first book in the series of the same name written by Wattpad author Megan DeVos. DeVos's novels have gained her 30 million readers via the site, and there is a film deal also in the works. The book has been described by MTV as 'The Hunger Games meets The Road' and follows Hayden and Grace who are at the head of two rival factions, Blackwing and Greystone respectively, who are fighting each other for survival.

One of the best features of this book besides the exciting plot is that the writing is absolutely beautiful. That said, it will not be for everyone. My favourite author, Haruki Murakami, writes in such detail, and I feel the reason I enjoyed 'Anarchy' so much is that there is that same level of detail from DeVos. I am a huge fan of the style of writing and found myself totally engrossed in the story from very early on. The pacing is pretty great throughout, although there were times that it was a little lacking in that area, and nothing much seemed to be happening. At its heart this is a love story, Hayden & Grace's forbidden romance, and although I usually avoid books that have a plot based on romantic connections, I felt that in this context in worked quite well.

I highly recommend this to fans of dystopian worlds, and especially to those who gain pleasure from a detailed narrative. Ms DeVos certainly must be doing something right given her huge following and readership on Wattpad. I will be picking up the sequel to read over the next few months.

Many thanks to Orion for an ARC. I was not required to post a review, and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

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I really tried to like this book, but the language defeated me. There's a difference between details that add tot he worldbuilding, and details that are pointless. For instance

The back of his shirt that billowed out behind him as he ran had just disappeared around the corner when my brother came running from the opposite direction...."What the hell was that?!" he bellowed, telling me he had indeed seen him before he'd disappeared.

It's not necessary, it's harder to follow and it kept dragging me out of the story while I figured it out. I'm sure there are readers out there who'll love this much detail. Sadly, I'm not one of them. DNF at 15%.

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