I received a free copy from NetGalley. Slow, slow, lots of action, BIG cliff hanger. I'm not a huge fan of books that need the second one right away especially when the second one isn't written yet. It is on the short for the small amount of story told once the world is set up, but I kept reminding myself shorter might be better for the younger audience it is intended for. Some of the other characters could have been developed a bit more, they were pretty flat, which made it hard to care when they reappear at the end. But the dystopia world was interesting, and I loved the use of the library as a main location for many parts of the plot.

The opening of the book definitely grabs your attention and takes off. Unfortunately things feel as though they flow slowly up until about the 70% mark where they pick up, which then makes the end feel a bit rushed because of all that is thrown at you at one time.
Arela is a bit of a rebel, and I found her to be fairly emotional and impulsive too- not always in a good way. I enjoyed her relationships with those close to her, and they felt like nice solid friendships which helped to make Arela a bit more likeable for me. I would be interested in seeing her character development throughout the next book(s).
The world building was there, but I did find it a bit rough to follow along with in some areas. It's got all the main components you'd love to find when checking out a dystopian world, and has a lot of potential to be a good series if things can get more finely tuned. All in all, I didn't love the book, but would recommend it based on the fact that I do think others that enjoy dystopian type books would like it.

Osiris is a city where the last members of humanity live. The air outside kills, but the city is protected from the outside world. Arela is an orphan who lives in the city. She has no memory of her parents and any record of them has been erased. Arela is desperate for answers and fights to get them.

I haven’t read a dystopian book in a while, and I really enjoyed this one. I was immediately drawn in. It kept me guessing throughout. I wanted to figure out what was happening and had to keep reading. If you liked Divergent, I think you’ll like this book.

I liked the characters, but I had trouble really connecting with them. I liked how the main character, Arela, was portrayed. I feel like authors often don’t write their characters to seem the age they are. However, I think Arela definitely seemed like a 16/17 year old. I am excited to see her character development in the next book.

The pacing of the book was off. It was a bit slow at times and nothing was really happening. Things did pick up. However, the ending did feel rushed. I wish it had been a bit longer so the end could have been stretched out a bit more. Things seemed to happen really fast. I think the pacing could have been a little better. I do think it was a good opener for a series though.

I thought the world building was good. I liked that we didn’t get a big overload of information at the beginning and it was weaved through the whole story.

I definitely want to read the next part. There are still so many questions left unanswered. I think with further building of the world and development of the plot in the next book this story would really stand out. I went back and forth on my rating for this book and settled on 3/5 because there was a lot that I liked and not too much I didn’t. Overall, I enjoyed it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tahnee Perry for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the free copy in exchange for an honest review! all thoughts and opinions are my own.

i love dystopian novels, so i was super excited heading into this one. arela was a strong and brave main character, constantly doing bold things like sneaking out or smuggling in old world devices. she doesn't care about breaking these rules as long as she can find information about her parents, who she doesn't believe are truly dead. they have been mysteriously wiped from all databases, so her only choice is to use old devices.

arela is one of the only people who breaks the rules and sees what the society of osiris truly is: oppressive and controlling. when she talks to her friends about it, they don't seem to be as concerned as she is. despite that, i loved arela's friend group, because even though they are all orphans, they created a close-knit family among themselves. they were all unique and i really enjoyed their playful conversations with each other.

my favorite character was cenric, because he was three-dimensional and i really connected with him. despite being the son of the rulers of osiris, he doesn't turn a blind eye to the dark aspects of osiris. he is similar to arela in this way, because he appreciates the old world, as he enjoys painting. he felt genuine and kind, and i liked his relationship with arela.

unfortunately, while i liked the two of them as friends, the romance between cenric and arela felt forced. cenric isolates himself and never really had a friend before, so he practically became obsessed with arela. he starts painting her and sketching her obsessively, filling sketchbooks were pictures of her. for arela, she had no one to love her as a child, and grew up as an orphan. the two of them are on completely opposite sides on the social ladder, and their forbidden love just felt too convenient for the plot and didn't feel real.

while arela is brave and smart, she's also hot-headed and reckless. i didn't really like this aspect of her character, because she keeps making stupid decisions and mistakes. she endangers her friends and cenric by doing dangerous and illegal acts.

at the end of the book, we learn that arela is special because of a certain injection she had been given by her parents when she was a child. she starts to form unique powers that people will do anything to study. i'm interested to see how this will be explored more in future books.

it was a fun and easy read, and really enjoyable. i would recommend and am eagerly waiting for the next books in the series!

I loved everything about this book. It’s so well written and the plot is just so gripping and exciting that you can’t do anything but continue reading to find out what happens next which is why I probably finished it in a few hours. It’s a true dystopian book that has so much link to now but with such an amazing twist of things to come. The characters are really relatable and all play a big part in the story that it feels like you yourself are part of the story which is amazing!
I hope book 2 is released very soon I can’t wait to find out what happens next!

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Overall, I liked The Killing Plot, it was engaging throughout and had characters that you could really invest in. This story is about a city which is under a “bubble” after the fall of the civilization we currently live in. The world has been ravaged by a virus, leaving a fraction of the population alive but having to stay within Osiris. I am anxiously awaiting the second....that cliffhanger was HUGE! I love a book that leaves me wanting to get to the next book and this one definitely does that! Overall, this was a highly enjoyable and fast-paced read.

Arela is an orphan that wants to find her parents. So she finds old-world tech to look through her records. In the process Arela deals with all facets of the government and uncovers a plot in her own orphanage.

This was an interesting novel that built upon the technology of our own world. Set a few thousands years in the future, Osiris is a community where death is staved off and there are strict rules to follow. I enjoyed this world, but did feel like the building of it was slow.

Arela is an inquisitive young woman who is interesting from the beginning. As she learns more of the world around her, we see her grow and fall in love. I enjoyed everything about her and each of the other characters that surrounded her.

I'm super intrigued on how this series is going to continue. The plots that are interconnected and fascinating and have me on the edge of my seat.

Unfortunately, this book just didn't do it for me. I thought it was pretty generic and forgettable. I don't think I'll be reading the rest of the trilogy based on this first entry in the series. However, I do appreciate getting a free copy of the book to read from NetGalley and the publisher.

This dystopian YA story was an entertaining read. I'm not a fan of present tense narration, but when it's also first person, I can handle it better. And when it's a story like this one, similar in many ways to the Hunger Games books, the first-person, present tense narration simply makes the pace of the story feel more urgent. The main character, Arela, is pretty stubborn and impulsive to begin with, but it was nice to see that she did begin to grow and change her perspective as the story went on. And hey, no YA love triangle! Yay!

As for the story and world-building, they were pretty solid without too much obvious exposition. I'm still left with a lot of questions about the world at the end of the book, on top of the obvious cliff-hanger for the characters, but I imagine these will be fleshed out more in future books in the series.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the electronic copy of this book.

The killing plot is a YA dystopian novel where humanities last survivors live in Osiris, a closed-off city to protect them from the outside atmosphere. No one knows exactly what is on the other side of the protected perimeter, they hear rumors of a toxic virus that kills you immediately.

The story follows Arela, an orphan who lives in a housing for orphan kids, TemWel. She has no recollection of her parents or any information about how she became an orphan. I struggled a bit with her personality, I found her to be childish and immature in dialogues, and at the same time she was very reckless and determined to find out the truth about her family and what happened to them.

The plot follows the conflict between the Conservationists (the government) and the Resolutionists. Arela finds herself tangled in this mess full of political intrigue, secret researchers and organizations, mysterious kidnappings and rebels. Somehow she knows her family is connected to all of this and with the help of her friends she is intent on figuring out everything. The ending had me reeling, I need the sequel asap!

Thank you, NetGalley for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This book was an amazing, invigorating dystopian novel, perfect for fans of Hunger Games and Divergent.

The book starts off slow but soon speeds up and the more I read the more I couldn't stop. Once it took off I started to really enjoy it. I am looking forward to the second book.

I received an e-arc of this book from NetGalley for an honest review.

This book is a pretty decent start of a series. It’s both like the dystopian books we grew up on and something new entirely. The world building is clear and constant. I appreciated the way the author introduced this new world and made it easy to absorb and become a part of the world. The plot and concept was very interesting. And the characters were great. I loved Árela. She’s the kind of character I love seeing and even a bit of a kind of person I wish I could be. The other characters are just as relatable. I really liked Cenric, and I may not be rich, but I feel like I probably relate to him and his insecurities the most.

For the most part, I really enjoyed the story. It moved a bit slowly, but as I said, I’m sure it was for us to better understand this new world. It’d the ending that bothers me a bit. It felt rushed and like the cliffhanger was forced in order to set up an opening the the next book.

Either way, I will be looking forward to its sequel.

3.5 stars

I found this to be a pretty solid debut, and the author definitely shows a lot of promise. Overall I enjoyed this story and I found the world to be quite interesting. For the most part, I liked Arela's spunk, intelligence, and willingness to take risks. I loved her relationship with her best friends/family, and I admired her fearlessness. I also found Cenric to be a likable character, even if he was a bit clueless about his own privilege and what that meant. And the mystery of what it is like outside the walls is also intriguing and that alone makes me want to read on with this series, as does the mystery surrounding how Osiris came to be and who the Conservationists and Resolutionists actually are. For those of you who care, this book does end on a cliffhanger, and there's a ton that is left unresolved, and while that is okay for making you want to read the next book, I would have preferred there to be at least some resolution of some of the plotlines. The pacing of this book is definitely uneven and for such a short book, it made it a bit jarring. The plot actually moves very slowly at first as the author shows us the world that Arela lives in. You are introduced to Cenric as their paths cross and much of this early part seems to focus more on who he is and why he's even paying attention to her. But then it's like a spring was released and you get a ton of information and action dumped on you all at once that leaves you a bit breathless by the time you reach the end, only to find that absolutely everything is left hanging. Still, I found the story to be interesting and I definitely want to read more. As I said, I think this story shows promise and I'm looking forward to seeing how the author continues to build this story.

I received an advance review copy for free from NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. (via Netgalley)

It took me a bit to get to get into this because the pacing was weird, almost like I was starting in the middle of something ongoing? But it also felt slow. As a result of the slow start and being a shorter book the ending felt kind of rushed. I also don't really think the characters had much development. There were some things that were kind of dropped without follow up but I assume that's to set up for another book in the series.

The Killing Plot starts off with the first page taking hold of you to the very last one. There’s nonstop action. Reminds me of a dystopian little orphan Annie mixed with the maze runner and handmaids tale. Arela is a strong willed girl looking for her parents. I cannot wait for the next two novels

I went in this book knowing absolutely nothing about it. And the beginning was so interesting and fun to read about! Its set in a futuristic society where this society is closed off from the rest of the world because they cannot survive in the outside. Its ruled by one family and so a lot of brainwashing is involved. We follow our main character Arela, an orphan who does not know why her parents left her. We see her struggle with accepting who her parents were and struggle her way through in such a society.

First off with the things i liked, i think the beginning was done really well, knowing about the world was a really pleasant experience. Its a world where people have forgotten what phones or well most advancements from the past, yes they do have their own technology but its not of what we(in the real world) know. So it was fun when she discovered what a mobile phone was and its functions.

Now with the plot itself. Things felt too convenient at points and the plot started around the last 30%. Sitting through 70% with JUST character work( which too wasn’t done that well) was simply boring. Again the plot, like many dystopians followed a very similar format, the little difference was with the character work. The characters in my opinion, while having a unique story, had a flat growth arc and i did not connect or get invested in any of the characters. And the romance, that was what completely ruined this book for me. It felt cringey, and forced and just over all unenjoyable and that took so much page time. The pacing again was really slow in the beginning and too fast near the end which did not work for me at all. The writing style, while accessible, was not able to lure me by itself, so the world building was the only thing that had me reading this book. wHICH TOO by the end hadn’t expanded as much as i had hoped to.


I think its also important to note that I don’t enjoy dystopians and this is the first ive read in a very long time, so readers who enjoy dystopian may like this, so definitely try this out if you do!!!

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review via NetGalley

I actually ended up liking this more than I thought I would. Going in I had absolutely no expectations and didn't really know much about what the plot of the book. The beginning was sort of slow for me, there were a lot of chapters where nothing really happened, there was just a lot of Arela going places and doing the same things over and over. Towards the end (around 70%) the pace started picking up more and this is when I couldn't stop reading. However, the ending did feel very rushed and it seems the author has a hard time with finding that sweet spot between slow pacing where not much happens and too fast pacing where too much is happening all at once. I got a bit lost at the end and felt like I couldn't keep up with the story.

I liked the overall story and the plot, I just wished the book was longer and had more focus on the bigger events later in the book and spent less time on the (a bit boring) beginning. I would also have loved to see some more world building. I know this is Perry's debut novel, and sadly, it shows. I often found myself a bit annoyed with the (somewhat clumsy) writing and a lot of plot holes and unrealistic happenings/character traits.

With more pages, better pacing, a bit more editing and more world building this could have easily gotten 5 stars from me because of how much I liked the story and was interested in this world and the characters. Will I re-read it? No. Will I pick up the second book? I'll most likely give it a chance, yes.

Overall, the story and idea was there, and they were great. But it just lacked in too many areas for me to give a better rating. The author is definitely on my radar though, and I'm curious to see what will happen in the next book(s).

Thank you to the publisher for providing an eARC of Villainous in exchange for an honest review!
I thought the dystopian element of this story was very interesting and a nice breath of fresh air from traditional dystopian novels in certain aspects. I enjoyed the pacing of the book, however, I had a hard time connecting with any of the characters other than the main character, Arela. The plot was difficult to follow at times, but I overall enjoyed the book.

The Killing Plot is a YA dystopian book about a teenager who is trying to figure out what happened to her parents. I will start off by saying this is a really fast read, I had it done in two days and was entertained for the most part. The characters are OK, but I never really connected with them and did not really care what happened to them. However, the setting was really neat, it takes place in a future of the United States called Osiris. It is a place that is ruled by one family since they do not think common people could rule themselves properly. The lead character is an orphan who lives at a government center with her friends. She meets some people that are part of a revolution of sorts and she also meets the ruler's son. There were a few different things going on that just did not really flow well for me and the ending was abrupt. Anyway, I think people into YA dystopian books will enjoy it.