Thursday, March 21, 2013

Review: Broken City by D.D. Chant

Title: Broken City
Author: D.D. Chant
Series: Book One
Published: Feb. 7, 2011 (Self Pub.)
Source: Copy Provided by the Author (in exchange for an honest review)
Genre: YA/NA Dystopian
My Rating: 4 Stars!

Book Description: 
Deeta Richards has never seen the outside world. Before she was born a banking crisis brought civilization to an end and now no one leaves the safety of the compounds unless they need to, but Deeta still dreams of seeing more than the building she was born in.Tom is in the guard, this group are the only people that the tribal elders allow to leave the compound and tom knows only too well that Deeta could never survive the harshness that exists outside. Then tragedy strikes and Deeta and her sister Jan find themselves captured by a hostile tribe. Why does Tom know so much about these people? And why do they know so much about him? As this mystery draws to a climax, they discover that their friend Tom is not quite what he seems..



Purchase Link: Amazon


My Thoughts and Review:

I had absolutely no expectations going into this one. Not because I didn't think it would be good but mainly because other than the synopsis I didn't know a lot about it or the author.

I can say now that I am so glad I took a chance and read this. I truly was completely entertained by it and it kept me turning the pages as I got caught up in the dystopian world that Chant created.

I have really been loving the dystopian genre a lot lately. I think mainly because in some many cases, so many of the scenarios the authors portray could really happen and this was one of those.

The world building in this was subtle. Nothing where too much is given way too soon. We get little info here and there and I really liked that. Sometimes we are given so much so soon that it is easy to feel lost or confused or just plan get information overload and lose interest in the story. I am happy to say that wasn't the case at all with this book. Chant handled it very well and made it feel (sometimes creepily so) very real.

I quickly was caught up in the tribe's world and wanted to know more about them. How they worked and came together as families and how they survived the harsh world and government that surrounded them as well and fighting amongst the surrounding tribes.

There were some pretty great character in here that had a lot of depths as well as secrets. It was nice seeing how Deeta grew throughout this story. How she went from a very shy meek character to a strong woman in the end. I loved watching her relationships grow and her tribe family was amazing.

Tom too was a great character. He grew as well and as the many layers of him peeled away and revealed his true form, it was nice getting to know him and truly see the real him underneath all the military training and secret life that he had to lead.

This was very well done and I wouldn't hesitate to pick up another book by this author in the future.

13 comments:

  1. character growth, great world-building and pacing..sweet. I love dystopian tales and am curious about the tribe. Thanks for sharing your wonderful thoughts :)

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  2. I love dystopians but hadn't heard of this book. I like that you said it had good characters and kept you wanting to learn more about their world! The Kindle version is only 99 cents on Amazon right now so it's a great deal! Thanks for your comments!

    Suz Reads

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  4. Thank you so much for such a lovely review, Kindlemom! I really appreciate it and it's given me a huge boost just when I needed it: I'm just finishing the last scene of the 2nd book in this series!!! :-D

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  5. It is nice to hear that the world building in this one worked for you, Ali. You know my review this week for a dystopian did not fly because of the poor world building. I feel it will make or break a dystopian. So glad to see that you found a great self pubbed dystopian. thanks for sharing!

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  6. D.D. is a sweetie. I recently read one of her shorts, and am looking forward to reading Broken City. :)

    Alexandra~

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  7. You are so welcome D.D.! I am excited that your next book is almost done, that is awesome!


    @Heidi, I am still sad you didn't like that one more. Oh well, hopefully your next read is better for you. ;)

    @Alexandra, thanks for stopping by and I hope you give this one a try as well. :)

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  8. The world building sounds perfect. I like when they are done in a way that it's really easy to imagine it really happening, but yet it totally freaks me out since I'm pretty sure it's going to happen one of these days (just hopefully not in my lifetime...).

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  9. I love dystopians too, but have been trying cut back so I don't get sick of them. This sounds good though. I also like says "D.D. Chant" :D

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  10. Glad to hear you loved this one! I really like when the worldbuilding isn't thrown at you all at once, and it's great that the author handled it well. This sounds like a really strong dystopian read, I'll have to check it out. Great review!

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  11. I think it's exciting to find gems that we would have overlooked otherwise. Glad you enjoyed this one. Love good world building especially with novels like this. I find it very important.

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  12. This is something I probably wouldn't have picked up on my own without reading your review. I do love Dystopian novels and this sounds great.

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