Whenever I start yet another YA post-apocalyptic-dystopian-fiction, I am prepared for one of two reactions: delight, or disappointment. Unfortunately, at the moment, disappointment seems to be the most common reaction as each new book feels like a clone of the previous one, with no new ideas and – usually – no good writing to set it apart. Occasionally, however, a book will come along that is completely original and unique, with a clear and distinct voice that sets it apart from the others in the genre. The Hunger Games was one of these anomalies, with Marie Lu’s Legend and (especially) Julianna Baggott’s Pure continuing the trend of being unexpected delights (though in Baggott's case, "delight" may not be the right word - the world of Pure is too dark for that). Reading yet another, new YA post-apocalyptic-dystopian-fiction book by an unknown author is, therefore, a bit of a gamble – will this one be a let down, or a contender for book of the year?

Even a week or so after finishing Enmity, the debut novel by New Zealand/Australian author E.J Andrews, I still have no idea which of those categories it fits into.

...Andrew’s writing is skillful, and she clearly gets across a sense of unease and tension as the teenagers are put through increasingly dangerous, difficult tasks. Where it gets confusing is in the pacing of the story. Half the time I found myself flicking back through chapters to work out what I missed, only to find that I had in fact missed nothing. New information is thrown in all the time with no warning, and there are many parts where it feels as though entire chapters have been skipped as the plot starts to make less and less sense. This, coupled with a few frustrating cases of “insta-love” and some rather bizarre character developments, made the whole reading experience rather jarring.

Full review here

Received from publisher through NZ Booklovers