Justice Buried by Hilary Thompson - 3.5/5
Summary from Goodreads:
The people need Justice, but she's not listening. One hundred years before, the Great Sickness reduced the world to three dystopian cities. Now the community of Asphodel is trapped underground, waiting for the prophesied maiden of Justice to rescue them. Sixteen-year-old Astrea is supposed to be this savior - too bad for them she isn't a believer. Astrea fights her fate until discovering a power she never knew she had, and a handsome ally she never expected. With her life in danger, Astrea must choose between saving her city or herself. This thrilling young adult adventure is the first in the richly-imagined Starbright series, which is laced with mystery, mythology, romance, and magic. Justice Buried will have you questioning fate versus free will along with Astrea's strong female lead, and wondering who can be trusted when everyone is keeping secrets.
Review:
Yay for scifi and dystopia!
Okay, so this book is filled with a whole lot of crazy.
Years after a lethal disease sweeps planet Earth, a colony of survivors live in their culty underground city of Asphodel, being continuously drugged, having rocks embedded in their faces to show off their zodiac signs, and being governed by corrupt rulers who don’t actually want them to ever leave. What’s not to like about that?
This book feels like something I’ve read before… a mix of The Giver and City of Ember with a dash of Divergent sprinkled in between. It was full of surprises, some awesome, and some not so much. I enjoyed the plot. The world-building was lacking in areas, but as this is only the beginning of the Starbright series, I’m assuming everything will be nicely ironed out as things move along. The history excerpts at the beginning of each chapter really helped with this. That being said, I did really enjoy the plot of this book. I loved the idea of Asphodel and the intermixing astrology and prophecy that ruled over the city.
The main issue I had with the book was the main character, Astrea. I tried very hard to connect with her and failed. She’s a 17-year-old girl who has been fated to become the next ruler of Asphodel and lead her people back to the surface world. She’s also been fated to partner Lexan, who she very obviously cannot stand. This makes her understandably whiny and depressing, but it doesn’t explain why she’s constantly jealous about who Lexan hangs out with and why she isn’t good enough for him when she wants nothing to do with him in the first place.
She later meets a boy from the surface, Stian, and has an instant love connection which is made even more confusing by her sudden attraction to Lexan. Don’t get me wrong… I love a good love triangle, but this one was difficult to make sense of. I failed to see the attraction to Stian, and Lexan was just as annoying. I tried not to let this impede on my reading experience, but it’s very hard to ignore because it makes up a lot of the plot as the story continues.
I’m interested to see where this series goes. I want more world-building, and I’d REALLY like to know more about the apocalyptic events and the original cult-leaders that formed Asphodel.
I’m also in love with this cover. Holy cow, it’s beautiful! It features Astrea and the night sky and ties in all of the lovely astrology pieces of this book. Side note: I don’t know if it’s just me but there have been loads of red-headed protagonists in the ya books I’ve read lately. New trend?
3.5/5
