Howdy YAL!

If it wasn’t for Kitty and her stupid taste in ships, this book would get a fairly high rating.

The world building is more than a little interesting.  Though the caste set up is a little cliche for YA dystopias, I like the twists and little quirks that Carter gives it.

Okay, it’s true that some of the twists and turns of the plot go into soap opera territory, but for the most part it really works.  Well in fact.  I liked the fact that it was over the top.  I think this was in part because Carter embraced the soap opera-ness of the plot.

If it wasn’t embraced…well, that aspect of the book wouldn’t work.

Now, I have to go into what bothered me about this book.

Kitty.

Kitty.  Kitty.  Kitty.

It seems she lost her brain and then some in this installment.  To be honest, I was never terribly fond of this character, but rather than growing on me like I hoped she would, she did the opposite.

That’s sad on so many levels.

I think what bothered me the most about Kitty was that every stupid decision had absolutely no logic to back it up.  If anything, it just served as a plot point.  This character really had no sense of self preservation whatsoever.

I understand having a character make rash decisions to move the plot forward, but I do believe there should be some element of logic to it.  Here, I did not see the logic.  Kitty just was dumb and acted dumb, despite being warned.

In a lot of ways, this is similar  to Carter’s earlier series, The Goddess Test.  In that series, I felt that the character was a lot different in the later books of the series than in the beginning.  Some of the choices that the character made were so flabbergastingly stupid that it ruined the series for me.

The one good thing about Captive is that it had such a strong plot, that Kitty’s actions didn’t quite ruin the book for me.  But it was close.

I just had to keep reminding myself that she was just a plot device.

And after awhile, it just got a little eye roll worthy.

Kitty’s stupidity aside, the only one problem I had with this book was its ship.

It bores me.

I’m sorry.

Benjy-that name, I always think of that cute little terrier not a hunky ginger- is so dull, I can not really get a sense of what his character is other than a Kitty lusting object.

He’s a lot like Henry (the hero in Carter’s other series).

Isn’t it odd that I keep comparing these two series? But I do think their faults are so similar

It’s really sad that I want Kitty with the douche end of the supposed triangle-well, calling it a triangle might be a bit of a stretch.  The thing is, at least The Douche (Knox for those of you not up on the MJ lingo) is an actual character who has faults.  I think the best way to describe him is that he’s a bit like Batman.  In the fact, that he sometimes acts like an emotionless douche in the quest for justice.

That’s sort of how Knox is.

And like Batman, every decision he makes (even if it’s douchey and stupid, is for the common good).  And okay, it sort of makes him an intriguing character.  But even though I want Kox more than Bitty, well, I’ll admit it really wouldn’t work.

It would be like Harley Quinn getting together with Batman.

Though, come to think of it Harley is a lot smarter than Kitty.

The point is, I just don’t see it happening.  Even though he’s a far superior character than Hot Ginger.

Much like with Carter’s first series, the second installment of The Blackcoat rebellion, is a bit of a disappointment.  While the world building in this series might’ve been an improvement from her last series, the poor characterizations that made The Goddess Test series fail for me continue to exist here.