UKYA Review: Mind Games by Teri Terry

Published by: Orchard Books/Hachette Childrens
Release date: 5th March 2015
Series:  n/a
I got it from: Netgalley
Goodreads summary: 
Luna is a no-hoper with a secret: in a world of illusion, she can see what is real. But can she see the truth before it is too late?

Luna has always been able to exist in virtual and real worlds at the same time, a secret she is warned to keep. She hides her ability by being a Refuser: excluded by choice from the virtual spheres others inhabit. But when she is singled out for testing, she can’t hide any longer.

The safest thing to do would be to fail, to go back to a dead-end life, no future. But Luna is starting to hope for something better, and hope is a dangerous thing...
 
My Review:
Where to start? This is an incredible book. As always, Terry has created a world so complete that it's hard to believe it's not real. In Mind Games, it's a world of the future, where virtual reality has become the norm. Kids are taught via virtual lessons, they meet and date in virtual rooms, they spend all their free time playing in virtual worlds. Adults work in virtual offices, their bodies held in a life support system. But Luna is a Refuser. Her mother died because of the virtual world, her Nan insists she should stay away from it, and every time she tries to enter it she feels sick and disorientated. When Luna is selected for intelligence and rationality testing, with a chance to go to university and get a good job, but also a chance at being marked as irrational and put under watch for the rest of her life, she discovers that all is not as it seems in the virtual world.

That's a pretty basic premise. I could write pages of it to be honest, because Terry's world is so complex and there is so much going on. Yet despite all this, she somehow still manages to make Mind Games an easy book to read. It's just a lot more interesting and fulfilling than a lot of the fluff out there. Be ready for scientific and political questioning, in fact pretty much everything will end up in question. At the same time, Luna is a girl coming of age, dealing with a difficult family life, being persecuted for her beliefs and trying to discover who she really is. Then introduce a doctor who seems good but might be evil, a boy with a whole ton of secrets and a flirty smile, and a whole secret world. Mind Games is a brilliant read that will make you think.

Review: Sister Assassin by Kiersten White

NB this book is titled Mind Games outside the UK.

Time for something completely different. Sister Assassin is unlike any YA book I've read. It has a hint of the supernatural, in that it features girls with abilities such as mind-reading, seeing the future and feeling emotions (known in the book as readers, seers and feelers), however it's not all about that. It's also about  relationships, abuse, control and escape.

Sister Assassin is a hard book to review without dropping any spoilers. Glancing at other reviews, it seems to be a bit of a marmite book - people either love it or they hate it. Personally, I loved it. It's so different from the usual paranormal romance that has flooded the YA market, it was like a breath of fresh air. Or perhaps I should say a breath of tainted air, because this book is quite gritty, although it's easy to just get caught up in the thrill and excitement, and gloss over the subtext.

Told using a dual PoV, Sister Assassin is the story of two sisters. Annie is blind, but she has visions - she can see the future. Annie's younger sister Fia doesn't think she's special - it's just her job to look after her disabled big sister. But when Annie is offered a place at the Keane School for Exceptional Girls, Fia discovers that Annie isn't the only one with a special gift. Fia just knows that agreeing to join the school is the wrong thing to do - she doesn't know why, but her intuition tells her it's wrong, and her intuition is flawless. However, Annie is overjoyed at the chance to attend a school that offers her a chance at a good future, and possibly even a cure for her blindness, so Fia can't say no. Together, the girls start their new life, but it doesn't take long before Fia works out that what they're being taught isn't exactly on the National Curriculum. Annie has it easy, with a best friend and a tutor who understands her strange visions, meanwhile Fia is being trained to be an assassin, and for the first time in her life she has to keep things from her sister, to protect her from knowledge that would surely break her, just as it's broken Fia herself.

Not only using two PoVs, Sister Assassin skips between time-frames. Beginning with a strange but exciting series of events, each chapter reveals more, with snippets from the past filling you in until gradually everything is explained. This is something that a lot of people seem to have a problem with. I don't. I found the style of writing fascinating, with clues as to what's going on being dropped here and there, scenes from the past adding both interest and essential information. It's like getting to know someone in real life - you start off in the present, with your first impression of a person coloured by the circumstances in which you meet them. Then over time they tell you stories from their past, and you get to know them bit by bit.

Full of angst, terror, a hint of romance and a ton of kick-ass moves, Annia and Fia's story is a dark, thrilling, action-packed rollercoaster ride that you'll find hard to put down.

Published by HarperCollins on 19/02/2013. This review is thanks to an ARC from NetGalley.

Order Sister Assassin from Amazon