*Review* Pawn by Aimee Carter

Release Date:  November 26, 2013
Published By:  Harlequin Teen
Length:  352 pages
Review Copy:  Hardback won from tour

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YOU CAN BE A VII. IF YOU GIVE UP EVERYTHING.

For Kitty Doe, it seems like an easy choice. She can either spend her life as a III in misery, looked down upon by the higher ranks and forced to leave the people she loves, or she can become a VII and join the most powerful family in the country.

If she says yes, Kitty will be Masked—surgically transformed into Lila Hart, the Prime Minister's niece, who died under mysterious circumstances. As a member of the Hart family, she will be famous. She will be adored. And for the first time, she will matter.

There's only one catch. She must also stop the rebellion that Lila secretly fostered, the same one that got her killed …and one Kitty believes in. Faced with threats, conspiracies and a life that's not her own, she must decide which path to choose—and learn how to become more than a pawn in a twisted game she's only beginning to understand.

  I have adored Aimee Carter's writing since the first pages I read of the Goddess Test and Pawn just proved how much more talented this woman is.  I was easily captured by her first series because I am an addict when it comes to mythology but I am finding dystopians harder and harder to love as easily.  Everything seems to have been done and even when you find something original, it seems that for whatever reason a triangle pops up.  However, I found so much pleasure in not only reading a book that was wonderfully original but also lacked any unnecessary geometric shapes.   The writing was supreme as expected and honestly I could not have been happier.

  The plot and pacing was marvellous!  There was not a dull moment or anything insignificant thrown in as filler.  Carter started and finished with every moment counting.  There was twists, suspense and romance at every turn.  Right from the get go it was obvious that Kitty was a smart girl, despite what the government testing told her.  Being a III is not ideal and it is not the IV that she wanted and needed to have the life she dreamed of with Benjy.  Taking a few risks ends up being a bigger risk than she expects because she wakes up as someone else.  This is more of a problem than expected because she starts to find out about all of the deception in the lead families lives and the fight it's going to be to survive.  This also goes against everything that some are asking of her and her life as a III isn't looking so bad even when she is one of the few privileged VII's.

  I really liked Kitty and it isn't hard to explain why.  This girl was realistic and yet she was nobody's fool.  When she is told about the rebellion and asked to continue the work, she basically picks life.  She is aware of the situation she has been put in and the lives that are at stake because it isn't just hers any more.  However, she also understands the importance of the work that Lila did and with some new promises wearily agrees.  This is a girl that knows the difference between right and wrong but also knows the difference between living and being put down.  It is not a question of if she is a strong female because she is, and as everything progresses she does start to find her voice and lets everyone know that she wont stand for things.  She was the pawn that decided she would no longer be used and stepped up, wanting to become more.

  There was this terrifying moment that I thought there was going to be a love triangle.  I was like a deer in the headlights terrified at what was coming and yet unable to move or look away.  Then this wonderful thing happened... nothing.  I know that sounds horrible but it isn't because the inevitable triangle crashed and burned before it could ever really happen.  This shouldn't have really surprised me because Carter kept her Goddess Test series relatively triangle free, basically squashing the idea any time it came up.  This isn't saying that I don't like both guys but the fact that Benjy and Kitty were solid prior to the masking incident, made me hope for something good to happen.  I don't want to dive into the dynamics too much but know the lack of a triangle rocked my world!

  Pawn may have been the last dystopian I read in 2013 but it easily made its way to my favourites of 2013.  Carter's characters and plot are brilliant.  Though I did fall in love with Carter's first series, I believe a pattern of book obsession may be happening with these series.  If you love dystopian and would like a break from geometrical shapes in the love department Pawn is the read that you should not miss.

  In the speeches we watched from first grade on, Prime Minister Daxton Hart promised us privileged American citizens, we would be taken care of all our lives, so long as we gave back to the society that needed us.  If we worked hard and gave it our all, we would get what we deserved.  We were masters of our own fate.
  Up until today, I'd believed him.

  We all dodged bullets from the moment we turned seventeen.  Sometimes they caught up with us, and there was nothing I could do about it.

  My entire life, I'd been told that the ranks were there for a reason.  Everyone had their place, and the only way society could function was if we all respected the system.  We were all equals when we took the test, and we were all scored the same way.

  I wasn't a killer.  Doing this made me no better than Daxton, and I hated him too much to want to be anything like him.