Uninvited – Sophie Jordan

I bought this book two years ago in a massive book haul and since then it has remained on my shelves being picked up numerous times to read and never getting round to it. I opened the first pages in February and finished this book at the end of March.

Davy Hamilton is a young girl, achiever and musician who is accepted into Julliard. Her future is bright and her school year is perfect or so she thinks. The whole school is tested for the kill gene, a part of DNA that says you are a killer, someone who has the potential to murder or is more inclined to be violent. Davy is told she has the kill gene and suddenly her life is changed, she is taken from her school and placed in a class specifically for carriers, her acceptance to Julliard is revoked and her friends no longer want to know her. She is seen as a violent killer even to her parents who look at her differently and are scared of her.

I found this book very interesting and I can remember reading the blurb when it first came out. It was a book I had to have and one I knew I wanted to read. Overall I am a little disappointed with the plot, it took a long time to get going and there was a lot of character building before the plot even got going. I thought the book was going to head in a different direction because it was only a few pages in that the reader finds out Davy is a carrier, however it’s at least another 150 pages before the plot really gets moving. Many of the pages seem like fillers, conversations are dragged out and there are numerous pages all about Davy’s thoughts which emphasises her exclusion due to her carrier status.

Regarding the characters, I am undecided about Davy, there are times I find her irritating like at the start of the book, however towards the end the plot picks up, she becomes stronger and she starts to develop as a character. I liked Sean as he is a mysterious character the whole way through the book and even at the end he remains intriguing. I want to know more about him and his carrier status, his life and why he was placed in foster care. The differing levels of violence and anger in the carrier characters make the plot interesting; there are sections that jump between high government officials and the plans for carriers and then back to Davy and how she is coping with the consequences. However there were no huge developments in the plot regarding the government enforcements and I think it’s something that will increase in the series as there is a lot of groundwork building up in the first novel.

The real action in the novel didn’t start until two thirds of the way through which is a real shame because I enjoyed the idea behind the book; it has the potential to be a really addictive read. It seems that the author has dragged out a good plot and a great book to make it into a trilogy when really it could have been an amazing book or a two part series at most. As the first book was difficult to get into I am unsure whether to read the rest of the series. I hate giving up on a book once I’ve started though so if I see the next book on offer I might invest in it then.

I gave this book a 3 out of 5 stars on goodreads as it was still a good read just a lot of page filling. I would like to read more about it and I’m intrigued to see what direction the plot will go in so I probably will read the rest of the series at some point.

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