Pawn

***

3 Stars/5

Thanks to Netgalley and Harlequin (UK) Limited for giving me this book to review.

After taking the test on her 17^th birthday Kitty has become an III, this leaves her with 2 choices, work very hard at a miserable job away from her friends and boyfriend or become a prostitute. However, the Prime Minister, Daxton Hart, offers her a third option to become a VII. She is Masked, surgically altered to look like the Prime Minister’s niece, Lila Hart, who was killed. With Kitty being a pawn in the Hart family power struggle, she must choose whether she should stay safe and stop the rebellion against the system and Lila’s uncle or continue Lila’s rebellion and risk facing the same fate.

Pawn is a likeable dystopian novel, full of twists, secrets and betrayals, however, the first half of the book was slow and was drawn out, but the last half got more exciting and was quicker paced. Even though there was a minor love triangle in this novel, I liked how the romance did not take over the plot, unlike most YA dystopian books.

Kitty is an interesting character as she wants to help the people who were like her and who are looked down upon by the higher ranks, but at the same time, is willing to do whatever it takes to keep herself and her loved ones safe. However, I felt the way she thought about and reacted to the decisions she made at the start of the book were not realistic. All the secondary characters are interesting and well rounded, but I did find it a bit irritating that everyone was keeping secrets except Benjy.

This was an enjoyable book and I would like to read the next one Captive. I would recommend Pawn to people who enjoyed reading Matched, The Selection and Inside Out.