Review: ACID

Author: Emma Pass
Date of Publication: April 25 2013
Pages: 431
Source: Librarian ARC (thank you!)

The year is 2113. In Jenna Strong's world, ACID—the most brutal controlling police force in history—rule supreme. No throwaway comment or whispered dissent goes unnoticed—or unpunished. And it was ACID agents who locked Jenna away for life, for a horrendous crime she struggles to remember. But Jenna's violent prison time has taught her how to survive by any means necessary. 

When a mysterious rebel group breaks her out, she must use her strength, speed, and skill to stay one step ahead of ACID, and try to uncover the truth about what really happened on that terrible night two years ago. They have taken her life, her freedom, and her true memories away from her. How can she reclaim anything when she doesn't know who to trust?

Strong, gritty writing, irresistible psychological suspense, and action consume the novel as Jenna struggles to survive against the all-controlling ACID. Seriously sinister stuff.

Review:

ACID was one of those arcs that I picked up because of the cover. The teen librarian at my local library is awesome and allows us volunteers to read her arcs. I wanted to read ACID because it looked like it was action packed, and badass.

ACID was not a bad read. Jenna's story started out fascinating. She was in an all male prison for two years. She escaped, and now she's on the run from ACID, the Agency for Crime Investigation and Defence. The world is kind of weird because ACID has taken over control of what was formerly Great Britain, and now the country is in a military state and alienated from the rest of Europe. There were a lot of flaws to the world building. A lot of them were political and didn't really take into account what would realistically happen. If a world superpower in Great Britain, an example of democracy, fell apart, I'm pretty sure NATO and the UN would get involved. ACID takes place a century into the future in our world and there does seem to be some kind of international court, so the logistics really don't make sense.

But, this is fiction right? After I suspended my disbelief, ACID became entertaining. The plot wasn't overly original or shocking. A lot of the twists about Jenna were predictable. ACID kind of feels like a typical thriller with minimal realism, but I still enjoyed it. I wanted to know what happened to Jenna as she was a fugitive. I was curious about the world, even if it could have used some more details. ACID is also incredibly readable. I don't know if it's because I just came off reading and incredibly slow book, but it did a good job at capturing my interest.

One of my favourite parts to ACID were the news articles and letters and military documents before the beginning of some chapters. The media gave a better understanding of Jenna's world, and I'm always a huge fan of visual aids and creative extras. I thought the notices at the side, as well as the "click here" parts were well done.

I think ACID would have been stronger if it was better developed. The beginning started out strong with lots of action. Then it became quieter and one thing I didn't like was that the characters didn't stand out very much. They all seemed a little generic, except for Jacob who was predictably creepy. Besides Jenna, whom I had a full book to be acquainted with, I can't really explain the other characters at all. Jenna was not a bad character, but she wasn't someone I connected to very well. Overall, the emotional connection in Acid was lacking.

There was a romance which wasn't all that interesting. I don't really know the love interest that well and I thought Jenna's attraction to him was pretty fast. There were parts of the story that were meant to be hard hitting, but I couldn't really care all that much. There wasn't very much suspense, and the ending was very weak.

I don't like when everything turns out fine. That's pretty much what happened, and I know that many will be pleased that ACID is a standalone but considering the ending, I can't believe that was enough. The world building was sub par, and the overall story arc was too much for one book.

While I was reading ACID, I didn't have too many issues with it. It was reasonably interesting, but now that I'm done, I don't like some parts of ACID. I don't like all the juggling between storylines and how they were initiated and ignored (including a pretty important one considering the love interest) and overall, ACID didn't impress me. It's not a story to avoid, and I think it's great if you're looking for a light, quick action read. 2 stars.

-P.E.