Review: Exiles by Ashley Saunders & Leslie Saunders

Exiles by Ashley Saunders & Leslie Saunders
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I picked this up when it was a monthly selection for Amazon First Reads.  I almost always grab the sci-fi/dystopian selection if there is one.  This is a YA dystopian set in Los Angeles in 2052 after a massive earthquake devestated much of the city.  The population is divided into Fortunate and Unfortunates, which by the name you can deduce are those who have means and those who are barely surviving.

Twins Jade and Crys were plucked from their Unfortunate lives at 12 by billionaire genius Damon Yates who wanted to give kids a better chance at life.   He created an academy to foster Unfortunate children and turn them into Fortunate members of society through his elite academy by becoming their guardian and creating a safe space for them to learn and grow.  Fast forward a few years, when the twins are 18, Jade has left the safety of the academy and become a sort of leader of the Exiles, while Crys is the beloved adopted daughter of Yates.  When Crys best friend turns up dead, she immediately points a finger at her sister, but she uncovers something much more sinister that pionts to her beloved father figure.  To find the truth, Crys has to team up with the Exiles that she loathes and rethink everything she knows.  Jade has always suspected something was wrong at the academy, its why she left, she's just hoping it isn't too late to save her friends and get her sister back.

I enjoyed this.  It was a bit slow in the beginning as the story sets up, but the action really picks up toward the end.  There is a good discussion about class dynamics when it comes to wealth vs poverty and an even better discussion about technology and how it can be used for good and then quickly be weaponized.  I thought the science was well presented and you can tell the authors did their homework on the technology.  I would have liked to see a bit more character development.  There are alot of characters to keep track of, and I often find when the cast is so large character development tends to suffer especially in a shorter book such as this one.  The writing style was a bit choppy.  I often felt like I missed something, but it wasn't there which can lead to the reader being confused about what is going on which impacts the pacing when you have to go back and reread pages to figure out if you skipped something.  

Overall I enjoyed this, and I've already started on book two.  I'm looking forward to finding out where the story goes and how everything plays out.

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