Review: Torn (The Feuds #2) by Avery Hastings

First, thanks to St. Martin's Griffin and Edelweiss for allowing me to read an egalley of this sequel to Feuds.  This was a good conclusion to the story.  While there were still some formulaic bits to it, it was still different in its own ways for different parts of the story.  And I'm pretty happy with how it ended.  I like when we get some closure to the story, like a little epilogue that tells something in the future from when the story actually ended.  Of course if you haven't read the first book, I can't promise no spoilers!  In fact I know there will be for the first book.  So, you might want to go to the link on the first book and read about it to decide.

So our main characters are back, Cole and Davis.  Only Davis thinks Cole is dead, because he wasn't able to get word to her that he wasn't.  Davis has been sent to TOR-N, which stands for Territories' Operational Research facility, with a specialty in the virus Narxis.  However this isn't quite the medical spa her family was led to believe it was.  Turns out that it's on an island where there used to be a resort, but it hasn't been taken care of.  It seems the people running the island are skimming money from the rich parents to use for themselves and not really doing much to cure the disease as that would cut into their money.  Davis makes a new friend, Mercer, who like her is a "Neither", not an Imp or a Gen 100%.  They are both recovering, and are upset that nothing is being done to actually cure the disease.  Mercer is from a town where there are a lot of scientists who are actually trying to do something.  So he convinces Davis to escape with him and head back to his town to try to help find a cure from their blood.  Only Davis isn't quite sure about Mercer, he seems to be really falling in love with her, but she doesn't know if she's over Cole yet. And when they get to his hometown, things will not be as they seem, and she'll even learn more about her mother and what really happened when she was younger.

Cole is in hiding, but trying to find a way to cure Narxis so that he can save Davis.  His friend Worsley is in a new lab working on a cure, and when Davis's best friend Vera is found after being thrown out on the streets by her parents, Worsley knows that he can use Vera to help.  Vera is pregnant, and her baby could be what is needed to figure out the cure.  They also find out that the next Olympiads will be open to everyone, so Cole wants to enter and try to win the money so that he can save his family and again, Davis.  But he is supposed to be dead, so he must figure out a way to enter without getting caught by the authorities, as well as he must train.  He meets a girl named Mari, whose father used to be a trainer for other competitors.  And he trains, learning he can't box, he must find a new sport to compete in.  Worsley's experimenting becomes worrying to Cole when he does the unthinkable and injects Vera and her baby with Narxis. 

In the end it is Cole entering in the Olympiads, and Davis escaping knowing what she does about Narxis that will have to come together to solve all the issues.  If they can though, there will be many obstacles. 

I like how everything is done in a realistic manner, that no one is really perfect in the story, other than Cole and Davis's love for each other.  A great dystopian story, with a great ending.

Review: Feuds by Avery Hastings

Thanks to Edelweiss and St. Martin's Griffin for allowing me to read an e-galley of this title.  I am a huge fan of dystopian and this sounded right up my alley.  Overall I felt it was a good story, while I was left with something feeling missing, but not in a way that I won't read on as I'm sure it must continue!

The main character is Davis Morrow.  As you can probably tell from the cover, she is a ballerina.  And a perfect ballerina.  She is one of the Priors, people born perfect, the higher class you might say.  They are perfect in every way, and hers is dancing, which she is even getting ready to compete in the tryouts for the Olympics.  But there is a lot of unrest in this society.  The Imperfects, called Imps for short, are in unrest.  Davis's father is a politician who wants to help keep the two classes apart more efficiently.  The other character is Cole.  Cole is an Imp, but a very attractive one.  He also fights in what are called the FEUDS.  These are cage fights basically, to the death in some cases, and the Priors go and place bets on them.  Cole has been sponsored by the rival politician to Davis's dad so he can fight.  And then Cole is asked to go find Davis and get a picture of her kissing him.  Cole doesn't know about who her dad is, but he goes in order to keep his sponsor happy.  But at the party where they meet, he is able to pass as a Prior and Davis is definitely attracted.  But there is trouble.  There is a girl that Davis thinks is just really drunk, but she turns out to be sick.  Cole takes her back to where the Imps live and asks his brother's friend who is kind of a doctor to look at the girl.  It turns out she has a virus called Narxis, something that only the Priors are susceptible to because of their "perfect" genetic makeup.  The Priors don't like to deal with this though, and so they keep dumping the bodies down at the Imps' neighborhoods.  Davis starts feeling like she may be sick, and people she knows are also dropping out of sight.  Of course it will come to light that Cole is an Imp, and in the worst of ways, when Davis follows him to a fight.  But she will overcome this issue as she knows that he has an idea of what is going on, and her feelings for him are so strong.

Definitely a bit of a formulaic story, but not in a bad way.  It was still an enjoyable read.  There is even a bit of a shocker that we find out about Davis and her dead ballerina mother towards the end that makes me eager to read on and find out how it plays into the story.  If you're looking for a good dystopian society type of read, and you don't mind not a totally different idea then you will enjoy this.  Now it is definitely an insta-love story, but I've come to a conclusion about that which makes me able to enjoy it with no issues.  These are teenagers.  When you were a teen, or maybe you still are, don't you fall in love with people, and it seems like they are the one?  I know my first "love" was like that.  And even though now I look back and realize it wasn't really love, these are teens in tenuous situations that make ever having another love possibly impossible.