YA dystopian – takes two to book review

Review: The Enemy’s Daughter by Melissa Poet

May 6, 2025April 26, 2025 Anna and AlexisLeave a comment

Matcha latte with The Enemy's Daughter in a coffee shop

Alexis:

Happy Pub Day to The Enemy’s Daughter! 🎉

The Enemy’s Daughter has two enemy settlements in a post-apocalyptic world. It follows Isadora, a healer, and Tristan, a boy from Isadora’s opposing settlement. When Isadora almost dies, Tristan does the unimaginable: he offers to save her life using a rare magic. Now, they find themselves bound together, and Isadora finds herself questioning everything she’s ever known.

My main critique was that I think this could’ve dug even deeper into the themes it presented. The first half was also a little repetitive, as Isadora tends to have the same thinking pattern over and over again.

However, I enjoyed Poet’s writing style and the tension. The Enemy’s Daughter is a fun read that moved quickly overall and was easy to binge! ⁣The vibes remind me a lot of the 2010’s dystopian era, so if you’re feeling nostalgic for that, you might like this one.

VERDICT: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

Description: ⁣

𝐀 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐞𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐓𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐝𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐰𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐜. 𝐀𝐧 𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐘𝐀 𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐞𝐬-𝐭𝐨-𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐲—𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐑𝐞𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐜𝐚 𝐑𝐨𝐬𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐒𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐡 𝐔𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐰𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐓𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐬, 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐞 𝗪𝐚𝐫𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐁𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐚. ⁣

Thank you to HarperCollins for providing me with a copy for review!

Review: The Ones We’re Meant to Find by Joan He

May 25, 2021June 11, 2021 Anna and AlexisLeave a comment

A hardcover copy of The Ones We're Meant to Find rests on a wooden table in a coffee shop. An iced green tea and a coffee sit behind it. A laptop rests on the book's right.

Alexis:

I’ve been trying to read more sci-fi and dystopian, so I was excited when I won this book and got it in the mail!

The Ones We’re Meant to Find follows sisters Kasey and Cee. Cee is stuck on an abandoned island with nothing but a robot for company. She has amnesia, but she does remember her sister, Kasey, is out there somewhere. And she needs to find her.

Kasey is a 16-year-old STEM prodigy living in an eco-city, which is basically a city hovering in mid-air that’s an oasis from the rest of the polluted planet. She has always felt like a loner, and she can’t stop thinking about when Cee went missing.

I really liked how Kasey and Cee have opposite personalities. Cee is a caring, social butterfly, and Kasey the quiet loner; their characters are foils of each other, and it works well.

I read He’s debut novel, The Descendant of the Crane, and I feel like both her writing style and her characterization have improved! The pacing was great, and I enjoyed seeing the plot unfurl, along with a massive plot twist.

That being said, if I’m being honest, I sometimes wasn’t sure what was going on in Kasey’s chapters. Because she’s a scientist, her chapters contain a lot of science, and I had to re-read certain paragraphs, especially since He created the future science herself. I honestly feel like I need to just re-read the entire book to get a better picture, as I sometimes had a hard time picturing what the world looked like. I almost wanted more info dumps, because scientific and futuristic technology was thrown at the reader rather than explained.

I also had a bit of a hard time connecting with Kasey, as she often felt a little too unfeeling; however, I know that was intentional, so I didn’t let it affect my overall rating.

I was especially invested in Cee’s story and the mystery of her past. I loved the themes of humanity, sisterhood, and the environment. And not to mention, I love the cover!

VERDICT: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

Review: The Selection by Kiera Cass

February 8, 2021 Anna and AlexisLeave a comment

Alexis:

Here’s the thing: This was a highly entertaining read. It’s basically The Bachelor but in a dystopian America: drama, drama, drama. Once I reached page 140, I was a little more invested, because that’s when the worldbuilding actually started.

The world itself is interesting, and I wish there was even more of it! I think the overall themes and commentary on the current American society are great, including purity culture, self worth based on class, and the US’ relationship with China, despite the main character’s name being too on the nose.

BUT

The writing is…not great. Too much telling. And if felt too unpolished, too unedited.

The dialogue is stiff and too direct. Aspen’s character is such an asshole; Maxon comes off as a little, well, off; America is basically, “Oh, poor me. Everyone thinks I’m beautiful enough to win this contest, but I don’t think I’m good enough and want to go home to my asshole boyfriend.”

I also couldn’t help but compare this to The Hunger Games the entire time I was reading. That might be my own fault, but I think there were just too many similarities (though watered down similarities, to be fair).

This had the potential to be a great commentary on American society, but what can you do!

VERDICT: ⭐⭐.5/5