ARC Review--Pawn by Aimee Carter

YOU CAN BE A VII. IF YOU GIVE UP EVERYTHING.

For Kitty Doe, it seems like an easy choice. She can either spend her life as a III in misery, looked down upon by the higher ranks and forced to leave the people she loves, or she can become a VII and join the most powerful family in the country.

If she says yes, Kitty will be Masked—surgically transformed into Lila Hart, the Prime Minister's niece, who died under mysterious circumstances. As a member of the Hart family, she will be famous. She will be adored. And for the first time, she will matter.

There's only one catch. She must also stop the rebellion that Lila secretly fostered, the same one that got her killed …and one Kitty believes in. Faced with threats, conspiracies and a life that's not her own, she must decide which path to choose—and learn how to become more than a pawn in a twisted game she's only beginning to understand.

I received this ARC from the publishers via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review, I was in no way compensated for this review.


I fell in love with Aimee Carter's Goddess Test series, so I was eager to read her newest Blackcoat Rebellion series starting with Pawn! After an agonizing wait, I finally got approved for review! It was quite the fast read too! Nearly a one day read, but right about where I had like 5 pages left, I was suddenly overcome with tasks that had to be done asap and then bam, the night was done and I was tired.

Pawn is set in a dystopian setting, once again we see what our dismal future might be like and told that it is good. In this society you strive to do good for everyone. You work hard and you'll get the status you deserve. Once you reach seventeen, you take the test that will determine the rest of your life. Kitty takes her test and gets a 3. 4 is the basic average and what a good percent of the people get. But sadly, Kitty can't read and her "helper" with the test wasn't very helpful and Kitty ended up leaving a good portion of the test blank.

Her boyfriend, Benjy still has a month til he takes his test and he's likely to get a 6, the highest rating anyone can achieve. Only the Harts are 7's. The Hart family is basically who rules the country. And when Daxton Hart approaches Kitty and offers her the opportunity to trade her 3 for a 7, she really can't say no. Kitty is a complete lookalike for the now dead daughter of Celia Hart and Daxton's niece, Lila Hart. And instead of letting her stay dead, Daxton thinks the people will be better off with her alive, and Kitty will take on that role.

But as Kitty soon learns, Lila had her own secrets. She was starting a rebellion against her uncle Daxton. Possibly trying to put an end to the whole number thing and have everyone live together and work together, that kind of peace and harmony, live and let live kind of thing.

The Blackcoats are the rebellion group and where the series name comes from. We learn a bit about them. There are quite a few players in this game, but I still feel like we don't really know enough about them.

Knox was Lila's fiance and also a player in this game. He and Celia are both Blackcoats and are trying to get Kitty to pick up where Lila left off. But Kitty doesn't like being used. The plans they have don't really mesh with what she wants to do with her life. She didn't realize that agreeing to play Lila meant giving up her freewill.

Knox was definitely one of my favorite characters. I don't know why, but I just liked him a lot! I don't think he and Kitty are meant to be, since she loves Benjy. Benjy also plays a role in the story as well. And while I liked him, I felt like I didn't get enough of his character to care about him. Kitty will do anything to keep Benjy safe in the dangerous game she's playing where nearly any life if forfeit. I'm hoping that in future books, we get to see more of him so that I can get a better grasp of who he is. The general picture I get now is that he is a great guy, he helped Kitty out a lot in the past, but I want to know more about who he is now.

Aimee Carter is just one of those authors who's story just sucks you in! I was eating up the pages in this one and not even realizing that I was practically done with the book by the end of the day! Her world building is always so visual. You can see what's going on and what the world looks like. The future in dystopians are always bleak, and we can definitely see the horrors of it here in Pawn. And of course, continuing with the dystopic theme, there is still a ray of hope on the horizon that our heroes will have to fight to get to.

The ending was really good! Lots of action in this read and the whole mystery and intrigue going on. Not everyone escapes this one unscathed and there are still lots of secrets to be learned about still! This is going to be one incredible series!


Overall Rating 4.5/5 stars


Pawn releases November 26, 2013