Book: Gambit (The Prodigy Chronicles #1)
Author: C. L. Denault
Published: 31st March 2015
Publisher: REUTS publications
Source: eARC provided by publisher via NetGalley
Source: eARC provided by publisher via NetGalley
Pages: 556
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
From author C. L. Denault comes the first in a new series of books - Gambit, The premise promises familiar territory - a war-torn society, an elite class who have fame and fortune, and an underclass who live in poverty. Overall, the book is a solid addition to the dystopian genre, but not necessarily a stand-out read.
The plot on a whole is reasonably engaging, and opens strong, with an intriguing plotline surrounding the main character, Willow, set in her humble village on the outskirts of civilisation. The setting gradually changes, introducing the technological advancements evident in the main city areas, and this provides an interesting contrast with the horse-and-carriage type world from which Willow originates, and helped to keep the story fresh.
Additionally, there was a dose of romance in this book (heavily towards the end, but fairly light throughout) which is just the right amount for readers (like myself) who prefer to avoid novels with nausea-inducing levels of romance.
In terms of the characters: there were a lot. Like, a solid cast of a few main characters, thrown in with a heap of other secondary characters which come and go throughout various points in the novel. With so many characters it was a little tricky to keep up, and although this ensured this provided new life to the storyline, it is something to bear in mind.
Willow is undoubtedly the main character in this book, and thankfully she was a reasonably likeable heroine. She's a little naive, brave, and has a lot of room for growth - some of her decisions did have me questioning her brain capacity.
Reece (who is really the other main character here) was very agreeable to begin with, however I did severely question some of his motivations, and his reason for being interested in Willow. Their 'relationship' needs more development as other than her finding him good looking (and I guess he feels the same toward her?), I'm not really sure as to the foundation of their relationship, like at all. I enjoyed their banter, but it seemed, to me, that their feelings of hate quickly transformed into proclaimed love, which is slightly implausible.
I also enjoyed most members of the Roanoke family and quickly learned to despise the Tiernam family, but the writing does set you up to feel this way. I also didn't much care for Willow's various extended family, as there wasn't enough development of their characters for me to form any attachment to them.
Although, the plot was interesting and had reasonable levels of action, there is definitely the potential for things to be amplified in the sequel, and there's a lot to build upon from this first book, so I'm definitely hopeful.
If you're a big fan of the YA dystopian genre, this is a decent addition and definitely worth a read.
The plot on a whole is reasonably engaging, and opens strong, with an intriguing plotline surrounding the main character, Willow, set in her humble village on the outskirts of civilisation. The setting gradually changes, introducing the technological advancements evident in the main city areas, and this provides an interesting contrast with the horse-and-carriage type world from which Willow originates, and helped to keep the story fresh.
Additionally, there was a dose of romance in this book (heavily towards the end, but fairly light throughout) which is just the right amount for readers (like myself) who prefer to avoid novels with nausea-inducing levels of romance.
In terms of the characters: there were a lot. Like, a solid cast of a few main characters, thrown in with a heap of other secondary characters which come and go throughout various points in the novel. With so many characters it was a little tricky to keep up, and although this ensured this provided new life to the storyline, it is something to bear in mind.
Willow is undoubtedly the main character in this book, and thankfully she was a reasonably likeable heroine. She's a little naive, brave, and has a lot of room for growth - some of her decisions did have me questioning her brain capacity.
Reece (who is really the other main character here) was very agreeable to begin with, however I did severely question some of his motivations, and his reason for being interested in Willow. Their 'relationship' needs more development as other than her finding him good looking (and I guess he feels the same toward her?), I'm not really sure as to the foundation of their relationship, like at all. I enjoyed their banter, but it seemed, to me, that their feelings of hate quickly transformed into proclaimed love, which is slightly implausible.
I also enjoyed most members of the Roanoke family and quickly learned to despise the Tiernam family, but the writing does set you up to feel this way. I also didn't much care for Willow's various extended family, as there wasn't enough development of their characters for me to form any attachment to them.
Although, the plot was interesting and had reasonable levels of action, there is definitely the potential for things to be amplified in the sequel, and there's a lot to build upon from this first book, so I'm definitely hopeful.
If you're a big fan of the YA dystopian genre, this is a decent addition and definitely worth a read.
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