Wednesday 12 February 2014

Hope's Rebellion by Jade Varden

Title: Hope’s Rebellion
Author: Jade Varden
Series: N/A
Genre: Dystopian, Futuristic (ish), YA
Source: ARC
Pages: 169
Rating: 4.5 stars

Available at:

Blurb: (via Goodreads)
Their friendship will test the fabric of tradition, duty and destiny...

There are only two seasons in Godenor: summer and winter. Weather brings the only surprises to a society where everything is planned, and everyone's status is determined at birth...by the color of their hair.

Rinna has the right hair, Drexi the wrong, and Prelly is almost too ordinary -- in every way but one. Small mistakes bring them together, creating ripples in a pond that knows nothing but serenity. If they reach their goals, they can't help but shatter the world they know.

Love of any kind, even the bond of friendship, isn't allowed in their world...but then, the heart can't always follow orders

My Review:
I want to start off by just clarifying a few things. First, while this book says it’s 169 pages, it must be longer than that. It seemed longer than that, but it was an ebook version so I can’t say for sure. Second, I am not sure I would classify this book as a Young Adult novel just because of the seriousness of the content and the writing style in general felt directed at an older audience. It was hard to classify what genre this book was in. It definitely had a dystopian feel to it, and there was a significant romance throughout the novel, but other than that, it was hard to say.

Now for the actual review! When I was originally asked to read Hope’s Rebellion, I was wary. It didn’t really seem like my kind of story, but I am so glad I finally read it. The writing in this novel was superb. It was sophisticated, and witty, and engaging, and incredibly eloquent.

The plot was flawless; I didn’t have a single problem with it. There was an excellent introduction of the characters, a critical conflict with several minor conflicts that were introduced along the way, the climax had me at the edge of my seat with my heart racing, and the ending was both tragic and beautiful all in the same breath. The part I loved the best was all the foreshadowing. It was so subtle that you didn’t even realize it was happening. I don’t think I have ever seen a plot or foreshadowing that was so thought out and so perfect in every possible way. This isn’t just me saying that either. I am a hard sell, I am incredibly picky and the smallest of things bothers me, and yet I have no words to describe how phenomenal this book was written. Every little tiny detail had a purpose, and it all comes together in such a way that, at the end, your mind is completely blown.

It should be noted that the character development was off the charts as well. You watch the characters grow up and you grow up with them. Every action, thought, and word spoken made sense. It was incredibly realistic, almost too realistic in fact. Everything in this book was 100% plausible and could potentially happen in the real world. That’s kind of a scary thought actually….

I only had two small problems with the book. First, there were exactly three typos that were a bit distracting. I know the exact number because there wasn’t much else wrong with the novel. The other problem, and I can’t believe I am going to say this but Jade Varden assumes that her audience is a little too smart. It was hard catching up with the lingo of this world. Things like cultural references, titles, and terms were incredibly confusing and it took a long time to try and figure out what was what. I wish more information had given about each new term when it was first introduced to get a better handle of things. Or a glossary. A glossary would have been perfect. I still don’t know what an Argot is… This last point was kind of a consistent problem throughout the story, so it was a little bit of a difficult read and the only reason that this book is getting 4.5 stars instead of 5.


Overall, the story was a little dark and heavy. But, I still loved it and I am so glad I finally buckled down and caught up on my reading. A fantastic job done by Jade Varden and a must read for the dystopian lovers out there! A round of applause for Hope’s Rebellion everyone!

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