Revived: review

Title: Revived
Author: Cat Patrick
Source: ARC provided by Changing Hands bookstore
Genres: YA, science fiction, thought provoking. (Not dystopian.)
Summary: As a little girl, Daisy Appleby was killed in a school bus crash. Moments after the accident, she was brought back to life. 

A secret government agency has developed a drug called Revive that can bring people back from the dead, and Daisy Appleby, a test subject, has been Revived five times in fifteen years. Daisy takes extraordinary risks, knowing that she can beat death, but each new death also means a new name, a new city, and a new life. When she meets Matt McKean, Daisy begins to question the moral implications of Revive, and as she discovers the agency’s true goals, she realizes she’s at the center of something much larger — and more sinister — than she ever imagined.


It's really hard NOT to compare this to Cat Patrick's debut novel, Forgotten. That is now one of my favorite books of all time. Though, she set the bar high for herself with it. This one...well let's see if I can describe it.

I enjoyed it pretty well. I think the main problem I had with it was that the "inside-cover flap" summary was oddly misleading. Part of the description is "Daisy takes extraordinary risks..." um, yeah no. She doesn't. The deaths she mentions having in order to test the drug Revive are these: choking on a grape in fifth grade, and getting stung by bees on the school track. I'm not quite sure who decided those are extraordinary risks. Try separating that word and you have the real level of risk.

Daisy is an interesting character, and a little different then some protagonists in recent books I've read. In many reviews I perused before starting Revived, she is described as a 'strong, intelligent young girl'. I personally think she is a very typical fifteen year old who loves shopping for brand name clothes, and drools over hot guys in her class. Not that there's anything wrong with that. But at the same time, she is incredibly kind and has a soft spot for small animals and has a habit of befriending friendless people.

The first half of the book seems to go pretty slowly. I read it fast, but there is basically no action, so the direction the story is going becomes foggy.

Then.

One of those WHOA moments. After that "did not see that coming at all!!" sentence, the whole mood of the story changes. Changes for the better! And that isn't really even mentioned on the back.

Unfortunately, I can't really say much for the second half of Revived without giving out too much away. I wish the book (this half) was longer, or stretched, because there is room for expansion in the plot. There are a lot more action scenes, and bad guys, and government conspiracies. It also focuses more on the morals of the drug, and on life in general. It could become one of those books in which some people might cry.

Approximately 3.75 stars out of 5. Only reason it's not higher, is because of what I expected beforehand.

Other books you might enjoy similar to Revived...The Adoration of Jenna Fox, and Inside Out.

Bye for now,
-Jane

Fun fact(s)! Over 2500 left handed people are killed each year from using products made for right handed people. Also, when Thomas Edison died in 1941; Henry Ford captured his last dying breath in a bottle.