Quote This…
“Today is the end. Today I am done reacting. All these years I’ve been turning myself off, letting my paths choose themselves. After today I am acting. I am choosing.”
There is this saying about sisters that:
“Having a sister is like having a best friend you can’t get rid of.”
Now…whether or not this statement has any validity to it, I couldn’t tell you. I only have one sibling, an older brother, who hovers much closer to the “pain-in-the-ass” side of the scale than the “best friend” side, but I love the sentiment that the statement implies.
Though originally said in jest (or at the very least sarcastic) it implies that you will always have someone there you can count on. That regardless of their flaws or your ability to spectacularly muck things up on a fairly regular basis, she will never leave you. She may be your best friend, but she’s also your family. There for the long haul. Good. Bad. Ugly.
Kiersten White’s novel “Mind Games” may be portrayed as an “intense psychological thriller” but what it really is is a love story between two sisters and their struggle to save each other.
Trapped in a school that uses girls with extraordinary powers as tools for corporate espionage, Annie and Fia are forced to choose over and over between using their abilities in twisted, unthinkable ways…or risking each other’s lives by refusing to obey.
In a stunning departure from her New York Times bestselling Paranormalcy trilogy, Kiersten White delivers a slick, edgy, heartstoppingly intense psychological thriller about two sisters determined to protect each other—no matter the cost.
On the back cover of “Mind Games” there is this quote from Laini Taylor (author of Daughter of Smoke and Bone) that says:
There is no way I could have conveyed this emotion quite so accurately so I’ll let Ms. Taylor take the spot-light on that one, but what I can say is this…Fia is uniquely sentimental.
Say what??
If you are to break it down to its grass roots, MG is about the survival of two sisters who find themselves in an impossible situation. Annie is blind, and despite her “supernatural ability” to SEE (the future) Fia (who has perfect instincts) feels it is her sole responsibility to shelter, care for, and protect her. Unfortunately, Fia also FAULTS Annie for her current predicament (basically being enslaved to a megalomaniac – with an extra side of maniac.) These two conflicting emotions battle with each other throughout the entire novel (illustrated through a series of flashbacks as well as companion POV.) This is why I refer to her anger riddled narration as uniquely sentimental. She loves her sister, adores and would ultimately die for her, but at the same time she charges Annie with the liability of their ultimate destruction. That is a tough world to balance.
The tension and love between Fia and Annie is only intensified by White’s equally as eclectic supporting cast (Several of which you will finish the novel and still be uncertain as to their allegiance.)
As for the “intense psychological thriller” aspect. It was there, though it should be said that “intense” isn’t exactly the right word for the job. Maybe “low-key” would have been better. (Think Nikita LITE.) Just as the action would start to ramp up it was just as quickly shut down. I’ll contribute this to its length (241 pages that felt more like 150.) If given more space (and by space I mean overall word count) to work with, I think the relationships (both past and present) would have been better established, AND the action scenes would have flourished into something downright badassery.
As it stands, it was good, but too short for its overall good.
Take it or leave it…OR better yet…wait until book #2 comes out and purchase them simultaneously. (Then just imagine they are one big book and read them together.)
Happy Reading my fellow Kindle-ites and remember: “Siblings that say they never fight are most definitely hiding something” – Lemony Snicket.
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| Overall: | 3.4 |
