Book Review: The Plantation

Title: The Plantation

Author: Stella Samiotou-Fitzsimons

Series: The Plantation #1

Edition: ebook

Seasonal Reading Challenge Task: 25.1 Book #1 – Read a book written by a single author in which the First letter of the author’s First name is the same as the Last letter of his/her Last name. Examples : Michael Cunningham (M) or Alex Kava (A).

Blurb: A century has passed since they arrived. Human history has been erased. Children are enslaved on Alien plantations. Some have heard whispers of the existence of a rebel band of humans who roam free in the forests. Most slaves dare not speak of the rebels for fear the mutant guards will grab and make an example of them.

Seventeen-year-old Freya is pulled away in the night not by the mutants, but by her old friend Finn, to join the Saviors, the mythic band of rebel teens. Her bliss fades when she discovers she is the only Savior without a special ability. She is the odd one out, slowly pushing Finn away, defying Damian, the leader of the Saviors, and antagonizing the fierce and beautiful Daphne. In her despair Freya reaches deep within to discover a dark destiny, a truth so heavy it threatens to destroy her.

Review: I got this book for free off of BookBub (have you never signed up for BookBub? you need to – right now!). I’ll admit, I was originally attracted to the cover art – so pretty! – but also because the premise sounded interesting and, hey, free book. Overall, the book was okay. Not over-the-top great, but it kept my interest.

A few mild spoilers ahead, just to warn you. Nothing super major, but just be prepared.

Freya is a pretty run of the mill YA heroine. Not saying that this is a bad thing necessarily, but after a while they get a bit tired if not done right. She’s the girl who’s a bit of an outcast, who is almost obnoxiously not-special – in this case it’s because all the others who have escaped the Plantations have genetically enhanced abilities and Freya doesn’t seem to. She, of course, discovers her powers later and they are different from everyone else and she is super special in ways she doesn’t even understand – as I said, that was pretty predictable. It’s been done millions of times. Not that she isn’t a likeable character – she is. I just felt like she could have been developed a bit more.

The other characters are interesting enough, but with a few exceptions, they are pretty one dimensional. I had a hard time really connecting with any of them.

My main complaint about the book was this – for a book titled The Plantation, we never actually saw one. There were a few brief descriptions from Freya about how things were like before she was rescued by the Saviors, but I think it would have been better to have at least a chapter or two showing her life in the Plantation, and then actually have her rescue happen in the story proper instead of way before the book even starts. We get an idea of what they are running from and fighting for, but actually being able to experience it would have given the story some much needed depth.

On to the good stuff, because there was some good stuff, I promise! I really liked the premise of a future Earth that has been taken over by aliens. I liked the structure of the story world, which is part of why I wanted to see more of it. There was a really good flow to the story, and some really good suspense and action. I liked the idea of aliens, and only wish they had been in the story more – we don’t actually meet any until the end.

So the big question is . . . will I continue reading the series. I probably will at some point. There are five books total at the moment, plus a short novella that takes place between books 2 and 3. There is also a book scheduled to come out this year called Plantation Origins which is not part of the series proper, according to the author. It sounds like maybe it will fill in that missing piece? Possibly?

GoodReads rating: 3 stars. Not a super stellar book, but I’ve definitely read worse.

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