My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Mind Games has a premise that promises action and delivers. It's is fast—fast paced and a quick and entertaining read. Maybe sometimes a little too fast . . . sometimes the plot and some of the characters felt a little underdeveloped.
One of the stand-out strengths of this book was the sister relationship between Fia and Annie. I have sisters, and I can tell Kiersten White does too because she captures the sisterly dynamics perfectly. They try to protect each other, but are also pulled in another direction by their desire to be their own person, yet still want to see the other be happy. They fight and love and sacrifice. It’s what being a sister is all about, but this sister relationship is taken to the next level by the fact that both Annie and Fia are being controlled by the Keane organization, and they are forced to do unpleasant things with their mind powers to preserve each other. Fia's character is also pretty great. It's exciting to watch her deliver on a lot of the action scenes.
However much Fia delivers, I didn’t feel the same way about the POV and flashbacks . . . they felt a little loosely constructed sometimes. I think a struggling reader would have a hard time piecing together all the parts of the past and present. While all those little pieces came into focus the more you read, I wish they had been a little tighter. I’m interested to see what kind of narrative will be used in the next book.
One thing that the narrative was able to accomplish was showcasing Fia’s struggle with her past and less-than-moral use of her powers, and her desire to move on and be normal. These two sides were also accompanied by love interests: two delicious guys that have their own type of mysterious allure but share a sense of being forbidden. This was a unique love triangle in that it highlights Fia’s struggle with her past and future desires.
Does anyone else think Kiersten White is funny? I love it--she sneaks in bits of humor that make her writing so entertaining.
Read the first 5 chapters here.
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