Review: All These Things I’ve Done (Birthright #1) by Gabrielle Zevin

Title:  All These Things I’ve Done
Author: Gabrielle Zevin
Series: Birthright #1
Genre: Young Adult, Dystopian, SciFi
Author Links: Web  Blog  Twitter Purchase Online
Rating:

PJ’s QUICKIE POV:
When a genre is hot, you gotta be different right? Dystopian is on fire right now, so instead of just jumping into the fray and pumping out another carbon-copy YA dystopian, Gabrielle Zevin took the genre to a new level. I didn’t expect this book. It’s not a Hunger Games or even a Delirium, it’s something new and special and just a great book. Give it a chance, you won’t be disappointed. And, yes I did think it was a self-help book when I took a look at the cover, but, nope, just a different kind of dystopian.

REVIEW:
Our setting is the year 2083 and the world is in decline. A world without — that is decaying around the people. To combat growing shortages and unrest the government makes things illegal. Currently chocolate and coffee is illegal and paper is only used with a license, candles must have vouchers to be burned. Regulations, rules, crime and poverty make the current climate the perfect incubator for organized crime and corruption. Anya Balanchine is the heiress of the Balanchine Crime Family. She has lost her mother at the age of six and watched her father die as he was gunned down in front of her. Her grandmother and legal guardian is dying in the room down the hall. Yet, through all this Anya still tries to maintain normalcy, above all else she must protect her older brother, who is not quite all there and her younger sister. She has to have a life, though, right? Unfortunately this is what gets her in trouble, when her loser of an ex-boyfriend shows up begging for chocolate that turns out to be poisoned and all suspicion falls on her shoulders. Wasn’t she the one that dumped the plate of lasagna on his head just earlier that week?

Phenomenal pacing. Smart chapter titles. Exceptional character development. Well implemented world building. I was won over with ‘All These Things I’ve Done’. It was just the story of a girl and the amazing things that can be placed on a 16 year old’s shoulders. Zevin can tell one hell of a story. Can I please have book two now? Please.

Recommendations:
Recommended for mature teens, there are some subjects that might be bettered handled by older readers. For fans of the dystopian genre this is another great addition, but also a great crossover since this one isn’t over the top.

Like This Like That:
Delirium by Lauren Oliver
Wither (The Chemical Garden Trilogy) by Lauren DeStefano

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