Another set of books that I read last year but never got around to reviewing.
About the Books
Series: Banded
Author: Logan Byrne
Genre: YA Dystopian
* * * * * * * * *
Book #1: Banded
Pages: 343
Edition Read: Kindle eBook
Dates Read: May 4-7, 2023
Blurb: In dystopian Manhattan, society is divided into six zones, with each one representing a citizen’s benefit to society: Stalwart (strength), Astute (intelligence), Collusive (greed), Radiant (beauty), Quixotic (no life direction), and the Altruistic (willingness to help others). On a citizen’s sixteenth birthday, a computer suggests a new zone for them based on their inherent benefit to society. When Kalenna Slater is sorted out of her home zone Quixotic and into Altruistic, she thinks things can’t get worse. Life looks dismal until she meets Gavin, a boy also just sorted into Altruistic who becomes the light needed on her cloudy days.
During sorting she receives a device known as ‘The Band’. It’s a large watch-like device that never comes off, and it measures a citizen’s karma on a scale from one to one hundred. If a citizen does good, they gain points. If a citizen does bad, including breaking laws, they lose points. When your number reaches zero, the band acts as judge, jury, and executioner, and you are injected with toxins that kill you within minutes.
After sorting, recruits are taken to a three month long mandatory school named HQ. It’s at HQ she meets new friends from different zones, and finally begins to feel at ease. Everything goes well until a rare trip home makes her discover that her father, who has been missing for a decade, may have taken part in a terrible program that stands to shake the fabric of society.
* * * * * * * * *
Book #2: Eluded
Pages: 333
Edition Read: Kindle eBook
Dates Read: May 8-10, 2023
Blurb: As Kalenna and her friends get settled into HQ and finish their first month, the realize that time is of the essence if they are to make any sort of change.
With the audacious suggestion of an escape, she wonders if they could get out of HQ, alive, and escape into the forest to find an elusive man who may hold all of the answers they need.
Will they get captured before they can leave, or will they find this man and find out more about Project Gemini and the whereabouts of her father?
* * * * * * * * *
Book #3: Liberated
Pages: 290
Edition Read: Kindle eBook
Dates Read: May 11-13, 2023
Blurb: The third and final book of the Banded series!
As they watch the city from afar, Kalenna and her friends must find their way back into the city that has hurt and challenged them so many times in the past. With Benson found and more secrets unlocked, they are closer than ever to finding out the secrets of the city and ending the band program once and for all.
Review
I really wanted to like this series more than I did.
I’ve always liked dystopian fiction, with The Hunger Games being one of my favorite series of all time. I got this first book off of BookBub years ago and thought it sounded really good, sort of like Divergent with a different twist. I really liked the story world and the concept behind the bands was an interesting idea. It definitely raised the stakes when you had characters wanting to go against the rules and find out the truth behind what’s really going on in the world.
Kalenna is an okay protagonist, but she’s NOT a Katniss or a Tris. It’s been a while since I read these, but I remember her being a bit petulant at times, often to the point of seeming a bit whiny. Yes, things are bad, but you’re the heroine of the story! I expect you to be tougher about this! I think the point I really started not feeling the story was when Kalenna met with the head of HQ and basically started mouthing off to him. Um, really? This man has the power to have you killed, or at least to make your life even more miserable than you think it already is, and you aren’t going to try to pretend to respect him? I get that you hate him, since he’s the main antagonist, but you still have to tread carefully around this man!
And nothing really happens to her because of it. Only a slap on the wrist, really.
That was my main problem with this series. While the idea of the bands being used to keep you in line was a good one, and should have raised the tension at every point of the story, it didn’t make up for the fact that everything seemed to easy. They were able to subvert the bands pretty quickly. Were able to sneak out of the city pretty easily and never felt in danger of being caught when they came back. For an all powerful central government, it seemed fairly simple to get the populace to bring it down.
Through it all, I kept comparing it to Divergent because it is really just incredibly similar. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that it’s a rip off, but Divergent definitely did it better. A lot better. It’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy this one at all, but I don’t really recommend it unless you want a more watered down story. Diet Divergent, if you will.
GoodReads rating: 3 stars. Probably closer to 2 stars, but I round up because I’m nice.
Categories: Books I've Read
Life With No Plot 
I think it’s really tricky when an author decides to write something that has already been done really well. You’re never going to be able to escape comparisons and it almost certainly affects people’s enjoyment. I’ve also never understood when teenager sometimes just gets written as whiny and annoying so I empathise there!!
It was the talking back to authority that really took me out. Not to keep comparing to Hunger Games, but Katniss would never have mouthed off to President Snow, not while he still had the means to kill her and harm the rest of her family. She hated him, she fought against him, but face to face, she had to exercise caution. Tread carefully. Play the game until you get the upper hand, or at least some powerful allies that can help you.