Member Reviews
It was a good first book and I liked the world and everything, the characters were good, and I'm probably going to see where the 2nd book will go!
What a fantastic book. I received a review copy, and took a while to get around to reading it (my bad), but when I did, I liked it so much I went straight to purchase the sequel.
Having this branded as a YA book may put some people off, but I am well past that age group and thought it was great!
Celestine North is perfect. In a world where those who aren’t are branded, she’s lucky. She’s one of the few people who society sees as perfect. She has no flaws. However, one moment of compassion- helping and elderly man to a seat on a bus, brings her perfect world to a grinding halt.
Why?
He happened to be Flawed.
Suddenly, she too becomes Flawed, and every move she makes could be used against her.
This book has such an interesting premise! The barrier between the perfect and the Flawed reminds me of the segregation between black people and white people in South Africa and 1950s America, it’s the same sort of rules- only two Flawed people can sit together, and, another similarity, they’re only allowed to sit on dedicated seats on the bus.
I love Cecelia Ahern’s adult novels, and her YA novel was just as good! It’s full of complex characters- each playing their part in Celestine’s life.
The book teaches us one thing though, that doing the right thing isn’t always the right thing.
Celestine is strong. She’s strong through her trial, through her branding- she’s a great character! Judge Crevan on the other hand, how fast his character changed after Celestine became Flawed…. it was clear where his loyalty lay.
Not with the people. With the government.
He turns out to be the villain of the story, when he started off as a friend. It just goes to show that you can’t trust everyone, even if you think you know them. People are not always what they seem.
I really liked this book! There was so much happening that I couldn’t put it down! The reason I gave it three stars? Celestine put herself at risk more than once, and sometimes I felt she knew what trouble it would cause.
Great read though!
My thoughts – I love a good dystopia and this was a good dystopia. It reminded me a little of Delirium which I also loved. Society outlawing what are essentially human traits, things we can’t always control. Morality is not as simple as Good/Bad. People criticise the likelihood of whether something like this would come to pass, I think if we look closely at what is happening around us it’s sadly not too hard to believe that this could happen – similar does happen elsewhere (hands being chopped off for stealing, proposals for people to wear identifying tags).
Flawed is a perfect coming of age story, Celestine starts the story with her black and white thinking, blindly following what she is told to do. But then the Whistleblowers come for someone she knows and the whole world becomes full of shades of grey and she finds herself questioning what she knows, including herself. She moves from trying to blend in to standing out and speaking up and she isn’t the only character to find her voice when it is trying to be silenced.
The branding process is barbaric and you will find yourself wincing during some of the scenes. Without the harsh injustice though would people have been driven to action?
As with any dystopia it makes you question your current society and this book is uncomfortably relevant. There is a question about people being all talk and no action and this is something I battle with. I’m sure there are times we have all taken a step back from intervening in a situation that we should have to protect ourselves.
For me the short chapters keep the story whipping along and I managed to read it in around 5 hours or so. There were characters that I would like to get to know a bit more but hopefully they will get their say in the second book. This is very much Celestine’s story, and one well worth reading.
I really enjoyed this but the characters seemed very unrealistic and unrelatable.
The gorgeous, thought-provoking first YA novel from internationally bestselling author Cecelia Ahern.
FLAWED is set in a powerfully realised society where perfection is valued above humanity, with an intense love story at its centre. Good-girl Celestine has always agreed with the system but following an act of kindness towards one of the Flawed is herself excluded and soon she is fighting for her own survival – and for love.
Hugely accessible, emotionally resonant and with a character who will seize the hearts of anyone who meets her, this is the ideal book for anyone who has ever felt the pressure to be perfect.
I enjoyed this storyline, and the consequences of helping a flawed and how that played out in the book. This idea of perfect people has been used before in books, however this was a new angle on that storyline and was well written. The characters, especially Celestine were
I am not going to be reviewing this book, but thank you for the approval.
I do like a good teenfic dystopian so I did like this book. Easy to read, fast paced, easy to follow story. Similar to Hunger Games & Divergent series but without the wars, although you feel the ball starting to roll on a coup or a revolution.
The blurb says enough about the plot so I won't say more other than the punishment for those who offend is "branding" as in proper, with a red hot poker, branding. So, be warned, there are a few graphic descriptions of this from the victim's point of view. I'm surprised the victim stayed conscious though.
I liked the main characters except, of course, the baddie! The main character, Celestine, starts off a little boring and is rather naive and blinkered but is logical and learns fast. Her thoughts and emotions are well described throughout.
I don't think enough happens in the plot to make a movie (as per Hunger Games and Divergent) but it's a good read. I got through it in two sittings. It was certainly good enough to keep me interested for the whole book and I did want to move quickly onto the next chapter to see what happened next.
This had been sitting in my ebook library for over a year as I thought it would be too "romance-y" for me based on the author's other books (which I haven't read though). So I was delighted to find it wasn't and even more delighted to discover, having finished it today, the sequel "Perfect" has also been published. I enjoyed this enough to make me go seek it out and I'm looking moving straight on to that!
Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for my copy in return for an honest review.
Really great book, I think it is particularly good for young adults in looking at prejudice and judging people in our society. Looking forward to the sequel, it doesn't give too much away too fast. I'm surprised because I usually like action packed books but this kept me interested for the whole of it!
Always love Cecelia's novels! A big four stars. Reviewing soon on my blog.
I have read a few book by Ceceila Ahern but this is her apparently first young adult book. Even though The Book of Tomorrow I would say is a YA book. From the reviews I read before I started reading this book I thought it wouldn't be that good. but I Actually quite liked.
the book is set a few years into the future where they have guidelines to follow otherwise you are deemed 'flawed' and are beneath regular people. When teenager Celestine helps an old flawed man on the bus, she is judged has aiding a flawed and therefore flawed herself and must be punished and be branded.
I quite like the characters in the book although Celestine did get on my nerves a bit. but I did find myself caring for her and her to come out trimph. The error ding of the book leads us to believe that this is not the end to the story and we will be reading more about Celestine soon.
I give this 3.5/5 stars. looking forward to reading the next book
Straight away I got an uncomfortable feeling about the "perfect" society that Celestine and her family were living in. The Flawed court system seemed dark and a little bit sinister, it certainly got my heart pounding at the thought of it. At this point I had loads of questions racing through my mind and I couldn't wait to find the answers.
Celestine came across as someone who always followed the rules. She was a perfectionist who insisted on things being done or said correctly. This made what happened to her even more difficult, it was shocking but utterly addictive to read.
A romantic twist really piqued my interest (you'll know by now that I love a book with romance), I wanted to know more about this mysterious character and how he would fit into the storyline.
The nail biting drama contained within the pages of this book was completely unputdownable and I found myself reading until the early hours. The injustice of the whole situation kept me coming back for more, I guess I was waiting for a sensible resolution or maybe even revenge.
This was an outstanding read. I loved the storyline, I loved the characters and I absolutely can't wait to find out what happens next!
Unfortunately I didn't like this book. I didn't like the lead character, and the world building seemed lacking. It did get better, but I wouldn't read the sequel.
I must admit that at first I found the premise preposterous and the math teacher/charity leader really beggared belief but I forced myself to suspend my belief and ended up quite enjoying it in the end-enough to read the sequel to see if all those threads get brought together a bit better. I most enjoyed the inadvertent "Chaotic Good" of the protagonist!