“Elusion.”
Authors: Claudia Gabel and Cheryl Klam.
Pages: 384.
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books (this ARC came courtest of Edelweiss.)Release date: March 18th 2014.
Summary (taken from Goodreads): Soon, Elusion® will change the world and life as we know it.
A new technology called Elusion is sweeping the country. An app, visor and wristband will virtually transport you to an exotic destination where adventure can be pursued without the complications—or consequences—of real life.
Regan is an Elusion insider. Or at least she used to be. Her father invented the program, and her best friend, Patrick, heir to the tech giant Orexis, is about to release it nationwide. But ever since her father’s unexpected death, Regan can’t bear to Escape, especially since waking up from the dream means crashing back to her grim reality.
Still, when there are rumors of trouble in Elusion—accusations that it’s addictive and dangerous— Regan is determined to defend it. But the critics of Elusion come from surprising sources, including Josh, the handsome skeptic with his own personal stakes. As Regan investigates the claims, she discovers a disturbing web of secrets. She will soon have to choose between love and loyalty…a decision that will affect the lives of millions.
Suspense, thrills, and romance fuel this near-future story about the seductive nature of a perfect virtual world, and how far one girl will go to uncover the truth behind the illusions.
Ah, science fiction YA. Remember that brief
period when it was supposed to be the new big thing in the wake of dystopia? I
must admit that while I enjoy a good sci-fi now and then (Wars over Trek), it’s
not a genre I’m wholly in love with. In the same way that I find hardcore
fantasy literature to be a little overwhelming, sometimes the jargon of sci-fi
can leave me more exhausted than I like to be when reading a novel. That’s not
to say I haven’t enjoyed some sci-fi YA (I particularly enjoyed Beth Revis’s
“Across the Universe” but had no desire to read the other two books), and this is
an example of a synopsis that grabbed me. One can’t help but think of
“Inception” with its promises of technology leading to wonderful new fantasy
worlds that are darker than they seem.
My biggest complaint with “Elusion” is for something I tend to
fear with such genre reads. There is a lot of exposition dumping going on
throughout this novel, especially the first quarter of the story. You’re given
basically every minute detail you could possibly need to know about Elusion
itself as well as the technological explanations of how everything works. It
drags down the pacing quite a bit but overall it’s tolerable. Think of it as
the scrolling screen at the beginning of the “Star Wars” movies: Get it out of
the way then get on with the rest.
Once the plot gets moving, it’s a fun sci-fi mystery with enough
red herrings and little twists to keep you intrigued. The hook of this story is
in Elusion itself: A device that allows the user to enter beautiful and
euphoric fantasy worlds, a welcome distraction from the overpopulated and
polluted urban districts that have become the USA (the story is set in
futuristic Detroit). The brief moments where Regan enters Elusion are certainly
some of the stand-out moments of the book, full of gorgeous imagery that left
me wanting more. If the story spent more time in Elusion and less time using
exposition to advance from point to point then it would have been a more
satisfying read.
Character-wise, I genuinely liked Regan, a young woman struggling
with grief and a disconnected mother and desperate to cling to the shreds of
her father’s legacy as it crumbles before her eyes. She’s got a brain in her
head and even when she makes questionable decisions, they’re understandable
from her point of view. Besides, it’s practically law for science-fiction
protagonists to be a little bit stupid to forward the action. Unfortunately,
the novel is also sort of guilty of one of my most hated tropes: the dreaded
love triangle!
Okay, to be fair to the novel, it’s not exactly a love triangle.
Basically, there’s the love interest, a rather stock handsome male character
with the expected dark secret in his past and just enough angst, and then
there’s the childhood friend who clearly loves the heroine but she doesn’t
reciprocate, but his love for her is there to show how special the heroine is. All
romantic elements within “Elusion” are completely unnecessary; especially when
you remember that the action of the story takes place over one week. That’s a
long term relationship by some YA romance standards but it’s still a strain on
my tolerance levels.
Unfortunately, “Elusion” ends with something of a cheap shot. The
cliff-hanger ending isn’t so much a cliff-hanger as it is a sudden stop, as if
the editor took the longer manuscript and just separated it into halves. It
hammers home some of the novel’s weaknesses in terms of plotting and pacing and
ends the novel overall with a whimper rather than the bang it’s clearly aiming
for. Even if it’s the first in a series, it needs to be able to stand on its
own two feet.
Overall, “Elusion” is the standard 3 star read. That sounds like
damning with faint praise but it’s not meant in a negative manner. I genuinely
enjoyed the novel, despite its faults. It’s damn good fun and has great
potential, but it just doesn’t pack the necessary spark to take it to 4 stars
and more. Still, if you don’t mind a bit of info-dumping and are interested in
some strong world-building and a solid central mystery, give it a go.
3/5.
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