Slightly Early Review: Icons (Icons #1) by Margaret Stohl

(slightly early...)

Your heart beats only with their permission. 

Everything changed on The Day. The day the windows shattered. The day the power stopped. The day Dol's family dropped dead. The day Earth lost a war it didn't know it was fighting. 

Since then, Dol has lived a simple life in the countryside -- safe from the shadow of the Icon and its terrifying power. Hiding from the one truth she can't avoid. 

She's different. She survived. Why? 

When Dol and her best friend, Ro, are captured and taken to the Embassy, off the coast of the sprawling metropolis once known as the City of Angels, they find only more questions. While Ro and fellow hostage Tima rage against their captors, Dol finds herself drawn to Lucas, the Ambassador's privileged son. But the four teens are more alike than they might think, and the timing of their meeting isn't a coincidence. It's a conspiracy. 

Within the Icon's reach, Dol, Ro, Tima, and Lucas discover that their uncontrollable emotions -- which they've always thought to be their greatest weaknesses -- may actually be their greatest strengths. 

Bestselling author Margaret Stohl delivers the first book in a heart-pounding series set in a haunting new world where four teens must piece together the mysteries of their pasts -- in order to save the future.

This was an interesting mix of genre. It was primarily dystopian but with a sci-fi flair. It's also written in a way you get hints of the immediate future but was also supposed to throw you off of any conclusions. I enjoyed the world, but I admit the parts ment to throw me actually helped me piece together what was coming as well as what was going on. So when the curtain was finally pulled back I was not surprised. However, I was entertained throughout the book.

One of my biggest pet peeves lately with the YA genre have been with the now tired cliché of the love triangle. Although the romance here is slight, it still presents itself with a triangle developing. In fact, this triangle develops, falls apart and then develops again. This was probably my least favorite part of the book. 

My second complaint was with the other characters of the book. We mostly seem to get Dolly (which makes sense because we follow her) and Lucas. I was actually VERY interested in Tima and wanted to know more about her. I would have also liked Ro to be fleshed out a bit more. He was a bit too one dimensional and I suspect he could surprise us with greater depth. However, this being book one in this series it wasn't a huge complaint. I'm willing to let the others unfold for me as the story is being told. 

In the end I give this book 3 1/2 stars. I recommend the book for those that enjoy a YA dystopian adventure. The book kept me interested and entertained and I do want to know if they will win in the end. Yep, I do want that next book. :)

I received this ARC from Little, Brown Books and no compensation for my review was given.