Book Review: Uninvited (Uninvited #1) by Sophie Jordan

Title: Uninvited (Uninvited #1)
Author: Sophie Jordan
Publisher: Harper Teen
Publishing Date: January 28th 2014
Length: 384 pages
Keywords: YA, fiction, romance, kill gene, sci-fi
Source: Publisher

When Davy Hamilton's tests come back positive for Homicidal Tendency Syndrome (HTS) - aka the kill gene - she loses everything. Her boyfriend ditches her, her parents are scared of her, and she can forget about her bright future at Juilliard. Davy doesn't feel any different, but genes don't lie. One day she will kill someone.

Only Sean, a fellow HTS carrier, can relate to her new life. Davy wants to trust him; maybe he's not as dangerous as he seems. Or maybe Davy is just as deadly.

Summary by Goodreads 

UNINVITED is the story of prodigy and good girl Davy who tests positive for Homicidal Tendency Syndrome. Other stories often take ages to get to the point where the reader is distinctly interested in its main characters' fate. Sophie Jordan's newest YA release jumps right into action and it doesn't take twenty pages for Davy to find out about the fatal kill gene she's carrying inside her.

After Davy's life changed so radically and early in the story, I was prepared for a fast and overall action-packed continuation in the following chapters. Against expectations there wasn't much about relentless battles and killers endangering Davy's life at first. So the beginning felt a bit generic, monotonous and not nearly as thrilling as it could have been. Now Davy has to go to a special school for HTS carriers only and has to face the torments of being one herself. She has to experience how everyone treats her differently after the test results. The middle part of UNINVITED could be considered a social study. If I could've cut scenes from the first book, I would have chosen almost every school scene. They might be important for the story, because Davy meets Sean and Gill there and becomes friends with them, but I would've preferred for the main portion of the story to be set in one of the camps for HTS carriers where they train to become better and fight for their lives.

Sophie Jordan tells her characters' stories in regard to political and social developments concerning the HTS carrier situation in the country. And so after various developments and events, it is decided that Davy and her new friends are transferred from school to those special camps for HTS carriers.
Here the story definitely goes in a more dangerous direction. The other carriers around Davy are all unpredictable, violent and unstable. The chapters set in camp were my favourites because they bring the action and trials, fear, power struggles and murder I originally thought about when I picked up UNINVITED.

Davy the model child. Sean the bad boy. Gil the geek. Despite the light stereotypic feel, our UNINVITED characters are pretty easy to like. Davy and Sean's romance was good, but I'm still wishing for more time for Davy and Sean to engage in deeper and more intimate conversations in book two rather than their hasty whispers or stormy kisses (which were great nevertheless). 

UNINVITED is a story of social exclusion of large segments of the population and its consequences. What would you do if all your friends left you because of one genetic test with the wrong result? How would it feel to have almost no one believe in your goodness?

 4/5 **** UNINVITED - Sophie Jordan's kill genes are the most imaginative and original YA idea of 2014! 

I only needed to read the summary of UNINVITED once to be fascinated by the idea of a kill gene that could change the future of humankind forever. It's unbelievable that small biological determinants like genes have the power to change a human's life so radically. Sophie Jordan's a genius for building her story on one of the greatest fears of humankind, the unalterability of what's inside us, in this case the tendency to be evil and a murderer.

"It sounds like Mom believes I'm this...thing. A monster waiting for darkness to come so that I can leap out. 

I bury my face in my knees. My shoulders shake but I don't cry. Don't make a sound. I'm not a killer. Although I'm going to become one. It's just a matter of time." ― p.22

UNINVITED you might also enjoy UNRAVELING by Elizabeth Norris, REBOOT by Amy Tintera and 3:59 by Gretchen McNeil, three books with sci-fi and mystery character. REBOOT is about humans who wake up as unfeeling killing machines, so this could be the one that's thematically most like UNINIVTED.

* Haven't read Sophie's FIRELIGHT trilogy yet? Get started with FIRELIGHT now.

* Click here to read an excerpt of UNINVITED.

* UNINVITED book trailer.

* Visit www.sophiejordan.net for more information about Sophie and her books.

* Thanks to Harper Collins International for sending me UNINVITED for review!