Skip to main content

Review: Mystic City


Mystic City
Mystic City by Theo Lawrence

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I was intrigued by the story concept of this book as soon as I read the back cover blurb. Others have detailed the storyline already, so I won't go into what it's about here.

The dystopian world is striking and interesting, becoming a separate character in the story. Aria, her parents, and Hunter are also unique personalities that fit with the story world and with the plotline.

I did think that the story started off very slow. The first several chapters seemed to drag a bit to me. The story was interesting enough that I kept reading, and the plot eventually picked up, so I guess that says it was engaging enough to keep my interest, but the first third of the book seemed so slow to me that the book would have been easy to set down at some points if I'd had something else I needed to do.

After the story picks up, it was interesting to see how Aria changes as events unfold. I thought it took her ridiculously long to figure out what had happened to her, but that might be just me. When things did become clear, the storyline was very intriguing and I couldn't wait to read what happened next.

This might be just me, but the description and explanation of the dystopian world in the beginning was a bit confusing to me and I had to exert some effort to figure out the world of the mystics and their role in the city. Eventually it became clear to me, but that effort to figure out the story world made the reading flow in the beginning stutter a bit for me.

There were times when I didn't quite feel Aria's emotions very strongly, either, which detracted from the romance a bit for me. I guess I had expected to feel her emotions more than I actually did while reading.

However, the romantic arc itself progresses well--despite the slow start--and is very satisfying. Readers who love romance will be happy with how Aria's love life turns out.

I was especially impressed with Aria's character. She grew and changed throughout the story from a confused girlish character to a woman who was strong, brave, and willing to stand up for a higher cause. Lack of that type of willingness to stand and fight for a higher cause was what I had thought a little disappointing in Katniss's character in The Hunger Games, so seeing that bravery in Mystic City was very satisfying.

Overall, the story was engaging and interesting and entertaining. The last half of the book was especially riveting and I couldn't have put it down if I'd had to.

I received a complimentary copy of the uncorrected proof from Random House in exchange for an honest review.



View all my reviews

Comments

everlastingscribe said…
Thank you! I keep pointing out the fact that Katniss does nothing but REACT to things that people do to her and she has the heroic backbone of a jellyfish and I get flamed. I she is such a non-hero I can't stand it.

And before anyone asks, yes I read all three books. I kept waiting for Katniss to turn into a hero. She never does.
Sun Aug 05, 09:26:00 AM 2012
Camy Tang said…
Yes, I agree with you, I kept waiting for Katniss to do something really heroic, but even that last arrow she shoots is out of revenge more than justice. That made me a little disappointed with the ending of the series.
Tue Aug 07, 08:25:00 PM 2012
Post a Comment

Popular Posts

Brainstorm - character occupation

Captain's Log, Stardate 03.23.2009 Hey guys, I could use some help. In my current manuscript, The Year of the Dog , which is a humorous contemporary romance, I have a minor character, Eddie. He’s my heroine’s ex-boyfriend, and they’re on good terms with each other. He’s a bit irresponsible, but not so much so that he’s a complete loser. He’s got a very easy going attitude, he forgets to pay his bills sometimes, he’s friendly and charming. He’s adventurous and fun to be around, but he’s a little forgetful sometimes, and he tends to spend a little outside his income. I need an occupation for him. What would a charming, easy going, slightly irresponsible guy do for a living? He’s not too irresponsible, because otherwise readers will wonder what in the world my heroine saw in him to date him in the first place. She was attracted to his charm, his easy going attitude (her family’s uptight, and he was a nice contrast), and his adventurousness. But his forgetfulness and irresponsibility ...
64 comments
Read more

Window shopping

Captain’s Log, Stardate 03.14.2005 Knee update: I went to the doctor today for a checkup, and saw his assistant. I’ve been concerned because there’s still inflammation in my knee joint, and it’s been almost 4 months since the surgery. She said she’d talk to the doctor about it tomorrow and call me. Sometimes he suggests laying off the PT to see if that causes the inflammation to go away, but I don’t know if that will work because lately I’ve been pretty active outside of PT. At PT today, the therapist did ultrasound and some sort of electrical current on the joint. Hopefully that will make the inflammation start to go down. I’ll know by tomorrow, probably. Writing: Mt. Hermon conference starts this Friday! On Thursday night, I’ll be at the Santana Row Borders bookstore to help out (and hopefully learn a bit, too) at a booksigning for several of the ACFW authors who are attending Mt. Hermon . That should be lots of fun. I had a good brainstorming time at ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Chinese Take-Out and Sushi for One

Captain’s Log, Supplemental My agent sent me an article from Publisher’s Weekly that discussed this incident: Chinese Take-Out Spawns Christian Controversy And here’s also a blog post that talks about it in more detail: The Fighting 44s This is Soong-Chan Rah’s blog: The PCS blog In sum: Apparently Zondervan (yes, my publisher), who has partnered with Youth Specialties, had put out a youth leaders skit that had stereotypical Asian dialogue, which offended many Christian Asian Americans. In response to the outcry, Zondervan/Youth Specialities put out a sincere apology and is not only freezing the remaining stock of the book, but also reprinting it and replacing the copies people have already bought. I am very proud of my publisher for how they have handled this situation. The skit writers have also issued a public apology . (I feel sorry for them, because they were only trying to write a funny skit, not stir up this maelstrom of internet controversy. I’ve been in youth work long enou...
39 comments
Read more

Japanese language learning process in more detail

I blogged a few weeks ago that I’ve jumped back into my Japanese language learning after being lazy and letting it slide. I’ve been keeping my Japanese language study habit for about a month now, and I wanted to blog about my process in more detail. One thing I had noticed about my Japanese is that I tended not to do it if I left it to do at the end of the day. I realized that it was just like my exercise—if I didn’t do it first thing in the morning, it never got done. So I started doing my Japanese right after my exercise in the morning. I treated it like one of my “frogs,” as I read about in the book Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time . The book is based off of a Mark Twain quote: “Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.” It suggests doing your “frogs”—your important things that you’re likely to procrastinate doing—first thing in the morning in order to get it done, and ...
2 comments
Read more

New book idea a la Captain Caffeine

Captain's Log, Stardate 04.14.2009 So my husband, Captain Caffeine, had lunch with a few friends a few days ago. And they asked about my writing, and if I’d been on Oprah yet. (Yeah, right) They then discussed NYT bestselling books, and why can’t Camy write a NYT bestseller. (Sure, let me just open a vein over a blank page and it’ll come right out.) So Captain Caffeine came home with ideas for my new NYT bestselling novel. First it starts with vampires, because Twilight is so hot. But not just any vampires. This one’s an Amish vampire. And he’s not just an Amish vampire, he’s a cop in disguise, infiltrating the Amish community to protect a witness. (Hmm, that storyline sounds familiar ...) But wait! There’s more! To add more conflict and stick with my brand of Asian fiction, we introduce the Tibetan monk! Who joins the Amish community to get away from the pressures of monkhood. But in reality, he’s protecting the Chinese princess on the run, trying to escape from her father’s Hong...
25 comments
Read more