Somewhere Between "Huh" and "Wow"
Mind Games
By Kiersten White
The Mind Games Series, Book 1
# Pgs: 304
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Overview:
Perfect for fans of Sara Shepard's The Lying Game series, Kiersten White's Mind Games, a novel about two sisters trapped in a web of deceit, was called "lightning fast and fabulously fun" by bestselling author Laini Taylor.
Fia and Annie are as close as two sisters can be. They look out for each other. Protect each other. And most importantly, they keep each other's secrets, even the most dangerous ones: Annie is blind, but can see visions of the future; Fia was born with flawless intuition—her first impulse is always exactly right. When the sisters are offered a place at an elite boarding school, Fia realizes that something is wrong . . . but she doesn't grasp just how wrong. The Keane Institute is no ordinary school, and Fia is soon used for everything from picking stocks to planting bombs. If she tries to refuse, they threaten her with Annie's life. Now Fia's falling in love with a boy who has dark secrets of his own. And with his help, she's ready to fight back. They stole her past. They control her present. But she won't let them take her future.
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Review:
That's the impression that's left over from reading this book; I'm stuck somewhere between "huh" and "wow".
It was a good book.
Mind Games by Kiersten White is about a girl with perfect instincts--they're always in her favor. Yet the amount of responcibilities she has growing up is just astounding. Is it any wonder that the girl, Sofia, seems on the verge of losing her mind?
It's crazy how this book works it all out. From the beginning we're introduced to the dark side of this world. In order to protect her sister Annie, Sofia has to undertake certain endeavors for a school that took her and her sister in. The school itself is a rather corrupt, underhanded, scheming sort of business. To keep Sofia in their hands, they keep Annie a prisoner. Because of this, Sofia must become the perfect little soldier.
At the beginning of the story, we're faced with the situation from the point of view of Sofia as she contemplates taking the life of an innocent. Keane, the head of the school she has no choice but to work for, gave her the order. In order to protect Annie, she cannot do otherwise. Except that she does.
I'm giving away the story, methinks. But it's just such an interesting, intriguing, though-provoking story. I love this book for an entirely different reasons than most of the books that I read. It's dark, dramatic, deep. There's a sort of action-packed heroism about the wickedness Fia's been forced into. As the reader, you fall for her, almost. Not in love, that is, though it is a sort of love. You fall into sympathy for her, pity. The dark side about her character is what draws the reader in most. When faced with a decision that is not your own, control that you can't control, how is it that you can come into your own? How do you make you own choices, decisions, life?
Sofia becomes more so a sort of object or weapon under the unforgiving hand of the school. She feels a sense of duty, not as their little puppet, but as the younger sister of a blind girl. They're all each other has, the sisters. They don't have anyone or anything else. Sofia has to keep her safe. Annie, as the older sister, feels she has to keep Fia safe. They keep trying to protect the other, but no longer do they understand each other because... The school has changed them. Sofia became someone completely different--darker, not necessarily evil, but she has no choice. It's easier for her to see just how evil the rest of the world is. How unforgiving it is. Through all that she's been through, she can't help what she's become. And with Annie... she's just starting to realize exactly what's going on. Sure, she can see the obvious. But the title of the book plays more into the storyline anyways. It's all one big mind game, and Annie is just starting to realize exactly what that means.
Who they can trust.
Can they trust anyone?
Can they trust each other?
I love this book. It's not simple. It's not always that easy to read. The facts aren't laid out for you. It's thought provoking. Kiersten draws us into the book through something more than just words. The pain we feel, the sympathy, the pity, the hope, the fear; everything we feel for the characters is just as real as if it weren't a book. Sofia becomes her own character, her own person, in reality. Just as people aren't easy to understand, neither is Sofia. We may read the book strongly through her point of view but that doesn't make it any easier to predict just what choices she'll make or why.
She's just as unpredictable as her intuition entails.
I know I've made this sound as if it's only from her point of view, but her sister tells the story just as much as she. And Annie has some very interesting things to say. It makes me wonder how or what I could do to protect my younger sister if I were the older one, and I were blind? What could I do to draw my sister back into herself rather then let her sink further and further into the darkness? What could I do when I can see the future of everyone else... but not her?
There was a point in the book where Annie saw something, and I thought for sure it couldn't be all that it was meant to be. I thought for sure that I understood Sofia perfectly right up until that point, that she couldn't possibly do what Annie saw. Everything Sofia does is to protect her sister, to keep her safe. She couldn't possibly...
Now I'm left sitting here in wonder of this book, thinking impossible things. This is a beautiful book; an intricate lattice of knots strung together with the strings of fate. It's not a flashy book, it's not overly simple. It will not be known for being overly dramatic, or infuriatingly romantic in that "I will die if you do not love me way". This is complicated, deep. It goes on so much further than the surface plot. It's beautiful because of it's depth, it's darkness, the near horror and pity and hope involved in creating this. It's realistic though it isn't at all realistic; it's almost like a dream. Almost like a nightmare. Somewhere in between.
The plot is strong, and White uses flashback as a literary technique to develope our understanding of what's happening, and our understanding of the characters themselves. She creates an illusion, decieves us in this way where we think we know what exactly is going to happen and yet we don't. That's what's beautiful about this book. We don't know what we think we do; the deception.
This book definitely isn't for everyone. It's not like the other books I usually read. You have to want or be willing to think about these kinds of things in order to like or even understand exactly the kind of message this book is trying to say. Sofia is being pushed to the breaking point, and at one point will she draw the line at keeping Annie safe? She's on a path of destruction. Forced to perform to her best possible ability; the pressure of protecting her sister, of having to protect her sister because there is no one else; how utterly conflicted she is by the things she must do... When will she draw the line?
I read the paperback version of the book, and I know above that I wrote that there are three hundred of so pages in this book, it really didn't seem like it. For being such a good book, it felt short and entirely over entirely too soon. I can't wait for the next book. I'm already drawn in although I've yet to own it or read another word. What White established with this book has won me over, and I imensely anticipate reading her next book. I'm also going to look into reading her other books.
I don't know that I'll like them so much; the covers make me think of snobby, pretensious, unimpressibly dramatic whining girls who don't know quite what they're in for. Who might also be involved in the sort of love stories that aren't love stories at all; just a first meeting between two people and then sudden, ridiculous, "I can't live without you love" that comes out of nowhere without any sort of developement.
But then, I might just be getting a little prejudice.
Regardless, White's book has won me over. I can't wait to read the next book in the series.
Five out of five, and... I'm not sure who to recommend this for.
You'll just have to find out for yourself if you like it or not.
Thanks for reading this post! Hope you find yourself reading a good book real soon, and if you don't like to read then I don't know what you're doing here in the first place. Thanks again for reading!
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