Truth
Truth (XVI, #2)by Julia Karr
In this sequel to "XVI," Nina Oberon's life has changed enormously. After her mother was killed, Nina discovered the truth about her father, the leader of the Resistance. And now she sports the same Governing Council-ordered tattoo of XVI on her wrist that all 16-year-old girls have. But Nina won't be anyone's stereotype. (goodreads.com)
Truth was one of the books I was most anticipating this year. Sadly, it didn't hook me the way its predecessor, XVI did last year. In fact, I spent a lot of the book wanting to smack Nina and her weird self-conscious inner dialogue. Nina did not seem like the strong protagonist she was in XVI. I know a lot happened in that book that could alter her some, but I didn't even feel like I was reading about the same character.I also felt that Truth seemed to do nothing but preach at me that girls who dress like they want sex, do want sex, but that doesn't mean they can be raped. OK, I get that this is actually a *thing* in this book, they are called "sex-teens" (rather than sixteen) and they buy into the media crap that girls want to start having sex when the are "of age", but something about the description and Nina's thoughts on the matter (not wanting to be a sex-teen and waiting to sleep with someone she loves) felt forced and very After School Special Teen Sex Is Bad, mmkay?-ish. It rubbed me the wrong way (no pun intended in the sexual way ;P)It was almost as if nothing happened for the entire book, until the last chapter, except a long-winded essay on how Nina felt about sex-teens and how she had to keep her sister safe. Suddenly the last chapter bursts forth full of action and potential answers and then.. THE END. Gah! Boo!Whereas XVI made me think and feel all creeped out about this Dystopian world that Karr had created, Truth really didn't seem all that Dystopian to me. It was just a book about a girl who didn't know if she wanted to sleep with her boyfriend or not and she and her friends had some different sort of lingo than we do today to make it seem like they were in the future.I had hoped for some answers or more action following XVI and I didn't feel that Truth delivered that very well. I couldn't connect with any of the characters this time around, including Nina.I gave this book 3 starts on Goodreads because it did have some interesting scenes. I liked the idea of the Sisterhood, but I felt they could have been used more and been made to seem a little more active and meaningful. They had so much potential! All they seemed to do though was skype. ;)I am very interested in reading the next book though because I expect something exciting must happen based on the way this book ended. I WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS!XVI series