ARC Review: Mystic City by Theo Lawrence

Mystic City by Theo Lawrence
Published: October 9, 2012
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Pages: 416
Series: Mystic City #1
My Rating:  2 of 5 star

Synopsis: For fans of Matched, The Hunger Games, X-Men, and Blade Runner comes a tale of a magical city divided, a political rebellion ignited, and a love that was meant to last forever. Book One of the Mystic City Novels.

Aria Rose, youngest scion of one of Mystic City's two ruling rival families, finds herself betrothed to Thomas Foster, the son of her parents' sworn enemies. The union of the two will end the generations-long political feud—and unite all those living in the Aeries, the privileged upper reaches of the city, against the banished mystics who dwell below in the Depths. But Aria doesn't remember falling in love with Thomas; in fact, she wakes one day with huge gaps in her memory. And she can't conceive why her parents would have agreed to unite with the Fosters in the first place. Only when Aria meets Hunter, a gorgeous rebel mystic from the Depths, does she start to have glimmers of recollection—and to understand that he holds the key to unlocking her past. The choices she makes can save or doom the city—including herself.

My Review: I'm getting so sick of books being compared to The Hunger Games. Especially when the only thing they have in common with The Hunger Games is that the book is dystopian. 

I have a lot of issues with this book but I think I'll start with the positives. First off I love the idea of this book. It was unique and it sounded like something I would really enjoy reading. I actually really liked Davida and I would have preferred to have the story from her point of view since she was the only character I actually cared about.

One of my main problems with this book was the main character. Aria was one of the most clueless main characters I have ever read about. She also doesn't make any sense. She's taught that mystics are evil people that can hurt her so what does she do when she meets Hunter? She feels completely safe with him and doesn't even think that it would be better if she ran screaming in the opposite direction. 

Aria's relationship with Hunter and Thomas was also strange. I know that she lost her memories but how she acted around Thomas was just plain weird. She was forcing herself to love him because her parents told her to. Even when there were clear signs that they were never in love.

The love letters that Aria found were ridiculously cheesy. Every single time she was with Hunter something cheesy happened. I can't deal with cheesy romance unless it is well done cheesy romance.

"A kiss that feels like it can change the world."
 Doesn't that sound a bit cheesy to you? 

This book was also extremely predictable. Nothing in this book surprised me at all. It took Aria almost the entire book for her to figure out something but it took me only a few chapters to figure it out. I made six predictions within the first couple chapters and at least half of them were correct. The fact that Aria can't make any connections and is so gullible was so frustrating.

I feel like this book would definitely appeal to Matched fans but since I am not a fan of that series this book just wasn't for me. It was way too predictable and no matter how much I tried I just couldn't like the characters. I will not be reading the next one even if the cover is as pretty as this one.

*I won an ARC of this from a giveaway at Written By Brittan. Thank you!