REVIEW: TRANSPARENT BY NATALIE WHIPPLE.

Title: Transparent (Transparent #1)
Author: Natalie Whipple
Edition: Paperback
Published: May 1, 2013
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pages: 350
Source: ARC borrowed from Dani of Book Whales
Category: Romance, Contemporary, Dystopia, Sci-Fi
Trailer: not available

Synopsis:

 Plenty of teenagers feel invisible. Fiona McClean actually is.

An invisible girl is a priceless weapon. Fiona’s own father has been forcing her to do his dirty work for years—everything from spying on people to stealing cars to breaking into bank vaults.

After sixteen years, Fiona’s had enough. She and her mother flee to a small town, and for the first time in her life, Fiona feels like a normal life is within reach. But Fiona’s father isn’t giving up that easily.

Of course, he should know better than anyone: never underestimate an invisible girl.

Transparent is UNIQUE.

Transparent is one of the books I am so eager to get my hands on. The blogging community raved about this novel and I loved how the cover did justice to the plot! Thanks to Dani of Book Whales for lending me her ARC and I finally get to read what the hype is all about. Sad to say though, it didn't work for me.

The world has slowly mutated after world war that affected humans. They are also genetically mutated that caused them to have special abilities. Like Fiona. She was born invisible. And because of this mutation and her dad's ability to manipulate, he uses her to be a part of his syndicate to gather a power-boosting drug --Radiasure. When her dad finally decides that it is time for her to become an assassin, her telekinetic mother helps her escape.

The novel has a very intense start. I was pumped to basically finished it in one sitting. However, it didn't take long for me to get disappointed. It kind of goes from Dystopia/Sci-fi-ish genre to suddenly somewhat Contemporary and I cannot literally believe that in the middle of an escape from a notorious syndicate leader, the story talked about solving Math problems. You see, the attempt to make these genres work together didn't apply to this one. It turned out to be awkward and dull. It slowly losses its grip to the main plot that leads to a whole new subplot then tries to combine them together, like: Dystopia, stop. Romance, stop. Dystopia plus Romance, stop. I don't know if that made sense but that's how I see it. And along the way, I felt that it was Twilight-ish in a way. It was also very predictable. But I still adored Whipple's attempt to give us unique world-building where Radiasure exists and abilities are norm.

I honestly didn't like any of the characters. At all. The development of each character was a little weak for my taste. Fiona's the main female protagonist and her invisibility was new to me (I was stoked about it) but she's way too sensitive, childish even. Irrational, emotional, selfish, stubborn to the nth level. Seth's rudeness and sarcasm didn't work for me even if he said he was just afraid to show his feelings. Brady and Miles are alright while Bea's pushy. Graham's too uptight. I don't know. I just didn't click with them.

Transparent is a fast-paced novel with a mix of dystopia and contemporary that will make you devour the novel in one sitting. It may have not worked for me but I would still recommend it because it was still an enjoyable read.

"Sometimes, you love the things that are bad for you."