This is a brilliant book. As good as they come. One of the best in the genre.
What am I saying? This book has assaulted my emotions and now it's just lingering. Don't you hate it when a book does that? Just linger in your mind for an indefinite amount of time, forcing you to reread over and over again trying to pick up everything you missed before? And then it just won't leave you until it does and then you have to move on with life.
I'm being overdramatic. Really. This is hardly a review.
But. I should be writing that review. So now I will.
WORLDBUILDING: I'm not a sci-fi-techy person at all, but thank goodness, this series is one of those bio-physics-sci-fi world stuff, so I could actually understand what was going on, not half of the time, but all of the time! (me with a AI or space-fiction book, on the other hand...) I've heard that the worldbuilding is kind of all over the place, and it is a lot to take in at once, but I didn't have trouble processing any of it. But maybe because I'm just a worldbuilding geek and am able to handle stuff like that more so than other, less-worldbuilding-focused readers.
The whole concept of metahumans and whatnot was pretty neat. Also, did anyone else get KotLC vibes reading this? I mean, that's fantasy and this is sci-fi, but they're both explained as if it's sci-fi, but to be honest Whitewashed is better, lol.
STORY: I am in AWE. Know that I'm writing this review after having read the entire trilogy, but I just wanna say that Adelaide is a MASTER of twists-- and the appropriate foreshadowing that should come along with it. She broke every cliché into a million pieces, just like that. So well done.
THEME: Definitely one of my favorite parts about this story. I love, love, LOVE when authors dare to exploit one of the biggest problems in existence, namely, compassion. It's so not a thing in way too much of fiction nowadays. The character arcs were so well done, too. Don't you love it when the main character learns something that isn't the commonly-recurring theme of self-worth or self-strength? Not that those are bad things, but you'd think authors would realize there's a lot more to human character than just that. Compassion is much more of a "heavy theme" than a lot of people realize. Especially when it has to do with war. Even spec-fic war.
CHARACTERS: At last. My favorite part.
Ella~ I rarely ever read a female YA protagonist I like. Ella is totally awesome. She has her fair share of problems, and the best thing is, her CHARACTER ARC WAS AN ACTUAL CHARACTER ARC. I am so passionate about the topic of compassion and empathy I just--
Ethan~ I prefer to call him Sheedy. He's not my favorite character, but he exceeded my expectations by a million miles. He was awesome too, and unlike too many YA love interests, had plenty of his own flaws that were actual flaws and not other people's problems.
Kara~ she is such a precious little cinnamon roll but still like the wisest bff I've ever read about
Burnette~ I shall not speak for fear of spoilers *staunchly refuses to cry*
Everyone Else~ ALLLLLL THE LOVE. Every single one of the (good?) guys totally found their way into my heart. Although actually, plenty of times you'll be wondering exactly who IS the good guy and who isn't. Each of these side characters have so much depth! They're so real! And they get better :)
HUMOR: From now on I should definitely make this an important part in my reviews because humor is like everything. Let me just say, this book made me laugh out loud more than once.
And that concludes my long, astonishingly spoiler-free, not-really-gushy review! Note about the content: if it weren't for the violence and heavy themes about violence/war/death/compassion, I would mark this as a middle-grade. There is romance, but it is 100% squeaky clean and there are no innuendos or sick stuff you find in so much YA these days. I am unbearably happy about that.
5/5 stars!
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![The Trace: A YA Sci-Fi Adventure (Whitewashed Book 1) by [Adelaide Thorne, Darren Todd]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51y7A62RoJL._SY346_.jpg)
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Shen Shenanigans
One of the Best in the Genre
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