Pawn By Aimée Carter

Pawn (Blackcoat Rebellion 1) by Aimée Carter 3 STARS

Synopsis
YOU CAN BE A VII. IF YOU GIVE UP EVERYTHING. 
For Kitty Doe, it seems like an easy choice. She can either spend her life as a III in misery, looked down upon by the higher ranks and forced to leave the people she loves, or she can become a VII and join the most powerful family in the country. 
If she says yes, Kitty will be Masked—surgically transformed into Lila Hart, the Prime Minister's niece, who died under mysterious circumstances. As a member of the Hart family, she will be famous. She will be adored. And for the first time, she will matter. 
There's only one catch. She must also stop the rebellion that Lila secretly fostered, the same one that got her killed …and one Kitty believes in. Faced with threats, conspiracies and a life that's not her own, she must decide which path to choose—and learn how to become more than a pawn in a twisted game she's only beginning to understand.

Cover- attractive 
Rating: PG-13
Overall: Interesting...
Characters:  Kitty/Lila, Knox, Celia, Benjy
Page Turner: At times
Series Cont.? Yes
Recommend if You Like…Tandem, Perception, Fast Tracked
Book Boyfriend: None
Genre: Young Adult Dystopian 
Sex Scenes: No 

Lila/Kitty

Overall- In general, I enjoyed reading this book while I was reading it, but I didn't LOVE it. I think the world building was really good, but this plot reminded me a lot of other books I've been reading lately. Specifically, the idea of a test being the means of assigning a class and the underground rebellion. The idea here becomes different when a girl is given the opportunity to have a higher class assigned if she is willing to be "masked", take over the identity of an important person in the governmental hierarchy. Admittedly there are plenty of twists and turns in this book which kept me interested, but I felt that the romance and character interactions did not feel real. While the romance is not the center point of the book, it is a plot point and was under developed; I couldn't figure out if there was a love triangle or not. At the end of the book I felt like I was in the dark about things I shouldn't have been in the dark about. Im interested in seeing where the next book goes but a little concerned that its going to become another one of those books where the author forces a plot to continue a book. I hope Im proven wrong. 

Benjy

Plot- The plot moved all over the place!! And by the end of the book I was hanging on to every word and moment! I loved the twists and turns. There was plenty of action and mystery through out the book which really had me motivated to keep reading. I loved that the unexpected continued to happen. I give the author credit for the creativeness and intriguing twists that she continued to come up with, even though the characters were not as well built. Not to mention, these moves make up for the lack of character development. I really look forward to seeing where these points all go in the next book(s). And that ending, wow, that was unexpected!! I can't wait! 

Characters- 

Knox

Kitty/Lila -- I liked Kitty, I feel like she was the most developed character out of all of them, which makes sense considering she's the narrator. Nonetheless, I found her interesting. I think the drawback for her was that growing up on the "streets" she should have been less trusting and more concerned with the people she was surrounded by, but it seemed as though in many instances she simply took the information as presented, no questions asked. Her love story also didn't seem that believable, the Benjy romance felt awkward at times. I frequently felt like she had more of a connection with Knox than Benjy. But I look forward to seeing where it all goes in the next book(s).

Lila--I hated Lila. She was exactly like the princess in Tandem. Selfish. Annoying. Baby. Everything about her bothered me. Which is fine. Thats her purpose in the story. 

Knox--I really liked Knox. I felt that he was the best character in the book. He seemed like a stand up guy, with a good heart and willing to fight for whats right. I wanted more of him.

Celia--I couldn't figure Celia out, but in the end, I felt like she got what was coming, and that everything worked out for the best where she was concerned. I liked that the author in this instance kept me (the reader) at bay with the development, because each moment was all the more surprising that way. 

Benjy--I don't really like Benjy. I feel bad saying that because he is the love interest of the main girl. But I just don't understand what she sees in him. The author did not develop Benjy well at all, because I know nothing about, I don't understand why Kitty loves him, and I don't see his overall purpose of being in the book whatsoever. I actually think I could have done without 99% of the book (the beginning may have needed him but once she was masked…I could have done without) personally, I found him to be annoying, and useless. But perhaps in the future books I will understand his role. 

The Prime Minister- Hm. He was an interesting one. I was intrigued and disgusted (both intentional I think) and I look forward to seeing what happens in the next book!