DayNight by Meagan Thomason

          DayNight By Megan Thomason

4.5 Stars

 First, I dont usually write the synopsis of the book before writing a review. I will try to be more mindful of this now that I'm writing on a blog.

 Daynight is a young adult dystopian/romance/sci-fi (ish) book. The Book is told in three different point of views, Kira, Blake and Ethan. The main heroine Kira, a junior in high school, decides to join the Second Chance Institute (SCI) to escape the tragedy that ended the life of her boyfriend and friends, while Blake joins SCI to avenge his mothers death. Upon joining SCI, Kira quickly learns that SCI is on the planet Thera, the polar opposite of Earth, including their government which has a totalitarian regime, stepping out of line means death or exile. Kira and Blake are partnered together from the beginning each with their own problems. SCI believes that everyone deserves a second chance therefore people on Earth who lose their lives too early and on accident may be brought to SCI for a second chance. (And their hidden agenda!). Lastly you meet Ethan who has eyes for Kira, but unfortunately SCI wants Kira to be with Blake. This book has tons of competing agendas, romance and intrigue! But this synopsis doesnt even do the book justice as there are tons are of smaller moving pieces and information you learn in the first few chapters that further explain the purpose and story line. 

It took me a while to get into this book. I actually was very frustrated with the book at the beginning and  I didnt like the first chapter whatsoever. For me, the tone that Kira had was annoying, and sounded weird. And there were so many loose ends that I was completely confused. However as I moved into the book I felt that some of my questions were quite clearly answered leaving some questions open, which the author seemed to have done purpose. And this method worked for me. I wanted to keep reading to learn more about everything. The things I was frustrated with in the beginning werent nagging me so much anymore. 

I still have a few lingering questions that I think should have been answered in the first book like what is a pure light or pure dark and why do they belong together (is that like a pure male and female, which still doesnt make much sense...) and what "being" are they? How do people pass through the portals if they arent pure? Overall though I think some of these questions were meant to be left open for the next book.

So I must say that even though I didnt like the beginning, I absolutely loved this book and Im now dying to read the next one. This reminds me of how I felt about Delirium, I "needed" to read the next book. Thats how I feel about this book. The main character I love, Kira is cute, kind, considerate, loving, and somewhat, okay maybe a lot naive, but not in the sense where she is ridiculously so, just enough to make it understandable. Her character develops throughout the book too, she goes from the naive San Diego girl to reading between the lines and figuring out that sometimes you sacrifice what you want for who you love even though you may not ever see the results of said sacrifice.
I also like how her relationships build throughout the book, and the inner turmoil that we see her go through felt genuine.

This is my Kira (I know shes not blonde but I like her for the part, Alexndra Chando)

This is my Blake!
I dont know who I like better Ethan or Blake, but I do know that I am happy with either guy "winning" whatever that may be, in the end. I felt that while we watched Blake continue to fight for his beliefs, we also watched him grow, and begin to think about how every action he takes has a reaction, (except for maybe the ending...I dont want to give too much away though) I like Ethan, but the author doesnt give much insight into him just yet. I get the impression the first book set up his role for the second, which makes sense given how everything plays out.

I also like that the author used different perspectives throughout the book, with the focus on Kira, but filling in certain aspects of the storyline through Ethan and Blake. I think without this there would be quite a few missing pieces. Im most amazed as to how the author created such a fluid story! There were so many moving pieces through out the novel that I am amazed at how she wove it all together.

I dont want to give too much away, but I almost feel as though my review is incomplete without discussing the Second Chancers. Ill try not to give anything away that you would learn within the first few chapters. Considering the idea of The Second Chance Institute, I thought it was interesting the way the that the student had no recollection of their previous lives Im still interested in learning more about this, and I know Bailey's story will complete some of this. I feel the same way about Bailey as I do about Ethan, that the story was left somewhat open ended and incomplete on purpose. Which is understandable (except that I am dying to read the next book to find out what happens!) I like the friction that the Second Chance students provide overall though because I think it adds a necessary layer to the story.



Ethan

Last but not least I commend the author on making the hard decisions, it is difficult as the author and creator of a character to hurt them or have one killed off etc. but those decisions are paramount to the story, and I think Ms. Thomason did a great job of making those decisions in order to further the story. And in this instance as appalled by some of the decisions or hurt by them for the characters I also understood the meaning behind them and the affect that the decisions she made had on the characters to propel them into the next phase of the story. I thought this was flawless.

As for my issues, again the beginning was slow and confusing, the first maybe two chapters were hard for me to get through, but once I accepted Thera, I became more accepting of the novel overall. I think partly I needed to adjust my expectations and thoughts. Looking back now though I only wish I had waited longer to read the book until the author is done so that I can get all my answers!

To be honest, I really did love this book, and I believe the author put together one crazy, but creative and wonderfully written book that if you liked hunger games or diverent you will surely love this book too. All you need is a little imagination
Bailey