LitPick Review
Jane 65 is a young girl who lives on Hullabee Island. Her real name is Geneva Sommers, and she is an orphan. She was found ten years ago after the Flood, and is the youngest of all the orphans at the Troian Center. The Troian Center is run by greedy, evil headmistress Greeley who collects all the valuables the youngsters find and hoards them, though the items could be used to help fund the rebuilding of the island. Greeley couldn't care less about names, so each girl is a Jane and each boy is a John.
Geneva has a crush on John 18, a.k.a. Nova, a freakishly tall, green-eyed blonde who is three years older than her, as well as a fellow orphan. John 26 (Remi) is a shy, timid boy and one of Geneva's only friends. Jane 31 is a bully who constantly teases Geneva, and one day Geneva snaps. She shouts back at the girl, revealing Jane 31's true name- Jemma. Jemma attacks Geneva, punching her. Geneva blacks out and wakes to find herself in the nurse's office. Nova tells her that she hit Jemma back, but Geneva is confused. She only remembers being hit.
After this strange incident, a group of orphans meet in her room. One confidently claims that she will be able to protect them all if they are in trouble, and another says they are like her. Thus begins Geneva's journey to find out what happened so many years ago, and why.
Opinion:
Honestly, I didn't really like this book. Within the first few chapters I knew that it would be a challenge to finish. There were many literary discrepancies that I found difficult to overlook. Within the first few chapters, glaring math errors were catching my attention. The book states that the Flood occurred ten years ago and Geneva was barely one when she was found. However, Geneva assumes herself to be twelve, one year younger than the youngest group of orphaned children that survived the Flood. One of her close acquaintances reveals that he knows his real name, as opposed the the John (or Jane) #__ that every orphan has been assigned. Being in the youngest group, it seems rather sketchy that he could know since he could not have been older than two or three and had undergone a traumatic experience.
The magic aspect, though intertwining with the storyline, seems like it was only added into the last draft as an afterthought. It read like an oval being pushed againt a circle slot; it just didn't fit perfectly.
This book definitely did not make my favorites' list. I really wish that I could have liked it, as the idea was intriguing and unique. Perhaps the next books in the series are better, but I won't be finding out.
