artsy musings of a bibliophile

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Review: The Rules by Stacey Kade

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ABOUT THE BOOK
The Rules by Stacey Kade
young adult science fiction published by Disney-Hyperion on 23 April 2013
first book in the Project Paper Doll series

1. Never trust anyone.

2. Remember they are always searching.
3. Don’t get involved.
4. Keep your head down.
5. Don’t fall in love.
Five simple rules. Ariane Tucker has followed them since the night she escaped from the genetics lab where she was created, the result of combining human and extraterrestrial DNA. Ariane’s survival—and that of her adoptive father—depends on her ability to blend in among the full-blooded humans in a small Wisconsin town, to hide in plain sight at her high school from those who seek to recover their lost (and expensive) “project.”
But when a cruel prank at school goes awry, it puts her in the path of Zane Bradshaw, the police chief’s son and someone who sees too much. Someone who really sees her. After years of trying to be invisible, Ariane finds the attention frightening—and utterly intoxicating. Suddenly, nothing is simple anymore, especially not the rules…

THE RATING


THE REVIEW
Lately, the sci-fi genre has made a habit of leaving me underwhelmed so I went into The Rules thinking it’d be same old, same old. Only it wasn’t. I fell in love with Ariane and Zane. The book is so much more than just sci-fi; there are elements of contemporary, high school drama and mystery woven into the story making it out to be a wonderful read.
The book opens with Ariane Tucker who is the result of combination of human and alien gene pool. Created with a sinister intent, it was a lucky day when she escaped from the GTX lab to lead a (mostly) normal life. Living right under the noses of GenTex lab, Ariane has to follow the five rules to avoid being noticed and captured.
Life is going as well as it should with a breakfast schedule to follow and a father for whom she’ll never come close to being the real Ariane. The one who died. But then her best friend Jenna sets her sights on being a part of the popular group by being too friendly with Rachel Jacobs. Rache, the granddaughter of Arthur Jacobs, infamous CEO of GTX labs. It naturally strikes a chord with Ariane who cannot help but blow up in the face of all her unfairness. More like, blow up bulbs.
The thing with Ariane is that being forced to use her telekinetic abilities for the worse by the evil Dr. Jacobs, a wall now blocks her abilities from manifesting. The abilities that surface whenever she witnesses Rachel bullying others for her amusement. Luckily for her, Zane Bradshaw is tired of all the crap Rachel pulls day in and out. In a flash of brilliance and intrigue on the part of Ariane, he takes up the task of humiliating her.
Zane decides to doublecross Rachel in one of her many schemes to take down Ariane because she had the nerve to defend her best friend. The scheme pulls Ariane and Zane together. Being a loner because of the rules, it is very hard for Ariane to let Zane in and she’s pretty much a bundle of hesitation and awkwardness at the beginning. Ariane is a very conflicted character and she really has to learn to shed off her resistance and bring her right foot forward. I honestly cannot decide which character I love more.

Being able to read from Zane’s point of view really helped me see him as he is. It is never justified why one would want to be a part of the popular group in high school anyway. So reading about all the reasons Zane had to do it and why he was tired of all that is a definite plus point. I really came to admire Zane because of the way he handled his father and the tensions at home. It really seemed like he’d spontaneously combust with all the rage boiling up inside him!

The oncoming major plot twist took me by hell of a surprise and I was left gawking like an idiot. The action in the book really kicked it up a notch towards the end. Also, the way Ariane’s identity is finally revealed to Zane is very thrilling and not at all clichéd. I pretty much had no idea how it’d all end and let me just say that Stacey Kade has won me over and left me breathless. I’d highly recommend The Rules to YA sci-fi readers. 
Now just where can I find book 2?
THE QUOTES

“The trouble with rules, though, is that you’ll always be tempted to break one- for the right reasons, due to unavoidable circumstances, because it feels as if there’s no other choice. And once you break one, the rest seem like so much broken glass. The damage is already done.”

“It might have been my human side clamoring for blood, or my alien side looking for a chance to exercise strategic dominance over a lesser life form. Either way, I was going to win.” 

Thanks to Disney and NetGalley for providing me an eARC of The Rules for review.