Book Review: Nobody + Giveaway!

Nobody
by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
393 pages
Publisher: EgmontUSA
Publication Date: January 22, 2013
Source: Publisher for Review (Thanks Egmont USA!)
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The most dangerous people in the world... are the ones you don't even see.

Some people are Nobodies: ignored, unloved, practically invisible in every way. No one notices them. No one cares about them. They exist under the radar, forgotten as soon as you turn away. No one sees them coming. No one sees them leave.

That's why Nobodies make the perfect assassins.

Seventeen-year-old Nix is very good at his job. So when the organization he works for sends him after a teenager girl named Claire, he doesn't ask questions. He's a killer. She needs to die.

For sixteen years, Claire has led a normal life being overlooked. Her parents are absent. She doesn't have any friends. She has no idea what she is, or why anyone would want her dead. But she's about to find out, because from the moment Nix attempts to carry out his mission, the two are caught up in a conspiracy of murder, cover-ups, and betrayal.

Nix is a killer. Claire is his target. But when he sets eyes on her, everything changes, because only the two of them can truly see each other - and two Nobodies are more than twice as dangerous as one.

What if the world is not what it seems? What if people are not what they seem? What if there's more to that celebrity, more to your teacher, more to your sibling, than meets the eye? In Nobody there are people, and then there are people who are more than people. The Sensors with their heightened senses, the Nulls who care only for themselves and can make you care for them too, and then the Nobodies, who don't really matter at all, until they're sent to kill you.

Sounds like a riveting and brilliant idea right? If there is one thing Nobody has it's ingenuity. Jennifer Lynn Barnes has managed to create a world in which everything is as it seems and yet nothing is as it seems. It's a world we know well, and yet there is also a world of intrigue and evil bubbling up from beneath the surface.

In this world of The Society there is Nix, a Nobody. He's been a trained assassin for The Society for years and he's never questioned a kill. Not until he meets Claire. He's told that Claire is a Null, but it turns out that Claire is actually a Nobody, just like him. Someone that is basically invisible. Living life but forever unnoticed and forgotten. Jennifer Lynn Barnes spent the first 3rd of this book setting up the Claire and Nix dynamic and honestly I was not a fan. Let's just say that if I saw a guy outside my bedroom window about to shoot me with a sniper rifle, I would not be cozying up to him just days later. I don't care that he's the only guy in the world who notices Claire exists, HE TRIED TO KILL HER. RUN GIRL RUN!!!! And yes, he built you a bookshelf which is admittedly sweet, but let's remember what's really important here: HE TRIED TO KILL YOU. Just remember that.

So after the slightly torturous first 3rd of the book in which the Nix/Claire romantic uncertainty is center stage, the plot finally picks up and we get to the good stuff aka Society take down badassery!  It's pretty epic from here on out. Breaking and entering, the Fade, drug serums, and poison gas all come into play. Did I mention the finale involves total meltdown annihilation and magical healing blood powers? Yeah, stuff get's crazy. And to top it off the ending is reminiscent of a fairytale complete with "happily ever after." I'm not even kidding. It's almost ridiculous how ridiculous the ending is, but that's part of the fun.

So all in all I have a sort of love hate relationship with this book. I have a pretty strong dislike for the whole Nix/Claire romance, but on the other hand I really like the rest of what Jennifer Lynn Barnes created. I think idea that certain humans give off different levels of energy was really unique and everything that went with those concepts was really well thought out. The only thing is that I wish more time had been spent on developing the Society and how it was run. We get a bit of backstory, but most of it is left to the imagination. I just felt like it needed more. I also wanted more descriptions. They were so sparse in this book that half the time it was like the characters were running around on a blank canvas in my imagination. Give the reader a bit more to work with!

All in all Nobody has a promising premise but, in my eyes, it falls a bit short. I wanted to love this book so much, especially since the concept is so unique, but ultimately there were a few major flaws that I just couldn't get past. However, I still enjoyed it and I hope that if this review piques your interest you'll give it a read!

I give Nobody 3.5 out of 5 ice cream cones.

GIVEAWAY TIME!!!!!!! *throws confetti*




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Julia :)