by: Mary Weber
Publication Date: 6/6/2017
The Evaporation of Sofi Snow is set in a (not-so) distant future after the fourth world war, where most of the Earth's population is living in poverty. Jobs have reached an all-time low, there is a world-wide oil shortage, and autonomy is non-existent as everything is recorded and uploaded every day. And along with all of that, an alien race known as the Delonese are still garnering suscpicion even eleven years after their arrival as they have kept too much to themselves. In order to provide a bit of entertainment and opportunity for the people, the FanFight games were created.
"Games mean life. Relief from poverty, barely affordable medications, and a severe lack of jobs."
The games are a mashup of virtual reality and real obstacles, requiring the players to use their own skills, and a team of techs to help them survive until all of the other players are knocked out of the rounds.
We follows Sofi as she tries to find her brother Shilo after he mysteriously disappears when a bomb is set off during the games. She believes that he is alive and that he has been taken to Delon, a planet belonging to the Delonese.
The first third of the book explores the games, which are a combination of virtual reality and real life obstacles that the players have to try and get through. I loved how well-written each of the rounds are and how I found myself glued to the page wanting to know what would happen next. Even though the concept of the games is fairly new, I found it easy to understand and follow along with. However,Viewers would vote on the obstacles and I found it hard to believe that everyone would just tune into their television and watch as children were injured and sometimes seriously maimed all for the sake of a chance for one of them to live a better life. I also found it hard to believe that the citizens could watch at their homes (assuming they had homes) and see all of the extravagent opulence of the rich and not question why their own life is so horrible.
As the book progressed it moved away from the games and more into political motivations and exploration of the alien species, The Delonese.
While I do think a lot of good topics were discussed, like human trafficking, and what it means to be human, the book started to draaaaaaag. And it started to lose its focus. There was more than a little emphasis put on the main character's relationship with an old flame, but in such a way that made it seem like the author didn't want to draw too much attention to it. But, because of this, their relationship ended up becoming an awkward sore thumb.
I really enjoyed the characterization of a lot of the characters and I was really impressed with the minimal slut-shaming that YA books always like to exaggerate. In this case, the main character admitted to having sexual relations with several people, yet she didn't feel ashamed of her actions. And while I don't think this makes her a good role-model for most seventeen year olds, it was refreshing to not have to hear her inner dialogue or any other character's monologue about how she should see herself as trash.
In addition, one of the characters was bilingual and I loved how when he spoke some words would end up in Spanish and the rest of the sentence would be in English.
Honestly, the side characters were the best part of the whole book. They were extremely memorable, and at times more developed then the main characters. I felt like Vicero (who was an AI, was original and quirky), as well as Claudius (who was a fashion god and hilarious), outshined and sometimes outperformed the main characters, even though they typically would had lesser roles.
Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book, especially the beginning and the end. But, I felt like I left with a lot of questions and I didn't think the world was developed quite the way I wanted it to be. The characters were different and enjoyable, but the relationships seemed forced and underdeveloped at times. I think this was a good start to a series and fans of The Hunger Games will most likely enjoy this book.
Would I recommend?
Yes. This wouldn't necessarily be my top book to recommend, but if someone was looking for a dystopian with a sci-fi elements, then this might be one of the ones I would recommend.
**I received this book from NetGalley, and the publisher, Thomas Nelson, in exchange for a review. However, all opinions are my own.
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