Susana "Lost in Fantasy Land"

   Arc provided by Margaret K. McElderry Books through Netgalley
            
   Release Date: September 22 nd

Look, reading the first pages, I thought for sure that this was going to be a winner: the concept! For crying out loud!
I haven't read a book with an addictive concept like this one in ages.

Unfortunately, the execution feels as if it followed a god damn list: insert this... insert that... no soul whatsoever.

Here's the thing, I am all about diversity in books. And at first glance, this book seemed to have nailed it perfectly.

We have characters from different parts of the globe. One Asian character is in fact one of the main characters ( and part of a pointless love triangle), and were you to ask me which of them all I cared for the most, my choice would have to be Xie, because Greta annoyed the hell out of me.

We have GLBT relationships, although I didn't find any depth whatsoever in them.
In fact, I didn't find any depth in any of the characters or relationships between them.
There wasn't any character development.

Greta is supposed to be this great leader, someone that all the other kids follow and listen to, and I honestly don't see what's so special about her. She's as interesting as yesterday's bread.

What brings us to the actual story...
Imagine a bunch of kids on a farm, and they have to manage said farm if they want to eat... that implies farming, and animal husbandry (you even get treated to goat's insemination, yay -_-), namely goats.
I think I had read about seventy percent of this, when I decided to count how many goat references there were... I counted one hundred and twenty five.

Do not sell a book as a Hunger Games "wannabe", with flat characters and more than one hundred and twenty five references to goats.
 
This was boring and draining to read, and the only reason I didn't DNF it is because I've become too stubborn to do it.
As for the Evil guy (Talis), the master mind behind the reality these kids are living, the AI who controls the world?
o_O
Sorry, but it was filled with too many plot holes.
I can honestly say that I won't be continuing with this series.·