The Jewel

To be honest I am not sure what to say about this book. I didn't like it that much. BUT I wasn't able to put it down. The world of The Lone City series reminded me a lot of The Selection series. The poor girl gets drawn into the world of the wealthy and noble aristocrats and is selected by one of the many duchesses and countesses and whatnot to bear their child, because the rich people aren't able to deliver healthy babies (I still don't get how this genetic disfunction is still around and why only rich people have it and stuff, but we'll see how the story goes on) It took me a long time to get used to the world of The Jewel, but I'd still recommend it. If you like Dystopian YA this is one of the many well written books out there worth your time ;)

Beginnt durchaus interessant und spannend, fällt dann aber leider mit Beginn der Liebesgeschichte ab ...

Kurze Inhaltsangabe: Violet Lasting, Surrogat Nummer 197 von 200, stammt aus den Randbezirken des Landes. Ihre besondere Gabe, Dinge wachsen zu lassen, bringt sie in das Juwel. Sie wird bei einer Auktion an die Herzogin vom See verkauft und tauscht Armut gegen Prunk. Dafür soll sie der Herzogin das größtmögliche Geschenk machen: Ein Kind. Ein außergewöhnliches Kind. Denn Violet kann das Wachstum des Kindes, sein Aussehen und seine Fähigkeiten beeinflussen. Doch der Herzogin scheint „außergewöhnlich“ nicht gut genug. Das Kind soll eher zur Welt gebracht werden, als alle anderen Kinder, zudem hübscher sein und einzigartig. Violet kommt an ihre Grenzen, physisch und mental. Dabei darf sie weder widersprechen, ungefragt reden oder irgendetwas fühlen. Als sie sich verliebt, möchte sie nur noch aus dem goldenen Käfig entfliehen, der ihren emotionalen oder wortwörtlichen Untergang bedeutet. In Sorge um ihre beste Freundin Raven, die sich bereits in einem lethargischen Zustand befindet, um sich selbst und ihre Zukunft als Mutter, sucht Violet nach einer Fluchtmöglichkeit für sich und alle anderen Surrogate. Meine Meinung: Bei dem Klappentext und dem Cover musste ich zuerst an The Selection von Kiera Cass denken. Die Bücher ähneln sich auch in so mancher Hinsicht: Armes Mädchen erfährt plötzlichen Luxus, wird hergerichtet und in schönen Kleidern und mit perfektem Makeup präsentiert,… Darüber hinaus gibt es allerdings keine Parallelen. Die Geschichte um Violet ist emotional viel berührender und wirft eine Vielzahl an moralischen Fragen auf, die jede Menge Diskussionsstoff bieten. Das Thema Leihmutterschaft wird angeschnitten, außerdem werden die Surrogate gehalten wie Sklaven oder gar Haustiere, die vorgeführt werden, um zu prahlen und anzugeben. Bereits auf den ersten paar Seiten des Buches, steckte mir der erste Kloß im Hals: Die Unterhaltung zwischen Violet und ihrer Schwester Hazel, nachdem sie sich Jahre nicht gesehen haben, traf mich zutiefst: „‚Das sind wir für dich? Eine Rechnung, die du begleichen musst, bevor du losziehst und in einem Palast im Juwel lebst? […] Du wolltest einfach nur die ganzen schönen Sachen haben, neue Kleider, frisches Essen und heißes Wasser. Das bekommst du da nämlich, das weiß ich, du brauchst nicht zu lügen.‘ ‚Ja, das bekomme ich dort. Aber glaubst du denn nicht, dass ich das alles auf der Stelle aufgeben würde, wenn ich dafür wieder bei euch leben dürfte? Wenn ich dich dafür abends ins Bett bringen und dir ein Gutenachtlied vorsingen könnte? Wenn ich dafür mit dir bei Regen Kuchen aus Sand backen könnte und Ocker damit bewerfen, wenn er nicht aufpasst?‘ Die Bilder steigen in mir auf, drohen mich zu überwältigen. Bilder des Lebens, das ich hätte haben können. Arm natürlich, aber glücklich.“ (Seite 36-37) Lediglich die Tatsache, dass sich Violet in einer solchen Umgebung wie dem Herzoginnenpalast Hals über Kopf verliebt und sich dabei unverantwortlich aufführt, passte ganz und garnicht in das Bild, das ich bis dato von ihr hatte. Alles zu riskieren für eine Beziehung, die gar nicht genug Zeit hatte, sich ordentlich zu entwickeln, scheint mir sehr unpassend. Die Liebesgeschichte zwischen den beiden hätte etwas stärker ausgebaut werden sollen, um das zu rechtfertigen. Auf der anderen Seite ist ein solches Verhalten für ein 16-jähriges Mädchen wohl nicht ungewöhnlich. Mit 16 fühlt sich jede engere Beziehung wie die große Liebe an… Die restlichen Charaktere werden angeschnitten, aber nicht weiter aufgegriffen. Ich hoffe, in dem bald erscheinenden Band 2 erfahren wir mehr zu den einzelnen Charakteren und den gesellschaftlichen Strukturen im Juwel. Von mir gibts knappe 4 von 5 Sternen. Um sich den vierten Stern zu bewahren, sollte Ewing in Band 2 noch einen Zahn zulegen, doch selbst wenn nicht, freue ich mich schon sehr auf die Fortsetzung!:)

4,5 Sterne und ich kann den 2. Teil kaum erwarten.

Starker Anfang, schwächelnd in der Mitte, cliffhanger Ende. Ich brauch Teil 2, sofort!

Reread

3.5! It was really original and refreshing only I wish some of the characters would have more depth. I'm still excited to get to the second one though I feel like it's gonna be good

1,5 Sterne

The book was very easy to read, I finished it in just a day, wich - in my case - is always a sign for a good book. I love books that contain beautiful dresses, royal people, intrigues and rebellion in general, so NOT-loving this book wasn't an option for me. Surprise - I loved the storyline just like I predicted it. Because it simply offers you all the things that I mentioned above. BUT: the main character seemed a little plain to me and I don't like the male main-character. The books lovestory also seemed a bit rushed and unnecessary to me. I actually read the german version, so I don't know if you got this problem in the english one, but the tense switched in some situations very weirdly. After all I still very enjoyed this book, and I can't wait for the second one to be released in my country.

actual rating: 3.5 stars REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILER I’ve been debating whether to buy and read this book or not for weeks, even months now. I fell in love with the book cover the second I saw it. When I read the synopsis I got all excited because it sounded like a YA book I’d totally enjoy. Although I don’t care much about the real royals in the real world, Kate and William for example, I love books that feature royals; princesses, princes, gorgeous dresses, beautiful houses, etc. pp. So when I finally picked up the book on a whim I expecte d princesses and princes, gorgeous dresses; expected a story maybe even similar to The Selection by Kiera Cass but I definitely didn’t expect any of THIS. The Jewel is a place of wealth. A place where royal women cannot reproduce, a place, where exactly those women buy beautiful and talented girls from an auction. It’s a place where these teenage girls become surrogates; a place where these surrogates have special powers to change shapes, colors and sizes; powers the royals want to use to „create“ their unborn children. I think on some level I should have disliked this book but I ended up enjoying it a lot actually. Although this book is hands down one of the weirest books I’ve ever read (believe me, it is) it’s also kind of good and interesting and different and definitely something I haven’t read before. The Jewel is a very quick read and I literally sped through all the pages. I couldn’t put it down because even though the plot is pretty weird, it’s also very intriguing. Another plus is that none of the characters irritated me too much, well at least not until the last 100 pages or so. A world as described in The Jewel really fascinates me; but the thought that this could be real sometime in the future is really scary. It’s awful and somewhat disgusting and the fact that these teenage girls are treated like slaves; just like human incubators made me want to puke, but although this was absolutely HORRIBLE it’s what makes this book so interesting. The plot has some similarities to other dystopian novels. There are a lot of political and royal scandals in The Jewel as well. The royals invite each other to dinners and parties, but they actually all hate each other and plot against each other; even want to see each other dead so they are all basically frenemies, which I loved because it just shows how fake this world is; that it’s all about fame and glory and who’s surrogate gives birth to the most beautiful and talented child because there’s one thing they all want; they want their daughter to become the wife of the princess’ son. The surrogates are treated as trophies or something, they even have to walk around on leashes which is so humiliating. I felt so sorry for Violet and all the other surrogates. Although I quite liked the whole plot I still don’t really understand, why the surrogates even exist and how they exist and how they receive there powers, etc. This was only briefly explained and I really wished the author would have explained a little more/better how the royal’s children died early or were born sick or whatever. I just didn’t understand everything why and how and I really hope that this will be explained in book two, which is one reason why I really want to continue the series because I just want to know what happened in the past how this world became such a horrific place to live in. And then, I think around page 250 or something, the romance kicked in … and I hated it. It was totally unnecessary and just really sucked. Violet meets this super gorgeous guy named Ash. As most of the time in YA fiction, they meet, they exchange glances, they kiss, they make out and – of course – fall unconditionally in love with each other after like what? Two weeks? I was really disappointed in the romance because there could have been so much potential but it wasn’t because Ash came in way too late and it was all insta-love again and there’s nothing I hate more. My personal opinion is that the author should have just spared the romance. Not every book needs a love story. The romance is actually what made me dislike the book a little; also Violet – after falling in love with Ash – turned in such an unlikable character, it drove me nuts. I really liked her at the beginning, loved her way of thinking; loved how strong she was and how much she wanted to protect and save not only herself, but also her best friend but then that gorgeous guy Ash comes around and her personally totally changes. Why? It seriously annoyed the hell out of me. I liked the book so much up to this point; would even say I was addicted and then this happened and I was like WTF? No, just no. The book is still worth reading though; don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I hate the book now only because of the romance. I still think the plot is very intriguing, very interesting and fascinating and different from everything I’ve read so far and I’m definitely continuing with the series and I’m very excited for book two, I just wish the author would have found a way to make it better. I assume the reason why she wanted Violet to fall in love with Ash in the first place was because she needed them to get caught so that everything what happened in the end, could happen and made somewhat sense. I also want to mention that this book has a terrible cliffhanger, another reason why I need book two like right now because I cannot stand all the anticipation to finally find out what’s gonna happen next. I just hope that book two either expounds on the romance or gets rid of it completely because this book really doesn’t need any romance at all. Another thing I really loved about the book are the different houses of royalty; I loved the names also, they were so much fun and thoughtful, they all fit perfectly to the houses and the people. I think this is definitely a YA novel I’d recommend, not because of the love story, but because of the well written characters (up to a certain point) and the very interesting plot full of political scandals. If you want to read a YA book that’s different from anything you’ve read before, you should definitely pick this one up but please do not expect too much from the romance because that really sucked – at least in my opinion it did. I can’t wait to finally read book two (probably going to pick it up this week). I’m very excited to see what happens next with Violet, Ash, Lucien and Raven. My Review