Review: Mind Games by Kiersten White

Mind Games by Kiersten White

Series: Mind Games, Book #1

Published: February 19th, 2013

Publisher: HarperTeen

256 pages (ebook)

Genre: Young adult science fiction/thriller

Acquired this book: From HarperTeen via Edelweiss

Warning: May contain spoilers

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 {My review of Paranormalcy || My review of Supernaturally || My review of Endlessly}

Fia was born with flawless instincts. Her first impulse, her gut feeling, is always exactly right. Her sister, Annie, is blind to the world around her—except when her mind is gripped by strange visions of the future.

Trapped in a school that uses girls with extraordinary powers as tools for corporate espionage, Annie and Fia are forced to choose over and over between using their abilities in twisted, unthinkable ways…or risking each other’s lives by refusing to obey.

In a stunning departure from her New York Times bestselling Paranormalcy trilogy, Kiersten White delivers a slick, edgy, heartstoppingly intense psychological thriller about two sisters determined to protect each other—no matter the cost.

 

 

Kiersten White definitely has a knack for writing stories with unique concepts. I very much enjoyed her Paranormalcy trilogy, and was curious to see what she would come up with next. Mind Games, while completely different from Paranormalcy, was just as original and captivating.

Mind Games was very intense. The alternating POV between sisters Fia and Annie, and the fact that most of the story was told in the first person present tense made everything have a sense of urgency. You really got inside the characters’ heads, which was part of what made things so intense - seeing and feeling everything they experienced, which was sometimes quite horrific.

When the story was told from Fia’s perspective, it was all over the place. It was a lot of stream of consciousness type storytelling, and while it was scattered, it worked for her because she was so broken and damaged, how could you expect someone like that to have a coherent train of thought? Because of the world she lived in and the people she dealt with, everything she thought and did could be seen or heard, so she had learned to make snap decisions and to be careful what she thought about around certain people. Annie’s POV, for the most part, was more coherent. I thought both sisters emotions came across very well - their feelings of being trapped, wanting to keep each other safe, often feeling desperate and hopeless, and being afraid to hope things could ever change. My heart broke for both of them.

Besides the different POVs, the story was told alternately in the present and in the past, which was sometimes confusing. If I set the book down, I couldn’t remember where or when the story was taking place. It felt really random and chaotic at times, but because the story was so fast paced (and fairly short) I got used to it as the book went on. With so much action happening in such a short period of time, and with the story being very much character-based, it sometimes felt like the plot was lacking, as was actual character development. While I normally prefer stories that have a lot of character growth and development, I felt the style worked for this particular story. 

Overall, Mind Games is an intense story about the bonds of sisterhood, loyalty, and sacrifice. While I found it a bit scattered at times, I really enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys fast-paced, unique stories with lots of action. I’m eager to find out what happens to Fia and Annie next.

UK title and cover:

 

 Have you read Mind Games? What did you think? Have you read the Paranormalcy trilogy?

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