Book Review: Atlantia by Ally Condie

Description from Goodreads
Can you hear Atlantia breathing?

For as long as she can remember, Rio has dreamt of the sand and sky Above—of life beyond her underwater city of Atlantia. But in a single moment, all her plans for the future are thwarted when her twin sister, Bay, makes an unexpected decision, stranding Rio Below. Alone, ripped away from the last person who knew Rio’s true self—and the powerful siren voice she has long hidden—she has nothing left to lose.

Guided by a dangerous and unlikely mentor, Rio formulates a plan that leads to increasingly treacherous questions about her mother’s death, her own destiny, and the complex system constructed to govern the divide between land and sea. Her life and her city depend on Rio to listen to the voices of the past and to speak long-hidden truths.

Initial Thoughts
I'm really excited to read this. I loved her Matched Trilogy (and I talked about how much a bit in last year's favorite books of 2013 post), and am excited to read a stand alone novel. And the premise sounds exciting!

My Review
Maybe I hyped this book up too much in my own head prior to reading, but I really didn't ever get into this. I tried really hard. And I kept reading way past the time I usually would have given up, but I kept waiting for something. 

The book itself is mainly about two sets of sisters. And their lives Below. Below is the city of Atlantia, which was created after Above became too polluted to live in. Two of the sisters in the sets are Siren's, which have extremely powerful voices. And even knowing what Siren's are, the book never actually touches on anything about them, other than they are miracles and their voices are powerful. And it never goes too much into the relationships either of the younger girls have with their respective love interests- it barely glosses over them.
The author herself says this is a book about family, but the older sets of sisters don't have a relationship and we never really learn much about them at all, and the younger sets of sisters are close, but I never really felt the bond for myself. (And you know, as a reader, that you can feel that bond between characters if it's written well enough.)

By the end of this book, I just felt relief that I had finished it. 


When I initially finished the book, I gave it 3 stars on Goodreads, but I have since changed it to 2. I just really didn't like it very much at all.
I'm not giving up on Ally Condie as an author, but I definitely won't get too excited about her next book.


Disclosure: I borrowed this book from my local library. All thoughts and opinions are my own.