I am completely guilty of judging books by their covers. And I fully admit that the first thing that drew me in about GUNSLINGER GIRL was the beautiful cover.
Look. At. Those. Colors.
I also tried and failed to get into VENGEANCE ROAD by Erin Bowman, and wasn’t sure if Western-themed books were for me. But after I received two copies of FURYBORN by Claire Legrand, I got super lucky and found someone willing to trade their ARC of GUNSLINGER GIRL. (Thanks so much, Jaime, hope you’re loving FURYBORN!) And to my delight, I absolutely loved this.
The 411: After the Second Civil War (in which, surprise, the North was the bad guys), Serendipity aka Pity and her family are relegated to one of the many communes in the Confederation of North Americas. In order to escape her cruel father, Pity goes on the run. She connects with a ragtag group who are on their way back to Cessation, a city where as its name implies, the rules cease to apply and evil runs rampant.
Pity finds a place at Casimir and its Theatre Vespertine, where she uses her skills with the now “antiquated” guns as a form of entertainment. As she navigates her new life in the city of lawlessness, Pity gets caught up in the dark world of under-the-table politics and power swimming around Cessation and the country in general.
It’s a dystopian western, guys. A DYSTOPIAN WESTERN. This is such an impressive debut. Ely completely takes the tried-and-true dystopian novel and presents such a fresh, new spin. I hope this isn’t the last time we meet Pity and the gang. I want more stories from this world. *Makes puppy eyes at Lyndsay Ely*
If you were a fan of THE HUNGER GAMES, but found Katniss grating, I highly suggest giving this a try. Same with DIVERGENT and Tris. Pity is one kick-ass heroine who doesn’t surrender her morals and ethics for fame or even *gasp* a guy. But the romance IS super cute. I did a little fistpump when it finally happened. This was so much fun. Just so much fun 🙂
MY RATING: ✰✰✰✰
RECOMMENDED FOR: dystopian lovers, or former dystopian lovers who need something fresh
Gunslinger Girl is published through jimmy patterson books and is available Jan. 2, 2018.