ARC Review: Pawn (The Blackcoat Rebellion #1) by Aimee Carter

The blurb as seen on Goodreads:
Release Date: November 26, 2013
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
346 Pages

For Kitty Doe, it seems like an easy choice. She can either spend her life as a III in misery, looked down upon by the higher ranks and forced to leave the people she loves, or she can become a VII and join the most powerful family in the country.

If she says yes, Kitty will be Masked—surgically transformed into Lila Hart, the Prime Minister's niece, who died under mysterious circumstances. As a member of the Hart family, she will be famous. She will be adored. And for the first time, she will matter.

There's only one catch. She must also stop the rebellion that Lila secretly fostered, the same one that got her killed …and one Kitty believes in. Faced with threats, conspiracies and a life that's not her own, she must decide which path to choose—and learn how to become more than a pawn in a twisted game she's only beginning to understand.

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Dead at seventeen. It would be a relief.

Kitty Doe lives in a world where at seventeen your life is decided for you by one test. This test ranks people and sets their place in society. Kitty was ranked a III – not a horrible option, but definitely less than what she wanted. Feeling like she’s doomed to a life of sanitation and being forced to leave the only home she’s known, Kitty is out of options. When a chance comes along to change her III to a VII (the highest ranking given), she jumps at the chance. She’s stripped of everything that makes her her and given someone else’s life and face. Not knowing that this puts her directly in the middle of a war where Kitty is just a pawn.

Dystopian books are popping up everywhere now. And not going to lie, I am enjoying them. Pawn was no different. While the initial set up wasn’t that different from others before it – segregation of class based on certain attributes – the execution and delivery was a tad refreshing. Instead of us just accepting the world at face value, Carter weaves a tale of political corruption and how far people go for power. I would have liked to have known a little more about how the test came into existence and also exactly what the test is, but the backstory given is so rich in other details that I can accept this.

Kitty was an interesting main character. I didn’t necessarily find her extremely strong, but I also didn’t find her weak. For me, she fell in between the two. She was human and she made mistakes and for the most part, she went with what people told her to do. She was confused and thrust into a position of power she never expected to have, but also having to understand that the power wasn’t hers but the people controlling her. 

While there were two main male characters, the author stayed away from the typical love triangle. Even though I must admit that the love story didn’t go the way I wanted it to, at least it wasn’t the cliché. And it introduced a character that I came to love: Knox. Knox is the fiancé of the person Kitty is pretending to be, but he’s not without secrets himself. When he’s first introduced I was extremely wary of him. Dark, brooding, rich, and powerful – he had all the makings of a bad boy. But as the story progressed, I believe that Knox came to be Kitty’s best ally.

This book had mystery, corruption, greed. It had moments that made me hate what humanity had become. And it had twists that surprised the hell out of me because I didn’t see most of them coming. The ending sets up the next book which I will be anxiously awaiting it’s release.  

I received an e-copy of this novel from the publisher for my honest opinion and review via Netgalley.