Possession [P]Review!

Today is my stop on Elana's tour celebrating the release of Possession. Before I get to talking about the book, I want to say a couple of things about Elana. If you don't know EJ, well then you're probably not a writer who blogs, but more importantly, if you don't follow her blog, than you're seriously missing out. In fact, if you follow my blog, but somehow managed to come here without ever seeing her blog first, then there is probably something wrong with you. Seriously. Or you just got back from an alternate universe.

Why am I so high on Elana? Well for one thing: look at her. Over there, to the right. Have you ever seen a kinder face? It matches who she is ... perfectly.

Anyway, it's really because she is the nicest published author you will ever meet, and she is the most giving and helpful person I have ever known, though how she manages to find the time for everything she does, I will never know. Every time I have asked her for help, she didn't hesitate. And there are literally thousands of us whose lives and careers Elana has made a difference in.

Thank you EJ!

Anyway, go visit her, and make sure you're following. Now.

Once you've taken care of that, let's get to the book. I mean that is the fun part.

Possession is Elana Johnson's debut young adult novel. Here is the jacket copy:

Vi knows the Rule: Girls don’t walk with boys, and they never even think about kissing them. But no one makes Vi want to break the Rules more than Zenn…and since the Thinkers have chosen him as Vi’s future match, how much trouble can one kiss cause? The Thinkers may have brainwashed the rest of the population, but Vi is determined to think for herself.

But the Thinkers are unusually persuasive, and they’re set on convincing Vi to become one of them….starting by brainwashing Zenn. Vi can’t leave Zenn in the Thinkers’ hands, but she’s wary of joining the rebellion, especially since that means teaming up with Jag. Jag is egotistical, charismatic, and dangerous: everything Zenn’s not. Vi can’t quite trust Jag and can’t quite resist him, but she also can’t give up on Zenn.

This is a game of control or be controlled. And Vi has no choice but to play.

And here is Elana's bio:

Elana Johnson’s debut novel, Possession, will be published by Simon Pulse (Simon & Schuster) on June 7, 2011. Her popular ebook, From the Query to the Call, is also available for free download. School teacher by day, Query Ninja by night, you can find her online at her personal blog or Twitter. She also co-founded the Query Tracker blog and WriteOnCon, and contributes to the League of Extraordinary Writers. Elana is represented by Michelle Andelman of Regal Literary.

Now let's finally get down to why you're here. Sorry, I tend to ramble because I don't have many friends in real life, and I'd rather talk to you all anyway. So: what's my take on Possession?

This book is hard to talk about online, if you're not discussing it with people who've already read it. The reason for this is probably obvious, but it's also one of the biggest things that make this book great.

Since I'm not going to spoil anything for you, let me just start with what I can discuss: the characters.

Jag Barque has quickly become one of my favorite all time characters. I loved him from the very first moment I read his name, over a year ago when Elana was kind enough to share her query with me, and give it some kick-ass analysis as well. Anyway, Jag is hilarious, sarcastic, defiant, and uber-cool. Exactly everything I wanted to be when I was a teenager, except for the awesome spiky hair ala:

Awesome, right? He's also kind, and caring toward Vi. Well, most of the time. The rest of the time he's kind of an annoying snot, but that's really believable, because that's what teenage dudes are like. I know, because I still am one (mentally).

Vi was great to read too, because she was full of questions, and let's just say: a little bit conflicted about how she should feel, and what she should do about her situation. I can't say much more without giving anything away, but I do want to cover just two more aspects.

First, the tech and sci-fi/dystopian elements in this story worked very well for me. It was just enough to make it fun, well paced, full of action, and exciting, without bogging me down with a lot of details, or too much science and technology. I'm a total nerd, but I tend to prefer my details on the original fantasy race language and giant family tree appendix side.

Second, oh man this book has an ending. I would never even mention something like this (because of the chance to spoil it), but it's already been talked about in some major industry reviews. I'm not going to give you any more details, because that would be lame, but I will say this book has one of the best endings I've read since the end of the first Bartimaues Trilogy, and that's saying something.

Thanks so much for making me a part of your tour Elana, it's an amazing experience to get to play even a tiny part in your success.

Now, some notes: my daughter Kylie is also giving her own review of Possession, over on Elana's blog. But you already went over there, and made sure you were following her, so you know that.

The other thing is that Elana is doing this amazing query critique conference call helper outer thingy, on June 23rd. It sounds really amazing, so you should go check out the details, here, at Robin Week's blog.