Icons by Margaret Stohl

Goodreads
428 pages, YA Dystopian, Sci-Fi
Icons #1
My rating: 4 stars

Synopsis

Your heart beats only with their permission.

Everything changed on The Day. The day the windows shattered. The day the power stopped. The day Dol's family dropped dead. The day Earth lost a war it didn't know it was fighting.

Since then, Dol has lived a simple life in the countryside -- safe from the shadow of the Icon and its terrifying power. Hiding from the one truth she can't avoid.

She's different. She survived. Why?

When Dol and her best friend, Ro, are captured and taken to the Embassy, off the coast of the sprawling metropolis once known as the City of Angels, they find only more questions. While Ro and fellow hostage Tima rage against their captors, Dol finds herself drawn to Lucas, the Ambassador's privileged son. But the four teens are more alike than they might think, and the timing of their meeting isn't a coincidence. It's a conspiracy.

Within the Icon's reach, Dol, Ro, Tima, and Lucas discover that their uncontrollable emotions -- which they've always thought to be their greatest weaknesses -- may actually be their greatest strengths.

Bestselling author Margaret Stohl delivers the first book in a heart-pounding series set in a haunting new world where four teens must piece together the mysteries of their pasts -- in order to save the future.

My 2 cents

When I heard that Margaret Stohl had written a new YA dystopian novel, I had to get it right away and read it! I did have high expectations because I love the Beautiful Creatures series so much, and this book didn't quite meet my expectations. It was a good read, but I didn't love it.

Dol (Doloria) and Ro (Furo) have been raised outside of conventional society their whole lives. 16 years ago, "The Day" happened. Aliens took over our planet with high tech. They implanted 13 "Icons" all over the planet that shut down our whole system--it can even stop our hearts from beating. Millions were killed, including Dol's and Ro's parents. The House of Lords (the aliens) are now in control of our planet, and the Embassy (human government that works with the aliens) oversee the cities. 

We learn pretty quickly that Dol and Ro are very different from everyone else. They have these colored dots on their wrists that they keep wrapped up from prying eyes. These dots allow them to feel emotions very strongly. Dol is called "The Weeper" because she feels mostly sorrow, and Ro is "The Rager" because he feels anger. 

They are captured by the Embassy, and there they meet two more "Icon Children" as they are called, Tima and Lucas. Lucas is the son of the head of the Embassy, she's called The Ambassador. Tima is his best friend, but she's essentially a prisoner.

Phew. Now that I've got that all set up for you, I'll talk about the book! 

The writing style in this story is very different, and it took awhile for me to get into. I enjoyed the second half of the story a lot more than the first, mainly because not a lot was explained until halfway in. A lot of it was guesswork, which definitely kept up the suspense, but left me a little confused. 

The characters took a little while to develop as well. I didn't really connect with Dol until the very end of the story. Lucas's character was the most in depth of the four kids. I actually liked his computer "friend", Doc the best of the book! The humorous digital bodyguard was cleverly written. 

The ending was very well done, and was my favorite part of the story. I'm hoping now that we have the story set up, the next book in the series will be even better!