Mainstream-Mini Review: Icons By Margaret Stohl

Icons By Margaret Stohl

Published 2013 By 

Little Brown Books for Young Readers

"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 REVIEW ~

Icons is a great read. Intense and uplifting, with everything you crave in a good YA novel. I enjoyed this much more than the Beautiful Creatures series. It just has that 'something special' feel to it. Perhaps it was the distinct dystopian aspects that drew me in. That exciting rush of siding with the rebels. Could be any number of things, but this story will definitely keep you reading. Of course, like many books, I found the last quarter to be the best. I breezed through it, and it was over much too soon. The first half was predominatly world building and setting the stage for much grander things, but equally as engrossing. With all the conspiracy theories and secrets that keep popping in, you'll be doing a lot of guess work. Our four MCs, the Icon Children, each stood out in their own way. They grew into themselves as the story progressed and really made it complete. I'm a big Lucas/Dol fan, although my appreciation for Lucas came much later. They're so different, yet fit together nicely. I'm excited to see this has already been adapted for film, and hope there is a movie in the works. This is a promising series, and in my opinion, will work much better for the big screen than Beautiful Creatures did. So, in short, highly recommend Icons!