Review: Sovereign by A.J. Whitney

Disclaimer: I received an advanced copy of this book via NetGalley

Sovereign by A.J. Whitney is a dystopian young adult novel about an orphan named 332 whose destiny is to be sacrificed for the good of her community. When the practice is questioned, debate rages about its continued relevance, leading to 332 questioning everything she believes in.

At its heart, Sovereign is a good concept, even if it has been done to death in the genre. The world is not as it seems. The status quo has been in place for centuries but one person comes along to challenge it. The problem with Sovereign is that the main character isn’t the one doing the challenging.

She’s pulled along by forces out of her control. The adults in her life, and in particular the loving caretaker Maggie, are the ones who try to affect change. It leaves the story feeling disjointed and distant, as though we’re looking at events from the outside. That’s not to say that she doesn’t have any agency, but it’s hard to get a sense of them against the world when half the world is on their side. For the most part it feels as though the plot is just going through the motions and hitting plot points as it needs to with very little tension to keep things interesting.

The physical descriptions of characters are quite good and I felt as though I could really visualise them, but there isn’t the same level of description for the village itself. The prose is simple, which can be forgiven somewhat due to the genre, but I think that it might be too simple even for young adults. Ultimately, it feels like things could have been more focused and 332 could have had a greater part to play in the narrative than she did have.

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Book Details

Author: AJ WhitneyLength: 200 PagesGenre: YA DystopiaSovereign releases on February 28th