Review: Revived by Cat Patrick

Posted by Jessi (Geo) on June 16, 2012 | 6 Comments


Review: Revived by Cat PatrickRevived by Cat Patrick
Published by Little Brown (5.1.2012)
Genres: Contemporary, Young Adult
Format: Hardcover, 336 pages
Source: I own it
Buy on Amazon


2.5 Stars

It started with a bus crash.
Daisy Appleby was a little girl when it happened, and she barely remembers the accident or being brought back to life. At that moment, though, she became one of the first subjects in a covert government program that tests a drug called Revive.
Now fifteen, Daisy has died and been Revived five times. Each death means a new name, a new city, a new identity. The only constant in Daisy's life is constant change.
Then Daisy meets Matt and Audrey McKean, charismatic siblings who quickly become her first real friends. But if she's ever to have a normal life, Daisy must escape from an experiment that's much larger--and more sinister--than she ever imagined.
From its striking first chapter to its emotionally charged ending, Cat Patrick's Revived is a riveting story about what happens when life and death collide.

My thoughts

Sadly, I was disappointed in this one. I’m having trouble forming those disappointments into exact sentences, but it just left me with an overall feeling of…meh. The idea of it sounds awesome – a drug that brings you back from death? Sounds like a thrilling, gripping read, right? Wrong. It was more of a contemporary with a sci-fi twist. I was expecting some deathly encounters involving Daisy – after all, it says she’s died a whopping FIVE times. The only death you get is at the beginning. I really, really wanted to see more of her dying and being revived. Disappointment numero uno.

Number two: the world building. Revive is a drug that acts as an electrical impulse to bring you back. And…..and……….. *cricket chirp* Yeah. How does it work? What is it? Why? Your guess is as good as mine. It can’t bring back damaged people, but how is that even possible? Because if the body is dead, then in some way it has been damaged. No diseases, that makes sense. But what about trauma? How could the body survive after that? And if Daisy died because her throat closed up from a bee sting, how would the lungs not be damaged from that lack of air?? Why does it only work on children? I just feel as if it wasn’t very well thought out.

Also the “God Project.” The kids are ‘Converts’ and the adults working in the program are ‘Disciples.’ The head of the Project is dubbed ‘God.’ I see the levity behind the names, since they are basically playing God by bringing people back to life, but for some reason this rubbed me the wrong way. I’m not even religious. I just didn’t like the fact that they were calling some dude ‘God.’ Anyway, here comes another problem for me: how does the government not know about this? How can they invent such a major drug and only keep it for a specific test group (21 people, I think?) from one accident? And if it’s a TWO MILLION dollar treatment, where is the funding coming from? How were they able to just use ten million dollars on Daisy like it’s nothing? No one is allowed in or out of the program – who gets the say in what specific kids live or die? Why? What is the point?!

Then, there was mention of some mysterious ‘director’ of the program. Um, I thought that was ‘God?’ That was never explained, either. The explanations were so lax that my brain started to hurt trying to figure everything out.

And [bad guy that will remain unnamed] was behind the accident? I think??? And was doing things with questionable motives – I don’t really remember what they were supposed to be, it was just kinda thrown in there towards the end. What were his motives? WHY? *rips hair out*
Looking at the synopsis, where was the revelation of the agency’s true goals? And where the sinister, larger something? 

Disappointment number three: the characters. They were somehow missing that essence that makes them feel real. I couldn’t connect to the characters or the story (probably because of the brainache). Like I said, this was basically a contemporary. It focused more on Daisy’s friend with a tough issue and Daisy’s relationship with her friend’s brother than death action and the life-altering drug (which the book happens to be NAMED AFTER).
Speaking of the tough issue – I don’t want to give anything away – but it was a little too ironic, don’t you think? And even knowing where that path was going to end, I still couldn’t muster up much feeling. Something like that should have been heart-tugging, but I just felt bored.

There were too many plot holes for me to fully enjoy this book. If you don’t contemplate the whys hows and whats and don’t look too deep into it, you’d probably like Revive. If you need thorough and well thought out world building, you’ll probably feel the same as I did.

assessment
Plot: 2/5
There wasn’t much of one.
Writing style: 3/5
Characters: 2/5
Uninspiring.
World-building: 1/5
Too many questions left unanswered.
Pace: 3/5
Cover: 4/5
 
Overall rating: 2.5 starfish
Sounded like a good idea, but the plot was more holey than Swiss cheese.
Jessi (Geo)

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6 responses to “Review: Revived by Cat Patrick

  1. Wow, you definitely did a better job at reviewing Revived than I was. My thoughts are practically the same. I got the whole calling him God and all, but I wasn’t exactly pleased about it. I’m not religious, either, so it was a little weird for me. I didn’t really connect to the characters, either.
    And, as you said, the only thing that had me hooked was the idea of a drug that could bring people back to life. Imagine the possibilities?
    So, it did sorta fall flat and you pointed out questions I never thought much of, but make total sense.
    My review: http://milliedswords.blogspot.com/2012/06/revived-by-cat-patrick.html
    Nice review! Alas, we cannot like and love every book we read.

  2. Amz

    I’m really gutted that this was a disappointment, I’ve really been looking forward to reading it as I loved Forgotten by Cat Patrick, but at least I know now before reading it. Good review

  3. Hmmm…. I was really interested in this one too because it seemed like a unique premise. Guess I’ll just get it from the library so if I have the same opinions as you then at least I just return it and no harm done, lol Great new layout by the way!! I lurve pink :))

  4. Thanks Laura! And yes, definitely from the library. Or you can try to win it, I’ll be giving it away for someone else to (hopefully) enjoy more than I did!

  5. Sadly, I’ve heard they didn’t like Revived all that much from a lot of people. Your review was great, though. Very honest but to the point. I got a good idea of what exactly you didn’t like!

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