Goodreads description: A beautiful world comes at a price...
In a world filled with stunning clones Mina Hart is Blemished. Her genes are worthless and that takes away her rights: her right to an Education, her right to a normal life and her right to have a child.
Mina keeps a dangerous secret which she never thought she could share until she meets Angela on her first day at St Jude's School. But their friendship is soon complicated by Angela’s adoptive brother Daniel. Mina finds herself drawn to his mysterious powers and impulsive nature. Then there is the gorgeous clone Sebastian who Mina is forbidden from even speaking to…
The Blemished is a frightening take on a fractured future where the Genetic Enhancement Ministry have taken control of Britain. It will take you on a ride filled with adventure, romance and rebellion.
In a world filled with stunning clones Mina Hart is Blemished. Her genes are worthless and that takes away her rights: her right to an Education, her right to a normal life and her right to have a child.
Mina keeps a dangerous secret which she never thought she could share until she meets Angela on her first day at St Jude's School. But their friendship is soon complicated by Angela’s adoptive brother Daniel. Mina finds herself drawn to his mysterious powers and impulsive nature. Then there is the gorgeous clone Sebastian who Mina is forbidden from even speaking to…
The Blemished is a frightening take on a fractured future where the Genetic Enhancement Ministry have taken control of Britain. It will take you on a ride filled with adventure, romance and rebellion.
The
Blemished is a wonderful dystopian debut by young adult author Sarah
Dalton, set in a sinister re-imagined Britain which has fallen under the
control of the Genetic Enhancement Ministry. The protagonist, Mina Hart, is
Blemished: she has genetic defects, and the best she can expect from life is an
operation preventing her from ever having children. The Blemished are the
imperfect, with no rights, and only able to take on menial jobs like cooking
and cleaning for the perfect GEM’s. But Mina isn’t like the others: she has a
secret, an ability that would mean her death if discovered.
This story grips from the first
page, and has everything a great YA dystopia needs – a compelling plot, a
sympathetic protagonist, action and romance. It will definitely appeal to fans
of Malorie Blackman’s Noughts and Crosses
series and the Uglies series by
Scott Westerfield. The inclusion of Mina’s powers gives the story its
uniqueness, and the characters are very real and believable. It’s also very
current, with debates about the ethics of genetic enhancement and ‘designer
babies’, and the dystopian world is chillingly reminiscent of the ideals of the
Nazis, and their segregation of ‘undesirable’ groups. This winning debut paints
a sinister picture of a future society, and I’m keen to read the rest of the
trilogy!
Rating: ****1/2*
Rating: ****1/2*