Review: Inhuman by Kat Falls

Title: Inhuman (Fetch #1)
Author: Kat Falls
Format: egalley
Pub. Date: September 24th 2013
Source: Netgalley and Scholastic

★★★

Three stars.

Inhuman is a dystopian novel in which a virus spreads across America. It causes those afflicted to develop animal-like traits, morphing them into feral half animal creatures. Sixteen year old Lane is sent on a mission to save her father, even if it means going into the Savage Zone. She risks it all in order to accomplish it, and meets a few characters who may be more dangerous than she'd ever imagined.

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Meh.

I give points to the author for her creativity when writing this book. I was very pleasantly surprised to see that there wasn't zombies in this book. It was a cool take on a spreading virus, having DNA altered and creating these savage animal-like people. Unfortunately, I just didn't really get the "creepy" factor that's needed for a dystopian novel to ring true. I know that this is a fiction book, but part of what makes dystopian or post-apocalyptic books so disturbing or powerful is the fact that they could very well happen. I didn't feel that connection to this book.

Another thing that made me disconnect from this story were the characters. The protagonist wasn't all too awful, but she definitely isn't a strong enough character to stand out in my mind. She just kind of... Exists. I was never really cheering her on, nor was I hating her so much that I wished her to fail. She was just there. It's hard to really explain. Now a character that I did have feelings for, though negatively, was Rafe. Rafe is one of the love interests- yes, one of. Because there's a triangle. Joy.

Rafe is a jerk. The fact that Lane is interested in him at all only furthered my disinterest in her story. The dialogue between them is blunt to the point of forced or fake. I just really didn't want to read more about them at parts. The more this interest/love triangle went on, the more that I just, didn't care.

This book did have positives though. The writing, forced dialogue aside, was actually pretty good. There were a lot of concepts and parts of the plot that I liked, and that held my attention well. I think that if the triangle were removed, this book would have had an entirely different rating for me. For me, that was the main reason why I didn't enjoy this book. Everything else was fine. I especially enjoyed the setting, which had a creepy hospital-like feeling, due to the medical/virus themes of the book.

I also love the cover. It'd definitely get my attention, and I'd pick it up if I saw it on a shelf. I love the color scheme.

All that being said, that book gets three star, average rating from me. I'm still not really sure how to feel about it, to be honest. I understand that this is the first book in a series. Despite my issues with this first book, I would pick up the next one to see how things progress and if my feelings for it improve.

If hot jerks who are inexplicably adored and love triangles are not your thing, Inhuman should be skipped. But, if the premise of a dystopian book free of zombies with a new twist on the virus intrigues you, this might be worth your time.

Thanks to Netgalley and Scholastic for my copy.