Gravity

Earth after World War IV wasn’t a pleasant place to be. Green spaces were annihilated, food was dangerously low, and humans were on the point of extinction. Lucky for them, an alien race of super gardeners was on the sidelines, waiting to step in and act as saviors.

There was just one catch: the aliens needed a place to live. Unfortunately, they had trouble adapting to earth, so in a grand bargain, Earth’s leaders allowed the Ancients to harvest what they need (DNA? Souls? Tears? The novel isn’t clear on this point.) from humans in exchange for a renewed planet.

At 17, Ari Alexander is aware of her history and the reason that she must be incapacitated at midnight each evening for The Taking. Unfortunately, one evening she can’t find her immobilizing eye shield, and she inadvertently catches sight of her Ancient. He’s Jackson, a boy from her class.

Suddenly her eyes are opened to a reality she hadn’t guessed at, and she and Jackson are in a race to save both races.

Gravity is one of many the many YA dystopian novels which have thrived since the success of The Hunger Games. With varying degrees of success, Melissa West tries to convince the reader that first, her world building is adequate to support her storyline, and secondly that her characters are compelling enough to support a planned trilogy.

Ari is a typical YA heroine: smart, strong, and quick to fall in love. She’s more physically impressive than most, definitely not cut from the clumsy Bella (of Twilight) cloth in that respect. She fights, shoots, and outmaneuvers any hero found in other YA dystopias.

So what if there are plot holes and oddly constructed scenes? She can defeat a whole barracks of crafty humans!

Unfortunately, Ari is Bella’s twin when it comes to romance. Just a couple of meetings with her newly discovered Ancient-in-disguise, and she’s willing to throw over her whole life and everything she’s been taught to believe for the sake of love.

Jackson is a fairly insipid idol for all of her worship. He’s not particularly memorable, singularly misinformed, and highly suspect, due to the enormous number of lies in which he is caught.

Still, this book wasn’t intended for adults. For the right 12–15-year-old reader, Gravity will be a delight. No number of plot inconsistencies, oddly chosen words, and bland description will trump the teenage girl desire to find love and kick butt while doing it. Ari is the perfect blank heroine onto which that reader will reflect herself and see her own desires fulfilled.

In that respect, Ms. West is successful. With a strong editor who is willing to challenge some writing tics and sloppy plotting, this series could cross over to older YA readers—and perhaps even reach the adult audience Lauren Oliver has cultivated in her Delirium series.