Review: Dark Parties

Title: Dark Parties
Author: Sara Grant
Genre: Dystopian/YA



Sixteen-year-old Neva has been trapped since birth. She was born and raised under the Protectosphere, in an isolated nation ruled by fear, lies, and xenophobia. A shield "protects" them from the outside world, but also locks the citizens inside. But there's nothing left on the outside, ever since the world collapsed from violent warfare. Or so the government says...

Neva and her best friend Sanna believe the government is lying and stage a "dark party" to recruit members for their underground rebellion. But as Neva begins to uncover the truth, she realizes she must question everything she's ever known, including the people she loves the most. --Goodreads



Dark Parties was intriguing. It held my attention steady, but I’m not entirely sure how well the sequel will play out to be honest. It’s one of those “wait-and-see” things, I guess. There were a lot of unanswered questions left hanging in the air by the end, and at times I felt the plot a bit underdeveloped and characters slightly flat or detached. However, at the same time, I did enjoy the overall story… finding Homeland a place that I would be doing everything in my power to try and escape like Neva was. I like rebellion a little too much maybe. Is that a bad thing? Haha.

This wasn’t the usual style Dystopian read where it’s action-packed. I would say this had more psychological impact with a lot of twists and turns. It also wasn’t too original in the idea, but the overall effect of the story kept me reading on, including the twists that the author provided. I’m really interested to see where the author takes the sequel.

I do recommend it. It was entertaining, mind-bending, and thought-provoking. A good read.

4 stars!