
- Paperback: 272 pages
- Publisher: Escape Artist Press
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0615650929
- ISBN-13: 978-0615650920
- Source: I received this book in exchange for an honest review.
- Stars: 4
- Flames: 1.5 (teenage attractions w/ some physical)
When Toni, Joseph and Charlie arrive at their new boarding school, they are glad to leave their families — and respective problems — behind. Isolated as boarders, they meet a handsome senior with a personality like iced snake’s blood, teachers with a penchant for physical punishment, and four other outcasts who reveal that their being brought to the Academy wasn’t random at all. When the arrivals discover that their new school is engaged in “behavior modification” through electric shocks, isolation, restraints, and an ever-evolving set of methods to “fix” them, they declare war on their Academy. During their campaign of sabotage, they fight, hate, scorn, love, and begin to uncover the reasons why they were brought to the school. But as their war against the school escalates beyond their control, will they become the very things the Academy believes they are: dangerous, delinquent — and mad?
Let's just start off by saying, WOW. I really liked the book, but since it's written from so many different POVs, the world gets very confusing at times. It makes you feel like maybe you belong locked up too. I love the characters and storyline. I want to know what happens next. This book leaves you wanting to understand more. It's like an itch that is sitting waiting to be scratched by book 2, hopefully. It's easier to relate to some of the characters than others, but this is something that happens with all books. Aubrey has done a great job of crafting this world of craziness and hidden supernatural. Because, yes, there is supernatural at work here.
This isn't any paranormal book. Nope, not in the least. The supernatural aspect is hidden- much like the main characters. They're hidden in plain sight of the normal kids. They aren't normal, at least not in the sense that the other kids are.
I only gave the book 4 stars because of the total insanity it reeks on your senses as a reader trying to follow so many characters without things really explained in the beginning. Even my hubby was fighting the urge to walk away from the insanity in the beginning. I told him to keep reading. He liked it too, but there is an undercurrent that you have to fight to not fall into the chaos of the story.
I recommend this book for anyone that likes multiple POVs, subtle paranormal, teen coming of ages. It's an interesting read.
| |

Aubrey Coletti is a twenty year old author, choreographer, and singer-songwriter originally from Milton, Massachusetts. She began working on Altered when she was fifteen, and completed it at seventeen, during the summer before her senior year of high school. She currently attends Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York, and is working on the sequel to Altered.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aubrey.coletti
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AubreyisAltered
Website: http://aubreycoletti.com/