External Forces, Deborah Rix

This is so late. Oh-em-gee. 

It’s 100 years since the Genetic Integrity Act was passed and America closed its borders to prevent genetic contamination. Now only the enemy, dysgenic Deviants, remain beyond the heavily guarded border. The Department of Evolution carefully guides the creation of each generation and deviations from the divine plan are not permitted. 

When 16-year-old Jess begins to show signs of deviance she enlists in the Special Forces, with her best friend Jay, in a desperate bid to evade detection by the Devotees. Jess is good with data, not so good with a knife. So when the handsome and secretive Sergeant Matt Anderson selects her for his Black Ops squad, Jess is determined to figure out why. (Full description found here.)

So this was another book I received from NetGalley, although it was already out by the time I was approved for a copy. I don't know what happened with that. But also this is really late, so I'm really sorry! I finished this books weeks ago, but school has really hindered my computer time. Seriously, this is probably only the third time being on my computer since the beginning of October. That's unacceptable. Why can't I just take blogging as a class?

Any-hoo. I was so excited to get this novel. I really would have died if I hadn't gotten it. Like, just read the description again. Wow. I'm so happy I was approved--thank you author/publishers!

So the setting is a long time in the future (I'd say 100 years, like the description, but the GIA could've been passed 100 years from right now, so I won't say that).  Basically they want a good gene pool. No mutations. No "genetic contamination". That sounds really genocide-y, but they're not getting rid of any certain races, just people who aren't what they consider normal. Or they're just a threat to their very controlling government. Mostly the second one. It's a dystopian thing.

The main character, Jess (I think her last name is Grant, but I can't say for sure), is not exactly what you'd call, um . . . Special Forces material. Definitely not. She's a teenage girl. Although I'm not saying every teenage girl isn't exactly focused on killing people, most are not. Hopefully not a lot of people are. So yeah, Jess is pretty average. She's not a bombshell-hottie or anything, either, which is better. I mean, you need those once in awhile, but if the character is going to be a normal girl, then she has to look normal. Jess snags her man with awkward stutters and beyond-embarrassing mess ups. Sounds about right, though I've never snagged a boy myself and those are pretty much my go-to moves. Though, okay, to be fair, she is sarcastic and full of attitude, which is great--although she usually regrets it 0.2 seconds later.

The next main character is debatable. It could either be Sgt. Matt, or her friend . . . Shoot. Um. I don't remember her name. Oh my God. This happens during like, every single review. Oh well. They're both really big roles though, so check 'em out when you read the book.

You will read the book, right?

I was looking over the reviews on GoodReads, most of them say the same thing. Other than 4-to-5 stars out of 5, they mostly say: If you loved the Divergent series, you'll love this book.

Which is true, I think. It's got the same love-thing going on. Not that I'm going to say who falls for who in External Forces, but it's pretty easy to see. I still won't say it though. But yeah, it's a good assumption to say if you liked the Divergent/Insurgent/Allegiant (COMES OUT ON OCT. 22), then you'll definitely love External Forces. It's definitely a love/hate relationship between me and ARCs from NetGalley. First of all, I love reading books so it's great that I can absorb as many as possible, but also: I have to wait extra long to read the sequels. That's the worst.