1. Never trust anyone.
2. Remember they are always searching.
3. Don’t get involved.
4. Keep your head down.
5. Don’t fall in love.
Five simple rules. Ariane Tucker has followed them since the night she escaped from the genetics lab where she was created, the result of combining human and extraterrestrial DNA. Ariane’s survival—and that of her adoptive father—depends on her ability to blend in among the full-blooded humans in a small Wisconsin town, to hide in plain sight at her high school from those who seek to recover their lost (and expensive) “project.”
But when a cruel prank at school goes awry, it puts her in the path of Zane Bradshaw, the police chief’s son and someone who sees too much. Someone who really sees her. After years of trying to be invisible, Ariane finds the attention frightening—and utterly intoxicating. Suddenly, nothing is simple anymore, especially not the rules…
Hardcover, 416 pages
Published April 23rd 2013 by Disney-Hyperion
A Long Story Short:
The Rules is a must for everyone interested in YA - or good books in general. I completely underestimated it in the beginning, but it grew on me the second I started reading it.
The characters are sympathetic and three-dimensional, the narrating voices come with a good portion of wit and sarcasm and the plot keeps you on edge the whole entire time.
A definite three Smarties for this one!
Review for You:
The Rules was one of those books I try to stay away from. The kind that I get at my rare trips to Netgalley (usually in a state of absolute boredom) to entertain myself. The kind that sounds good but that I know I'll never actually be eager to start reading it. And then, of course, Netgalley lets me read it. And I am...torn. Because if you request a novel and get it (and maybe someone else therefore doesn't get it) you better go and read (and enjoy?) that treat.
So, eventually, I did. And I didn't just read it, oh no. I flew through it, devoured every page, found myself trying to catch my breath laughing and on the edge of drowning in tears.
Seriously, this was one of the best books I've read all year.
First of all, this was conspiracy at its best. I love books where the whole plot and world is a mystery to you as a reader. Where page after page dark (family/business/governmental) secrets and intrigues are revealed and where at the end you have a completely new image of the world you thought you knew.
That's how I felt about everything going on in The Rules.
One of the perks of conspiracy in books is that people, obviously, aren't always what they seem to be and that made for not one but several serious turns in the story that I did not see coming at ALL, I promise you!
Something else I absolutely didn't expect in this book was humour and yet, it was there.
I guarantee you, you won't be able to stop smirking once you get to know Ariane and her way of thinking/speaking. What she thinks about us humans - especially the teenage version - is just plain hilarious and made me think about myself and my (sometimes....) very shallow thoughts :)
Ariane is only one of the alternating narrators, though, and this is what I had a little problem with. The two voices telling the story, Ariane and Zane, in my opinion where way too similar. I don't think I could have always told immediately who was telling the story if it weren't for the names in front of every chapter.
As I said, though, that didn't bother me too much and the story was still absolutely funny and unique.
I'd say The Rules overall is a lot easier to read than Dan Well's Partials but it comes with the same kinds of plot twists and suspense. Other similar books would be Tempest and especially Vortex by Julie Cross.
I can only recommend this book to everyone even if you might not be interested in aliens/Sci-Fi or conspiracy theories. The Rules should definitely be on your TBR pile :)
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