Seeing Night Reviews: {Review + Giveaway} of Nobody by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Nobody by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

GENRE: YA Science Fiction
THEME: Romance
RECEIVED: NetGalley
AUTHORS BLOG: Jennifer Lynn Barnes' Blog

BLURB:

There are people in this world who are Nobody. No one sees them. No one notices them. They live their lives under the radar, forgotten as soon as you turn away.

That’s why they make the perfect assassins.

The Institute finds these people when they’re young and takes them away for training. But an untrained Nobody is a threat to their organization. And threats must be eliminated.

Sixteen-year-old Claire has been invisible her whole life, missed by the Institute’s monitoring. But now they’ve ID’ed her and send seventeen-year-old Nix to remove her. Yet the moment he lays eyes on her, he can’t make the hit. It’s as if Claire and Nix are the only people in the world for each other. And they are—because no one else ever notices them.

REVIEW:
Nobody was a uniquely creative story that really brings out the readers imagination. While I like Barnes’ writing and other series, Nobody was really not my cup of tea nor was I able to really connect with the character. Though I enjoyed the well thought out plot, I was hoping for something different.

Nodody follows Claire, a young girl who is not noticed, remembered or sometimes even seen. Even her own parents have to leave reminders for themselves, to just remember their daughter. One day while Claire is once again feeling that loneliness, she meets a boy, but that boy is trying to kill her. They discover that they are one in the same and that there is a group of people that are hiding secrets, Claire and the boy Nix are determined to stop these people and stay alive while doing so.

A Nobody is a rare group of people that are hard to find, see and hear. People wont even know if they’re standing next to them. The Society uses Nobodies, where they are sent to do their dirty work for their own purposes. There are those known as the Sensors, they have enhanced one of the five senses and are used to find the Nobodies. The Normals, have the energy to be normal, they can love, touch and be in the normal world. The last is the Nulls, they have so much energy that they can control people around them to do their bidding. This is the very complex and creative world that Nobody takes place in, I absolutely loved this idea.

Claire was an interesting character to start out; she really has lived such a lonely life. Barnes description of how sad, depressed and absolutely alone Claire really made me feel a bit for her character. I feel like Claire was well developed, I liked her strength and determination to stay with this boy Nix, who could teach her how to be a “Nobody.” My main issue with Claire was that Nix the boy that tried to kill her she fell instantly for. I understand that as Nobodies that they have a unique connection and both have felt so lonely. But I wasn’t fond of the idea of insta-love with this concept. Also Claire was an emotional wreak, she like Nix were all over the place. They cared for each other, but one wanted to stay away from the other, while the other wanted to be close. It was just a bit jumbled. Near the end I felt Claire matured and was able to stand out more with being the stronger Nodobdy.

Nix, he was actually one of the hardest characters for me to connect with. He was almost too depressing and really felt sorry for himself through half the book. I was really trying to like him, he was strong, vengeful and really caring and protective of Claire, which were his strong suits. Near the end like Claire I felt Nix was able to come out of his shell and it was almost enough for me to actually care for his character.

Overall the pace of this book was pretty slow at the beginning. I loved the midsection where the readers get a lot of background about The Society and I seriously applaud Barnes for her research and how she came up with such a creative plot. Sadly the characters lacked development until near the end and were missing that spark that made me as the reader care for them. I still recommend this story for its twist and incredible science fiction world that was created.

RECOMMENDATION:
This is a young adult novel with a complex story in unique science fiction world. Though I didn’t favor this title, I do hope that others will try this book out and make their own opinion. Fans of Ally Condie’s Matched series and Stephenie Meyers The Host will enjoy Nodody by Jennifer Lynn Barnes.