Mind Games

Author: Kiersten White
Website: www.kierstenwhite.com
Agent: Michelle Wolfson
Editor: Erica Sussman
Publisher: HarperTeen
Released: February 19, 2013
Genre: YA Science Fiction
Series: Mind Games #1
Source: Library

Fia was born with flawless instincts. Her first impulse, her gut feeling, is always exactly right. Her sister, Annie, is blind to the world around her—except when her mind is gripped by strange visions of the future. Trapped in a school that uses girls with extraordinary powers as tools for corporate espionage, Annie and Fia are forced to choose over and over between using their abilities in twisted, unthinkable ways…or risking each other’s lives by refusing to obey.

The first thing I noticed about this book was the depth with which I entered each girl's world. When Annie was talking, I slid into seeing the world through blackness, into being blind and having to see the world differently - which meant that when she had a vision, I felt the joy and excitement she felt at finally being able to see, even in this odd way, and along with that, the fear and horror that comes along with what her visions mean. With Fia, it was more subtle, but again, when she was in action, the action is described so fluidly that I felt her killer instincts kicking in and taking over her mind.

The tragic choices the girls both have to make, the way they're kept separate from each other, the way they're spied on and kept under constant watch so they can't even coordinate their choices and perhaps gain the upper hand with their captors, makes the whole situation all the more scream-worthy. Because if they just pooled their knowledge, they might figure out how to get out, and they might even figure out what's going on.

The mystery of what exactly is going on, what the purpose of this all is, propels the story into the sequel. And I love how this volume ends, with the horror of what Annie sees in her vision, the way she deals with it, and then the --- when it finally happens. I can't tell you what emotion I felt then, or I'd give it away. And it's worth waiting for.