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WordtoDreams

Word to Dreams

YA & NA Fiction At It's Best - Specializing in YA

Blue Hearts of Mars

Blue Hearts of Mars - Nicole Grotepas I had just come off a read for review that was a DNF. So you can imagine, as a reader, how down I was feeling. I went straight into Blue Hearts of Mars thinking that I had lost my mojo but quickly found myself loving the story and the fabulous writing. This story is unique in so many ways. You may think, androids, been there, done that. Don’t think that! You may think, teenage girl carelessly treating her life like it doesn’t matter. Don’t think that either! What you can think is a new evolution of life. Something other than the normal, something powerful, something driven, something full of never-ending possibilities.The story takes place in a colonized Mars. Humans and androids living under domes. Androids that look, talk and behave just like humans. But…the rumor is, they have blue hearts. This is enough to drive the prejudices of inequality. But…do they have blue hearts? Are they oh so much different than us? This story starts out as a love story. Teen girl..teen android boy..a love, like Romeo and Juliet’s that is considered intolerable but theirs is also illegal. But this story turns into so much more than a love story. It is a story that has another layer to it, a story within a story. And there is an awesome twist near the end that puts the humans on Mars in a tailspin. Most of the story I found that I liked. There is romance, but it’s subtle, not strangling you. There is the acknowledgment of sex without having to go into details and it fits perfectly into the story. I think if the author had gone more in depth with it, it wouldn’t have made the story better. Kind of like some of the movies you see where there is nudity and you’re thinking, why, it wasn’t necessary and it didn’t do a thing to make the movie more interesting. I also liked the description of the colonized Mars. The similarities of life between living on Earth and Mars but with the differences also noted in the details. What I didn’t like? All the constant running of Hemingway and Retta. There’s an agent, run this way. There’s another agent, run that way. Running and running. Okay, we got to learn a bit more of the Mars world this way, but it felt a bit exhausting to me, the reader. Oh, and Hemingway’s super strength and super speed. It was a nice touch, but it felt a bit like a knock off Superman. With the conclusion of the story, you want to wag your finger at them both and say, see, you didn’t have to run around like crazy people, the answers were already available for you if you had just asked and thought it all out. Do I recommend this book? A resounding YES. For lovers of YA sci-fi, this will satisfy your craving. For lovers of dystopia, this gives you human life on another planet but without Earth being destroyed or war ridden. For lovers of action, this gives you plenty to keep you on your toes. An all-around good read that will have you thinking long after the last word is read.