Celestine North wants to clear her name from being flawed. On the run with Carrick, the only one she can trust with a dark secret which could tear down the guild. Therefore, Celestine must make a decision. Save herself, or save everyone from being flawed.
Perfect started by recapping the first book, Perfect. As I read them back to back this was slightly annoying. It wasn’t just a little bit of recap either, a lot was detailed. It’s probable that someone could pick up this book and read it as a standalone because of this.
As I mentioned about the previous book, the premise is interesting. It’s a book that can be discussed heavily due to concise problems that arise. A lot of issues can be mirrored in real life. The armbands and branding were very reminiscent of Jews in Nazi Germany. Additionally, the ideals of being perfect are big pressures within society now.
The romance subplot was centre stage at some points. Before, I mentioned I liked the romance in Flawed. I disliked it in Perfect because it went into a more detail. I felt there were a couple of unnecessary tropes. It didn’t ruin the experience. But I didn’t enjoy it. I think I write this on most reviews and I want to apologise. I just don’t like large romantic subplots.
Because Celestine is on the run, Perfect is much more action focused. I thought Flawed was a lot slower, and drew out the horror of the systems in place. Perfect had these scenes of horror too, but it packed in escaping and running and some riots too. I read it much faster than expected, which most likely is because of the faster, intense chapters. Although I did really enjoy the slow burn of the first book.
Strangely, I preferred the slower first book. The points raised and how they were shown to us as readers was my favourite area of Ahern’s writing. The second book seemed a lot less like morality tale and more like a YA dystopian action. Not to say that Perfect was a bad book. But it wasn’t what I fully expected.
I received Perfect* by Cecelia Ahern as an e-book from the publisher via Netgalley. This is an unbiased and honest review.
View Comments (2)
You have been much more generous with your review than I would have been. I struggled so much through this book, which was disappointed because I agree that the premise of the whole thing was a great idea. It had so much potential but just fell so short for me.
I was the same as you, I preferred Flawed (as horrific as it was at times, yikes humanity can be awful) but I raced through Perfect because of the pace.
Excellent review!
Cora | http://www.teapartyprincess.co.uk/