Thursday, February 12, 2015

The Academy: Introductions by CL Stone


Title: The Academy: Introductions
Author: CL Stone
Publisher: Arcato Publishing (no website found)
Rating: WARTY!

I recently took a decision to read no more YA novels with the word 'Academy' in the title and this book is the reason why - this and a score of other books with that word in the title which turned out to be truly, nay stupendously, bad. I except Vampire Academy from this list - I reviewed it favorably back in May of 2014 - but few if any others are worth my time!

This novel dived deeply into YA trope and cliché from the off, and it turned my stomach. The two main characters have ridiculous names to begin with: Kota (the guy!) and Sang (the girl). Sang runs away from home one dark and stormy night because her mother cares for her too much. I kind you not. Her mom keeps telling her stories of girls who were killed, or raped, or abducted because they were incautious, and so Sang impetuously and incautiously runs out late one evening to spend the night in a nearby empty house in the newly-built neighborhood they've moved to, just to prove she can do it.

She is knocked over be the neighbor's dog, and the neighbor - a nicely-muscled tall guy, of course - takes her not only into his house, but upstairs into his bedroom, has her put on his clothes because her own are wet, and then bathes her minuscule 'wounds'. Meanwhile, this supposedly tough, independent girl is having the wilts and the vapors just because his knee is close to her on the bed. I kid you not.

This novel is the very worst kind of YA trash and I ditched it at 9 percent in when this guy, who's pretty much man-handled her so far, puts his finger on her lips to shut her up. This is so trope-ridden as to be thoroughly disgusting and it's an insult to women everywhere. I recommend for anyone who's into binging and purging, because this garbage will make you throw up without question.