Natalie: Mind Games by Kiersten White

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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.

Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. I need to choose the proper words to describe this book.

Mind Games was filled with a lot of stuff. Hardcore-psychological-moral testing-deep stuff. After reading some reviews of people expressing very negative feelings for the book I just want to make sure that I am describing the story in the way that it deserves.

Annie is blind. She has been since she was four years old. Her younger sister Fia is all she has left. Their parents are dead, and their are some people very interested in the two sisters

The head of a big fancy corporation has just offered the orphaned girls a "wonderful opportunity." A chance to attend a very prestigious all girls private school. A place where Annie  could receive the most state of the art treatment for her blindness, a place where they could possibly fix her eyesight for good. For Annie it is a dream come true.








But Fia can see through their lies.



 Ever since she could remember Fia's Gut Instinct, her first impulse has always been right. And now she knows, she knows that going to this school is a very, very bad idea. She tries to convince Annie that it is dangerous and that something is wrong. But Annie is determined to go, so to make her sister happy Fia agrees to go in order to stay together.


That moment, that specific moment, ladies and gentlemen, is when Annie single handedly ruined her little sister's life.


Because Fia was right. Fia is always right. It wasn't a school for children so much as a testing facility for freaks. They brought in kids with possible mental/psychic abilities and trained the ones with potential to become bad, bad people.


And of course once they realize how special Fia is, how valuable her instincts make her, the people at this "school" do everything in their power to mold Fia into everything they want her to be.


Spy. Soldier. Assassin.


And Fia has no choice but to comply because her sister is having a marvelous time. She is making friends. Learning to control her ability to see into the future. (Did I forget to mention that?...Oops) and having loads of fun. All the while twelve-year-old Fia is being beaten by her teachers, knife fighting with full grown men, and learning the limitations of her own gift in the cruelest ways possible.


Yet she stays. She hates the school, despises the things they make her do, and she stays to keep her sister happy. That is what breaks my heart. She is doing all of this for her sister. She is doing everything is for her, and is destroying herself in the process.





The book explores the girls' pasts' through flashbacks where you see the progression of what Fia once was, to what she is now.
 
The changes are heart wrenchingly drastic.



At some point in the book, after being tricked into doing some particularly sinister things, Fia changes. She becomes cold, hard, mean, and incredibly strong. And Annie can't figure out what happened to her sweet little sister.


By the time Annie figures out what is going on, it is too late. They have already broken her. The innocent twelve-year-old is gone. In her place is a killer.





To me, a character's relationship with their family is much more important than their romantic relationship. I loved Annie's and Fia's dynamic. Even though I despised Annie for the choices that she made, I liked her as a character.


As far as the plot goes, it was a little hard to keep track of seeing as how every other chapter was flashback. But to me this was a very character based book. The depth of the characters took priority and the plot was not as important. Or as interesting for that matter.


So, in summary, Fia is sent to kill Adam. She doesn't want to kill him. But, if she refuses, her sister will suffer; stuff happens. More intense stuff happens. Throw in a few plot twists, and a pretty epic ending and you have Mind Games.


In conclusion, I liked the book immensely at times, I hated it other times. Not because it was in any way bad, but because of the irrational turmoil that occurs when things happen to your beloved characters and you become an emotional wreck. And obviously, by "you", I mean me.


A very well written book, and I recommend it to people who...like well written books about kick butt female characters. And attractive guys. Did I forget to mention that?

 

My rating:

4.75 Stars out of 5