Title: Tabula Rasa
Author: Kristen Lippert-Martin
Publication Date: September 23rd 2014
Publisher: EgmontUSA
~A copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review~
The Bourne Identity meets Divergent in this heart-pounding debut.
Sixteen-year-old Sarah has a rare chance at a new life. Or so the doctors tell her. She’s been undergoing a cutting-edge procedure that will render her a tabula rasa—a blank slate. Memory by memory her troubled past is being taken away.
But when her final surgery is interrupted and a team of elite soldiers invades the isolated hospital under cover of a massive blizzard, her fresh start could be her end.
Navigating familiar halls that have become a dangerous maze with the help of a teen computer hacker who's trying to bring the hospital down for his own reasons, Sarah starts to piece together who she is and why someone would want her erased. And she won’t be silenced again.
A high-stakes thriller featuring a non-stop race for survival and a smart heroine who will risk everything, Tabula Rasa is, in short, unforgettable
Eh. At first the whole idea of Tabula Rasa reminded me of
the Slated series by Teri Terry, criminals or dangerous people- who are either
a danger to others or themselves get a second chance by having their memories
wiped for a fresh start, but with Tabula Rasa, you quickly realise that that's
not the case. The idea of it is- the criminal's getting their memories wiped
is- but the execution is not.
Now, I wrote that before I finished reading the book. Now what do I think now I've finished it? That it's one of the most infuriatingly ridiculous story I've ever read, and believe me, I've read a lot. But, OJSFKANFSNf. Ugh. It's infuriating because come on, it started off good- not great, it had a swing to get into but before it could it just missed the swing completely. And I am not happy. At all.
Now, I wrote that before I finished reading the book. Now what do I think now I've finished it? That it's one of the most infuriatingly ridiculous story I've ever read, and believe me, I've read a lot. But, OJSFKANFSNf. Ugh. It's infuriating because come on, it started off good- not great, it had a swing to get into but before it could it just missed the swing completely. And I am not happy. At all.
We start off with our main character, who people call Sarah.
going in for a procedure that's supposed to finalise her treatment- and
completely wipe her memories for good. But something goes wrong and they have
to do it another day. Only, they don't get the chance because it's lights out
as the 'hospital' is under attack. Basically after she gets out the first half
is about trying to figure out what's going on, who she is, which happens pretty
quickly and then trying to find more pills that someone gave her in the
beginning to remember because she lost one trying to escape, and if she doesn't
take the right amount 1 every 24 hours, it'll destroy her memories and
basically go nuts or die. The pills help her recover some memories of how she
got landed in that place in the first place. it quickly turns into a revenge story that's
so farfetched it's ridiculous. The connections. The shocking twists that
weren't that shocking and I didn't care that much to begin with it even care
about them anyway. You can only take so much before thinking it's unbelievable.
and you know what that point was for me? Hodges. She wasn't even an appealing
villain. I think she's trying to be portrayed as a psychopath but is missing
one key ingredient. She's not impassive. She tries to get what she wants and
when she doesn't she throws a hissy fit and whines and sounds and acts all
exasperated like it's some big effort to kill somebody. She was acting like a
twelve year old, not a full grown adult. Come on. I mean, at one point,
well, a few points actually, she asks Sarah to just come on down and let her
kill her already. Are. You. Fucking. Kidding. Me? Hello. Who does that? I get the come
out, come out, wherever you are scenes that are always there, but that?
Nope. Oh, oh, then (Spoiler) Hodges just spills everything
about what she's done and what she did in one big chapter towards the end.
No build-up whatsoever.
Then there's the romance with the surprise hacker kid who
just happens to be not far from the hospital and helps Sarah out., not that
it's an actual romance at all. You couldn't build a fire with the sparks they
weren't throwing off.
Tabular Rasa started good but went quickly downhill for me.
If you want an actual good Revenge story read Heart-Shaped Bruise by Tanya
Byrne. It's a killer.
Rating: 1/5
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