SLEEP NO MORE by Aprilynne Pike {RMB Review}

"Read My Books" review by Natalie

Sleep No Moreby Aprilynne Pike
Hardcover: 352 pages
Publisher: HarperTeen (April 29, 2014)
Language: English
Goodreads | Amazon

Charlotte Westing has a gift. She is an Oracle and has the ability to tell the future. But it doesn't do her much good. Instead of using their miraculous power, modern-day Oracles are told to fight their visions—to refrain from interfering. And Charlotte knows the price of breaking the rules. She sees it every day in her wheelchair-bound mother and the absence of her father. But when a premonition of a classmate's death is too strong for her to ignore, Charlotte is forced to make an impossible decision: continue following the rules or risk everything—even her sanity—to stop the serial killer who is stalking her town.

First, I would like to thank Andye for giving me a copy of Sleep No More to read, thank you so much!!!!

Going in to this book, I had absolutely no idea what it was about except that it involved Oracles. Suffice to say, I didn’t except to enjoy it as much as I did since a ton of reviewers have been leaving it 3 stars or less, but surprise, it was basically a murder mystery with a twist! And I love me some murder mystery.

Charlotte is an Oracle, and she starts receiving these premonitions in which she sees classmates of hers brutally murdered. Like anyone else with a soul, she can’t stand not doing anything about these murders, but that goes against everything she’s ever been taught about being an Oracle: fight the visions, don’t change the future, and most importantly, don’t tell anyone you’re an Oracle. But even that isn’t enough for her to try and stop the serial killer haunting her town.

Pike crafted this story so well I had no idea what to expect. I had my suspicions about who may be the killer, but then something would happen and I’d second guess myself. There was romance; more second hand to the story, but it was there. Plus, it took a twist at the end that one usually doesn’t see in YA literature, so I doubly applaud Pike for that. This story was full of imagination, what with the supernatural aspect and psyche aspects that require the reader to craft a dream world and just roll with all the twist and turns that causes. The action in this story, though a bit slow in the beginning, quickly picked up, and once the climax hit it was nonstop action there on out, I loved it. Some stand alone novels fail in the way that their climactic scene lasts about two pages then everything is solved BAM! No questions asked. But no, not this book. From my guestimations, the climax lasted for about 20 or so pages, so a hefty amount of action for us readers.

My opinion of the main character, Charlotte, fluxuated throughout the book. In the first few chapters, she didn’t exactly hold depth, but as Pike got into the story, Charlotte’s persona started coming out. She was a bit thick at times, doing things that left me questioning her sense of right and wrong. But I saw her character grow, especially at the end when she used her noggin and put on a brave face.

I would definitely suggest you read this book, just start with an open mind!!!!

Natalie    

Content:

• Violence: Fairly heavy--mainly graphic descriptions of the dead bodies and how they were killed (I mean, there’s a serial killer so….)
• Profanity: Some swears, but barely any at that
• Sexual Content: A few kisses here and there but nothing heavy or descriptive, just implied