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March 19, 2013

Review: Earth Girl by Janet Edwards

Earth Girl
Title: Earth Girl (Earth Girl, #1)
Author: Janet Edwards
Publication date: March 5, 2013
Publisher: Prometheus Books (PYR)
Genre(s): Young/New Adult (Sci-Fi)
Source: Publisher
Format: Finished Copy
Pages: 271
2788. Only the handicapped live on Earth. Eighteen-year-old Jarra is among the one in a thousand people born with an immune system that cannot survive on other planets. Sent to Earth at birth to save her life, she has been abandoned by her parents. She can’t travel to other worlds, but she can watch their vids, and she knows all the jokes they make. She’s an “ape,” a “throwback,” but this is one ape girl who won’t give in.

Jarra makes up a fake military background for herself and joins a class of norms who are on Earth for a year of practical history studies excavating the dangerous ruins of the old cities. She wants to see their faces when they find out they’ve been fooled into thinking an ape girl was a norm. She isn’t expecting to make friends with the enemy, to risk her life to save norms, or to fall in love.
Earth Girl had so much promise. Not only was the synopsis and the cover appealing, but the first 50 pages of the novel had me so excited to dig deeper into the story. Unfortunately, as soon as Jarra made it to the Norm school, it felt like the author hit the break on the book and we got stuck in horrible rush hour traffic, moving inch by inch, meaning barely getting any development in the plot whatsoever. I am really sad to say this but Earth Girl is officially my biggest disappointment of 2013. I have read many good reviews of it and I was expecting to really like it. However I did not enjoy the writing style with the weird terminologies such as Snaz! and Nuke!, I did not enjoy how most of the novel was spent following Jarra at school doing the same thing every single day, going to dig sites, showing off how smart she is, then going to bed. The plot stayed like that for more than 100 pages.. I kept on wondering if we were EVER going to get any development because I honestly don't see the point in continuing to read it. 
THEN, Jarra finally reconnects with her parents and I sit up straighter and wait for some character and plot development. Something big happens a little while after that but you know how Jarra takes it? in one tiny paragraph we read how pissed and heartbroken she is.. then the next chapter? it is like nothing happened. She is back to being her happy go lucky self to the point that she forgot who she is. Jarra is an handicapped, an ape, meaning someone who can't travel to different worlds like the Norms. Of course no one at her norm school knows about this. One day after the big event she disregarded, the school has to evacuate from earth to go to another planet, do you know what Jarra did? she went to PACK and get READY to go. I was like "umm, aren't you a handicapped? won't you go into anaphylactic shock as soon as you portal? WHERE IS YOUR MIND WOMAN?!" I felt that the author threw us out of Jarra's mind as soon as the big event happened. I couldn't understand what was going on and was so confused throughout the rest of the novel. 
I expected there to be action, to be some thrilling plot and great characters. I expected to be at least not let down by the romance but I was wrong. The love interest? I knew nothing about other than his sudden desire to marry Jarra and his fetish of being thrown over the shoulder by Jarra... please tell me it is as weird as I thought? the romance fell flat; one second Jarra didn't even care about the guy but the next second she is in love with him. I got so frustrated with this novel, I wanted to drop it many times but stuck around with it.I honestly wouldn't recommend it to anyone but again, I know people who have read it and loved it, I seem to be in the minority with my rating but that's my final verdict after reading Earth Girl. 
More varying reviews on Earth Girl by:
Esther's Ever After
The Social Potato
Two Broke Girls Reading

20 comments:

  1. I don't think I have seen this before. It doesn't really sounds like something I would enjoy. Sorry you didn't like it either.


    Jenea @ Books Live Forever

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  2. The premise does sound interesting, but that's too bad that the book doesn't seem to go anywhere. I get frustrated when books move slow and seem to be full of filler. Nice review, but sorry you didn't enjoy it.

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  3. Aaaaww, a friend really loved this book. Gotta check it out and see for it myself because you girls are kinda my ratings meter. We like the same books, heh. :D Thanks for the honest review! :)

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  4. I'm so sad you didn't like this one, Juhina! I know I really liked it (thanks for linking my review!) but I know how disappointing it is when you just don't get a book.

    Jarra's sudden change also felt fairly disconnected to me (as I mentioned a bit in my review) but I could SORT of understand it.

    I'm really glad we were able to discuss this book on Twitter though! :)

    Brenna from Esther's Ever After

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  5. I loved your review. Yes, I do believe tossing someone over the shoulder on a regular basis and enjoying it, would be a little weird. This one didn't seem like my type of book and yours is the first review I've seen, so maybe I'll skip this one.

    LisaILJ @ I’ll Tumble for YA

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  6. Awl, so disappointing! I love,love, the cover and the synopsis sounded so good!Thanks for your honest review!!

    Tt @ NeverEndingStoires

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  7. Thanks for the honest review. I really appreciate it.

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  8. Aww, I hate that you didn't enjoy this book! I was one of the people who loved it, but I can see where it would not appeal to everyone. I like hardcore, old school science fiction, and this is as close as I've gotten in YA. I hope you like the next one more!

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  9. Oh, how disappointing! :(

    1. I love the cover, gorgeous!
    2. The blurb sounds amazing.

    Like you, I have read many positive reviews, but thanks for the honest review. It is great too read negative reviews in order to make up my mind. I think I'm going to wait with this book for a while.

    Mel@thedailyprophecy.

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  10. I kind of expected Jarra to be strong and smart but packing up and getting ready to leave Earth just seemed plain reckless esp. when she knew she's an ape. I appreciate you sharing your thoughts with us. Thank you, Juhina!

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  11. This did look like a good premise and cover. Sad that it feel short. Thanks for your thoughts on it!

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  12. Ooooh I was so excited for this book. It really has a nice premise and a beautiful cover.. But after reading your review I'm not that excited anymore.. Thanks for the honest review Juhina :)

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  13. I've seen this book around, but haven't read any reviews on it. Sucks that it was such a disappointment. Ugh, don't you hate when there no development whatsoever?! Glad for your honest opinion though Juhina :) Great review.

    Janina @ Synchronized Reading

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  14. Your biggest disappointment of 2013? I'm sorry to hear that. I really liked the sound of this book but with the slow pacing and the flat romance, I don't think I'd stick it out. Thanks for the honest review Juhina :)

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  15. YIKES. I was definitely going to pick this book up awhile book, but I never got to read it. Thankfully I read your review before reading it! I'm really on the fence about it now-- the cover is beautiful and the synopsis sounds fantastic, but the main character itself sounds awful. I'm sorry that this was your most disappointing read of 2013! Thanks for the wonderfully honest review though. :)

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  16. The cover and concept both seem so amazing. I was really eager to read this book until I read this review. When there's pacing problems, I struggle a lot to stick with a book. Plus a flat romance? Hm. I'll really have to think about whether or not to pick this book up. Great review, thanks for sharing :)

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  17. Too bad. And the cover is very nice. Thanks for sharing.

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  18. WOW....what a let down. I think that's the worst, when you set expectation and it turns out to be completely different. I am so sad to hear you didn't enjoy this one, Juhina! But I agree with what you said. I need there to be plot development and definitely elements that will hook me to the story, obviously this was missing both. I don't like the sound of the characters and I really hate the sound of the romance...or at least what there is to it. D: I don't think I'll be reading this one,

    Thanks for the honest review, Juhina! :D

    ~ Maida
    Literary Love Affair

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  19. They have change the cover! Thanks for a frank and honest review. I have no patience with books that seems to go on and on without anything significant happening.

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  20. The premise did actually sound interesting. It's so sad when authors fail to bank on that. I'm sorry you were so disappointed with the book. And the fetish, damn yes it is weird. I don't really like dumb MCs, so I'm definitely going to stay away from it.
    Great Review! :D

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