Review: The Fever King by Victoria Lee

Title: The Fever King

Author: Victoria Lee

Series: Feverwake #1

Genre: Sci-fi/YA/LGBT

Publisher: Skyscape

Publication Date: March 1st, 2019

Edition: Kindle Edition, 376 pages

Source: NetGalley

Purchase: Amazon US | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | BAM

Synopsis:

   In the former United States, sixteen-year-old Noam Álvaro wakes up in a hospital bed, the sole survivor of the viral magic that killed his family and made him a technopath. His ability to control technology attracts the attention of the minister of defense and thrusts him into the magical elite of the nation of Carolinia.

   The son of undocumented immigrants, Noam has spent his life fighting for the rights of refugees fleeing magical outbreaks—refugees Carolinia routinely deports with vicious efficiency. Sensing a way to make change, Noam accepts the minister’s offer to teach him the science behind his magic, secretly planning to use it against the government. But then he meets the minister’s son—cruel, dangerous, and achingly beautiful—and the way forward becomes less clear.
   Caught between his purpose and his heart, Noam must decide who he can trust and how far he’s willing to go in pursuit of the greater good.

Review:

This book is kind of hard to review. I don't know if I like it or not in some ways... I mean it's very well written. There's a lot to like about this book. It has some very well done representation with the main character being a bisexual mixed-race Jewish boy. The plot just fell through for me a little.

There is a twist near the end, or what I assume is supposed to be the twist. But it came across kind of strangely to me. There really wasn't a lot of set up for it, and typically with twists, there are still clues. So either there really wasn't any, or they all just went over my head. Maybe some people would prefer that, being blindsided by a twist. But for me, it felt like it came out of nowhere. That it was just kind of thrown in there. 

The romance was done very well. Though, I don't really know how to call this a romance exactly as the two characters spent most of the book kind of hating each other. Noam thought Dara was attractive from the start, but I never caught when Dara started feeling anything for Naom.  Even after confessing their feelings. But I will say that this book does a great job with Bisexual representation. 

“I meant it when I said I wasn’t gay,” Noam said.

Ames looked disbelieving, but she didn’t pull away.

Noam smirked. “ Bisexual isn’t gay”

All-in-all this book was just okay for me. The writing is very good, the characters are great, the setting while strange and not always making sense is good. The plot kind of fell short for me. I just don't know what anybody's end goals were by the end of the book. Nobody really says what they planned to do if they succeeded. Sacha, what did he plan to do. We only kind of know what Lehrer wanted, because Dara told us. In hindsight, the plot was kind of convoluted. A lot didn't really add up or make sense at times. These things will most likely be covered in the sequel.