Review: London Eye

London Eye (Toxic City #1) by Tim Lebbon
Release Date ~ October 2, 2012
Pyr ~ Prometheus Books
ISBN13: 9781616146801
Review copy received from publisher for review

Goodreads Synopsis:

The Hunger Games meets The X-Men in an exciting post-apocalyptic debut.
Two years after London is struck by a devastating terrorist attack, it is cut off from the world, protected by a military force known as Choppers. 
The rest of Britain believe that the city is now a toxic, uninhabited wasteland. But Jack and his friends, some of whom lost family on what has become known as Doomsday, know that the reality is very different. 
At great risk, they have been gathering evidence about what is really happening in London, and it is incredible. Because the handful of London's survivors are changing. Developing strange, fantastic powers. Evolving.


The Hunger Games meets X-Men? Some crazy attack on London that has left the city absolutely devastated and isolated from the rest of the world? People with superhuman powers and abilities? This is EXACTLY the kind of premise I love to hear about. Plenty of action and excitement should be an unstoppable book.

But unfortunately, London Eye simply failed to deliver those anticipations of mine. I had a difficult time really connecting with the book, and if I can’t do that then I’m bound to dislike it.

1. There is PLENTY of action:
   
   This was awesome – I liked that danger really was lurking around every corner and that the further the story moved along, the more likely it was that more danger would take place as the group drew closer to London. It’s a messy and crazy world, and the action at least kept the story moving along for me.
   
2. Diversity with characters:
   
   These definitely aren’t your cookie-cutter YA characters, and I applaud Tim Lebbon for being creative with his characters and making them real and flawed. They were edgier than I expected, and far more honest than most. Plus, I like seeing more male perspectives in YA. And I thought it was brilliant to include Emily as Jack’s younger sister, and giving them a very strong sibling relationship with each other.

Regardless, the story ultimate felt lacking to me. As diverse as the characters were, I couldn’t stand most of them. I had the hardest time relating to Jack and just didn’t find the redeeming characters I was looking for from him. And Lucy-Ann was another character I didn’t take to – I wonder if perhaps it’s because I didn’t buy into her relationship with Jack. We’re introduced to them at a time when they’re both having a hard time with their relationship but because they were so new to me, I couldn’t fully appreciate how difficult this struggle was for them.  I couldn’t fathom why these kids were so trusting with strangers, considering they had been on their own for so long.

But mostly, I felt like I was thrown into a world with characters I didn’t know anything about. I wanted to like them, I wanted to know more about what was going on in this time and place, but I didn’t get that. It felt glossed over and rushed, and without strong world building and character development I just couldn’t connect with the story at all.