Review: Mind Games

Book: Mind Games by Kiersten White
Publication Date: February 19, 2013
Series: (Mind Games #1)
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Synopsis: Fia was born with flawless instincts. Her first impulse, her gut feeling, is always exactly right. Her sister, Annie, is blind to the world around her—except when her mind is gripped by strange visions of the future. 

Trapped in a school that uses girls with extraordinary powers as tools for corporate espionage, Annie and Fia are forced to choose over and over between using their abilities in twisted, unthinkable ways…or risking each other’s lives by refusing to obey.

In a stunning departure from her New York Times bestselling Paranormalcy trilogy, Kiersten White delivers a slick, edgy, heartstoppingly intense psychological thriller about two sisters determined to protect each other—no matter the cost.


Overall Review:
My friend Meredith is actually the one that got me interested in Mind Games since she loved Perfect Lies so much, so I was really excited to read this duology! For the first several chapters I developed a headache though, simply because I was so confused and had no idea what on earth was going on. White throws us directly into the story and while there's absolutely nothing wrong with that, we weren't given any background information or even a simple paragraph as to what was going on and how we ended up where we were in the story. It was never truly explained but after awhile I was able to (sort of) pick up what was going on. After that I was able to enjoy the story a bit more and really get into it. The whole idea behind Mind Games fascinates me and I really wish White had invested more into the idea instead of trying to build up tension and emotion. Kiersten White included flashbacks that all eventually lead up to the present time in order to help build Annie and Fia as well as help us gain a better understanding of who they are and what they've been through. I get why she did that and honestly it worked somewhat with me in terms of feeling a whole lot more for Fia (not so much Annie), but I personally don't think she needed the flashbacks. At first they only left me confused and wondering what was going on since we jumped from present time to several years back at random but after awhile I began to see the point of them up until I eventually thought they were being dragged on. It was after every chapter that this occurred and I didn't think White needed to continue the flashbacks throughout the whole book. Honestly one here or there would've done the job just fine without lingering confusion or annoyance. If White had focused more on the idea of Fia and Annie protecting each other by using their abilities against their will in order to hurt others and maybe included something along the lines of them fighting back, I would've enjoyed Mind Games a whole lot more. Not to say I didn't like it, because I did, there was just some things missing I felt White could've touched base on.

I liked Fia a lot, she was tough and could really hold her own but at the same time she was broken and lonely. She's been through so much over the years and it has definitely scarred her, left her broken and with nothing, but she hides it so well from other people. She refuses to show weakness so instead she shows everyone what they expect her to be, a cold heartless monster. I know her "gift" is that she has perfect instincts, but to be honest you'd never really know except for the fact that everyone brings it up. She follows her instincts maybe two or three times in the book (not counting flashbacks) and the rest of the time she almost goes against her instincts. I think she has this need to prove everyone wrong and be her own self, even if that sometimes gets her into trouble. She doesn't follow orders well even though her sister's life hangs in the balance, but she does what she has to. I really feel for her because everyone has underestimated her and overestimated her. They think she can be some emotionless killing machine that would do anything for her sister but they don't understand is all this pressure and evil takes a serious tole on her. She doesn't like herself or her life but she does what she must to protect her sister, for no one else will. That girl needs a serious break from life as well as a true friend!
I couldn't stand Annie. She was selfish, naive, idiotic, and way too self absorbed. Especially when it came to her sister. I hate to play the blame game on anyone but it is clear to me that if Annie had just paid attention to her sister instead of herself for one minute and tried to understand what Fia was feeling, neither of them would be in the messes that they were. I think she loves Fia, but she loves herself more. She never truly cared about what Fia was going through or if she was hurting. If she found out that Fia was hurt, she'd be upset but not because Fia was hurt but because she didn't know about it. It was all about her her her. Fia was depressed but was slowly finding a way to become more like herself, but Annie was mad because she wasn't the reason. She tried "so hard" yet got nothing. It was her way or no way. She thought the world revolved around her and was upset when people didn't agree with her. She hurt Fia time and time again, but didn't care because Annie always thought she was right and was justified. I seriously couldn't stand her and it upset me that half the book was told in her POV because I did not like her one bit!

The pace was a little slow, especially in the beginning, but I didn't mind so much because it was still a pretty quick read. Mind Games had great premise and sounded so interesting, all of it did, but I just wish that White focused on that instead of the things she did. It was pretty confusing at first because we're thrown immediately into this world we know nothing about but are expected to know exactly what everyone is talking about. Almost nothing is explained which was really disappointing because I really wanted to know more about the world they lived in, the messed up school Fia and Annie lived at, how people got their gifts, etc. Mind Games needed more world building and would have been much more interesting if we got the world building. That's not to say that Mind Games was bad because it wasn't, I quite enjoyed reading it actually, but there were just so many things White could've done with her story to make it better and more understandable, heck more lively, but she just didn't. The writing for Mind Games was beautiful and very drawing, in fact it reminded me a lot of Tahereh Mafi's writing which I find so captivating, even if I don't like her books very much. I was easily drawn into the story with White's writing and it was very hard to put down, even if there were some issues with the story. Annie and Fia were such polar opposites in personality and likability that it shocked me they were sisters. I adored Fia with her passionate and hardcore being. She's so complex as a character. She shows everyone this facade where she's an uncaring, evil monster so people will stay away but really she's a broken, lonely girl who just wants to be worthy of love and friendship but feels she isn't. She's gone through so much with nothing but pain and heartache to show for it. She's got a fire in her though that she isn't afraid to ignite for the world to see, and that's why I liked her so much. She may be broken and scared but she's still got that fight in her that no one can take away. Annie was the complete opposite. I couldn't stand her. She's selfish, naive, idiotic, and doesn't deserve a sister like Fia. She doesn't care about anyone but herself and her feelings and it shows almost right away. She isn't afraid to hurt or scar Fia if it gets her what she wants. She's so quick to jump to conclusions and make big decisions without once thinking of the consequence or thinking that she may be wrong. She may love Fia but you can hardly tell. Whenever Fia gets hurt or is sad, she doesn't care about that. She only cares about the fact that she just found out about it or she wasn't aware of what was happening or she wasn't the reason (seriously). She's just god awful. I simply adore the cover for Mind Games. It's bright, eye-catching, and just gorgeous!


Overall Rating:
I give Mind Games a 3 out of 5 star rating. I liked it quite a bit but I didn't love it. It was good but wasn't great. I am disappointed that I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would. It has such great potential and there's so much Kiersten White could've done with Mind Games to make it fantastic, but it didn't happen. Now despite the fact I didn't love Mind Games, I'm still crazy excited to read Perfect Lies because I've heard it's so good! I would recommend this book to people who like dystopians, more specifically if you liked the Shatter Me series. Beautiful writing, messed up place, gifted people, what more could you ask for? I can't wait to see how Perfect Lies turns out, once I get my hands on it! Thanks for reading!

3/5 stars

~Kayla~