Pure

This is not one for the faint of heart, especially if you have a good imagination. The imagery is gruesome and disturbing, the circumstances horrid. Personally, I can't really say I enjoyed this book, but that doesn't mean it's not worth a read. It's a little different than the usual YA distopian novels since the catastrophe preceding the events in the book was manufactured and the ensuing events had little to do with saving society at large. There were one or two places where the author went a little too far in my opinion and risked credibility, but the story didn't dwell on these things and the fact that it kept moving keeps the reader engaged.

Refreshingly for a YA novel, Baggott did not dwell on romance. Yes, there is some, but it's not the focus of the story. You get the feeling that Baggott wanted to spend more time focusing on what could happen if the wrong people have too much power and much too much knowledge. She does this without becoming preachy which is a huge plus. She's simply telling a story about what might be.

Someone else's review mentioned that it was a little heavy on the sci fi side and that's fairly accurate. It's just that other side of the line between fantasy and science fiction since there's a lot of science and medically based plot motivators.

All in all, I won't personally be listening to the sequels because the plot didn't grab me enough to override my aversion to the imagery, but that's not to say that it was a bad book, simply that it wasn't really my thing. If you like dystopian YA and have the stomach for it, you might love this book.

Narration: All of the characters were well narrated and well matched to the book.

I rated this book a "3" because I am on the fence about it. I've read several other YA dystopian series and this seems to be just one of a trend and not the best of the trend by any means. While some of the ideas in Pure were fresh and original, I thought the story really dragged in places and didn't always do justice to the ideas behind the story. I almost stopped listening several times because I just didn't feel compelled to find out what happened to the characters - and that is quite a contrast to other books in this genre where I can't stop listening because I want to know what happens next. It was a bumpy ride for me to get to the end of the book. I found the constant switch between different characters and narrators disruptive at times. Even though I knew it was only the first of a series when I started it, I don't know if I'll get the second book or not. I just didn't care that much about the characters or what happens to them. Yawn.

Gritty, Intelligent, Original

I'll compare it to The Hunger Games & The Running Man.

This book managed to set up a similar type of incredibly detailed and "over the top" world like both of those books did, but it did so in a way that kept everything grounded in a very gritty and realistic sense. In other words, with The Hunger Games & The Running Man, the setting is so far "out there" that it was difficult (if not impossible...) for me to forget that I was reading a work of complete fiction. However with Pure, I almost felt as though I had been granted some private glimpse into the future of this world, and then had to remind that myself this was complete fiction.

Nope...not that I'm aware of anyways... It was well done... maybe not as good as I expected with there being four of them and all, but it was definitely one of the better narrations I've heard.

I'm not quite sure, but I REALLY hope they do make a movie of it!!! So long as they keep the movie every bit as realistic and visceral as the book.
(read: Rated R, not a sissy PG-13 teenie-bopper interpretation like hunger games....)

A really neat take on a post-apocalyptic North America. Interesting for teens and adults alike. The author does a great job making you feel for the characters and their 'fusings'. It kept me interested the whole way through and I am looking forward to the sequel!

Great story with fantastic narration. Julianna Baggott creates such a strong image of the world in which the story takes place that you are quickly consumed by how easily you can relate to what is happening. This is the first time I've listen to a book so creatively narrated by several different narrators. It works perfectly to give even more voice to each of the story lines presented.

This book was very interesting, it was a little hard at first to get into it. Hard to imagine the world they live in, but the story became very interesting the further I listened. It was captivating and a great listen!

Disturbing future imagery.

It was a standard dystopian novel like any other but immensely diffrent at the same time. I'm not sure I'd compare it to anything I've read.

I liked everything with Lyda. She was sweet and innocent yet very determined and single minded. When she was left outside the dome and she didn't freak out but stayed composed that sealed it for me.

It made me think, what if, more than any dystopian future books have ever before. They are normally bad but what happened here is on another whole scale.

Still not sure what exactly happened in the explosion. Was it the whole country or world or even just part of the US. How large was the dome really.

So this is steampunk!

PURE was exactly the right book at exactly the right time. I had just come off of a string of heavy, serious books, and I needed a little YA "pallet cleanser" and this was great!

Don't get me wrong, "clean" is not a word I would use to describe PURE. In fact, this is one of the grittiest books I have read in this genre. Extremely visual, PURE transports readers to a dystopian world unlike anything I have ever read before. It's dark. It's raw. It's tough. And so is our girl, Pressia.

Completely original, with twists and turns readers won't see coming, this is a must-read.

A note on the audio production: It was very well done. I was a bit worried that having FOUR narrators was going to be more of a dramatic reproduction, like a radio play, rather than a novel. It was not. Each narrator took on a character's perspective, reading their chapters. The only time this got a little kooky was when Pressia was talking to Bradwell and then Partridge was talking to Bradwell, they each had their own "voice" for Bradwell. (does that make sense?) It did not take me long to get used to this, as there is not a huge cast of characters, so the writing kept the character straight for me instead of the narrators.

I'm really looking forward to diving into the next book in the trilogy, FUSE.

If you're a fan of dystopian YA like The Hunger Games, Ashfall, Legend, Blood Red Road, or Divergent, you must add PURE to your bookshelf.

Yes, the dystopian storyline was good and I was surprised by the number of different characters. I found myself listen far longer than I expected each time I started.

The storyline was full of twists and turns I didn't expect that kept the story intriguing.

There are several different narrators, which I enjoy when there are mulitple characters. It added a depth to the narration I enjoyed.

I love post apocolyptic type books and this story was no exception. I enjoyed this book and had difficulty putting it down, yet i cannot quite rate it the full 5 stars. The main character was tough and determined, but also believable as she needed time to process and adjust to the changes rapidly coming at her. This story reminded me a bit of the set up for the PS3 video game "Fallout 3" where some of the population was able to hole up in vaults to reside untouched by the toxic world - where others were mutated through roughing it in the outside elements. Fallout is one of my all time favority games and is perhaps what draws me to these types of books in the first place? I was a little suprised to learn that this is part of a series - as the ending is certainly an ending and not a cliff hanger, yet there are some story lines that can be followed up on at a later time. I am not yet sure whether i will continue with this series or not. Overall i would recommend this book, ONLY IF you enjoy post appocolyptic type stories.