Written by 
Mystic City – Theo Lawrence
Genre: Science Fiction, Romance (Young Adult)
Publisher: Corgi
Release Date: October 9, 2012
Format read: Physical (paperback)
Source of book: This book was acquired independently by the Reviewer.
My Thoughts
Ugghhh…….This Mystic City Book Review is going to be a brutal one. Because I HATED this book and I don’t recommend anyone read it for any reason. It’s a failed dystopian YA knock-off from the time that was a peak trend. I suspect it was rushed out. In doing so, it ruined the interesting premise it may have had.
In this story Manhattan is underwater, but it is the author who unceremoniously drowns from his own ineptitude.
Don’t be fooled by the pretty cover. The cover is actually the best part of the whole thing.
I don’t have much preamble for this book review, so let’s get to brass tacks.
Storyline & Plot
Mystic City is about a future dystopian society, whereby our narrator Aria lives as a daughter of a noble family. She wakes up with amnesia and is told the following story: she had a drug addiction, then she had a secret relationship with the son of a rival family, she was caught and then suffered an overdose which caused her amnesia.
Interesting idea. Except it’s immediately obvious this isn’t the true story. The plot is about Aria working out what really happened. This would’ve been a great premise for a story, except it was so poorly handled.
It’s actually quicker for me to point out the plot points I actually like:
- Manhattan being underwater is a cool idea
- The “fake relationship” between Aria and Thomas (her supposed “secret lover”) is an intriguing concept. If it wasn’t so see-through and obvious to the reader.
For the second point, I’m going to compare quickly to another YA dystopian romance, Red Queen.
Spoilers for Red Queen in this paragraph. For the record, I don’t like Red Queen very much either, but it got one thing right. Red Queen features a budding romance between the lead, Mare, and a prince, Maven. It is later revealed that from Maven’s perspective, this relationship was a ruse and he was faking interest in her for a political advantage. But to me, when I read that twist (as an adult), I was genuinely shocked. I had been successfully tricked by the author, into believing that he was genuinely interested in her, which made the fake relationship revelation all the more intense.
By comparison, Thomas’ “courting” of Aria in Mystic City is immediately hollow and fake. Thomas gives Aria a lot of basic platitudes and fake worry. Also a lot of gaslighting. Gaslighting has become increasingly prominent over the years, so the reader can see Thomas’s manipulation of Aria’s amnesia from miles away. We know something is off immediately, so there is no shock for the reader when Thomas’ true motivations are revealed. If Thomas had been written as more convincing, we would have had a more interesting premise.
The surprising aspect of Thomas’ clear disinterest in Aria means that this is, shockingly, a YA romance novel with no serious love triangle. Hunter’s other “interest” doesn’t count as there are clearly no emotions on his side. Normally I am against shoving in love triangles for the sake of drama. But if Thomas actually cared for Aria in some way we’d have a more interesting plot. Doesn’t even have to be romantic. Thomas could even see Aria as a little sister and become a bit protective of her. Something to make him complex, give him an inner conflict, and a shocking twist.
Characters
Our protagonist, Aria Rose, has a cool name and some interesting potential but she is as dumb as rocks.
One problem I consistently have with YA novels is that they treat the readers like idiots. Often by having main characters with a single brain cell who are always like “Hmm, that’s weird, I wonder why X thing happens”, when the answer is right in front of them. Off the top of my head alone, I can list off 2 YA books I DNF in the past for this very reason (Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater, which I DNF twice, and Fallen by Lauren Kate). Well, we have to add Mystic City to that list of YA stupid protagonists.
Teens are dumb (can confirm, I was a teen once), but they aren’t that dumb. You don’t need to have an imbecile as a protagonist to be relatable.
There is one area, whereby Aria being dumb would make sense and actually be worthwhile reading. When she takes on an office job, she does so as a noble’s daughter who has never done a day of work in her life. A daughter of pure privilege taking on an office job is the perfect place for Aria to be initially incompetent as a fish out of water. It could show her the realities of her word and help her gain a new perspective. But we don’t see much growth as a result of that. The office job doesn’t catalyst her into any new insights, as much as it is an excuse for her to get exposition thrown at her for the next plot point.
For everything else, Aria is so dumb naturally, apart from the amnesia. It’s the only justification for her to go along with Thomas’ story. It’s the only reason she wonders for so long why Hunter and she have this sudden and intense chemistry – it’s obvious to the reader they clearly have met before.
Spoiler for Mystic City in this paragraph. But I would prefer you get spoiled so you don’t read this book. So there was one character I was interested in and actually liked. Davida. She had a mysterious backstory, she was working hard for her family. She had good values (loyalty especially). Guess what? She dies, for no good reason except dramatic self-sacrifice. Why? Seriously Lawrence, why? Why would you do this? Why kill off the one character who had a somewhat intriguing mystery and an admirable character motivation? She was clearly too good for this story and had to be eradicated.
Writing
This section of the Mystic City book review is going to be shorter than normal because all I can say is it is BAD.
Every plot point was either insanely obvious from a mile away, or so bizarre and left-field that it was shocking. Nothing made sense, nothing was organic, and nothing was actually described well.
I cannot name a single bit of good writing in this work. It was either passable or just plain bad.
It’s worth noting that I actually acquired this book and its sequel, Toxic Heart, at the same time. I intended to read both. But after slogging out Mystic City, I cannot bear myself to continue with the next one. I’m giving up on this duology?/trilogy?/series? I think the third book was never finished. That’s pretty telling on its own.
TL;DR: Don’t waste your time. Avoid this one.
Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
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