“A sublime, energized heroine headlines this tale of a dark future.” -Kirkus Reviews They call me the Scorpion because they don’t know who I really am. All they know is that someone is stealing from people with excess to help people with nothing survive another day. But then a trusted friend reveals who I am–“just” Tessa, “just” a girl–and sends me straight into the arms of the law. All those … into the arms of the law. All those people I helped…couldn’t help me when I needed it.
In prison, I find an unlikely ally in Pike, who would have been my enemy on the outside. He represents everything I’m against. Luxury. Excess. The world immediately falling for his gorgeous smile. How he ended up in the dirty cell next to mine is a mystery, but he wants out as much as I do. Together, we have a real chance at escape.
With the sting of betrayal still fresh, Pike and I will seek revenge on those who wronged us. But uncovering all their secrets might turn deadly…
more
The Hunger Games meets Batman in Cindy R. Wilson’s Sting, where a kick-ass teenage girl with a secret identity wants to save oppressed people. The Scorpion is my new favorite heroine!
Inventory: One thoroughly enjoyable futuristic tale, a them-against-us struggle of haves and have-nots fighting a battle of dark and light, where the only two things that matter are hope and revenge.
Tessa has set close boundaries. Cass, someone Tessa saved from the streets, is her only family. The only one on the inside. While many know Tessa’s alter ego, Scorpion not many know who she is, and her closest friends don’t know her well enough to be trusted to see her scars.
Her closest friends are kept at arm’s length because Tessa knows that resistance fighting is dangerous, and the more people you have, the more people you have to lose. While she has feelings for her friend River, Cass is the only one she trusts one-hundred percent. Because the thing about being a darksider is you have to keep your eyes wide open.
The heroine in this book has some incredible development as the plot evolves, and the struggles Cindy R. Wilson gives Tessa to face internally and externally provides the reader with a juxtaposition in the world she has created. The idealism and hope Tessa has for a better life for her people in the outer rings are at war with experience of imprisonment and the weight of consequence.
I could read the fight Tessa had with herself in many parts where she wanted to struggle for righteousness on behalf of people who couldn’t fight for themself in a world where that should have meant justice. But in actuality, the righteous were the people who only understood one side of the struggle.
That Tessa made her way through the shallows and depths of these dark waters is a real credit to Wilson.
I feel that this is a great book. I enjoy the issues it speaks to socially. However, it’s my opinion that many people will feel triggered by much of what this novel speaks of regarding penal systems, law enforcement, corruption, and government. I think this book has many high talking points for younger audiences to start conversations on many relevant current event topics.
Cindy R. Wilson’s prison system is called the Decay, where criminals go and, more or less, are forgotten. And the impoverished ones go there to die. There are two different neighboring social regions the dark district and the light district, which are haves and have-nots. Have-nots are so poor we are talking about happy to eat rats, have a separate industry, that might include a rebellion to take down the corrupt Leader of the nearby Light District city Victor, Head Enforcer Campbell. Who happens to be a douche canoe of significant proportions.
I highly recommend this book. I loved it. My only arguable issue is that I needed something more–not sure what that was because I love this book, but I felt something was missing.
This book will be for you if you enjoy:
Forget Tomorrow
The Girl who Shot First: The Death Fields
Glitch, Book 1 (Lost in Time)
The Hunger Games (Hunger Games Trilogy, Book 1)
This is a fun thrill ride from the opening pages through the pulse-pounding conclusion. Cindy R. Wilson creates fascinating characters and throws them into impossible situations against a rich dystopian backdrop. Scorpion is just a teenage girl who was unfortunately on the wrong side of the bride when the world came tumbling down. Living in a “bunker” in an abandoned gaming center, Tessa, aka the Scorpion, shares her “home” with Cass, a twelve-year-old orphan. The two form a tight family unit, which not only do whatever it takes to survive, but also helping others who live in the Dark District get what they need. This makes her public enemy number one of the Light Sight, which is under the control of Campbell, who also happens to be the father of her best friend, Elle. But when someone betrays her, Tessa is thrown into prison where she meets Pike, a former enforcer in training who wants to take down Campbell almost as much as Tessa does. The two form a friendship that borders on something more as they plan to escape and help the Dark Side and exact revenge on Campbell. But Tessa’s hate for Campbell is powerful and may get in the way of what she needs to do.
There are a lot of similarities between STING and THE HUNGER GAMES. So if you enjoy a good dystopian adventure of the oppressed rising up against their oppressor, a badass heroine with a younger sister figure she’ll do anything for, and a couple of swoony boys fighting over the protagonist, this is right up your alley!
Plot
The main plot centers on Tessa and her quest for revenge against Campbell, the man who has kept the Dark District in the dark. There are strong subplots involving Tessa’s search for Cass, and her relationships with both River, another darksider, and Pike, the lightsider she meets in prison. The story shines in all of these areas. The action is well-spaced ensuring perfect pacing and twists and turns kept me engaged. Some I saw coming, others not so much. Everything is expertly woven together to create a compelling story that is nearly impossible to put down.
Characters
The characters are superb! Scorpion will go down in history as one of my all-time favorite heroines. River, Pike, Cass and the rest are all deep, complex, compelling. Even the antagonists are more than just shallow stereotypes for the most part. Mongo and even Elle at times seemed sort of trope-y, but they served a necessary purpose. I love Tessa so much. She’s tough but vulnerable. Her inexperience with romance makes her stumble over her feelings for those around her, but her fierce loyalty is what endears her to me from the very beginning. Pike is my Peta. He’s also loyal, brave, smart, and he gets Tessa on a deep level. River is my sweet, sweet Gale. He loves Tessa so much, he’d do anything for her. Elle is complex and conflicted as the best friend and daughter of Tessa’s rival, and Campbell, well, he’s easy to believe these days as a greedy bastard who sees the poor people of the world as a drain on his power and wealth.
What I Loved About STING
1. Tessa. She’s the perfect blend of strength, fearlessness, loyalty, and vulnerability.
2. Pike. He’s wonderfully patient, brave, and would do anything for Tessa.
3. Action. There is a lot of it and it’s pulse-pounding and intense.
4. River. Another great guy who will risk everything for the people he cares about.
5. Twists and Turns. Really well done and caught me by surprise more than once.
What Didn’t Quite Work for Me
Nothing! Though I hope this is the first book in a series. It doesn’t end on a cliffhanger and I have no idea what the author would do in a second book, but I love this world and these characters so much, I don’t want to let them go.
Bottom Line
A thrilling dystopian adventure with plenty of romance!
My first experience with Cindy R. Wilson’s books and I am hooked. The blurb got my attention because The Count of Monte Cristo is one of my favorite classics and I haven’t read a retelling based on it before, so I am happy I had the opportunity to read this one.
The story is set in a dystopian world, where people are divided into two factions, The Light and The Darkside. Of course the most privileged are part of Victor, the city of Light where they live the best life, surrounded by opulence while the unfortunate ones are left to starve beyond the borders of the city. Tessa has been on her own since she was twelve, she lost her parents and was forced to survive amongst the Darksiders. She’s a warrior at heart and will do anything to help those in need so she becomes a vigilante, a symbol of hope for the people in the dark. But someone in her group betrays her so Tessa finds herself was thrown into jail. The need for revenge fuels her to survive amongst the inmates and with the help of a new ally she plans her escape.
I love Tessa, she is fierce and heads strong, and has such a big heart. She always puts people’s needs before her own. It was interesting to see how the love triangle between her, Pike and River evolved and I liked that the story didn’t put too much emphasis on that. Her feelings for Pike developed organically and their connection was beautifully presented. The world-building was great and the characters were well presented and relatable. The plotline was suspenseful, intriguing and had enough angst to keep me engaged in the story. I loved how things turned out in the end.
Overall, I enjoyed this book a lot, it was emotional and entertaining and I recommended it to those who like dystopian YA novels with a twist!
*I received an ARC on Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.*
I was scrolling through the books on Net Galley one day, and stopped when I saw this great cover. The tag line: Revenge is poison, also did it’s job. It leapt off the page, and, when I read the blurb, I knew I had to have it.
Tessa. The Scorpion. Robin Hood of the Dark District.
She robs from the rich who live in the Light District and give to the poor in the Dark District.
Climate change has wreaked havoc on the world, making once was habitable, inhabitable. Their country is the place of last resort, and, of course, the privileged claim it as their own.
Tessa had started out the apocalypse on her own, but quickly added to her ‘family’. She does have a love interest in River, a best friend from the wrong side of the district, Elle, and Cass, a child, who she has taken in as if she were her very own. She feels now is not the time for love and romance and fights her attraction to River.
Tessa is a tinkerer, creating bots that she calls Scorpions. She sends them out ahead of the search party, scouting for danger. They scavenge for what little they have, on the verge of starvation, even setting traps for rats.
Everyone needs a champion in desperate times and Scorpion, a humble, young girl, rose to the challenge, believing that someone has to do something. She never saw herself as a leader and questions how that even became possible.
She is betrayed, ending up in prison, where she finds an unlikely ally. I saw the betrayal coming very quickly.
I love the inventory she takes at the beginning of each chapter.
I love the dystopian world Cindy R Wilson created. I felt the need, the desperation, the urgency for the characters. At times it unrolled like a movie playing in my mind, the writing making it so easy to visualize them skulking through the streets, patrolling, battling for survival.
This may be an ARC, but it read as if it could be the final product.
I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of Sting by Cindy R Wilson.
See more at http://www.fundinmental.com
Sting is the first book I’ve ever read from Cindy R. Wilson. I haven’t read a dystopian novel since they were hot and I will say that the story of Tessa and crew made me really sad I haven’t picked up more along my reading journey. I will say that this book has many themes that are reminiscent of your standard dystopian end of days YA novel. There’s a romance that includes a love triangle, there’s two separate sort of factions at odds with each other (Light and Dark), there’s a heroine who has what seems to be “the one to change the world” storyline, and a big baddie that has to be taken down. All that good stuff. I don’t want to say too much about this one, because I feel like many things could be considered spoilers, so what I will say is that the dynamics between Tessa and her loves interests was different from most dystopian, even if it outwardly felt similar. I will also say that it was slightly hard to connect with the characters for me even though I was connected to their mission, they themselves were harder to care about individually.
All in all this was a great read. I wouldn’t call it unique, but if you are a fan of the YA dystopian genre, I feel that Sting is a well written and fun addition.