All these things I’ve Done

The first book in the Birthright series by Gabrielle Zevin

Synopsis: In 2083, chocolate and coffee are illegal, paper is hard to find, water is carefully rationed, and New York City is rife with crime and poverty. And yet, for Anya Balanchine, the sixteen-year-old daughter of the city’s most notorious (and dead) crime boss, life is fairly routine. It consists of going to school, taking care of her siblings and her dying grandmother, trying to avoid falling in love with the new assistant D.A.’s son, and avoiding her loser ex-boyfriend. That is until her ex is accidently poisoned by the chocolate her family manufactures and the police think she’s to blame. Suddenly, Anya finds herself thrust unwillingly into the spotlight–at school, in the news, and most importantly, within her mafia family.

Okay.. I’m, not sure what this was exactly. Right from the first chapter we learn that chocolate, coffee and a million other things are illegal. Everything else is rationed in this world… there’s a ton of crime and gangs that deal in illegal coffee and chocolate. We also learn that the main character has some real daddy issues.

I was hoping those things would lessen throughout the book, but no. That is pretty much the entire plot of the book. Especially the daddy issues. Good god the amount of times she said “daddy said” was ridiculous.

Not much happens story wise. There’s a bit of teenage drama, and a love-ish? Story. There’s some of what I think are petty crimes.. I couldn’t fully grasp the plot enough to accept that chocolate is illegal (in some places anyways) and that people get arrested for it.

There was like a crime ring/mobster/gang family, I guess? If that’s what you can call them who make and sell chocolate semi-illegally but not totally illegally because chocolate is legal in some places. There was some violence but otherwise it’s a pretty chill family honestly. There’s some death, I guess? But overall it was just so anticlimactic and lame.

It was a bizarre cast of characters, I didn’t relate or feel for any of them. The main character is a “good catholic girl” but then does some sketchy shit and then goes to confession, then does more sketchy shit.. she spends a lot of time complaining about wanting to save herself until marriage but then not wanting to at the same time. She’s whiny and try’s to control everything around her including her family and friends. She just, was not a good character. Win was pointless and so was Scarlett and Leo.. they were all just meh. Even the so-called ‘bad guy’ who causes shit (I won’t say who it is incase you guys actually want to read it) is just so lame and can’t do shit themselves to get the outcome they want and end up screwing it up in the process.

This whole book was just meh. I wasn’t a fan. I wont be picking up the next book. I don’t care where they go from here.

I rate this book

1/10

HAVE A FAMTABULOTASTIC DAY

xoxo