Icons (Icons, 1) Hardcover – May 7, 2013

Always remember The Day: The Day that everything stopped, the millions of people died just so the Lords could prove their power, The Day Dol’s family died, but she miraculously survived. Cut to 10+ years later and teenage Dol is living in the country, far from the Lord’s powerful Icons. But when Dol and Ro, her best friend, are kidnapped and taken to the embassy, then nag change drastically. They meet two more people like them, with weird dot symbols on their wrists. Lucas, the ambassadors son and Tima, a fellow prisoner. The closer the four become, the more they realize that maybe there is more going on than meets the eye. Maybe these four are connected in a way that none of them could have predicted and maybe, just maybe, that are the key to bringing down the Lord's and their malicious icons.So, the plan with this was simple. I needed something to listen to on the 3 and a half hour drive to Charleston SC for YA`'ll fest and this was available. The plan, was to listen to it on the way there and then on the way back, then I'd be almost finished and it wouldn't hinder my reading my massive stack of E-ARCs because I was using time that I wouldn't have spent reading anyway. Perfect, right? Well, I ended up only listening on the way there and falling asleep on the way back home. So, I'm less than halfway through this thing and I feel guilty every time I pick it up. I have so many books I committed to read and this is not on that list, how can I justified spending time reading it? The other issue was, I met Margaret Stohl at YA`'ll fest and she freaking amazing, so I have to love this, right? But, initially I didn't. It was good, but not great. Interesting, but not stay up all night addictive. So I deliberately read it slowly because I did NOT want write a negative review for this. I need to love it. And, eventually, I really got into it. Let's see why.The biggest reason I initially didn't love this was because I'm not a big fan of Dol. I found her a bit immature and a whole lot annoying. Throughout the novel . People comment on her being clever, but I never saw it. She seemed a bit slow and can't ever seen to make up her mind. She does that insanely annoying thing where she claims to "love" To, a male character, and its implied that it's romantic feelings, but then she sees Lucas, and holy crap, she's in love. Our at least she knows she doesn't have romantic feelings for Ro. She also came across as gullible, always just believing what she was told without any investigation. Needless to say, I was not a fan.Then there are the guys: Ro and Lucas. I wasn't a huge fan of either, but I wanted her to end up with Ro because he is the one who has always been there for her. Also because I didn't see the appeal of Lucas. He just wasn’t the hero for me. He seemed a little….well “uppity” is the only word that comes to mind. He’s the Ambassador’s son and has lived a privileged life. The whole love triangle thing pissed me off. I hate freaking hate them and I hate them passionately. Obviously I was less than enthused about this one.I also had a bit of an issue with the amount of confusion. While I applaud Stohl for avoiding the infamous info dump, I felt like I was given too little information at times. Who the hell are the Lords? How do the Icons work? How is the weird government set up? I get that the Lords give the orders somehow and the Ambassadors carry them out, but who appointed the ambassadors? How do the Lords give information? I can even leave Dol’s part out because obvious that is supposed to be a mystery, but a bit more world building wouldn’t have gone amiss.Where this novel shines, however, is in its side characters. Namely, Fortis and Dr. Orwell Bradbury Huxley-Clark. Now, had the novel been told by Fortis’ perspective, I’d have been in love. Fortis is all rebellion. Hot, sarcastic, british, intelligent…::drools:: From the first moment Dol met him on the train, I was head over heels. Then there is Doc, a freaking COMPUTER PROGRAM. But this computer program has snark and spunk and had me smiling and giggling even when I wanted to scream in frustration from dealing with Dol. The sarcasm and the jokes and the over serious observations made all the bad parts completely worth it.Really, this is a 3.5, but Goodreads doesn’t allow half-star ratings and I’m too darn tired (read: lazy) to crop one of those crappy bows in half to post. It only ends on a very mild cliffhanger, so at least we don’t have the love triangle/insta-love/cliffhanger trifecta! It’s an interesting mix of dystopian and scifi, with light romance and quirky side characters to keep you smiling. It’s not perfect, but it’s definitely worth the read. And the last 100 pages or so get truly interesting. It’s no coincidence that it’s also when Fortis appears again and we learn a bit more of Doc’s origins. :)

We take our freedom and role in the world for granted, but what would you do if humans were no longer the controlling species on earth anymore? One of my biggest fears developed, Icons is the story of an alien invasion and the world that develops around their arrival.Dol survived the day. The day the Icons came to Earth, they destroyed land and lives in their efforts to swiftly and violently take over the planet. They succeeded. Now, Dol, Ro and the other survivors hide in the lands beyond the grasp of the Lords who provide the Icons with manpower for the work to be done. While being a Lord is certainly an easier life it also means selling your own kind to a life from which they never return. Dol has always been intrigued by electronics and other mysteries from the time before the Icons, but she never thought there was more to her life than hiding.When Dol and Ro are taken, they are brought to the Embassy Headquarters. It is there that Dol realizes just how different she and Ro really are. Meeting Lucas and Tima leads to one very clear conclusion- they are all unusual and special in a way that humanity has never seen. Dol can control people's emotions. Ro can agitate people. Lucas and Tima have other talents, but Lucas is also the son of the Ambassador. Together, they learn more about the world than they had ever expected, and it isn't promising...We first met Margaret Stohl with Kami Garcia in their Gothic supernatural story, Beautiful Creatures. When authors collaborate before you have read their independent work, there is always the nagging question of what they would be like without their co-author. I was always very curious about this pair, because some of Creatures was brilliant while other pieces were a struggle (ending much?!). Now that I have read a book from Garcia and a book from Stohl, I have to say I think Garcia is the stronger writer. Not that this was a bad book or uninteresting, although it certainly suffered from some dry, difficult spots. Instead, it just wasn't as good as Garcia's Legion series, which really never had a dull spot.It's hard to put my finger on what exactly the problem was for me. I liked Dol well enough. She didn't annoy me or anything, but she also wasn't the kind of heroine I wanted to fight for. She was just ok. The only character I truly loved was Tima, and we just don't see enough of her. I guess this book just had too many dull spots that made it difficult to trudge through to the next exciting part, but I am still planning to read the second book. I hope Stohl is able to get her groove back by then!

I was expecting great things after the Beautiful Creatures books, but found this somewhat lacking, it really didn't hold my interest although the concept itself was a great idea something was missing. Unlike most YA books the relationships were portrayed in a much more juvenile way. The whole story came across quite dispassionate I felt.It was okay. Just a little disappointing & I'm a fan of the author.

I loved the Beautiful Creatures series so when this came out I couldn't wait to read it. Unfortunately I couldn't finish it and had to keep starting up to read it again and still couldn't.It's beautifully written but I just couldn't invest in the story and the characters who made choices that I found really odd. However lots of others have liked it.A YA novel.

Not sure what age this is aimed for - it seemed more like a young adult read but I enjoyed it anyway (mature reader!). I especially liked the AI 'friend' present in the story and found the main protagonists well portrayed if a bit irritating at times. I shall look forward to the next book.

Couldn't get anywhere with this book, even had to go back and check what it was all about when asked how many stars.

2.5 starsI honestly don't know what happened and how this book got through editing. The beginning was good, interesting set-up, nice premise, interesting characters. And then everything stopped making sense. The writing is awful in the way that it doesn't connect any fact to another. The characters are flat and change their personality so frequently, you're left in the bad kind of wonder. Honestly, I can't fathom how all the people who proofread and edited this book could just go "good enough" because this book could have been good, possibly even great, with a little more effort.I'm very sad that I couldn't enjoy this book and am still confused about many parts of the story, characters and just overall decision making concerning this book.If you liked the last two (but especially the last) Beautiful Creatures book and the messes they were, then you might just also like this one.