The Perfect Outcast by Melissa Ott Hansen [book review]
About The Perfect Outcast:
Before I get to my review.. If you like dystopian novels make sure to check out my list of best YA dystopian novels.
The Perfect Outcast follows Alina. She’s the only seventeen-year-old who is imperfect in a perfect world. Pria is a type of paradise. There’s no hunger, pain, or death. Their powerful ruler provides them with everything that they’d ever need or want. Along with that they never age. That is except for Alina. She ages along with getting blemishes like a regular person. As Alina starts searching for answers an uneasiness starts settling over Pria.
What I thought of The Perfect Outcast:
So, I’m a little late getting to The Perfect Outcast. To be honest I can’t remember exactly why picked this book up. Maybe it was just because it being a dystopian novel. Ever since The Hunger Games I’ve been kind of stuck on them. Just imagining our world becoming a world similar to this is very realistic. It’s kind of hard to no imagine our world going down this route.
The Characters
The main character is Alina. She’s not perfect like those who live around her. Because of that everyone pretty much ignores and avoids her. How damaging must this be for her? I would be miserable in a situation like this when nearly everyone throws it in your face that you will never look as good as them. I think I would be miserable.
However, I did like Alina. She’s strong and able to push mean comments away. I wish I was able to do that growing up since a lot of people weren’t very nice to me in high school. So I know I wouldn’t survive a world like this. Then again if I grew up in it I know things would be a lot different on how I view this world.
The Plot
The plot of The Perfect Outcast is really good. The pacing is done just right to keep you interested but not enough to be over the top. So the whole story is done perfectly. I always kind of wonder what our world would be like if we had perfect people who never died. Would people go a little crazy? Would things wind up getting a little old?