Book Review: Gravity by Melissa West

Gravity

Melissa West

284 Pages

Published December 18, 2012

In the future, only one rule will matter:

Don’t. Ever. Peek.

Seventeen-year-old Ari Alexander just broke that rule and saw the last person she expected hovering above her bed — arrogant Jackson Locke, the most popular boy in her school. She expects instant execution or some kind of freak alien punishment, but instead, Jackson issues a challenge: help him, or everyone on Earth will die.

Ari knows she should report him, but everything about Jackson makes her question what she’s been taught about his kind. And against her instincts, she’s falling for him. But Ari isn’t just any girl, and Jackson wants more than her attention. She’s a military legacy who’s been trained by her father and exposed to war strategies and societal information no one can know — especially an alien spy, like Jackson. Giving Jackson the information he needs will betray her father and her country, but keeping silent will start a war.

Intriguing. Charming. Different. Gravity was a book that I didn't expect much from, since I hadn't heard much about it. However, the story completely blew me out of the water with how fantastic it was. It was just. that. good. 

Ari is our main character, just a normal girl in her society. When she misplaces her patch, a special device that must be worn during the taking, a nightly ritual in which aliens literally taken special components from humans, her life changes forever. She peaks, going against the one fundamental rule of her world. When she sees a boy from her school hovering above her, she is shocked and terrified. This went against everything she'd been taught. 

Soon he enlists her help to stop a massive war that has been brimming between the ancients and humans for a long time now. At times lies are thrown about and it was hard to know who to trust, though I was actually a lot more skeptical of us humans than the aliens. The government in Ari's society is truly corrupt, and though the aliens look and act human they treat them like a disease, like we're better than them. It's as if they though humans were invincible.. so not true. 

Ari was great in her role of fighter. She was strong, but unlike other people in her class she questioned everything instead of idly sitting by while the world crumbled to pieces. It was clear throughout the story that many changes were taking place in her, both physically and emotionally. I guessed what was happening early on, and was right, but finding out was still a bit of a pleasant shock. 

Jackson was a seriously hot alien. He was arrogant, but it seemed to be a tough bad boy facade he put up instead of showing his true self. Only around Ari did he truly open up and be himself; a kind and thoughtful leader who wanted nothing more than to have a picnic under the stars with the girl he was falling in love with. 

Gravity had me riveted through each page, and it left on one hell of a cliffhanger. The sequel is already out and calling me name LOUDLY. Just another book to add to my quickly growing to buy list.