All These Things I've Done by Gabrielle Zevin

I had such high hopes for this book!!  I've loved Gabrielle Zevin's two other young adult novels - Elsewhere was particularly brilliant.  But sometimes high expectations lead to greater disappointment.

With that harsh opener, let me still say that All These Things is still an enjoyable read.  Another solid addition to the dystopian genre.  And, like many others in this style, turns out that it's the first of a trilogy. (Is it wrong to want just a few really great standalone novels?!)

The year is 2083 in New York City.  Caffeine - and chocolate - are illegal.  Anya is the daughter of the head of the Balanchine crime family - let's call them the chocolate mafia.  She and her two siblings are orphans - her mother was killed in an attempt on Anya's father's life, and her father was murdered - a murder that she and her sister witnessed.

Anya keeps getting tangled up in situations and getting into trouble...which is only made more complicated by the fact that she's falling for the son of the new District Attorney.

Good plot, good pacing, solid characters...but it just lacked some of the depth or cleverness of Zevin's other two books.  I'd give it a 3/5 on the Rez Recommends scale.

All These Things I've Done is one of this year's Teen's Top Ten nominees and book 1 in the Birthright trilogy. Book 2, Because It Is My Blood is scheduled to be released this September.