Marisa Noelle

A girl must rescue her scientist father before humanity is lost.

The Unadjusteds

Vicky (A City Girl's Thoughts)

I received an eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. Opinions are my own. 
 
Marissa Noelle’s intriguing Sci-Fi Fantasy story of a 16 year old who prefers to be herself will resonate with teens everywhere. I liked how the fantasy element isn’t actually fantasy – fairies are humans with butterfly wings; werewolves are humans who have permanently taken on the features and body of a wolf. This is all possible through nanites, pills filled with animal DNA that will give humans some of that specific animal’s features, such as wings or scales. Some nanites can cure cancer, fix a deformed limb, or give someone extra intelligence or speed. Silver’s parents – both doctors – are behind the inception of nanites, but the U.S. government and pharmaceutical companies twisted the Melody’s research into a greedy profitable business. For some reason, the altereds and adjusteds feel threatened to the point where President Bear suddenly announced forced transitions for unadjusteds due to international “threats and competition.” Other unadjusteds refuse to take the now mandatory nanites, along with Silver and her friend Matt, so they escape the army – who will personally oversee every unadjusted to make sure they take their nanite – and live in the woods. Dr. Melody, Silver’s dad, tried to escape with Silver but he was captured. Reaching the rebel compound, Silver and her new friends form a small army to help Silver’s parents escape from jail. I liked the addition of a few altereds who are willing to fight for what is right, even delving into their past mistakes and how they learned from it. The writing isn’t difficult nor hard to follow, and Noelle emotionally details how close Silver and her parents are, which is refreshing. The traitor caught me by surprise, and I loved Erica and Silver’s journey from enemies to friends!

However, I must say I felt like I was reading a Hunger Games Trilogy fanfiction. President Bear was a wannabe Coriolanus Snow, Silver reminds me of Katniss, Joe was Gale Hawthorne, Matt: Peeta. I get Suzanne Collins set the stage for Sci-Fi dystopia and YA political thrillers, but I would’ve preferred if the similarities weren’t so obvious. The insta-love is unrealistic, fight scenes ended too fast with little to no injuries, and I was expecting more scientific explanations regarding the nanites. This book also features LGBTQ+ characters, which should be mentioned. Readers shouldn’t have to go to the Goodreads Q & A section to find that. Certain parts should’ve been delved into, such as President Bear’s mandatory law for having unadjusteds take a nanite.

There might be a sequel, so that might be the reason why some questions were left unanswered. Overall it’s still a fun read, especially if you love Sci-Fi!

Leelynn Brady

Disclaimer: I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to Write Plan and Caffeine Book Tours for this free copy. All quotes in this review are taken from the Advanced Reader Copy and may change in final publication.

Okay, seriously this kind of gave me super crazy X-Men vibes for some reason? Or something. It’s like nobody was truly happy being just human, and even though the original intent of the nanite pills were to help get rid of diseases that were deemed incurable, it evolved into something completely different.

Whoa, but let me back up a bit first.



So basically, our main character Silver Melody – that name though, right?? – refuses to take any nanite pills to permanently alter her DNA unlike the majority of her other classmates. A lot of them take pills that physically change their appearance – fairy wings, armor protected skin, speedster like speed, stuff like that – and will try to combine multiple attributes together to give them like multiple superpowers.

Unfortunately, some of these people can’t seem to handle the pills and have ended up dying.

When President Bear makes an announcement that any “unadjusted” (someone that has NOT taken a pill, with regular human DNA) 12 and over have to take a pill or they will basically be arrested. It gets to the point that the government has started rounding up people into legit concentration camps for refusing to cooperate. Talk about a repeat of WWII and other terrible moments in American history.

Oh by the way, this does take place in the US, so think about that.



Silver and her best friend Matt made a decision to run before they are forced to do the one thing that killed their best friend Diana, and another student that morning before homeroom even started. But instead of going together, Silver makes the decision to go back to bring her father with her.

Which may be a problem since Silver’s mother AND father were the ones that invented the nanite pills to begin with. The premise of the pills was admirable at first, to cure diseases like cancer, but human greed got in the way and made it into what it is today.

Silver ends up on a journey of survival, having to make it out of the city before President Bear and his army of “bulks” catch up to her and her father, and when they get separated, she winds up with being helped by an ex-NFL player Joe who saves her from hellhounds.

Yeah, things get crazy, fam.

If you have ever wanted to know what the human race would behave like if we had the ability to change our DNA, this is the book for you. It actually kind of scared me to see that people would willingly want to change their DNA like this, especially permanently, even though they can risk dying a horrible foaming death. Not to mention the greed of humans in power that they would force people to “enhance their abilities” to give them some sort of use in what is possibly a fake ass war going on. It’s not fair to force people to do what they don’t want, especially when it’s permanent, and then being punished by being taken away from your family and everything you’ve known is inhumane.

But Silver’s journey was… wow. There’s clearly something about her that isn’t normal though. Or at least, not what she thinks is normal. I won’t spoil it because that wouldn’t be cool, but when you read it, especially the beginning, you’ll see what I mean. It’s very interesting, and it makes me wonder if Silver even realized it.

The Unadjusteds

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