The Famoux by Kassandra Tate

I was so grumpy when this book finished and I realised it was part of a series AND THIS FIRST ONE ISN’T BEING PUBLISHED UNTIL NEXT YEAR *cries pitifully*. Anyway…

When I started this book I wasn’t 100% sold. There are some issues with it in terms of things that could be tightened up; world building that could have been a little stronger etc. We see a lot of the book from Emilee/Emery’s perspective, and she can be a little boring, more of a watcher than a participant in her own life. I understand that is her personality type, but I do think some harsher editing/rewriting wouldn’t go too far amiss here.

My other biggest issue (and it’s minor but it broke the flow EVERY time) was the pronunciation of Famoux. In my head, for the first chapter or two, it was Fame-oh - my own bastardised attempt at what I assumed was French in origin - or maybe Fame-OX, like the animal. However, just like She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named gave us a lesson in how to pronounce Hermione vis Viktor Krum, the author does give us a lesson, and the word is pronounced Fame-Ecks. This… bugged me! I wonder if having the explanation at the beginning - like when it’s done as a dictionary entry to set the tone of the book - would have made it less jarring, as I wouldn’t have had to correct myself EVERY time I read it?

In terms of storyline, I loved it. It’s dystopian sci-fi meets Big Brother style reality TV. That’s basically where I would like to live. The plot was good; there were things I saw coming and things I didn’t. I think I wish there was more time getting to know the Famoux - it felt as though because the population of the world in-book knew everything, it was assumed we did too. I would have loved more scenes without our MC before her name change - maybe some past scenes in the Fishbowl, or even overheard discussions about the Famoux? The main storyline needs the full cast, but we get too much inside Emilee/Emery’s head, and it can be a little self-absorbed.

Overall, the story was good. I wanted to read the next one, and I don’t want to have to wait! Loses a couple stars because of editing/world-building issues as above, but I would recommend it to others! Overall Rating: 3.5 stars

Posted by Li

14 July 2021

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