Icons(ARC) by Margaret Stohl

  "Your heart beats only with their permission.

Everything changed on The Day. The day the windows shattered. The day the power stopped. The day Dol's family dropped dead. The day Earth lost a war it didn't know it was fighting.

Since then, Dol has lived a simple life in the countryside -- safe from the shadow of the Icon and its terrifying power. Hiding from the one truth she can't avoid.

She's different. She survived. Why?

When Dol and her best friend, Ro, are captured and taken to the Embassy, off the coast of the sprawling metropolis once known as the City of Angels, they find only more questions. While Ro and fellow hostage Tima rage against their captors, Dol finds herself drawn to Lucas, the Ambassador's privileged son. But the four teens are more alike than they might think, and the timing of their meeting isn't a coincidence. It's a conspiracy.

Within the Icon's reach, Dol, Ro, Tima, and Lucas discover that their uncontrollable emotions -- which they've always thought to be their greatest weaknesses -- may actually be their greatest strengths. 

Bestselling author Margaret Stohl delivers the first book in a heart-pounding series set in a haunting new world where four teens must piece together the mysteries of their pasts -- in order to save the future."

Icons by Margaret Stohl

Book 1 of the Icons series

448 pages

To be released on May 7th, 2013.

As you may have already known, Icons has already been through a couple of cover changes(this amazing cover I used is the cover for the ARCs) and is not officially released yet. Lucky for me, I happened to be able to get this copy!

Let me warn you now, Icons starts off slow and slugs its way throughout the whole book. Normally, I would have pitched it, but the whole concept of Margaret's world she's created was way too good to pass up. That's not to say that it isn't good--it's good.

The Day is the one thing that changed everything. The Day was when the House of Lords, and 13 of the Icons they brought with them, came to Earth. Everything changed from that point on. Life on Earth changed for the worst.

Going into the book, I wondered: What are these Icons? Trust me, it wasn't very clear until after everything happened. That was one of the things that killed the book.

Dol is a very straightforward character that you can't help but to like, but you can't help but to hate either. She's constantly unclear of herself and is sort of a depressing character. I mean, I would too if I had the power to know of everyone's emotions and what they're thinking.. Oh, I forgot to mention that she can't exactly NOT know everyone's emotions and thoughts. There, sadly, is no off switch for it. A blessing and a curse, most would say. Not Dol, she absolutely dreads all of it. Because the world is full of sadness and loss of hope because of the Lords. Hell yes that sucks.

Ro is Dol's best friend. They've been together at the Mission for years. Are they something more? Yes, absolutely. He would do anything to save her from anyone meaning her harm. And he certainly is capable of doing so. Ro has this power that is fueled by rage, rage, and more rage. When Ro's angry, someone's got to pay.

When Ro and Dol are captured, and I literally mean captured, by a team of Sympas, a group of trained human soldiers that basically do the dirty work for the Ambassador and the Lords, or traitors to the human race, let's just say that things are exploding.

As with many in the YA fiction, a charming enemy appears when they're on the road to freedom and escape from the Embassy. Who is this charming guy? It's no one other than the Ambassador's son, Lucas. Lucas is like the guy of every girl's dream.. Handsome with tons of charisma... Let's just say this mysterious boy is enough to keep a girl's heart beating...

The real enemy, the Lords, are pretty much a huge mystery to me even after finishing this book. Why? They are mentioned throughout the entire book, but we don't even know what they can really do. All we know is that they've got Icons stationed in every continent...

Do I love this book? No.

Would I read this book again? Maybe.

Would it be worth reading? Yes.

It isn't her best book(I loved Beautiful Creatures way more than this), but it is worth a shot. No matter how slow it was, it will be worth it in the end. I give it a 4 stars for her amazing ideas, the plot, and these wonderful characters she's created. And I will be waiting for the next book in the series...

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