I just want to be Team Heroine, but I couldn’t even manage that

I know I originally added this to my TBR pile because there was an excerpt somewhere about the main character, a “girl who couldn’t be touched.” Since I’m pretty much a version of that in real life (only I don’t hurt other people when I am touched; they hurt me), I stuck it on the list and waited for it to come around. I was not expecting some sort of dystopian, end-of-the-world battle of good vs. evil, which is definitely the direction the book went in, nor was I expecting the Team X, Y Z or 52 pickup, which is what most of the reviews on Goodreads (at least the more positive ones, and definitely the ones on any of the sequels) focus on.

I was not Team anybody, unfortunately – not even Team Juliette: I had no real strong connection to either the main character – said untouchable girl. None of her fellow teenage wanderers and conquerors really moved me either.   I guess, when the world disintegrates and needs to be “reestablished” we all of the sudden decide that teenagers are capable of leading armies? And being homicidal maniacs in control of entire countries? That’s probably not our best bet, but I might be wrong. I don’t think I’m wrong.

That was another thing – the strikethroughs: A lot of the story unfolds inside Juliette’s head, and, lord does that girl need some sort of focusing therapy, because the girl is scattered. Her thoughts are very conflicted. The author shows us this by crossing things out a lot. I did not find this to be a great descriptive tool, but it seems to appeal to some other readers, s

o your mileage my vary.

Originally, I was only going to give this book 1 star, but towards the end, when there was more action and less waiting and plotting and thinking and <s>rethinking</s>, it started to pick up a bit.  Even though the ending improved the book some, I still doubt I’ll be reading the sequels, based solely on the writing style (so many illogical metaphors and random incomplete sentences) and the idea that a series (ostensibly written about a strong, kick-ass heroine) is once again getting boiled down to Team Boy A or Team Boy B, which is a phenomenon I am truly sick of. (Not to mention the fact that, in this case, Team Boy B is rooting for an obsessed egomaniacal mass-murderer, which: Ick.)