You have to do more than just change the terminology to make it sound new

This is the first in a YA trilogy, and I’m not moving on to book two.  I feel like that’s the whole review, but I’ll elaborate :)

My book club friend recommended this based on my love of dystopian stories.  Kayla and Mishalla are teenage GENs (Genetically Engineered Nonhumans) living on a future planet colonized after Earth became uninhabitable.  Those who could afford and fund the move have become the planet’s top class, the Trueborn.  The Lowborn were brought along for their inital indentured servitude.  And later the GENs were created (Tankborn, get it?!) as the slave class.  After receiving their Assignments (Kayla in elder care for a prominent Trueborn, Mishalla in a creche for orphans) at age 15, Kayla and Mishalla start to question the social order and realize that there are many around them who might feel the same way.

My problem with this book is that there was nothing new.  The author took familiar themes and made them futuristic and dystopian by giving everything a silly name.  EVERYTHING.  The society is stratified by skin color, but in this society you want to be the perfect shade of brown…being too dark or too light identifies you as a Lowborn or GEN.  That’s a great topic of discussion, but it’s still a planet stratified by skin color.  Nothing new.

I seem to be in the minority based on Amazon reviews, and my friend loved it, so YMMV.  This might be a great option for actual young adults (Amazon slates it for 12-18), as the themes of social class and control would make for good discussion topics.