Indie Spotlight: The Complex

The Complex by C. E. Zaragoza
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Complex is one of the better dystopians I’ve read this year. The premise was unique and Ms. Zarazoga totally delivered on the expectations of the blurb and the sample. The twist to the story was foreshadowed enough that it made sense, but not so much that it was totally obvious.

What else I loved:
- The action picks up from the beginning, and sets the tone for a novel that is extremely well paced. The Complex opens with a prologue that was interesting, but didn’t completely catch my interest because it focused on a minor character (I like to jump right into the swing of things from the main character’s POV); however, the next chapter more than made up for it, swiftly presenting a mystery. Ms. Zarazoga has a good feel for when to ramp up the action, and just as you’re starting to feel like something needs to happen, it does. The twists and turns in this story are many and varied, so if you’re a fan of action, you will not be disappointed.

-One of the most impressive things about The Complex is that is contains, not one, not two, but three unique and detailed worlds. I’ve seen many authors master plot and characterization, but struggle at world building, and that is certainly not the case here. Each world is detailed, deeply thought-out, and unique, but they still fit together and make sense in the storyline. Showers are the sort of thing that normally get left out of a story – conventional wisdom says that sort of detail should be omitted because it’s boring. But Ms. Zarazoga masterfully uses little details like personal hygiene routines to highlight the differences in the lives of people from each area.

-In addition to the thought that clearly went into world building, it’s apparent from reading this book that Ms. Zarazoga has fully immersed herself in the world of her characters. Small details are foreshadowed and then revealed in ways that will have you saying “Ohhhh. I barely noticed that, but now it makes so much sense!” For instance, the things with the neighbors is SO something a dystopian govt. would do! Like hunting for Easter eggs, you will be rewarded with literary treats for paying attention. You can tell that she visualized the big picture going in, because the story progresses in a logical way and later action builds on what was established earlier.

-It has a real ending. Not a -cliff hanger wait a few months and pay me more money if you wanna know what happens- ending. It leaves some questions open for another story, but it answers the main questions presented, and as a reader, I really, really appreciate that. I often don’t read next installments of cliff hanger books, just on principle because I think that’s an awful thing to do to a reader.

What I didn’t love:

WARNING: THIS PART IS A LITTLE BIT SPOILERY!
I thought it was only fair to be specific about my feelings in this part of the review, so I discuss two plot points.




- The relationship between Helena and her initial love interest didn’t make sense to me. The first time we meet him, he and Helena are arguing and she mentions that “their world was so small that a conversation about coffee beans might lead to a serious argument and a break up.” To me, she doesn’t seem like a young woman in love. Later, there’s a scene where they have better chemistry but their relationship is mostly described through backstory, so we don’t see enough of them happy together for me to feel like he was an important part of her life. It seemed like she had more chemistry, and more time, with a platonic friend named Lucas. Because of this, I felt like it was melodramatic for her to be so crushed that he’d moved on after they were separated for months.

-There’s a main character who starts as an antagonist and turns into a protagonist, but I never found him fully sympathetic. In his first scene, he tells Helena, “We’re not going to kill you bitch, but if you keep shouting I will shoot you.” After that, I really couldn’t get onto this guy’s side. Soon after, he promises not to hurt her unless she runs. Again, not sympathetic. Then, when soldiers came to rescue Helena, instead of running toward them or even just slowing, she runs off with her kidnapper. A reasonable person should be angry and want to escape. After this, I found it hard to fully get behind Helena because I questioned her good sense. And I was even more confounded when she wanted her brother to defend her kidnapper in court. Sure he had a tough life, but he went about the solution the wrong way. This irked me. However, it says a lot that I still enjoyed the book while being annoyed with main character. The story itself it just that good. And to my surprise, another character that I started out hating ended up being one of my favorites. So I haven’t completely given up on Helena.


Overall:
I highly recommend The Complex to anyone who enjoys dystopians and/or action and/or good books in general. It’s a steal at $2.99. But I warn you, schedule your reading time well, because once you start reading it you will not do anything else until you finish. :)

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