Book Review: ‘The Book of Ivy’ by Amy Engel

Through an all-consuming deadly war only one city remains intact, but without a foundation of the past to build off of it has created laws and rules that aren’t equal. The new laws create a major rift between the rich and the poor, and the only way the two stay in peace and harmony is through arranged marriages. This is where Ivy and Bishop’s troublesome relationship begins. Ivy, being the founder’s daughter, who represents the poor and powerless, and Bishop, being the president’s son, who oozes power and prestige, means that they are the ultimate couple to secure peace in the city for another decade.

Ivy’s only wifely duty is to lure Bishop into her charm so she can stab a knife through his heart. She needs to do this in order for her father and his followers to seize ultimate power and put a democracy in place in the city. Being sixteen years old, Ivy is beyond fearful of having to spend her wedding night with a boy she has never met, but she is left pleasantly surprised. Bishop is not a nasty-looking, egotistical, or power-driven boy who can’t control himself – rather, he is kind and patient with Ivy. This doesn’t put her mind at ease because Bishop is able to see through Ivy’s pseudo-emotions without hesitation. He might not force her into anything, but he defiantly speaks up when she starts pretending to express emotions she obviously doesn’t feel.

Can you fall in love with a boy at sixteen? Do you know what love is at that age? How do you love and love freely in a world full of deceit? How can you escape the walls of the city without enduring death itself? If Ivy were given the choice of her family or Bishop, what would be her ultimate decision? These are just some of the struggles that Ivy has to endure within a few months. She might be sixteen years old, but Ivy’s maturity goes beyond her numerical age, and that is what she falls back on to make her final decision. It is only after she has made her choice that everybody’s true colors start to show. Even with the cold truth staring back at her, she doesn’t falter on the path she carved out to keep everyone safe… everyone but herself.

Ivy’s story starts off a bit slow, but by the middle of the novel you are definitely hooked on the story and the characters. Secrets are revealed slowly, but that only adds extra leverage for the novel to succeed. The only fault I can find in this story deals with the fact that it is a series. I do believe that the beginning of the novel could have been tighter and there was surely enough room to start and finish Ivy’s journey within one novel. I guess I will just have to wait until November 2015 to really know what happens to Ivy, because I have a feeling that the second book is going to surpass the first!

Rating: 8/10
Source: NetGalley
Publication Date: November 4, 2014