Book Review: "The Alphas" by Lisi Harrison

At OCD the losers are tormented.

At Alpha Academy, they're sent home.

Skye Hamilton has scored an invitation to the ultra-exclusive Alphas-only boarding school where beta is spelled LBR . What happens when the country's best, brightest, and hawtest begin clawing and scratching their way to the top?

This is totally embarrassing, but The Clique series is one of my guilty pleasures. It's not embarrassing to like Gossip Girl because those girls are older. However the characters in The Clique are 12-13, so I try to conceal that I read those books. When I heard that there was going to be a spin off series (because that's always the trend in YA series), I was interested but at the same time a bit wary. This is because while even though I enjoy the series, the girls and the slang in the books drive me absolutely nuts. Honestly, I don't know who on earth speaks the way those girls do.

Therefore I was more than pleasantly surprised with this first book in the Alphas series. The story was really fun to read. I found myself really drawn into the story. The characters are mostly dimensional. I found myself intrigued with the campus and the entire setting and premise of the school. While I did find myself questioning some of the tactics used, I took the story to be a fantasy YA lit type book so I let my imagination just flow along with the story. I think if, by some miracle, I had been offered a position at the school, I would take it. I'm not quite sure what it would do to my ego, but all the technology and opportunities offered at the school might just be worth it.

Even though Skye is touted as the cross over from The Clique series, I didn't feel as if she had a huge main role in these books. Compared to Jenny, who made the transition from Gossip Girl to The It Girl, I felt that Skye's role seemed almost background compared to Allie and Charlie. In fact I found their stories to be much more interesting than hers. I honestly have no idea how in the world Allie thought she was going to be able to pull off her facade for that long. Charlie's story is extremely fascinating as she is smarter than almost everyone at the school but is inwardly suffering due to a stupid rule. The chemistry between the girls is fun to watch, but they aren't catty which is greatly appreciated. The story is way out there and totally futuristic. There are objects in this book that are really sci-fi and totally unbelievable. Money apparently has no boundaries and can create anything that you could possible want. There's a lot of name and label dropping in the books which sometimes feels like blatant advertising.

I'm actually really looking forward to reading the next book in the series. I think that the writing, so far, is much better than the Clique. The biggest plus is the absence of Massie-speak which I totally applaud. Keep in mind, these books are not to be taken as serious, life changing reads. Overall it was a fun read, light escapism for YA chick lit readers. Fans of The Clique will gobble this one up.

The Alphas by Lisi Harrison is published by Poppy (2009)

This review copy was provided by the publisher.