Right off the bat, I have to confess that I went into reading Ariel Sullivan’s book, Conform, with a great deal of excitement and anticipation, given all the hype surrounding this book. After having read Conform, I have to say that this book definitely lived up to the hype for the most part.
Conform definitely has a lot going for it, both as a book and as the beginning of a book series. Emeline is also a very interesting protagonist for the series in many ways. That being said, I don’t think that Emeline having heterochromia can be considered a particularly compelling defect from an emotional standpoint. Hopefully, Sullivan will flesh out the idea of the characters having defects, especially when it comes to Emeline, to make the whole aspect of the series involving some of the characters having a defect, so it will come across as more compelling from a creative standpoint as the series continues. That being said, Collin and Hal are both well-written and compelling characters who both served as great and interesting love interests for Emeline in their own unique way.
Conform also has quite a few compelling supporting characters that I really enjoyed. I especially enjoyed what we saw of Collin’s family members and found them very well-written. The whole Gregory and Nora subplot was especially compelling and a very enjoyable aspect of the book. Honestly, I wish we could have gotten more of the Gregory and Nora subplot, simply because of how much I enjoyed that aspect of Conform. I would love it if one of the future books in the series focuses on Gregory and Nora. Emeline’s friend, Lo, was also quite interesting, at least based on what we saw of the character, given her interest in getting a reproduction contract like Emeline was originally trying to get. That being said, one complaint that I have about Conform is that many of the supporting characters kind of blurred together at times, especially when it came to some of Collin’s family members. Hopefully, Sullivan will flesh out Collin’s family members as characters as the series continues. Given that the Conform series is apparently going to consist of nine books, hopefully Sullivan will have the chance to further develop Collin’s family members and the supporting characters in general.
The world-building for Conform was pretty good for the most part. That being said, when it came to Emeline’s job, I found myself having a lot of questions about it throughout the book and wanting to know what the whole point of it ultimately was in the grand scheme of things. Was the point of Emeline’s job to censor art for society, or was it for some other purpose? I also found the way food was treated in Emeline’s part of society both intriguing and confusing. I definitely felt like it could have been explained a little bit better. Regardless, I really enjoyed her reaction to eating food on her date with Collin.
As someone who hates the color blue, I found the way Emeline's society treated the color blue absolutely hilarious, even if Sullivan didn’t intend it to be humorous in Conform. I thought it was hilarious, because I tend to make A TON of jokes about how much I hate the color blue in my personal life. Ultimately, I do think it’s very interesting that Sullivan chose blue as the color that would be discriminated against in their society.
The parts of the book that focused on the Beneath part of the world that Hal lived in were very interesting to me, and they definitely got me excited for the next book in the series, which will be called Beneath, since it sounds like it’s going to take place in that part of the world. It also sounds like the next book is going to take place hundreds of years before the Illum were in power, so that should also make the next book very interesting to read.
I definitely found the Collin/Emeline/Hal love triangle very interesting and engaging, and it definitely had several very shocking plot twists throughout the entire book. Sullivan’s writing for the love triangle aspect of Conform honestly reminded me a little bit of Sarah J. Maas’ A Court of Thorns And Roses series and how Maas handled the Tamlin/Feyre/Rhysand love triangle in that series; so I’m wondering if Sullivan is going to continue to develop Collin as a character, and the relationship between Emeline and Collin in such a way that the reader will be able to genuinely root for them as a couple and care about their romantic relationship as the Conform series continues. Ultimately, Conform left me feeling very conflicted about who I would want Emeline to be with for a love interest as I was reading the book, but after finishing it, I still think Collin has potential to end up being Emeline’s endgame love interest, if he’s developed further and fully redeemed as a character. I’m not sure that’s possible for Hal.
Aside from the romance aspect of the book, I also found the whole mystery of who The Reaper is to be an especially interesting part of the book that really held my attention and kept me guessing about The Reaper’s identity as I was reading Conform. Honestly, even after reading Conform, I still find myself very excited to find out who The Reaper is as the series continues. Sullivan kind of made it seem like Hal was The Reaper, but I don’t think he actually is, especially after reading the end of Conform.
Sullivan did a great job of handling the overall pacing of the plot of Conform. It was also a relatively fast read for me. Plus, I simply found Conform to be an insanely addictive book; especially the closer I got to the end of the book, the more hooked and intrigued by the plot I became. The rather cryptic epilogue definitely left me feeling insanely excited for the release of Beneath in March!
All things considered, while I don’t think Conform is completely flawless, mostly because of some weaknesses here and there when it came to the worldbuilding, I did think that Conform lived up to the hype for the most part, and I’m definitely on board for continuing with the series!
That being said, my final score for Conform is 8 out of 10.
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