Instant Karma by Marissa Meyer

Instant Karma

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Review

Synopsis –

Chronic overachiever Prudence Barnett is always quick to cast judgment on the lazy, rude, and arrogant residents of her coastal town. Her dreams of karmic justice are fulfilled when, after a night out with her friends, she wakes up with the sudden ability to cast instant karma on those around her.

Pru giddily makes use of the power, punishing everyone from public vandals to mean gossips, but there is one person on whom her powers consistently backfire: Quint Erickson, her slacker of a lab partner. Quint is annoyingly cute and impressively noble, especially when it comes to his work with the rescue center for local sea animals.

When Pru resigns herself to working at the rescue center for extra credit, she begins to uncover truths about baby otters, environmental upheaval, and romantic crossed signals—not necessarily in that order. Her newfound karmic insights reveal how thin the line is between virtue and vanity, generosity and greed, love and hate . . . and fate.

My review –

I loved this book, but not as much as I thought I would. I still finished it in one day but there were a few issues.

Especially the part WHERE PRUDENCE’S LAST NAME CHANGES!! In the synopsis, it’s Barnett, but it. changes. to. (Something I don’t remember I’ll add it when I have time to look through my copy). This kind of thing REALLY ticks me off. I struggle with acciedental name change. It hurts me.

Prudence: Was more of a thorn (not Throne) than a rose. I found Pru really irritating. But I sooo relate to her- annoyed at your siblings, hoping to get the best grade possible on a project- it’s only human! But I found Pru intolerable sometimes. She really learns to be kind and that she can trust others. She learns a handful of other lessons! Marissa’s books are packed full of great lessons and character development and this book was no different.

Quint: I see us as being good friends. Quint wasn’t my favorite but I loved his humor and compassion! My only annoyance- HE SEEMED COMPLETELY OBLIVIOUS TO THE DISRUPTION HE CAUSES IN CLASS. And he doesn’t give anyone an explanation. Only one person aside from the teacher knows the reason he’s not late to class. He’s a good character and a good human being.

Ariastelli: The side character that I find very enjoyable. I liked the sweetness that Ari adds to Instant Karma! She makes the room lighter and is positive but not in an irritating optimist way.

Plot: I liked the plot. It wasn’t anything huge but I liked it. It was very predictable- I predicted the mystery before it was even brought up. I love the idea of someone getting the ability to cast instant karma on people! I’ve seen a lot of reviews asking the Universe ‘Why did the Universe choose Prudence?’. Even though this is fiction the ideal response would be that the Universe choose Prudence because the ability they gave her is a huge part of her character arc.

~The Romance~ Another romance that I actually enjoy- it’s Marissa Meyer- how could I not?! I did in fact, have my heart broken, which is rare. I found it really sweet and pleasant to read. Prudence and Quint’s romance is one of my favorite romances- the THE favorite, but still amazing!

I am amazed at the amount of humor and emotion that can be worked so well into a 390 page novel. Also- Cinder and Instant Karma have the same amount of pages…
I liked the diversity in the characters! They all had different personalities! The setting was also really fun!

I really enjoyed seeing this side of Marissa Meyer’s writing and will pick up all of her future novels and would be delighted if she wrote another contemporary!