A unique idea - which is what attracted me to the book in the first place. It's definitely solidly in the young adult genre, so if you don't love that genre, don't pick up the book. Technically well written, at a mostly decent pace. Some of the story tends to drag, and some of the flora/fauna mentioned that isn't explained outright is confusing to someone who isn't familiar with that area of South America. I would give a higher rating if I didn't have to stop and Google so many things. ( )

In the recent future, a nuclear war has changed the face of the world. The Americas are ruled by a dictator, King Borran, who enforces a rigid class system. The Prestige receive access to health care, food and safe living conditions, while everyone else must fend for themselves. Anyone who has been burned by the radiation is now an outcast. Beyond this, Borran wants control and has implemented a system to create a stronger army by combining animal and human DNA in order to give humans animal traits. The result is a human with an animal graph, but the animal graphs can be unpredictable and deadly. In order to perfect the animal graphs, Borran experimented on prisoners. Jin is imprisoned for stealing bread for her family when she is experiment on and graphed with a poison dart frog, Harpy eagle and Jaguar. After her Graphing procedure she is released into the jungle to be hunted by Borran's soldiers for practice. While figuring out her new capabilities, Jin is assisted by another Graph, Adan. Adan seems to know a lot more about their predicament and is skilled in survival, but Jin has trouble trusting the fellow Graph.

Animal Graph introduces us to an exciting and dangerous new dystopian world for YA readers. We are immediately thrown into the action with Jin as she is released from prison and trying to figure out her new graphs. I was very intrigued about how the world came to the state it is in, how Borran functions and how the Animal Graphs work. This is revealed as Jin recounts her time in prison, her family and as she meets Adan. Jin was very easy to get to know and seemed like someone that I would like to know in real life. After Jin met Adan, the suspense intensified and I was hooked further into the story. I was personally very interested in the human and animal connections that were made, not only with the Graphs, but through thought connection. I think Jin's connection with Jade the Radguar, a radiated Jaguar is the best relationship. I am really excited to see what else the Graph powers can do as well as what other animals can be graphed with humans in the next books. Faced-paced writing, an action-packed story line and short chapters kept my interest up and made it easy for me to devour this book in one sitting. I can't wait to read the rest of the series!

This book was received in exchange for an honest review. ( )