Book Review: The Name On Your Wrist by Helen Hiorns

Title: The Name On Your Wrist

Author: Helen Hiorns
Series:  ~
Pages:  272
Publisher: Corgi Children's Books
Date of Publication: 2nd January, 2014
Source: NetGalley
Synopsis from Goodreads: It's the first thing they teach you when you start school. But they don't need to; your parents tell you when you're first learning how to say your name. It's drummed into you whilst you're taking your first stumbling steps. It's your lullaby. From the moment it first appears, you don't tell anyone the name on your wrist.

In Corin's world, your carpinomen - the name of your soul mate, marked indelibly on your wrist from the age of two or three - is everything. It's your most preciously guarded secret; a piece of knowledge that can give another person ultimate power over you. People spend years, even decades, searching for the one they're supposed to be with.

But what if you never find that person? Or you do, but you just don't love them? What if you fall for someone else - someone other than the name on your wrist?

And what if - like Corin - the last thing in the world you want is to be found?

My Thoughts:
Every single person in Corin's world, has a name on their wrist, their carpinomen.  This is the name of your soulmate, the one who you are 'compatible' with, who you will happily spend your life with.  Sounds nice, right?  Basically, everything is handed to you on a plate and everything's fine and happy.  Or so we are led to believe.  Corin, however, for some reason which I don't think was ever really revealed (or perhaps I missed it in my frustration - I'll get to this later), does not want to find her soulmate, the one whose name is on her wrist.

I really enjoyed the world in which The Name On Your Wrist is set.  I really liked the idea of the carpinomen (also, that name comes from Latin - BONUS :P ), and also the education system they have in place was interesting.  I think the dystopian world was well thought out and if there is a sequel it'll be interesting to see where Helen Hiorns takes it next, especially with the developments at the end of the book. One thing that I did have issue with was that people wouldn't want to be with their carpinomen, and that people did marry outside of that?  If it's on your wrist then why wouldn't you?  It just made little sense to me.

The plot was quite fast paced and the writing very easy to read.  It didn't take very long to read the whole thing, which was perfect for what I wanted when I read it.  The plot develops nicely throughout the book, if a little predictably, but that didn't really bother me too much.  I liked finding out more about Corin's father, and also about her sister Jacinta, although I couldn't believe the way Corin treated her!

Corin was my main issue with the book, I think.  She was so frustrating!  I understand that there wouldn't really be a story if everyone's got someone else's name on their wrist and they all find each other and all fall in love and everything was all soppy and happy, but I didn't really get why Corin was so determined to not be with her carpinomen.  I felt like she was being deliberately awkward and cynical just to be difficult.  I didn't really understand her as a person, I guess, and definitely did not relate or connect on any level.  I really tried but she's just the kind of person that would get on my nerves in real life.  She was really arsey to everyone else too, and by the end I just wanted to give her a good slap.  I'm glad the end happened how it did though and if I can bring myself to carry on with Corin's story I'd like to see some character development.

I really wanted to like this one but it really fell flat for me.  I guess I had high expectations since it was the winner of the Sony Young Movellist Award and, funnily enough, being a winner I expected it to be good.  While I don't think that The Name On Your Wrist was really for me, it did have some interesting elements that if I have time when the sequel comes out, I would like to read more about.  If it sounds interesting to you, you should definitely give it a read, however I wouldn't recommend that you rush to it if not.


*Huge thanks to Random House Children's Books for providing me with a copy of The Name on Your Wrist in exchange for an honest review. In no way has this affected my opinion of the book.