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The Wicked We Have Done

(Chaos Theory #1)

Sarah Harian (Goodreads Author)

3.80 · Rating details · 954 ratings · 198 reviews

Evalyn Ibarra never expected to be an accused killer and experimental prison test subject. A year ago, she was a normal college student. Now she’s been sentenced to a month in the compass room—an advanced prison obstacle course designed by the government to execute justice.

If she survives, the world will know she’s innocent.

Locked up with nine notorious and potentially p ...more

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Kindle Edition, 272 pages

Published March 18th 2014 by Penguin/InterMix Books

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Mar 02, 2014 Khanh, first of her name, mother of bunnies rated it it was ok

Shelves: alpha-male, siblings, boring-main-character, glbt, sci-fi, mental-illness, romance, action, dystopian, new-adult

The man I shot was named Jason Earhart, dean of the math department. But then, he was only a body.
I am wicked because the moment Jason died, the only thing I felt was relief.
I murdered an innocent man in cold blood.

I'm sorry, am I supposed to like you?. This is a book about the nature of good and evil, and it completely failed to convince me that any of the criminals within this book deserved a second chance at life. I am not pro-death penalty by any means. This book just failed to be convincing on the grounds of speculative fiction.

This book tries to present the premise that a criminal may be granted a new lease on life if their minds, their genetic makeup is pure. That despite their murderous crime, they could still be goooooooooood inside.

Bullshit.

This book is an inconsistent, flashback-filled mess, with an unreliable first-person narrator. We are told that Evalyn is a murderer, and yet there's no attempt at building sympathy for her whatsoever. She shows no remorse; all we got is a self-pity-party, there was nary a mention of the people whom she was purported to have killed. How am I supposed to care about her? There's plenty of guts and blood, but it was purely gratuitous. I was gnawing on a small pork hock while reading a scene where a girl's head exploded, spraying bloody brain matter all over the fucking place without feeling a twinge of nausea. The violence is there only for shock value, because I didn't give a damn about any of the characters and I didn't care whether they lived or got gutted or died. There was no emotion to any of the deaths within this book.

What's the saying, "Do the crime, do the time?" Yeah. It may not be perfect, but our current justice system mostly works. So what the fuck is with this new Compass Room shit? I don't get it! What's the fucking point?!

It's not just the premise, the characters and how they're presented completely failed to back up the idea of inner goodness vs. "evil" acts. I feel that a person should be judged by their actions, not their thoughts. We all have a darkness within us. It's up to us to suppress that evil. This book completely failed to convince me on the concept of the Compass Room, and it didn't convince me that the criminals and killers within deserve to live through the experience.

The Summary:

Fifteen years ago, government scientists manufactured an accurate test for morality—an obstacle course, where the simulations within proved whether a candidate was good or evil. It was named a Compass Room.

Evalyn is a mass murderer.

The footage of my crime rolls. Crying families outside Roosevelt College. Students and professors wailing, screaming. FBI, police, bomb squad.
All storming the school to catch one of the shooters who initiated fifty-six deaths.
All storming the school to catch me.

She is one of eight who has killed 56 people at her college. She got caught, and now she is most likely going to die.

But not through the death penalty.

She has chosen the trials of the Compass Room. The Compass Room is a technology developed to determine the true morality within a person. It is a moral obstacle course, and it will kill those who are truly evil.

After the law passed, engineers updated the Rooms to kill the wicked. They became the most accurate form of the death penalty ever created.

It's not entirely clear how the Compass Room ("CR") works, but Evalyn is one of 10 criminals, all of them murderers, who will enter the CR to be tried. 10 will go in, statistics say that an average of 2.5 will make it out. The guys, girls, all in their teens through their 20s, are all multiple murderers. They are hoping for a chance to prove that their minds are good, that they deserve to live.

They enter the CR, and it's not as they expected. For one thing, it's not a room. It's a vast expanse of space that changes, that moves them from one "Testing" environment in different scenarios. From a plush mountain resort with top-shelf liquors to a wilderness where they have to scrounge for food. The only thing that remains consistent is the nightmares---or rather, the "Tests" that pop up to evaluate their goodness.

She creeps to me, shoulders erect. Her head hangs at an angle, stringy blonde hair falling limply around her shoulders, eyes sunken in their sockets.
“Shh.” She reaches out, like she’s going to place a finger to my lips. I shut my eyes, waiting for her touch.
“Don’t tell him I’m here. I want it to be a surprise.”

And the tests can be deadly. There is no trial by jury here. One wrong motion means death.

Clasping her hands on either side of his head, she twists, elbows swinging as she snaps his neck in half.

Except when it doesn't. Because it seems that the morality in this book is pretty relative.

Casey hacks and hacks, blood splattering across his face and clothes as he rips the knife away. He doesn’t stop, not when his dad has to be dead—again—his back nothing more than ripped denim and mangled pockets of swelling blood.
My breath rattles through the air. Nothing happens.

Aaaand that's pretty much it. They find food. They fall in love. They survive. They make friends. They're all criminals, some of whom are intrinsically good inside? Whatever. I don't care.

The Premise:

Fifteen years ago, government scientists manufactured an accurate test for morality—an obstacle course, where the simulations within proved whether a candidate was good or evil. It was named a Compass Room.

Look, I don't give a flying fuck if your DNA is made up of flowers petals and a sprinkling of unicorn dust. If you raped my sister, if you killed my family. If you tortured and killed numerous people, I want you to rot in prison. I don't give a fuck if you're internally good if you've killed someone, intentionally or not. That's why we have a multi-layered justice system. You get tried by a jury of your peers, depending on the severity of your crime.

Involuntary manslaughter and negligence is judged and sentenced differently from murder. That's why you have different charges when a person gets tried for a crime. That's why after you get sentenced, there's yet another system of appeals in place. Your sentence will depend on the severity of your crime. There's a difference between killing someone by accident and getting a few years in prison, versus willfully committing multiple murders. THE JUSTICE SYSTEM! IT WORKS!

So why this book? What's the point, really? Especially when you can kill again and again and not get punished for it in the Compass Room? This book tries to tell us that murder is relative, that murder is ok if it's justified.

But it doesn't exactly work that way. Morals are not relative. You have to have some sort of absolute standard. Murder has to be wrong. Rape has to be wrong. Some things have to remain absolute. If morals are relative, can you give me an argument, that, well, there are some cases in which it's acceptable to rape a child? No. This book plays on the idea that morals are relative, and it doesn't work.

Furthermore, the "tests" in the Compass Room are just unconvincing. Different scenarios are presented, if you pass, you get to live, if you fail, you don't. But for some reason, some people can fucking kill and still be able to get away with it. What the hell?! I don't care if you killed someone who bullied you, that person may be a motherfucking asshat, but you are not judge, jury, and executioner. Someone doesn't deserve to die just because they are a jerk!

The concept of the Compass Room is just vague. The science is almost completely unexplained, and the reasoning behind the use of the Compass room just doesn't make any fucking sense. Yeah, it's supposed to save money, but how exactly does it fucking save money when there's only 10 people allowed inside at a time for a period of 30 fucking days. Why, if we have such advanced technology to manipulate the brain to create mass hallucinations, do we not just run a fucking simulation with one person strapped to a chair? Simple! Gah!

Remorse:

“I bet you’re enjoying this, dying just like her. Like you think you’re some fucking martyr,” he spits.

Evalyn is a oh boo fucking hoo poor poor me type of girl. She is a mass murderer. Throughout the book, we know that she's a killer, but we just don't know how.

But here's the thing, throughout the book, she never shows a single fucking sign of remorse. Not once did she ever feel sorry for all the people she has killed. Not once did she think about the countless lives she has destroyed, the countless numbers of wives, daughters, husbands, sons, friends whose lives she has devastated by her acts of murder. She only feels sorry for herself, and the fact that she could not help save the life of her friend, Meghan.

I was the one who kept proving myself to be a killer over and over in the Compass Room.

And she's another reason why the Compass Room is so unconvincing.

“Of course you wanted to kill him. We all did.”

So why is she still alive?! Clearly, the Compass Room has failed -.-

Final Comments: The writing runs purple prosy at times despite the complete lack of emotion in the book.

The Compass Room is pregnant with sin. Not the ghost of our crimes, but real, pungent sin.

And is just plain bad in some parts.

He doesn’t look at peace, more like a baby. A frightened baby.

The romance is stupid, but it doesn't bother me, despite the fact that this is a New Adult and the love interest is an honest-to-goodness killer. The flashbacks are completely useless, and serves only to frustrate me, because they contribute so little to the plot besides telling us about Evalyn's perfect life in college, with her wonderful (and completely forgotten) ex-bf Liam "Last Year." ...more

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Jan 13, 2014 Wendy Darling rated it it was ok

Shelves: 2014-publication, read-2014, penguin, adult, march, dystopian-post-apocalyptic-utopian, gory

I'm sad that I didn't end up enjoying this book more. I try not to use these comparisons too often, but there are so many similarities that this is the best way I can think of to describe the story: it's sort of like The Hunger Games as a punishment/crazy justice system combined with Divergent-ish tests using Star Trek TNG's holodeck. The premise is pretty interesting, but I felt pretty disconnected from the drama and the characters, as well as confused by the plot throughout most of the book. T I'm sad that I didn't end up enjoying this book more. I try not to use these comparisons too often, but there are so many similarities that this is the best way I can think of to describe the story: it's sort of like The Hunger Games as a punishment/crazy justice system combined with Divergent-ish tests using Star Trek TNG's holodeck. The premise is pretty interesting, but I felt pretty disconnected from the drama and the characters, as well as confused by the plot throughout most of the book. The constant flashbacks didn't help, nor did the deliberate withholding of information (that the main character knows) so that the reader stays in suspense. I was also not crazy about any of the motivations, especially this reveal that comes late in the book: (view spoiler)

I think the writing was solid, but I wish it had been more dynamic. I felt pretty disinterested by extremely dramatic things that were going on, even when people were taking off their clothes. Some of the writing or dialogue also could have used some smoothing out:

Mine and Casey's breathing rattles in sync.

I mean, that's just an awkward sentence, and it distracted from what should have been a relatively important moment.

While this is dystopian/scifi and there are certainly elements that make it so, the style felt like more of a paranormal/horror book to me. Which would have been fine, I guess, if I'd enjoyed it more, but because I had a hard time getting engaged, it all felt a little jarring. And the horror elements were pretty gross. I'm really glad to see more NA being published that aren't always angsty contemporary romances, but somehow this one feels like it might've slotted better for an upper YA audience if it weren't for all the sex in it. (Or maybe it would have worked for an adult MIRA-type imprint? I haven't read that many Intermix titles yet, but this wasn't what I expected.)

I was originally interested in this book because I'd seen the author refer to its sequel as "insanely sexy lesbian NA," but I think I might wait to see what else she writes outside of this series. Other readers seem to be enjoying this, so I'd recommend sampling the ebook previews when they become available to see if you like the style.

An advance copy was provided by the publisher for this review. ...more

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Mar 16, 2014 Jessica ❁ ➳ Silverbow ➳ ❁ rated it did not like it

Shelves: made-me-lose-my-damn-mind, romance, netgalley, dystopian, rabid-reads-reviews, new-adult

Reviewed by: Rabid Reads

1.5 stars

Here’s my rule about spoilers:

If it’s in the blurb, or if it’s in the first 5(ish)% of the book (and therefore available for download BEFORE you purchase the book), it’s not a spoiler.

And that’s my disclaimer.

Meet Evalyn Ibarra.

As The Wicked We Have Done begins, Evalyn is saying goodbye to her mother and 5 y.o. brother before being taken to the Compass Room (à la The Hunger Games). Evalyn lives in a future version of our world in which the scientists have create ...more

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Mar 31, 2018 Heidi The Reader rated it it was ok

Shelves: fiction, dystopian, new-adult

In a not-too-distant future, humanity has developed the technology to see inside the mind of criminals. Through simulations and tracking responses, the law claims to have the ability to measure motivation and "goodness."

Evalyn Ibarra says she is guilty, but not of the crime she is on trial for. Rather than rely on a jury to prove her innocence, she chooses the "compass room," the new technology, to prove her innocence.

If she is truly evil, the compass room will kill her. If she is innocent, she ...more

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Sep 21, 2013 Ash Wednesday rated it it was ok

Shelves: netgalley, new-adult, review, crazy-people-being-crazy, on-going-series, sci-fi, sounds-like-a-tv, yuri, speculative-fiction

2 STARS
It’s hard to gauge the insanity levels of others when you’re so screwed up yourself.

In terms of premise-outcome ratio, this came out on the side of disappointing. What I liked most about this book was that this had ambition. I saw the intention to be different and break traditions and stereotypes in the New Adult genre and was greatly appreciated. What I liked least about the book is that it stopped there. It just failed to launch getting trapped in a messy, under-explored storyline.

T ...more

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Feb 24, 2014 Anne rated it liked it

Shelves: read-in-2014, sci-fi, kindle, arc, netgalley, thriller-suspense, new-adult

I received a digital arc from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Wicked We Have Done is a good example of a great way to utilize the relatively new genre of New Adult books. Instead of just hyper-angsty romance novels, authors can make hyper-gritty stories for what would have normally been classified as the 'mature young adult' audience.
I think I originally gravitated toward YA because they tended to have more innocence and hope sprinkled in the story. The good guys still (mostly) wo ...more

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Feb 24, 2014 AH rated it liked it

Shelves: arc-netgalley, romance, new-adult, blue, zzread-mar-2014, young-adult, book-boyfriends, dystopian, first-in-series

Initial Thoughts: 3.0-3.5 stars. It's kind of unfortunate that I kept thinking that this is a Hunger Games clone. There just seems to be a lot of that around, and understandably so. The book's strong point is the character development. Evalyn is a character placed in an unfortunate circumstance, yet she manages to shine despite adversity. For me, her voice saved the novel and kept me reading.

The Review:
OK, I settled on 3 stars for this book because it did have that Hunger Games vibe to it. I d ...more

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Feb 24, 2014 Rashika (is tired) rated it liked it

Shelves: sci-fic, adventure-survival, touchy-issues, e-arcs, brain-candy, decent-female-leads, good-characters, would-have-blown-my-mind-but, futuristic, offensive

***This review has also been posted on Tangled in Pages

“We die if we’re supposed to die, right?”

While The Wicked We Have Done is not the most original book out there, it certainly was a highly entertaining read; until it took a turn which I couldn’t accept, a turn I STILL cannot accept. It enraged me with how easily it could waive something like ‘that’ off. I just couldn’t.

Comparisons to The Hunger Games will be unavoidable because of the whole survival aspect and how they always found food ...more

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Jul 28, 2013 Laura rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favourite-books, new-adult, wish-i-had-in-paperback, suspense-thriller

As a little way of letting you know my thoughts of the book I am going to share the message I sent the author of this book at 3 am in the morning after having finished reading it. A full review will come once I have the ability to write something more eloquent than simply the word wow 500 times :P

"So late this evening I stupidly decided to read the first chapter or two of The Wicked We Have Done before going to bed. Of course once I started the suspense made it impossible to stop reading and I l ...more

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Oct 07, 2019 Noah Crocker rated it liked it

Shelves: e-book

Hunger Games meets the O.J. Simpson trial.

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Jul 13, 2013 Stuti (Turmeric isn't your friend. It will fly your ship rated it liked it

Shelves: sci-fi

While it might not come out as the most successful novel of the genre, The Wicked We Have Done is definitely a genre-bending story for New Adult fans. On the other hand, in terms of a futuristic/science fiction/survival novel, I think I've read most of its storyline many times already. Comparisons have been drawn between The Hunger Games and The Wicked We Have Done(certain others have also been thrown in the mix, but THG remains the principal comparison), but personally, I don't see many similar ...more

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Jun 05, 2013 Rachael Allen rated it it was amazing

10 Things I Loved About THE WICKED WE HAVE DONE:

1) Evalyn. She's an amazing MC. From the get-go, I liked her and sympathized with her (I think her relationship with her brother was a big part of this). And at the beginning we think she’s committed some horrible crime, like the kind where you’d have to be morally bankrupt, so the fact that she’s so damn likable is pretty amazing. I like how we peeled back the layers to learn more about her as the book went on. She’s strong, she’s flawed, she’s t ...more

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Jun 01, 2013 Angela S rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 5-star-favorites, pretty-prose, kind-of-gory, new-adult, realistic-characters, strong-female-characters, glbt-themes, 2014-book-list

Sarah Harian's debut The Wicked We Have Done has that "I couldn't put it down" mojo that I crave when searching for books. From the first line I knew that I was going to be sucked into it, and I was right. Evalyn's character comes screaming out of the page - tough and smart with just enough compassion for others that you know she's someone to root for. Evalyn also has a certain vulnerability that I found compelling. By feeding us little pieces of her past, Harian reveals Evalyn's true character, Sarah Harian's debut The Wicked We Have Done has that "I couldn't put it down" mojo that I crave when searching for books. From the first line I knew that I was going to be sucked into it, and I was right. Evalyn's character comes screaming out of the page - tough and smart with just enough compassion for others that you know she's someone to root for. Evalyn also has a certain vulnerability that I found compelling. By feeding us little pieces of her past, Harian reveals Evalyn's true character, the one she doesn't let the other criminals see. I thought that Evalyn's guilt was all wrapped up in one element of her story, but it turned out there was a lot more to it than what I thought I knew. In the end, I found myself questioning, what if I were Evalyn, how would I have reacted? My lingering thoughts about Evalyn's true moral compass raises questions that sit in that gray area between right and wrong; it's given me a lot to contemplate.

Others have pointed to the similarity between this book and The Hunger Games, and while the similarity is definitely there, I felt like this book set a very different tone than THG, a tone that is more specifically new adult. The characters are raw and crass, their dialogue snappy and intelligent. And there is definitely a sexiness to this story that THG barely touches on. I think that readers will enjoy the steamy romance. I know I did.

Harian also doesn't hold back on the gruesome. Some have said that it has a horror story vibe to it, and while I can see that, I honestly never felt frightened of what was to come next. (I think after being raised on Stephen King novels, I've made myself immune to book fright?) In any case, the little drops of blood seen on the front cover are quite accurate; it's not a story for the squeamish.

There are some quibbles that I have with regards to the editing of the book which I think go beyond what one would normally expect for an ARC. I hope that the editors smooth out these areas before publication, and I also hope that readers will realize these issues don’t sit solely on the author’s shoulders. This is what you get when publishers try to squeeze out books in a hurry in order to compete with the self-pub market. That said, I give the story (minus the editing) 5 stars - it was quick paced, with great characters, dialogue that made me all jelly, and prose that I thought was just fantastic.

Thank you Netgalley and Penguin/Intermix for providing me with an ARC of this book. ...more

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Sep 18, 2013 Nikki S rated it it was ok

Shelves: new-adult, dnf

Ok, I'm a little upset with this one. Although there are some super cool quotes to go along with a super cool concept, the writing style sucked. It made me not want to finish this. And I really really wanted to.
When I read the synopsis of this I was definitely intrigued. An NA book with that's about something else other than a just a romance? I was all for it! It really seemed like something I would like. But the more I read, the more I didn't like it. But it had nothing to do with the synopsis ...more

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Dec 28, 2013 Megan • Reading Books Like a Boss (book blog) rated it liked it

Shelves: 2014-releases

The Wicked We Have Done has been on my radar ever since I saw that the author, Sarah Harian, mentioned that it was inspired by the TV show LOST. Color me interested. If you didn't know, I am and will forever be a huge fan of that TV show. The characters are unforgettable and all of them are incredibly flawed. Similarly, the characters Harian created in her debut novel are equally (if not more) flawed. All of them are convicted criminals. The Wicked We Have Done is an action-packed thrill ...more

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Sep 20, 2018 Kelli Wilson rated it liked it

Excellent, BUT Loved it, read it in a day, and same with the 2nd novel, BUT. Exciting, scary, tough, emotional, etc., BUT, knowing everything I do after reading the 2 novels, and how the 2nd goes, I would NOT read these AGAIN, if I could go back. There is no 3rd b0ok, no plans for a 3rd, per authors, own words. It is left horribly open-ended and painfully unsatisfying, so much that, no matter how much I loved the 2 books, I would not read them if I knew I would be left with a misleading incomple ...more

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Feb 09, 2014 Celine rated it really liked it

Shelves: new-adult, romance, science-fiction, thriller

Scientists have developed a program that can determine whether a person is mortally corrupt. Inside the Compass Room, severe criminals are tested whether they are evil or not. If the Compass Room deems them corrupt, they will die. If you survive for a month, you're free.

Evalyn has been charged with terrorism for her involvement in a high school shooting. She is ready to be found guilty and to be killed. She is put into the Compass Room, which is reminiscent of the arena in The Hunger Games, with Scientists have developed a program that can determine whether a person is mortally corrupt. Inside the Compass Room, severe criminals are tested whether they are evil or not. If the Compass Room deems them corrupt, they will die. If you survive for a month, you're free.

Evalyn has been charged with terrorism for her involvement in a high school shooting. She is ready to be found guilty and to be killed. She is put into the Compass Room, which is reminiscent of the arena in The Hunger Games, with a serial rapist, a girl that put a house on fire which burned an entire family to death, a boy that murdered his father, and several other adolescents that risk death penalty for their alleged crimes.

I really like the concept of The Wicked We Have Done. It makes so much more sense to put people in an arena to test their moral resolve than it is to put children in one to fight to the death for some kind of twisted pleasure of a Capitol. The concept is highly realistic as well - wouldn't we jump on an opportunity to determine with science to detect evil? To test it in a highly controlled environment?

The arena is brutal. I won't go into much of the plot other than the premise, since information is only revealed slowly in the story. One aspect I'd like to highlight is that The Wicked We Have Done partly reads like a horror novel. People that are seemingly dead suddenly make appearances that wouldn't look weird in any horror flick. It is pretty scary, especially in the beginning, when you have no idea what the hell is going on.

The Wicked We Have Done is the first official non-romance new adult book I've read, and I wish there were more new adult books like this. I'm not interested in super spicy sex scenes and 18+ bad boys. I enjoy the slightly harsher young adult story, where it's okay to swear (and they swear a lot) and romantic relationships aren't crazily platonic (some YA couples are together for years, sleep in the same bed, and never do any boob-touching or anything - yeah right). There is a romance, two actually, which I found acceptable under the circumstances. There is some sex, but they mostly fade to black. The one thing that Ms Harian deserves a brownie for is that the girl is older than the guy. And there is a gay couple. Yay for diversity!

As I've pointed out before, the story of The Wicked We Have Done is pretty harsh and brutal, with characters dying a horrific on-screen death a few chapters in. What would have elevated this book from great to fantastic is more brutality. Towards the end Ms Harian decides to go with an ending a bit too convenient and saccharine for my taste. I wish she would have had the balls to make the ending a big whomper of cruelty, which would have fit with the overall tone of the book a lot better. I guess a lot of readers will be glad with how it ended, but I was left wanting she had taken it that one little step further.

A mash-up of science-fiction, dystopia, and horror, The Wicked We Have Done will appeal to the now more grown-up fans of the early young adult dystopia genre. ...more

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Feb 28, 2014 Naoms rated it liked it

Shelves: nook, series-to-continue, netgalley-edelweis, arc, review-copy, new-adult, future, read-in-2014, sci-fi-ya

Originally posted on: Confessions of an Opinionated Book Geek

Starting this book, I was skeptical. The compass room was one of those dystopian ideas that made me resistant to reading this in its entirety. I soldiered through and I am really happy that I did, because I liked this book. Not at first. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what was going on and it bothered me that I didn’t know the true extent of Evalyn’s guilt. Once I got past that and suspended my disbelief I was pleasantly su Originally posted on: Confessions of an Opinionated Book Geek

Starting this book, I was skeptical. The compass room was one of those dystopian ideas that made me resistant to reading this in its entirety. I soldiered through and I am really happy that I did, because I liked this book. Not at first. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what was going on and it bothered me that I didn’t know the true extent of Evalyn’s guilt. Once I got past that and suspended my disbelief I was pleasantly surprised by the result.

The scientific compass room storyline is just the fancy bow tied around the packaging that is this story. What really makes this book shine are the characters and their wicked pasts. These characters are killers. Some by accident, some from self-defense, others because they are psychotic, but all are killers. While reading these new adults question their goodness, I questioned my morality.

Harlan does a pretty good job of making you ask the question “what would you do?” What would you do if your father was an abusive ahole? What would you do if the life of someone you love was threatened? Could you take a life to save a life? Would you take the life of someone you knew was wicked? And if you do, how should you feel about it after?

What is good, what is bad? Is murder ever the only option? When is killing justified? Is it ever? What would I do in this situation? These are just some of the questions I asked myself while reading this book. This is where is triumphs. It makes you think and makes you question.

There is a love story in this book. At first I was skeptical of it. How could anyone fall in love under these circumstances? I didn’t think it possible that someone could trust their feelings in a place like the compass room, but by the end I believed it. I believed every word, every touch and rooted for this couple to survive, to make it out, to have HEA.

This is why the book is just ok. It takes too long to get started. Luckily, I was interested in the idea. The idea that technology could advance to the place where guilt or innocence could be decided through dangerous simulations, was interesting to me. Unfortunately, if that concept is not interesting to a reader or if they can’t accept it right away, they will lose interest.

THE WICKED WE HAVE DONE is a unique story. The idea of young people being thrown in a large dome and made to fend for themselves, feels very HUNGER GAMES, but at the end of the day they are not really the same. The Compass room is a prison and it’s occupants are guilty, the room filters the really guilty from the innocent.

Interesting concept, I will probably check out the sequel.

...more

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Jan 19, 2014 Ellie rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: new-adult

I know I don’t usually like comparisons, but parts of it did remind me of The Hunger Games, others made me think of Criminal Minds and there was a constant reminder of Cabin in the Woods in the back of my head, which is a poke at horror clichés anyway. Add to that a new adult vibe, and you might get an idea of what The Wicked We Have Done is like.

At first, the description of the characters as deviant criminals didn’t fit with how they were portrayed, maybe with a couple of exceptions. As the sto I know I don’t usually like comparisons, but parts of it did remind me of The Hunger Games, others made me think of Criminal Minds and there was a constant reminder of Cabin in the Woods in the back of my head, which is a poke at horror clichés anyway. Add to that a new adult vibe, and you might get an idea of what The Wicked We Have Done is like.

At first, the description of the characters as deviant criminals didn’t fit with how they were portrayed, maybe with a couple of exceptions. As the story unfolds, this makes more sense. How often does a crime have complex motives? Is a person evil because of one bad thing? The Compass Rooms were designed to discover if the accused were lost causes. It’s described as a prison, but it’s more of a trial and, if found guilty, executioner.

What is hard to stomach is how people who are victims themselves are treated. Maybe they do deserve some punishment, but making them relive what drove them to the point of murder, seems cruel and unusual torture. In the case of the guilty, it proves they are beyond redemption and that’s that but to those who are more borderline cases, the trial is punishment enough.

It’s a short book, with quite a few characters, which meant it really only touched the surface of some quite interesting issues. I didn’t quite get emotionally invested with the characters, feeling they had potential, but were a bit on the two-dimensional side. Their crimes were glossed over a bit, considering they were quite important to the rest of the plot. Evalyn’s flashbacks could have been skipped altogether for all the understanding they contributed. I still don’t get how you go from not liking your best friend’s boyfriend to becoming involved in a terrorist plot, and what was the point of their terrorism anyway?

Many of the horror aspects were over a bit quickly, although there was one point where I did get a bit creeped out. Maybe it was the accumulation, or maybe just girls with bleeding eyes are just plain scary.

I’m starting to think I should cut some stars in half, then I could give it 3.5. It’s great to see some new adult branching out into different genres and not following the standard, sexy contemporary stories. And it was a page turning read. I just wanted a bit more depth from it. Definitely worth a read for existing new adult fans and those a bit wary of this “new” category.

Review copy provided by publisher. ...more

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Feb 26, 2014 Anne Huart (Books & Tea) rated it really liked it

Shelves: arc

4 stars

Review also available on Books & Tea

In the dystopian world of "The Wicked we have done", criminals who are trialed and quite certain to be condemned to death, have the choice to change their sentence to one month in a prison where their only goal will be to survive: the Compass Room.

A month during which their morality will be tested and monitored, in order to prove whether they really are evil or not. The few survivors will be released.

The book starts as Evalyn enters the Compass Room wi ...more

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Mar 03, 2014 Kate rated it liked it

Shelves: speculative-fic-or-light-scifi, ya, not-just-straight-white-guys, survival

People, if we keep watering down the definition of "dystopia" to include "a flawed prison system", we might as well toss it out entirely. This isn't a dystopian novel, or at least no more than our current reality is.

This book is about a group of convicted murderers sentenced to a month-long test of their morality, to determine if they should be put to death or released. I'm not seeing the Hunger Games similarities, beyond the surface concepts of "female protagonist" and "dying in an arena".

Har ...more

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Sep 18, 2013 Megan Erickson rated it really liked it

Shelves: ya-new-adult

Let's just say that I'm in bed right now and I don't want to get OUT of bed because surely there is something trying to kill me.

I feel like I'm still in the Compass Room with Evalyn.

THE WICKED WE HAVE DONE is not a book I normally read. But I like the author and I love the idea of NA stretching its contemporary limits, so I picked this up eagerly. And I'm glad I did.

Because it does make you think about morality. And what is sinful and what punishment is fair. This is a weird world that Ms. Haria ...more

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Feb 20, 2014 ❃**✿【Yasmine】✿**❃ rated it really liked it

Shelves: star-rating-4, romance-general, dark-book, pnr-uf, action, suspense

So, I was looking for something.... different.

Genre: Low Sci/fi, horror & romance.
Cover: 5/10
Writing: 8/10
Heroine: 8/10
Other characters: 8/10
Action: 8/10
Romance: 6/10
Ending: 8/10
Extra book Details: Heroine POV.

I don't really read these kind of books, so this is unique for me, I don't have anything to compare it with apart from films. So, think Jumanji meets The Hunger Games meets Saw meets The Breakfast Club :D

The 'Compass Rooms' is a new form of criminal justice, of execution. The ultimate test ...more

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Feb 18, 2014 Erin rated it did not like it

I'm quite sad about this book. Mostly because it was one that I was really looking forward to reading this year (because it sounded fresh and cool and had a lot of potential to be a really awesome read), only after reading the actual book now, it ended up being the kind of read that didn't live up to my expectations or rather it just wasn't what I was expecting the book to be like. Yeah. It was disappointing needless to say. Perhaps the sequel might change my mind about this series, that is if I ...more

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Jun 07, 2013 Jennifer Walkup rated it it was amazing

The Wicked We Have Done is incredible! It’s a beautifully chaotic futuristic thriller. The tension on these pages had me FLYING through this book. Evelyn and the others in the compass room are desperate and fighting for their lives, all while reliving and fighting their personal demons. This book begins with a group of very disturbed young criminals. But things are not always what they seem, and soon we find out more and more about these characters… We begin to care about them, understand them, ...more

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Jan 29, 2014 Lynsey (A Bookish Life) rated it it was ok

Such an amazingly creative concept in THE WICKED WE HAVE DONE that sadly was completely wasted on me because I simply did not like the characters at all - particularly the heroine. She was a real strange one. And a total exhibitionist which was not only odd but further off-putting. And the romance... eesh. The love interest was incredibly weak; I actually found the entire romance storyline repelling. From the first kiss with puke breath, well, it just didn't improve from there for me, sadly.

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Feb 24, 2014 Sara rated it it was amazing

Shelves: dystopia, new-adult, instabuy-authors, diverse-na

Fuck. Amazing. I devoured this.

If you dig the YA trend of dystopian government breaking (but need a little less angst), you'll dig this book.

Also? I'm gonna need this to be a movie. kthx.

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Sep 08, 2013 Dahlia rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2014-releases, new-adult

Badass. And perfect proof that NA is more than ready to go beyond Contemporary Hetero Romance.

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Apr 21, 2018 Abbie rated it did not like it

Shelves: dystopia-post-apocalyptic

I just couldn't get into this. I feel like the book was trying to hard to be great but it ended up becoming a trainwreck.

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Sep 18, 2013 Nereyda (Nick & Nereyda's Infinite Booklist) rated it it was amazing

I’ve been looking forward to this book since I first saw the cover. I loved that it was a New Adult Dystopia (we need more of these please!), I loved that the cover was sooooo different than 99% of new adult books out there (I love the blood!), and I of course loved that this book was about killers.This quickly went on my ‘Killers’ shelf and I was so excited when I finally got my review copy. I sometimes feel let down with books like this because I feel like they don’t reach their full potential ...more

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About Sarah Harian

Sarah Harian

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Sarah Harian grew up in the foothills of Yosemite and received her B.A. and M.F.A. from Fresno State University. She spends her free time listening to movie scores and dreaming up monsters, and lives with her husband in Portland, Oregon.