First of all, it has to be said that this book's cover is absolutely gorgeous. I'd be lying if I tried to claim that the cover wasn't the first thing that drew me to Gravity. I have an ebook edition and I'm almost tempted to purchase a second copy just to have that cover on my shelves. Almost, but I won't as most of my books get placed in storage once they've been read, so I'd never really be showing it off. 
 Gravity was one of those really popular books that I seemed to be seeing everywhere in late 2012. I was torn about whether or not it'd really be my sort of thing but in the end temptation got the upper hand and the book found its way onto my Kindle. 
 I'm not sure what I was expecting but what I got was something else entirely. The story is set in the near future at a time when humans are sharing the planet with an extra-terrestrial species, one that we are indebted to after only their intervention prevented us from dying off on a planet we had left barren. There are now tightly controlled population groups and in exchange for their goodwill action of saving human kind, we allow the extra-terrestrials to absorb nutrients from us every night, nutrients that we don't miss but that they require in order to survive on Earth. 
 But we humans are not very fond of sharing our planet. Ari's father is the head of this civilization's equivalent of our American military, a position which will pass to her upon his retirement - one that she has been training for her whole life. Through him she becomes embroiled in the government's schemes designed to take back our planet. At the same time, Ari is falling into a romantic entanglement with Jackson, an alien - her alien, the one assigned to feed from her each evening. He shows her a different perspective of this conflict between the two species, one of promises made by the humans that were never kept; one that threatens to escalate to war when the alien leader becomes tired of human excuses. 
 Things quickly heat up and Ari finds herself caught between two factions, sympathising with both. 
 For me, this book had resonances of the Holocaust and other instances of genocide. I found myself both appalled and intrigued by the actions of our race. I could understand the difficult position Ari found herself in and the strength of mind it took to really break free from everything instilled in her by the society she was one day expected to help lead. 
 My favourite part of the book came towards the end when the humans finally make their play, with unforeseen and unintended consequences. At this point I would have liked to have seen more of Ari's father and his reactions as he realised what consequences his actions would bring to his own household. I wanted to see his devastation, his soul-wracking grief, or even just the moment that he realised all had not gone to plan... but unfortunately this takes place off-page. 
 The sci-fi genocide plot is intertwined with a mixed species romance plot. This fell a bit flat because a) Jackson could not be fully developed due to secrets he was keeping (that should be addressed in book two), and b) the sci-fi genocide plot is far more interesting. The romance still has room to bloom and capture my interest, but when I buy book two it will be for the political intrigue side of the story and not for a Jackson fix. 
 I was surprised by this book as it turned out to be a far more complex read than I was expecting. I really enjoyed it.