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This book is the 2nd in the series but I read it without reading the first.
Jumping straight in at the action was very exciting. Signal is on the run with Eric and out to clear her name. There is a touch of romance but Eric is a serial killer which would make anyone put there guard up.
It was a fun read.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I downloaded this book onto my Kindle app ages ago, and forgot about it. But, the World Indie Warriors Summer Reading Challenge reminded me to read it.
I follow Julia on social media and she is my formatter. She’s also the newest member of the Unstoppable Authors Podcast Team.
The books is set in the future with three different alien races. Well, one race is Gaians which is basically human, from Gaia aka Earth.
Avalons look human but are superior and rule the Gaians. They have access to tech that enable them to teleport and monitor everything the Gaians do.
The Midorians are another alien race at war with the Avalons. They live out in space on massive ships.
The main character is Alana. She’s Giana and best friends with an Avalon, Gen. Alana is a rebel and breaks rules like curfew and crosses boundaries to be with her BFF.
Alana is dreading shift day when her & her family could be moved as she likes where they are. She’s also almost eighteen, an age where she’ll be give her profession. As she gets older, there’s more talk of her being coupled.
I liked Alana. She’s a daring character and a rebel. The story is about her finding her Mirror Soul. It’s like a soul mate that awakens powers.
The Avalons don’t allow Mirror Souls and Alana is breaking rules to discover and be with hers, putting everyone she loves in danger.
It’s a fast paced adventure as they travel all over the world looking for somewhere safe to be together. Instead, they unravel a load of secrets, as embark on a mission to rescue Alana’s family.
I’m not a fan of aliens. space or travelling, and this book was up against that. But, the fast pace and action kept me turning the page as I unravelled secrets with Alana.
[kofi]
If you enjoyed this you will like:
Book Review: Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
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The Benefits of Having a Formatter
My “To Be Read” Pile (March 2020)
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The novel is set in the future. Cyan and her mother are hunted because they are the last Caucasian women. They are wanted for science, trafficking, etc. Cyan’s mother was lost, presumed dead, when she was younger during an attack in their home. Cyan has spent most of her life on the run with her dad until he was murdered. Cyan is then on the run getting help from an unlikely companion, her father’s murderer.
The book starts off by showing us this futuristic world. As Cyan’s needs to live off the grid to keep her safe, they actually live a very simple life. Cyan grows up in an extremely sheltered life where her mum is her main companion.
The start of the book is a little disorientating as we jump back and forth in time and between the viewpoints. You best get used to this style of story telling as it is used throughout the book.
I’m not keen on books where the characters are travelling. As Cyan is never safe, she’s always on the move.
Cyan lost her mother when she was young during an attack in the family home. She then spent a number of years raised solely by her dad. Her dad is getting old and struggling to keep her safe so he gets Devin (someone who has hunted them for years to get the bounty) to kill him and take on the role of protecting Cyan. The promise Devin makes to Cyan’s dad forces them together.
It was uncomfortable to read at times. There wasn’t only one rape scene but several, told by different characters and at different times.
At first Cyan doesn’t like Devin, he killed her dad. Devin keeps their relationship strictly business as he worries that if he gets emotionally involved it will cloud his judgement. Cyan learns to depend on Devin for protection and Devin learns to trust Cyan and her premonitions. The romance between them grows and I enjoyed the steamy scene in the barn.
I also liked Cyan’s powers and would have liked to have seen more of this but then she would have been less vulnerable. She gets a vibration feeling when danger is coming and premonitions that cone true. She also has a very destructive power which she used to attack hunters when they hunted her family. All the time in hiding, they never thought to encourage her to practice her powers to use them to keep them safe. So sadly, Cyan can’t use them.
There was a decent end to the book. There were two plot twists and Cyan finally used her powers to save them.
The ending is left open for possibly another book.
Overall, this book was not for me. I was provided this book by Net Galley for an honest review.
I wasn’t keen on the constant danger or the idea that being the last woman with blue eyes meant men wanted to rape you. I found it hard to understand and it felt racist at times because men of colour were unable to control their urge and behaved like savage animals. If these are trigger points for you, give this book a miss.
Another gripe was her father’s plan for her survival. I found it a bit odd – why die. I couldn’t understand why Devin was risking his life for a promise to a dead man he had never really known. I didn’t believe Cyan would willingly go with Devin after seeing him murder her dad, especially as she didn’t know why and only had Devin’s word that it was what her dad wanted.
However, there are also many good points. The book is very well written with lots of showing and the world was brought to life in a natural way that sucked you in. I loved Cyan’s powers and wanted more. I loved the secret behind her necklace and it was a great reveal at the end. The slow burning romance kept me turning the page and I was thrilled when the pair finally got it on.
The author has written plenty of other books and maybe another title would be more my thing but I don’t think I will be in a hurry to read another one unless it comes highly recommended by someone who knows my reading tastes.
Have you read a book by Maddie James? Do you like novels set in the future or characters with powers?
If you liked this post you will enjoy?
Book Review: Who runs the world by Virginia Bergolt
Book Review: The Gender Game by Bella Forrest
Book Review: Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
Book Review: Deepest Blue by Sarah Beth Durst
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Lunch with Hayley Long and Virginia Bergin
This was the second event of the 2018 Felixstowe Book Festival that I chose to attend.
It was hosted at Felixstowe Library and they put on a selection of nibbles. The sandwiches were really good and I got a glass of fresh orange juice in a wine glass (very sophisticated). Not so sophisticated was trying to juggle my paper plate, glass, mobile phone, notebook and pen but I somehow managed.
The format of the event was Hayley interviewing Virginia about her book and chatting a little about her own too – like they were two authors hanging out. It was very informal between the pair. It made the event very personal as they told us about their books and what inspired them to write these stories.
Afterwards, we got to mingle and I had a wonderful inspiring chat with Virginia.
Hayley was inspired to write a book that gives teen girls advice on how to survive puberty, however, there are lots of useful tips that would benefit women of all ages. She describes her book at ‘How to make life easier’.
Hayley showed us some pages from her book with illustrations by Gemma Correll (famous for Pugs, not Thugs) and that some text is small like a whisper and some text is big and loud. It looks like a fun book by about an awkward subject.
I was delighted to hear that Hayley is a local girl and went to school here. It is really inspiring to hear that someone with similar roots made it and that it is possible.
Writing about such a personal topic was quite scary to publish as she wasn’t sure what reaction she would get. Of all the complaints she envisioned, she had not anticipated people would complain about a tampon on the cover.
I didn’t buy her book today but if it is still around when my little girl is starting high school it sounds like the kind of empowering book I would want her to read. She has also written other stories that are based around the Suffolk area that sound really good.
Virginia is a very passionate woman who talked about how much the world has changed in the past 100 years for women, like being able to vote and how she feels there is still more to be achieved. She discussed the recent equal pay success but that she thinks the next step is to change the culture and is supportive of the ‘me too’ movement. It’s not just about changing the law but about changing the way we think towards each other about what is right and wrong.
The idea for this book was sparked whilst chatting to someone studying Tess of the d’Urbervilles at school. She has also studied this book 30 years ago. I’ve never read the book so I had to try to follow what it was about by what she was saying but it sounds as if the main character is repressed by a man and although she liked it in school she now looks back and sees how wrong it is.
Virginia’s imagination then began exploring the idea of a world where women were in control and how this comes about. She didn’t want to simply switch society over, she wanted to create something new. Then she came up with the idea of a virus that only affects those with the Y chromosome.
Killing off all the men made me giggle. It made me think about a warning I read once about why you should never piss off a writer. I couldn’t find the quote online so I made my own (see image above) which captures the gist of it. Virginia doesn’t want men to die but this quote makes me feel there are few men that may have made her virus deserving list.
Virginia is very animated when she speaks, especially doing typing hands when talking about writing. It made her a very likeable person to listen to. She told us about how difficult writing this novel was as she kept worrying about what people would think and if she has portrayed women without men’s influence in their life correctly.
She questions how gender is portrayed and spoke about how strong women are always made out to be masculine and asks why this is. Why can’t women be allowed to be strong and still accepted as a woman?
Virginia likes to make people think “How do you want the world to be different” and is often impressed at school visits how much the children are aware of what is wrong with the world and how they want to change it.
She recommended reading The Power by Naomi Alderman.
After the interview there was time for us to eat some more food, buy the books and chat to the authors.
I waited patiently and then had a lovely chat with Virginia. I asked her about whether people had judged her for writing SciFi. Most people I know, judge me for writing fantasy. She was very encouraging about writing what you love and never giving up.
I asked her about how long it took her to find the right agent. She told me that a few years ago she had been writing scripts and had an agent but when she wrote The Rain she found a publisher quickly and was picked up by an agent too. She told me never to take rejections personally and to keep trying. She also pointed out that self publishing has come a long way and especially for Sci-Fi and Fantasy it can really expand the market for writers.
She encouraged me to find local writers groups as these can be really useful to critique your work. Another lady overheard us talking and introduced herself. She does a leisure learning course at a local college on Creative Writing and encouraged me to come along and meet the other students who often form their own group once the course is complete.
I bought Who Runs The World and Virginia signed it and wrote a nice message to me inside to encourage me to never give up.
