Review of Icons by Margaret Stohl

Review of Margaret Stohl's Icons

Release Date: May 7th, 2013

Synopsis as found on GoodReads.com:

Your heart beats only with their permission.

Everything changed on The Day. The day the windows shattered. The day the power stopped. The day Dol's family dropped dead. The day Earth lost a war it didn't know it was fighting.

Since then, Dol has lived a simple life in the countryside -- safe from the shadow of the Icon and its terrifying power. Hiding from the one truth she can't avoid.

She's different. She survived. Why?

When Dol and her best friend, Ro, are captured and taken to the Embassy, off the coast of the sprawling metropolis once known as the City of Angels, they find only more questions. While Ro and fellow hostage Tima rage against their captors, Dol finds herself drawn to Lucas, the Ambassador's privileged son. But the four teens are more alike than they might think, and the timing of their meeting isn't a coincidence. It's a conspiracy.

Within the Icon's reach, Dol, Ro, Tima, and Lucas discover that their uncontrollable emotions -- which they've always thought to be their greatest weaknesses -- may actually be their greatest strengths.

Bestselling author Margaret Stohl delivers the first book in a heart-pounding series set in a haunting new world where four teens must piece together the mysteries of their pasts -- in order to save the future.

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I had to give myself a little break between reading this book and reviewing it... I understood the ending for the most part, but the entire book left me a bit confused about what was going on. This is a book about kids with powers... and about Aliens.

I am a huge fan of the Beautiful Creatures series, so I wanted to read this & Kami Garcia's personal series. I enjoyed them both to an extent (especially Kami Garcia's The Legion series), but my assessment is, they make a better team than solo writers.

Although the idea was there, as well as immense character development, I found that the story was lacking in places. The love triangle seemed very forced and there were a few times when I had no clue what was going on.

As a fan, I will read the sequel, Idols, but if it is not any better than the first, I will not be catching the next book.

Review of Perfected by Kate Jarvik Birch

Review of Kate Jarvik Birch's Perfected

Release Date: July 1st, 2014

Synopsis as found on GoodReads.com:

As soon as the government passed legislation allowing humans to be genetically engineered and sold as pets, the rich and powerful rushed to own beautiful girls like Ella. Trained from birth to be graceful, demure, and above all, perfect, these “family companions” enter their masters’ homes prepared to live a life of idle luxury.

Ella is happy with her new role as playmate for a congressman’s bubbly young daughter, but she doesn’t expect Penn, the congressman’s handsome and rebellious son. He’s the only person who sees beyond the perfect exterior to the girl within. Falling for him goes against every rule she knows…and the freedom she finds with him is intoxicating.

But when Ella is kidnapped and thrust into the dark underworld lurking beneath her pampered life, she’s faced with an unthinkable choice. Because the only thing more dangerous than staying with Penn’s family is leaving…and if she’s unsuccessful, she’ll face a fate far worse than death.

For fans of Kiera Cass’ Selection series and Lauren DeStefano’s Chemical Garden series, Perfected is a chilling look at what it means to be human, and a stunning celebration of the power of love to set us free, wrapped in a glamorous—and dangerous—bow.

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In a future world where genetically engineered humans are bred & sold as pets, a young girl known only as "8" is sold into the home of a Senator who was involved with passing the legislation that made her life possible. She has been trained to be the perfect pet: Not only is she beautiful, but she has talents as well... and a real passion for playing the piano. 

Like every family does, they all take part in naming her the minute she arrives, and she is soon dubbed Ella. Sitting in the corner at her own little table, Ella is fed a special diet that was set up by the "Kennel" she was bred at. It seems as though the only 2 people in the family who are excited about her being there are the Senator & the youngest daughter. She was only purchased for their entertainment, correct? She was bred not to want for herself. But when she sees the Senator's son, Penn, Ella finds herself finally wanting for something...

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Just the thought of slavery being legal in our future, in any form, is enough to make most people cringe. Maybe this is why I was so intrigued to read this book. I am so happy I happened upon in the bookstore, it was so great. I found myself unable to put it down. In between breaks at work and my late night reading, it only took me a day and a half to finish. That must tell you something in and of itself.

I found myself cringing at the creepy perverted Senator, loving the youngest daughter, Ruby, and falling in love with Penn's love of music. I can't say I really had any feelings what-so-ever on the Senator's wife until the end of the book... but Ella... she was a beautifully constructed and thought out character. You could almost say, she was perfected. I'm a fan, Ms. Birch. I can't wait for the sequel.

Review of A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray

Advance Review of Claudia Gray's A Thousand Pieces of You

Release Date: November 4th, 2014

Synopsis as found on GoodReads.com:

Every Day meets Cloud Atlas in this heart-racing, space- and time-bending, epic new trilogy from New York Times bestselling author Claudia Gray.

Marguerite Caine’s physicist parents are known for their radical scientific achievements. Their most astonishing invention: the Firebird, which allows users to jump into parallel universes, some vastly altered from our own. But when Marguerite’s father is murdered, the killer—her parent’s handsome and enigmatic assistant Paul—escapes into another dimension before the law can touch him.

Marguerite can’t let the man who destroyed her family go free, and she races after Paul through different universes, where their lives entangle in increasingly familiar ways. With each encounter she begins to question Paul’s guilt—and her own heart. Soon she discovers the truth behind her father’s death is more sinister than she ever could have imagined.

A Thousand Pieces of You explores a reality where we witness the countless other lives we might lead in an amazingly intricate multiverse, and ask whether, amid infinite possibilities, one love can endure.

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In the past few years, I have read a few incredible Dimension hopping YA Thrillers that I have loved. Although it took me a minute to get used to the difference in Claudia Gray's writing style from her Evernight series, which I was a HUGE fan of, I found myself enjoying this story. It is filled with different realities in alternate universes, action, adventure, & intrigue.

Marguerite, or Meg as dubbed by research assistant to her parents Theo, is dealing with the recent loss of her father. As far as the family knows, he has been killed by another research assistant, Paul, for their research into the universe hopping invention, Firebird. Paul has jumped into an alternate universe before anyone can stop him and it is up to Meg to stop him... but all hope is lost until Theo shows up with 2 prototype Firebirds. Thus begins their journey...

I don't believe that this series will mean as much to me as Evernight, but I will be tuning in for the sequel to find out what happens next.

Review of Empire of Shadows by Miriam Forster

Advance Review of Miriam Forster's Empire of Shadows

Release Date: November 4th, 2014

Synopsis as found on GoodReads.com:

Cast out of her family three years ago, Mara turned to the only place that would take her—a school where students train to protect others. But Mara is stunned when guarding a noble girl in the Empire’s capital turns out to be more dangerous than she could’ve imagined. More shocking still, she finds the boy she thought she had lost forever outside the gates of her new home.

Mara knew her life in the dizzying Imperial city would hold dangers. How could she have known that her heart, as well as her life, would be at stake?

Empire of Shadows will take readers on a spellbinding journey into the world Miriam Forster first introduced in City of a Thousand Dolls—a world with a divided society, deadly courtiers, heroic traitors, and deeply laid conspiracies.

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I thought that like most sequels, I would always like the first book better, but Miriam Forster has made me sadly mistaken. I was very happy with City of a Thousand Dolls, so when I started reading this book, I was shocked to find myself so excited with the progression.

I could tell from early on that this book was a prequel to the first and while reading it, I found myself recognizing characters that I was fond of from it as well. I can't say much without giving away a bunch of spoilers, so I will say that you will not be disappointed. I am just really sad that I will have to wait a VERY long time to find out what happens next.

I am crossing my fingers that you can top this one, Ms. Forster, because that is going to be a mighty feat.

Review of Fiendish by Brenna Yovanoff

Advance Review of Brenna Yovanoff's Fiendish

Release Date: August 14th, 2014

Synopsis as found on Amazon.com:

Clementine DeVore spent ten years trapped in a cellar, pinned down by willow roots, silenced and forgotten.

Now she’s out and determined to uncover who put her in that cellar and why.
When Clementine was a child, dangerous and inexplicable things started happening in New South Bend. The townsfolk blamed the fiendish people out in the Willows and burned their homes to the ground. But magic kept Clementine alive, walled up in the cellar for ten years, until a boy named Fisher sets her free. Back in the world, Clementine sets out to discover what happened all those years ago. But the truth gets muddled in her dangerous attraction to Fisher, the politics of New South Bend, and the Hollow, a fickle and terrifying place that seems increasingly temperamental ever since Clementine reemerged.

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This is a beautiful story about love, loss, & the true meaning of being different.

Clementine has spent the last 10 years hexed into the cellar of her family home with only her dreams as company... little does she know, the boy in her dreams is about to dig her out. She is found wrapped up by roots, eyes sewn shut, with a mildew covered blue nightgown on. The boy of her dreams, Fisher, takes her to her last surviving family members... her cousin Shiny & her aunt Myloria. Sadly her aunt has been hexed into forgetting her existence, while her cousin has been trying to make her remember her ever since she disappeared. A lot has changed in 10 years... including Clementine. She looks into the mirror & sees someone who looks much more like her mother. Where did the little girl she remembers being go? Why has she lost so much?

This story revolves around multiple children with growing powers & the fact that the more they are around each other, the stronger they become. The romance between Clementine & Fisher is not quick to start, and I found myself rooting for her to win him over. He only wants to be normal, but he is anything but. Are they meant for each other?

Set out on the adventure to help Clementine find out about where she came from... and how she ended up trapped in a hole for over half of her life. This is a definite new take on witches that I found myself enjoying more & more every page.

Review of When We Wake by Karen Healey

Review of Karen Healey's When We Wake

Release Date: March 18th, 2014

Synopsis as found on Amazon.com:

My name is Tegan Oglietti, and on the last day of my first lifetime, I was so, so happy.

 

Sixteen-year-old Tegan is just like every other girl living in 2027--she's happiest when playing the guitar, she's falling in love for the first time, and she's joining her friends to protest the wrongs of the world: environmental collapse, social discrimination, and political injustice.

 

But on what should have been the best day of Tegan's life, she dies--and wakes up a hundred years in the future, locked in a government facility with no idea what happened.

 

Tegan is the first government guinea pig to be cryonically frozen and successfully revived, which makes her an instant celebrity--even though all she wants to do is try to rebuild some semblance of a normal life. But the future isn't all she hoped it would be, and when appalling secrets come to light, Tegan must make a choice: Does she keep her head down and survive, or fight for a better future?

 

Award-winning author Karen Healey has created a haunting, cautionary tale of an inspiring protagonist living in a not-so-distant future that could easily be our own.

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After getting shot at a rally in 2027, Tegan wakes 100 years in the future. All of her family and friends are long since dead & the world she lived in has moved on without her. Karen Healey has built a world that I thought I would fall in love with, but I only find myself frustrated.

In the beginning, the reader is introduced to Tegan, her mother, best friend Alex, brother's best friend (and her newly dubbed boyfriend) Dalmar... and we hear about her brother Owen. Even though it is only a chapter we spend getting to know the characters before Tegan is killed, they are still in the forefront of my mind. Healey explains what happened to Dalmar (he goes into politics and marries "the one true love of his life" - later dies of old age, fat & happy) & her brother, Owen (becomes a thief & drug addict - later dies in a jailhouse riot), but she never explains what happened to her mother... and only eludes to Alex's happy life. I spent the rest of the book expecting to find out what happened to them. Sadly, you never find out. 

I also am not entirely happy with the relationship between Tegan & Dalmar's look alike in the future, Abdi... I do not think there was much logical progression in their relationship. It felt sloppily thrown together. I enjoyed the world that she built around all of that, but I could not stop thinking about the little things.

The sequel, While We Run, was released on May 27th, 2014. It is a continuation from where she left off in book 1, but in the eyes of Abdi. I am not sure I have enough patience to subject myself to more frustration. I am usually consciously trying to find the good in every book, because I know how long it takes to write & that each book is an author's pride & joy... but I am just not happy right now after finishing this one.

Review of The Murder Complex by Lindsay Cummings

Review of Lindsay Cummings' The Murder Complex

Release Date: June 10th, 2014

Synopsis as found on GoodReads.com:

An action-packed, blood-soaked, futuristic debut thriller set in a world where the murder rate is higher than the birthrate. For fans of Moira Young’s Dust Lands series, La Femme Nikita, and the movie Hanna.

Meadow Woodson, a fifteen-year-old girl who has been trained by her father to fight, to kill, and to survive in any situation, lives with her family on a houseboat in Florida. The state is controlled by The Murder Complex, an organization that tracks the population with precision.

The plot starts to thicken when Meadow meets Zephyr James, who is—although he doesn’t know it—one of the MC’s programmed assassins. Is their meeting a coincidence? Destiny? Or part of a terrifying strategy? And will Zephyr keep Meadow from discovering the haunting truth about her family?

Action-packed, blood-soaked, and chilling, this is a dark and compelling debut novel by Lindsay Cummings.

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In the future, the human race is on the brink of extinction, when a cure is found to destroy all disease: Natural death is a thing of the past. Meadow has been trained to defend herself & her family, so that she does not become another one of the dead like her mother... killed and left in the streets, to be swept up like trash. Zephyr is a Ward. An Orphan of the Initiative, whose job is to clean up the bodies. When fate has them meet, it is like he has known her all his life... he's dreamt of her for as long as her can remember.

When they are about to kiss for the first time, they look into each other's eyes and a switch is set off in his head... The Murder Complex. Zephyr is part of a Undercover Science Experiment that kills off citizens who are chosen in a lottery based system to combat the ever growing numbers of people.

I was intrigued by the synopsis for The Murder Complex & captivated by the idea of this story... and I was not as happy with the complete book as I would have hoped to be. Where as a good mystery keeps you guessing as to what is going to happen, I found myself guessing the ending instead. The whole book was not that way, but parts of it were very predictable. I found the love story portion to be unexplored & a little forced.

I would have to give Lindsay Cummings a hand for a valiant attempt on a different take on dystopia in her Freshman novel... but really do hope the sequel is a little less predictable.

Please do not take this as a bad review, because I did enjoy parts of the book. I will be reading the sequel when it comes out... and hope that you all give the book a chance. I believe is supporting all kinds of artists in their venture, especially authors. And although my review may not be the best, I have read many reviews of readers who really enjoyed this book.

Review of Defector by Susanne Winnacker

Review of Susanne Winnacker's Defector

Release Date: June 26th, 2014

Synopsis as found on GoodReads.com:

Tessa has finally made peace with her life as a Variant. She and long-time love Alec are officially a couple, and for the first time, she has everything she wants.

But the air is tense at FEA headquarters. An agent has disappeared, and rogue variant organization Abel’s Army is likely the culprit.

When Tessa is summoned for her second mission, she is unexpectedly launched into a massive conspiracy. Her best friend Holly is kidnapped and Tessa knows it was meant to be her. But who is after her? And more importantly, why?

When the FEA’s efforts to rescue Holly don’t yield any results, Tessa takes matters into her own hands. Desperate to save her friend and uncover the mystery behind Abel’s Army, Tessa launches her own investigation—but nothing could prepare her for what she finds. Everyone in her life is harboring secrets: Alec, her estranged mother, even the father she never knew.

The truth will take her out on the road and out of her comfort zone, with danger lurking everywhere. Summoning all of her courage and strength, Tessa must decide who can be trusted and what is worth fighting for—even if it means going against the life she thought she wanted. Her final decision will leave readers breathless.

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While her first mission may be over, Tessa is stuck with the haunting memories & a scar in the shape of an "A" on her ribcage left by her would be serial killer. Back at FEA headquarters, Alec has broken up with Kate so that he and Tessa can finally be together. Everything seems like it is getting back to normal when a new mission is thrown into her lap... with the help of Alec & her best friend, Holly. When Abel's Army (the FEA's Variant nemesis) attacks, the whole mission goes awry & Holly is kidnapped.

Tessa keeps begging for answers on what is being done to find her best friend, but all Major gives her is excuses & no results to show for it... like she doesn't have enough on her plate, Kate decides to corner her to let her know that Alec is keeping a huge secret from her. He has a second Variation. Not only is he Super Strong, but he is also an Empath. With the ability to feel emotions, as well as alter them, is anything he has said to her in the past 2 years real? Is anything she has felt for him her own feelings or something he has pushed onto her?

Her whole world is turned upside down!

With that new knowledge, she sets out to find what else is being kept from her & uncovers even more shocking news. Tessa decides to run away and, with the help of an unlikely ally, save Holly herself. On a crazy road trip across America, she will uncover long lost family secrets & more questions she didn't even know she had.

Is there anyone she can trust?
Where is she going to find the answers she so desperately longs for?

Check out Susanne Winnacker's 2nd Variants novel, Defector!

Review of In a Handful of Dust by Mindy McGinnis

Advance Review of Mindy McGinnis' In a Handful of Dust

Release Date: September 23rd, 2014

Synopsis as found on GoodReads.com:

Lucy’s life by the pond has always been full. She has water and friends, laughter and the love of her adoptive mother, Lynn, who has made sure that Lucy’s childhood was very different from her own. Yet it seems Lucy’s future is settled already—a house, a man, children, and a water source—and anything beyond their life by the pond is beyond reach.

When disease burns through their community, the once life-saving water of the pond might be the source of what’s killing them now. Rumors of desalinization plants in California have lingered in Lynn’s mind, and the prospect of a “normal” life for Lucy sets the two of them on an epic journey west to face new dangers: hunger, mountains, deserts, betrayal, and the perils of a world so vast that Lucy fears she could be lost forever, only to disappear in a handful of dust.

In this companion to Not a Drop to Drink, Mindy McGinnis thrillingly combines the heart-swelling hope of a journey, the challenges of establishing your own place in the world, and the gripping physical danger of nature in a futuristic frontier.

Synopsis from Amazon.com:

Fans of classic frontier survival stories as well as readers of dystopian literature will enjoy this futuristic story about an epic cross-country journey. In a Handful of Dust is set ten years after the first novel, Not a Drop to Drink, as a dangerous disease strikes the community where teenage Lucy lives. When her adoptive mother, Lynn, takes Lucy away from their home and friends in order to protect her, Lucy struggles to figure out what home means. During their journey west to find a new life, the two face nature's challenges, including hunger, mountains, and deserts.

New York Times bestselling author Michael Grant says Not a Drop to Drink is a debut "not to be missed," and this companion title is full of Mindy McGinnis's evocative, spare language matched with incredible drama and danger. In a Handful of Dust is perfect for fans of Partials, Enclave, and Legend.

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In this 10 years later sequel to Not a Drop to Drink, we are again taken to Lynn & Lucy's world of disease, famine, and a frontier lifestyle evocative of early American settlers. In the first book, we learned that there was little water left on Earth and a lot of it was tainted by disease. In the sequel, we find the women at home in their little world around Lynn's pond where many families have settled nearby.

From the start, we know this is going to be a different tale told when one of Lucy's friends (whom she grew up with in the past 10 years) was dying from a Polio outbreak. Things that may have been taken for granted in the world before are every day occurrences in this new world.

When Lucy & the boy she is falling in love with, Carter, are accused of being the reason that the outbreak has occurred, they are sent away, no longer able to live among the people they grew up with. While Carter is all alone, Lynn offers to leave with Lucy... setting off from their little pond in Ohio, for the stories of a Desalinization plant in California. This begins their new story...

What will become of Lynn & Lucy?

Will Lucy ever see Carter again?

Find out, this September 24th. In a Handful of Dust!

"And I will show you something different from either
Your shadow at morning striding behind you
Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;
I will show you fear in a handful of dust." - TS Eliot

Review of The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black

Advance Review of Holly Black's The Darkest Part of the Forest

Release Date: January 13th, 2015

Synopsis as found on GoodReads.com:

Children can have a cruel, absolute sense of justice. Children can kill a monster and feel quite proud of themselves. A girl can look at her brother and believe they’re destined to be a knight and a bard who battle evil. She can believe she’s found the thing she’s been made for.

Hazel lives with her brother, Ben, in the strange town of Fairfold where humans and fae exist side by side. The faeries’ seemingly harmless magic attracts tourists, but Hazel knows how dangerous they can be, and she knows how to stop them. Or she did, once.

At the center of it all, there is a glass coffin in the woods. It rests right on the ground and in it sleeps a boy with horns on his head and ears as pointed as knives. Hazel and Ben were both in love with him as children. The boy has slept there for generations, never waking.

Until one day, he does…

As the world turns upside down, Hazel tries to remember her years pretending to be a knight. But swept up in new love, shifting loyalties, and the fresh sting of betrayal, will it be enough?

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There is a kind of satisfaction you get when you read a good book, like you're a surfer riding the perfect wave... a relief for a happy ending. I am a huge fan of Holly Black's work, well what I have read of it. I have read The Coldest Girl in Cold Town & The Curse Workers series, but have not taken the time to acquaint myself with any of her books about Faeries, but I will have to take the time to read them. I am happy to say that this book will be another hit for her.

Hazel & Ben are siblings who have grown up in a town on the edge of legends & lore, Fairfold... where the lore of "The Folk" are not legends at all, they are the towns people's reality. There is a boy in a glass coffin in the woods that everyone likes to visit, but no one as much as Ben & Hazel. They make up stories about why he is stuck in the coffin... why he has horns growing from his head.

When townsfolk start turning up in a coma with dirt & moss growing from their mouths & the horned boy comes up missing, the coffin previously unbreakable suddenly smashed, Hazel & Ben take it upon themselves to find out what is really happening. Surrounded by a fantastical Faerieland, these two siblings will have to quickly solve the mystery of the horned boy & save their town from utter destruction.

Review of The Legion: Unmarked by Kami Garcia

Advanced Review of Kami Garcia's The Legion: Unmarked

Release Date: September 30th, 2014

Synopsis as found on KamiGarcia.com:

The heart-pounding sequel to the instant New York Times bestseller, Unbreakable, by New York Times bestselling Beautiful Creatures co-author Kami Garcia.

He is here… and he could be anyone.

Kennedy Waters lives in a world where vengeance spirits kill, ghosts keep secrets, and a demon walks among us–a demon she accidentally set free.

Now Kennedy and the other Legion members–Alara, Priest, Lukas, and Jared–have to hunt him down. As they learn more about the history of the Legion and the Illuminati, Kennedy realizes that the greatest mystery of all does not belong to any secret order, but to her own family. With the clock ticking and the life of someone she loves hanging in the balance, Kennedy has to ask the question she fears most: what is it about her past that has left her Unmarked?

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The sequel to Kami Garcia's The Legion: Unbreakable begins with a mind-blowing reveal of something that does not get explained until the end of the book... so with that reveal happening prior to chapter 1 & the shock it instills, I was excited and itching to find out how the Legion got to that point.

Chapter 1 begins with Kennedy in boarding school. No one except her Aunt knows where she is... not even her best friend Elle. Feeling alone for the first time in her life, the only thing she has to turn to is tracking the demon, Andras, and the killing spree he is on. When the team finally finds her, it is like no time has been spent apart & business begins again... time to find out why she didn't receive her Legion mark.

With new characters & a cryptic quest, the Legion will face an evil like no one has ever seen before. They must race against the clock to make sure that the gates of Hell are never opened... and they must hunt down a Demon that none of their ancestors have been able to stop. Will they succeed... and will they all survive?

Review of Rebellion by Karen Sandler

Review of Karen Sandler's Rebellion

Release Date: April 25th, 2014

Synopsis as found on Amazon.com:

Kayla is a GEN—a genetically engineered nonhuman—in a world torn apart by castes separating GENs from "real" humans. In the wake of a devastating bomb blast, Kayla finds herself at the headquarters of the organization that planted the bomb—and many others like it in GEN food warehouses and homes. Her biological mother tells her that Devak is dead and that Kayla must join their terrorist group, which is ramping up for something big. Now Kayla must pretend to embrace this new role in an underground compound full of paranoia as she plots a way to escape and save her friends.
Meanwhile, Devak has emerged from his healing in a gen-tank, only to be told that Kayla is dead and his family has fallen from grace. Can he overcome his grief enough to notice the clues that point to Kayla?
As Kayla and Devak fight to find each other and stop the bloodshed, the Tankborn trilogy rushes to a thrilling conclusion!

Synopsis as found on GoodReads.com:

In this final installment of the Tankborn series, Kayla has been kidnapped by the group that has been bombing GEN warehouses, and she must pretend to sympathize with them in order to escape.

In the wake of a devastating bomb blast, severely injured Kayla has been brought to the headquarters of the organization that planted the bomb-and many others like it in GEN food warehouses and homes. Her biological mother tells her that Devak is dead and that Kayla must join her in the terrorist group, which is ramping up for something big. Now Kayla must pretend that she embraces this new role in an underground compound full of paranoia as she plots a way to escape and save her friends. Meanwhile, Devak has emerged from his healing in a gen-tank, only to be told that Kayla is dead and his family has fallen from grace. Can he overcome his grief at the loss of his power to see the clues that point to Kayla being alive? As Kayla and Devak overcome the multiple obstacles put between them while trying to free GENs without further bloodshed, the Tankborn trilogy rushes to a thrilling conclusion!

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After the explosion that was the ending of Awakening, both Kayla & Devak wake thinking the other is dead. Kayla finds herself trapped in a hidden FHE stronghold, where her birth mother, Aideen, & a tyrannical man are keeping her from everyone she loves. Devak has been severely injured & his great-grandfather has had to sell almost all of their land to pay for his treatments, lowering their ranking from High-Status to Low-Status Trueborns.

In this final installment to the Tankborn trilogy, Kayla & Devak try to save the GEN's (Genetically Altered Non-Humans) from their life of slavery in Svarga (a world that humans have traveled to after they left Earth) as well as themselves from the clutches of a new evil that only Kayla will be able to defeat. This is a Genre-bending Dystopian Science Fiction novel that will change your perception on Genetics & what we may evolve to.

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I have loved this series ever since I read the first book 3 years ago and have been in love with Kayla & Devak's love story through every book. They both come from very different worlds in a Romeo & Juliet-esque way & are trying hard to find a way to be together. The whole ranking system from High-Status all the way to GEN is different than what I have read in other Dystopian tales, while at the same time giving me a feel of something I know & can understand. There are also not many Young Adult novels that have non-stereotypical Gay characters, where as you find out in this 3rd book that one of Devak's best friends is Gay. Overall, I loved this series, even if not all my questions were answered at the end.