post apocalypse

The Haunting World of Kree: Themes of Death and Rebirth

by Stefani

Kree: A Post-Exotic Novel by Manuela Draeger

Published: October 22, 2024 by University of Minnesota Press

Buy this book at: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

Synopsis:

A warrior struggles through an apocalyptic landscape and the world after death

Kree Toronto has been raised as a warrior in a ravaged postapocalyptic, posthuman world, the population decimated by wars and civilization long since collapsed. After her attempt to avenge the death of her dog, Loka, goes horribly wrong, Kree finds herself lost in a world after death and wanders into the city of the terrible mendicants.

Under the Brothers’ totalitarian rule, Kree can lead a quiet life and forget her violent past, even if needles grow in her skull and hallucinatory blood rains pour down now and then to remind her. She can make friends: a shamanic healer with a shaking tent, a mysterious stranger hatched from an egg, and a gruff Tibetan electrician in a world without electricity. And she can have her Loka, as long as she toes the Party line and does as she’s told. When she can’t—when her friends start to disappear and the Brothers turn against her—Kree sets out on a quest, searching for a new way forward.

Rating:

Review:

**Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review. All thoughts and opinions are mine. Thank you Edelweiss and University of Minnesota Press!**

This book has to be one of the most confusing books I’ve ever read. So let’s start with the fact that the author’s name is a pseudonym. Manuela Draeger is a character in this author’s larger “post-exotic” world. So a character of this world is telling us a story within that world. I really loved that idea. And based on the synopsis I expected a story of a woman looking for revenge for what happened to her dog. Sort of like a combination of John Wick and Omega Man. I got what I expected but also an awful lot of stuff I didn’t expect. Also, the story uses the word “what” in a strange way. It is used interchangeably or “that”, “what”, “when” and several other words. I am not sure if this is an artifact of the language translation or is just part of the writing style. Regardless it was easy to overlook once you realize the pattern.

This book introduces us to Kree. She lives in a post-apocalyptic world where humanity exists only in little groupings of survivors. Someone steals her dog to eat and Kree goes to kill them for it. The revenge goes badly and so we follow Kree on a journey between being alive and unalive. We follow her as she is reincarnated into various locations and existences that may be a layer of the underworld or another reality altogether, and every time she dies she is reborn into another scenario in this eternal quest to find her dog.

This book was beautifully written. It is atmospheric and gritty. The writing style was quite unique and carried me along for the ride wonderfully. Even though the timeline can be very jarring the writing style made it easier to follow along. After awhile I got used to turning the page and all of a sudden we were in a completely different place and time with completely different characters. Turning the page and all of sudden we have people hatching out of eggs in the middle of a mass grave. Honestly, this book made me feel like it was a hallucination. Ultimately maybe that was the point. Kree’s afterlife is spent desperately searching for something she will never find, but she can’t stop searching. And so we, as the reader, search with her.

I was so torn with how to review this book. On one hand I wanted to give this book 2 stars and a mediocre review and never read anything from this world again. Because it was confusing. And I felt like a moron while reading. But on the other hand, it intrigued me so much that I want to give the book 5 stars and read everything else this world has to offer. So, I settled with 4 stars. Because this book is weird and confusing, but it’s also pretty amazing.

Progress Update Friday – 2/14/2025

by Stefani

It’s been a minute since I did a progress update post. I am working my way through a few things, so let’s jump right in.

Kree by Manuela Draeger

Published: October 22, 2024 by Univerity of Minnesota Press

Progress: 156 out of 280 pages

Check this book out at: Goodreads

Synopsis:

A warrior struggles through an apocalyptic landscape and the world after death

Kree Toronto has been raised as a warrior in a ravaged post apocalyptic, post human world, the population decimated by wars and civilization long since collapsed. After her attempt to avenge the death of her dog, Loka, goes horribly wrong, Kree finds herself lost in a world after death and wanders into the city of the terrible mendicants.

Under the Brothers’ totalitarian rule, Kree can lead a quiet life and forget her violent past, even if needles grow in her skull and hallucinatory blood rains pour down now and then to remind her. She can make friends: a shamanic healer with a shaking tent, a mysterious stranger hatched from an egg, and a gruff Tibetan electrician in a world without electricity. And she can have her Loka, as long as she toes the Party line and does as she’s told. When she can’t—when her friends start to disappear and the Brothers turn against her—Kree sets out on a quest, searching for a new way forward.

How it’s going:

This book is very odd but I have to admit that I’m enjoying it. Before I got it I didn’t realize that this is a side novel that takes places in an established world that have had other books written in it. The author’s name is a pseudonym and is a character in one of the other novels. Which is an interesting idea. The translation also seems to replace the word “that” with “what” almost all the time. But translations can be tricky and once I realized what the intended word likely was I stopped noticing it. It’s an interesting book. It’s beautifully written, but it’s incredibly difficult to follow.

Pride’s Children: Netherworld by Alicia Butcher Ehrhardt

Published: September 19, 2022 by Trllka Press

Progress: 20 out of 540 pages

Check this book out at: Goodreads

Synopsis:

Every decision he makes from here on will hurt someone .

Is his happiness even in the equation any more?

In Book 1, Pride’s PURGATORY , rising Irish megastar Andrew O’Connell embarked on a beautiful friendship with reclusive author Dr. Kary Ashe , and committed to his stunning costar Bianca Doyle ’s directorial debut film Dodgson , a Lewis Carroll biopic.

He never imagined either would shatter the impenetrable wall he built between his professional and personal lives. His future as a leading man depends on being an bankable obsession in the lives of the women he seduces, on and off screen. But a past regret makes his gorge rise when offspring are on the way and he’s suddenly responsible for their very existence.

How it’s going:

Clearly I have a long way to go on this one, but I am excited to be back in Andrew and Kary’s world. So far this one has the same tone as the first, a narrative that carries you on a winding river journey, looking at all the passing scenery. It’s a fun ride and I am happy to be back on this boat.

Exploring Dystopia: A Review of ‘All the Water in the World’

by Stefani

All the Water in the World by Eiren Caffall

Published: January 7, 2025 by St. Martin’s Press

Buy this book at: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

Synopsis:

All the Water in the World is told in the voice of a girl gifted with a deep feeling for water. In the years after the glaciers melt, Nonie, her older sister and her parents and their researcher friends have stayed behind in an almost deserted New York City, creating a settlement on the roof of the American Museum of Natural History. The rule: Take from the exhibits only in dire need. They hunt and grow their food in Central Park as they work to save the collections of human history and science. When a superstorm breaches the city’s flood walls, Nonie and her family must escape north on the Hudson. They carry with them a book that holds their records of the lost collections. Racing on the swollen river towards what may be safety, they encounter communities that have adapted in very different and sometimes frightening ways to the new reality. But they are determined to find a way to make a new world that honors all they’ve saved.

Inspired by the stories of the curators in Iraq and Leningrad who worked to protect their collections from war, All the Water in the World is both a meditation on what we save from collapse and an adventure story—with danger, storms, and a fight for survival. 

Rating:

Review:

My reading is not off to a good start this year. Most of the books I’ve read haven’t been very good, so I wanted to grab a dystopian novel about a family working to save exhibits in a museum from a flooded world. Unfortunately, this one was just not good.

The main narrator, Nonie, is completely flat and devoid of any emotion. Her tone and temperament don’t really change throughout the story, no matter what action packed or traumatic events are taking place around her. It made it difficult to connect with the story because the narrator was entirely disconnected from it. I’m not sure if this was done on purpose or not, but it was a bad choice. I wanted to feel something for these people. I wanted to feel something about what they were experiencing. But I couldn’t. Because Nonie didn’t.

The narrative felt very fractured. We switch back and forth from the present to the past, but all of it is written exactly the same and in the same past tense tone. So it was really difficult to determine when we were flashing back to the past and when we were in the present. Or perhaps all of the book was in the past and being told as a memory. I have no idea. It was very confusing and I got tired of trying to follow it. Eventually I just tuned out because I couldn’t keep up.

As a side note, I don’t understand what the point was of Nonie’s “superpower”. She has a “deep connection” to water. But the book doesn’t really explore this at all. It’s mentioned once in the beginning of the book, and once at the end. That’s it. We don’t explore it or discuss it at all. So, what was the point?

Unfortunately this book is a case of lots of potential that wasn’t realized. Which is disappointing.

Taking an Elysium trip: A review

by Stefani

Elysium by Jennifer Marie Brissett

Published: December 1, 2014 by Aqueduct Press

Buy this book at: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

Synopsis:

A computer program etched into the atmosphere has a story to tell, the story of two people, of a city lost to chaos, of survival and love. The program’s data, however, has been corrupted. As the novel’s characters struggle to survive apocalypse, they are sustained and challenged by the demands of love in a shattered world both haunted and dangerous.

Rating:

Review:

The best word I can use to describe this book is ambitious. The idea is a really big idea that would be difficult for even the most experienced writer to handle. This came to my attention as an audiobook offering from my library, the blurb intrigued me and so I listened. And honestly, the entire book made me feel like I’d taken a large amount of hallucinogenic drugs.

Essentially, this book is about a computer program that lost its mate. It’s attempting to reconstruct the story of how that happened. And we follow the program through a series of glitches that bring us the same two characters (ostensibly the portrayals of the two computer programs) and put them in varying scenarios before the program glitches again and those characters are recreated as something else. And when I say they become different characters, I really mean that. They switch genders, ages, races, sexualities, motivations, and circumstances. We go from being heterosexual lovers, to gay lovers, to siblings, to parent and child, to a long time couple that has become more of a caretaking situation than a romance, etc. While I found it interesting at first, ultimately it just got very confusing. I could only track the two main characters thanks to the fact that they had similar enough names to track them through these varying tales. Consequently, I found that I didn’t really care about the two characters that much. They were going to be completely different people in just a few pages, and then I’d barely get a chance to know them before they changed again.

I was hoping that we’d slowly get some sort of overarching story that would bind these narratives together. And it started to form by the time I got to the middle, but I tuned out after that. I was lost and my brain was tired of trying to figure out who everyone was all the time. Other reviews tell me that we get a conclusion but I didn’t pay attention to it. The writing is very good but the story was just too messy for me to care about.

Upcoming Releases Sunday – September 8, 2024

by Stefani

Trouble Island by Sharon Short

Expected publication: December 3, 2024 by Minotaur Books

Check this book out at: Goodreads

Synopsis:

A gripping new novel inspired by a real place and events from the author’s family, Trouble Island is the standalone suspense debut from historical mystery writer Sharon Short.

Many miles from anywhere in the middle of Lake Erie, Trouble Island serves as a stop-off for gangsters as they run between America and Canada. The remote isle is also the permanent home to two women: Aurelia Escalante, who serves as a maid to Rosita, lady of the mansion and wife to the notorious prohibition gangster, Eddie McGee. In the freezing winter of 1932, the women anticipate the arrival of Eddie and his strange coterie: his right-hand man, a doctor, a cousin, a famous actor, and a rival gangster who Rosita believes murdered their only son.

Aurelia wants nothing more than to escape Trouble Island, but she is hiding a secret of her own. She is in fact not a maid, but a gangster’s wife in hiding, as she runs from the murder she committed five years ago. Her friend Rosita took her in under this guise, but it has become clear that Rosita wants to keep Aurelia right where she is.

Shortly after the group of criminals, celebrities, and scoundrels arrive, Rosita suddenly disappears. Aurelia plans her getaway, going to the shore to retrieve her box of hidden treasures, but instead finds Rosita’s body in the water. Someone has made sure Aurelia was the one to find her. An ice storm makes unexpected landfall, cutting Trouble Island off from both mainlands, and with more than one murderer among them.

Both a gripping locked room mystery, and a transporting, evocative portrait of a woman in crisis, Trouble Island marks the enthralling standalone suspense debut from Sharon Short, promising to be her breakout novel, inspired by a real island in Lake Erie, and true events from her own rich family history.

Private Rites by Julia Armfield

Expected publication: December 3, 2024 by Flatiron Books

Check this book out at: Goodreads

Synopsis:

From the award-winning author of Our Wives Under the Sea, a speculative reimagining of King Lear, centering three sisters navigating queer love and loss in a drowning world

It’s been raining for a long time now, so long that the land has reshaped itself and arcane rituals and religions are creeping back into practice. Sisters Isla, Irene, and Agnes have not spoken in some time when their father dies. An architect as cruel as he was revered, his death offers an opportunity for the sisters to come together in a new way. In the grand glass house they grew up in, their father’s most famous creation, the sisters sort through the secrets and memories he left behind, until their fragile bond is shattered by a revelation in his will.

More estranged than ever, the sisters’ lives spin out of control: Irene’s relationship is straining at the seams; Isla’s ex-wife keeps calling; and cynical Agnes is falling in love for the first time. But something even more sinister might be unfolding, something related to their mother’s long-ago disappearance and the strangers who have always seemed unusually interested in the sisters’ lives. Soon, it becomes clear that the sisters have been chosen for a very particular purpose, one with shattering implications for their family and their imperiled world.

The Way by Cary Groner

Expected publication: December 3, 2024 by Speigel & Grau

Check this book out at: Goodreads

Synopsis:

A postapocalyptic road trip and a quest for redemption.

The world has been ravaged by a lethal virus and, with few exceptions, only the young have survived. Cities and infrastructures have been destroyed, and the natural world has reclaimed the landscape in surprising ways, with herds of wild camels roaming the American West and crocodiles that glow neon green lurking in the rivers.

Against this perilous backdrop, Will Collins, the de facto caretaker of a Buddhist monastery in Colorado, receives an urgent and mysterious request: to deliver a potential cure to a scientist in what was once California. So Will sets out, haunted by dreams of the woman he once loved, in a rusted-out pickup pulled by two mules. A menacing thug is on his tail. Armed militias patrol the roads. And the only way he’ll make it is with the help of a clever raven, an opinionated cat, and a tough teenage girl who has learned to survive on her own.

A highly original contribution to the canon of dystopian literature, The Way is a thrilling and imaginative novel, full of warmth, wisdom, and surprises that reflect our world in unsettling, uncanny, and even hopeful ways.

Advanced Reader Copies Received – May 2024

by Stefani

This will be a somewhat recurrent post, detailing some of the Advanced Reader’s Copies of books I’ve received recently. The frequency of this post will depend on what ARCs I get sent or approved for. Sometimes it might be often, sometimes not as often. Enjoy! I am looking forward to read these books, let me know if any of them have caught your eye too.

The Delicate Beast by Roger Celestin

Expected publication: February 4, 2025 by Bellevue Literary Press

Check this book out at: Goodreads

Synopsis:

A novel of a life built on the ashes of childhood

In the 1950s Tropical Republic, a boy lives amid opulence and privilege, spending days at the beach or in the cool hills above the sweltering capital, enjoying leisurely Sunday lunches around the family compound’s swimming pool. That is, until the reign of The Mortician begins, unleashing unimaginable horrors that bring his childhood idyll to an end. Narrowly escaping the violent fate visited on so many of his fellow citizens, he and his brother follow their parents into exile in the United States where they must start a new life. But as he grows, he never feels at home, and leaves his family to travel across Europe and outrun the ghosts of the past.

A searing novel of a life lived in the shadow of history, The Delicate Beast portrays the persistent, pernicious legacy of political violence.

Anticipation by Neil Taylor

Expected Publication: February 4, 2025 by Neem Tree Press

Check this book out at: Goodreads

Synopsis:

You are being played.

Your every move is being watched by businesses hoping to manipulate your behaviour. Every picture, every post, every like, every follow, every purchase, every search.

When 17-year-old Riya Sudame inherits her father’s secret AI algorithm, she and a handful of carefully selected Keyholders hold the power to predict people’s future using their online data. But with great power comes great responsibility, and they must safeguard it from falling into the wrong hands.

Enter Jim Booker, a powerful social media tycoon, who will stop at nothing to steal the technology for himself. Soon Riya faces a critical choice. Fighting ruthless tech giants seems like an impossible task—wouldn’t it be easier to relinquish her father’s creation in exchange for a normal teenage life?

But if she does, she will have to live with the knowledge that she is the reason that, like everyone, you are being played.

Neil Taylor marks his debut in this dark, twisty AI YA thriller.

Kree by Manuela Draeger

Expected Publication: October 22, 2024 by University of Minnesota Press

Check this book out at: Goodreads

Synopsis:

A warrior struggles through an apocalyptic landscape and the world after death

Kree Toronto has been raised as a warrior in a ravaged postapocalyptic, posthuman, the population decimated by wars and civilization long since collapsed. After her attempt to avenge the death of her dog, Loka, goes horribly wrong, Kree finds herself lost in a world after death and wanders into the city of the terrible mendicants.

Under the Brothers’ totalitarian rule, Kree can lead a quiet life and forget her violent past, even if needles grow in her skull and hallucinatory blood rains pour down now and then to remind her. She can make a shamanic healer with a shaking tent, a mysterious stranger hatched from an egg, and a gruff Tibetan electrician in a world without electricity. And she can have her Loka as long as she toes the Party line and does as she’s told. When she can’t—when her friends start to disappear and the Brothers turn against her—Kree sets out on a quest, searching for a new way forward.

Multiply reincarnated and unstuck in time, Kree is the characteristically marvelous creation of Manuela Draeger, whose extraordinary stories, in the words of author China Miéville, “are as close to dreams as fiction can be.”

Review: The Book of Koli by M.R. Carey

by Stefani

The Book of Koli by M.R. Carey

Published: April 14, 2020 by Orbit

Buy this book: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository

Rating:

Synopsis: Beyond the walls of the small village of Mythen Rood lies an unrecognizable world. A world where overgrown forests are filled with choker trees and deadly vines and seeds that will kill you where you stand. And if they don’t get you, one of the dangerous shunned men will.

Koli has lived in Mythen Rood his entire life. He knows the first rule of survival is that you don’t venture beyond the walls.

What he doesn’t know is – what happens when you aren’t given a choice?

The first in a gripping new trilogy, The Book of Koli charts the journey of one unforgettable young boy struggling to find his place in a chilling post-apocalyptic world. Perfect for readers of Station Eleven and Annihilation.

Review: ***Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you NetGalley and Orbit!***

On a side note, expect to see a lot of this disclaimer. Somehow I got behind like 20 ARCs from places like NetGalley and authors. So, flurry of reviews!

On to this book. It was fairly good. The biggest annoyance that I had with it was the writing style. It was written in a world where humans have brought on their own demise. Through genetic engineering that was weaponized and AI used to fight a war, humans have been decimated. Human beings now live in separate small communities in a world that is constantly attacking them. Because while the war between humans may be over, no one told that to the attack drones or the killer trees. As a result, humans have lost a lot of the knowledge they had. And the writing style was done to match. It was also kind of annoying.

The beginning of this book wasn’t very good. Koli was not a very interesting narrator and most of what he did was pine over a girl. I was more interested in the wider world. I mean trees are out there attacking people! Can we not spend so much of our time in Koli’s bland little town of less than 200 people? Pretty please.

Once the plot moved on from his little town the story got a lot better. I liked the dynamics of the wider world and the resolution of the story. It was more of cliffhanger ending than I usually like but since I am invested in the story that’s okay with me because I planned on reading the next book anyway.

Take My Money! Sunday

by Stefani

The Archive of the Forgotten by A.J. Hackwith

Expected Publication: October 6, 2020

Goodreads

Synopsis: In the second installment of this richly imagined fantasy adventure series, a new threat from within the Library could destroy those who depend upon it the most.

The Library of the Unwritten in Hell was saved from total devastation, but hundreds of potential books were destroyed. Former librarian Claire and Brevity the muse feel the loss of those stories, and are trying to adjust to their new roles within the Arcane Wing and Library, respectively. But when the remains of those books begin to leak a strange ink, Claire realizes that the Library has kept secrets from Hell–and from its own librarians.

Claire and Brevity are immediately at odds in their approach to the ink, and the potential power that it represents has not gone unnoticed. When a representative from the Muses Corps arrives at the Library to advise Brevity, the angel Rami and the erstwhile Hero hunt for answers in other realms. The true nature of the ink could fundamentally alter the afterlife for good or ill, but it entirely depends on who is left to hold the pen.

Why I’m Excited: Earlier this month, I reviewed and really enjoyed The Library of the Unwritten. This is the next book in the series!! It sounds so good. I want to read it badly. I have requested an ARC of it but haven’t gotten one yet…..some one give me one, please!

Fauna by Christiane Vadnais

Expected Publication: September 22, 2020

Goodreads

Synopsis: In a near-future world ravaged by climate change, who will win in the struggle between humanity and nature?

A thick fog rolls in over Shivering Heights. The river overflows, the sky is streaked with toxic green, parasites proliferate in torrential rains and once safely classified species – humans included – are evolving and behaving in unprecedented ways. Against this poetically hostile backdrop, a biologist, Laura, fights to understand the nature and scope of the changes transforming her own body and the world around her.

Ten lush and bracing linked climate fictions depict a world gorgeous and terrifying in its likeness to our own.

Fauna, Christiane Vadnais’s first work of fiction, won the Horizons Imaginaires speculative fiction award, the City of Quebec book award, and was named one of 2018’s best books by Radio-Canada.

Why I’m Excited: I am a giant sucker for post-apocalyptic speculative fiction. It can be so exciting and fun when it’s done right. This one sounds fantastic. Human evolution taking a turn that might jeopardize human existence. I love it!

Review: Penitence by Mark Campbell

by Stefani

43083591._SY475_Penitence by Mark Campbell

Published July 10, 2018 by Darkest Hour Publishing

Buy this book at: Amazon | Barnes & Noble 

Synopsis: 

A deadly influenza pandemic.

An escaped convict.

A single mother desperate to protect her only child.

As the insidious virus cripples society, providence brings two survivors together in an unlikely partnership to survive in a world fraught with chaos.

In a small poultry farm located in Delaney, Georgia an antigenic shift causes the H7N9 bird flu virus to jump species. The contagion burns through everything in its path despite the federal government’s ham-handed efforts to mask the mutated virus’ true nature. Its unprecedented mortality rate paralyzes the nation and paves the way for FEMA’s martial law to be established across the country.

At a maximum security federal penitentiary south of Tucson, Arizona, Inmate Teddy Sanders’ world of structure and routine crumbles to dust, as the virus starts spreading within the confines of the prison. As the virus callously strikes down guards and inmates alike, the administration loses control and Teddy finds himself fighting enemies both old and new. Circumstances force him to form precarious new alliances in order to escape what has effectively become a concrete tomb.

Meanwhile, fifty miles away from the penitentiary, a young woman named Jane risks it all to keep her young son Danny safe in a residential tower in the heart of downtown Tucson. Surrounded by armed looters and desperate survivors, Jane ventures out on her own to forage for supplies. Not only does she have to contend with those left behind, but she also faces an increasingly hostile military presence.

As their paths cross and inalterable choices are made, will the unwitting pair find salvation?

Rating: 4 star

Review:

***I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review. Thank you NetGalley and Darkest Hour Publishing!***

I am a sucker for an apocalypse novel, especially if there are killer viruses afoot. One of my favorite mobile games is about trying to develop a disease that wipes out the population of the planet, so this is something I have a dark fascination about. I am always willing to pick up a novel with that theme. Often times they disappoint, this did not.

We start the book with Teddy. He is our main character and I expected him to be more of an anti-hero. You don’t want to be rooting for him because he was in federal prison for doing bad things to people, but the world is ending and he’s one of few who survived so go Teddy! He was a bit of what I expected, but also came across as a really big boy scout. I mean, come on, we all know the things you did. We all know because you told us fairly quickly and bluntly. So can we please stop acting like he’s a good ole boy who just got caught in an unfortunate circumstance? I really didn’t like that about him. You don’t end up with a life sentence in federal prison because you had a bad day. But, regardless, the plot was enough to move me along despite my irritations with Teddy. In the end I just had to disregard what I thought his character should be and accept what he was and then we got along just fine.

Jane and Danny were fantastic. Jane is a woman after my own heart and I would like to think that in similar circumstances I could show the same resilience. I enjoyed them both immensely and I sincerely wanted to see the three of them ride off into the sunset together. They made me laugh, they made me cry, and I love it when that happens.

The plot was not quite what I expected but I liked how it worked out, which is always a nice surprise. I didn’t expect so much of the story to take place in the prison. But despite not expecting it, I loved it. A completely contained environment that gets infiltrated by a virus that kills nearly everyone it infects. How do you keep order and at the same time try to keep people healthy too? You’re still dealing with bad people who are violent and unpredictable in nature, add in the threat of death and things can spiral out of control very quickly. And spiral out of control they did. It was deliciously devilish.

I liked how the book ended. I understand that the book is expected to be a series, so it makes sense in that aspect. But if I never read the second book I would also be satisfied with how it ended. Teddy is still looking for redemption, trying to be the man that he might have become if not for the prison stint, and being put into a situation that is at once completely alien but oddly familiar. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Review: Fragments by Dan Wells

by Stefani

fragmentsFragments by Dan Wells

Published February 26th, 2013 by Balzer & Bray

Buy this book at: B&N / Amazon / Books A Million / Book Depository

 

Synopsis:

Kira Walker has found the cure for RM, but the battle for the survival of humans and Partials is just beginning. Kira has left East Meadow in a desperate search for clues to who she is. That the Partials themselves hold the cure for RM in their blood cannot be a coincidence—it must be part of a larger plan, a plan that involves Kira, a plan that could save both races. Her companions are Afa Demoux, an unhinged drifter and former employee of ParaGen, and Samm and Heron, the Partials who betrayed her and saved her life, the only ones who know her secret. But can she trust them?

Meanwhile, back on Long Island, what’s left of humanity is gearing up for war with the Partials, and Marcus knows his only hope is to delay them until Kira returns. But Kira’s journey will take her deep into the overgrown wasteland of postapocalyptic America, and Kira and Marcus both will discover that their greatest enemy may be one they didn’t even know existed.

The second installment in the pulse-pounding Partials saga is the story of the eleventh hour of humanity’s time on Earth, a journey deep into places unknown to discover the means—and even more important, a reason—for our survival.

 

Rating: 4 star

 

Review:

I cannot guarantee that this review won’t contain spoilers for book 1, but should be free of spoilers for this book.. So if you don’t want to read spoilers only read this first paragraph please. I loved this book. I was kid of lukewarm on the first book but was interested enough to continue, and boy am I glad I did. If you get nothing else out of this review, read this series. Now stop reading or else it’s your own damn fault if you get spoiled.

Like I mentioned a moment ago, I was pretty lukewarm on Partials (book 1). I thought it was decent but nothing out of this world. But the ending piqued my interest and so I wanted to see what happened. That brings us to Fragments. From the beginning of this book you know the stakes are high. Kira has discovered a cure for RM but apart from that one child they haven’t been able to replicate it. Samm is off to parts unknown and Kira has run off to find answers that Nandita sent her after at ParaGen. And this is where our second story begins.

Kira was still such a good character. I found her to be tough, real, gritty, and has a real soft spot to her as well. At times she got on my nerves a little bit with her whole, “OMG I’m a Partial, but I love the humans!’ routine but overall I had few complaints with her. I will just say that I loved the interaction with her and Vale. I won’t say anything else about that because it would ruin it, but it was fantastic! I felt just as confused and conflicted as Kira did just reading that part.

Samm and Marcus are officially my book boyfriends. I love them both so much I can’t even put it into words. They are so different but both so awesome at the same time. I think if I was forced to choose who I like more it would have to be Samm because he made me cry in this book, but that doesn’t diminish my love for Marcus. Although Marcus did get a bit reckless in this book, but it was all for the right reasons and that was important.

The plot moved along rapidly but it was well structured so it wasn’t too hard to follow. I really liked the introduction of Afa, he was a much needed and useful character. I really liked how many answers we got in this book. But at the same time those answers created more questions so it was a good balance. I LOVED the descriptions of this world so much in this book. It felt real and raw and I could see it in my head as we went along.

And the ending…whoa, is all I have to say. Even though I finished the book hours ago I can’t get over the ending. It took me by complete surprise and made me cry. I ended up putting the book down and just sat there with my mouth hanging open for a few minutes before I could wrap my head around what happened. I am already salivating over the idea of the final book and it causes me physical pain that it isn’t coming out until 2014. I am sold on this series, completely and utterly sold.