I have read a lot of YA books this year and this one looks to be the best one. The dystopian thread in this fantasy world ranks up there with the Hunger Games trilogy. And this was the very first time I read one of the Bookish First samples where I was left hurt and angry when the selection came to the end; I wanted to keep reading, wanting more.
I was impressed with the author’s world creation ability as well as her knack for sharing details of it without the readers feeling as though they had been inundated by an info-dump. Talin is a well-drawn character for whom the reader has a lot of sympathy. She is a refugee from a neighboring country that has been defeated by the Federation and as such she is an outsider, despised by many of Mara’s residents. She was quite literally a street-rat until she became a member of the Striker force, the military elite who patrol Mara’s borders. Talin is described as being racially/ethnically different from the Maran people, and I wonder if and how that might play out in the book.
In the selection offered we are presented with a patrol Talin and her Shield partner are on—one that turned out very badly and Talin is forced to kill her infected partner in order to save the country. The battle scenes are well drawn and tastefully handled.
The title of the book tantalizes me and I want to learn how it figures into Talin's future. I want very, very much to read and review this book and review it for Bookish First.
I was impressed with the author’s world creation ability as well as her knack for sharing details of it without the readers feeling as though they had been inundated by an info-dump. Talin is a well-drawn character for whom the reader has a lot of sympathy. She is a refugee from a neighboring country that has been defeated by the Federation and as such she is an outsider, despised by many of Mara’s residents. She was quite literally a street-rat until she became a member of the Striker force, the military elite who patrol Mara’s borders. Talin is described as being racially/ethnically different from the Maran people, and I wonder if and how that might play out in the book.
In the selection offered we are presented with a patrol Talin and her Shield partner are on—one that turned out very badly and Talin is forced to kill her infected partner in order to save the country. The battle scenes are well drawn and tastefully handled.
The title of the book tantalizes me and I want to learn how it figures into Talin's future. I want very, very much to read and review this book and review it for Bookish First.