So, I just got a finished copy of this in the mail for
review…and I just finished reading the ARC this morning. I think I also have a
digital copy…And I’m actually pretty psyched to have so many copies because it
was such a fantastic suspense story! However, if you keep scrolling down, you
can enter to win my slightly used ARC copy. (Slightly used means, I took it
with me to Leaky Con to have a book to read while standing in line, and it’s
been loved a little).
I’ve been excited for this one since I first saw it on Net
Galley (thank you Disney Hyperion!). The brief synopsis about memory loss,
secret abilities, and genetically altered teenagers made me go, “want!” Plus I
kind of love the boy acceptable cover and the scientific looking diamond of
symbols on it. I’m not sure what that has to do with the story. If you figured
it out, let me know? But, all the same, I love the cover.
Much like another YA book I adore (The Maze Runner…I’m in the middle of the prequel as I speak), the
main character of this one wakes up with no memories of herself except for her
first name: Miranda. While venturing into a mall to get the essentials, she
decides that asking a security guard for help would be the best thing she could
do. Unfortunately for her, the security guard doesn’t believe that she has no
memories and in an attempt to get her to go away, angers Miranda enough to
subconsciously let loose her secret ability. She has the ability to make
everyone around her completely terrified. She breathes a certain way, and
people are running out of the mall, screaming for their lives. Some people even
die in terror, falling off of high surfaces
But, lucky for Miranda, Peter is there for her. He calls her
a rose and tells her he knows about what she can do and where she came from. She
goes with him to their old home. When there, Miranda learns that her boyfriend
altered her medicine intake, which prevents people like her from loosing their
memories. Her boyfriend is still missing with their other friend, Olive. And
after all of Miranda’s abilities and training and life is explained to her more
thoroughly, she leaves on a mission with Peter to go find the other two members
of their “family.”
There’s so much romantic tension between Peter and Miranda
even though Miranda supposedly has a boyfriend. When the other teens are found,
it’s Miranda’s first reaction to hurt her boyfriend, Noah, as much as she can.
And while she begins to get certain memories back, some romantic in nature, she
can’t help but feel completely betrayed and pissed at Noah for deciding for her
to take away her memories. Granted, he did everything to protect her, but
still. The Love triangle is awesome! Oh, and Olive is in love with Noah; she
followed him because she loves him despite the fact that he’s been dating
Miranda for a long time.
And why did Noah and Olive run away and take Miranda’s
memories away without telling Peter (their trained teen leader)? Noah overheard
their father/boss having a video conference with his boss about selling the kids as weapons, and using them to take
down an entire major US city. He tried to tell Peter about it, but he didn’t
listen. And Noah wanted to go find the rogue he heard rumors about and see if
he could help them get rid of the project that involved freaking out an entire
city.
The kids decide to go back home for answers before doing
anything else too drastic, but unfortunately the people who want to use them as
weapons got to their home first. It’s pretty much burnt to a crisp and their
“dad” is found dying in the forest.
There’s a lot of fighting, fires, bombs, guns, memory shots,
escape scenes, spying, and action in this one! There’s also terrifying secret
powers, clones, tattoos used to control kids, missions to destroy entire cities,
death, explosions, and love squares (think A
Midsummer Night’s Dream). And every time Miranda thinks she has something
figured out, she’s wrong. I feel like this would make an awesome movie!
I loved Miranda! I loved that she didn’t forgive her
boyfriend for being stupid! I loved how brave she was, and how willing she was
to fight for her friends that she doesn’t even really remember. I loved the
rogue character. I loved the clones and how they had to fight each other. The
mission they went on, pretending to have lost their memories, was so awesome, I
was literally biting my nails, waiting to see what would happen.
The romance bits could use a little work. The same make-out
scene was described for each of Miranda’s love interests; I really don’t think
both boys would kiss her in exactly the same places in exactly the same way.
However, I loved all the romantic tension and how believable that triangle was.
I also loved the suspense! Yes, I pretty much guessed most
of what happened ahead of time. However, the author did use a lot of foreshadow,
and I have a trained eye. But even so, I was on the edge of my seat hoping for
these kids to kick some serious butt. I read this super fast and it is so hard
to put down! I give it a 9/10, and I highly recommend this one to fans of The Maze Runner and Maximum Ride.
This contest is only
open to US followers because I am shipping this one myself. (I do promise to
open an international giveaway soon though.) And you have 48 hours to respond
to my email with your shipping address or I will choose a different winner.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
I can't wait for Onyx and Defiance. :D
ReplyDeleteI'm super excited for Robison's Wells' Feedback, since I loved Variant.
ReplyDeleteLilian @ A Novel Toybox
I can't wait to read Ashen Winter and Outpost, but about a zillion other yummy books that I can't remember offhand lol
ReplyDelete<3 Thank you for the sweet giveaway!!
Mary DeBorde M.A.D.
Hmm, I didn't notice the similarity between the kissing scenes. That is odd. Oh well, the romance dynamics were still epic!
ReplyDelete