Rebellion by J. A. Souders

Series: The Elysium Chronicles (bk. 3)

Genera: Dystopian Sci-fi/Romance

Subjects: underwater colonies, Florida, love, memory, brain-washing, psychological, nanotechnology

Setting: Florida and a sea colony called Elysium

POV/Tense: 1^st person POV, present tense, rotating between Evie and Gavin

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 333 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $18.99

Publisher: MacMillan: TorTeen

Summary/ product description: “The thrilling conclusion to J. A. Souders’s riveting SF psychological thriller series for teens

In this conclusion to J. A. Souders’s thrilling, twist-filled Elysium Chronicles series, Evie Winters and Gavin Hunter return to the isolated, dangerous underwater city that they fought so hard to escape.

Back in Elysium at last, Evie has finally found her true-self hidden under layers and layers of false memories implanted by the woman she knew as Mother. Thanks to the intervention of her father, she knows the horrible truth about Mother and her insidious plans for her city. With the help of the love of her life, Gavin, and her best friend, Asher St. James, she’s determined to free her people from the cruel dictatorship of Mother’s laws. But how do you free people who don’t know they need rescuing?

Working with the growing Underground rebellion, Evie tries to remove Mother from her position by force—with disastrous results. As the body count rises, Evie must find a way to save Elysium before Mother destroys them all.”

My Review: Rebellion is the finale to the Elysium trilogy. If you are unfamiliar with the series, it’s set in an under water sea colony that used to be a resort, but then a woman who calls herself mother killed her father, the owner and took over. Evie is her daughter, but not by birth. Evie keeps getting her memories erased. There’s a boy named Gavin who comes from the surface and romance happens. I recommend it if you like dystopians or the idea of sea colonies. If you have not read the series, then spoilers ahead because this is a review of the final book.

This book, like the previous book, is told from 2 point-of views: Evie and Gavin. I don’t recall the first book having Gavin’s POV. Evie knows that she used to be an Enforcer and she met her birthmother. She meets a woman named Nadia and discovers the Underground, the people living in a place called the Caverns in an underdeveloped hidden section of Elysium. They are planning a rebellion against mother. Also Gavin has to go to the surface because the other have nanites in them that could wipe their memories it the leave.

Gavin goes to his mother, who thought he was dead. Apparently his little brother angered the mayor of their village and now they’re not allowed to trade or be full citizens. Gavin gets pissed about this and the mayor tries to bribe Gavin for information on his son Asher and Evie’s whereabouts. Meanwhile Evie and the Underground come up with a plan that involves wearing mask with her face on them and gaining the trust of the citizens and help to take down mother.

I was a bit disappointed with this finale. I loved the first two books, but this one felt lacking and also the ending left a lot of questions, as crazy as it was. There was not as much romance or action or adventure. Having to wait and extra year to read this book that was not worth the wait. I still like the character and love the setting, but this felt like it was trying to imitate other dystopian finales at least until the very end. I just wish things went differently.

Cover Art Review: I like the cover. Evie is wearing an Enforcer cloak here. I’m not sure if the dress is what they wear too.

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Arclight by Josin L. McQuein

Series: Arclight (bk. 1)

Genera(s): Dystopian Sci-fi

Subjects: survival, mystery, post-apocalyptic, nanotechnology

Setting: Somewhere in the eastern USA.

POV/Tense: 1^st person POV, present tense: Marina

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 403vpgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover and now in Paperback

List Price: $17.99/$9.99

Publisher: HarperTeen: Greenwillow

Summary/ product description: “No one crosses the wall of light . . . except for one girl who doesn’t remember who she is, where she came from, or how she survived. A harrowing, powerful debut thriller about finding yourself and protecting your future—no matter how short and uncertain it may be.

The Arclight is the last defense. The Fade can’t get in. Outside the Arclight’s border of high-powered beams is the Dark. And between the Light and the Dark is the Grey, a narrow, barren no-man’s-land. That’s where the rescue team finds Marina, a lone teenage girl with no memory of the horrors she faced or the family she lost. Marina is the only person who has ever survived an encounter with the Fade. She’s the first hope humanity has had in generations, but she could also be the catalyst for their final destruction. Because the Fade will stop at nothing to get her back. Marina knows it. Tobin, who’s determined to take his revenge on the Fade, knows it. Anne-Marie, who just wishes it were all over, knows it.

When one of the Fade infiltrates the Arclight and Marina recognizes it, she will begin to unlock secrets she didn’t even know she had. Who will Marina become? Who can she never be again?”

My Review:  I didn’t know what to expect going into Arclight. I was guessing aliens and a domed society or something like that. It was so different. I love how different and unexpected it was. The idea behind it is very unique. The story did start of kind of confusing and slow, but about a 3^rd of the way through the book we get to see what Fades are and the plot really picks up and doesn’t stop.

The main character could not remember her past before the Arclight. Her memories were gone, possibly from entering the Dark. Marina is pale skinned with whitish hair and pale blue eyes. She looks unusual. Everyone thinks she’s Fade-proof because she survived the Dark. They think she’s responsible for the deaths of the people who brought her to the Arclight. Tobin used to blame her for the loss of his father, but now wants to make up for the problems he’s caused her. Marina and Tobin start developing a relationship. There’s some really romantic scenes, and kissing.

When a Fade is captured, they discover Fades look like people, even though they can blend into things and don’t talk so much a show thing telepathically. The world building is really unique and takes technology to whole new level. It’s actually kind of scary and strange. I don’t want to give too much away, but some of it really did surprise me. Later on, I totally guessed correctly who Marine actually was. Authors tend to foreshadow things. It was pretty obvious, but if you were surprised about that “twist,” the awesome.

I enjoyed this book and don’t know what to compare it to. It’s kind of like some zombie books, but also like paranormal books. I’d say it’s similar to In The After by Demitria Lunetta (another book that I though was about aliens at first, but was wrong). Maybe the 5^th Wave, which I still need to read. Arclight is a dystopian book, so if you like dystopian fiction, and want something different that the run-of-mill zombie apocalypse or oppressive government, then you should try this.

Cover Art Review: I love the rainbow effect on the hard cover jacket. It’s beautiful and prismatic.

Revelations by J. A. Souders

Series: The Elysium Chronicles (bk. 2)

Genera: Dystopian Sci-fi/Romance

Subjects: underwater colonies, Florida, love, memory, brain-washing, psychological, nanotechnology

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 350 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: MacMillan: TorTeen

Summary/ product description: “Six weeks after her arrival on the Surface, Evelyn Winters is no closer to unlocking the memories lost in her subconscious than she was when she first came. Isolated in a strange new society, Evie has only Gavin Hunter to remind her of who she once was.

But even with a clean slate, it’s easy to see that Evie doesn’t fit in on the Surface. And as her differences make her feel more and more alone, she can’t help but yearn for that place she doesn’t remember: the isolated city hidden in the depths of the ocean. Elysium. Home.

But she can’t exactly tell Gavin what she’s feeling. Not when he’s the one who helped her escape Elysium in the first place, and has the scars to prove it. Though the doctors say otherwise, Gavin believes that Evie just needs time. And if her memories don’t come back, well, maybe she’s better off not remembering her past.

But the decision may be out of their hands when Evie’s ever-elusive memories begin to collide with reality. People and images from her past appear in the most unlikely places, haunting her, provoking her…and making her seem not only strange but dangerous.

Evie and Gavin can’t wait around for her memories to return. They’ll have to journey across the Outlands of the Surface to find help, and in the end, their search may just lead them back to the place it all started…”

My Review: This has been a thrilling sequel to one of my favorite dystopian reads of last year. I loved Renegade and it was so under the radar that I didn’t know its release date, which got pushed back to November last year. I was so happy when the library got this book in that I couldn’t wait to read it. It was just as fast as I remember the first book being. It was missing some of the mystery that the 1st book had, since we already found out Evie used to be an Enforcer. We do get to see what’s been going on is the real world while Evie, Mother and everyone else were down in Elysian. There are also some freaky parts because Evie is having hallucinations and sometimes she sleepwalks.

I love the character in this series. Evie and Gavin are such great protagonists. Evie can’t remember much about Elysium or her past because her nanos are blocking her memory. She still loves Gavin, though. I don’t recall if Gavin’s POV was ever used in Renagade, but it this book it switched between both Evie and Gavin’s 1^st person POV and it’s written in present tense.

We get to met new characters in Gavin’s home town. Gavin’s family, the mayor, and Asher, who used to be Gavin’s friend. Asher has big role in Revelations. He doesn’t create a love triangle exactly, but Gavin does get kind of jealous when Asher tries to help Evie. Gavin was betrayed by Asher at some point, and he kind of hates him now, but Asher want the help Evie get to the city so the can get her memories back. Asher may be a smooth talker and sometimes a jerk, but his heart seems to be in the right place. He keeps his promise to protect Evie and help her reach her destination.

The world above is kind of a post-apocalyptic/post-climate-change/post-war version of Florida. Florida has had floods and droughts in the past 40 or 50 years and its more desert like now. It’s not barren because there are animals to hunt and fishing. Much of the wildlife predators have become much more aggressive and more likely to attack humans. There’s a scene in which Evie and Gavin are attacked by a very large bird of prey, and it’s unfortunate because I love hawks, and I don’t think they’d ever attack people.

There are still towns and even cities, but they a few a far and must use horses as transportation. Evie and Gavin travel by horse, and Evie didn’t even know what a horse was. Also, many cities of people have been destroyed using bioweapons and nano-bots. The world building is very realistic and believable. It’s not over the top or cliché. I haven’t read many dystopian book set near the ocean (excluding New York City), other than Dead Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan.

I love this series and really wish book 3 would come out sooner. This is probably a trilogy, but I’m not positive. I recommend this series if you liked also of the following: Glitch by Heather Anastasiu, Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi, Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi, Matched by Ally Condie, Across the Universe by Beth Revis, False Memory by Dan Krokos, or Divergent by Veronica Roth. If you like dystopian series with kick-ass heroines, this will be a series to look out for. It was completely irresistible and un-put-downable and with leaves you screaming for more.  

Cover Art Review: I like this cover, but not as much as the 1^st books. The colors in the title make it not stand out against the background very well. The image itself is great. I’m not sure if it’s a photo or a digital painting. It could be a combination of both. Does it look like a photo?