Unchanged by Jessica Brody

Series: Unremembered (bk. 3)

Genera(s): Dystopian Sci-fi/ Romance

Subjects: times-travel, futuristic, genetic engineering, identity, love, memory, scientists, experiments

Setting: The year 2117, in Nevada, California and various states

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

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 417 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover 

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: Macmillan: Farrar Straus Garoux

Summary/ product description: “So many secrets are buried within these compound walls.

I used to be one of those secrets.

After returning to the Diotech compound and undergoing an experimental new memory alteration, Seraphina is now a loyal, obedient servant to Dr. Alixter and the powerful company that created her. Happy and in love with Kaelen, another scientifically-enhanced human designed to be her perfect match, Sera’s history with a boy named Zen is just a distant memory from a rebellious past she longs to forget.

But as Sera and Kaelen embark on a nationwide tour to promote Diotech’s new product line—a collection of controversial genetic modifications available to the public—Sera’s mind starts to rebel. She can’t stop the memories of Zen from creeping back in.

As more secrets are revealed, more enemies are uncovered, and the reality of a Diotech-controlled world grows closer every day, Sera will have to choose where her true loyalties lie, but it’s a choice that may cost her everything she’s ever loved.”

My Review:  What an astoundingly epic finale. It was pretty awesome even with the few disappointments. I love sci-fi with some mystery and lots of twists. I also like it when a character has to overcome brainwashing or a secret organization. What’s really great about this book is that we get to see the time period that Sera and Zen are from.

2117 is a world with hoverpods and other things that hover with magnets, synthetic meat, genetic modification and nanotechnology. Gas power is obsolete, as well as today’s standard medical equipment since they have nanoscanners. 2117 is not a post-apocalyptic world or a world with an oppressive government. It’s not truly a dystopia, but there is Diotech. And Diotech want to control people and they are using Sera and Kaelen to launch a line of products that can make people better, yet control them. Dr. Maxxer has told Sera this. And Sera doesn’t believe it.

Unchanged starts off with Sera now thinking that Diotech is good and that she loves Kaelen and she’s got all her memories back. She feels guilt forever betraying the objective and she think that Zen never loved her. We know that’s not true. Zen definitely loved her and Sera’s just being brainwashed with some sort of memory coding or something. It just takes her time to see the light again. There’s just not enough Zen in this book. I read the novella before this and one was from Zen’s POV. I suggest reading the novella before this final book. Anyway, Zen doesn’t come back into the picture till more that halfway through the book. I’m not a big Kaelen fan to say the least.

The things that Sera finds out about Diotech and herself make this book awesome, but the ending resolution was not what I had hoped for. I’m still giving the book five stars because I’m a loyal fan and loved the previous books. The plotting that this series took must have been a massive undertaking and I think the author pulled it off even if there were a few bumps in the road.

If you haven’t read Unremembered, then you really should. It’s becoming on of my favorite sci-fi series. You should read it if you like any of the following: Altered by Jennifer Rush, Renegade by J.A. Souders, Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi, False Memory by Dan Krokos, Crewel by Gennifer Albin, Maximum Ride by James Patterson.

Cover Art Review: The girl in the cover looks more like Sera. I love the blurry effect and the title being sharp and clear.

Unforgotten by Jessica Brody

Release Date: 2/25/2014

Series: Unremembered (bk. 2)

Genera(s): Dystopian Sci-fi/Romance

Subjects: memory, time-travel, genetic engineering, abilities, love

Setting: London, England 1609 in October, New York City 2032 in February

POV/Tense: 1^st person POV present tense (Seraphina)

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 399 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: MacMillan: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux

Summary/ product description: “Some memories are better left forgotten...

After a daring escape from the scientists at Diotech who created her, Seraphina believes she is finally safe from the horrors of her past. But new threats await Sera and her boyfriend, Zen, at every turn as Zen falls prey to a mysterious illness and Sera’s extraordinary abilities make it more and more difficult to stay hidden. Meanwhile, Diotech has developed a dangerous new weapon designed to apprehend her. A weapon that even Sera will be powerless to stop. Her only hope of saving Zen’s life and defeating the company that made her is a secret buried deep within her mind. A secret that Diotech will kill to protect. And it won’t stay forgotten for long.

Packed with mystery, suspense, and romance, this riveting second installment of Jessica Brody’s Unremembered trilogy delivers more heart-pounding action as loyalties are tested, love becomes a weapon, and no one’s memories are safe.”

My Review: I had no idea what to expect in this sequel. It surprised me at every turn. I was so happy and excited when I got an ARC in the mail because this was pretty much one of my most anticipated books of the year. Honestly, it wasn’t as good as Unremembered, but I still want to give it five stars. I was kind of unhappy when Zen got sick and there wasn’t enough romance between him and Seraphina.

I love the characters in this series. Seraphina is very unique. She may have been designed to be perfect, but Diotech has controlled her all her life. Her memories have been tampered with and she can’t trust her own mind. She’s strong, fast, smart and can time travel. Zen is an amazing and romantic love interest. In the first book he had such a major role of helping Seraphina remember her past.

At the beginning of this book they’re in 1609. They’re staying under the radar, in the past. When Seraphina reveals her abilities, they must escape the past and go back to the future. A guy named Kaelen saves Seraphina and brings her to Ney York City in 2032. Seraphina must unlock memories to lead her to someone important.

I don’t like Kaelen that much. I feel sorry for his because his lack of free will. He’s like an android that you want to be human. He is like Seraphina, but he has a lot to learn about life and being normal. Sera had a hard time adjusting to the real world too, but she had more free will. I don’t like the love-triangle that was created with Kaelen. I’m Team Zen no matter what.

This series has a very complex plot. I have no idea how Jessica Brody did it, but wow! At a book signing she told us that when she first wrote Unremembered that her editor wanted her to drop Cody. Without his this series would be so different. We do get to see him again. I loved Cody in the first book. He was so funny and he taught Sera sarcasm. He thought Seraphina was weird when she didn’t know what something was. He taught her a lot. This book showed us that he has a much bigger role to play than just being comical relief and a friend.

Transession sounds like a cool ability, but it also sounds like you can screw everything up with it. Apparently this form of time travel doesn’t allow you to go to any point in time you have already been to because there would then be two of you there at once. It’s some kind of paradox and defies the laws of physics or something like that. So what happens it you teleport to the future, and then back to the past, get stuck in that time and then suddenly reach a time you’ve already been to? Do you suddenly jump to the time after that? I wonder if that question will be answered ever. The sci-fi stuff wasn’t supper heavy, but she must have done some research. There is a Stephen Hawking quote at the beginning of the book, after all.

If you haven’t read Unremembered, then you really should. It’s becoming on of my favorite sci-fi series. You should read it if you like any of the following: Altered by Jennifer Rush, Renegade by J.A. Souders, Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi, False Memory by Dan Krokos, Crewel by Gennifer Albin, Maximum Ride by James Patterson.

Cover Art Review: I love this cover so much. I like that they’re kissing and blurred out and the sun’s shining through their lips. The pink, the light and dark contrast. The title that’s screening/overlaying the image transparently. It’s very romantic and still looks like a mystery/sci-fi book.

Unremembered by Jessica Brody

Series: Unremembered (bk. 1)

Genera: Sci-fi Romance

Subjects: Memory, amnesia, genetic engineering, experiments, science

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 304 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: Macmillan: FSG

REAL TAGLINE: “The only thing worse than forgetting her past…is remembering it.”

Summary/ product description: “When Freedom Airlines flight 121 went down over the Pacific Ocean, no one ever expected to find survivors. Which is why the sixteen-year-old girl discovered floating among the wreckage—alive—is making headlines across the globe.
Even more strange is that her body is miraculously unharmed and she has no memories of boarding the plane. She has no memories of her life before the crash. She has no memories period. No one knows how she survived. No one knows why she wasn’t on the passenger manifest. And no one can explain why her DNA and fingerprints can’t be found in a single database in the world.
Crippled by a world she doesn’t know, plagued by abilities she doesn’t understand, and haunted by a looming threat she can’t remember, Seraphina struggles to piece together her forgotten past and discover who she really is. But with every clue only comes more questions. And she’s running out of time to answer them.
Her only hope is a strangely alluring boy who claims to know her from before the crash. Who claims they were in love. But can she really trust him? And will he be able to protect her from the people who have been making her forget?
From popular young adult author Jessica Brody comes a compelling and suspenseful new sci-fi series, set in a world where science knows no boundaries, memories are manipulated, and true love can never be forgotten.”

My Rating: êêêêê

My Review: Loved this book so much. I haven’t read any other books by this author, because as her other books are realistic fiction, but she did an awesome job creating a unique sci-fi mystery. Seraphina has one of the most unique cases of amnesia that I read about. She not only forgot her past, but also what certain things are, like cars and computers and guns. She’s also really good at math.

They can’t find anyone who knows her, so they put her with a foster family and she meets Cody, her foster brother. Cody’s really funny and it’s hilarious how he has to explain certain things to Sera. He’s got a little crush on her too. It’s so cute. He calls her the Amnesiac Supermodel. Sera asks him for favors and he get in trouble. Really, this book has some fun adventures in it and some not so fun. And there’s Zen, the guy who shows up claiming that he knows her and tells her that her name is Sera. He’s swoon worthy and protective even if Sera can protect herself in ways he can’t.

This book was full of twists and turns. Some I could have guessed, others I never saw coming. I read the prequel short story called the “Memory Coder”, so I already knew some things. There’s some crazy chase scene and the issue that Sera (called Violet by the press because her eyes) is now a celebrity in a way because she was supposedly the only survivor in a plane crash. So people recognize her from the news and want to take photos of her. It’s not really spoilery to say that Sera was genetically engineered. I love read YA about genetic engineering.

This book is like: False Memory by Dan Krokos, Altered by Jennifer Rush, the Maximum Ride series (in some ways), The Deviants series by Jeff Sampson (Vesper, Havoc, Ravage) and possibly The Darkest Powers and Darkness Rising series, and throw in Hourglass by Myra McEntire. Books that have some kind of facility/scientific organization or lab compound that secretly does genetic engineering on human DNA.  Because of Sera’s math obsession, she reminded me of Amelia from Touch, the TV show on Fox.

There’s a really big twist at the end and a literal cliff-hanger (or cliff-dive). I need to know what book 2 is about now!! I know it’s Unforgotten and it’s coming out March next year, and I really hope the cover’s better.

Cover Art Review: Not a fan of the girl’s face. Her hair looks too dark to be Sera’s. I’d prefer something more sci-fi-ish. I like the title type. And the inner cover has the knot design that was mentioned.

 

~Haley G