White Horse - Review

Title: White Horse

Author: Alex Adams

Release Date: April 17, 2012

Format/Page Count: Kindle ebook/320 pages

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Purchased: Amazon 

Synopsis: White Horse is the first book in an absolutely unique debut trilogy—a post-apocalyptic thriller chronicling one woman’s quest to nurture those she holds dear against the backdrop of a shocking, new world.

Thirty-year-old Zoe leads an ordinary life until the end of the world arrives. She is cleaning cages and floors at Pope Pharmaceuticals when the President of the United States announces that human beings are no longer a viable species.

When Zoe realizes that everyone she loves is disappearing, she starts running. Scared and alone in a shockingly changed world, she embarks on a remarkable journey of survival and redemption.

Along the way, Zoe comes to see that humans are not defined by their genetic code, but rather by their actions and choices. White Horse offers hope for a broken world, where love can lead to the most unexpected places. (From GOODREADS)

Expectation: I had high hopes for this story. I know Alexia through Absolute Write...and I've heard so much about her novel (Actually series of novels!). I couldn't wait to read it. Sounds like something I would really love. Contemporary, yet dystopian/apocalyptic.

Market/Genre: Apocalyptic/Dystopian/Contemporary - I was comfortable calling this novel a lot of things. I wanted, at times to put it in the Young Adult market...but then I thought, no...it's New Adult...but then I thought, no it's Adult. I have a strong desire to say it has mass market appeal and crosses all of these markets.

Review:

“We’re all just meat puppets with an invisible hand inside us, making us dance and live. When that hand slips off the glove, we collapse and that is the end of everything.” ~ Alex Adams, White Horse

“Am I trying to save someone? Is that what I am? Some kind of wannabe hero? I don’t feel like a hero. I just feel scared.” ~ Alex Adams, White Horse

Zoe is a kickass kind of girl. She doesn’t mess around. At the onset of the story, she is cleaning cages and floors for Pope Pharmaceuticals. This feels slightly beneath her station, as she’s an intelligent independent woman. But then you realize she is slightly disenchanted with things. You might say she’s a bit of a dropout. But she’s just waiting for her moment.

That moment comes when she embarks on a journey at the end of the world. Or perhaps it arrives as portent in the form of an urn mysteriously left in her apartment prior to the world’s unhinging. The reader is certainly obsessively drawn to this urn and the mystery surrounding it! As those who come into contact with said urn come down with violent flu-like symptoms, the reader boards the intense mostly edge-of-the-seat rollercoaster ride that is WHITE HORSE!

What I loved about White Horse – The alternating timelines. We are in the past where the world is alive and vibrant, yet showing cracks at its seams…then we are in the post-apocalyptic after-world where everybody is either dead or transmogrified into something horrific and implausible. Or, if you’re lucky (or unlucky, depending on how you look at it), you are like Zoe…immune to the pathogen known as White Horse (called that by an exuberant preacher who saw the pandemic as the first white horse of the apocalypse) that either kills you or whacks out your DNA like some kind of freak side-show Dr. Frankenstein virus. I do love the mythical-like creatures that pop up in this post end-of-world story! Horrors of horrors from a rock-like woman, to wolf-like packs to tail flicking sub-humans. As implausible as they all seem, I am immediately believing in their existence in this new less populated world. I love that we get to go back and forth between the hideous after-world and the mundane normal-world on the brink.

Zoe is one of the best female characters I have read in a long, long time. She is strong—powerful—and good. She holds on to her humanity in the ugliest of situations. I love that she immediately took herself to the therapist’s couch when the urn showed up in her living room...and how she made up the story of it being a dream and not a reality, just so she could get a therapist’s opinion on the mystery.

Zoe falling in love with the therapist was nicely done, too. Dr. Rose soon becomes Nick…a man Zoe can fall for in the pre-apocalyptic world, and run to in the post-apocalyptic world. This thread between the two worlds makes White Horse a romance of sorts. As Zoe runs across the world, hoping against hope that her Nick survived White Horse, she comes into contact with many ‘people’. The most sinister is the indefatigable ‘Swiss’! The Swiss is a man the reader loathes and despises. Oh, do we want to see the death of this heinous man!

I won’t go on any further. I feel as though I am merely gushing again. I loved this über-fantastic, über-frenetic paced train-wreck of humanity. I guarantee you will be amazed by White Horse. That urn that appears in Zoe’s apartment—the moment it made its appearance I thought of that Stephen King gem The Tommyknockers, where Bobbi Anderson trips over the tiniest metal object protruding from the ground and she just has to un-root it. The object becomes a behemoth of trouble, just like Zoe’s urn. Go out to the closest bookstore…or head for an online store—whatever you do, purchase WHITE HORSE today! Buckle in and enjoy the meltdown of humankind!

Note on the trilogy: Although this is book one of a trilogy, the ending of this book will leave you ultimately satisfied. Sure, you will want to read book 2 right away, but you are not left on one of those unforgivable cliffhangers that some series tend to leave you on.

Expectation met and exceeded. I can't wait for book 2 of this 3-book series from Alexia!

Size: 5 1/2

Ashfall - Review

Title: Ashfall

Author: Mike Mullin

Release Date: September 27, 2011

Format/Page Count: Kindle Edition

Publisher: Tanglewood Press

Purchased: Amazon



Synopsis:
 

Under the bubbling hot springs and geysers of Yellowstone National Park is a supervolcano. Most people don't know it's there. The caldera is so large that it can only be seen from a plane or satellite. It just could be overdue for an eruption, which would change the landscape and climate of our planet.

Ashfall is the story of Alex, a teenage boy left alone for the weekend while his parents visit relatives. When the Yellowstone supervolcano erupts unexpectedly, Alex is determined to reach his parents. He must travel over a hundred miles in a landscape transformed by a foot of ash and the destruction of every modern convenience that he has ever known, and through a new world in which disaster has brought out both the best and worst in people desperate for food, water, and warmth. With a combination of nonstop action, a little romance, and very real science, this is a story that is difficult to stop reading and even more difficult to forget. (From GOODREADS)

Expectation: TWITTER strikes again! My expectation was huge for this book. Mostly because of all the Twitter talk about it. AND...it also sounded KIND of end-times/dystopian  meets contemporary. The idea of this book simply appealed to me.


Market/Genre: Young Adult

Review: 

“The pre-Friday world of school, cell phones, and refrigerators dissolved into this post-Friday world of ash, darkness, and hunger.”~ Mike Mullin, Ashfall


Think YOUNG ADULT 'THE STAND', only better.


Alex is a fifteen-year old boy. He's home alone when the world experiences a near apocalyptic catastrophe. When a Yellowstone National Park supervolcano erupts, Alex's world is turned completely upside down. As the volcano erupts within the first few pages of this story, Mullin has us sitting on the edge of our seats right away. And he never lets us go. This is one of the most action packed young adult novels I have ever read.

Alex's home was destroyed in the volcano's initial blast. Luckily, he made it out of the house. The couple across the street, Darren and Joe, help Alex during the first day or so, as the volcano continues to erupt and explode.

Once the world returns to quiet, Alex has one thing on his mind--make it to his parents and sister. Big problem--they are hours away by car. In this new world, there are no cars. A thick blanket of ash covers everything. Alex embarks on the journey of a lifetime into the new world of ash and catastrophe.

What Alex meets along his journey makes this one of the best young adult novels I have ever read. He comes upon good people and killers. It is up to him to determine which camp they each fall into. At a farmstead, he finds Darla and her mother. Darla is a bit of a jack-of-all-trades. Taught by her father to be handy with tools, as well as problem solving and inventive, Darla brings a lot to the table. Not to mention, Alex's attraction to her.

As things heat up in this new post-apocalyptic world, stakes are raised. People change...become more survival oriented, more singular. After an incident on Darla's farm, she and Alex continue Alex's journey together. Along the way, they learn how to survive together in their new surroundings--and simultaneously lose their innocence and leave their childhoods behind.

I don't want to give anything away. Just know that terrible things happen and heroic things happen. You will love these two amazing main characters. Both are strong and independent. It was extremely refreshing to see just how strong Darla was--a great female role model, excellently written. As a reader, I was totally captivated by this story. It held me in its grip from first page to last. Take the journey across this new horrifying America with Alex. All you have to do is pick up the book and start reading. And, if you're a fan of The Stand, by Stephen King, you'll know what I mean when I say this is reminiscent of that book. But I found ASHFALL to be SO MUCH BETTER than The Stand. I loved loved loved this book!

SIZE:5 (1/2!)

Expectation was realized in spades. I really dug this book a lot and can't wait to read the next in the series. Look for ASHEN WINTER next. I seriously can't wait! I need these characters back in my life. What happens next!?

Hunted - Review

Title: Hunted

Author: Cheryl Rainfield

Release Date: December, 2011 in U.S.A. January, 2012 in Canada

Format/Page Count: eARC

Publisher:  WestSide Books in USA/Fitzhenry & Whiteside in Canada

Purchased: eARC given to me by the author, in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis: Caitlyn, a telepath, lives in a world where all paranormal talents are illegal. She is on the run from government ParaTroopers. When Caitlyn falls for Alex, a Normal, and discovers dangerous renegade Paranormals, she must choose between staying in hiding to protect herself or taking a stand to save the world.

Expectation: High. I enjoyed SCARS by Rainfield. She's a strong writer of the real issues that are facing today's teens. I jumped at the opportunity to read another Rainfield!

Market/Genre: Young Adult, Dystopian Para (-;

Review: HUNTED comes alive on page one. It engaged me throughout with intrigue and a fast-pace that made the book unputdownable. Although a dystopian, this story was so deeply embedded in a contemporary setting that it became a believable allegory for the issues that teens (we all) face in today's society - racism, sexism, homophobia, ageism, bullying...you name it. Rainfield put these issues into HUNTED by making it a story of bigotry in the most fascinating of ways--Caitlyn is a teen telepath. Telepaths are to be feared and loathed…they are other than normal (which is, incidentally, exactly what the ‘normal’ people in the story are called). From the onset, I was reminded of David and Sophie of my childhood favourite, The Chrysalids by John Wyndham.

As the story opens, the reader is immediately drawn to teenager Caitlyn, and her mother, who are on the run. Always on the move, they're trying to stay one step ahead of the ParaTroopers who are out to capture all paranormals…to either enslave, imprison or kill. Although Caitlyn's mom is also a Para, her powers are completely suppressed. It is up to Caitlyn to keep in touch with the network of para helpers set up to help the underground paras navigate in a world where they are neither accepted nor wanted.

DIVERSITY. This issue was tackled full on in Rainfield's story. Through Caitlyn's eyes the reader is challenged to accept and celebrate the difference that every man, woman and child brings to the table. The uniqueness in this story is that the pacing and the stakes are so encompassing that the issues don't bog down the enjoyment. It's a fine line to weave a story focusing on issues without beating the reader over the head with them. Rainfield definitely accomplishes it.

When Caitlyn and her mom stop in a new town, she is warned by her mother not to get too close to anyone. She must always live on the outskirts of the community while maintaining a convincingly ‘normal’ life inside of it. I can't imagine how hard this would be for a teenager. If they want to have any peace, though, Caitlyn must follow her mother's rules. Nobody can find out that she is a para. Once you start getting close to people, your secret walls start to rapidly deteriorate.

Enter Rachel and Alex. Two strong characters I thoroughly enjoyed. Alex, strong and capable, is a typical teenage boy. I loved that Caitlyn could read Alex's thoughts and see that he liked her. It was nice to see that vulnerable side of a boy’s feelings toward a girl. It was a nicely played addition to the story. And Rachel, who is a strong-willed likeable character, also has feelings for Caitlyn. When she realizes the feelings are not reciprocated, the two become friends. But there is an intense loyal protective aura that comes off of Rachel. The reader quickly understands that, on her watch, no harm or foul will come to Caitlyn.

Caitlyn has a past filled with loss and despair. In the para riots, she lost both her father and her brother. Her peace-loving level-headed father was murdered and her brother, Daniel, was kidnapped during the height of the riots. It is in this new town that Caitlyn discovers Daniel. This is where Rainfield tackles yet another issue—cult brainwashing. The Daniel who was kidnapped is not the Daniel she encounters in this new town. Though a para-slave of the powers that be, he is also part of an underground movement of rogue paras out to claim the world away from the Normals…at any cost.

I want to tell you everything that happens in HUNTED. I want to gush about every scene and share with you the excitement of the execution of the story…but I will stop here. Let me just say that it’s a must read ride. Get ready to cheer for Caitlyn. If you have ever felt like an outsider, you will love this book. You will understand this book. You will walk a mile in Caitlyn's shoes and you will know the adversity she lives with through the unraveling of Hunted. You will root for her, and you will want to see both the government and its potential coup d'état movement fail miserably. I have one piece of advice for you---enjoy the ride!

SIZE: 5

Met expectation. Rainfield has a great way of tackling issues without being preachy. The story grips! Keep your eye out for the heroic librarian! Librarians rock, don't they!

HUNTED GOODIES (INCLUDING A TEACHER'S GUIDE) CAN BE FOUND HERE