In the first in a series and debut novel by A.J. Eversley, she takes the reader to dystopia Earth, where machines that look like human rule and the humans that are left are slowly losing the battle save humanity:
Sawyer is the younger Watcher in her resistance that is sworn to protect humanity. It is her job to watch over the city and protect the few humans that are left. The Bots and Carbons that come out each day to try and find the last humans so they can be taken away to who knows what fate have been changing and evolving. They have now decided to target the Watcher's themselves. On a rescue mission Sawyer is faced to make a choice who lives and who dies. But something about this mission does not add up, someone has betrayed them. Sawyer made a promise to protect humanity, but that comes at a cost as she tries to figure out who is friend and who is foe and who ultimately needs to die.
This was a really interesting debut novel and I really enjoyed getting to know the world and main characters that Eversley created. The world is very interesting, you can tell that Eversley used some tried and true ideas from other popular media forms, but I think that overall she was able to make them her own on most fronts by blending them together. I did not sit there reading thinking to myself oh here we go again with any of the ideas presented in this book. Additionally, I think that Eversley understood the flow that this book needed, and while it was fast paced moving from action scene to action scene, Eversley also took the time to let the reader get to know the two main characters better.
I enjoy reading within the dystopia genre and some of them have been geared towards YA readers and what I really appreciate with what Eversley did within this book is to not make the book about Sawyer's romance or the need to have a guy help/save her (and also a plus in my books is that there does not seem to be a love triangle coming...finally). So this leads me to not only enjoying this book more but also liking Sawyer as a character. Though at times I found her slightly immature in her thinking process or her actions outside of a battle, but that was something more that would come in time and maturity which I do not expect Sawyer to have yet even though she has had to grow up in a war zone. Like I said above I was extremely happy that she was not boy obsessed and when push comes to shove she will do what needs to be done, even if that means killing someone. With this being said you can probably guess that there are some darker undertones within this book that I was not expecting as well.
This book was like part Matrix part Terminator, so if either of those descriptors piqued your interest you should check this book out. This was great debut novel and I am looking forward to continuing on with the serires. I am really looking forward to where Eversley takes the readers next.
In her debut novel Ali Land explores how much our parents have the ability to shape us:
Milly's mother was a Serial Killer but Milly still loves her, but she knew the only way to stop her and save other children was to turn her in to the police. This allows Milly to have a fresh start, with a new identity, try to rewrite her past as well as a new foster family. But anyone can see that Milly has secrets and she has to fight to keep them. As Milly's mother's trial comes closer and closer Milly does not know if she will be able to testify against her mother, but more than anything she wants to keep the foster family that she was placed with. Milly begins to wonder how much of an influence her mother has had over her, how much of it has shaped her and whether she is really destined to just become her mother one day. As things become more and more intense in Milly's life she is going to show exactly the type of person she is; Good or Bad. Wow, this book is insane and intense. Dark, twisted and disturbing on so many levels, but I enjoyed it all. What made this even more impressive is this is Land's debut novel. Honestly I do not know how she will be able to top this novel. This had so many positives in the execution and the way of psychology and the whole idea of nature vs nurture aspect played out that I think it will be hard to top this book. I think Land will have to go in to a completely different direction with another book as anything similar would not hit the mark. This book did have some writing flaws but I think that because it was told by Milly there were times when the dialogue was sloppy on purpose as Milly tries to adapt not only to her new posh surroundings and the people she comes in contact with, but it also expressed how different Milly was from all of these other people. Milly is such an intriguing character on her own I understand why Land chose not to have other points of view in this book; Milly was more than enough. I'm not really sure I'm completely happy with the ending, more so when it ended not how it ended. I wanted more, to know what was going to happen next with everyone (I don't want to give too much away of what I wanted more of as that would give some major things away in the book). Nonetheless, I was able to figure out one of the major plot lines or twist near the end but I think that Land makes it easy to find or realize on purpose, as you as the reader secretly hope that you are wrong. That said it is great that you are right as Land is okay with showing the dark side of human nature. This was a great debut novel by Land that has you questioning how much your upbringing can shape you and really explores some of the darker sides of human nature. I look forward to seeing what Land comes up with next. Enjoy!!!
