Awesome apocalyptic-dystopian adventure!
920304
Great read!
If you like dystopian fiction with a kick, do yourself a favor and get this book! Stranger in Black was my favorite character!
1377671
This was a spectacular post-apocalyptic zombie read.  I am honestly a bit burned out on this genre, but I loved this book.  It has a more philosophical tone to it than a lot of zombie books out there.  I really enjoyed the characters, the world, and the just the way the book was written in general.

I listened to this on audiobook and really enjoyed it.  The narrator graspes the mood of the book very well and does a good job with all the different character voices.

Benny Imura is fifteen and it is time for him to choose his trade.  If he doesn't find a job his rations will be cut.  Benny lives in a world where most of humanity has been wiped out by/turned into zombies.  He lives in the small fenced in community of Mountainside, where most people do their best to ignore the world beyond the fence.  Benny lives with his brother, Tom.  Tom is one of the few bounty hunters who venture outside the fence into the Rot and Ruin.  And...well...Benny is about to find out what Tom really does.

This was a really well done post-apocalyptic zombie read.  Tom is really what makes this whole book.  Tom has this samurai-like way of looking at the world.  He is noble, incredibly tough, and ridiculed by those who don't understand him.  Tom sees the zombies and the Rot in Ruin in a way that is wise, sympathetic, and contemplative.  Tom is determined to make the zombie-hating Benny see what he sees.

Benny is a brat.  He hates zombies and wants them to die, he hates Mountainside and doesn't understand why the people in Mountainside won't reclaim some of the land.  He is an all around fifteen year old know-it-all.  But as he spends more time with Tom that starts to change.

Nix is the heroine in the story and she has led a rough life.  Unfortunately for her it's about to get rougher.  Some old grievances between her mother and a bounty hunter named Charlie Pink-Eye are about to come to light.

As the story progresses we find that the evil in the world is more about certain people that inhabit it than the zombies.  Benny learns the hardest rule of all, which is that there are no laws in the Rot and Ruin.

The book was incredibly well written and very interesting read.  I enjoyed the zen-like samurai warrior feel that Tom brings to the story.  It was easy to engage with the characters and I really felt Benny's pain as he learned the truth of how the world works.  The pace is somewhat deliberate, slowly building tension until things explode into danger and action.

Overall I loved this book.  It was an incredibly well done zombie book.  It has good action and excellent characters, but also an introspective quality to it that many zombie books lack.  Highly recommended to fans of post-apocalyptic zombie books.  I will definitely be reading the next book in the series, Dust and Decay.
3050091
I devoured this book. The characters are intriguing and I felt like I was right there with them. Although there are many Apocalyptic stories on the market right now, this one will not disappoint. WOW...  I can't wait for the next book!
1112481
Lots of action, great storyline- I can't wait for the next book in the series!
1143124
GREAT NEW AUTHOR ALERT!!!  Awesome Sci-Fi!  I was hesitant to read this one since there were no reviews, yet; so glad I did!  JM did a fantastic job with an "out-of-this-world" plot and multi-faceted characters! Can't wait to read the next one!!
3423752
If you are into apocalyptic survivalist action, you will be thrilled with this series. I look forward to opening this book series every day!
2612689
I loved this book!  I've already pre-ordered the next in the series but I REALLY don't want to wait until the end of the month!  I love dystopian books and this is one of the best I've read.  The characters are really believable in this book, as is the situation.  I like that they didn't just have unlimited money and time to prep, make for characters I can relate to so much more.  Can't wait to read more of the author's books.
679522
I received this book through a first reads giveaway, thank you!

From the second I started this book I could not put it down! I absolutely loved the premise (dystopian seems to be my favorite genre lately). I noticed a couple of other people mentioning it being similar to The City of Ember, but I have not read that book so this whole idea was new to me.

I was very impressed with the main character (Wren). She's definitely a character I would want my children reading about and looking up to. She didn't give in to sexual desires (which seems to be all to common with YA novels lately) and actually thought about her actions. She was a selfless character, a great role model.

One thing that stood out to me was that the author did a fantastic job with her descriptions. Through the whole story I felt as if I was really there in the tunnels or the dome with the characters. At the same time, the descriptions were not so heavily weighed with detail that it got boring.

All-in-all I'm really sad the book had to end, I would have loved to keep reading about Wren, Pace, and everyone else!
2331107
True Born was an exhilarating adventure into an apocalyptic world where most of the earths population has been killed off by a plague. Those left have fractured into three groups: the Lasters, the Splicers and the True Born. The Lasters are the poorest of the poor and have no hope, they will eventually die of the plague. They are often homeless and starving, ignored by the Upper Circle of society. The Upper Circle are the richest members of the world who can afford protection details and expensive mansions. To survive, they cut and weave new DNA into their bodies. True Borns are immune to the plague, they have evolved. Think comic book style mutations with wings, claws and fur.

The story revolves around Lucy and her identical twin sister Margo. Born conjoined and later separated, the girls had always been different. Lucy possesses the ability to feel what her sister experiences. Its like a tiny thread is connecting them to each other. Their sheltered Upper Circle life takes a turn for the worse when Margo is kidnapped and Lucy is forced to confront a world of political intrigue, upheaval and hard truths about her parents.

What I really appreciated about this book was that the reader was thrust into this chaotic and dangerous world right away. This book is non-stop. There is no build-up or this the world introduction. Sterling slowly reveals details as the book progresses. So, at first I was had a lot of questions, but this wasn't a bad thing. It pushed me to read more and more. I devoured each page and hated when I had to put it down.

Sterling also does an excellent job crafting a world on the brink of extinction. It contains all the same elements our world has today, but further exaggerates the divide between rich and poor, mass pollution and religious extremism. Its very easy to believe this world. Could this be the future? Our future? I loved how the book mixed different elements and genres. The idea of genetic mutations and splicing DNA could be classified as science-fiction, while the True Borns and their animal-like mutations are most definitely fantasy (at least for now).

Lucy was a very likeable character. Yeah, she was rich and came from a very strict household, but she wasn't oblivious to what was happening around her. Her character grew so much throughout the novel. Prior to her sisters kidnapping, Lucy had always been the sister who stayed in the background. It was her duty to protect her sister and guarantee that she was the perfect daughter. However, due to the circumstances, Lucy evolved into someone who would standup for herself, she spoke out and became quite the planner.

Jared, the love interest, reminded me of Jace from the Mortal Instruments series. Maybe it was the bad boy on the outside, sweet puppy on the inside persona or the blond hair, I don't know, but I liked him. He seemed genuine and truly cared for Lucy. Also, bonusthere wasn't a love triangle. Hurray!

True Born was a strong start to a new series. I am eager to find out what happens next in so bring on the sequel!
1477267
Although I am usually not fond of dystopian books, I loved this one!
Vincent's story kept me on the edge of my seat, I read it faster than I normally would have done because I needed to know what would happen to the hero and his friends.
I found myself hooked on the hero's fate (and waow, those last pages!) and now I cannot wait to read the next book!
I can only recommand The Cause because it is clever, fast paced and fascinating.
3637499
The Legacy is an exciting dystopian that explores how far those in power will go to bring control to a chaotic world.

After WWIII, the US is devastated. Only people in a few midwestern states have survived the nuclear destruction. A man named Eric Dane becomes President, setting up harsh restrictions that limit people's choices - including their ability to have children and the choice to leave.

Rebecca had always assumed that Dane's rules were necessary for survival, but when she discovers his true agenda, she knows she has to help the Resistance stop him. She comes up with a dangerous plan - to marry the enemy.

What I loved:

Worldbuilding.
This book had a good amount of worldbuilding, explaining how World War III came about and how the world got to the state it was currently in. I like that the book actually started out telling us about Rebecca's experience of the war when she was a little girl and gave us a little bit of a background about what it was like to grow up in those conditions rather than just jumping to the time of the Resistance.

Rebecca.
Rebecca was a strong character who wasn't waiting for anyone to come save her - she took matters into her own hands and fought her own battles. While I didn't always agree with all of her decisions, I did think that she had the right intentions behind them - she was a morally upright person in a very corrupt world.

The action and suspense.
This book was full of action and intrigue. There were lots of twists and turns, and the stakes were very high. Rebecca and the others in the Resistance put themselves in some very dangerous situations, and I was never sure if everyone was going to make it through the book alive! Plus, there were some interesting twists at the end of the book that really set us up for book #2. I can't wait to see where Delport has gone with these twists in the next book!

Shades of gray.
I love it when the villains in a book aren't completely villainous, and that was the case here. Eric Dane was a complicated person. Most of his rules even seemed kind of reasonable to me - and then he went overboard. There are times when Rebecca thinks he might be any okay person - and then times when he's definitely not. This is my favorite type of villain!

The negatives:

Love triangle.
I wasn't always a fan of the love triangle in the book, and I got a bit frustrated with Rebecca and how she handled the men in her life sometimes (including Eric Dane - in one scene in particular, she dealt with Eric in a ridiculously frustrating way that was sure to do nothing but cause her trouble). Still, I will say that Delport twisted the love triangle around in interesting ways, so I was more on board by the end.

Pet peeve.
It seemed strange to me that the book was set in the US (in the near future), but the book featured British spellings. (The author is from South Africa, so I guess it makes sense, but it just struck me as odd).

So, overall, I really enjoyed The Legacy and I'm eager to see what Delport has in store for us in books #2 & 3 (book #2 is out now and book #3 is coming out next year). I give this one 4/5 Stars.

***Disclosure: This book was provided to me by the author in exchange for an honest review. No other compensation was given. All opinions are my own***
4624674
An action-packed, dystopian science fiction series, describing a near-future, energy-starved world saved by the discovery of a crystalline ore with powerful properties. Creating the perfect Eden, however, comes with unexpected and dangerous consequences!

B.V. Bayly has crafted an action-packed story full of mystery and suspense in a near-future, dystopian world. The author has presented an intriguing premise in which an Eden-like Utopian civilization has been created by using an all-powerful ore that replaces depleted energy reserves. However, Eden is an oasis on a planet where many of its inhabitants exist in brutal and barbaric times; human life has little value and savagery runs rampant.

The core of Edens government is the Church of Humanity. The Patriarchs, the Churchs leadership, are under increasing pressure from several outside factions who are actively trying to tear apart or infiltrate them. One of the strongest and most dangerous factions is the corrupt and insanely violent Horsemen.

As "Revelations"  Book 2 in the series  begins, Commander Nate Reinhart of The Church of Humanity must come to terms with his own guilt over watching one of his best men, Gabriel, the hero from Book 1, get caught in one the largest explosions the commander has ever witnessed. The explosion happened at a weapons facility while Gabriel attempted to detonate a shard of black ore.

Now, Nate puts his entire team at risk of attack from the enemy to rescue Gabriel. When they extract Gabriel from the crater caused by the blast, it is still underdetermined if he is alive or dead. As Nates team takes Gabriel into the forest for cover, they come upon the remnants of a second team of wounded soldiers who had been stationed outside the weapons facility. One of the few remaining soldiers reveals to Nate that theyve been attacked by two squads from their own platoon. Soldiers in their own ranks may have betrayed them, becoming their most dangerous enemies.

Given Nates growing misgivings from his own dealings with the Church, he must now face the fact that he no longer has any confidence in the Church leaders and suspects that their motives aren't to be trusted. Gabriel may be in mortal danger and unable to protect himself in his current, comatose state. Nate decides to let the Church leaders believe that Gabriel is dead, turning to his most trusted allies for help in healing and protecting the young man.

As events continue to unfold, Nate realizes that The Horsemen have succeeded in spreading their corruption, infiltrating the leaders of the Church and weakening the Patriarchs. As he waits for Gabriel to awaken, Nate must choose whom he can trust as he battles against the forces of good and evil. Only the Spheres, with their secret sanctuaries and strong desire for independence, can offer an alliance with Nate in this battle for the hearts and souls of humankind as he leads them into the bowels of the dark and uncivilized zones to find the source of the Horsemens power.

Readers will be drawn into the "Edens Ore" series with its engaging characters, complex relationships, nonstop action, and its strange dystopian world with interesting and powerful new twists.

Reviewer's Note:Reading "Edens Ore: Revelations" is like traveling back to a futuristic world to visit old friends and make new ones. I recommend that readers consider reading "Edens Ore: Secrets" to fully immerse themselves in this top shelf series.
1197654
This book is a lot like Avatar the Last Airbender, but in distant-future Nigeria. The world and characters are so well developed that you feel like you know everyone right away. There are similar themes to Avatar (redemption, bravery, mercy, loyalty, family, etc), but there is even more magic. I especially loved the role of the women in this book! They are powerful, kind, intelligent, and brave....and completely different from the men who are also powerful/intelligent/brave. There is no cliffhanger in this book, which I really appreciated. The action came to a breathless but logical conclusion, while still leaving room for more adventures in future books. I am really excited to see where Adeyemi is going with the series, and I can't wait for the next installment.
Also, I listened on Audible, and  Bahni Turpin's reading was AWESOME! I loved the way she voiced the characters! This is my favorite book of 2018 so far.
1737645
I am completely impressed with Mr. Smith's latest offering. He is quite a prolific author who has established himself in the sci-fi and dystopian future genre. This is his first venture into a future that I would describe as realistic, in fact, tragically, even possible given the situation around the world. In this book he tackles the subject of the threat of a nuclear attack on the USA in the form of very high altitude nuclear weapon explosions causing an EMP = Electromagnetic Pulse, which will wipe our nations electrical grids and anything that has modern electronic circuitry: cars, all electronics, etc. Yes, it's real.

The North Koreans launch an EMP attack against the USA and we join the characters of this book involved in their various challenging lives and situations and from there they must deal with the "fallout" (OK, I'm sorry, could not help myself).

Mr. Smith writes in an engaging fashion and is extremely good at offering up rich character development with exciting action.

You will really enjoy this book, but you will find it difficult, as I did, to stop reading
4020636
I've become wary of starting new dystopian series because I always wonder "Will this book live up to the last one? Will it stand out?"  Thankfully Eve completely drew me in and delivered on its promise to be a unique and thrilling adventure.

Eve is quite the intelligent young woman.  When the novel opens, her graduation day is right around the corner and she's got the honor of graduating at the very top of her class. On almost a whim (and to prove a disparaging classmate wrong), Eve sneaks out of the dorm at night and swims across the lake to look at the "wonderful" place that she will be moving to after graduation--the magical place where she will finally be able to take up her trade.  What she discovers there is absolutely beyond  belief--a room full of young women, pregnant and strapped down.  When she returns, clearly shaken by the experience and her discovery, a sympathetic adult helps her to escape through the wall, leaving behind her friends and the only life that she's ever known.

Eve is a character that I think readers will bond with right away.  Her attachment to the memory of her mother as well as her two close friends make her likeable and realistic.  Her naivete is completely reasonable because you know from the start that she's never known anything else.  Seeing the world through Eve's eyes really drew me into the story and I could sympathize with her apprehensions as she struggled to make sense of new truths and survive in the harsh world outside of the school.

When Even is rescued by Caleb, we're introduced to a whole new cast of characters.  Caleb is awesome.  He was patient when it came to Eve's misconceptions about men and the world, but he wasn't afraid to tell her what was reality and what was a lie fed to her by the school.  It's really no surprise that Eve bonds with him so well and I enjoyed watching their sweet romance blossom over time.  While I loved watching Even and Caleb together, it was her interactions with the very young boys--teaching them to read and write--that really made my heart melt. It's so obvious that these little boys are looking for a loving maternal figure in their lives and Eve is truly the perfect fit.

So many things happen that I want to tell you about, but I refuse to ruin this one for you!  This book is a fabulous combination of action and sweet romance with an ending that will leave you speechless (and if you're like me, in tears). I can't wait to read more in this series!
4430204
I started at 6:00 last night and 46 chapters later, sometime this morning, I closed the book.
It is a great read!
Mr. Wheeler does make you ponder all the games we play with Mother-Nature and each other.
New Order Apocalypse, Book 2 feels like a screen play written from a diary of that reoccurring nightmare that leaves you in a swamp of sweat, and afraid to wake up becauseit might be real.
Jason Kates is the hero. He's reckless, arrogant, intelligentwell maybe not all that intelligentbut in this world of despair, he carries the one thing missing from human kindhope.
In New Order Apocalypse, Jason turned the world upside down. In this book, he puts his life on the line to turn it right side up.
In some ways, the story is about world building, but mostly it is about the cause and effect of fear, greed and stupidity, and a passionate attempt to restore any aspect of order and unity for the sake of the common good. After all, the world population that once numbered in the trillions is now in the thousands, and inside every human the Jihad virus, the ticking time bomb of annihilation lurks, and you never know when the clock will ping and your body agonizingly destroys itself. Thirty is the new eighty, and you don't really want to think too much about tomorrow. Somewhere in the story, you grasp the thread that humans have amazing capacity to choose life and perseverance.
Jason is not alone in his quest, others are at his side, and those relationships drive the story forward as much as any aspect of post-apocalyptic earth.
I think what I like best about Mr. Wheeler's story is the presentation. He has you inside the head of a miss wired, imperfect soul, who's thought processes take side trips and sometimes holidays. The synoptic short circuits are a major reason that Jason Kates is believable, and a character you emotionally invest in.
Hard driving from the word go and full of twist, this is a great read!
849812
Wow- this is a truly stunning dystopian adventure! I was completely captivated from the very beginning and was almost obsessive with finishing it as quick as I could! The writing is phenomenal, the storyline highly original and intriguing and the characters were so complex and intricate! The story was fast-paced with layers of intrigue and action that kept me gripped the whole time. There were quite a few twists thrown in that had me gasping and racing to see what would happen next. The characters were very well built with layers of complexity that are slowly revealed all throughout. I was completely engrossed with this book and was left thinking about ti for days afterwards! I highly recommend to everybody- young or old!
*I received a free copy in exchange for my honest opinion!