Review - Purenet by H. J. Lawson

Title: Purenet

Author: H. J. Lawson

Rating: 4/5

Synopsis:

Purenet is one of six wealthy Sanctions, formed by the Emperor and the Untouchables after a devastating world war.

Only those born in Purenet have the privilege of living under the dome, protecting their bodies from the sun’s deadly UVA rays.

Skylier is desperate to escape her underground confines and save her mother’s life.

On a school visit, she hears something she’s not supposed to, and now she realizes that not only is her whole life a lie, but she is in grave danger… She doesn’t know who to trust, and her enemies are everywhere… even closer than she realizes.

Now she is in a race against time to save not only her life, but her mother’s and those she cares about. And if she fails, she’ll suffer a fate worse than death…”

I received an e-copy of Purenet from the Author in exchange of an honest review.

My thoughts:

I'm glad I'm one of those lucky people who got an ARC copy of Purenet. Wonderful dystopian fiction with fresh ideas and a gripping storyline; that is what it is.

Skylier lives in tunnels under the ground with her community to spare herself from the dangerous UVA rays of the Sun. There is a safe place above ground – Purenet, the city under the dome –, from where she, her family and the ’outsiders’ are locked out for various reasons. There are only two ways to ’win’ a chance to live in Purenet: she can become a Host (give birth to children of the aristocracy and then give them away willingly) or become a bazi (aka a concubine).

All Skylier wants is to stay with her family and take care of her ill mother, but soon after catching a conversation on a school trip to Purenet she becomes entangled in a fight between brother and brother and she realizes her life would never be the same.

It’s been a long time since I’ve read such an action-packed book as this one. There was always something going on and when I thought I knew what was about to happen, a totally different thing happened. Twists, twists, twists – there were a lot of them and they kept surprising me.

I loved the scifi-esque setting, the futuristic world this book introduced. There are cruel conditions outside Purenet, but for admitted outsiders life doesn’t seem to be that much easier under the dome either.

The idea of the Sun turning against the population of Earth is very scary, and sadly, not an unthinkable image of the future. In the beginning of the story our heroine has this harsh environment to live in and on the top of it comes all the trouble she gets into.

There are some lovely characters in Purenet, but I especially liked the villain, Xander, who is a very well-shaped, well-written, nasty evil-doer. He doesn’t budge and is determined to fulfil his plans concerning Skylier even after he gains information that would make any other think the matter over twice before acting on it…

The characters, the world, the twists are all wonderful, yet I gave Purenet four stars, because the fact that it was so fast paced wasn’t only an advantage, but a bit of a disadvantage as well in my opinion. I so wanted it to be longer, I’d like to have read more details and to stay with the characters for another 100 pages or so… Being short as it was, despite how much I enjoyed all the action, the plot seemed rushed sometimes.

Aside from this little ’fault’, I can’t say enough how good Purenet was. Every dystopian and sci-fi fan should read it!

Goodreads | Amazon

Review - True Calling by Siobhan Davis

Title: True Calling (True Calling #1)

Author: Siobhan Davis

Rating: 3/5 stars

Synopsis: Planet Novo, nestled in space twelve hundred miles above the surface of the Earth, is the new home of 17 year old Cadet Ariana Skyee. Confused by the government-sanctioned memory erase and distressed at her impending forced marriage and motherhood, Ariana’s plans for the future are thrown into complete disarray.

As the traumatic events within her family life enfold, Ariana grows increasingly alarmed at the authorities apparent pre-occupation with her and feels progressively more isolated and alone.

Her growing feelings for fellow Cadet Cal Remus intensify as the recently announced pageant, ‘The Calling’, gets underway. Struggling to comprehend the continuous, inexplicable dreams of the mysterious Zane, discovering the past helps shape her future, with devastating personal consequences.

I received a free ebook copy of this book by the publishers via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

My thoughts:

I have mixed feelings about this book. I liked it, but didn’t love it – couldn’t love it. I think the main problem was that the shadows of now popular YA books were cast on it: there was a touch of Hunger Games in it, some elements of Divergent could be detected, The Selection must have had a great influence on the writer (The Bachelor vibe is there without a doubt) and at some parts it even reminded me of Angelfall. I shouldn’t make a big deal out of it I guess, I shouldn’t blame the writer for sticking to popular themes, but I was so sad to see the original ideas getting stifled by the familiar elements.

Now that you know what I didn’t like in True Calling, I’d like to highlight all the things that positively surprised me in this novel, because there were quite a few of those too:

At last we have a female protagonist who is not afraid of showing her feelings or does not feel guilty for breaking down and cry in front of others. You go Ariana Skyee, never harden!

The story is gripping (sometimes a bit slow, but action packed in general); first we follow the events through Ariana’s eyes, then we have Zane in the role of the narrator, but towards the end of the book we switch back to Ariana. I think it’s always interesting to see what different characters think of the same situation, so I was happy with this kind of structuring.

I loved the popular culture references that appeared here and there in the book. Novo’s motto is Live.Love.Prosper which is obviously a strong reference to Star Trek’s famous phrase: Live long and prosper.

’It’s like ’The Bachelor’ meets ’Nightmare on Elm Street’ says Ariana at some point about the Calling – indeed, it was a bit like that.

There’s a mention of the movie ’Groundhog Day’ as well when she’s talking about her dreams about Zane. I liked these bits very much.

I was delighted to find a gay character in the book and it was heartwarming to see how his friends supported Ben. Of course the government wasn’t that understanding... Siobhan Davis depicted well the people’s attitude towards same-sex relationshps in our world today: the majority rejects, the minority supports.

And last but not least let me say how great it was to see a real father figure around… I mean, we rarely meet a loving father in YA books nowadays. Ariana’s father was a really nice guy.

All in all, True Calling is an enjoyable sci-fi novel and it’s very likely I’ll read the second installment when it comes out. It might even stand a chance of getting four stars instead of three if the storyline develops differently than that of the Hunger Games.

Goodreads link

Review - 1984 by George Orwell

Title: Nineteen Eighty-Four

Author: George Orwell

Rating: 4/5 stars

Synopsis: Newspeak, Doublethink, Big Brother, the Thought Police - the language of 1984 has passed into the English language as a symbol of the horrors of totalitarianism. George Orwell's story of Winston Smith's fight against the all-prevading Party has become a classic not the least because of its intellectual coherence.

My thoughts: This was a shocking read. Merely to imagine a world without free thoughts is terrifying for me. When I was reading the book, at some parts my mind shouted: wrong wrONG WRONG, because the lack of privacy in the described society hit me so hard every time. The novel is a masterpiece, I cannot deny that, regardless how its mind-paralyzing ideologies made me feel. I definitely recommend it to those who enjoy dystopian novels (although if you’d like to avoid reading graphic torture scenes I suggest you pick up something else).