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100pagesaday's review
4.0
" I suppose it's a dark world."
From the prologue, a treacherous and uncertain world is set for eight year old Jade and her newborn sister Pearl. Pearl is given to Jade and she is told to run, get out of the only home she had even known. Jade and Pearl must escape from the darkness and safety of the Tunnels and go to the surface, Pearl was born irradiated, mutated because her father spent too much time in the sun. Years later, Jade, Pearl and two other surface dwellers have made a life for themselves by scavenging and trading. Pearl, who was born with pink skin and sucker caps up and down her arms has been having strange dreams, dreams where she can see other people and how they live. She doesn't know that all these people also see her in their dreams and that they are coming to take her away.
I loved the concept of this dystopian world, the sun's rays are now so intense that people are being mutated (this happens now, but we just call it skin cancer). Such a simple thing that causes so many issues, it is difficult to live on the surface, water is scarce, the air is hardly breathable, food is scarce and those born irradiated might have a unique gift. Jade was the character I identified with the most, the writing switches back and forth from Jade and Pearl's point of view, Jade was continually struggling to make everything right, find food, keep dangers away and protect her sister. When Pearl is taken, Jade steps up and becomes quite the vigilante. Towards the end, there is some insight into the hierarchy of the Tunnel dwellers. I was interested in who The Queen was...but I have my ideas. This was a shorter work, but part of a series. I'll have to see what happen's next.
This book was received for free in return for an honest review.
mlboyd20's review
3.0
I would like to thank the author for providing me with a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Providing such does not sway my review in any way.
A unique take on the post-apocalyptic world; part fantasy, part dystopian, part Grimm's fairy tales, but altogether original material in a genre that has become very popular and sometimes over saturated with the same type of story lines. The sun comes into play and is part of the story in a way that I never considered. In some ways like the cancerous effects of dioxin and other biochemical waste products.
The story centers around Pearl. She is unique in several ways. She was born irradiated, with sucker caps that remind you of an octopus, pink skin and thin silver hair. Honestly, I wish this book came with pictures. Through the descriptions and my imagination filling in the blanks, I can only hope that what I felt many in the book looked like is close to how the author sees them.
People are drawn to Pearl. Some are drawn to help her, some are drawn to use her for their own benefit in wiping out others. The one constant variable throughout the book is that her sister, Jade, would go to the ends of the world to save her. Jade, an old soul who has seen much in her years, still has the compassion for those that she knows have been done wrong but even than, will strike that person down fast and hard if she knows that they are part of why her sister was taken away.
Being a huge fan of the dystopian/post-apocalyptic genre, I found it really hard to get through this book. Descriptions were murky, story lines were a bit over the top, parts of it having me think Lord of the Rings meets Firefly meets Farscape but minus space and spacecraft and overall it just felt disjointed. The story didn't flow very well, even with the change of POVs, but towards the end it all finally seemed to finally weave together and become much easier to follow.
I don't recommend this to mainstream dystopia readers, but I do to those readers who like a bit of quirkiness interjected. I think that this would be right up their alley and could spread like wildfire by them just by word of mouth. I honestly feel that this would be much better as a graphic novel than how it is presented. There's so much description needed and the people and settings ache to pounce from the written word and be seen in all it's grand tapestry.
Having said all this, I will be following the author and will check out the further books in the tunnel trilogy. He has just scratched the surface in what can become an epic story. Just recently, the second book in the trilogy was released, Degenerated.
A unique take on the post-apocalyptic world; part fantasy, part dystopian, part Grimm's fairy tales, but altogether original material in a genre that has become very popular and sometimes over saturated with the same type of story lines. The sun comes into play and is part of the story in a way that I never considered. In some ways like the cancerous effects of dioxin and other biochemical waste products.
The story centers around Pearl. She is unique in several ways. She was born irradiated, with sucker caps that remind you of an octopus, pink skin and thin silver hair. Honestly, I wish this book came with pictures. Through the descriptions and my imagination filling in the blanks, I can only hope that what I felt many in the book looked like is close to how the author sees them.
People are drawn to Pearl. Some are drawn to help her, some are drawn to use her for their own benefit in wiping out others. The one constant variable throughout the book is that her sister, Jade, would go to the ends of the world to save her. Jade, an old soul who has seen much in her years, still has the compassion for those that she knows have been done wrong but even than, will strike that person down fast and hard if she knows that they are part of why her sister was taken away.
Being a huge fan of the dystopian/post-apocalyptic genre, I found it really hard to get through this book. Descriptions were murky, story lines were a bit over the top, parts of it having me think Lord of the Rings meets Firefly meets Farscape but minus space and spacecraft and overall it just felt disjointed. The story didn't flow very well, even with the change of POVs, but towards the end it all finally seemed to finally weave together and become much easier to follow.
I don't recommend this to mainstream dystopia readers, but I do to those readers who like a bit of quirkiness interjected. I think that this would be right up their alley and could spread like wildfire by them just by word of mouth. I honestly feel that this would be much better as a graphic novel than how it is presented. There's so much description needed and the people and settings ache to pounce from the written word and be seen in all it's grand tapestry.
Having said all this, I will be following the author and will check out the further books in the tunnel trilogy. He has just scratched the surface in what can become an epic story. Just recently, the second book in the trilogy was released, Degenerated.
triniredreading's review
3.0
I could probably make this 3.5/5. In fact I was tempted to do so and round up to 4 since this is a self-published novel and although there are a few errors I didn't spend the entire book wincing (as can be the case).
This is quite fast paced and a quick read (perhaps a bit too quick as some ideas could have been fleshed out more for me). It's not always an easy read. The author writes beautiful descriptions but some scenes are on the gruesome side. The concept of this post-apocolyptic world is quite interesting but a little uneven. How does a place get described as a "crime scene" by someone who never lived in a society with law and order?
This is quite fast paced and a quick read (perhaps a bit too quick as some ideas could have been fleshed out more for me). It's not always an easy read. The author writes beautiful descriptions but some scenes are on the gruesome side. The concept of this post-apocolyptic world is quite interesting but a little uneven. How does a place get described as a "crime scene" by someone who never lived in a society with law and order?
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