Survival
This Mortal Coil Book One
Written by Emily Suvada
Science Fiction, Dystopian
448 Pages
Thank you to Penguin Teen Australia
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★★★★★
When a lone soldier, Cole, arrives with news of Lachlan Agatta's death, all hope seems lost for Catarina. Her father was the world's leading geneticist, and humanity's best hope of beating a devastating virus.
Then, hidden beneath Cole's genehacked enhancements she finds a message of hope.
Lachlan created a vaccine.
Only she can find and decrypt it, if she can unravel the clues he left for her. The closer she gets, the more she finds herself at risk from Cartaxus, a shadowy organization with a stranglehold on the world's genetic tech. But it's too late to turn back.
There are three billion lives at stake, two people who can save them, and one final secret that Cat must unlock. A secret that will change everything.
To celebrate the release of This Vicious Cure, the conclusion to the This Mortal Coil Trilogy by Emily Suvada, I'll take you on a journey to explore the desolate wasteland, the plague decimating the population and the technology and characters who are entrusted to salvage humanity.
The Characters
Protagionist Catarina Agatta is an intelligent and resourceful young woman evading Cartaxus capture. Catarina is the seventeen year old daughter of the renowned geneticist Lachlan Agatta, a former Cartaxus programmer and genetic engineer, now recaptured along with his assistant to manufacture an antidote for the contagion decimating the country. Surviving within the isolated Black Hills and diagnosed with Hypergenesis, Catarina remains genetically unenhanced, relying upon her intellect and perception to survive.
Lieutenant Cole Franklin is an enhanced Cartaxus agent, the organisation who is holding her father captive in addition to his programming assistant. Cole has deflected and been assigned by Lachlan Agatta to protect Catarina and although she's malnourished, isolated and her only companion an elderly neighbour, is determined to become her own saviour. Cole is an interesting character and although he remains an agent of Cartaxus, he was raised within the confines of a laboratory and endured invasive experimentation under the guise of genetic manipulation.
The children, now adolescents of the genetic program have escaped the Cartaxus corporation, the remainder enlisted as soldiers. Leoben, Ziana, Cole, Anna and Jun Bei, children who endured torture and experimentation of consumer technology and programming under the guidance of Lachlan Agatta. Each character is tangible, created distinctly and introduced throughout the series.
World Building
The series is created within a desolate and American dystopian. The virus has ravaged the land and communities are living underground within Cartaxus bunkers. Those who remain on the surface live in isolation or in communities established with fortresses to protect the living from those effected by the virus. Throughout the series, several characters are collaborating on the coding that may inoculate the population, currently the only method of protection is to consume the flesh of the effected before they detonate vaporising into a mist and infecting those in the vicinity.
Entropia is an independent genehacker community, those living above ground protesting the invasiveness of the Cartaxus corporation and their militant methods. Throughout the series, Entropia becomes an important aspect of the narrative, introducing influential characters and emerging confrontations.
The Technology
Our lives are consumed by programming. Through a panel located on your forearm, applications are downloaded to change your appearance, regenerate our bodies, our senses, programming to create superior beings. The essence of This Mortal Coil is genetic manipulation and biotechnology, developed by Lachlan Agatta and administered to infants as nanotechnology. It allows programmers to create applications that download directly into the body, collaborating with our human genetics. Cartaxus monopolises the genetic applications, with the ability to deny survivors essential health enhancements.
Why You Need This Series in Your Life
Emily Suvada has studied mathematics and astrophysics, she's created a world where females are thriving as programmers, as soldiers and survivalists. Strong, remarkable women as heroines, villains and the morally ambiguous surviving against all odds. An airborne virus morphing formerly healthy individuals into bloodthirsty monsters and an all encompassing corporation determined to regulate and manipulate the civilian population as opposed by a community of genehackers. A science fiction thriller blending friendship, romance and a revolution of mammoth proportions.
The This Mortal Coil Trilogy is an intelligent, captivating and atmospheric science fiction dystopian. Absolutely phenomenal.
This Mortal Coil Book Two
Written by Emily Suvada
Science Fiction, Dystopian, Survival
448 Pages
Thank you to Penguin Teen Australia
Add to Goodreads
★★★★★
Catarina thought they'd stopped the Hydra virus. She was wrong.
After laying everything on the line to decrypt the vaccine, Cat realises that Lachlan's daemon code is in the panel of every person on the planet's surface. With it, he can reprogram humanity.
She, Cole and Leoben set out to stop him, but they're on a timer. Cartaxus, the shadowy corporation that's both helped and hindered them, has a deadly end game in play. The virus is evolving, the vaccine is dying, and if Cat can't find Lachlan in three days, they'll use lethal code to wipe out every person on the planet.
Their path takes them to Entropia, an underground city deep in the desert and home to the most extreme gene hackers, run by the queen of coding, Regina.
Struggling with the revelations about her past, and plagued by strange visions, what Cat finds in Entropia is more than just a trail to Lachlan. Because in the vaulted chambers of Regina's kingdom, Cat is forced to question everything she knows and everyone she trusts, and discovers that the biggest threat of all may be buried in her own mind.
This Mortal Coil Book Three
Written by Emily Suvada
Science Fiction, Dystopian, Survival
400 Pages
Thanks to Penguin Teen Australia
Add to Goodreads
★★★★★
Two factions at war.A plague that can't be stopped. A cure that could destroy them all.Cat's hacking skills weren't enough to keep her from losing everything, her identity, her past, and now her freedom.Meanwhile, the person who's stolen everything from her is close to realising a hacker's dream, the solution to humanity's problems in gene form. Or so she thinks.But now a new threat has emerged, a threat that could bring the world to the brink of a devastating war.Both sides will stop at nothing to seize control of humanity's future, and that the centre of this war is Cat, and a race against the clock save millions of lives.
See my reviews for Ash Princess and Lady Smoke
Ash Princess Trilogy Book Three
Written by Laura Sebastian
Fantasy, Political, Romance
480 Pages
Published February 11th 2020
Thank you to Pan Macmillan
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★★★★★
Smoke clears
And flames die,
But one burning ember
Can ignite a revolution.
Princess Theodosia was a prisoner in her own country for a decade. Renamed the Ash Princess, she endured relentless abuse and ridicule from the Kaiser and his court. But though she wore a crown of ashes, there is fire in Theo's blood. As the rightful heir to the Astrean crown, it runs in her veins. And if she learned nothing else from her mother, she learned that a Queen never cowers.
Now free, with a misfit army of rebels to back her, Theo must liberate her enslaved people and face a terrifying new enemy: the new Kaiserin. Imbued with a magic no one understands, the Kaiserin is determined to burn down anyone and everything in her way.
With more at stake than ever, Theo must learn to embrace her own power if she has any hope of standing against the girl she once called her heart's sister.
Queen Theodosia Eirene Houzzara is reclaiming Astrea from the Kalovaxian Empire, her homeland, her birthright and the freedom for Astrea from oppression and servitude. Theodosia has returned from the Fire Mine, stoking her ability to bring forth the blaze she needs to defend Crescentia, her former friend and now Kaiserin. The Kaiser slain by his forced bride's hand. Queen Theodosia is amassing her army of guardians and warriors to storm and lay siege to the capital, liberating those taken into slavery at the mines along her journey.
Theodosia is formidable, able to call upon her ability to create and manipulate fire with ease and not unlike Blaise and his own ability, will need to nurture and develop self control to weaponise her gift into something tangible to defeat Crescentia. Underneath her fearsome facade, lies a girl who is terrified of letting her people down and compares herself to her mother's reign. While her mother was known as the Queen of Peace before the siege that decimated her lands and took her country hostage, Theodosia is the Queen of Flame and Fury and will stop at nothing to see her kingdom liberated. Above all else. For the good of Astrea.
Throughout the series we've seen Theodosia blossom, from young girl adorned in her crown of ashes awaiting rescue, to the woman she's become. Her experiences have shaped her character, she's resilient, formidable and can rescue herself. She's the heroine of her own story. Theodosia is leading her misfit army, created from communities of Miners that had been enslaved by the Kalovaxians, their homelands conquered and left to ruin before their oppressors moved to conquer the next colony. Theodosia and her close knit circle of friends and warriors are fighting for those decimated by colonisation, daring to hope that after the war is won, Kingdoms will be rebuilt and the Kalovaxians will no longer reign.
This battle is intensely personal for both Theodosia and Crescentia, the girl who once described her friend as her heart's sister. Growing up in the castle after she was captured as a young girl, Crescentia befriended the young Ash Princess, despite the fury of her father. Crescentia believes that Theodosia is dead so when the two former friends begin connecting through Theodosia's dreams, Crescentia believes she's haunting her from the grave, spilling her secrets and plans for her Empire. What's evident is Crescentia's loneliness. Her father is dead, her husband is dead and her only friend wants her dead. In Theodosia's absence, Crescentia has been administering the poisoned elixir to ladies formerly of the Kalovaxian in the hope of creating a replacement.
The friendship between Artemisia, daughter of Dragonsbane and Theodosia was one of the highlights of Ember Queen. Artemisia was raised with a stern hand by her mother and in Dragonsbane's world, there was no room for weakness and comfort. Slowly Artemisia's icy facade begins to thaw, sharing with Theodosia her time in the Water Mine, growing up and her thoughts on love. Surprisingly. Heron continues to be the voice of reason while Theodosia begins to mend her friendship with Blaise. And Søren. I like Søren as a character despite the blood on his hands from when he was Prinz under his father's reign. He's atoning for his sins and although his relationship with Theodosia has been turbulent, he will fight for the freedom of Astrea. Sacrificing himself for the cause. Theodosia and Søren seem to work better as friends but having said that, the few intimate scenes between them were gentle and lovely, it brought a softness to the storyline and allowed Theodosia a few moments of peace and hope.
I really enjoyed seeing the discussions taking place in regards to how to rebuild society. With many Kingdoms left to ruin under the Kalovaxian reign and communities displaced, discussion turns to how to deal with Kalovaxian survivors. Continuing to plan the siege to take back her mother's throne, Theodosia will be faced with the prospect of killing Crescentia, unlikely that the now Kaiserin will allow herself to be taken alive. Crescentia may be a dangerous foe but she underestimates the strength of Theodosia and her resilience.
The Ash Princess Trilogy is innovative, imaginative and inspiring. It ignites discussion and explores themes of colonisation, displacement, asylum, gender violence, slavery and equality. It champions diversity. Throughout the Kingdoms are communities of varied languages and ethnicity. Characters of colour and sexualities, both male and female same sex relationships with one character possibly identifying as asexual, although not specifically expressed.
It was glorious. The series is phenomenal and although I'm disappointed to bid farewell to characters I've grown so incredibly fond of, I can't wait to see what Laura Sebastian is working on next. I can't recommend this series highly enough!
Throughout the series we've seen Theodosia blossom, from young girl adorned in her crown of ashes awaiting rescue, to the woman she's become. Her experiences have shaped her character, she's resilient, formidable and can rescue herself. She's the heroine of her own story. Theodosia is leading her misfit army, created from communities of Miners that had been enslaved by the Kalovaxians, their homelands conquered and left to ruin before their oppressors moved to conquer the next colony. Theodosia and her close knit circle of friends and warriors are fighting for those decimated by colonisation, daring to hope that after the war is won, Kingdoms will be rebuilt and the Kalovaxians will no longer reign.
This battle is intensely personal for both Theodosia and Crescentia, the girl who once described her friend as her heart's sister. Growing up in the castle after she was captured as a young girl, Crescentia befriended the young Ash Princess, despite the fury of her father. Crescentia believes that Theodosia is dead so when the two former friends begin connecting through Theodosia's dreams, Crescentia believes she's haunting her from the grave, spilling her secrets and plans for her Empire. What's evident is Crescentia's loneliness. Her father is dead, her husband is dead and her only friend wants her dead. In Theodosia's absence, Crescentia has been administering the poisoned elixir to ladies formerly of the Kalovaxian in the hope of creating a replacement.
The friendship between Artemisia, daughter of Dragonsbane and Theodosia was one of the highlights of Ember Queen. Artemisia was raised with a stern hand by her mother and in Dragonsbane's world, there was no room for weakness and comfort. Slowly Artemisia's icy facade begins to thaw, sharing with Theodosia her time in the Water Mine, growing up and her thoughts on love. Surprisingly. Heron continues to be the voice of reason while Theodosia begins to mend her friendship with Blaise. And Søren. I like Søren as a character despite the blood on his hands from when he was Prinz under his father's reign. He's atoning for his sins and although his relationship with Theodosia has been turbulent, he will fight for the freedom of Astrea. Sacrificing himself for the cause. Theodosia and Søren seem to work better as friends but having said that, the few intimate scenes between them were gentle and lovely, it brought a softness to the storyline and allowed Theodosia a few moments of peace and hope.
I really enjoyed seeing the discussions taking place in regards to how to rebuild society. With many Kingdoms left to ruin under the Kalovaxian reign and communities displaced, discussion turns to how to deal with Kalovaxian survivors. Continuing to plan the siege to take back her mother's throne, Theodosia will be faced with the prospect of killing Crescentia, unlikely that the now Kaiserin will allow herself to be taken alive. Crescentia may be a dangerous foe but she underestimates the strength of Theodosia and her resilience.
The Ash Princess Trilogy is innovative, imaginative and inspiring. It ignites discussion and explores themes of colonisation, displacement, asylum, gender violence, slavery and equality. It champions diversity. Throughout the Kingdoms are communities of varied languages and ethnicity. Characters of colour and sexualities, both male and female same sex relationships with one character possibly identifying as asexual, although not specifically expressed.
It was glorious. The series is phenomenal and although I'm disappointed to bid farewell to characters I've grown so incredibly fond of, I can't wait to see what Laura Sebastian is working on next. I can't recommend this series highly enough!
Contains spoilers, see my review for Ash Princess
Ash Princess Book Two
Written by Laura Sebastian
Fantasy, Political, Romance
512 Pages
Published February 12th 2019
Thank you to Pan Macmillan
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★★★★☆
The Kaiser murdered Theodosia's mother, the Fire Queen, when Theo was only six. He took her country and kept her prisoner, crowning her Ash Princess, a pet to toy with and humiliate for ten long years. That era has ended. The Kaiser thought his prisoner weak and defenceless. He didn't realise that a sharp mind is the deadliest weapon.
Theo no longer wears a crown of ashes. She has taken back her rightful title, and a hostage, Prinz Soren. But her people remain enslaved under the Kaiser's rule, and now she is thousands of miles away from them and her throne.
To get them back, she will need an army. Only, securing an army means she must trust her aunt, the dreaded pirate Dragonsbane. And according to Dragonsbane, an army can only be produced if Theo takes a husband. Something an Astrean Queen has never done.
Theo knows that freedom comes at a price, but she is determined to find a way to save her country without losing herself.
Theodosia has escaped her gilded confinement of the Kalovaxian empire, capturing Prinz Søren and reclaiming her throne from the totalitarian monarchy of the Kaiser. Freedom is momentary, infamous marauder Dragonsbane commanding her armada as Theodosia travels to the kingdom of Sta’Crivera. A treacherous journey fraught with uncertainty. Theodosia must conquer the Kalovaxian reign and although historically an Astrean Queen reigns alone, Theodosia is obligated to form an alliance, despite her reluctance to be betrothed.
Theodosia is a formidable young woman, enduring imprisonment, humiliation and enslavement. The Kalovaxian reign has decimated her country, Astrean Guardians were imprisoned and villagers bludgeoned, the Fire Queen extinguished as Theodosia comforted her mother during her final moments. Theodosia is unyielding and resilient, defiant when confronted with adversity. In Ash Princess, Theodosia portrayed a demure and despondent young woman, underestimated by the Kaiser, Theyn and Prinz Søren and despite the imprisoned young warrior leading the Kalovaxian military, Søren continues to remain captivated by the young Queen.
The kingdom of Sta’Crivera is opulent and extravagant, welcoming Queen Theodosia and her companions as she reluctantly entertains suitors to assure a military alliance for Astrea. Pretentious, arrogant and elderly suitors journey to Sta’Crivera, the King hosting banquets and receptions in an exhibition of extravagance. King Etristo is patronising and considers Theodosia as a juvenile and foolish girl incapable of the Astrean reign and on the threshold of securing an alliance, the Sta’Criveran palace is embroiled in an assassination.
Theodosia is a feminist challenging the archaic, patriarchal society. Theodosia considers the aspect of betrothal demeaning and primitive, challenging Etristo who has the audacity to suggest that women who have survived sexual abuse are tainted and inappropriately suggests Theodosia endure an examination to ensure her virginity. Among the suitors is Giosetta, an Empress from Vecturia identifying as being attracted to men and women, a wonderful inclusion proposing an alliance and platonic partnership with Theodosia.
Theodosia is a feminist challenging the archaic, patriarchal society. Theodosia considers the aspect of betrothal demeaning and primitive, challenging Etristo who has the audacity to suggest that women who have survived sexual abuse are tainted and inappropriately suggests Theodosia endure an examination to ensure her virginity. Among the suitors is Giosetta, an Empress from Vecturia identifying as being attracted to men and women, a wonderful inclusion proposing an alliance and platonic partnership with Theodosia.
Throughout her time in the ostentatious Empire, Theodosia and her advisers, Artemisia, Blaise and Heron, discover the refugee encampment, home to displaced communities including Astreans. The conditions are inhumane, the community is malnourished, the prosperity of the Sta’Criverans not extended to those seeking refuge. Laura Sebastian continues to encourage discussion and recognition of colonisation and displacement throughout her narratives, creative an environment resembling the experiences of refugee communities.
Beautifully written and wonderfully imagined, the Ash Princess series is exceptional. Inspired reading!
Written by Bren Macdibble
Middle Grade, Dystopian, Survival
248 Pages
Published February 2019
Thank you to Allen & Unwin Australia
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★★★★★
Ella and her brother Emery are alone in a city that's starving to death. If they are going to survive, they must get away, upcountry, to find Emery's mum. But how can two kids travel such big distances across a dry, barren, and dangerous landscape? Well, when you've got five big doggos and a dry land dogsled, the answer is you go mushing. But when Emery is injured, Ella must find a way to navigate them through rough terrain, and even rougher encounters with desperate people...
It begun with the fungus that spread across the expansive fields of Australia, fresh produce became a rare commodity as the pasture succumbed to infestation, animals starving, livestock perishing. The government delegated rations were barely enough to survive as friends and neighbours begin to abandon their homes. Organised syndicates roamed the neighbourhood in search for commodities, gold and precious metals traded for meagre allowances.
Siblings Ella and Emery share their small suburban apartment with their father and three canine companions, waiting for their mother to return home from the electricity station. It's been eight months since Ella has seen her mother, several weeks since the electricity blacked out and with no contact from her mother, Ella and Emery's father ventures to the station to find his wife with plans to leave the city with his family.
The city is dangerous, especially for two children and when their father doesn't return home, Ella and Emery decide to travel across the rough terrain to reach Emery's mother's farm. Along with their three dogs, two new recruits and a mushing sled, Ella and Emery will need to navigate the desolate countryside, avoiding armed offenders and learning to survive on the dying land.
The Dog Runner is harrowing and hopeful journey of two children surviving despite an environmental disaster, told from the perspective of a young lady pining for her mother. Ella is such a lovely character, intelligent but within the new world, she continues to see the best in others and in humanity. Besides her half brother Emery, Ella feels safest with her Malamute Maroochy, her loyal canine companion. From their small apartment window, Ella watches her world turning to ruin. The streets are no longer safe as a food shortage begins bringing out the worst in others. To survive, Ella and Emery are planning on sledding to Emery's mother's house, a small mushroom farm that she manages with her parents beyond the city. With communications wiped out and solar power panels being stolen, there's no way of knowing if the farm has been effected or how wide the infestation spread.
In a country reliant upon grain, a red fungus has spread throughout the city and native floral, grasslands have died, animals who normally feed off the land are starving. The narrative encourages discussion surrounding sustainable farming and sustainable living. All it takes is a bacteria or fungus introduced into our environment for our food source to completely overwhelmed. The government guaranteed rations would continue but ultimately left communities to ruin while those desperate for food begun to turn on one another.
Novels like The Dog Runner are so incredibly important, especially given the environmental state of our world. It introduces middle grade readers to issues such as biodiversity, sustainability, erosion and drought using accessible and engaging language. Although one dog sustains an injury, each dog survives. Bren Macdibble is a phenomenal middle grade author, her debut children's novel How To Bee is a thought provoking narrative of environmental impact and human development, cementing herself as a wonderful author who is conscious of our environment and how education and awareness allows us to make better choices to sustain our planet. Simply beautiful.
Written by Kate Alice Marshall
Mystery, Paranormal, Horror
400 Pages
Published October 1st 2019
Thank you to Walker Books Australia
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Mystery, Paranormal, Horror
400 Pages
Published October 1st 2019
Thank you to Walker Books Australia
Add to Goodreads
Once a year, a road appears in the forest. And at the end of it, the ghost of Lucy Gallows beckons. Lucy’s game isn’t for the faint of heart. If you win, you escape with your life. But if you lose...
Sara’s sister disappeared one year ago and only Sara knows where she is. Becca went to find the ghost of Lucy Gallows and is trapped on her road. In the sleepy town of Briar Glen, Lucy’s road is nothing more than local lore. But Sara knows it’s real, and she’s going to find it. When Sara and her skeptical friends meet in the forest to search for Becca, the mysterious road unfurls before them. All they have to do is walk down it. But the path to Lucy is not of this world, and it has its own rules. Every mistake summons new horrors. Vengeful spirits and broken, angry creatures are waiting for them to slip, and no one is guaranteed safe passage. The only certainty is this: the road has a toll and it will be paid. Sara knows that if she steps onto the road, she might not come back. But Becca needs her. And Lucy is waiting.
Briar Glen is synonymous with the the name Lucy Gallows, a young woman that wandered into the forest and never returned. Her last known whereabouts was on a road to nowhere, being lead by an unknown male assailant. Throughout the years the fable may have interchanged but the instructions remain the same, find a partner, find a key, find the road.
On the eve of the anniversary of Lucy Gallow's disappearance, Sara Donoghue's adoptive sister Rebecca was lured into the fated fable, whispered conversations and a notebook left behind, evidence she planned to find fifteen year old Lucy. Sara has maintained hope that Sara is still alive, the police labelling the adolescent as a difficult young woman who disappeared with Zachary Kent, a young man she barely knew.
Although Rebecca was adopted as an infant, Sara Donoghue and sister Rebecca shared an everlasting friendship. Rebecca was the center of their universe, a group of friends who dissolved shortly after her disappearance, Sara has endured depression and isolation. Her journey to find her sister is harrowing, captivating and a breathtaking paranormal thriller that will captivate the imagination of readers until the final page.
Find a partner. Find a key. Find the road.
Atmospheric and haunting, Rules for Vanishing is told from the perspective of Sara Donoghue through a series of interviews, transcripts, eyewitness accounts and photographic evidence while Sara recollects her journey upon the once believed to be mythological road. The legend of Lucy Gallows has been idolised by the teens of Briar Glen since her disappearance, speculation that her brother killed her and left her to ruin on the forest floor the logical conclusion. What happened to Lucy has always been a mystery but those who believe in Lucy's story can hear the young woman calling for help, including Becca, according to her sister Sara. Sara refuses to accept that she ran away with her new boyfriend when Becca and Sara's best friend were clearly attracted to one another, only Anthony didn't believe in the local legend which left Becca to find someone who was willing to follow her onto the road.
Although Sara's self isolated after Becca's disappearance, her former group of mutual friends have come along for the ride. Disbelieving in the supernatural, I don't think anyone expected to have stumbled upon the road, now finding themselves in a strange and eerie purgatory between worlds, where darkness is no friend of the weary traveller and you must follow the rules to survive. Take a partner, hold their hand and under no circumstances should you leave the road. What ensues is a creepy as hell storyline that left me jumping at shadows and reading long into the night. Despite my better judgement and skyrocketing anxiety.
The travellers are a motley crew of characters, all varying degrees of unreliable so as a reader it's difficult to establish what's real and what has been created by the trauma of the situation or outright untruths. Regardless, it makes for a fascinating narrative that blends a contemporary storyline with urban legend, infused with paranormal elements and everything in between. Reminiscent of the Blair Witch Project and Small Spaces by Australian author Sarah Epstein.
My favourite element of Rules for Vanishing was the ability to surprise readers. By now we've all read enough paranormal to fill a warehouse, this is one book that needs to be celebrated for being unique and creating the mystery and intrigue to captivate even the toughest of readers, not to mention creep us the hell out.
You know what, just read it. The element of surprise is all in the discovery of the urban legend and those who seek answers. Just a word of warning to leave the light on, Lucy seems to dwell in the dark.
Written by Alison Evans
Apocalyptic, Survival, Diverse, #LoveOZYA
367 Pages
Published February 2nd 2019
Thank you to Echo Publishing
Add to Goodreads
★★★★★
Who will you rely on in the zombie apocalypse?
Bodies on the TV, explosions, barriers, and people fleeing. No access to social media. And a dad who’ll suddenly bite your head off , literally. These teens have to learn a new resilience…
Members of a band wield weapons instead of instruments.
A pair of siblings find there’s only so much you can joke about, when the menace is this strong.
And a couple find depth among the chaos.
Highway Bodies is a unique zombie apocalypse story featuring a range of queer and gender non conforming teens who have lost their families and friends and can only rely upon each other.
Highway Bodies centres on three groups of adolescents throughout Melbourne during an apocalyptic outbreak, our humanity and resistance. Fraternal siblings Rhea and Jojo are awaiting information from their mother, a first responder and emergency nurse during the initial epidemic onslaught. Social media websites are being censored by government officials and journalists are reporting of a factory explosion in a neighbouring suburb.
Imagine rendered defenceless as your father decimates his family. Your only solace is nestled within the large topiaries masquerading as sentinels in your garden. The deceased faltering throughout the streets as you hear a young woman, a survivor needing assistance.
Poppy, Jack, Zufan and Dee are enjoying their freedom, composing and performing among the cicadas of their ramshackle cottage as communications go down. Venturing into the nearest town, the roads are abandoned, blood congealing on pavements.
These three narratives sharing a common ambition, to survive.
Poppy, Jack, Zufan and Dee are enjoying their freedom, composing and performing among the cicadas of their ramshackle cottage as communications go down. Venturing into the nearest town, the roads are abandoned, blood congealing on pavements.
These three narratives sharing a common ambition, to survive.
The narrative is experienced through three perspectives and although taking place throughout a terrifying outbreak, it centres upon the survivors. Resilient adolescents that are adapting to their new environment. It's survival against humanity. Throughout their journey, the adolescents are consistently challenged by morality and the debris of human life, dangerous adults recruiting survivors and demanding idolisation under the guise of protection. It soon becomes apparent that it's the living that should be feared.
The diversity of characters is wonderful, various identities, cultural backgrounds, genders and pronouns, all wonderfully representative of a multicultural and diverse Melbourne landscape. Genderqueer, bisexual, transgender, lesbian, Ethiopian, Pakistani she and they pronouns, facial scarring and amputated fingers. As each character introduces themselves, they also offer their pronouns. A wonderful and inclusive gesture, being that pronouns are also our own individual identities.
The prose is striking. The discourse and interactions allow readers to empathise with characters, their terror and sorrow is palpable. As a debut, Alison's IDA was brilliant and a wonderful precedent of how authors can write diversely. Alison Evans' writing has matured and flourished, their vibrancy shining throughout the narrative by enthralling and captivating readers until the final page.
Written by Wai Chim
Historical, Friendship, Diversity
Published September 1st 2016
272 Pages
Purchased
Published by Allen & Unwin Australia
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★★★★★
Published September 1st 2016
272 Pages
Purchased
Published by Allen & Unwin Australia
Add to Goodreads
★★★★★
This incredible tale about two boys' swim from mainland China to Hong Kong in search of freedom from poverty and oppression is inspired by a true story.
Ming survived the famine that killed his parents during China's Great Leap Forward, and lives a hard but adequate life, working in the fields.
When a group of city boys comes to the village as part of a Communist Party reeducation program, Ming and his friends aren't sure what to make of the new arrivals. They're not used to hard labour and village life. But despite his reservations, Ming befriends a charming city boy called Li. The two couldn't be more different, but slowly they form a bond over evening swims and shared dreams.
But as the bitterness of life under the Party begins to take its toll on both boys, they begin to imagine the impossible. Freedom.
Ming stands on the bank of the river, a farewell to his mother who now joins the procession of souls taken by years of famine. His father died attempting to swim to Hong Kong, escaping the communist regime. Starving and alone, Ming is eleven years old when Fei is seeking refuge, one night of shared sorrow ensuring a friendship of support and comfort spanning distance and time.
Toiling the impacted earth, Ming labours for meager rations when under a Mao regime, the village of Dingzai has been selected for reeducation, expected to learn the teachings of their leader while the young men of the Red Guard are sentenced to the toil as humble farmers. Spreading the message of Mao. Li is serving his leader, the Red Guard member an exemplary young man who is commended for his loyalty and dedicated to the teachings of his leader.
Ming and Li form a tentative friendship, relying on one another for support, guidance and compassion. Tension is high in the small farming village of Dingzai, famine and neglect have taken their toll and the only refuge is a liberal Hong Kong, a tumultuous Freedom Swim across the channel or risk being labelled as a reactionary thinker.
When you have nothing left, you have nothing left to lose.
My Thoughts
A few weeks ago I read a review for Freedom Swimmer on Happy Indulgence and was touched by Jeann's review. She spoke about how her family had migrated to Australia in which most families search for freedom and an environment to raise children, allowing them to prosper. It's a narrative echoed by so many Australian families, our neighbours, our friends and family members. Ming's story is passionate and breathtaking but most of all, it instills hope and a sense of understanding, learning not to take our freedom for granted.
Orphaned at the tender age of only eleven years old, Ming is a mere boy in a village where children sow the fields in communist China, not afforded an education unlike wealthy families living within the city, Ming is an outcast since his father attempted the treacherous swim to Hong Kong.
Titled Freedom Swimming by the media, an overwhelming number of young men and women made the journey to freedom, escaping Maoist guards with dozens of barely adult bodies washing up on the Hong Kong shoreline. Famine swept throughout China and for many citizens, escape was their only means of survival. Wai Chim was inspired by her own father's story, he too was a Freedom Swimmer in the early seventies and now lives a peaceful life in New York. An inspiration.
Freedom Swimmer is told in duel narratives from both Ming and Li, both young men are wonderfully written and will appeal to the wider audience with the characters conversing in modern English. Readers experience China's Cultural Revolution through the eyes of two young men, wanting justice for the treatment of so many and hopeful for their freedom. Freedom Swimming was an incredibly treacherous era, with many media reports believing it was a significant precursor to cultural change.
Australia is a multicultural country not without fault. Asylum seekers from war ravaged countries are modern day Freedom Swimmers, seeking refuge and safe passage for their families only to be placed in detention. Unless you identify as an Indigenous Australian who remain our traditional land owners, we are all migrants seeking the same freedom and prosperity and Freedom Swimmer further highlights their plight.
Inspirational, poignant and quietly beautiful, Freedom Swimmer is a journey of bravery and the strength we draw from solidarity and compassion.
Yet To Be Titled Series Book One
Written by Mark Smith
Apocalyptic, Survival, #LoveOzYA
Published June 27th 2016
240 Pages
Thanks to Text Publishing
Add to Goodreads
★★★☆
Since a deadly virus and the violence that followed wiped out his parents and most of his community, Finn has lived alone on the rugged coast with only his loyal dog Rowdy for company.
He has stayed alive for two winters, hunting and fishing and trading food, and keeping out of sight of the Wilders, an armed and dangerous gang that controls the north, led by a ruthless man named Ramage.
But Finn’s isolation is shattered when a girl runs onto the beach. Rose is a Siley, an asylum seeker, and she has escaped from Ramage, who had enslaved her and her younger sister, Kas. Rose is desperate, sick, and needs Finn’s help. Kas is still missing somewhere out in the bush.
And Ramage wants the girls back, at any cost.
In the sleepy coastal town of Angowrie, they had thought the isolation would have protected the community from the virus that has spread throughout Australia. As the population diminishes, sixteen year old Finn and his companion Rowdy are surviving off the land while hiding in his small off road abode. In an act of defiance against the new world, Sam finds peace in the turbulent waves in between storm fronts crossing the coast and it's there where he discovers Rose, a girl on the run.
Rose is a Siley, an asylum seeker who arrived in Australia with her younger sister and was sent to work on the mainland. After society begun to break down, Rose and her sister are being hunted by the Wilders, a group of violent, rogue men. Females are scarce, the virus having effected mostly women and girls as it spread across the country which makes the liberated sisters a valuable commodity.
But when Rose falls ill it'll be left to Finn to find Kashmala, before the Wilders take her captive or find Rose first.
My Thoughts
The Road To Winter was a wonderful read that lured me in with it's premise and left me wanting more. Finn is a remarkable young man. Having lost his mother two years ago to the virus spreading across the country, his father passing as a result of a violent outbreak in town, Finn's only company is his canine companion Rowdy and the sound of the waves which beckon him. He's self sufficient, hunting, fishing and trading his fresh catches with a local farmer in exchange for fruit and vegetables. It's a meager existence and he's simply surviving rather than living. Until he meets Rose.
Rose's fear is palpable. She's on the run from the Wilders and escaped when she and sister Kashmala were separated and is desperate to find her before the viscous Ramage and his Wilders find them both. Although weary to share her story, Rose's life has been a traumatic struggle of imprisonment and ownership. Having arrived in Australia as an asylum seeker, the girls were given to a local family while adults were placed in detention centers. Siley's are owned by Australian families, used to work on the land and denied an education or a basic duty of care.
I loved the social messages woven throughout the storyline. It touches on the social injustice of basic human rights and the plight of refugees within Australia, gently and with care. The barren Australian coastline was vivid, a simple existence that captivated with so few words. But as much as I had enjoyed the storyline overall, the backstory felt lacking.
As a reader, I need to know how the portrayed world came to be, why does the virus effect more females than males? Before communication was left abandoned, how far did the virus spread? Finn himself also talks about how his town assumed there would be government intervention, a cure or precautions to help stem the deadly virus from spreading. Were capital cities effected? I can understand that a character of sixteen is unable to provide answers, apart from bigoted speculation that those seeking asylum had brought the virus to our shores. I hope that book two in the currently unnamed series is able to provide more information as the storyline progresses.
Overall, it was a quick, yet entertaining read. Although Finn's character is likable, I wanted to feel an emotional connection to his character but couldn't quite get there. It could be that I tend to find the female perspective more enjoyable as a narrative, but that's simply personal preference. Regardless, a wonderful debut and I look forward to reading the next series installment.
A Toaster on Mars
Written by Darrell Pitt
Middle Grade, Humour, Science Fiction, #LoveOzYA
Published 30th May 2016
Thank you to Text Publishing
Add to Goodreads
★★★
Badde plans on using a device to wipe out all technology and electrical devices on Earth, plunging the planet into a Dark Age unless his demands are met. But after his last investigation resulted in a near death experience, Blake will be forced to take on a partner and none other than Special Agent Nikki Steel.
Nikki is no ordinary agent, she's a cyborg, with golden skin and a thirst for fighting crime and it isn't long before the two agents discover that Badde wants more than monetary gain when he takes Blake's daughter Lisa captive. To secure her release, Blake and Nikki must break into a secure underground facility where they are to steal a computer super virus simply known as Maria.
Along with the help of his former wife, Blake and Nikki have but only days to pull off the impossible heist or risk losing Lisa forever.
The humour is silly slapstick, groan worthy dad jokes and eye rolling cliches but if the intended middle grade audience can forgive the abundance of adult characters, it's still an enjoyable read. With the only likable character being the villainous Badde, the humour didn't work for me unfortunately. I did enjoy the simplistic world building, especially Elvisworld, where Elvis impersonators have been imprisoned.
But strictly for the intended audience though I'm afraid.
Written by Darrell Pitt
Middle Grade, Humour, Science Fiction, #LoveOzYA
Published 30th May 2016
Thank you to Text Publishing
Add to Goodreads
★★★
Teenagers on skateboards jumped off walkways, dropped a dozen floors and activated rockets to safely land walkways below. Blake took a deep breath, inhaling something that smelt like a cross between burnt plastic and toffee apple.Blake works as an agent for the Planetary Bureau of Investigation, solving temporal crimes that are beyond the realm for the local law enforcement. A recent divorcee, middle aged and balding, Blake works in the busy metropolis of Neo City where his career has been spent trying to capture notorious criminal Bartholomew Badde, who aspires to be history's greatest villain.
Neo City, 2509.
After a series of operational bungles, as well as the accidental death of his partner, special agent Blake Carter’s career at the Planetary Bureau of Investigation is in trouble. To make matters worse, he’s just been assigned a new partner, and the beautiful and brilliant Nicki Steel happens to be a cyborg.
When universe famous criminal Bartholomew Badde steals a weapon capable of destroying whole planets at a time, Blake and Nicki must work together to recover it, an investigation that takes them to all corners of the weird and wonderful galaxy. But things get serious when Badde kidnaps Blake’s teenage daughter, Lisa. Can Blake prove he’s still a first rate agent, not to mention father, and save Lisa in time?
Badde plans on using a device to wipe out all technology and electrical devices on Earth, plunging the planet into a Dark Age unless his demands are met. But after his last investigation resulted in a near death experience, Blake will be forced to take on a partner and none other than Special Agent Nikki Steel.
Nikki is no ordinary agent, she's a cyborg, with golden skin and a thirst for fighting crime and it isn't long before the two agents discover that Badde wants more than monetary gain when he takes Blake's daughter Lisa captive. To secure her release, Blake and Nikki must break into a secure underground facility where they are to steal a computer super virus simply known as Maria.
Along with the help of his former wife, Blake and Nikki have but only days to pull off the impossible heist or risk losing Lisa forever.
A Toaster on Mars was a satirical and fun space adventure that will appeal to lovers of slapstick comedy. Set in the year 2509, it follows the storyline of Blake Carter, middle aged gruff agent who investigates universal temporal crimes and those beyond the capabilities of local law enforcement. Seeing Blake isn't all that likable as a character, thank goodness for his new partner, cyborg Nikki Steel. Nikki is a tough, no nonsense agent who plays by the rules. Thrown together, the two must hunt down the galaxy's most notorious criminal who plans to annihilate Earth through destroying all technological advances. But when Badde kidnaps Blake's daughter, they must work together with wanted villain or his daughter faces a life of torture.My Thoughts
'That's right', Badde said.Although written as a middle grade slash early teen adventure, the main character is a middle aged, gruff man and his cyborg sidekick and unfortunately I tended to lose interest throughout. The reader experiences brief glimpses of Lisa's point of view as she's being held captive, but the main focus was placed on Blake's interstellar adventure. Like most readers, children and teens also enjoy being able to place themselves within a storyline and I feel as though that probably isn't the case here.
'I have an entire box set of The Brady Bunch and I'm prepared to use them.'
The humour is silly slapstick, groan worthy dad jokes and eye rolling cliches but if the intended middle grade audience can forgive the abundance of adult characters, it's still an enjoyable read. With the only likable character being the villainous Badde, the humour didn't work for me unfortunately. I did enjoy the simplistic world building, especially Elvisworld, where Elvis impersonators have been imprisoned.
But strictly for the intended audience though I'm afraid.
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