“They demanded obedience. She chose defiance. Now hope rises.
Bria Averton never wanted to return to Talionis. Now she's forced to help train an army poised for destruction, with Commander Ark's invasion of Sitreea just months away. Walking a razor's edge, she appears compliant while secretly sabotaging his plans from within.
Monitored at every turn, Bria finds unexpected allies in Talionis's growing resistance. But the Commander knows exactly where to strike—using Storm and Matthias as leverage, he ensures her defiance comes at an impossible cost.
In a city built on fear, her greatest weapon may be the hope she refuses to surrender.”
Series: Book #4 in the “Talionis” series. Reviews of Book #1, Book #2, and Book #3.
Spiritual Content- Scriptures are remembered, referenced, mentioned, & discussed; Prayers & Thanking God; Feeling peace while at a church; Many talks about God, Jesus, trusting Him and His timing, & letting go of fear; ’H’s are capital when referring to God; Bria doesn’t understand why God would be silent about the evil in the world and not stop the evil people; *Spoilers* Towards the end, Bria asks God for forgiveness for acting like everything depended on her and what she can do rather than trusting God, giving her fears to Him, & remembering that He is in control; She feels peace after relinquishing control *End of Spoilers*; Mentions of God, Jesus, trusting Him, letting go of fear, God’s plan, & having faith; Mentions of Bibles & Bible reading; Mentions of prayers & praying; Mentions of a church & its stained glass windows of a cross; Mentions of miracles; A few mentions of Heaven & eternal life;
*Note: Bria sees someone working out “hard enough in an attempt to kill [his] personal demons” and recognizes it because she’s done the same; Bria thinks the villain has lived as if he is a god; Many mentions of evil people, their evil plans, & their wicked smiles; A few mentions of a man’s “spiritual mentor”; A few mentions of luck.
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a form of ‘shut up’, a ‘suck up’, two ‘screwed up’s, four ‘stupid’s, and six ‘dumb’; Eye rolling & Sarcasm; Eavesdropping; Lots of attacking/fighting, being shot, being shot at, being held at gunpoint, gunfire, being hit/beaten/slapped, being poisoned, setting and hearing explosions, pain, injuries, blood/bleeding, passing out, & throwing up (semi-detailed); Seeing others be killed and nearly killed, shot (including a child), held at gunpoint, shocked/tased, hit/beaten, attacked, fighting, in pain, injured, bleeding, & unconscious (and recalling most of it all, up to semi-detailed); Bria recalls seeing deaths of friends or their fake deaths in virtual scenarios & grieves over their deaths and the possibility of other friends being in harm’s way (semi-detailed); Bria and the others (including young children) go through training exercises that seem very realistic and includes shooting and killing those in their way, seeing others shot and killed (including friends), hearing gunfire and screams, & setting explosions (both in real-life and via technology; Bria also has to create these virtual scenarios, struggles with how realistic it all is, and has nightmares of it; all up to semi-detailed); Bria is often threatened and manipulated by the villain (including threats about harm coming to those she cares about); A child recalls seeing a loved one murdered (barely-above-not-detailed); Many mentions of deaths (including drownings), near deaths, murders, executions/“eliminations”, bodies, guilt, & grief (including for a brother, a son, & a mother); Many mentions of explosives/explosions, fires, weapons/guns, gunfire, being shot, being shot at, being held at gunpoint, & shooting others; Many mentions of beatings, injuries, pain, & blood/bleeding (up to semi-detailed); Many mentions of wars plans & child soldiers; Many mentions of possible deaths & a leader not caring if others die while doing his plans; Many mentions of manipulation, lies, lying, & liars; Many mentions of hatred; Many mentions of being betrayed & traitors; Mentions of a girl becoming a “weapon of war” due to technology implanted in her (like a hand with a machine gun); Mentions of abusive (physically and verbally) parents & beatings from one father; Mentions adults cruelly threatening children and enjoying their fear; Mentions of drugs/poisons & being poisoned; Mentions of jails/prisons; Mentions of nightmares; Mentions of throwing up; A few mentions of jealousy; A few mentions of rumors & gossip; A couple mentions of a woman being ignored and abandoned by her mother; A couple mentions of teens running away from home; A mention of a son being almost relieved when his abusive parent dies; A mention of a tattoo (that has a Christian meaning); A mention of saving someone’s butt.
Sexual Content- Two hand kisses, three head/forehead kisses, a barely-above-not-detailed kiss, and a semi-detailed kiss; Remembering a kiss (barely-above-not-detailed); Touches, Embraces, Hand holding, Flutters, Warmth, Nearness, & Smelling (barely-above-not-detailed); Blushes & Winks; Noticing (including muscles, barely-above-not-detailed); Wanting to touch & embrace (barely-above-not-detailed); Bria finds herself distracted when around Matthias; Mentions of blushes & winks; Mentions of jealousy; A few mentions of a illegitimate son, the father refusing to acknowledge the son’s existence, & an affair; Light love, falling/being in love, & the emotions.
-Bria Averton, age 17-18
1st person P.O.V. of Bria
585 pages
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Pre Teens-
New Teens-
Early High School Teens-
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My personal Rating-
🎶 It’s the final countdown - do do doooo doo - do do do do dooo 🎶
I’ve been looking forward to the final showdown in this book since the very first book—so about a gazillion pages ago? This series has definitely had longer paged books than I expected, but I definitely felt like I knew every single detail that Bria was thinking (and also experiencing) because of it. That’s a bit of a positive and negative at times for me because I just wanted to get on with the justice and takedown of the evil villain, but I do like dystopian books so I wasn’t too bothered by it. This final book sets at just under 600 pages—it really didn’t feel like that, though, and I was pretty invested into the story where the pages flew by quickly, so a major props to the author for that!
I did struggle a bit with all the different characters and keeping track of past events, but there was the character chart at the beginning and enough recaps/reminders that I was able to follow along pretty well.
While this might not be a new favorite Christian dystopian series for me personally, it’s definitely one I would recommend for teens who like the genre—particularly those who don’t want the hopelessness than a lot of mainstream dystopian books/series have. Even though there’s a lot of brutal events and training plus seeing deaths of others, it never felt gory or gruesome or like the author was just adding those parts in for the sake of “upping the stakes” for our main character. They were all important scenes that showed more of Bria’s character and determination. We weren’t left in the gutter of the horrible things the evil government leader was doing, so to speak. There’s awful things happening, but the reader isn’t given enough details to make it completely stomach-turning or be able to visualize some scenes, which I greatly appreciated. Bria doesn’t make the best choices at times (I wanted to shake her only a few times in this final book), but I can honestly say that she handled everything much better than I probably would in her shoes. Overall a pretty solid series in the Christian YA market and I look forward to seeing what this author writes next.
See y’all on Friday with a new review!
*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.
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