"Composer Anonymous" by C. Ash

About this book:

  “The future has revived the past—but all that glitters is not gold.
    In the 25th century, society thrives in a Victorian Renaissance, where polished manners mask political unrest and genetic perfection is the new standard.
    Colin, a struggling musician with two obnoxious stepbrothers and a dismissive stepfather, is the only autistic human known to be born in this era. His very existence is an anomaly—and a problem.
    Princess Katrin, hailed as the ideal of engineered humanity, is drowning in palace drama and public scrutiny. But behind the glittering image lies a relentless pursuit—and a dangerous secret. When she stumbles upon the darker truths of her government, the key to exposing it all may lie with the elusive “Composer Anonymous” she met on her birthday.
    A musician without a future. A princess without a voice. And a society built on buried truth.
   Can two rebels rewrite the future before it silences them both?”


Series: As of now, no, it seems to be a stand-alone novel.


Spiritual Content- Psalm 46:1 at the beginning; A Scripture is read & written on a paper; Prayers (including Colin adding to a prayer for God to tell his mother that he loves and misses her & asking God what was the purpose of him being born this way); Talks about God, being created by God, believing in God, & miracles; ’H’s are capital when referring to God; Colin believes in God, but Katrin isn’t sure about Him even though he father believes as well (*Spoilers* towards the end, she prays for help and continues ask questions about it all; At the end, she chooses faith for herself and has a hunger to read and discover more about God *End of Spoilers*); Mentions of God, believing in God, & being created with intention; Mentions of prayers, praying, & blessings over food; Mentions of miracles; A few mentions of a Bible & Bible reading; A few mentions of souls/spirits; A mention of a person pretending to have a faith; 
             *Note: When Colin brings up about being created for a purpose, his step-father says that the “creation stuff is nonsense”; Mentions of human evolution, scientists trying to prevent aging by putting the human consciousness into an android body, & wanting to be gods like we “were meant to be” (which is said by one side character and Colin disagrees); Mentions of a mythology character becoming a god (Adonis); Mentions of luck & being lucky; A couple mentions of “the next life” (said by Colin who believes in God); A mention of a government executive worshiping his schedule.
 

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘confound it’, a form of ‘shut up’, a ‘stupid’, and three forms of ‘dumb’; “Skies” (a fictional world phrase/exclamation) is said seven times; Eye rolling & Sarcasm; Falling through a ceiling and into a pool, Being locked in a room, Having a hand caught in a door and broken fingers, & Pain (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of deaths (including of a mother) & grief; Mentions of lies & lying; Mentions of gossip & rumors; A few mentions of eavesdropping; A couple mentions of hatred; A couple mentions of manipulation; A mention of bullies; 
             *Note: Katrin says that it was planned from the beginning that she wouldn’t have a mother or know who she is and has a longing to know her (Colin says that it was cruel to not give her a mother on purpose as “everyone should have a mother”); Someone tells Katrin that there is nothing special about her which hurts her and she has to tell herself that she has worth; Colin is Autistic/neurodivergent and this is shown through him being overwhelmed by loud noises and bright lights, dislike new or rough clothes (said to be Sensory Processing Disorder), unable to understand sarcasm or hidden meanings in facial expressions, not being good at lying, and making little eye contact; Colin is an anomaly in his world because “advancements in genetic code allowed geneticists to purge so-called “neurodivergence.”” (his mother was offered by the government to take him off her hands, but refused); With the genetic modification and advancements, anyone who can afford it can customize their child’s appearance, health, and talents (and can also “isolate psychopathy”which is what happened to a side character who wishes he had a choice in the matter); One person makes it sound like Colin has a disease (which Katrin rejects), but another wonders if neurodivergence can be useful and happens for a reason; Colin knows that the genetic researchers want to study him and prevent more people like him from being born (including one of his step-brothers); Colin’s step-family mistreats him (*Spoilers* by locking him in his room and also losing him in a crowd on purpose *End of Spoilers*), snaps at him, manipulates and bullies him, and can be unkind to him when he has “attacks or episodes” (Colin apologizes once when his step-father is upset at him and the man replies that if Colin was sorry, he would change; They also bring up past events where he was unable to do something (like give an order to a waiter) and treat him like a child); Colin doesn’t want to believe what his step-father says about him but *Spoilers* towards the end, Colin finds out his step-father has been lying to him about his music’s popularity and withholding the earnings *End of Spoilers*; Mentions of a group of people wanting to eliminate excess population that they deemed are unneeded and can be replaced by androids; A quote from Nietzsche.
 
 
Sexual Content- A not-detailed kiss; Wanting to kiss (barely-above-not-detailed); Touches, Embraces, Dancing, Hand holding, & Butterflies (up to semi-detailed); Blushes; Noticing (barely-above-not-detailed); Wanting to hold hands; A few mentions of flirting; A few mentions of crushes; A couple mentions of boyfriends; A couple mentions of a love triangle; Light love, falling in love, & the emotions.
 
-Katrin, age 17-18
-Colin Burke, age 17-18
                                P.O.V. switches between them 
                                       Set in 2437
                                                  307 pages
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Pre Teens- 

New Teens- 

Early High School Teens- 

Older High School Teens- 

My personal Rating- 

I don’t think I’ve ever read such an art-filled book and it was so neat to see not only an emphasis on painting, but a ton about music and instruments as well. It was honestly fascinating to read and I really enjoyed how creating art was a major importance of the plot. 

 

This was not quite a dystopian book because while it’s set in the future, there isn’t a corrupt government to deal with and take down. It’s not quite a sci-fi book, though,, either because while it’s a very technologically advance setting, it’s not set in space. So perhaps fantasy set in the far future would just be the best way to describe it? Regardless, it was a very unique setting. 

 

I do think that there were a few times where some events could have been explained more for better understanding of what was happening (such as the layout of the swimming pool venue’s roof? how did she get up there? why is the swimming labyrinth such a big deal? it is just a popular sport? it was really only featured at the beginning of the book), but overall I was able to follow along and enjoyed our main two characters. I would have liked to have more details about the world and the technology as I had to guess on some of it, but that could have been because the characters don’t have to explain what they already know and the reader is jumping into their world. 

 

There was a pro-life theme to this book which I loved to read. It highlighted the value of life and creativity in an AI-dominated world—in a futuristic world that has AI-androids and humans “enhancing” their physical appearance, talents, and health. It was a little scary to see what everything could one day be with AI’s assistance and growth. 

 

I only like our main two characters because I was suspicious of basically everyone else—they seemed like either vipers or phony-balonies and I didn’t trust a single one of them. I was squinting my eyes at anyone else and wanting to protect both Katrin and Colin from harm. I knew there were Cinderella elements (but gender swapped) to this book, but I wasn’t sure how much it would have or follow the general idea of that story. I ended up liking the parts that were included and which parts weren’t present. 

 

I’ve commented on it before in a Clean Fiction retelling of Cinderella that was gender-swapped, but I think that I don’t see this fairytale with swapped roles often because it’s a fine line between the male lead being unlike the typical Cinderella and being a bit of a pushover. It didn’t work for me with that other book for other reasons, but it worked well in this book because it was believable with Colin being Autistic but also being told time and time again that he can’t do again—which took time to undo and for him to believe in himself and that he was created with intention. I think this was my first time reading a YA book with an Autistic main character (Colin, in this book’s case) and I think the author did very well with the writing style changes between his and Katrin’s chapters as I could quickly tell who’s POV the chapter was in. 

 

Overall, I quite enjoyed this book! When first seeing the trope list and the many different elements that would be in this book, I was a little concerned that would make the book feel a little rushed, but the author impressed me with the topics shown and discussed throughout it. I look forward to seeing what she writes next!

 

 

See y’all on Wednesday 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.

"The Unlikely Intrusion of Adams Klein" by John Greco

About this book:

  “Are some things in life worth taking a stand for, no matter the cost?
    Fourteen-year-old Adams Klein lives by one simple don’t do anything that might change the course of history. To protect him from a murderous tyrant, Adams was hidden away in the year 2015. A refugee from the distant future, his existence is a secret. But when he witnesses a tragedy unfolding, he can’t stand by and do nothing. Now history is being changed, and Adams and his new friends are being hunted by a villain who’ll stop at nothing to retain his iron grip on the world of the future, even if it means destroying the past.”


Series: Book #1 in “The TimeFall” trilogy. 


Spiritual Content- “Thank God” is exclaimed once; Emma thinks her parents are angry at God even though they never say anything about religion; Emma notes how she is one of the only children in town that doesn’t attend church (not even on Christmas or Easter); A couple mentions of Bibles; A couple mentions of fate & miracles; A mention of there not being words when asked why God would allow a child to be killed; A mention of someone telling another to “thank their Maker” about something; A mention of religion being removed from Adams’ world; A mention of being Blessed; A mention of being a good Samaritan to someone; A mention of someone reaching for forbidden fruit (that is illegal); 
             *Note: The Marshal (a dictator and the villain of this story) tells his underlings about the “Ones Out There” and says ““Far be it from me to invoke religion, but do you suppose we are so much more enlightened than those who lived long ago? ….They were called gods, spirits, muses, angels, demons…..The labels don’t really matter. What’s important is that everyone from the Egyptians to the Aztecs to the Babylonians to the Greeks and the Romans believed. From East to West and from North to South, every thriving civilization was spurred on by help from Out There. Could it really be that all of these mighty empires, in many cases separated from one another by great distances of time and space, just happened to hold the same basic belief? Let me ask you: Who is more likely to be wrong—billions of people around the world, across thousands of years, all testifying to the same basic truth that we are not alone, or we who, only recently in the cosmic scheme of things, have chosen to dissent from the tide of history in order to stick our fingers in our ears and ignore the helpful voices calling to us from Out There?””; The Marshal believes that the dreams he has been having are a warning from “the Ones Out There”; A scientist is said to have led humanity into a “new enlightenment” & this is partially because of an item that is said to come close to “bringing the kingdom of heaven to earth”; A conversation about Osiris (an ancient Egyptian god), people worshiping him, and others being “deathly jealous” of those peoples’ devotion to a single deity; Adams’ father tells him that “no matter how tight its grip”, no evil thing lasts forever; A thief is called a “Ghost” of a local lake because no one has seen him in person (Clay calls this “very cool” and a female classmate calls it “romantic”); A few mentions of evil people; A mention of a group acting “deliberate, serious, [and] silent” like they are responding to an alter call (when they’re actually going to steal something).
 

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘blasted’, two ‘dumb’s, and seven ‘stupid’s;  Clay is called a “spaz” three times by bullies; Some eye rolling; Killing human-like drones with it’s “blood” spraying everywhere (border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); Seeing human-like drones being shot and killed, their blood, & the drones melting into the ground (up to semi-detailed); An explosion & people being hurt/dying (*Major Spoilers* The book ends with Adams being killed by the blast and the others being sad or sobbing about it plus his dog resting his head on Adams; In the epilogue, however, he wakes back up after several hours *End of Spoilers*, up to semi-detailed); Falling through a frozen lake, Almost drowning, Saving another from drowning, Fighting, Being shot/shot at, Almost being kidnapped, Being choked, Being held at knife-point, Being held hostage, Pain, Injuries, Blood/Bleeding, Passing out, & Major headaches (up to semi-detailed); Stealing an item (up to semi-detailed); Seeing dead bodies (of human-like drones, barely-above-not-detailed); Adams is expected to kill a drone in school (which because the drone mimics a human being and will show “crimson lubrication fluid” that looks like blood, he thinks it will look, sound, and feel like taking another person’s life); Adams has a school training that involves shooting in a jungle-like setting (he gets shot by a classmate, up to semi-detailed); Adams hates school because he sees it as the Marshal raising up a “programmed and devoted army”from his generation and feels sick at the thought of being chosen for military service; The Marshal (a dictator and the villain of this story) orders for someone’s vocal cords to be removed & wants Adams to be crushed/destroyed; Emma panics and cries that a man is going to shoot someone; Adams, Clay, & Emma come up with a plan to steal an item they need for Adams to return home (this includes lying to others and breaking a display case); Clay is bullied (both on-page with physically being hit and threatened plus remembering past incidents, up to semi-detailed; After that, he decides he will never speak up or draw attention to himself again) & Emma deals with a mean girl and her snide comments; Adam feels grief about being alone with no family; Mentions of a child that was hit by a car and died & grief from the parents (Emma’s older brother); Mentions of drownings & almost drownings (including two kids that drowned and a news report of it); Mentions of deaths & killing drones that look human; Mentions of assassins & ordering murders (including an ordered murder on a teen by an evil dictator); Mentions of wars; Mentions of weapons, being shot/tased, & weapons being aimed at others; Mentions of attacks, rebels, & a possible plan to murder a dictator; Mentions of crimes & criminals; Mentions of thieves, stealing, & stolen items; Mentions of boys stealing/robbing a store; Mentions of pain, injuries, blood/bleeding, & passing out (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of being being tied-up & locked in a closet; Mentions of nightmares of dying and blood; Mentions of lies & lying; Mentions of bullies; Mentions of divorces & parents shouting; A few mentions of prisons & arrests; A few mentions of vomiting; A few mentions of rumors; A couple mentions of a mother who died from cancer; A couple mentions of being robbed & held at gunpoint; A couple mentions of graffiti; A couple mentions of jealousy; A couple mentions of eavesdropping; A couple mentions of urine; A mention of enslavement; A mention of someone needing a “new pair of boxer-briefs” during a sports event; A mention of poker; A mention of hunting; 
             *Note: Adams’ father gives him an injection for bacteria and viruses his body will fight in the past timeline (adding that he wished he had a vaccine like this for Adams’ dog that is going with him); The Marshal keeps his grip on the people he rules over by having them to cranial injections to learn more, but also remove information that he deems “inconvenient truths”; A classmate of Clay’s used his name to cover for himself to his parents to have “some time for himself” when he doesn’t want his parents to know where he is (such as when he went to see an R-rated movie); The classmate wants Clay to meet his parents to prove that he is real and while Clay doesn’t want to lie, he does meet him (and there’s no punishment for the boy lying to his parents nor shown as wrong); Emma’s parents are divorced and often hears her parents shouting at each other and tries hard to keep them from being in the same room (she recalls her mother yelling at her father and blaming him for different things; Emma feels jealous of other kids that have parents in a happy or peaceful marriage; Her older brother died when she was little after being hit by a distracted driver and Emma’s parents tried to hold it together for several years, but were too angry and heartbroken; Emma thinks it’s weird that her parents have left his room the same way all of these years; Emma is upset to hear one of her parents is dating and feels heartbroken over the revelation that her dream that as a child of divorce, her parents getting back together won’t happen now; When she has to tell her parents something serious and they are able to be in the same room without fighting, she is stunned and angry that they are able to behave themselves around each other because she’s believed they were “in a sense, victims of their painful memories” and realized they could get along despite choosing not to and she’s been the one paying for their selfishness; A police chief tells the kids something about an open case, but then says he can’t talk about it (this happens a few times and has a sometimes doofus-like personality because of it); A scientist borrows skin calls from his lab rat to test on; A dog is shoved and whimpers; Mentions of a science/technology item that has nanobots which can spy on the person who ingested them, tell others what they are thinking, & can even attack and kill the person’s organs; Mentions of a group & song (‘Here Comes the Sun’ by the Beatles); Mentions of US Presidents (Washington, Jefferson, Adams, and Grant); Mentions of books & authors (‘War of the Worlds’, ‘Island of the Blue Dolphins’, ‘A Wrinkle in Time’, “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban’, ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Fin’, ‘Watership Down’, ‘Animal Farm’, ‘Hamlet’, and ‘Crime and Punishment’); Mentions of car brands; Mentions of a woman’s athlete’s foot (barely-above-not-detailed); A few mentions of vaccines; A few mentions of brand names (John Deere, Athena candy bar, & LEGO bricks); A couple mentions of superheroes (Superman & Captain America); A mention of the Marshal ordering for the capital to be “de-Americanize[d]”; A mention of Micky Mouse; A mention of lottery tickets.
 
 
Sexual Content- Emma gives one of the boys a kiss on his cheek (as a goodbye); Adams gives CPR to Emma, but before he “could lock his lips around hers to create a seal”, she coughs up water; Clay has a crush on Emma, who he thinks is the prettiest girl in school and acts awkward around her at first (as he gets to know her, his crush grows and he blushes); Clay doesn’t think he could handle being a host to Adams if Emma has a crush on him; Mentions of dates & dating; A few mentions of crushes & having feelings for someone; 
             *Note: Adams thinks that “girls go nuts over a guy just because he’s from another country and has an accent. I’m from another century. That has to count for something.”; Unlike most of the girls her age, Emma rarely wears makeup and was in “no rush to force her way through adolescence into adulthood”); A girl comments that she would “never eat anything so fattening” when referring to a muffin.
 
-Adams Klein, age 14
-Clay Danvers, age 14 
-Emma Bloom, age 14
                                P.O.V. switches between them & a few others
                                        Set in 2196 & 2015
                                                        276 pages
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Pre Teens- 

New Teens- 

Early High School Teens- 

Older High School Teens- 

My personal Rating- 

This book took me a bit to get into because of the different POVs, the head switching, and trying to figure out the world. I think the author did well enough explaining things and the advance technology in the future setting, though, which left me with little questions on that. 

 

There were a few parts that made me think this book would be better for boys than girls, but it truly depends on the girl. I didn’t personally care for some comments or having the mental image of urine in a urinal, but perhaps that’s just me. In that regard, it felt like what I would usually call a “boy book” meaning that there some comments and/or humor that would probably make a young boy laugh and not bother girls with brothers, but it wasn’t enjoyable to me. 

 

This book might not be the best choice for sensitive readers, mainly because of the villain. He orders for one underling to have his vocal cords removed and orders for our young main character to be killed. He also made some confusing comments on “the Ones Out There” when referring to a higher power, that were odd and I’m not sure what the author was going for. I’ve quoted the section above in the Spiritual Content part of this review because while it’s long, it’s kind of hard to shorten it to get the point across. 

 

There were a few parts I didn’t like seeing a conclusion about—not even referring to the plot that would have a conclusion in the next book, but more so the characters or side characters. Such as a classmate of Clay’s using his name to be able to be by himself when he doesn’t want his parents to know where he is (the classmate looks at this flippantly as he needs time for himself and there’s nothing about the parents finding it out; instead when they meet Clay and hear something heroic about him, they really like him being friends with their son; Perhaps it’s not Clay deceiving them, but he knows better and is helping his classmate lie to his parents and it’s not shown as wrong). Clay is also bullied by boys who steal from a store and because they’ve bullied him before, he decides not to tell anyone and covers what they stole with his own money. Maybe conclusions or justice didn’t happen in these situations because of the short amount of time and characters hurry for other things, but it could give the wrong idea or impression to young readers. 

 

Overall, this mainly wasn’t my kind of book, but I could see some other readers enjoying it.

 

 

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.

 

"Warsafe" by Lauren Smyth

About this book:

  “Play. Win. Survive. 
    There’s one building on her island that Halley has never the Mercenary House. Perched atop a mountain, surrounded by unnaturally evergreen foliage, the House is rumored to be a breeding ground for criminals. Mercenaries are liars, cheats, spies . . . and maybe, depending on who you ask, killers.
    At the Warsafe headquarters in Seattle, Roscoe is beta testing the company’s new video game. It’s her job to track down glitches—but something is different about this one. Lurking behind the lines of malfunctioning code is a secret that threatens to drag her deeper into the game, forcing her to put her life on the line if she ever wants to come home.
    Worlds collide as Roscoe teams up with Halley to uncover the island’s secret and expose Warsafe’s designs. But some mysteries are better left unsolved. As traitor after so-called traitor is revealed to be on their side, they begin to Could Warsafe’s mission be critical enough to justify its cruelty?”


Series: No, a stand-alone novel. 


Spiritual Content- A couple Scriptures are quoted (which one character says the speaker is perverting their meaning); Some talks about God; 'H's are capital when referring to God; A side character (Cal) wears a cross necklace and talks a bit about his faith to others; A character tells another for “God to help” both of them because they won’t help each other; Halley sees a picture of a cathedral and notices the stained glass windows; Halley thinks that such a cathedral is only in a fictional world or some world that no longer exists where others worship God (adding that God is “some kind of divine entity who was still human enough, or interested enough, or something enough to wonder what His congregation was up to and present Himself at those events. Sometimes. Though people never admitted whether they could see Him or whether His presence was more like air or wind, undeniable but invisible. Because what would God look like if you could see Him? No one could say exactly, except that a God deserving of such a monument must be wonderful indeed.” She also adds that she knew some about religion and says it’s the “belief in something other than the Alliance as the determining factor of our lives” and that if groups tried to worship in her village, it would cause trouble like death or conscription; (*Spoilers* At the end, she visits the cathedral with someone and is taken back by it’s beauty; Cal tells her that religion to him is the “knowledge that something perfect exists. And if God is perfect, then He must have created everything, which means He must have meant for me to be alive.” And that his self-worth comes from that knowledge *End of Spoilers*); When someone dies, a character crosses himself and says “May God forgive him. He certainty needs it.”; Someone tells Cal that she sees a “spark of divine forgiveness” in him and that he is a “human who makes mistakes but looks remarkably like his Maker”; *Spoiler* At the end, one side character says she is now going to church because she was tired of not knowing where to direct her prayers and found out Who to direct them towards *End of Spoiler*; Mentions of God; Mentions of prayers & praying (but most are not clarified towards Whom and is used more as a phrase; Halley recalls hearing the grandmas in the village praying for the Mercs to eat their food and die); Mentions of people being religious; A few mentions of thanking God (one said by someone whose faith we don’t know about & another telling a religious person to thank God for something); A few mentions of miracles; A few mentions of someone thinking another is in angel (in a moment of uncertainty); A mention of the Good Samaritan; A mention of the Rapture; A mention of thinking someone in speaking in togues (phrase used when unable to understand someone);  
             *Note: Phrases and adjectives like ‘miraculous’, ‘Heaven knows’, ‘for heaven’s sake’, ‘what on God’s green earth’, ‘unholy’ and ‘godforsaken’ are used up to a handful of times with some coming across flippantly or strange (due to the character not having a faith or because of the context the word/phrase it is used in; Such as Halley thinking the doctor’s medicine bordered on the miraculous, a place’s darkness and silence being deemed unholy, something happen at an unholy hour, Roscoe thinking her video game playing skills are “miraculously awful” and someone else’s is “miraculously skilled”, Roscoe thinking that a bad day must be a “godforsaken nightmare”, and Andy calling some expletives “miraculously creative”); Andy thinks that finding an alien via his (illegal) radio would be ideal to hear (to make a break in the science field); Andy thinks that Roscoe must be psychic for being able to keep calm in a questionable situation; Someone tells another that lying isn’t a mortal sin if “it’s well meant”; Mentions of ghosts & them haunting a place (Halley thinks the Merc building on her island is probably haunted with ghosts, but later tells herself that ghosts aren’t real; At one point, Halley thinks her and another character have died and are now ghosts); Mentions of aliens; A few mentions of the afterlife and the “road to eternity” (Halley thinking she’s not ready to go there or will have company to there); A couple mentions of someone “getting” hellfire & another paving the road to hell with good intentions; A couple mentions of the Stone Age; A mention of counting blessings [when committing a crime]; A mention of treating someone devilishly; A mention of a girl being as “beautiful as a Greek goddess”; A mention of fairies.
 

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘crickets’, an unfinished ‘for the love of…’, three forms of ‘shut up’, six forms of ‘idiot’, and eleven forms of ‘stupid’; A few mentions of curses (including some that are said to be “miraculously creative”; all are said, but not written); A bit of sarcasm; Some lying (mostly about their conditions, but Andy also lies to get away from a police officer); Eavesdropping; A fire, Being grabbed, Being choked, Being tied-up, Being threatened with harm and death, Being held at gun-point and also threatened with a syringe, Holding someone at knife- and gun-point, Pain, Injuries, Having a concussion, Blood/Bleeding, Passing out, & Throwing up (up to semi-detailed); Drinking alcohol & feeling a hangover start; Seeing deaths/murders (and thinking others died), weapons used and aimed at others, other being hit/slapped, fighting, blood/bleeding, injuries, & pain (up to semi-detailed); Seeing someone have her arm amputated and the blood (which makes the viewer pass out, up to semi-detailed); Seeing someone who either jumped out a window (suicide) or was pushed (but will be okay; Andy is asked if the person had mentioned death or having problems; Andy also thinks he’ll never forget what he saw and wants to believe it was an accident, up to semi-detailed); In Halley’s world, there is a building where young adults fight and kill others (called Mercenaries or Mercs for short; Everyone also has enforcement chips implanted behind their ears; Everyone on the island is supposed to fall asleep exactly at midnight; Halley goes into a fight with a Merc and witnesses the fight and the Merc’s injuries, but never sees the attacker; The Mercs believe they are killing the guards they are fighting against); In Roscoe’s setting, she works for a video game company that has a “permadeath” game (meaning when an avatar is killed in the game, the player has to starts over with a new avatar) that is very realistic with their avatars killing guards and being killed; *Spoilers* About half-way through, Roscoe overhears that it isn’t just a game and the avatars are actually real people who are injured and can die; Roscoe feels major guilt and grief over the fact she has killed people through the game; Halley and a couple others find out that the guards in the games aren’t real and thus the Mercs haven’t actually killed anyone despite thinking so; A bit further in, however, there are some real people used for the guards for them to fight against (and kill) who were death-row criminals and going to die anyway; The motivation for the company producing and controlling all of this is to have it be a war simulator and has the Mercs fighting for other countries on their behalf *End of Spoilers*; Andy threats another main character with stabbing her, switches a car’s license plate to hide from the police, and later plans to steal a boat (but instead, he rents it); Andy’s friend brings alcohol over to his apartment and they drink together (Andy gets tipsy after the first sip, but has three cans of beer); All about & many mentions of deaths, killing, deaths, murderers/murders, fighting, weapons, & a video game with these elements (up to semi-detailed); Many, many mentions of weapons (guns and knives), injuries, bad burns, pain, blood/bleeding, & passing out (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of wars & potential wars and deaths; Mentions of torture & screams; Mentions of grief over deaths of friends; Mentions of gunshots, explosions, fires, & an assumed death; Mentions of possible electrocution; Mentions of thieves, stealing, robberies, & cheaters; Mentions of prisons, jail, & criminals; Mentions of lies, lying, liars, & deception; Mentions of rumors & gossip; Mentions of alcohol, drinking, getting drunk, drunks, & hangovers; Mentions of tattoos (which the Mercs have on their hands); A few mentions of kidnappings; A few mentions of drugs; A few mentions of throwing up; A few mentions of nightmares; A few mentions of hatred; A couple mentions of a person being called a “suicidal maniac” for his plan; A couple mentions of smoking & a nicotine addiction; A couple mentions of jealousy; A mention of axe murderers; A mention of British colonization; 
             *Note: Halley’s parents say hurtful words to her at a tense moment (which makes her want to cry, but she holds them back and another person stands up for her); Halley thinks that another character is bipolar and should tell him about the easy availability of psychiatric care (but doesn’t tell him because she doesn’t want to be rude); After hearing unbelievable news, a character almost hopes she’s on the way to a psychiatric ward and imagined what she heard (later she thinks again that she should be sent to a mental hospital); Mentions of prejudice from the villagers towards the Mercs (who they believe to be violent, liars, cheaters, thieves, and murderers); Mentions of brand names, games, & stores (Windows, Sega, Call of Duty, America’s Army, Monopoly, & Walmart); A mention of a book (“I, Robot” by Isaac Asimov); A mention of Albert Einstein; A mention of James Bond; A mention of a Noble Prize; A mention of a horror movie (unnamed); A mention of someone acting like a vampire; A mention of someone being treated as if they are a schizophrenic individual if they tried to tell the truth about a company.
 
 
Sexual Content- A bit of noticing & blushes (barely-above-not-detailed); Seeing a couple kiss twice (once on the forehead and another on the lips) and thinking they are going to kiss at another time (but do not); Halley comments on a couple’s relationship (saying the guy being bad for a girl because he only ever thinks about her and doesn’t think straight when around the girl; also adding that he seems to think that his worth comes from what the girl thinks of him and Halley asks him what he will live for if it can’t be the girl he likes); A guy teases his girl about sharing a room together (implied with marriage); *Spoilers* A couple wonders if they actually love each other or have been programmed to, but still ends up together at the end because they chose each other *End of Spoilers*; A few mentions of falling in love; A few mentions of crushes; A couple mentions of dates; A couple mentions of jealousy; A mention of flirting; A mention of romance novels; 
             *Note: At their first meeting, Andy is afraid that Roscoe might “kick him where it hurts”. 
 
-Halley, age 17
-Roscoe 
-Andy, age 23
-Kazumi 
                                P.O.V. switches between them (Halley in 1^st, the rest in 3^rd)
                                                        304 pages
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Pre Teens- 

New Teens- 

Early High School Teens- 

Older High School Teens- 

My personal Rating- 

{ Add up to a full star for Older Teens who are fantasy fans and/or have an interest in video games. }

This was really different than I thought it would be. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect with this book because sci-fi isn’t really my thing and I’m not a video gamer, but I was game (pun intended 😉) to try it. 

 

We follow three main characters and while at first I was a little confused, you can quickly piece together the pieces and see glimpses of what is happening and how these three very different people are connected. 

 

Roscoe is a little crazy.

Andy is…nerdy and strange.

Halley—well, I liked Halley the most. She had her moments of ignorance, but I think that was more due to being trapped in an island and never thinking of going against what she’s been told. 

 

Interestingly enough, we see the most POVs by Halley so I would call her our main character, but as far as the actual events in the plot go, I would consider her a side character or just there to help. She doesn’t do much besides be there with the other characters when events happen. She doesn’t have the skill set for helping figure out what is going on nor to be able to stop it. I felt like this was very different from a normal plotline, but I didn’t hate the difference. 

 

There were some parts or comments that didn’t fully make sense to me (one example being that Halley has no religious background or really any knowledge about religion besides a very general thought, but then later saying that someone must be talking in tongues for all she can understand him), but that could have just been me and not fully understanding what was happening. 

 

As finishing this book, I almost wouldn’t call it sci-fi like I thought it would be. There’s no space travel or aliens (though some mentions of the later in a nerdy-scientific way). It’s more of a futuristic but yet modern setting. Roscoe and Andy live in our normal contemporary setting (down to the mentions of going to Walmart), but then Halley lives on an island with upgraded tech, no way to get off the island, and it being believed about young adults fighting to the death in a certain building. Quite a stark difference in lifestyles and how our main characters view their lives. 

 

I think this book wasn’t my cup of tea, personally. Those that like video games and the concept of a video game-like place probably would! I do have to note that I appreciate that while there’s mentions of violence and deaths, because we don’t have the POV of either character that’s really doing the violence, it’s not detailed. Like I said earlier, Halley is along for the ride and sees some of it based on being around those characters, but is not actually a part of it herself. This made a big different in terms of the details of the violence and didn’t make this book feel heavy like it could have.

 

 

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.

*I received this book for free from the Author for this honest review.