Review: Bodyguard: Hostage by Chris Bradford

ASSESS THE THREAT.
COUNTER THE DANGER.
ESCAPE THE KILLZONE.

In a dangerous world, everyone needs protection. 

No one suspects that a teenager could protect someone – but Connor Reeves is no ordinary 14 year old. He’s a professional bodyguard trained in surveillance, anti-ambush techniques, hostage survival and unarmed combat. When he’s summoned to protect the President’s daughter, his protection skills face the ultimate test.

Alicia doesn’t want to be guarded. She just wants to have fun. With no clue that Connor is her bodyguard, she tries to escape the Secret Service and lead him astray. But unknown to her and Connor, a terrorist sleeper cell has been activated. 

Its mission: to take the President’s daughter HOSTAGE


This book was fun to read and a nice break from the sci fi I usually read.  I wasn't expecting much, as although I used to love them, teen spy (or similar, like this) books just seem incredibly unrealistic and the idea has been used many times.  But I was surprised.

I enjoyed reading about Connor and his friends, both in the UK and America.  These parts broke up the action and really made me get to know the main characters a lot more.  The concept of a 'buddyguard' and Connor's training in general seemed a lot more believable than other similar books I have read, but I thought it would make a lot more sense to have an older teen or adult.  But then again, the whole point is the fact he's a teen and the book is for teens.

One thing that REALLY stuck out for me as a negative was the plot.  While it was fast paced and exciting, I have read extremely similar plots, and at some points I almost inwardly groaned at it.  It was also predictable.  I saw most of it coming miles away.

If it wasn't for the plot, I would have loved the book.  I had fun reading it, and it was fast paced and once I got into it, I was never bored when reading.  I will be reading the sequel, though.

Review: Fractured by Teri Terry

How do you know where to go when you don't remember where you came from?

Kyla's memory has been erased,

her personality wiped blank,

her memories lost for ever.

Or so she thought.

Kyla shouldn't be able to remember anything. But she can - and she's beginning to realise that there are a lot of dark secrets locked away in her memories. When a mysterious man from her past comes back into her life, she thinks she's on her way to finding the truth. But the more she learns about her history, the more confusing her future becomes...

Set in a disturbing future world, FRACTURED is an engrossing, fast-paced read that establishes Teri Terry as a master thriller writer

I loved this sequel to Slated.  The world it's set in is so interesting, and so is the character of Kyla.  I felt kind of indifferent to her in Slated, but really liked her in Fractured.

I found the plot was even better than in Slated - what happened to Ben, disappearing people and other Slateds added extra mystery to the already great plot.  I just hope all these get solved in the next book.  I like how it expanded more on both the Lorders and Free UK/terrorists and just gave a lot more backstory in general.  Also, I found it quite hard to guess who Kyla would choose who to side with in the end, if anyone - I won't say any more though as I don't want to spoil it!

Kyla's character is so well done.  It must be extremely difficult to write one character with 2, almost 3 different personalities, but Teri Terry has done it really well and it's never confusing.  I'm glad she found out the complete truth about some of her past.

The other characters were awesome too.  I wasn't too convinced about Cam, but the others I loved.  I'd happily have a book full of all their backstories :D.

There was one small problem I had though.  In Slated, Phoebe disappears but then Kyla sees her Slated.  She's never mentioned in Fractured, and I would have liked to see what happened to her in the end.

Overall an amazing sequel.  This kind of dystopian is more believable and realistic than others I have read.  A great story and characters!

Review: Fragments by Dan Wells

Kira Walker has found the cure for RM, but the battle for the survival of humans and Partials is just beginning. Kira has left East Meadow in a desperate search for clues to who she is. That the Partials themselves hold the cure for RM in their blood cannot be a coincidence—it must be part of a larger plan, a plan that involves Kira, a plan that could save both races. Her companions are Afa Demoux, an unhinged drifter and former employee of ParaGen, and Samm and Heron, the Partials who betrayed her and saved her life, the only ones who know her secret. But can she trust them?

Meanwhile, back on Long Island, what's left of humanity is gearing up for war with the Partials, and Marcus knows his only hope is to delay them until Kira returns. But Kira's journey will take her deep into the overgrown wasteland of postapocalyptic America, and Kira and Marcus both will discover that their greatest enemy may be one they didn't even know existed.

The second installment in the pulse-pounding Partials saga is the story of the eleventh hour of humanity's time on Earth, a journey deep into places unknown to discover the means—and even more important, a reason—for our survival.


POSSIBLE SERIES SPOILERS.






I loved Partials, and I had to read the sequel, Fragments!  Post apocalyptic isn't usually my favourite kind of sci fi, but the world building of this series makes it amazing.  Sometimes in books I just want the character to stop and explore their surroundings, especially in books like this - and this is exactly what Kira does in Fragments.

I thought Partials could have been a stand alone book but Fragments added so much more to the plot (which I also love).  While Partials was more about curing RM, Fragments is more about the history of the Partials.  I love the amount of thought put into the plot and backstory.  The world building is also one of my favourite parts of this book, and all of this made me very immersed in the book.  I like how while Kira was searching for information about ParaGen, she'd find small things belonging to whoever owned that desk, or lived in a house, which just made it all seem that much more real.

The plot really surprised me - I was expecting it to be more about Kira working on the cure, but I ended up reading for hours, wanting to find out the mystery about ParaGen, the Partials, and Kira's past.  All these mysteries were solved and turned out to be more in depth than I originally expected when Kira started searching.  I really did love the plot and preferred it to the plot of Partials.  I have to admit I saw small parts of it coming, but not the whole story.

I think Samm's character improved a lot in this book.  I like how he turned out not to be completely unemotional as they were thought of in the first book, but not the complete opposite either, and the concept of the link.  In fact, I like all the characters - this book really gets the reader to know them more and I loved that.

I don't really have much else to say.  This book is quite long, but the world building, plot and character development is excellent.  It's like an awesome mix of Fallout, Deus Ex, and The Last of Us.

Return to blogging!

I have hardly posted any reviews recently but I have decided to start blogging again!  Also I've made the decision to stop putting ratings on my reviews.  Sometimes I can't decide how to rate a book so I've decided to stop using them on Blogger, but will still use them on Goodreads.

Review: Metawars: Battle of the Immortal by Jeff Norton

The dead have risen and now it's war between the living and the dead in this thrilling third instalment in the epic MetaWars saga.

Jonah Delacroix is on a mission to free the Metasphere virtual world, but hordes of Uploaded (the digital immortals) have escaped the Metasphere and taken over the bodies of living people - 'Reborn' in the real world. 

When Jonah's best friend, Sam, is usurped by a digital Uploaded, he finds himself on the opposite side of his dead father in a savage battle of the immortal.

POSSIBLY CONTAINS SERIES SPOILERS!!

The Metawars series is one of my favourites.  I started the first book not expecting it to be as good as I found it.  I love the world, the technology, and characters, and I've loved all the books in the series.

This is the third book in the series.  While I still loved it, I *did* prefer the other two in the series - but I still enjoyed it.  One thing I think this series does very well is how, unlike many other books I've read, there isn't a clear 'good' and 'evil' side.  Each side does things that could be considered good or bad depending on someone's opinion, and (especially in the first book) it's clear Jonah still hasn't decided who he agrees with the most.  I loved this part of the series - it makes it more complex and interesting to read.

As the book carries on the plot of the second book, I thought it was great how the point of view of the Uploaded was shown more.  I liked how the addition of more Uploaded characters and their views - it was a good idea to include what they thought of what was going on.

One thing I love about this series is the awesome technology used.  It's futuristic, but the amount of detail put into the Metasphere makes it feel a lot more realistic and more likely to be something that could happen in real life.

The plot carries on from the previous books.  It is good, but without the characters and other things I have mentioned in this review it wouldn't have been as good as it is.

I like the character development throughout the series, especially for Jonah.  I like the characters in general, they all feel like real people and there's no 'perfect' characters which is something that annoys me in books.

Overall I loved this book, but I did slightly prefer the other ones.  This series really should be a LOT more popular!

Review: Mila 2.0 by Debra Driza

Mila 2.0 is the first book in an electrifying sci-fi thriller series about a teenage girl who discovers that she is an experiment in artificial intelligence.

Mila was never meant to learn the truth about her identity. She was a girl living with her mother in a small Minnesota town. She was supposed to forget her past—that she was built in a secret computer science lab and programmed to do things real people would never do.

Now she has no choice but to run—from the dangerous operatives who want her terminated because she knows too much and from a mysterious group that wants to capture her alive and unlock her advanced technology. However, what Mila’s becoming is beyond anyone’s imagination, including her own, and it just might save her life.

Mila 2.0 is Debra Driza’s bold debut and the first book in a Bourne Identity-style trilogy that combines heart-pounding action with a riveting exploration of what it really means to be human. Fans of I Am Number Four will love Mila for who she is and what she longs to be—and a cliffhanger ending will leave them breathlessly awaiting the sequel

Rating: 3.5/5

The premise of this book made me desperate to read it as soon as I found out about it. And after the teen drama beginning, it was a good book.  I did enjoy reading it a lot!

Although I didn't really like the beginning, this was purely because I really don't like teen drama. It set the scene for Mila thinking she was an ordinary girl who went to school, saw friends, etc, which I liked, though. I think if had immediately started with Mila finding out about being an android, it would have felt a bit rushed and there wouldn't be a chance to get to know her first. I did really like the part when Mila discovered she was an android.

I didn't like the romance. I'm not into romance that much, but Hunter seemed too much like a 'perfect' character with no flaws at all, and the way Mila CONSTANTLY thought of him despite only knowing him a few days bugged me. 

I really enjoyed action parts and parts where Mila used and was finding out about her abilities. I thought those were some of the best parts of the book and I liked how the author showed what Mila thought of the situations - I thought it improved her character a lot.

All the way through, I really did not think Mila acted like an AI. As other characters actually said later in the book, I thought she WAS too emotional. She IS a computer.  I'm guessing this is a big part of the book/series, but because of this, Mila reminded me more of augmented humans in the Deus Ex series, because of what she could do and because she still acted very much like a human rather than robot. Also, parts of the plot reminded me of this series too. This is a good thing as it is my favourite series of games :D.

I liked the characters, the only exception being Hunter (all because of how he seemed 'perfect'). I would have liked more backstory (especially for Holland, Lucas and Mila's mum) but in general I liked them. 

The book was fast paced and I liked the plot. I DID see parts of it coming, but it kept me reading and I found most of it interesting, especially when Mila was at the base (lab?).

In general I enjoyed this book. It had parts I disliked, but I liked most of it! :)

Review: Missing Me by Sophie Mckenzie

Six years have passed since the end of Sister, Missing and Madison is now a teenager. During a visit to her older sister Lauren, Madison learns that their biological father was an anonymous sperm donor and sets out to track him down. Her search bears fruit sooner than she expects, but is the father she discovers all he seems? As Madison gets drawn into a mysterious investigation involving missing girls and secret hideaways, she finds herself in more and more danger. A tense and thrilling end to the bestselling series, not to be missed!


I read Girl, Missing some time ago and liked it, but I was surprised when I saw a sequel had come out - I thought it was fine as a stand alone book.  I didn't like Sister, Missing as much and I did not have high expectations of Missing Me, but I decided to read it anyway.

I felt that this book didn't have much to do with the plot of the other two - if I remember rightly, a character or two from Girl, Missing was bought back in Sister, Missing, at least relating it a bit to the first one - Missing Me seemed more like a book written to show what happened to the characters after a series ended, rather than the ending (?) of one.

The plot wasn't exactly different from the others either.  As before, the main character finds out something unexpected about her past, goes to investigate it, realises things aren't what they seem and finally everyone ends up getting kidnapped and they (very luckily) escape.  I could predict a lot of what was going to happen, and it was pretty much the exact basic plot of the other books.  The characters are also extremely lucky and a lot of things seemed to be a very convenient coincidence.

There was quite a large time gap in between Sister, Missing and Missing Me, and the main characters have all changed a lot.  There were some new characters (such as Esme and Wolf) who feature a lot but I didn't think they were particularly original - I have seen similar characters a lot before.

I *did* get a bit gripped by this book and it was fast paced.  I didn't take long to read it.  I don't think this book is BAD, just rather unoriginal.  Some more relation to the other books would have been nice too.

2 stars - 'it was ok'.