Series: This Mortal Coil #1
Release Date: 2nd November 2017
Publisher: Penguin Books
Pages: 464
Find it on: Goodreads. BookDepository. Waterstones.
Source: I picked a copy of this up in my local bookshop.
Synopsis
Catarina Agatta is a hacker. She can cripple mainframes and crash through firewalls, but that’s not what makes her special. In Cat’s world, people are implanted with technology to recode their DNA, allowing them to change their bodies in any way they want. And Cat happens to be a gene-hacking genius.
That’s no surprise, since Cat’s father is Dr. Lachlan Agatta, a legendary geneticist who may be the last hope for defeating a plague that has brought humanity to the brink of extinction. But during the outbreak, Lachlan was kidnapped by a shadowy organization called Cartaxus, leaving Cat to survive the last two years on her own.
When a Cartaxus soldier, Cole, arrives with news that her father has been killed, Cat’s instincts tell her it’s just another Cartaxus lie. But Cole also brings a message: before Lachlan died, he managed to create a vaccine, and Cole needs Cat’s help to release it and save the human race.
Now Cat must decide who she can trust: The soldier with secrets of his own? The father who made her promise to hide from Cartaxus at all costs? In a world where nature itself can be rewritten, how much can she even trust herself?
Review
This book has been on my TBR for a while and I finally got around to picking it up. It was so fast-paced and exciting that I absolutely whizzed through it and I’m so glad I chose this one because I now cannot wait for book two.
The world building in this book is so superb. There’s so much technology and science woven into the story and it’s well thought out and explained. Although there’s plenty of tech and science speak it’s well explained to the reader and doesn’t take over the story. This was probably my favourite aspect of the book, learning more about the virus and the genetic enhancements people have made.
The book is a fair size – nearly five hundred pages – but it is so action packed that it feels like quite a quick read. The chapters are also quite short a lot of the time and that definitely made me say ‘oh just one more’ on more than a few occasions. There’s plenty of surprise twists that I absolutely did not see coming and definitely made my brain explode. I also really liked the characters in This Mortal Coil. Cat is an excellent protagonist, she’s incredibly smart, stubborn and brave.
A slight word of warning though that romance does feature quite heavily within the plot. I’m not a particularly big fan of romance books so this was the one aspect of the story I didn’t really enjoy, I wanted to skip the romance and head straight for the action and the saving the world-y situation. Despite that I really enjoyed this story, it was original exciting and I definitely need to know what happens next.
This is a really powerful and moving story and one that I think is really important. It’s easy to see why this quiet tale has won so many awards because they are very well deserved. The writing is beautiful and really explores what it means to belong as well as issues around race and identity. I found myself completely absorbed in this book and it is an absolutely stunning debut novel.
Release Date: 8th March 2018
This book is fun, clever and deals with a lot of important issues. (I mean what more could you really ask for?) Izzy is a teenager who is hoping to be a script writer when she’s older. She’s a comic and she’s hilariously funny. When a website surfaces claiming she is a ‘world class whore’ and highlights all the details of her sex life, Izzy is made to feel ashamed of her sex life and struggles to deal with the hateful comments. The book really delves into issues around slut shaming and the differing ways that men and women are treated regarding sex.
Series: The Shadow Game #1
Ace of Shades follows Enne Salta as she travels to the famous City of Sin in search of her mother. Enne is a proper young lady, well trained in etiquette and manners, but as she delves deeper into the underworld of New Reynes, she’s not sure how much of herself she’s willing to lose.
This book was so dark and intense. It kept me hooked from the first chapter and I honestly couldn’t put it down, staying up way too late on a work night in order to find out what was going to happen next. The book is very atmospheric, building the suspense slowly and really making you second guess yourself.
Mirage is a stunning debut that complexly weaves fantasy and science fiction elements to create this gorgeous world where no one is safe and things can change in the blink of an eye. I love the blend of planets and technology with mythology and faith. It worked so well together and I enjoyed every second in this world.
The story follows two sisters – Liba and Laya – who live on the outskirts of a forest. When their parents leave to travel to their father’s home town, the girls must fend for themselves as well as deal with the secrets that they have learned – that Liba can transform into a bear, and Laya into a swan. But not everything in the forest is friendly and with people in nearby towns spouting anti-Semitic views, the sisters must fight to save each other.
This book covers a lot of difficult topics such as suicide and rape, so this is by no means a light read, but it is a beautifully written tale that stays with you long after you’re finished reading. The book follows Jaya – starting with the morning after she is raped and then jumping back to the events leading up to that night. The story really hones in on different cultures and Jaya’s attempts to be both English and Indian and in particular keep to the traditional Indian beliefs.
This is my first book by Julie Kagawa and I honestly couldn’t have asked for a better introduction to her work. I loved her characters – Yumeko is a kitsune, a half fox demon. She’s not altogether human and I love her mischievous cunning side. Kage too was really fascinating and unusually I enjoyed both characters perspectives equally – something that I find doesn’t often happen when you have multiple POVS. Her characters were well developed and I enjoyed the amount of character depth as they found themselves on this wild adventure.
The Bibliophile Chronicles 