conspiracy Archives - The Y Logs

Yzabel / February 24, 2019

Review: Lakes of Mars

My rating: [rating=2]

Blurb:

Aaron Sheridan doesn’t want to live anymore. His entire family had just died in a shuttle crash and he’d been the one flying it. Unable to deal with the guilt, he signs up for the Fleet expecting a fatal deployment to the Rim War, but instead ends up at their most prestigious command school, Corinth Station.

Initially, he’s detached from the brutality of his instructors and the Machiavellian tactics of the other students there, but after he sticks up for his only friend he makes himself a target of the most feared cadet on the station, Caelus Erik. Unsure of whom to trust and worried that anything he does will make others on his flight team targets as well, Aaron retreats deeper and deeper inside himself. However, when he discovers that officer training is not the station’s only purpose, it becomes increasingly clear that risking everything is the safest thing he can do.

Review:

[I received a copy of this book through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.]

2.5 stars? (As in, between “it’s OK” and “I kinda liked it.”) The story is interesting, and it clearly has its good moments, along with mysteries for the main character to unveil, as he is confronted with layer upon layer of uncertainties about who’s lying, who’s an ally, who’s a friend, and who’s only pretending and getting ready to stab him in the back.

I had trouble to connect with the characters in general, though. The only one we really get to know is Aaron, and partly Seb, but due to all the conflicting hints he had to wade through, his position remained on the fence and made him somewhat passive for a while, which in turn made the narrative confusing and muddled in parts as to what was going on. There’s also what looks like a complex world-building underneath, but difficult to properly grasp. While I mostly prefer when stories unfold “in medias res”, they also have to contain enough hints from the start to help the reader get into their concepts, and here, what was clear for Aaron wasn’t always clear for me (for instance, the Box is mentioned from the first chapters onwards, but it takes a while to fully get what is is and what it’s used for).

I found the pacing lacking between the first 20% and the last chapters, too, and I had to push myself several times to pick up the book and keep reading. The ending is quite intense, though, and with a couple of surprises as well.

Yzabel / January 17, 2019

Review: Fawkes

Fawkes by Nadine Brandes

My rating: [rating=3]

Blurb:

Thomas Fawkes is turning to stone, and the only cure to the Stone Plague is to join his father’s plot to assassinate the king of England.

Silent wars leave the most carnage. The wars that are never declared, but are carried out in dark alleys with masks and hidden knives. Wars where color power alters the natural rhythm of 17th century London. And when the king calls for peace, no one listens until he finally calls for death.

But what if death finds him first?

Keepers think the Igniters caused the plague. Igniters think the Keepers did it. But all Thomas knows is that the Stone Plague infecting his eye is spreading. And if he doesn’t do something soon, he’ll be a lifeless statue. So when his Keeper father, Guy Fawkes, invites him to join the Gunpowder Plot—claiming it will put an end to the plague—Thomas is in.

The plan: use 36 barrels of gunpowder to blow up the Igniter King.

The problem: Doing so will destroy the family of the girl Thomas loves. But backing out of the plot will send his father and the other plotters to the gallows. To save one, Thomas will lose the other.

No matter Thomas’s choice, one thing is clear: once the decision is made and the color masks have been put on, there’s no turning back.

Review:

[I received a copy of this book through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.]

Gorgeous cover (I admit the cover + the title are what drew me to the book in the first place), and also an interesting take on historical events by showing them under the colours (see what I did there) of magic rather than religion. In this alternate early 17th-century world, people are able to bond with a specific colour, and exert control over items of this colour through the wearing of a mask. The conflict arises from how people view the use of colours: Keepers (the ‘Protestants’) believe that a person should only master one colour and not give in to the ‘White Light’ that governs them all, lest greed devours them and twists their powers to nefarious ends; while Igniters (the ‘Catholics’) believe that listening to the White Light, and controlling more than one colour, is the way to go. Both factions are in conflict not only because of these views, but because of a plague that turns people to stone, with each camp blaming the other for the advent of this mysterious illness.

Enters our protagonist and point of view character, Thomas Fawkes, son of the (now) infamous Guy Fawkes, who’s been struck by this very Stone Plague and can’t wait until he gets a mask of his own, learns to master a colour, and hopefully manages to heal himself, or at least make sure the plague will stay dormant in him and never spread further than his eye. Of course, things don’t go as planned, and as he finds himself reunited with his father, the latter offers him a place in a plot meant to blow up the King and Parliament (as in, literally blow up, re: Guy Fawkes, Bonfire Night, and all that).

So. Very, very interesting premise, and I really loved reading about the London that is the backdrop in this novel—not least because I actually go very often in the areas depicted here, and I enjoy retracing in my mind the characters’ steps in streets that I know well enough. Little winks are found here and there, too, such as Emma’s favourite bakery on Pudding Lane, or a stroll to the Globe. It may not seem much, but it always makes me smile.

The story was a slow development, more focused on the characters than on a quick unfolding of the plot. I don’t know if the latter is a strong or a weak point, because I feel it hinges on the reader’s knowledge of the actual Gunpowder Plot: if you know about it, then I think what matters more is not its outcome, but the journey to it, so to speak. If you don’t know it, though, the novel may in turn feel weak in that regard, by not covering it enough. I didn’t mind this slow development, since it allowed for room for the side plot with Emma and the Baron’s household, and I liked Emma well enough. I still can’t decide whether her secret felt genuine or somewhat contrived, but in the end, it didn’t matter so much, because she was a kickass person, with goals of her own, and actually more interesting than Thomas.

As a side note: yes, there is romance here. Fortunately, no gratuitous kiss and sex scenes that don’t bring anything to the story and only waste pages. In spite of the blurb that mentions how Thomas will have to choose between the plot and his love (= usually, a sure recipe for catastrophe in YA, with characters basically forgetting the meaning of things like “priorities” or “sense of responsibility”), it is more subtle than that. Thomas at least also starts considering other people being involved, such as, well, the three hundred Members of Parliament meant to go up in flames along with the King. Casualties, and all that…

Bonus points for White Light, who we don’t see much of, but was overall engaging and somewhat funny in a quirky way. I just liked its interventions, period.

Where I had more trouble with the story was Thomas himself, who was mostly whiny and obsessed with getting his mask. All the time. You’d get to wonder why his father trusted him and invited him to be part of the plot in the first place. Often enough, he came as self-centered and constantly wavering in his beliefs. While I can totally understand that the prospect of his plague suddenly spreading left him in a state of constant, nagging fear, and therefore prone to focus on this more than on other people’s interests, the way he hesitated between which way to pursue (stay faithful to the plot, or listen to the White Light, or shouldn’t he listen to his father, but then are his father’s beliefs really his own as well, etc.) was a bit tedious to go through. Good thing Emma was here to set his sight straights, and by this, I don’t mean showing him the light (OK, OK, I should stop with the puns now), but making him aware that her circumstances are more complicated than he thinks, in his own ‘privileged’ way, even though his being plagued does contribute to a common understanding of being immediately rejected because of what one looks like.

Also, let’s be honest, Guy wasn’t exactly Father of the Year either, and the story didn’t focus much on developing his ties with Thomas. They were united through the plot, but that was pretty much all, when this could’ve been a wonderful opportunity to reunite them differently, in deeper ways, too. There just wasn’t enough about him, about his personality, and in turn, this lessened the impact of Thomas’ decisions when it came to him.

Another issue for me was the magic system. I got the broad lines, and the reason for the Keepers/Igniters divide, but apart from that, we weren’t shown how exactly this magic works. It is, I’m sure, more subtle than simply voicing an order to a specific colour, and there seems to be a whole undercurrent of rules to it, that aren’t really explained. For instance, why can the masks only be carved by the biological father or mother of a person, and not by an adoptive parent (or even by anyone else)?

Mention in passing as well to language: sometimes, it veered into too modern territory (I mean 20/21st-century modern English specifically, not ‘but Shakespeare’s English was technically Modern English, too’ ;)). I think it was especially prevalent in Thomas’ discussions with White Light, and I found this jarring.

Conclusion: 3 stars, as I still liked the story overall, as well as the world depicted in it, despite the questions I still have about it. I was hoping for a stronger story, though.

Yzabel / September 12, 2016

Review: Smoke

Smoke by Dan Vyleta

My rating: [rating=1]

Blurb:

England. A century ago, give or take a few years.

An England where people who are wicked in thought or deed are marked by the Smoke that pours forth from their bodies, a sign of their fallen state. The aristocracy do not smoke, proof of their virtue and right to rule, while the lower classes are drenched in sin and soot. An England utterly strange and utterly real.

An elite boarding school where the sons of the wealthy are groomed to take power as their birthright. Teachers with mysterious ties to warring political factions at the highest levels of government. Three young people who learn everything they’ve been taught is a lie – knowledge that could cost them their lives. A grand estate where secrets lurk in attic rooms and hidden laboratories. A love triangle. A desperate chase. Revolutionaries and secret police. Religious fanatics and coldhearted scientists. Murder. A London filled with danger and wonder. A tortured relationship between a mother and a daughter, and a mother and a son. Unexpected villains and unexpected heroes. Cool reason versus passion. Rich versus poor. Right versus wrong, though which is which isn’t clear.

Review:

(I got a copy through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.)

I really liked the premise: sin and violent emotions taking on shape and scent, through a strange smoke people let escape in spite of themselves, in an alternate Victorian setting where, much like in real Victorian England, the “lower classes” are considered as sinful, while the “upper classes” are supposed to be their betters—and what’s best here than -not- displaying the dreadful Smoke, right? However, ultimately I couldn’t care about the story at all, nor about the characters. I partly blame this on the rhythm, and partly on the choice of narrative tense and voices.

The first chapters, albeit a little slow, had the kind of atmosphere I hoped the whole novel would carry throughout, involving a private boarding school, creepy students, and masters entrenched within their stinky moral rectitude. Lovely, isn’t it? There is so much one can do with such a setting (can you tell I like boarding school settings?). There was so much promise to the strained relationship between Julius, the apparently perfect, almost angelic student who submits others to his own rule on top of the teachers’, a monster in elegant disguise, and Thomas, a murderer’s son, openly convinced that he’s a monster and will end up like his father.

Alas, after that, or more specifically about the part where the boys go visit London, things went downhill.

I can definitely say the narrative style didn’t convince me: a blend of a first and third person, but also of present and past tense. Unfortunately, first POV present is difficult to properly achieve, and third POV present is even more difficult… and it just didn’t work here, bringing a constant jarring note to the story. I spent more time being bothered about the tense shifts and sometimes confusing points of view, than really paying attention to what I was reading. Not to mention that some of those narrators weren’t so useful, being brought in for one scene, then never again—in other words, I never got to get a feeling for these characters, not enough to care about what happened to them. This extended to the actual main characters, who could have had an interesting dynamics as a twisted love triangle, united in sin and darkness as they were uncovering a plot that may or may not destroy England as they knew it.

Another really bothering thing was how the Smoke was everywhere, permeating every stratum of society, at the heart of the mystery… yet in the end, there was no clue as to -why- exactly it existed, what brought it out of humans. Something supernatural? Something physiological? Nada. And since there’s no indication whatsoever that there’ll be a second volume, for now it looks like we’ll never know. (Also, because the origins of Smoke, its nature, are involved in the plot our three “heroes” unveil, the absence of revelation and information is all the more annoying.)

It took me weeks to finish this novel, and to be honest, had I not felt like I owned a review for NetGalley, I’d have DNFed it.

Yzabel / April 26, 2016

Review: Illuminae

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman

My rating: [rating=5]

Blurb:

This morning, Kady thought breaking up with Ezra was the hardest thing she’d have to do.

This afternoon, her planet was invaded.

The year is 2575, and two rival megacorporations are at war over a planet that’s little more than an ice-covered speck at the edge of the universe. Too bad nobody thought to warn the people living on it. With enemy fire raining down on them, Kady and Ezra—who are barely even talking to each other—are forced to fight their way onto an evacuating fleet, with an enemy warship in hot pursuit.

But their problems are just getting started. A deadly plague has broken out and is mutating, with terrifying results; the fleet’s AI, which should be protecting them, may actually be their enemy; and nobody in charge will say what’s really going on. As Kady hacks into a tangled web of data to find the truth, it’s clear only one person can help her bring it all to light: the ex-boyfriend she swore she’d never speak to again.

Told through a fascinating dossier of hacked documents—including emails, schematics, military files, IMs, medical reports, interviews, and more—Illuminae is the first book in a heart-stopping, high-octane trilogy about lives interrupted, the price of truth, and the courage of everyday heroes.

Review:

4.5 stars. I had to wait for 4 months to finally be able to borrow it from the library (10 people ahead of me, bah), and I admit I was worried about the whole epistolary/chats/format thing, because it’s too easy to just slap “witty” formatting on pages and call that a good book. Fortunately, the story and characters really hooked me–yes, even though the “chat-speak” on some pages would normally quickly have annoyed me in other circumstances.

There was romance, but not of the stupid kind that casts a shadow on the whole plot. While Ezra and Kady do think about each other, after their world was turned upside down and forced them to reconsider the importance of a breakup for what I shall call “puny teenager reasons”, they didn’t spend their time mooning, groping each other, and sending the rest of their crews to hell just because feeeeeeelings. Contrary to what happens too often in many YA novels (you know, “the world is ending but we’re still too busy pondering who we want to go out with”). It wasn’t the best romance ever, but at least it was far from being the worst I read.

The format: fun to read, although I tended to prefer some aspects over others (the “chatspeak” conversations, for instance, weren’t my favourites). I think this was because of the whole “report” side of it, which made for a strange dichotomy in the narrative: both very factual (“here are recordings from camera X”) and unreliable (how were those recordings recovered and put back together?).

The characters: so I’ll be honest, Ezra and Kady were “good” to read about but not really more. Ezra enlisted to help, not knowing much to what he was signing up for, yet aware someone should help, and gradually revealing a few things about his family that were hard to suspect at first. I didn’t care for Kady much at first, because of her sullen, do-not-want-to-do-that attitude; however, she redeemed herself later, and anyway was more of an action girl with a bit of romance on the side than the usual (and annoying) lovestruck heroine who lets The Boy do all the work.

Yet as far as I’m concerned, the one character I really, really loved reading about was AIDAN. It’s crazy and damaged and desperately trying to latch upon what’s left of its programming, pushing its core directives in directions that may or may not be completely at odds with what the crews of the three spaceships would like (or need). And in doing so, in being so, it was all so human, spiralling towards both destruction and a new awareness.

And, frankly, I just loved that AI. It added at least a full star to my rating. No kidding. And just for AIDAN, I’d read it again. (Also for the unreliable parts I mentioned above, and the way they tie together, and you’d better pay attention to a few tiny details here and there.)

Yzabel / March 13, 2016

Review: The Beauty, Vol. 1

The Beauty, Vol. 1 by Jeremy Haun

My rating: [rating=4]

Blurb:

Modern society is obsessed with outward beauty. What if there was a way to guarantee you could become more and more beautiful every day? What if it was a sexually transmitted disease?

In the world of The Beauty, physical perfection is only one sexual encounter away. The vast majority of the population has taken advantage of it, but Detectives Vaughn and Foster will soon discover it comes at a terrible cost. Now, they’ll have to find their way past corrupt poiticians, vengeful federal agents, and a terrifying mercenary out to collect the price on their heads.

Collects the first six issues of the critically acclaimed, Pilot Season winning series by writer/artist JEREMY HAUN (Constantine, Batwoman) and co-writer JASON A. HURLEY.

Review:

[I received a copy of this book through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.]

Creepy cover is creepy. I admit this is why I requested it for starters.

This book gathers issues 1 to 6 of this comics series, in which “the Beauty” is a STD that a lot of people go out of their way to catch. Because once you’re infected, thinning hair regrows, fat and flab disappear, wrinkles go away, and it’s like a new chance at youth and beauty. The catch? Just a slight though permanent fever. Nothing to write home about, right? Until some of the infected people start to cough blood and self-combust. Not so nice anymore.

Time for detectives Vaughn and Foster to get into the limelight and try to figure out what’s happening. They’re part of a unit specialised in the Beauty—there are some anti-Beauty/terrorist groups out there, and their job is to prevent bombs from blowing up, hostages from being killed, and so on.

To be honest, I felt a few things were missing from this comics. While the idea was deliciously gruesome, I would’ve liked to learn more about the mechanics of the illness itself: apart from the constant fever, what would possibly make people self-combust/go headexplody in a matter of a few seconds? In itself, scientifically-speaking, it doesn’t make much sense. Although the graphics involved kept making me shiver: there’s something about that black blood, those black veins snaking along slim members, those shadows around eyes that can’t see anything anymore and mouths opened on silent screams… Part of me couldn’t look at the drawings, and another apart felt compelled to look.

The story also follows a somewhat typical “cops investigating a case and finding a lot of red tape (or worse) on their road” plot. It’s both good and bad. Bad, as it makes for a not so original premise; good, because when it’s the kind of plot you want to read about (and I did), then you get what you were expecting.

I found the art in general pretty efficient: in carrying the action, in depicting the horror of the half-mutilated corpses (that black blood, I tell you!), in

The “good guys” were a little bland at first (seasoned cop with younger/beautiful partner), but I grew to like them over these 6 issues. Foster wants to do what he feels is right, even though he knows it may get him fired—and then comes a surprise of his own he has to contend with. Vaughn is a strong person who doesn’t hesitate to bend some rules when it’s necessary, and has a vested interest in this from the beginning, since she’s infected and hates it. And this is part of one of the themes explored throughout this series. Is beauty worth it when you know, every passing second of your life, every time you look in the mirror, that you’re only “beautiful” because you’re sick? Isn’t it worrying? The Beauty appeared two years ago in that universe, and as every “young” illness, who can tell how it’s going to evolve and possibly mutate? Obviously, here it’s all about beauty being a symptom, but it can easily be translated into what some people in modern society are ready to do, the lengths they’re willing to go to, in order to stay young and beautiful for as long as possible. And can they be blamed? Nobody wants to get old and wrinkled and flabby-looking. (Seriously—I’m not particularly beautiful, but when I hear someone say “only beautiful women fear getting old”, I can’t help but think “that’s not true, this fear is somewhere in each of us, though not with the same strength”.)

The authors also tried to develop their villains. It didn’t work so well for some (I really couldn’t care less about the psychopath with a mask who guts out and mutilates his victims), but it was good to see that it went well for others, like the shady CDC scientist who happens to have a wife and children, and then turns her coat when she realises everything’s gone too far and it’s her duty to help.

In spite of the few things I mentioned, I could easily enact my my suspension of disbelief here, and enjoy the art and the story. I’d definitely like to read issues 7 and beyond, if only to know what’s going to happen: the end is half-cliffhanger, half tying quite a few things, so I’m wondering where it’s going to go from now on.

Yzabel / July 25, 2015

Review: Tortured Life

Tortured Life by Dan Watters

My rating: [rating=4]

Blurb:

Richard is having a bad year. He’s lost his job, lost his girlfriend, put on weight… and developed the ability to see the deaths of everyone around him. Plagued by horrific premonitions, he decides to end it all, but there are old and powerful forces at work that have their own plans for his power. Pitched into a world of eldritch horror that lurks just beneath the surface of London’s civilized veneer, the only chance Richard has of finding peace is to unravel the mysteries of his own past. He’s having a really, really bad year.

Review:

[I received a copy through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.]

A harsh but fascinating story about Richard, a young man who’s able to see how people around him will die. It starts with animals, then expands to everybody he meets, ending up in him retreating from the world and the horrors he keeps seeing. Until the day he meets Alice, and crosses path with the Bloodyman, leaving a trail of dead people behind him.

This comic book weaves several themes, not only death and the ability to see it; scientific experiments are one of those, and while this may seem like an odd mix at first, the plot manages to gather them all up in a way that actually makes sense. It is terrifying and bittersweet; bringing slivers of hope, only to have them smothered by more despair and helplessness. Richard struggles to understand what’s happening to him, yet every time a bit is unveiled, something or someone else is taken from him, until only the dead remain. The dead, and truth.

I also liked that the beginning doesn’t dwell too long on what Richard’s life had been before: just enough to see what he lost, and how he then started losing himself, before everything starts going down the drain for good.

Although the artwork is sometimes stiff, it still definitely conveys all the gruesomness of death, murder, dismembered bodies and rotting guts. The Bloodyman is creepy as hell, humming tunes as he goes about killing again and again, clearly methodical in the madness he’s lost himself in long ago. The bittersweet ending may or may not be a good thing; personally, I quite liked it, as I wasn’t sure what other outcome could have sprung out of this story (at least, a totally happy ending didn’t seem fitting).

3.5 stars, rounded to 4.

Yzabel / April 14, 2014

Review: King’s Crusade

King’s Crusade by A.D. Starrling

My rating: [rating=3]

Summary:

The perfect immortal warrior.
A set of stolen, priceless artifacts.
An ancient sect determined to bring about the downfall of human civilization.

The exciting, action-packed follow-up to Soul Meaning and the second installment in the supernatural thriller series, Seventeen.

When a team of scientists unearth scriptures older than the Dead Sea Scrolls in a cave in the Eastern Desert mountains in Egypt, a mystery lost to the tides of time is uncovered. Heading the expedition is Dimitri Reznak, the Head of the Crovir Immortal Culture & History Section. But the monumental discovery is spoiled by evidence of looting and half the priceless artifacts Reznak has been seeking for centuries have disappeared.

Alexa King is a covert agent for the Crovir First Council. When she is approached by her godfather for a mission that could help elucidate the enigma of her lost past, she finds herself delving into the dangerous and shadowy world of secret religious societies. Assigned by Reznak to assist her is Zachary Jackson, a gifted human and Harvard archaeology professor.

In their search for the missing artifacts, King and Jackson stumble upon the existence of a deadly sect whose origins are as mystifying as the relics they are searching for. From North Africa to the doors of Vatican City itself, they unveil a centuries-old plan that aims to shatter the very structure of civilized society.

With the help of Reznak and a group of unexpected allies, King and Jackson must stop the enemy and uncover the astonishing truth behind the missing artifacts and King’s own unearthly origins before all is lost.

Review:

[I got a copy through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.]

3.5 stars. I had read and reviewed the first installment a couple of months ago, and I liked this one a little better. The action-to-revelations ratio seemed better paced to me, and didn’t leave me with the same dizzying sensation as Soul Meaning did. There is a lot of action—the characters are, after all, up against a sect that doesn’t hesitate to shoot whoever gets in the way, and whose arm reaches several countries—but I thought it felt more compact, and put to better use. It might be confusing sometimes, in that the author describes various kinds of moves, so if a reader doesn’t know those terms, picturing said moves could be difficult; fortunately, it wasn’t a problem for me (at least those Body Combat classes taught me the names of various kinds of kicks). I keep thinking that, just like Book #1, King’s Crusade would make a good action movie.

At first, I wasn’t sure about what to think of the conspiracy/archaeology side, because it’s been played a lot in so many stories already. On the other hand, though it’s a bit cliché, I do enjoy my dose of sexy-looking archaeology geek professors who find themselves embroiled in secret societies wars.

Speaking of which, I liked Jackson as a character. In the beginning, I was afraid he’d turned some kind of womanizer (when Alexa recruits him, he’s in bed with a woman), but it quickly appeared that once on the job, he’d do it seriously, and involve himself even though things were clearly dangerous. He’s in in for the money, the mystery, the scientific/historical interest, not for the nookie. Neither he nor Alexa let themselves get distracted by feelings in the middle of a fight, and proved to be competent in their respective fields. As for Alexa, she knew what she had to do, she did it well, and she was the no-nonsense kind of character I like.

What dampened my enthusiasm:

– We don’t get to know Alexa that well. What I mean is that she’s got a bit of an amnesia thing going, although it’s only when it comes to her early childhood; and I would’ve liked to find out what happened to her, what led to the events of the prologue, before Dimitri found her.
– I don’t really agree with the ending. Part of me is glad that Alexa and Jackson managed to remain together. However, another part thinks that it seemed a little too easy. I could sense that kind of HEA coming from ten miles, knowing what happened to Reid at the end of book 1.
– Sometimes the characters were a bit… too competent? For instance, early enough, we learn that Alexa has never died, contrary to all the other immortals, and Jackson turns to be a tad bit too skilled when it comes to fighting, even though he isn’t on par with the overtrained immortals, of course.

I couldn’t decide between giving it 3 or 4 stars. I’m giving it 3 on Goodreads—well, I did like it—but if the points I’ve raised aren’t a bother for you, definitely consider it a 4.

Yzabel / February 27, 2014

Review: Soul Meaning

Soul Meaning by A.D. Starrling

My rating: [rating=3]

Summary:

‘My name is Lucas Soul.
Today, I died again.
This is my fifteenth death in the last four hundred and fifty years.’

The Crovirs and the Bastians. Two races of immortals who have lived side by side with humans for millennia and been engaged in a bloody war since the very dawn of their existence. With the capacity to survive up to sixteen deaths, it was not until the late fourteenth century that they reached an uneasy truce, following a deadly plague that wiped out more than half of their numbers and made the majority of survivors infertile.

Soul is an outcast of both immortal societies. Born of a Bastian mother and a Crovir father, a half breed whose very existence is abhorred by the two races, he spends the first three hundred and fifty years of his life being chased and killed by the Hunters.

One fall night in Boston, the Hunt starts again, resulting in Soul’s fifteenth death and triggering a chain of events that sends him on the run with Reid Hasley, a former US Marine and his human business partner of ten years. When a lead takes them to Washington DC and a biotechnology company with affiliations to the Crovirs, they cross the Atlantic to Europe, on the trail of a French scientist whose research seems intrinsically linked to the reason why the Hunters are after Soul again.

From Paris to Prague, their search for answers will lead them deep into the immortal societies and bring them face to face with someone from Soul’s past. Shocking secrets are uncovered and fresh allies come to the fore as they attempt to put a stop to a new and terrifying threat to both immortals and humans.

Time is running out for Soul. Can he get to the truth before his seventeenth death, protect the ones he loves and prevent another immortal war?

Review:

(I got an ARC of this book through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review. Since this was an ARC, please note that it might still undergo a few changes before publication.)

One thing I should say from the start is that Soul Meaning would probably make a terrific movie: packed with action, flying bullets, underground treads in secret passageways, a conspiracy that could have a horrible impact on the whole world… A real page-turner.

I especially liked the setting. From what I could see, and as far as I know, real-world locations were well-documented, and I could feel the author researched those, and didn’t only made up stuff on the spot. Bonus points for proper use of French language, which isn’t such a given considering how many novels come up with mangled sentences in that regard. I also liked the way the immortals’ society worked, with two factions technically at peace, yet always seeming like they were on the brink of reigniting the conflict. Last but not least, the stakes were exactly of the kind I like to read about, and here, too, it was obvious things were researched beforehand.

Make it a (solid) 3.5 stars and not a 5, though, because of two things that didn’t really work out for me (unfortunately):

1) The action itself: I liked a fast-paced read, but this one was so fast-paced it made me feel tired. As in, physically tired, just like the characters could only be after so many days living on the edge. On the one hand, it is a positive point: any author can be proud when his/her books elicit responses from the readers. On the other hand, well… there were moments when I wanted to keep on reading, yet had to take a break nonetheless. In the end, it detracted from my enjoyment, even though it wasn’t a breaker either.
(Minor sidenote about suppressors, too: if I’m not mistaken, you’d still hear the gun shot, and it might still attract attention in enclosed spaces, if only the way a strange muffled sound where there isn’t supposed to be any would. Granted, this is nitpicking on my part.)

2) Because the story unfolds so quickly, and the protagonists are so often on the run, I felt there wasn’t enough room for character development. We get to see them react, made plans, devise means of escape, fight, piece hints together… but I didn’t get a complete feeling for them as people. I think they are deeper than that; their depth just couldn’t shine through as much as it would have in different circumstances.

Still, I liked this book (as said, I would easily envision it as a movie or an episode in a TV series), and will keep an eye out for more from this authir. It’s mostly those two specific aspects that didn’t agree with me—and may not be such a problem for another reader.