ASIN: B0091LLYZ4
Publisher: Atom
Pages/File size: 389pages/387KB
Formats Available: Hardback, Paperback, E-Book
BLURB from Goodreads
Gripping original stories of dystopian worlds from nine New York Times bestselling authors, edited by Melissa Marr and Kelley Armstrong.
The world is gone, destroyed by human, ecological, or supernatural causes. Survivors dodge chemical warfare and cruel gods; they travel the reaches of space and inhabit underground caverns. Their enemies are disease, corrupt corporations, and one another; their resources are few, and their courage is tested.
Powerful original dystopian tales from nine bestselling authors offer bleak insight, prophetic visions, and precious glimmers of light among the shards and ashes of a ruined world.
MY REVIEW
I received a paperback of this book from the publishers Atom in exchange for my honest review. I love the cover, it's a dystopian, desolate image of an area talked about in one of the stories. I think the fairest way to review this book is to talk a little about each book, and give each tale a score out of 5.
Hearken by Veronica Roth
Darya is the main character in this tale. Darya hears songs, they can be people life songs or their death songs. Darya ends up going to an academy to train and she has to decide which type of songs she wants to hear, the life songs or the death songs. A special implant is put into the trained to determine which songs she hears a black dye is death songs a red dye is life songs. The city around is dangerous as people let off bio bombs, which if you inhale...well you die within days of inhaling them.
Score = 4/5
Branded by Kelley Armstrong
In this dystopian world there are those who live by the rules inside the fortress and those who live in the wilderness. If you break a rule whilst living in the fortress your punishment is being branded and cast out into the wilderness. Also those cast out are anyone with supernatural tendencies such as weres etc.
The main characters are Rayne and Braeden. Braeden is cast out, though it's not exactly as it seems as Rayne soon tries to join in on the outside. those in the fortress believe all their is out in the wilderness is eventual death . . .Are they right, or do other groups of people exist?
Score = 5/5
Necklace Of Raindrops by Margaret Stohl
In this tale everyone is given a necklace that contains what looks like beautiful raindrops on it. The more adventurous/risky things you do the more of the drops you use on the necklace. Rama has decided to live life to the full and is on his last drop. He literally jumps from a plane with no parachute. Everyone that takes this way out of life with their last necklace drop leaves a letter for the family or dear friends they leave behind. Rama leaves his letter for his sister, Jai. The sister who is now all alone and has her necklace fully intact, she goes to work, then home, then back to work etc and takes no risks in life. . . Until she meets a guy at work . . .This is a very heartfelt and poignant tale. I really enjoyed it a lot even though it felt like one of the shorter tales in the book. The comparison of the necklace and the "chances" you take in life.
Score = 4/5
Dogsbody by Rachel Caine
Zay & Virtue are two orphans and are the two central characters of this short tale. They both come from the lower level zone of level K. Nothing exceptional or especially great happens to the kids in this level. Until. . . . one day they are all given tickets for a train journey to go watch a big match. Luck? or a trap of some sort? Both Virtue and Zay are suspicious, so much so Virtue decides not to get on the train, Zay decides to get on the train with the "nothing to lose" attitude but hey however poor you are there's usually something you have to lose like perhaps your life? This may be a short tale but it has twists and turns as well as lots of action and adventure within it too.
Score = 3.5/5
Pale Rider by Nancy Holder
The world has changed from what we know it to be. Dana has to go scavenging for batteries as there is no electricity, and she gets a feeling she is being followed. It turns out she is, she meets Ale Ritter who is German and has some sort of magic power. It turns out that Dana's Aunt has somehow sent Alex to find Dana. I liked this tale but at times found it a little confusing and felt it could have been longer and had a little more explanation here and there.
Score = 3/5
Corpse Eaters by Melissa Marr
In this tale gods called Nidhogg are ruling the world and having their monsters Nidos capture ill people and out them into large vats whilst still alive to make a strange soup that the monsters and gods live off. So fighting teams eist that go out and try to kill the monsters. That is what Chastity and Chris were once a fighting team, then Chastity was killed. Her younger sister Harmony has taken on Chastity's fighting role. Most fighters vow to each other that they will kill each other, rather than be taken alive and put into the vats. Taylor and his partner faced this decision, when Taylor was injured and captured. Jess his fighting partner took a risk and shot him with her gun which draws the monsters attention, she did manage to get away herself.
Chris continually asks Harmony to leave and go to a safer place but she resists as her father is still alive. Then one day Harmony is betrayed, by someone she would never suspect . . .
Score = 5/5
Burn 3 by Kami Garcia
This tale is set in a dome. The dome protects from the strong rays of the sun that would otherwise burn everything they shine upon. Many people have burn scars. Children begin to go missing. Taken by the skinners. The skinners literally want the children's young unblemished skin to use for skin grafts for those badly disfigured from burns. When Phoenix's younger sister Sky goes missing, she is frantic . . . will she find Sky in time? If she finds her can she rescue her? Would also like this one to be a part of a series.
Score = 5/5
Love Is A Choice by Beth Revis
This is the only tale that I know of in this book that is a spin off from a book series that already exists. The book series this tale comes from is Beth Revis's Across The Universe. It has the character Orion in it. We meet the character Mag and learn how she has switched places with her grandfather and she is also free of the phydus and questioning Eldest and the way he rules the ship.
Score = 4/5
Miasma by Carrie Ryan
In this tale the miasma is killing everyone, once you have been exposed to it, you become ill, then the beaked doctors come and take you away. In fact it's got to the point the beaked doctors seem to be taking some healthy people too. Is there a way to escape, or hide away from the beaked doctors and the ferret like animals they bring with them to sniff out the diseased. Would love this to be part of a larger series.
Score = 5/5
So to sum up . . . .
I have to say that this anthology is up there with the best one's I have read. There are some fantastic and well known Authors in this anthology so to say I had high epectations was an understatment! As in my experience you usually get a few really good tales, a mediocre one and then the rest not so good. With this anthology I enjoyed reading all the short tales, obviously I liked some more than others but there wasn't one below a 3/5 so I think that's a great Anthology. So what should I give the overall anthology?
Score = 4.5/5 (as there are no 0.5 stars on Goodreads I've given it 5/5)
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