Tuesday 13 September 2016

REVIEW - FINAL TRADE - THE DOMINION TRILOGY BY JOE HART

OUT TODAY!

Title: Final Trade
Series: The Dominion Trilogy
Author: Joe Hart
Genre: Sci-Fi, Dystopia
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Release Date: 13th September 2016

BLURB from Goodreads
Zoey is not the woman she once was. She’s watched her friends die at the hands of their captors, been hunted, and returned from the brink of death. Now she must find the truth about who she is.

In search of the family she never knew, Zoey learns of personal records stored in an Idaho missile silo that may contain the information she and the other women seek. With the help of her group of newfound friends, Zoey travels to the missile facility, but among the records, they uncover information that leads to an insidious and horrific new foe: the Fae Trade, a macabre carnival of slavery and pain.

Zoey’s journey into the darkest parts of the human psyche brings her perilously close to the ever-thinning line between good and evil, and the final cost in her quest for justice might be her own humanity.


PURCHASE LINKS

INITIAL THOUGHTS
Wow, is the quote at the beginning is a hint of what is to come, then this one is set to be an action packed, great seeing book! Looking forward to catching up with Zoey. Will she find out about herself? family? history?"

THOUGHTS WHILST READING
18%   Will Zoey, etc find the information they yearn for at 'Riverbend?"
33%    Who is Zoey? Who/what is/was her heritage? Will she ever learn the truth
61%    Enjoying following the old favourite character Zoey, as well as the newly introduced character of Wen.....looking forward to seeing the strong female characters meeting up at some point. I also really want to learn about Zoey's origins and heritage, as well as hoping to learn about Wen's past before she ended up where she is stuck right now." 

REVIEW
I downloaded an e-copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.
The cover of this book is dominated by the tent like structure in the middle of it that we learn is the Fae Trade "circus".  The tents of the Fae Trade are in the middle of a wasteland, isolated to prevent women attempting to escape, but also so the owners can keep control of the whole area. The Fae-Trade travels around stopping nearby to the larger settlements to enable men to travel to it easily yet far enough away so they can control the whole area. Would the cover make me pick this one up from a book store shelf? It's difficult to answer this question totally unbiased by the content of the book, but putting aside the fact I had already read The Last Girl, I truly think I would. I would want to know who the tents belonged to, and why they were in such an isolated looking place, so Yes!
At the beginning of this book we get a glimpse into the past, set even before book one. We read/see a scene where a mother and father are running from danger with their baby daughter. The woman stumbles and is helped by the man. the ground they run on is wet and muddy, bullets are shooting all around and at them. They manage to hide in a derelict building, but they have only a knife as a weapon. Both parents look down at the baby, promising her they will keep her safe.
Then the book jumps to the "present day" with Zoey chasing a possible spy, her legs feel as strong as ever as she follows the male spy. He is shot by one of the other chasing him and he falls down onto a ledge. Zoey makes the dangerous leap down onto the ledge to torture the information she wants from the spy. Zoey finds out that the man comes from a town called Hellings, and he has been out looking for females. The man reveals that he hasn't found any females saying that between the NOA, and The Fae Trade there are none to be found anymore. Zoey also learns that some of the NOA records are kept at the nearby Riverbend Missile station where the man is from. Naturally Zoey, and the two other women she helped to escape want to know where they came from and who their parents are/were. 
It's a trip that carries a lot of danger, as female's are still a rarity to be sold to the highest bidder be it the NOA or the Fae Trade. 
We also meet a new character and follow her story in this book too. Her name is Wen and she is travelling along with the Fae Trade, though she is considered lucky as she is not to be sold, she has been singled out as a cook. The Prestons who own the Fae Trade treat her as little more than a slave, who cooks all the meals, and brings their meal to them everyday. They even make Wen sample the a little from each meal to prove she is not trying to poison them. Which is quite ironic as she has teamed up with a guard and a "scout" (who searches for females and/or any supplies that may be useful in the are) to put together a plan of escape which involves obtaining an unusual tasteless poison.
I don't want to say much more about the plot, there's so much I want to say but am determined not to give spoilers. I will say if you really enjoyed book one then this one is easily as good, there's loads of action and danger, it delves into the backgrounds of the young women that have escaped more too. We also learn what other females have suffered that were not chosen by the NOA for their breeding/reproduction experiments, or that were given or sold on after the NOA had already used them up and were considered "too old" for their experiments anymore. These women are either sold to the Fae Trade or try to go it alone but don't normally last long until they are picked up by gangs of men and are used and abused. Though the women at the Fae Trade also end up being used and abused. The Fae Trade take bids from men who wish to buy a particular women, and due to women being so rare there is always a large supply of buyers for them. Then the Fae Trade take the bids from the men, and the men then have to fight for the women. The fights are to the death and until only one man is standing and then he gets the women! Barbaric! is the word that comes to mind, but strangely this behaviour does come across as feasible and the concept and apocalyptic society that Joe Hart creates really does make you sit and think. This is one of those books that stays with you for quite a while after reading it. It's certainly thought provoking.
I've really grown attached to the characters in this book. The way the men are trying their best to protect all women they come across not just those within their own little community.
Zoey becomes more and more distraught and does things she think will make her new found friends/family will hate her, but they don't hate her. They understand her and agree to help her on her quests that she feels she has to take on even in the face of death. It's not all sad in this book there is some happier news. . . .but then there's the big shock, ending. . . .favourite characters being ...hurt!. . . possibly mortally wounded as well as the NOA rearing it's ugly head again. It seem's they may not have taken everything they wanted from Zoey after all.
So did I enjoy the book? I felt like I devoured it! I really hated having to put this book down!  Would I recommend the book? Yes, if you love the post apocalyptic fiction/dystopian genres this is a must read. I'd go so far as to say adults would read this even though it has a YA label on Goodreads. I enjoyed it as much as Sophie Littlefield's Aftertime Series which is classified as adult fiction. Would I want to read another book in this series? Oh yes! I'd read it right now if it was available. It'll be sad to read as it will be the last book, as this series is a trilogy. Would I read other titles by this author? I will be taking a look at any other books by this author, though it would depend on genre and the individual book.

FINAL THOUGHTS
Honestly my immediate thoughts upon finishing the book were . . .Oh Noooo! What an ending......possible favourite characters in major peril cliff hanger! How could you do that Joe Hart! Please tell me how long do I have to wait to read the next book???


And in case you haven't read The Last Girl yet. . .
Here's the details and link to my review of it.

Title: Last Girl
Series: The Dominion Trilogy
Author: Joe Hart
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Release Date: 1st March 2016

BLURB from Goodreads
A mysterious worldwide epidemic reduces the birthrate of female infants from 50 percent to less than 1 percent. Medical science and governments around the world scramble in an effort to solve the problem, but twenty-five years later there is no cure, and an entire generation grows up with a population of fewer than a thousand women.
Zoey and some of the surviving young women are housed in a scientific research compound dedicated to determining the cause. For two decades, she’s been isolated from her family, treated as a test subject, and locked away—told only that the virus has wiped out the rest of the world’s population.
Captivity is the only life Zoey has ever known, and escaping her heavily armed captors is no easy task, but she’s determined to leave before she is subjected to the next round of tests…a program that no other woman has ever returned from. Even if she’s successful, Zoey has no idea what she’ll encounter in the strange new world beyond the facility’s walls. Winning her freedom will take brutality she never imagined she possessed, as well as all her strength and cunning—but Zoey is ready for war.


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