Friday 2 October 2020

REVIEW - EXIST - BEYOND THE THAW - THE THAW CHRONICLES BY TAMAR SLOAN & HEIDI CATHERINE

 

Title: Exist Beyond The Thaw
Series: The Thaw Chronicles
Authors: Tamar Sloan & Heidi Catherine
Genre: Sci-Fi, Post Apocalyptic, Dystopian, Climate Change Fiction
Release Date: 18th September 2020

BLURB from Goodreads
The Seekers have been chosen. The Newlands await.

Four young lives now have to choose where they belong. To choose what and who they will fight for.

Because no matter where they turn, the legacy of the past is inescapable. The Newlands already has settlers. The Outlands has a new leader. And danger has arrived in Askala.

Hawk, Sam, Mercy and Luca must work together or be swept away by a world even more divided than themselves. As the fight for survival becomes a fight for the future, as hearts yearn and secrets are protected, loyalties will be tested.

Can they build a world like nobody has seen before? One where people can unite for the good of Earth?

Or has the war they never wanted already begun?


PURCHASE LINKS

REVIEW
I am really happy that there are more books to come from this series than there was originally planned and I start kind of yearning for the world it is set in when I haven’t read anything about it and its characters, so when I saw this one was available to read it certainly wasn’t a case of “if” I was going to read. It definitely was right I want to read it now!!

The covers over the whole series are amazing and flow extremely well. Using the birds on them is great and I love that the characters aren’t on the book covers so you can keep your own imagery for them. I bet this set of books as physical copies on a book shelf look amazing!

It’s straight back into the action, and a mysterious note is intercepted by Wren and her nephew Hawk whilst they are sat contemplating the future on the sand. The note certainly raises the questions of Who it was meant for? Is their yet another traitor in their midst? And of course, exactly What does the note mean? The leaders take it extremely seriously and call a meeting to vote whether they should still send the Seekers over to the Newlands to try to create a coexistent, cooperative life with those already on Newlands wasting its natural beauty and its potential. The youngsters that made it through to be chosen as Seekers are still keen to go. Saying perhaps this note means they are needed out there spreading the word and ways of Askala to prevent further bloodshed and potential wars with those who want to take what they have. The Seekers are determined to teach the kindness, and the Alaskan way of living. I suppose from the blurb there’s the clues there that of course the Seekers leave Askala, so its not a spoiler as such and to do my review I have to reveal they do go to the Newlands. There are all the tearful goodbyes, some parents beg their children not to leave, but as the youngsters point out they have trained for this.

In the end two boats go across containing the Seekers and one other additional member of the group. I think most people will guess who. The journey across the acidic sea is fraught with danger, so much so when the seekers do make it to the Newlands it is without some of their valuable supplies. This book covers the ups and downs and dangers the Seekers have to cope with from their new surroundings, those that have already settled on the island. The Seekers soon learn that their task is going to be much more difficult than they at first thought. The Seekers and those in Askala think for the future of the earth and their families. However, those that came from the Outlands that have built their new home on the Newlands Island live very much for the day. Sam tries to convince them to think of the future, rather than trap hares to eat immediately, set up a breeding programme so they will have a plentiful supply moving into the future. Hawk and some of the others help by preparing and planting a garden, so there will be vegetables to eat when they grow. A pod breeding system is also set up but it seems this is a lesson too complicated for the Newlanders and when their friends from the Outlands visit a lot of what the Seekers have helped to set up is ruined.

There’s also some besotted, love matches happening in this book too. Will they work out or will some of the Seekers end up broken hearted. We also lose a couple of Seekers whilst they are on the Newlands, which illustrates just what a precarious situation the Seekers really are in. It also seems that a certain someone is hiding quite a few secrets about his life in the Outlands and the people he met. In fact, there are a couple of Newlanders that already know him and he isn’t keen on them letting that fact become common knowledge.

I loved the introduction of the new character of Tarquin and would love to read more about he in the future book. Tarquin seems to have really taken to Mercy too. I get the feeling people underestimate Tarquin and she is much older than her age. Perhaps she is just the person to over hear the information the Seekers so desperately need that will affect not only them but their loved ones back in Askala. There were a couple of things that didn’t quite make sense to me. A few of the characters actions surprised me, a couple sort of acted a little differently than I expected they would have and another reverted to what I thought they had grown out of. Sorry if this sounds cryptic but I don’t want to give spoilers but I want to explain how I felt about the book and its characters.

My immediate thoughts upon finishing reading the books were that it had been yet another action-packed book in a fantastic series. It becomes clear Askala is still in danger from both the Outlanders and probably the Newlanders too! Looking forward to reading more.

To sum up this is another action-packed book in a fantastic series. It becomes clear Askala is still very much in danger from both the Outlands and the Newlands too….This book both raised and left me with so many questions, such as, Will the Newlanders ever really understand what the Seekers are trying to teach them? I guessed the answer to one of the mysteries within the book, though I kind of think that the Falcon could have been a group of people or at least more than one person. I really don’t understand what Sam thinks she will achieve or what she really wants by going with Ekon (again cryptic I know, you’ll get it when you read the book) The questions I have been left asking are, Why the need for Sam to break Hawks heart in this process? Why couldn’t she have been more honest with him? How many secrets is Lucas still hiding? At one point I thought he was Tarquins dad!! Why does Luca have to fix everything alone and break Mercy’s heart in this process? And my final question, which I reckon will definitely be covered by the next book is How will Hawk, Mercy and Gust survive and continue in the Newlands? I think I can say this book really twists and turns and has you feeling all sorts of emotions for the characters. It also has you going off on a tangent trying to answer the questions that certain scenes and situations make arise. I mean I really went wide with the whole Luca and Tarquin didn’t I? That’s the beauty of this book absolutely anything could happen!!



1 comment:

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