Rebellion by Stephanie Diaz

REBELLION

by Stephanie Diaz

St. Martin's Griffin

YA Science Fiction

336 pages

It's been seven days since Clementine, Logan, and their allies retreated into hiding on the Surface. Clementine feels almost safe in their company, but she knows it won't last. The rebels may have won one fight against Commander Charlie, but the fight is far from over. He will find a way to fly his Core battleship to the nearby planet, Marden, no matter how many lives are lost in the process. Unless the rebels defeat him first.

The plan is simple: they will infiltrate each sector and weaken his infrastructure from within his ranks. They will convince the underage workers in the camps to join in the uprising. They will hijack ships, enter the Core, and assassinate Charlie. But Charlie has more weapons in his possession than guns and bombs, and he will do whatever it takes to keep the rebels from ruining his plans. With every step, Clementine draws closer to losing Logan and everyone she cares about—and losing control of herself.

MY TIDBITS

After the nerve-wracking cliff hanger ending of the first novel in this series, EXTRACTION, I couldn't wait to get my hands on book 2. Clementine is just starting to digest all the events and sacrifices of the last days as she finds sanctuary in the rebellion hide-out. She has scars and lots of baggage, a fact which I found made her very realistic. But of course, the beginning quiet is only a short pause before the storm sets in again.

The characters are much more worked out in REBELLION, giving a deeper insight into their thoughts, actions and personalities. Clementine presses on as a true heroine, but the battles of book 1 have left their mark and this is brought out nicely. Honestly, I did find that by deepening the characters, REBELLION did suffer on speed. There were several times during the first half, where I found myself wondering when things would finally pick up and get going. But it wasn't enough to make me put down the pages. Nope. The story is investing, and I really wanted to see how Clementine would come through her new predicament (which just thickened and thickened and thickened).

The plot itself is fairly straight forward in the beginning, but then starts to twist and turn into an array of unexpected surprises. There were several happenings which I really didn't see coming and kept this story on it's toes. There's a little romance too, but it fits well with the peril of the situations. Sweet but realistic, and thrown into the battle as much as the rest of Clementine's world.

Summed up, I can't wait to get my hands on book 3 and fever for Clementine as she battles through to the very end.




You can find this. . .

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And here she is. . .

                                   STEPHANIE DIAZ!!!

Twenty-two-year-old Stephanie Diaz wrote her first novel, Extraction, while studying film at San Diego State University. When she isn't writing, she can be found singing, marveling at the night sky, or fangirling over TV shows. Extraction is the first book in a trilogy.

Extraction by Stephanie Diaz with Giveaway

EXTRACTION

Book #1

by Stephanie Diaz

St. Martin's Griffin

YA Science Fiction/Dystopian

416 pages

"Welcome to Extraction testing."

Clementine has spent her whole life preparing for her sixteenth birthday, when she’ll be tested for Extraction in the hopes of being sent from the planet Kiel’s toxic Surface to the much safer Core, where people live without fear or starvation. When she proves promising enough to be “Extracted,” she must leave without Logan, the boy she loves. Torn apart from her only sense of family, Clem promises to come back and save him from brutal Surface life.

What she finds initially in the Core is a utopia compared to the Surface—it’s free of hard labor, gun-wielding officials, and the moon's lethal acid. But life is anything but safe, and Clementine learns that the planet's leaders are planning to exterminate Surface dwellers—and that means Logan, too. 

Trapped by the steel walls of the underground and the lies that keep her safe, Clementine must find a way to escape and rescue Logan and the rest of the planet. But the planet leaders don't want her running—they want her subdued.

With intense action scenes and a cast of unforgettable characters,Extraction is a page-turning, gripping read, sure to entertain lovers of Hunger Games and Ender's Game and leave them breathless for more.

MY TIDBITS

This is a dystopian novel, which can hold up with the best of them. Clementine is a self-assured girl who's complete existence centers around survival. If she doesn't pass the test given by the government in the core of the planet, her life will end at 20. Unfortunately, only 10 kids pass the test each year from hundreds. It's a brutal moon, a brutal society and a brutal story, but that's a small part of what makes it good.

The reader is pulled into Clementine's world, and it's easy to sympathize with her. The writer does a terrific job of letting us into her head and world. She has her faults, which not only make her more likable but create a nice character development throughout the book. The other characters are well done, adding a perfect balance to the plot.

The world building pulls into a foreign planet without feeling over-done. But it's no problem to dive in. And the story definitely makes one dive in. There's tons of action, mounting at the end to a flurry, but there's also enough reflection time to get to know the characters well.

I can definitely recommend this. Although the dystopian feel in the beginning is undeniable (and after the wave of dystopians, very familiar), the story takes a wonderful science fiction twist, ending with agile spaceships and alien wars.

And the best part: a book #2 is coming!



You can find this here on Amazon!

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And here she is. . .

Stephanie Diaz!!!

Twenty-one-year-old Stephanie Diaz wrote her debut novel, Extraction, when she should've been making short films and listening to college lectures at San Diego State University. When she isn't lost in books, she can be found singing, marveling at the night sky, or fan-girling over TV shows.

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