~ BOOK REVIEW ~ Watcher ~ by A.J. Eversley
Title: The Watcher
Series
Author: AJ
Eversley
Genre: YA Dystopian
Sci-Fi
Editor: Q Books
Editing
Cover Designer: Cover Art by Salome
Totladze
Hosted
by: Lady Amber's
PR
Blurb:
"I knew I was not alone. They would never leave until
every last one of us was
gone."
Sawyer Russo has
sworn to protect humanity, and as a Watcher she's done just that. But the Bots
and Carbons that took her city are evolving, and they start picking the
Watchers off one by one. One last rescue mission will change everything. When
someone betrays them, the line between friend and foe is no longer easily
drawn. Sawyer made a vow, and she will fulfill it, even if it means ending the
person who deceived them, no matter who it might be.
It all comes down
to one choice...
Who can she
save?
And who does she
have to let go?
My Review:
4
out of 5 stars
This was a very fast paced from the start, scary because it could
potentially happen, apocalyptic/SciFi story. This is definitely not a touchy-feely
story at any point. It’s a brutal life, just
about every character has already lost everyone they love, and they live a life
knowing they could lose a friend at any minute too.
This story has the extra creepy factor of how very near to our
current date this timeline is, and how very possible it is that the world could
turn completely upside down in the exact way it happens in this story. I especially like that the author chose not
to make it one big event that caused this apocalyptic world. It was one big event that started it, but
then the attempted fix made things so much worse. What else have we learned in way too many
stories where things go wrong? Watch out for crazy scientists that want to “make
the world a better place”. We all know
that no two people could ever agree on how to make the world a better place, or
how to make human nature as a whole better.
I suppose in a way, you could take this book as a cautionary story on
this exact subject.
This story is told through two different points of view. What added to much of the mystery is that you
immediately know who one of the characters are, and what their part in the story
is, but the other remains a mystery character for quite a while. You know their stories will combine soon, but
you don’t know when, why, or if it will be a good thing or a bad thing.
There is a lot that goes on in this book, and there is very rarely
a slow moment. In this case, the author
did a good job and making this a good thing.
I never got confused about who was who, who was doing what, or what was
going on where. It all flowed together
very well. If anything, there may have
been a few points where there was too
much detail, such as a training/fight scene, where my attention did start
to wander a little with the detail that went into every move each fighter made.
It didn’t necessarily add to the story, and could’ve been summed up a bit
quicker, but it certainly didn’t make me want to put the book down. There was never a point where the book got
slow enough that I ever wanted to put it down.
In fact, I never wanted to, always wanting to know what was going to happen
next with each frequent development.
The only confusing part of the story to me was that now that there
wasn’t a “United States” anymore, and there were only 2 main cities left, it
was hard to understand WHERE they were.
It sounds like one is on the west coast and one is on the east coast,
but at one point (and this is a potential small spoiler) they talk about
WALKING from one city to the other, and it seems to be possible to be done
rather quickly. Even current day, with
no apocalypse and several conveniences in between, I don’t see that as being
possible. It could be how I read it, but
there are several things mentioned that continue to imply this, so it did get a
tiny bit distracting that it wouldn’t be possible, and it wasn’t made clear
where these places really were, like “formerly the California area” or “formerly
the New York area”. Even with this,
however, it was more of a tiny annoyance rather that affecting the story as a whole.
Overall, this was a really fascinating story, with a great amount
of detail, and a scary amount of potential realism. I liked that nothing is every tied up in a
pretty bow, that life is messy and always unsure, and this isn’t even the
beginning. It seems as though book 2 is
about to tell us just how messy thing can get, and just how much one 18 year
old girl can really handle to save what’s left of the human race.
Blurb:
Strangers become allies. Lovers become enemies. And a destiny
formed before birth
unfolds.
Sawyer spent most
of her life hunting the very thing she has now become. No longer the Watcher
she once was, Sawyer struggles to make sense of her new identity. Though she
now has the powers of a Carbon, she is also tied to the control Coleman has
over all of his creations.
Desperate for help
and answers, Sawyer travels to the United Isles with Max in search of an ally.
Not only must she learn to harness her new abilities, she must find a way to
mend a broken heart…if her past doesn’t kill her
first.
The epic journey
continues, and the war for the human race draws ever closer. Join the
resistance in the next chapter of the Watcher
Series.
AJ Eversley is the author of the WATCHER series. A true north
Canadian girl, AJ currently lives in Central Alberta with her husband and dog.
When she’s not writing, she can be found binge watching Harry Potter, quoting
various movies in everyday conversation, and eating copious amounts of
candy.
Author
Links:
Amazon: http://amzn.to/2FXzC42
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/watcherbook/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/watcherbook
Newsletter: https://watcherbook.us15.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=db3d76a0497ae5643ca4d5c02&id=3acf0a572a
Buy
Links:
Watcher: http://amzn.to/2BjJphe
Carbon: http://amzn.to/2mYkZot
Excerpt from
Carbon:
There was a
bang across the hall as Max strutted in. His usual smooth grin hit me from
across the room as he filled up a bowl full of slop. Amusement tugged at the
corner of his mouth when I scowled back at him and he parked himself down
across from me.
“Do you
mind?” he asked.
“It’s a free
world.” I shrugged.
He snorted.
This was his usual game, finding any way to annoy me. Even sitting down across
from me irritated me to no end, but I did my best to ignore him and returned to
stirring my cold food.
We were both
silent as Max moved his food around with his spoon for a few minutes before he
let out a heavy sigh. Max placed the bowl onto the floor where Chevy was
waiting eagerly to gobble it all
down.
“I can’t eat
any more of this garbage,” he
grumbled.
“Keep your
voice down,” I hushed.
“Oh, come on.
It’s not like you’re eating it either. Everyone knows it sucks. I’m not saying
anything you’re not already thinking.” He gestured to my still-full bowl, now
cold from sitting for so long.
“We’re guests
here. Show a little respect.” My voice was quiet but
stern.
Max leaned
into the table, surveying my body, my face, and my mouth. “Then you eat it,” he
challenged me. “Eat more than one bite, and I’ll stop complaining.” He raised
an eyebrow. I wasn’t sure if he was trying to piss me off, or if the hint of
worry and pleading in his voice I detected was begging me to eat something.
Anything. I’d been starving myself unintentionally, but it was hard to focus on
things like eating when there was so much rattling my brain.
I didn’t look
away, and I didn’t touch the spoon that still sat in my cold food. Crossing my
arms, I settled in to wait him out, unwilling to let him win even one battle
with me.
His shoulders
slumped, and I realized worry indeed was hidden behind his feeble challenge. He
pushed his chair back hard, clenching his jaw tightly, as he picked up the
empty bowl from Chevy. “Didn’t think so. Looks like we’re both going to starve
to death in this metal trap.”
I rolled my
eyes, “I’ll be fine. You’re the one who will suffer, not
me.”
He swaggered
around the table and leaned in so close that his breath tickled my neck, but I
didn’t flinch or look away. His gaze swept from my head to my toes once again.
“I’m not the one who needs to save a dying world. I don’t need to be in peak
condition or feed a body that isn’t quite human. I’m not the one who’ll suffer.
Everyone else will if you don’t stop moping around and feeling sorry for
yourself.” His cold glare was like ice in my veins as he stepped away. With a
slight smirk, he spun on his heels and left before I’d even blinked, leaving a
shudder down my spine.
His words rang
in my ears, “a body that isn’t quite human.” I was a Carbon now, no longer
human, even though every instinct inside of me was wired to protect humans, not
hurt them. That was why they all looked at me differently, why Max looked at me
with prying eyes as if he was trying to figure out what exactly I was. I was
different, yet I found myself forgetting that at
times.
But I wasn’t
a hero anymore. I was no longer someone or something to be proud of. There was
a monster living inside of me, waiting to break free. And the weight of
everything he said was the reason I hadn’t slept in weeks or eaten in days. I
wanted to do something about it. I wanted to be better. But every time I
thought of it, the guilt and pain took over, and I could barely breathe without
breaking down. I often wondered what Kenzie would think if he saw me, or if he
knew what I was—what I had become. Would he look at me like he used to? Or
would he look at me with disgust for what I let happen to me? What I let myself
become?
Chevy sat at
my side, pawing at my leg, as he looked up with worried eyes. I stroked his
head as I looked at my bowl of slop with a groan. My hand quivered as I took a
tentative bite and fought the gag threatening to bring the food back up. With a
long, hard swallow, I took another bite and another—until the bowl was empty.
And I
could’ve sworn I saw the door to the hall close a crack more than it had been
before.
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