Author: Liesel K. Hill
Genre: Sci-Fi/dystopian
Pages: Oversize paperback, 386
Published: January 29, 2013
Publisher: Tate Publishing
Rating:
"A flash of purple light. A rock formation. Brown boots walking across a room at eye level. Two large hands covering hers. A woman standing in front of a broken lighthouse. Blood on her hands. A whisper of a voice.
"These are the images that haunt Maggie. One afternoon a year ago, Maggie blacked out inexplicably. now a man with a spider's web tattooed on his eye has attacked her in her home. Things only get more confusing when Marcus, a man she vaguely remembers from her black out, show sup to take her away.
"Marcus is from the future and is a member of the Brain Chemistry Optimists (BCO). And so is Maggie. Her black out was actually a year's worth of time she spent in the future, fighting against collectives—people who have linked their minds together and given up individuality. The collectives are working to bring down the few individuals left, and Maggie learns that she is supposed to play a crucial role in these efforts.
"The members of the BCO explain that in battle, her brain was attacked, and she lost all of her memories of her time in the future. All she has left are flashes, afterimages, Persistence of Vision. Now she must relearn everything about this different world, harness mental powers beyond anyone's imagining, and navigate what was once a romance with Marcus. On top of all of that, she begins unraveling the mystery of her lost memory. However, for every answer she finds, it seems that another, more complicated questions arises. Will she be able to remember enough to help the BCO?"
~ Jacket copy
Thoughts: During the process of reading this book, I was looking at reviews on Goodreads. All of them say that it is Earth shattering, mind blowing, life changing, and so on. For me, that really gave the book an air of authority. However, even from the start of the book, I found that I really had a hard time getting into it. While it was obvious that it was the author’s first book—she just lacked a maturity in her craft that authors get with time and experience—it felt like it just wasn’t my type of book. It wasn’t speaking to me, I found myself skipping over sections, and even going to the point of bargaining with myself to read it. At the get go, I told myself that, once Maggie started to figure things out, the book would pick up and things would become less hazy. Unfortunately, the further I went into the book, the more and more I found myself disliking it.
First of all, I never liked Maggie. I felt she was a pretty immature heroine, rather dimwitted, and completely unsympathetic. After losing a large amount of time and waking up in a hotel room with mysterious old wounds on her body, it seems to me that she would be distrustful of people. Granted, I understand that Marcus saved her from the man that broke into her house, but I don’t know if I would automatically rush off with him. And, even if I did, I might have been more insistent about answers. In addition, she seemed to trust the people at Interchron too easily. Even though I have no real area to point to, to me, she felt like the classic damsel in distress that needed a guy to save her.
The fact that Doc was so secretive really drove me nuts. Many times he claimed that he either had to do research or it wasn’t important to the team at the time; however, from his reaction, it was obvious that he was deceiving the team or making an excuse. Considering the people they were going up against, I couldn’t understand why he was so quick to keep things from everyone. Furthermore, I’m not sure why the team didn’t just sit him down and try to force the information out of him. Some of the stuff he kept from the team felt like life and death information. At various points, the characters even mentioned the fact that they didn’t appreciate how secretive he was. If that’s an issue, why didn’t they confront him?
The whole business on the island was rather unbelievable. When Marcus, Nat, and Maggie are completely at Colin’s mercy, her comment was so stupid, ludicrous, and asinine, I couldn’t believe the author actually wrote it. If you and your loved ones are held captive and one of them has a gun to their head, when the guy holding you hostage demands a kiss, will you say the following: “Really? Really? You have us at your mercy, and this is what you decide to do with that kind of power?” Yes, yes, Maggie, let’s taunt the lion. And, on top of that, I couldn’t understand why the team didn’t see that whole fiasco coming. From the minute David came to Interchron and told them about the island, I knew what was going to happen. For all the intelligence they profess to have, they certainly were pretty stupid or just lacked common sense.
To be fair, I think the author has an interesting idea and could develop it into something really, really neat. Even though I couldn’t help thinking of the Borg, attacking things like the hive mind can yield some amazing subject matter and cause in depth discussions. Unfortunately, the last third of the book I skimmed. Once the book ended, I felt as though I hadn’t missed anything. I admit, some of it had to do with the fact that it just wasn’t my type of book. That being said, I also felt that it wanted me to suspend my disbelief for too long. Yes, it is a world set in an alternate reality, but that doesn’t mean that people will act outside of their sense of self preservation.
*Note: I received this book from the author in return for a fair and honest review. I would like to thank Liesel for the opportunity to read the book and take part in her tour. It was an honor to work with her!*
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