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I have to admit that I had to reread the beginning of this book a couple of times because for some reason the first time I could not get into it. Maybe I was distracted by other things, but luckily the second time I read it, when I knew I could have some quiet, I was definitely able to get into it.
In the beginning, we see only one side of our main character, Liam. I mean, we obviously see he has some sort of disregard for the place he is in and those higher up, but we don't understand truly why he feels the way he does. That, however, is pretty well explained or shown to us as the story goes on.
Now the relationship Liam has with Riley seemed a bit confusing to me. It was kind of a love/hate thing. But I kind of saw that Liam did not really hate Riley so much as he kind of hated the fact he had feelings for him. He was confused and, to be honest, a tad scared, which I think scared him even more because his heart was leading him more than his head was. And I think considering how tough a guy he seems, and regarding everything he went through in the flashbacks that revealed his blooming relationship with Riley, it kind of freaked him out that his own morals were being proven wrong and being changed due to his growing feelings.
I love that the story gets more complicated as it goes on. We start out getting to initially know the characters brought to life before our eyes, and then just when we think we know who they are, something happens to bring us even deeper into their world. This first book of this world is phenomenal and just sucked me, you know, once I was able to just sit down and read it.
3.5 Stars
This review can be found at The Blog of Sid Love.
Eight years ago, Liam was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Thrust into a world that’s considered ‘Topside’, life as he knew it was just about over. His only saving grace is Riley, the man who was sucked into the mysterious place with him. Unfortunately for them, they had to endure one hellish situation after another to survive. Now Liam’s been in the ‘Colony’, a more civilized place than Topside, for five years but Riley’s been in a coma for just as long. Liam’s world is slowly falling apart but what will happen when Riley finally wakes up? Will Liam’s natural affinity to causing problems put them in more trouble then the two can handle?
I just want to say for the record that this book is really crazy! There are so many layers to not only the world and the characters but everything that Liam and Riley have to endure. They each had their own problems and now have the emotional and physical scars to prove it but this book is one that is constantly moving forward. When something happens, it doesn’t just resolve itself in a matter of moments but propels the story into another situation and another to the point that they’re all interwoven and almost all can be resolved in a specifc way… by Liam registering with the Eletes.
To be honest, I don’t feel comfortable trying to explain this story because it would be hard to recreate all that in so many words. What I will say is that this book definitely took me for a ride. Whenever I thought something was going good, Liam would inadvertently cause another problem or part of Riley’s mysteriousness would start to unravel and we’d learn something new about the characters and how much more complicated things could get.
About the characters, I absolutely adored them. Liam is so broken, complicated and almost naive. He’s… well, he’s a hot mess. He just wants to break Riley and him free of the Colony and go back to New York but he can’t do that and each time he’s denied his way of going home, he starts to unravel more and more, losing his mind, becoming anxious and panicky. He has these built in receptors that are extremely dangerous and could kill him if he gets too worked up, which he gets close to doing multiple times. He always thinks he’s found a way to get out of the ‘prison’ he’s in but each time it falls through and he slowly loses hope to the point that he becomes suicidal in his mission to get them back to New York.
Riley is like Liam’s rock but, at the same time, their situation is unique. Riley is even more complicated than Liam because, as the story progresses, you learn over and over how Riley is different from anyone else alive but not exactly how he got that way. It’s amazing and intriguing to see it all play out. Even more so because of the connection between Liam and Riley. Which, while I wouldn’t exactly consider it a sexual one at first, it is definitely an emotional one. They’re linked together through their shared experiences and have created a bond that is hard to break completely.
I had a few issues with the story, though. My main one is that I was confused a lot. The transitions between one problem and the next weren’t very smooth so I was always left scratching my head wondering how Liam or Riley ended up where they did, almost like there were scenes missing between one chapter break and the start of another. It was hard to follow when mixed with Riley’s disadvantage of losing his memories or with Liam’s panic attacks that cause them to black out.
Another thing I had trouble with was understanding Liam and Riley’s relationship because sometimes they would be in love and other times it was almost like they hated each other or were disgusted with one another. I’m not sure if it was meant towards one another or at something else that was keeping them apart but it made me semi uncomfortable… but then they’d confess their love and their emotional connection would be so prominent that I was able to overlook it sometimes. Beyond that, I must admit that I still have a ton of questions about the world and Riley and Liam’s relationship. What is going to happen to Riley? What exactly is Riley? How did he get that way? What is his place in the Colony? Why is Riley still so apprehensive about being touched during intimacy? There’s just so many questions revolving around Riley that I’m burning to know the answers of… but then I also want to know more about Liam and these mysterious people still trying to kill him. Or how the Elete will change him? What will the Elete do to him now? What about Norman? Or Vlad? Omg, there’s just so many questions that I want to know NOW!
Phew! In the end, this was an amazing story. It’s been a while since I’ve been so intrigued with a book that, even though it was a crazy story, I just couldn’t put it down. I was so invested in this one and how Liam and Riley would make things work or how Liam would get out of his next fuck up that I didn’t even notice I was gobbling up huge chunks of the story at a time. I didn’t expect that this would become such a complex book but I’m so glad I read it. I can’t wait to read more in this series and in this world. It’s such a fascinating world with emotionally damaged and fragile characters. I’d definitely recommend it to anyone looking for something different that’ll grab you by the balls and not let go… so to speak. LOL. I loved the book so much I even bought the paperback! :D
Okay, so I am familiar with the Ashlyn Forge's first book in the Toys and Soldiers series, and I thought after reading that one that the world she created was really cool. But after this one, I cannot wait for future works. Now, just to clarify, this book is not a continuation of the first one, but the perspective and story of a whole new set of characters. With the occasional appearance from Liam of the first book, In Liam's Wake.
In the beginning of this story, we first meet up with one our main characters, Johann, and learn a bit about him and his family, and then gradually we are introduced to the main secondary character, Tannenbaum. Their beginning interactions were quite funny and endearing. Since Tannenbaum cannot really interact with Johann vocally, due to a terrible act when he was younger, he does more with actions and drawings and origami than anything to get his points across. At times, I was laughing with how wonderfully sweet Tannenbaum seemed.
Throughout the rest of the book, after all the interactions, when Tannenbaum and Johann become close, you find that they are more connected than they think. That Tannenbaum is the reason behind certain aspects of Johann's life being what they are...
There is a lot of growth in this story. Johann begins an insecure man, looking for the easy way out of his problems, but finds a strength in him that he never realized could exist. Tannenbaum begins broken, but finds the one thing that can heal his long-time wounds.
I absolutely loved this book. Loved, loved, loved it. It made smile and laugh and scream in frustration. It made me FEEL! And I personally believe that only the best books can do that.
