Stand close around, ye Stygian set,
With Dirce in one boat convey'd,
Or Charon, seeing, may forget
That he is old, and she a shade.
- Walter Savage Landor - Pericles and Aspasia (l. 5–8)

 

If we do not change our negative habits toward climate change, we can count on worldwide disruptions in food production, resulting in mass migration, refugee crises and increased conflict over scarce natural resources like water and farm land. This is a recipe for major security problems. - Michael Franti

 

We cannot permit the extreme in the environmental movement to shut down the United States. We cannot shut down the lives of many Americans by going to the extreme on the environment. - George Bush (b. 1924), U.S. Republican politician, president. Speech, May 30, 1992, at campaign rally, California on the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit.

 

Yeah. How’s that workin’ out for everybody but you? – Me

 

Lachesis measures out the thread, while Clotho weaves upon the loom, but Moros walks amongst us still, personification of impending doom, drives mortals to their deadly fate, while Atropos cuts the thread. . . OK. I wrote that part, but Sarah Fine’s Marked made me feel poetic. I literally got lost in her words, in her story of Cacy Ferry and her family. The Ferry’s have a secret - their father, Patrick, is the physical manifestation of Charon, the ferryman of the dead. And Cacy and her siblings all carry the weight of the souls they guide to the afterlife. One gold coin for a lifetime of lost happiness. The fee paid to the Ferrymen, and women, to carry out their duties.

 

Ah, but the fee must be shared – shared with the Kere, scions of Moros, bringer of death through violence and disease. Is it that simple, that these gold coins are the cause in the disruption of the warp and weave measured and spun out by the Moirai? For something is badly wrong in the world, and Cacy and her family are right in the center of the widening gyre.

 

But they stand not alone. For when Cacy meets Eli and Galena Margolis, what she understood as right takes a sudden turn into shocking – and her life, and her jobs, will never be the same.

 

Jobs? Well, yes. For while Cacy could hold a white glove position in her family company, Psychopomps Incorporated, she chooses instead to become an EMT in Boston. Which doesn’t sound all that bad – except for the fact that The Great Flood of 2049 has placed Boston mostly underwater now, massive canals and dams the only thing between the populace and total inundation. Being underwater is bad. Really bad, as disease organisms make the water deadly, and canal pirates make life for most a living hell. Poor to no police or fire protection, minimal power, and the aforementioned pirates make Boston a dangerous place to be. But the fact that it is actually one of the safest cities still extant proves just how bad the rest of the world must be. Running water? He’d never actually seen such a thing. Clean water was like gold in Pittsburgh, and carefully rationed.

 

Eli and Galena are from “The West” – better known as Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh – desert lands. Is Pittsburgh truly the farthest reaches of the US? Is it all a barren desert past Pittsburgh? Or is the country past that desert wasteland, a land of cactus and sand, simply gone – subsumed by rising waters?

 

So. Two tales here, in this wonderful, wonderful book. On the one hand, a tale as old as life, and death, itself – Eli, Galena, Cacy and her family will find their lives woven together, in a race against time and murder – and possibly to save the tapestry upon the loom – the divine machine that churned out the endless fabric of life. The Fates themselves cannot hold the centre - the warp and weave is failing. Are Eli and Galena the answer? Or will Atropos rule over all?

 

The second story is just as poignant in its own way – and more terrifying. It is simple to see the story, wrapped within the story, as flooding and desertification take over the world, climate change wiping a brutal hand over what humans have built. Voltaire had it right when he said, “Men argue. Nature acts”. We laugh at the dragon, as Tolkien pointed out. While he was talking of real dragons, we laugh at the dragon of the changes we have wrought upon the world, and in our blindness, we determine our own fate.

 

This MARVELOUS book is the first in the Servants of Fate series. Book two, Claimed, is waiting for me on my reader and I can hardly wait to get started. I received Marked from the publisher in exchange for a realistic review, but no matter what, I cannot speak highly enough of this book. Life, death, betrayal, horror, romance – it’s all here, and all marvelously written. I highly recommend the series. I also intend to pick up Ms. Fine’s previous series, Guards of the Shadowlands. Sarah is already on my auto purchase list.

 

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Moirai begins seven months after Olivia and Joshua reach Shadow. Both Olivia and Josh train to perfect their skills to get ready for the uprising against Genesis. The rebel alliance have been planning for months and they are determined to get the job done in hopes of making the world a better place.

 

Wow, I re-read Aberrant today just to refresh my memory and it knocked me again with the ending! I hate cliff-hangers but at least I had Moirai to read straight afterwards. Ruth has a great writing style, it felt like it took me no time at all to read both Aberrant and Moirai (both in one day) as the words are smooth and flow together nicely.

 

I loved both Olivia and Joshua in Aberrant and now more so after finishing Moirai, they just amaze me! Even without all their awesome talents. The bond they share is magical all on its own. The love and trust they share with one another makes me all warm and fuzzy. Olivia was a lot stronger in Moirai, takes more of a dominant role, of which she’s more than capable of handling. Joshua too steps up to the mark and does his own bit for the alliance, they both played big parts (obviously cos they’re the main characters) in the uprising.

 

There we definitely parts that had me wanting to pull out my hair, Dylan in the mansion? Meeting Chloe’s husband, who’d have guessed? I mean what! Come one, don’t you think enough has happened to them as it is without throwing this out there too? It did make things exciting though and give it a kick.

 

The ending was totally unexpected and has left me hanging yet again! I’m not happy, I want book 3 now *stomps feet*, please? I loved the ending though, okay maybe not the bit in Torv but the scenes prior to that, they were special and I felt like I’d waited forever for them both!

 

So happy ending with a not so happy ending right? Totally unexpected but well done! I can’t wait to see what happens next! At least we haven’t got long to wait!

If your a fan of dystopian then I suggest you give the Aberrant series a go, totally worth the time.

 

**A copy was provided for review purposes**

I received a free copy of the book from the author for my honest opinion.

Olivia and Joshua live in a world where babies are created in a lab. But you know what Olivia is very special because she was not created in a lab she was conceived. When the government of Cabal in the town Genesis where they live find out the truth of Olivia's birth they have to go on the run. In their world being conceived and not created in their little labs is illegal. Olivia and Joshua leave their home town and end up in the town of Shadow.

In the town of Shadow Olivia and Joshua learn how to fight and to defend their selves in battle. They are in training so that they can fight for everyone's right to have a child of their own and to live their lives the way they want and not the way someone else tells them too. They are fighting for any couple who has more than one child that they can keep that child and not have to give it to another couple.

Moirai is written in a way that you can just picture all the little towns in your mind, the way that they are laid out and where each and every building is. The vehicles are all described so well that you can just see them running up and down the streets. The world in Moirai is written so you actually believe that it is real or it could be real.

Joshua and Olivia are two very smart and mature people for their age. Olivia just may be the only woman left in the world that can have a child on her own and not one that is not made in a lab. But they both know that this is not the time for them to be having any babies of their own. They could have a child just to say hey look at me I can have a child and you can't. But they are not like that. They are not the type of people to hurt someone or boast about anything. They are two humble people who care a great deal about other people and their feelings.

While Olivia is not ready to have a child of her own she still takes in a child; a little girl Adelaide that she finds in another town, a town that was attacked. Adelaide is a very sweet and loving little girl who takes to Olivia right away. Olivia may not have had a child of her own and never had any brothers or sisters to help take care of. Olivia had no idea how to take care of a child. She probably never was around any babies much less a small child and she still knew what to do. Yeah her motherly instinct just kicked right in. Adelaide wiggled her way right into Olivia's heart.

If you like to read dystopian books then the Aberrant series is one set of books you don't want to pass up. I loved reading the first book in the series Aberrant and I loved the second book Moirai even more. I can't wait to read the next book in the series Isaura. I want to know more about Olivia and Joshua and their lives together. Will they ever have a child of their own? What kind of event would that be for Olivia and Joshua? What would it be like for everyone else? If they had a child it would give everyone else hope.

So you think everything’s pretty sweet at the end of Aberrant. I won’t say too much, but everything’s kind of tied up nicely, with no big stress. Ruth: hold on, there, sailor! Who said anything about ANYTHING being tied up, or no stress? You MUST be kidding. Hahahaha!

Okay, so Ruth never said that, but she may as well have by writing this awesome story.

From the moment you start Moirai (which I ALWAYS manage to spell with two ‘r’s in there somewhere), there is constant action. Not always of the fighting the bad guys nature, but action nonetheless. Ruth is seriously amazing at keeping you interested and invested in the lives of her characters.

I always love the first book in the series more than all the others. I love being introduced to the characters, and their story. It’s just one of those things. Granted this, Moirai is an epic second instalment in the Aberrant series, and I am thoroughly pleased with it.

Olivia is still the same kick-ass, strong willed, and all ‘round awesome girl that she was in Aberrant. And I still love her to pieces. I think she definitely grows as a character in Moirai; there wasn’t an option for her not to. Thrown amongst a revolution, a romance, and a pretty much being the most valued human in Cabal doesn’t leave much room for not stepping up to meet expectations. Which I think she does fantastically. She doesn’t shy away from the fact that practically the whole existence (natural, anyway) of the human race rests on her shoulders, but she doesn’t feel exactly comfortable with the weight it puts on her shoulders. And she’s got superpowers, as well. Superpowers, Chiara? I can’t be reading that right. You ARE reading that right. And you’ll just have to read the book to find out what kind of super epic human that Olivia really is.

Olivia and Joshua’s relationship in this book was again one of my favourite aspects. There was a moment when I started to doubt things, and my heart started breaking, but there was no need to worry. On this note, I think I need to express how EXTREMELY happy I am that there isn’t a love triangle in this series. I am tired of reading a MC’s thoughts and feelings about two love interests. In Aberrant and Moirai, Olivia and Josh are it. They know they love each other, and that’s enough. There’s no second guessing, no distrust. Sigh. This relationship is one of my favourites, definitely.

In the last few chapters or so, everything went down fairly quickly, and I kind of struggled with where things were happening, and what exactly was going down. I got the gist of it, but I would have liked a bit of a slower pace so that I could really have enjoyed reading all about the revolution, and the roles that people played. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed every moment of reading Moirai, and the ending was pretty epic.

Well, the actual ENDING ending left me speechless. I NEED Isaura in my life right now, and I cannot believe I have to wait to read it. At least December will come around before I know it, and then I can read all about the ending of this awesome story (I think this is a trilogy, correct me if it is otherwise).

If you haven’t read Aberrant, please do. And then you’ll be scouring the interwebs to find a copy of Moirai, trust me. And you won’t be disappointed, either.

© 2013, Chiara @ Books For A Delicate Eternity. All rights reserved.