The Lost Night, Rainshadow Book 1
by Jayne Castle
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
The Lost Night is technically the second book in the Rainshadow series, although it is labeled as book one, Canyons of Night is labeled as the prequel to The Lost Night. Do you need to read the books in order? No - they all stand alone quite well, but it is more fun to read them in order.
Rachel Blake was a good friend to Charlotte (Canyons of Night) and she also has moved back to Rainshadow. Rachel can read auras, and although it is not a sought after or marketable talent, it can be a good thing to have. She is able to tell right off the bat when someone is evil.
Harry Sebastian, and his family have owned The Preserve for ever, but his family has sent him to Rainshadow when Slade Allteridge, the chief of police in Rainshadow called. Something is going on in the Preserve and they need to find out what and deal with it.
The Lost Night sorta picks up where Canyons of Night left off, just a little time has passed. It looks more into what is going on in the Preserve and centers around Harry and Rachel. We do get to see a little of Slade and Charlotte in this book, but not too much.
I love the Jayne Castle books set in the future on Harmony. I have always found them to be interesting and something that I want to know more about and I have to say that this one did not disappoint. The characters have their own flaws and yet they find the person that complements their flaws and makes them a better person overall. Excellent story.
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Justice Buried (Starbright, Volume 1)
by Hilary Thompson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Reviewed for +Readers' Favorite
Justice Buried (Starbright) (Volume 1) tells the story of a new world order. The world as we know it now ceased to exist in 2068, and one city at least, underground survived. The prophecy was that in one hundred years a child born on the spring equinox and one born on the autumn equinox, would venture out of the underground and start a new city above ground. Astrea and Lexan are those children, but there are those that would prefer they did not reach their goals. Some in Asphodel don't believe that there are any people left above ground, and others believe there are. Things become complicated when Stian arrives in Astrea's hidden cave, as he actually comes from the surface. Can he be trusted? Astrea and Lexan find they must do things they never thought possible in order to save the city they love and the people they love. +Hilary Thompson, Author has written a story that will pull you in from the first page.
The current world ends in 2068, not too far away, and in a manner that seems reasonable enough to be realistic, which makes the book that much more compelling to read. Three cities are said to remain, two above ground and one underground. Justice Buried is the story of the underground city of Asphodel. +Hilary Thompson, Author blends coming of age, as the main characters, Astrea and Lexan are all of seventeen, with the struggles of truth and justice, what is right and wrong, how to balance family and community, ethics and morals. It is an amazing beginning to a three part series that draws you in, keeps you reading and is fun, but at the same time, when you sit back and think about what they went through it will have you thinking about the choices they had to make. Wonderful book for middle schoolers, young adults and adults as well.
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Microchip: The Agenda Is Now
by Chey Barnes
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Reveiwed for +Readers' Favorite .
This generation's version of George Orwell's "1984".
The world is changing, and ever so quickly. It used to be that everyone used paper money, and you got paid with a paper paycheck. Now it is credit and debit cards and your payroll is direct deposited. What is next? Microchip envisions a future that could easily be only years down the road in where now, everything is done with a mircochip in the hand. For the most part, the world goes along with the idea and complies without really thinking, but this story follows a few different types of people who question this process for different reasons. As each of these people search for a way to escape the law of mircochipping, they find themselves in the same place in Utah. Chey Barnes takes each person and their reasons, explaining them and giving them a place, and then you see what happens when they are all together. This is a science fiction story that hits just a little close to home.
Microchip might be science fiction today, but there are real life facts and information included in the book, and indexed in the back, that will leave you thinking hard about what you read. It's not a warning book, but a story of how different people are dealing with the law and what happens to them, there is a real human element in there. It is also very thought provoking and would be an excellent book for a book club or discussion group. Chey Barnes takes the information and technology of today and advances it only by a few years to give us this story. Although there is family and a little romance in the story, there is more a cautionary spirit that we need to be more careful and thoughtful, not just accepting everything that is handed to us. I think this should be a required reading just as George Orwell's 1984 used to be when I was in high school, this is a newer version of big brother.
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John Smith - Last Known Survivor of the Microsoft Wars
by Roland Hughes
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Reviewed for +Readers' Favorite .
In only 50 short years, the population of the Earth has dropped to a mere 5500. What? How you are thinking? Well, everyone blames it on something called the Microsoft Wars. What John Smith contains is an interview between a man, John Smith, who lived through the wars and a naive reporter who traveled to met John by horseback. Remember the dated November 13, 2013. John starts by telling her that he can not answer her questions about the wars if she doesn't understand what the world was like before, because it is nothing like that now! Roland Hughes takes the ideas that humanity has taken it's greed and selfishness a little to far and overturned the whole banking system, then separate small factions started using weapons on each other resulting in the Earth of this time having 12 continent.
John Smith references the novel by George Orwell, "1984", and yet I feel this book has that same feel. It is a warning that if we don't stop and take notice of what we are doing and how things are going we could easily end up with this reality. Roland Hughes even gives some great examples how things that are occurring currently in society are actually things that were predicted in "1984".
This is not a sit down and read a feel good novel, this is something to make you think, to invoke conversation. It would be a perfect book for a book club discussion or a roundtable. There are just so many things that can be pulled from this story that will engage your brain. Ir you are in the mood for something with some meat, something to grab hold of and really digest, then this book is what you need!~
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