Science Fiction Archives - Winged Reviews

reviewer: Daphne October 16th, 2012 Blog Tour, Science Fiction, Young Adult

Today I’m very excited to be hosting a stop on the GRAVITY by Melissa West blog tour! Keep reading to learn more about the book and the author and get a chance win a signed copy of the book and swag. Make sure you visit the other tour stops for other reviews, guest posts, interviews, excerpts and more!

About GRAVITY

Series: The Taking, Book 1
Release: 30 October 2012
Publisher: Entangled Publishing

In the future, only one rule will matter:

Don’t. Ever. Peek.

Seventeen-year-old Ari Alexander just broke that rule and saw the last person she expected hovering above her bed — arrogant Jackson Locke, the most popular boy in her school. She expects instant execution or some kind of freak alien punishment, but instead, Jackson issues a challenge: help him, or everyone on Earth will die.

Ari knows she should report him, but everything about Jackson makes her question what she’s been taught about his kind. And against her instincts, she’s falling for him. But Ari isn’t just any girl, and Jackson wants more than her attention. She’s a military legacy who’s been trained by her father and exposed to war strategies and societal information no one can know — especially an alien spy, like Jackson. Giving Jackson the information he needs will betray her father and her country, but keeping silent will start a war.

Buy the book here:
Amazon UK | Book Depository | Amazon US

About MELISSA WEST:

Find Melissa on:

Twitter

Facebook

Official Website

Goodreads

Melissa lives in a tiny suburb of Atlanta, GA with her husband and daughter. She pretends to like yoga, actually likes shoes, and could not live without coffee. Her writing heroes include greats like Jane Austen and Madeleine L’Engle.

She holds a B.A. in Communication Studies and an M.S. in Graphic Communication, both from Clemson University. Yeah, her blood runs orange.

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reviewer: Alison September 27th, 2012 Dystopian, Paranormal, Review, Science Fiction, Young Adult

Plague by Michael Grant

Author: Michael Grant
Series: Gone, Book 4
Publisher: Egmont Books
Published: April 2011
526 pages

It’s been eight months since all the adults disappeared. Gone.

They’ve survived hunger. They’ve survived lies. But the stakes keep rising, and the dystopian horror keeps building. Yet despite the simmering unrest left behind by so many battles, power struggles, and angry divides, there is a momentary calm in Perdido Beach.

But enemies in the FAYZ don’t just fade away, and in the quiet, deadly things are stirring, mutating, and finding their way free. The Darkness has found its way into the mind of its Nemesis at last and is controlling it through a haze of delirium and confusion. A highly contagious, fatal illness spreads at an alarming rate. Sinister, predatory insects terrorize Perdido Beach. And Sam, Astrid, Diana, and Caine are plagued by a growing doubt that they’ll escape or even survive life in the FAYZ. With so much turmoil surrounding them, what desperate choices will they make when it comes to saving themselves and those they love?

I really don’t know how many more times I can continue to write the same sort of raving review for this series. The awsomeness just never stops!

Plague, the fourth instalment to Michael Grant’s epic Gone series was just as fantastic as the first three. Each time I pick up another book in this series I am convinced that nothing in it will be able to shock me in comparison to the one before it. But boy am I ever wrong! The gore and sheer shock factor in this one is incredible. It actually left me wondering whether this is suitable reading material for children. I certainly would have had nightmares reading these books as a child.

3 Comments

reviewer: Daphne September 20th, 2012 Event, Fresh Start September, Interview, Science Fiction, Young Adult

Another day, another awesome author stopping by Fresh Start September! Today we have an interview with another debut author Kat Zhang! Her debut book, What’s Left Of Me came out earlier this week and is the first of The Hybrid Chronicles! Let’s find out a little bit more about the book:

Published:
September 18th 2012 (US/Can) and September 27th 2012 (UK)

Publisher:
HarperCollins

352 pages

Buy the book: Amazon UK | Amazon US | The Book Depository | Barnes & Noble

Add this book to your TBR list on Goodreads

Synopsis:
I should not exist. But I do.

Eva and Addie started out the same way as everyone else—two souls woven together in one body, taking turns controlling their movements as they learned how to walk, how to sing, how to dance. But as they grew, so did the worried whispers. Why aren’t they settling? Why isn’t one of them fading? The doctors ran tests, the neighbors shied away, and their parents begged for more time. Finally Addie was pronounced healthy and Eva was declared gone. Except, she wasn’t . . .

For the past three years, Eva has clung to the remnants of her life. Only Addie knows she’s still there, trapped inside their body. Then one day, they discover there may be a way for Eva to move again. The risks are unimaginable-hybrids are considered a threat to society, so if they are caught, Addie and Eva will be locked away with the others. And yet . . . for a chance to smile, to twirl, to speak, Eva will do anything.

It sounds so original and unique, I can’t wait to read it! Now for our interview with Kat, where you can find out more about editing the book, where she got her idea, and travelling!

What has been the most difficult part of the journey to getting your books published?

Honestly, I think the beginning was the hardest. Just finishing that first draft and getting it ready to query was the hardest, because at that point, you really don’t know anything for certain. You don’t have an agent. You certainly don’t have a book deal. You don’t even have a finished manuscript! You’re working so terribly hard on something that might never come to be, and that can be scary.

Every journey to the release date is different, how long did it take for you to write, edit and rewrite your novel before it became the piece of work it is today?

I started writing What’s Left of Me the winter of my senior year of high school. The first draft took me a little more than a year. Then I revised for a few months and, after querying about 2 months, signed with my agent, Emmanuelle Morgen. I revised with her for a few more months, and then we went on submission to publishers and announced the deal with HarperCollins about a month after that! Then there were two more rounds of edits with my editor before we got into the nitty-gritty line edits and copy edits.

Read more »

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reviewer: Daphne September 12th, 2012 Event, Fresh Start September, Interview, Science Fiction, Young Adult

This is the second week of Fresh Start September and we’ve already had so many great interviews and discussion posts. Thank you all again for participating! Today we have another treat for you: an interview with debut author Jessica Khoury! Jessica’s debut book, Origin was published last week and this standalone novel blends science fiction with the jungle! Intrigued? Let’s find out a little bit more about Origin:

Published:
September 4th 2012

Publisher:
Razorbill

372 pages

Buy the book: Amazon UK | Amazon US | The Book Depository | Barnes & Noble

Add this book to your TBR list on Goodreads

Synopsis:
Pia has grown up in a secret laboratory hidden deep in the Amazon rain forest. She was raised by a team of scientists who have created her to be the start of a new immortal race. But on the night of her seventeenth birthday, Pia discovers a hole in the electric fence that surrounds her sterile home–and sneaks outside the compound for the first time in her life.

Free in the jungle, Pia meets Eio, a boy from a nearby village. Together, they embark on a race against time to discover the truth about Pia’s origin–a truth with deadly consequences that will change their lives forever.

Origin is a beautifully told, shocking new way to look at an age-old desire: to live forever, no matter the cost.

I can’t wait to start reading my copy. Without further ado, here is our interview with the lovely author, Jesica, where you can find out more about her road to being published, her favourite scene from the book, and her many varied dreams!

Lots of people enjoy writing and have a passion for it, can you describe what it felt like when Origin was finally picked up by Razorbill/Penguin?

It was so surreal. I was in the middle of an eye exam when I got the call from my agent that Penguin had offered, and I alternately screamed, cried, and hyperventilated while my optometrist sat patiently and graciously by. Then I had to sit for FIFTEEN MINUTES in the waiting room because they’d dilated my eyes. I couldn’t tell anyone my news! It was the longest, most agonizing, most glorious fifteen minutes of my life. As soon as they released me, I drove like a maniac across town, pulled my husband from his office, and screamed the news at him. I still sometimes feel the fullness of it hasn’t hit me yet!

What has been the most exciting aspect of the process in getting Origin published?

I think the most exciting part has been getting to meet readers. It’s so wild to think of strangers reading my work! And nerve-wracking too. But there is no sweeter feeling than getting to shake hands with someone who’s read and loved my book. It’s the most gratifying experience of all–because that’s what it’s all about! Getting to connect with readers.

5 Comments

reviewer: Alison September 6th, 2012 Fantasy, Review, Review Copy, Science Fiction, Young Adult

Afterlife by Eric Kent Edstrom

Author: Eric Kent Edstrom
Series: The Undermountain Saga Book 2
Publisher: Undermountain Books LLC
Published: July 2012
272 pages

They think their adventures are behind them . . .
The six teens who were rescued from a mountainside in the Canadian Rockies are now famous. But only they know the true story-of what they discovered, what they survived-of Undermountain. Those secrets bind them together and pull them toward an ill-fated reunion.

. . . the war between tangoga and bigfeet still rages . . .
The tangoga boss GorVit searches for a lost technology, the terrible weapon of a vanished race. And he’ll happily use Breyona as leverage to get Danny’s help.

. . . the power of ultimate destruction hangs in the balance . . .
Thrust into the midst of war, and into the arms of a beautiful queen, Danny races on a collision course with destiny. And Breyona, still testing the limits of her amazing powers, must choose between what she desires and what is right.

. . . friendship, loyalty, and temptation . . .
One will give in. One will give up. One will give all.

Thanks to Eric Kent Edstrom for providing a review copy of Afterlife!

So, back in February I read a rather unique bigfoot sci-fi novel that I thought was really great. That novel was Undermountain. Click HERE to see my review. And now… there’s a sequel, Afterlife *happy dance* And after having now read Afterlife I can say with certainty that this SERIES is fantastic!!

I’ve got to be honest, when I heard there was a sequel, I did wonder what could possibly happen now to these kids that had discovered the existence of bigfoot, and escaped to tell the tale. I was a little worried. Turns out, there was NOTHING to worry about. Afterlife is just as great as Undermountain and just as unique.

The story is once again told from the POV of our two protagonists, Danny and Breyona as they both embark upon their own adventures. Danny and Wa are kidnapped by Gor-Vit, the rogue Tangoga boss and end up on a planet of bigfeet who’s existence was previously unknown and have many adventures there. One of my favourites being a rather exciting sequence with giant beetles pulling the boys on chariots whilst they are chased and hunted by monstrous super sized bigfeet! < That's a sentence I'll probably never write again!... Whilst Breyona and Em end up back in Undermountain to try and get help in rescuing Danny but run into their own problems there by way of 'Shaggy' the bigfoot who wants to conquer the world and brainwash the entire human race.