Pages

Showing posts with label B.C Johnson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label B.C Johnson. Show all posts

Sunday, 19 April 2015

{Review} The Bad Rescue of Devon Streeter (Riven, #1) by B.C. Johnson

24878790Posted by Melanie
Release Date: March 31st, 2015
Finished Date: April 9th, 2015
Publishers: Self Published
Genre: Sci-Fi, YA, 
Source: For Review
Format: eBook
Pages: 404
Devon's a teenage medic. Bloom's a wannabe gunslinger. Just two best friends hanging at the end of the world. 

When Earth and another world smashed together, everything went sideways. Some people survived, some inhumans too, and they all made for bad neighbors. Fighting for scraps on the face of a changed world, Devon and Bloom have to face alien magic, inhuman monsters, and the inescapable fact that the Merge is going to change them. Deviate them into . . . something else. 

But when circumstance flings Devon and Bloom apart, can they find each other across the wild wastelands? 

Will they recognize each other when they do?

The Review: The Bad Rescue of Devon Streeter is the first book in the Riven series and I’m giving it a solid 4*s!
As the synopsis tells us – Earth is no longer the earth we know, another world smashed into our and created a ‘merge’. With the new world came the strange….. and not all of them are friendly to humans…in fact they’d down right hostile and to be caught by one is surely to face death. The humans that survived formed communities where your childhood is filled with training and everyone has a place in the community to keep people alive. They survive by scavenging and trying not to be caught by the aliens that terrorise them. It’s on one of these scavenging missions that Devon and her best pal Bloom get ripped apart and their lives will never be the same.
I really enjoyed this story and found that the author has created an interesting new world filled with new species and dangers that put the humans lower on the food chain. It’s a dystopian world above all else but the changes have been drastic to what humans are used to, food is scarce, housing too and communities are created in the effort to survive giving them a very militarised feel where ranks are given and everyone has a designation and sort of a career path. Devon is a 16 yr old girl who is training to be a medic, that’s a lot for a 16yr old’s shoulders but it’s like a calling to her and exactly how she ends up getting herself into trouble. I found she was a cool character, she had a great sense of humour and was very focussed on doing what was expected of her. I liked the bond that she shared with Bloom, he was fun too, more laid back than Devon with a penchant for cowboy attire but a perfect partner in crime for her. They fit well, had a very relaxed relationship and you could really feel their closeness even though they spent most of the book apart.
When Devon dives head first into a really dangerous situation, her life is irrevocably changed which in turn opens up her world and shows the reader what she is really made of. We become aware of deviants, humans who have been affected by radiation from the nuclear plant and have some sort of powers because of this. Devon is taken to a sort of camp for these type of young adults, here they are trained how to use their powers, shown how to do missions, put into situations where they have to use anything at their disposal to win etc. is it a jail or a school though? Devon is definitely put through her paces as she faces shocks, danger, loss, acceptance and battles that seem hopeless but she also gets a little taste of first love too.
Meanwhile, Bloom is told that Devon is dead! But he knows she isn’t, he believes she is still out there so he leaves home to search for her and has a dangerous adventure of his own where he is forced to befriend the enemy, runs for his life, is faced with multiple threats and faces the biggest, baddest of all…… when all he wants to do is rescue Devon so things can go back to the way they were. He will not give up….not until he’s dead and gone. The story is told from the multiple point of views, mainly Devon and Bloom, they were really easy to read and amiable which helped in routing for them to find each other again. The first part of the book was quite slow, there was a lot of travelling and internal thinking from both characters but once new characters were brought into it, it got more interesting as the dialogue began to flow and their situations moved on. There ended up being a ton of action throughout the rest of the book which I loved, we meet varying enemies throughout and see just what they’re capable of and how little human life means to all ‘different’ species. I liked that we got to see both sides of hunters and hunted, I also liked the set up that Devon found herself in and look forward to more from that faction. All in all, this was a great read, a really good introduction to the series and I’d definitely read more. 

Thank you to B.C Johnson for giving me the opportunity to review this book in exchange for an honest review. 

Wednesday, 12 November 2014

{Blog Tour Review} Deadgirl by B.C. Johnson

23159964Posted by Melanie 
Release Date: November 6th, 2014
Finished Date: November 5th, 2014
Publishers: Curiosity Quills Press
Genre: YA, Paranormal
Source: For Review 
Format: eBook
Pages: Unknown
Dead is such a strong word . . .

Lucy Day, 15 years old, is murdered on her very first date. Not one to take that kind of thing lying down, she awakens a day later with a seemingly human body and more than a little confusion. Lucy tries to return to her normal life, but the afterlife keeps getting in the way.

Zack, her crush-maybe-boyfriend, isn't exactly excited that she ditched him on their first date. Oh, and Abraham, Lucy’s personal Grim Reaper, begins hunting her, dead-set on righting the error that dropped her back into the spongy flesh of a living girl. Lucy must put her mangled life back together, escape re-death, and learn to control her burgeoning powers while staying one step ahead of Abraham.

But when she learns the devastating price of coming back from the dead, Lucy is forced to make the hardest decision of her re-life — can she really sacrifice her loved ones to stay out of the grave?

The Review: Deadgirl was a fab read, slightly strange and unusual but in a good way.
The synopsis is spot on with its description of the book so straight onto my thoughts….
I thought Deadgirl was a very unique story and it kept my interest all of the way through. Lucy was a very relatable 15yr old going through all of the things a girl that age should be – including her first date which ends in disaster. She had a great voice and outlook that was easy to read and connect with which helped in getting behind her and her problems. Her problem – being that she is sort of dead – was very strange and took a little getting used to but that is what brought the uniqueness to the story, especially with the way she had to do something to stay whole. The danger begins when she starts to be hunted by a mysterious man/entity who seems to want to kill or capture her,  that brought a whole new excitement to the story as a good few run and chase scenarios happen and you’re left wondering just what is going on. She also meets a new friend who helps her a lot with her new existence and the strange plane that she seems to be able to travel to on a whim.
Whilst she is trying to navigate her ‘undead’ life in another place, she also has to manage her home & school life which becomes difficult to say the least because for one; her parents have become super protective since she went missing for the night and two; she has friends and a social life to deal with and lastly; a burgeoning romance with Zack. I liked the bit of love connection that Luce got with Zack, it added a sweetness to the story that we wouldn’t have gotten anywhere else and it gave her something to cling to, a hope for that love and something to fight for as she struggles with what she has become.
Obviously things aren’t always hunky dory and the constant fear of not only her personal hunter finding her and taking her to who knows where but also living with the consequences of what she must do and the morality of that. Is being alive worth risking the lives of everyone you love? Luce will certainly decide when all events lead to an inevitable battle in the all action conclusion. So, as I said – great read, unique story, exciting, different, mind-bending, strange and unusual…..but all in the best possible way and very enjoyable. 
B.C.  JohnsonAbout the Author:
B.C. Johnson was born in 1985 in Southern California, and hasn't relocated since. He discovered a love for telling stories at seven-years-old, though those consisted of either fabricating expansive lies, or writing mostly plagiarized stories. Between then and now, he's worked a number of odd jobs, including machinist, lighting designer, demolitionist, sound mixer, receptionist, custodian, and museum events manager.

He recently cut out live theater and now writes full-time. He lives in Anaheim with his awesome fiancée, Gina, who may or may not be some kind of angel, and his half-Corgi, half-Jindo dog, Luna, (or Luna-Tuna, to her friends.) When he's not playing video games, drumming on every surface imaginable, or spending way too much time reading tvtropes.org, you may find him writing completely not-stolen (he promises) stories.
 
Design by Imagination Designs
Graphics by Octopus Artis