Hover
Author: Melissa West
Series: The Taking
Pages: 250
Genre: Young Adult - SciFi
Publisher/Source: Entangled Teen
Release
date:
13th August 2013
Synopsis.
(Goodreads)
On Earth,
seventeen-year-old Ari Alexander was taught to never peek, but if she hopes to
survive life on her new planet, Loge, her eyes must never shut. Because Zeus
will do anything to save the Ancients from their dying planet, and he has a
plan.
Thousands of humans crossed over to Loge after a poisonous neurotoxin released into Earth's atmosphere, nearly killing them. They sought refuge in hopes of finding a new life, but what they became were slaves, built to wage war against their home planet. That is, unless Ari and Jackson can stop them. But on Loge, nothing is as it seems...and no one can be trusted.
Thousands of humans crossed over to Loge after a poisonous neurotoxin released into Earth's atmosphere, nearly killing them. They sought refuge in hopes of finding a new life, but what they became were slaves, built to wage war against their home planet. That is, unless Ari and Jackson can stop them. But on Loge, nothing is as it seems...and no one can be trusted.
Review:
4 ½ out of 5 stars
Contains possible spoilers from the first book, Gravity.
I thoroughly enjoyed the
first book in The Taking series, Gravity so
I was more than eager to read the sequel Hover
and it certainly lived up to all of my expectations and kept me flipping through the pages wanting to know more.
After the events at
the end of the first book, Ari Alexander is now residing on the dying planet of Loge with the Ancients who she doesn’t trust and who don’t seem to trust her
and Jackson Locke who saved her but also betrayed her in Gravity.
Loge is a planet
filled with secrets and many surprises and I found myself not knowing who could
be trusted or relied upon, but the true villain was psychotic Zeus who was evil
personified with his power hungry and extremely cruel ways. Is it bad that I
love reading about evil characters and what makes them tick? Zeus’s knowledge
and power exceeds what we seem to know so I’m curious to learn more about him;
I found the way he quoted word meanings quite interesting. He was like a
walking dictionary.
I adored the main
characters, Ari was so kick-butt awesome and selfless but she started to doubt
her strength and abilities in this book and my heart broke for Jackson; what he
has had to endure at the hands of his grandfather was heartbreaking. Both
characters showed great development and the romance progressed at a believable pace,
it definitely wasn’t at the forefront of the story but has left me wanting more.
We get to meet some truly wonderful side characters such as Jackson’s
family members Mami, Emmi and Vill. Each of them was loveable and written well.
We only get small snippets of some of the characters we got to know in the
first book such as Gretchen, Lawrence and Ari’s parents – I thought we’d see
more from Law considering his relationship to Jackson.
The plot flowed easily
and focused on Ari finding a way to terminate Zeus and return the humans to
their home planet. Gravity focused on
Earth and finding a way to save Loge, Hover
focussed more on Loge and Zeus’s plans to take over Earth and I see the third
book taking us back to Ari’s home planet and dealing with the fallout of the
brewing war. The cliff-hanger ending has left me completely
stunned so I’m unsure in which direction it will go but I’m really intrigued.
Certain events have
left me with a lot more questions which I hope will be answered in the next
book, Collide which has an
anticipated 2014 release date – the wait is going to be just as brutal as that
ending.
Overall, Hover is written extremely well and is
a great addition to The Taking
series; the world-building continues to develop as do the characters. We get a
perfect balance of action, romance and suspense that keeps you wanting more.
Thank-you kindly to Entangled Publishing for the opportunity to read and review Hover.
About the author: 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.
Ari sounds awesome. I really need to read this the world building sounds amazing.
ReplyDeleteShe really is Kimba! if you enjoy Sci-fi you'd love this series :)
DeleteI just read Heidi's review of this and she didn't like it as much. I lost a little hope, but reading your review has given me back some hope. :)
ReplyDeleteMy heart's already breaking for Jackson. I hope Ari and Jackson fix their problems early on. I'm looking forward to reading the book now, Sharon!
Lovely review! :)
I hope you enjoy it Nick :) I have seen a few mixed reviews so I'm keen to read your thoughts.
DeleteMy heart broke for Jackson.
Meh sadly I never warmed up to Jackson. Excite to finally see the setting of Loge and meet Jackson's family. Ari is pretty kick butt!
ReplyDeleteHe was a bit cocky in the first book but I quite liked him; I felt he really progressed from Gravity and I loved getting a look at Loge. Ari is pretty amazing :)
DeleteI had thought I wasn't the biggest fan of sci-fi in outer space but then I found a few series I loved and now I want more, more, more! It sounds like a series I may have to consider reading!
ReplyDeleteMe too Candace! I'm reading more and more sci-fi and really enjoying it.
DeleteI really liked Gravity but I just couldn't fit this one in this month...or the next :( Glad to hear you liked book 2 too!
ReplyDeleteMy review pile is pretty crazy but this is one I just couldn't wait to get hold of so I put everything to the side ;)
DeleteNice review, Sharon! I'm pretty sure I have the first book on my Nook, and I know I've been psyched to read it. Just one of those that got lost in the ginormous TBR. *sigh* It's cool you liked this one - too often second books are rather "meh." I'm glad the MC was still awesome, and that there were some others you liked. :)
ReplyDeleteMolli | Once Upon a Prologue