Friday 10 April 2015

Review: The Fearless by Emma Pass

The FearlessThe Fearless

Author: Emma Pass
Series: -
Pages: 400
Publisher: Random House Children’s Publishers
Release date: 24th April 2014

Synopsis (Goodreads)

The Fearless. An army, powered by an incredible new serum that makes each soldier stronger, sharper, faster than their enemies. Intended as a force for good, the serum has a terrible side-effect - anyone who takes it is stripped of all humanity, empathy, love. And as the Fearless sweep through the country, forcing the serum on anyone in their path, society becomes a living nightmare.

Cass remembers the night they passed through her village. Her father was Altered. Her mother died soon after. All Cass has left is her little brother - and when Jori is snatched by the Fearless and taken to their hellish lair, Cass must risk everything to get him back.

Review: 3 out of 5 stars

Our MC is Cass who is only a young child at the beginning of the book and living a seemingly normal life until The Fearless arrive – a powerful army of soldiers who have been injected with a serum created by scientists trying to find a cure for PTSD which inadvertently turned them into a strong, emotionless lethal zombie type of creatures who now run rampant and pretty much now rule forcing Cass and her family to move offshore to Hope Island in order to survive.

After the death of her mother and father it leaves Cass to look after her brother Jordi and make a life for them on the secluded island. When the Fearless enter the island and kidnap her brother, there is no option but to flee with an intruder who was being kept as a prisoner, using his knowledge to help and  to save her brother,

The Fearless was a fast-paced book and wasn’t without action, danger and death; I found the concept to be entertaining and it was great to get the POV’s from Cass, Myo who was quite secretive and Sol, Cass’s childhood friend but there were a number of plot holes and the world-building I found to be lacking – I needed more information which I’m hoping to get in the sequel but there was a lot of telling rather than showing in this book which became tiresome.

The biggest let-down for me was the weak characterisations; I wasn’t a fan of Cass right from the beginning, she came across as naïve being raised on the island believing the outside world was now being run only by silver eyed fearless; she could show strength in one scene only to weaken in the next, I wasn’t completely sure where her loyalties were. Sol was also an ass, supposedly in love with Cass, this guy was rash and acted rather than thought, I did like mysterious Myo but I thought he lacked conviction and held back too much.

I did like the bond the book showed between siblings, this aspect was done well there was also a mysterious element that I quite enjoyed you could tell there was something going on with Hope island and with Myo right from the onset it was just working out what it was, the element of surprise and the shock twists and turns kept the story entertaining.

Thank you to Random House Children’s Publishers and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review The Fearless.

 


About the author: Emma Pass grew up at an environmental studies centre near London, went to art school in Cornwall and now lives in the north-east Midlands, UK. Her YA dystopian thriller ACID is out from Random House Children's Books on 25th April 2013 (UK), Mondadori on 13th June 2013 (Spain) and Delacorte on 1st April 2014 (US). Another standalone thriller, The Fearless, will follow in the UK in 2014.

7 comments:

  1. Hmmm, it sounds like I'll definitely be skipping this one. Three stars is good but not great, and I'm definitely one of those people that NEED to really connect with at least some of the primary characters. I'm glad you liked this book - wish it could have been a little better :)

    Excellent review!

    Alyssa @ The Eater of Books!

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    1. Thanks Alyssa :-) The premise was great but I really need to connect with the characters to fully appreciate it.

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  2. I like the sound of a fast paced book where the story never seems to lag. And the idea of injecting people with a serum has always had me intrigued because it could happen in our future. I just wish there was more time to connect with the characters. Great review nonetheless!

    Check out my book haul: http://olivia-savannah.blogspot.nl/2015/04/book-haul-4-mamas-books-reckless.html

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    1. This could have been amazing! more time was definitely needed with the characters, they didn't wow me at all.

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  3. This is actually the first review I've read for this, which is weird because I've been super curious. This definitely helped me get a way better idea of the plot. Think I might end up passing on this one - it doesn't sound as exciting and dangerous as I'd hoped. Great review!

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    1. I didn't feel the danger in this despite The Fearless supposedly being the reason for the humans fleeing and taking over - I would have loved more fear and excitement from it all.

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  4. I actually haven't heard of this before - I'm not sure why I haven't seen it around or maybe it could be underrated? I do like the sound of this though, the premise sounds intriguing enough - Lovely review :) <3 Benish | Feminist Reflections

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