Weighted (The Neumarian Chronicles, #0.5)
by Ciara Knight
Genre: Science
Fiction/Steampunk
Reading Grade: Young
Adult (Novella)
Publication Date:
August 2012
Source: review copy by
author
Age Rating: 13+
The Great War of
2185 is over, but my nightmare has just begun. I am being held
captive in the Queen’s ship awaiting interrogation. My only
possible ally is the princess, but I’m unsure if she is really my
friend or a trap set by the Queen to fool me into sharing the secret
of my gift. A gift I keep hidden even from myself. It swirls inside
my body begging for release, but it is the one thing the Queen can
never discover. Will I have the strength to keep the secret? I’ll
know the answer soon. If the stories are true about the
interrogators, I’ll either be dead or a traitor to my people by
morning.
My Review
This is a short story
prequel to a series of steampunk novels coming out in 2013 called The
Neumarian Chronicles. From this story, I can gather some aspects
of the world building and that there are two types of people against
one another, Slags and Neumarians. I don't know why they fought a war
or why they hate each other so much, but what happens to the
protagonist, Raeth, happens because of these feuding societies.
Raeth is a Neumarian
and seems to be around 12-years-old. She has some sort of ability
that she needs to keep hidden from the Slags who captured her in
order to find out what it is. The Slags are people with bionic body
parts—cyborgs, basically. That is so cool, but they are the bad
guys and they are very not cool, not even towards each other. The
Queen is execution-happy and everybody smacks everybody's faces all
the time. Raeth suffers torture and near death at the hands of the
Queen of the Slags who is completely evil and one-dimensional, but
successfully strikes fear in you.
Although, a lot of the
story is confusing, it still has elements I usually am drawn to:
cyborgs, a mad scientist (Raeth gets tortured by a man in a gray coat
at the behest of the evil Queen), sci-fi technology and even a
fantasy element in Raeth's supernatural ability. It's quite an
intense read for all it's worth and really gets your appetite whetted
for the future subsequent novels.
My score: 4/5 stars.
*I received a copy of
this title from the author in exchange for my honest review.
I struggle with novellas but at least this one is a prequel to actual book. The cover is so beautiful I might give in and read it. ;)
ReplyDelete@Jenny: Yeah, that cover is to die for! I like reading novellas since I can get through them quickly, so I was really happy about its length.
DeleteThank you for taking the time to read and review Weighted, Cathy. I'm glad you enjoyed the story.
ReplyDelete@Ciara: You're welcome! Thanks for letting me read it. ;)
DeleteOh, I meant to mention. There is a giveaway going on for Weighted if you'd like to check it out. http://www.ciaraknight.com/ck-steampunk-giveaway/
ReplyDeleteOMG, that cover is to die for! Totally gorgeous! I want to read it just because I like the cover, and of course I am a sucker for novellas. I love cyborgs and steampunk. Sounds like a cool blend. I'm definitely going to check this out. Thanks for posting!
ReplyDelete@Camille: You're welcome, Camille! I hope you like the story. I bet you will...;)
DeleteSounds like a great book. Thanks for your thoughts and the review. Hope you have a great weekend!
ReplyDeleteDiane :O)
www.dianeestrella.com
@Diane: You're welcome!
DeleteThe synopsis sounds great! I love the cover too and the excerpt is intriguing. This is on my list of upcoming books to read.
ReplyDelete