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4.02 AVERAGE
4.02 AVERAGE
This book really sucked me into its dystopian world. Emily Suvada starts the story off with a bang and keeps the pace going right up to the end with reveal after thrilling reveal.
If I’m going to get right into the nitty-gritty of my reading experience the only fault I can point out is that I wish there were a few more moments of levity or humour to break up the narrative.
The science fiction elements and themes ‘This Mortal Coil’ tackles are brilliant. Gene manipulation, body modification, pandemics, biological warfare, power struggles, intellectual property through corporate ownership, psychological programming, coding, technology, identity, espionage, and love.
The other thing I really liked about this novel is not only that there were so many interesting things going on, but also how the story wrapped up so many of these to give the reader a satisfying end, but also set up the next novel with intrigue. I can’t wait to get my hands on ‘This Cruel Design.’
At 450 pages this is a little longer than your typical YA, but because of the pacing, I didn’t feel like this book dragged at all and read it in 2 sittings over 2 days.
Catarina was an interesting protagonist, she does embody parts of number of popular tropes in YA: the warrior, born yesterday, the orphan… while Cat is not wholly any of these, there were enough traits to help the reader quickly connect and identify Cat’s role. I did find myself guessing about the conclusion a lot, forming theories, revising them, adding new ones. It is testament to Suvada’s skill that I was constantly trying to figure things out. I did guess one of the major plot twists very early on, but the rest were a delightful surprise. Some of the others may yet prove true in the following sequels… I am definitely eager to continue on with this series.
Setting Dax as a love interest early on was an interesting thread to follow, though I don’t think it was given enough justice – but then again, we still have another two books to explore this more thoroughly.
Cole as the protector and rival for Cat’s affections did not sit well with me in the beginning, but I’m feeling like they are one of my favourite fictional couples. It may all go ka-bloowey in the next book, or it may endure. I’m hoping I get to continue swooning and squeeing…
Overall, a marvellous sci-fi that totally surprised me. It wasn’t as funny and light-hearted as I was expecting, but it certainly grappled with a lot of scientific elements, which won me over. I love me some science and theories. Highly recommend this one, but more so for the lovers of sci-fi and STEM enthusiasts.
If I’m going to get right into the nitty-gritty of my reading experience the only fault I can point out is that I wish there were a few more moments of levity or humour to break up the narrative.
The science fiction elements and themes ‘This Mortal Coil’ tackles are brilliant. Gene manipulation, body modification, pandemics, biological warfare, power struggles, intellectual property through corporate ownership, psychological programming, coding, technology, identity, espionage, and love.
The other thing I really liked about this novel is not only that there were so many interesting things going on, but also how the story wrapped up so many of these to give the reader a satisfying end, but also set up the next novel with intrigue. I can’t wait to get my hands on ‘This Cruel Design.’
At 450 pages this is a little longer than your typical YA, but because of the pacing, I didn’t feel like this book dragged at all and read it in 2 sittings over 2 days.
Catarina was an interesting protagonist, she does embody parts of number of popular tropes in YA: the warrior, born yesterday, the orphan… while Cat is not wholly any of these, there were enough traits to help the reader quickly connect and identify Cat’s role. I did find myself guessing about the conclusion a lot, forming theories, revising them, adding new ones. It is testament to Suvada’s skill that I was constantly trying to figure things out. I did guess one of the major plot twists very early on, but the rest were a delightful surprise. Some of the others may yet prove true in the following sequels… I am definitely eager to continue on with this series.
Setting Dax as a love interest early on was an interesting thread to follow, though I don’t think it was given enough justice – but then again, we still have another two books to explore this more thoroughly.
Cole as the protector and rival for Cat’s affections did not sit well with me in the beginning, but I’m feeling like they are one of my favourite fictional couples. It may all go ka-bloowey in the next book, or it may endure. I’m hoping I get to continue swooning and squeeing…
Overall, a marvellous sci-fi that totally surprised me. It wasn’t as funny and light-hearted as I was expecting, but it certainly grappled with a lot of scientific elements, which won me over. I love me some science and theories. Highly recommend this one, but more so for the lovers of sci-fi and STEM enthusiasts.
I really enjoyed this book and the twist at the ending. Such a cool story. Wish there’d been trigger warnings about the beginning and the pseudo zombies that she encounters and the gore. I almost stopped reading there but kept going and pushed through - was just a little queazy. Would have been good to know that comes up in the story but is not a central focus.
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
While reading this, I couldn't help but compare its events with those of the present with the coronavirus. It was scary cause of how many people are isolating themselves from the world, both in the book and in real life. But, overall I really liked this book. I wasn't sure if I was going to like it because I usually don't like apocalypse type books, but I was thoroughly surprised that I ended up loving it. Now I just have to get my hands on book two.
Trigger Warning: Self harm, gore, cannibalism.
So first of all this book is very heavy on sci-fi. Most of the book was very unbelievable. I felt like the more the author tried to explain everything in the book the more boring it became. The MC made me want to strangle her at every turn. She was just stupid. But made out to be a genius. The insta love her and Cole just all of the sudden had going on was very unbelievable... Once everything started to happen in the book the more the author had to explain which took away from the action and just made the whole action scene slow and boring. Then all of the sudden the MC’s father made for into a mortar.
Toward the end when the big conspiracy theory was reveals I was thoroughly unimpressed and it just made the book even more stupid and wholly unpredictable. I have hated this book from start to finish and will not read the other book in this series. The entire book was silly and so far fetched and unbelievable that it felt like the author just started making shit up as she went to make the book longer and more interesting.
And on one more note about the main character, this chick is such a mortar, she takes the blame for everything even when she finds out she has been the victim the whole time this chick here still says “its all my fault”… b***h please! 😒I hate her so much! And then at the end when she had a chance to end it all and finish off the bad guy, she throws the gun down! WTF??? Did I say I hated her yet?! Because I really do. This was an awful book and I wouldn’t suggest anyone ever read it.
Toward the end when the big conspiracy theory was reveals I was thoroughly unimpressed and it just made the book even more stupid and wholly unpredictable. I have hated this book from start to finish and will not read the other book in this series. The entire book was silly and so far fetched and unbelievable that it felt like the author just started making shit up as she went to make the book longer and more interesting.
And on one more note about the main character, this chick is such a mortar, she takes the blame for everything even when she finds out she has been the victim the whole time this chick here still says “its all my fault”… b***h please! 😒I hate her so much! And then at the end when she had a chance to end it all and finish off the bad guy, she throws the gun down! WTF??? Did I say I hated her yet?! Because I really do. This was an awful book and I wouldn’t suggest anyone ever read it.
Cool Sci-fi dystopian YA novel. Loved the twists and turns and romance.
Eh. I did not find a new book series/author I want to continue with.
This was just all over the place. I didn't like the lead (the little bit about her that I got from all the info dumps I got) or the secondary characters. The plot felt like a mish-mash of [bad] zombie movies. The setting of this series was just a lot of information that made my eyes glazed.
Catarina Agatta (lord that name) is a hacker and is living in a world where a virus called Hydra runs rampant and has left the world desolate. Her father, Lachlan, was working on a solution when he and his assistant Dax were taken by a group called Cartaxus (all of these x's are killing me people). Two years later Catarina is found by a Cartaxus solider named Cole who tells her, her father is dead, but discovered a vaccine. Cole wants Catarina to help them with the coding needed to make the vaccine work (or something). Look all of the coding and genetic talk was above my pay grade.
Catarina (Cat) as the lead was just blah. She is not even an interesting Mary Sue. I just laughed at people telling her how smart she was and would find out a solution. Sure. Okay. There were too many nicknames for Cat that I often was trying to figure out who was talking to her. Someone called her princess, another bobcat. Like stop! Also the descriptions of Cat's hacking abilities made no damn sense. This started reminding me of "A Discovery of Witches" territory when the main character was the Queen of all the Witches and trying to explain her powers made no damn sense and sounded like the author was just going to keep trying to describe colors. The love triangle (of course there was one) between Default Male 1 and Default Male 2 was blah. I can't even tell you about anyone else because my brain wants to fight me right now. Also this whole book felt very white-centric....
I really would like to read a dystopian novel one day that does not have the fate left in the hands of a teenager. Seriously. It just reads as unrealistic to me in the horror that is 2020 at this point. Heck, I don't even think adults can get past the mess that has become this world this year.
The writing did not grab me. This got so technical and in the weeds that I ceased to care around the 20 percent mark. The whole book was a grudge match to the finish. You either get terrible dialogue or info dumps galore. The flow was awful.
The setting of this world with coding/genetics/and bears! Oh My! made no sense to me at all. I just kept trying to get past pages of bad dialogue and info dumps galore.
The ending with whatever that was made me roll my eyes. Who didn't see that coming? And no I refuse to read the rest of the book in the series to see how this wraps up. It's October, I want hot chocolate and good books.
I read this for the "Dystopian Hellscape".
This was just all over the place. I didn't like the lead (the little bit about her that I got from all the info dumps I got) or the secondary characters. The plot felt like a mish-mash of [bad] zombie movies. The setting of this series was just a lot of information that made my eyes glazed.
Catarina Agatta (lord that name) is a hacker and is living in a world where a virus called Hydra runs rampant and has left the world desolate. Her father, Lachlan, was working on a solution when he and his assistant Dax were taken by a group called Cartaxus (all of these x's are killing me people). Two years later Catarina is found by a Cartaxus solider named Cole who tells her, her father is dead, but discovered a vaccine. Cole wants Catarina to help them with the coding needed to make the vaccine work (or something). Look all of the coding and genetic talk was above my pay grade.
Catarina (Cat) as the lead was just blah. She is not even an interesting Mary Sue. I just laughed at people telling her how smart she was and would find out a solution. Sure. Okay. There were too many nicknames for Cat that I often was trying to figure out who was talking to her. Someone called her princess, another bobcat. Like stop! Also the descriptions of Cat's hacking abilities made no damn sense. This started reminding me of "A Discovery of Witches" territory when the main character was the Queen of all the Witches and trying to explain her powers made no damn sense and sounded like the author was just going to keep trying to describe colors. The love triangle (of course there was one) between Default Male 1 and Default Male 2 was blah. I can't even tell you about anyone else because my brain wants to fight me right now. Also this whole book felt very white-centric....
I really would like to read a dystopian novel one day that does not have the fate left in the hands of a teenager. Seriously. It just reads as unrealistic to me in the horror that is 2020 at this point. Heck, I don't even think adults can get past the mess that has become this world this year.
The writing did not grab me. This got so technical and in the weeds that I ceased to care around the 20 percent mark. The whole book was a grudge match to the finish. You either get terrible dialogue or info dumps galore. The flow was awful.
The setting of this world with coding/genetics/and bears! Oh My! made no sense to me at all. I just kept trying to get past pages of bad dialogue and info dumps galore.
The ending with whatever that was made me roll my eyes. Who didn't see that coming? And no I refuse to read the rest of the book in the series to see how this wraps up. It's October, I want hot chocolate and good books.
I read this for the "Dystopian Hellscape".
By chance, This Mortal Coil came into my possession. I didn't have any intentions of purchasing this book but thanks to my libraries weekly Saturday book sales, I bought This Mortal Coil and...I really liked it.
I started this book yesterday, I think. As I was talking to my great-grandmother today I predicted that I would finish This Mortal Coil by the end of the day. She just gave me a look because she knew that was exactly what was going to happen. Once I sat down and was able to lose myself in the novel, I was flying through the pages. Catarina is exactly the type of heroine I strive to find in my books. Cole was a nice touch too, to be honest. My middle school lovesick heart would have fallen in love with him faster than I did today. Although I didn't totally understand the DNA/sequencing talk in This Mortal Coil, I definitely enjoyed reading about it (actually considering studying it too). Plus the plot twists completely caught me unaware. Talk about A+ work.
I started this book yesterday, I think. As I was talking to my great-grandmother today I predicted that I would finish This Mortal Coil by the end of the day. She just gave me a look because she knew that was exactly what was going to happen. Once I sat down and was able to lose myself in the novel, I was flying through the pages. Catarina is exactly the type of heroine I strive to find in my books. Cole was a nice touch too, to be honest. My middle school lovesick heart would have fallen in love with him faster than I did today. Although I didn't totally understand the DNA/sequencing talk in This Mortal Coil, I definitely enjoyed reading about it (actually considering studying it too). Plus the plot twists completely caught me unaware. Talk about A+ work.