ARC Review | The Thirteenth Guardian Has an Amazing Premise

The Thirteenth Guardian

By: K.M. Lewis

*Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for sharing the e-book with me for my honest opinion!*

As the modern-day world suffers the cataclysmic effects of the “Plagues of Egypt”, Avery Fitzgerald, a statuesque Astrophysics major at Stanford, discovers that she is mysteriously bound to five strangers by an extremely rare condition that foremost medical experts cannot explain. Thrust into extraordinary circumstances, they race against time to stay alive as they are pursued by an age-old adversary and the world around them collapses into annihilation.

 Under sacred oath, The Guardians—a far more archaic and enigmatic secret society than the Freemasons, Templars, and the Priory—protect Avery as she embarks on a daring quest that only legends of old have been on before. Avery must come to terms with the shocking realization that the blood of an ancient queen flows through her veins and that the fate of the world now rests on her shoulders.

Overall Rating: ★★★

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TL;DR:

This book has such an interesting plot! There are secret societies, an entirely different POV on religious texts and lore, and some – well seemingly not entirely scientifically accurate – cool speculations on Dooms Day. While the premise of this story is amazing, I wish the execution of and writing had been better.

The Good

The Plot

Let me just say I live for end of days stories. Especially ones that involve history, science, and mythology. If you love movies and books like The Day After Tomorrow, National Treasure, or The Di Vinci Code, you may enjoy Book 1 in this trilogy. HOWEVER, I could have done without the *time travel* – it opens up way too many plot holes, and it didn’t seem necessary to an already interesting take on Adam & Eve, the plagues of Egypt, and even Atlantis. There’s a lot going on, and in this case focusing on one thing would make it a lot better.

Girl Power

I loved that one of the main secret societies is run solely by women, and that the big reveal at the end of the book has a lot to do with women and their strengths and abilities as humans. It’s a subtle nod to all the amazing work ladies do and the author got it right.

The Bad

The Characters

PREFACE: The characters aren’t horrible, but they could have been better. The story focuses on six MCs, all which have diverse and unique backgrounds, so it’s a great start. BUT, there isn’t much to their personalities, growth or evolution. I didn’t connect with any of them, and I wish that I could have been rooting for at least one of them in some way, shape ,or form.

The Writing

This book would have been so much better if the writing style was just a bit different. Most of the conversations are like this: “Oh no. The World is ending. Something is wrong. We must hurry.”, and I really felt like there could have been so much more emotion in every aspect of this book. The world is ending! People don’t speak properly in conversation when there’s panic and terror. Use more contractions, add a bit more personality to these characters, maybe throw in a curse word here and there. I wanted my heart to race each time a new plague was hitting, but that extra “umph” was missing.

The Ugly Truth

The premise of The Thirteenth Guardian has promise, but the writing and characters fall short. I was so interested in the plot, that I was willing to overlook the bland storytelling just so I could get to the big reveal, and I’m still intrigued enough to want to learn more in the sequel!

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Will you be adding this book to your TBR when it’s released?

Review | This Mortal Coil Is Sci-Fi Gold

This Mortal Coil

By: Emily Suvada

Overall Rating: ★★★★

Catarina Agatta is a hacker. She can cripple mainframes and crash through firewalls, but that’s not what makes her special. In Cat’s world, people are implanted with technology to recode their DNA, allowing them to change their bodies in any way they want. And Cat happens to be a gene-hacking genius.

Her father, Dr. Lachlan Agatta, a legendary geneticist who may be the last hope for defeating a plague that has brought humanity to the brink of extinction. But during the outbreak, Lachlan was kidnapped by a shadowy organization called Cartaxus, leaving Cat to survive the last two years on her own. When a Cartaxus soldier, Cole, arrives with news that her father has been killed, Cat’s instincts tell her it’s just another Cartaxus lie. But Cole also brings a message: before Lachlan died, he managed to create a vaccine, and Cole needs Cat’s help to release it and save the human race.

Now Cat must decide who she can trust: The soldier with secrets of his own? The father who made her promise to hide from Cartaxus at all costs? In a world where nature itself can be rewritten, how much can she even trust herself?

TL;DR:

If you like science fiction involving genetics, human viruses, and post-apocalyptic worlds then this book is for you! I loved it and will be adding it to my favorite sci-fi reads of 2018. Can this just be a movie already?

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The Good

Real Resident Evil Vibes

If you love Alice’s story, anything having to do with Raccoon City, or the Umbrella Corporation (all you Red Queen lovers rejoice), you’ll love this book. Cat is basically a teenage version of Alice and it’s uh-mazing.

Cole Franklin, Deadly Super Soldier & Man of My Dreams

Cole is programmed and trained to protect Cat with his life. He’s also dark-haired, blue-eyed, and totally swoon worthy. Please join me in loving this deadly, adorable, smol, cinnamon roll.

A Fresh Take On a “Zombie” Virus

There are so many apocalyptic stories that involve virus outbreaks, but Suvada managed to turn something classic into something completely new. The virus infects humans, but instead of turning the infected into monsters, it turns survivors into animalistic rage monsters who need to eat infected flesh in order to survive. WHAT. THE. EFF. (In a Good Way)

Did Not See That Villain Coming

I honestly could not figure out any of the plot twists that took place in the second half of the book…and I pride myself on my detective reading skills. Not only was I NOT expecting that villain, I was completely thrown when the “real” bad guy(s) show up. Like, completely hit with a train, sideswiped, did not see it coming. OH WHHAAATT???

The Bad

More Virus Please

There are only a few moments in the entire book where we see the virus in action, but if I’m being honest I wanted more. More rage monsters, more virus infections, more creepy ways to stay immune. I want it all!

The Other Plot Twist That Could Have Gone Very Wrong

There’s a point about 100 pages from the end where we learn something very important about Cat and Cole and it threw me WAY off. I had to give myself some space from the story for a day because I was worried Suvada was going in a weird direction with their relationship and I just wasn’t having it. LUCKILY, she took it in the right direction, but still deducting a tenth of a point for giving me funky vibes for a quick minute.

The Ugly Truth

This is such a good sci-fi read. I can’t wait to get my hands on the second book. If you like post-apocalyptic worlds with human viruses and science talk, you should give this one a go!

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Have you read this book? If so, what did you think of it?