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Coda #2

Chorus

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The dream is all white from a memory that is too real, and its melody has continued to haunt Alpha, even though she has moved as far away from temptation as possible. Eight years after she was exposed to her first and only addictive musical track from the Corp, Alpha has established a new life with a band of her own in a city that has given her the space she was seeking, Los Angeles.

However, it only takes one urgent call to bring Alpha back home to Anthem, the older brother who raised her as well as a revolution, and Omega, her twin brother whose contrasting personality makes her feel whole. As Alpha spends more time in the Web, she notices that the number of people who look sickly and addicted seems to be rising. With Anthem's health declining, Alpha and her friends will have to dig deeper into the mainframe than ever before in order to find the root of the Corp's re-emergence.

Emma Trevayne’s sequel to Coda concludes the series with a crescendo of unexpected twists, hard-earned triumphs, and agonizing decisions—all coming together as a symphony of pure emotion.

288 pages, Paperback

First published May 27, 2014

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651 people want to read

About the author

Emma Trevayne

12 books212 followers
Science fiction and fantasy author of novels for kids and teens.

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5 stars
26 (20%)
4 stars
40 (31%)
3 stars
48 (37%)
2 stars
15 (11%)
1 star
0 (0%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
Profile Image for Kylie.
1,572 reviews9 followers
June 14, 2014
Don't get me wrong, a 3 star book is still a book worth reading. It is just, that when you so loved the first book, anything next is going to be hard to make shine.

This book picks up the story of The Web 8 years after Anthem brought about its collapse. This time it is his sister, Alpha, who drives the story, and she is interesting enough to carry the narrative. Especially because it is based around the flashbacks she has regularly, to when she, and her twin Omega, were forced to track much younger than the usual age of tracking.

So what made it not work quite so well for me? Well, firstly, it seemed like a long book. And it actually, page wise is anything but! So when something feels long, it means it is dragging. Secondly, the emphasis of the writing seemed to be a bit wrong for me. Some things were a little over-explained or described (something I felt didn't happen in the first book), and other parts, where I would have liked having more detail, were far too sparse.

Profile Image for Kimberly Young.
30 reviews2 followers
January 10, 2025
After the excitement of Coda, this book really falls flat. A quick, mediocre buildup to a lackluster climax.

The colorful, soulful characters are the book's saving grace.
Profile Image for A.B..
Author 27 books34 followers
May 27, 2014
Sitting down with this book, I knew I was in for some unpredictability. The first book managed to keep me guessing, so I knew Emma wouldn’t disappoint. She didn’t. There is a point, the crossover between one chapter and the next where I honestly had to put the book down, walk away, and reevaluate my life. It was that soul shattering.


This book will make you feel things. Not all of them pretty.


I will admit, I was heavily invested in this sequel. Coda was one of my favorite books that came out last year, and I was a little worried this one would fall short of that mark. It didn’t. It’s different, without becoming completely foreign.
Switching to Alpha as the protagonist and perspective was an interesting and wonderful choice. Anthem would not have made sense as the hero of this book, and it was wonderful to get to know and love the woman she had become after the initial version of her from Coda. She was not always the easiest to sympathize with, but then, I cannot imagine myself in her place.


Seriously people, read this book.
Profile Image for Cheyenne.
512 reviews24 followers
June 4, 2020
I'm going with 3.5 stars on this one. Chorus was the sequel to Coda, a dystopian cyberpunk, scifi novel with lots of revolution. This book focused on Anthem's younger sister, Alpha, after the war with the Corp. There is still a problem with tracking, but less now that people have choice. Alpha is now in California and Hope's to find a cure for what happened to her and her twin, Omega, when they were forced to track in Coda. I had a hard time being interested in this book for some reason. I just didn't connect with Alpha and didn't care for a lot of the other characters. I was shocked at one twist I wasn't expecting, and that was the most emotionally invested I got. I still think the concept of this series was interesting, using music as an addictive drug. I still love the way Trevayne write about music. It's so visual.
Author 2 books1 follower
March 31, 2018
An excellent successor to Coda!
The first book was great as it showed the aggressive and emotional uprising of a revolution - and in the end showed that not everything's just getting better when you get rid of the established system. Chorus sets in eight years later and follows the footsteps of Alpha, Anthem's sister.
She's returning home as Anthem is basically on his deathbed. Soon it occurs to Alpha that more people than expected still seem to be addicted to the encoded music. Alpha and her friends as well as her twin brother Omega knew that people won't just get rid of it, but it's still a shocking insight.
Soon after, it gets clear that some evil plans are involved - and that there's more to new addictions.
Chorus is one of the few books I know that has the courage to depict a system after a revolution - it shows what works and what doesn't. It's excellent at doing so, especially as Alpha is brining some friends from the city of L.A. she fled to. Those friends are completely new to the Web and its history even if they know it from Alpha telling them.
Again, Chorus is really read fast, it's diverse and deep without any weird moments and just like in the first book there's a good level of explaining aspects of the world.
Enjoyed it, Emma Trevayne knows how to write a good dystopian series.
Profile Image for Joanna Spock Dean.
218 reviews1 follower
April 24, 2021
This is on of my Dollar Tree $1 buys, and boy, did I like it. I hadn't read the first book of this set, or even known about it, but the way the first book's events are incorporated into this book, it made it all make sense.
This could be an excellent movie.
I will be reading the first book, 'Coda'.
I do recommend this set of books.
Profile Image for Amanda.
985 reviews13 followers
July 24, 2017
This series had a cool concept of music as a drug used to control society. I wish it were age appropriate for my dystopian lit class, but they're only in middle school. This sequel wasn't nearly as compelling as the first one, though.
Profile Image for Lindsay.
754 reviews98 followers
December 19, 2014
The dream is all white from a memory that is too real, and its melody has continued to haunt Alpha, even though she has moved as far away from temptation as possible. Eight years after she was exposed to her first and only addictive musical track from the Corp, Alpha has established a new life with a band of her own in a city that has given her the space she was seeking, Los Angeles. However, it only takes one urgent call to bring Alpha back home to Anthem, the older brother who raised her as well as a revolution, and Omega, her twin brother whose contrasting personality makes her feel whole. As Alpha spends more time in the Web, she notices that the number of people who look sickly and addicted seems to be rising. With Anthem's health declining, Alpha and her friends will have to dig deeper into the mainframe than ever before in order to find the root of the Corp's re-emergence.

Chorus is a return to an enhanced future with secrets still lurking in the shadows. After the rebellion, after the revolution, the Web became a better place to live for Alpha and her brothers. But something has returned.

Alpha is her own person. She's finally comfortable with life, with living in Los Angeles by the beach. Away from the Web. But the Web is like a web. It can trap you, surround you, make it impossible for anyone to escape. Alpha has to find the strength to fight back with everything around her begins to crumble, and the strength to share the truth of what happened to her and Omega when they were children. I like Alpha, she's strong and dedicated. But she takes on too much. She keeps her own problems hidden away, buried deep where they only cause more problems. She doesn't share them in order to keep everyone safe, but she needs to if they want to get through this new crisis.

Power is addictive and insidious. In Coda, the Corp was everything. It controlled everyone, and Anthem brought it down. But pieces of it would always remain, waiting for the right moment, that perfect second in time that would allow it to rise up again and regain what was once theirs.

As with the first book, music is the backbone of this story. It's the message, the vessel, the drug and the cure. It's about what music does to us as human beings. How it lifts us up, how it breaks us into pieces. How it lets us express ourselves to those close to us, to those we've never met before. It gives us the chance to share hopes, dreams, thoughts, fears. It fuels us. And the Corp attempts to abuse it in the worst way possible.

As the titles implies, this is the chorus, the repetition. It suggests a cycle that exists in the world. Freedom, subjugation, rebellion, and back to freedom. It suggests that it will happen again and again, that there will always be those who risk everything, even themselves, to save the world. It suggests that someone will have to make that sacrifice every time a force rises up in an attempt to exert control over the general population. It's a bit dismal, but it's honest. Things happen in waves, war and peace. There will be sorrow, but at the same time there will always be hope.

(I purchased a copy of this book.)
Profile Image for AnnaSalvatore.
270 reviews4 followers
May 25, 2016
http://annasalvatoresbuchblog.blogspo...

- German review -

Band 1 war ein echtes Highlight für mich, daher habe ich schon länger dem 2. Band, der 8 Jahre später spielt, entgegen gefiebert.

COVER/GESTALTUNG
Wow!!! Die Cover sind echte Hingucker und gehören mit zu meinen Lieblingscovern im Regal. Die Buchrücken sind genau so 'spacig' wie die Cover.

MEINUNG
Wer meine Rezension zu Band 1 gelesen hat, weiß, dass ich vollkommen begeistert von der Dystopie war! Musik als Droge, eine verrückte Gesellschaft, Musik und eine Rebellion mit einem unperfekten Helden.
Kurzum: Meine Erwartungen waren hoch.

In diesem Band, 8 Jahre später, geht es um Alpha, Anthems kleine Schwester, die man schon damals kennen gelernt hat.
Doch sie ist lange nicht mehr dieselbe:
Sie ist erwachsen geworden, hat einen Freund, lebt in einer anderen Stadt, flucht viel und studiert.
Das war erstmal ein kleiner Schock, dass Alpha nicht mehr die kleine süße Schwester ist, aber ist ja irgendwie auch klar^^

Aber die Story hat dieses Mal wesentlich länger gebraucht, um spannend zu werden. Irgendwie war es öfters 'Gelabber', als tatsächliche Taten. Auch die Musik ist wesentlich unwichtiger geworden, leider. Außerdem hat mich Alpha manchmal aufgeregt, auch wenn sie selbst das einsieht. Zum Beispiel wie sie sich ihrem Freund Jonas gegenüber verhält.

Ein Problem hatte ich leider: Den Großteil der Nebencharaktere habe ich total vergessen. Leider ist die Erinnerung auch nicht wirklich beim Lesen zurück gekehrt. Mage, Phoenix, Pixel, Scope, Wraith ... Omega, Haven, Anthem, Alpha und Isis waren eine sichere Sache, aber bei den anderen leider Schwärze :3
Vielleicht lag es an den außergewöhnlichen, aber auch leicht ähnlichen Namen, die ich eigentlich ja total cool finde :D
Im Nachhinein hätte ich vorher unbedingt Band 1 rereaden sollen. Also meine Empfehlung: Die Bände so nah wie möglich nacheinander lesen!

Auch der Schreibstil hat mich nicht so umgerissen. Die Szenenwechsel kommen oftmals sehr abrupt, sodass sie in einem Satz noch schläft und direkt im Nächsten - ohne Absatz - gerade aus dem Zimmer geht. Oder auf einmal im Park steht. Auch diese Flashbacks waren für mich nicht so greifbar, wie z. B. die Musik-Beschreibungen aus Band 1. Und als jemand bestimmtes starb, konnte man das auch gar nicht so fassen. Und die Emotionslosigkeit danach fand ich auch nicht so klasse^^

Gut war auf jeden Fall, dass es sich sehr flüssig - wenn auch manchmal verwirrend - liest, sodass ich es wenigen Tagen durch hatte. Auch Anthem und Haven waren wieder Highlights, genau wie die Idee der Fortsetzung.

Das Ende ist auf jeden Fall abschließend und dementsprechend befriedigend.


FAZIT
Kommt leider bei weitem nicht an den Vorgänger ran. Die Protagonistin, der Schreibstil und die etwas stockende Handlung sind Hauptkritikpunkte. Außerdem sollte man die Bände am besten direkt hintereinander lesen!
Dennoch gab es natürlich auch Gutes, wie z. B. der schnell zu lesende Schreibstil und das Wiedersehen mit meinen Lieblingen.

- 3,5 von 5 Feenfaltern -
Profile Image for Ricky.
Author 8 books184 followers
September 24, 2016
This series...I dunno. It's got a cool twist on the dystopian genre as its premise, one that's actually had its own secret influence on my own writing with the concept of addictive music tracks. (Although my books, rather than try and emulate the idea of big business attempting to force musical drivel on the world for mind control - "Everything Is Awesome!"-style - simply make musical addiction a mental condition.) Unfortunately, I just can't get into these books like the premise demands, mostly because of the characters being virtually impossible to tell apart and the surprisingly paper-thin world-building.

I guess this series ends here, though? Oh well. I'm not planning on reading a third book anyway.
Profile Image for Dorine White.
Author 7 books111 followers
June 20, 2014
The Story-
It has been eight years since Anthem defeated the Corp and stopped them from enslaving the population with musical tracks. It has been eight years in which his younger twin siblings, Alpha and Omega, have struggled with the violent musical track that was forced upon them. Now, Alpha is living in Los Angeles, trying to forget about her urge to track and working on finding a cure for her addiction.

When word arrives that Anthem is on his death bed, she heads back to the Vortex, with her boyfriend Jonas, to say good-bye. But the Corp was just waiting for Anthem to die, and as soon as word of his passing hits the streets, drug inducing tracks begin reappearing not only in the Vortex, but also in Los Angeles and Seattle. People have no say, and even music over the radio now sucks you in. Alpha is determined to stop the Corp from rising again, but to do that, she needs to find out why the music track she was forced to listen to eight years ago, was different than all the others, plus find out who among her mists is a traitor.

My Thoughts-
First off, I read book one, Coda, to catch up on things. It was thrilling, I've never felt music described in such an amazing way. When I started Chorus I was looking forward to more of the same stimulating writing, but be warned, first you have to plow through 40 pages of Alpha going through "woe is me" stuff. It is not until she finds her way back to Anthem and her old friends that the story really kicks off. Then I started to get excited again.

The real excitement of this story is the mystery behind what was different about the track Alpha and Omega were played in the past. The music has taken a different, and surprising toll on both of them. Alpha plunges herself into the mainframe, looking for the origins of musical tracking as a medicine and hopes to dissect it and cure herself of its lure. The adventure isn't as strong as in the first book, but it is still fun and you are eager to follow along. Sometimes I felt that bits were left out though. That a piece of dialogue referred to perhaps a scene that was cut. Also, sometimes there are facts and info that the author just expects the reader to know, without having given it previously. Those spots left me a little befuddled.

Overall, the series is just so original it is a must read. The author has the unique ability to put feelings into words and to make music into a real, breathing thing. It was nice to see back into the world that Anthem fought for. 4 stars!
Profile Image for Katherine Locke.
Author 15 books514 followers
May 27, 2014
I was a huge fan of the first book, CODA, and delighted to find out that CHORUS would be an indirect sequel. While CHORUS is solidly Alpha's story, whereas CODA was Anthem's story, the world of the Web and the Corps, where music can kill, save, rejuvenate, control, and free people was familiar.

Alpha has been away for eight years when CHORUS begins and she only returns because Anthem's health is failing, a result of the events in CODA. Since the revolution her brother orchestrated, Alpha's suffered from paralyzing headaches and flashbacks that only increase in frequency. She's determined to find a cure before the damage done to her and her twin brother Omega kills them both.

But revolutions can be messy, non-linear, and destructive. The choices made in the heat of the moment years ago have painful fallout here, forcing Alpha to make difficult, morally ambiguous choices. Just as in CODA, CHORUS’s prose is tight, sparse, and heavy with emotion. Like her brother, Alpha’s a reluctant revolutionary. And like her brother, Alpha cannot do it alone. Some of the secondary characters from CODA make appearances again, and the new characters balance out Alpha’s occasionally exhaustingly heavy worldview.

Trevayne weaves a masterful story that eschews the black and white worlds in so many YA dystopias and in it, Alpha becomes her most relatable character yet.
Profile Image for Kira.
98 reviews10 followers
June 17, 2014
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Alpha has been away from the Web for eight years, but the time and the distance have not made the headaches and crippling flashbacks disappear. Determined to find a cure for the damage done to her and to her twin brother, Alpha struggles with avoiding temptation and finding answers.
When Alpha receives news that her older brother Anthem is dying, she is pulled back to the Wed, a place she has worked hard to escape. With Anthem on his deathbed and the reemergence of the Corp, Alpha and her friends are forced to dig deeper to find a way to stop the Corp from enslaving everyone once more.
Emma Trevayne’s CHORUS is heavy with emotion and refreshingly unique. Trevayne’s use of music as the main aspect of the novel helps to build a spectacular and dark dystopian world that is bound to captivate the readers. Trevayne explores trauma and the power of music through her protagonist, Alpha, in a way that creates tension and propels the story, making CHORUS impossible to put down. This novel is unlike any dystopian story out there!
Profile Image for Carolamex.
241 reviews
June 15, 2014
I loved te conclusion to this story. As I said in the review for the first book, I love the world this author created, I love how original the story and plot is; as a music lover I love that music plays such a prominent role in the story, I love the characters and my heart breaks for many of them. At times I was confused and it probably has to do more with me than with the way to story is written. I have too many characters in my head and when I have to wait some time for the next book or the conclusion of a series, I recall the overall story but details sometimes get forgotten, names get mixed. I don't have the time to reread so I usually just blame it on my memory and I hope this was the case. Because even with my middle age brain ( did I just wrote that?????) I was engaged from the first page to the last and I could not stop thinking about them. I hope the Corp is done for good. Excellent sequel. Looking forward for more from Mrs Trevayne.
Profile Image for Michelle.
838 reviews57 followers
September 5, 2014
No one else has gotten me, much like Trevayne's words/characters/story has. I am always enthralled by her world that she created. Having a second book in the same world isn't always an easy task, but Trevayne has managed to reinvent the story of this digital world. It was easy to slip back into the world, "plugging in" and getting lost in the imagery and visual symphony of Trevayne's words.

Chorus lives a life in the after. After Anthem's revolution, after the majority unplugged, and after the sad and unfortunate impacts of her current reality. Chorus has managed to cope the best she can, and she does it with such bravada, that you can't help but love her.

I loved being back into this world. The music that creates a song that only the reader can hear. Trevayne just gets it for a reader, and I enjoy every moment listening along.

Profile Image for Relena_reads.
1,057 reviews11 followers
June 23, 2015
I was both excited and scared when I heard that Coda had a sequel. Coda was one of my favorite books of the year, so I wanted to go back to its world, but it was also a book that ended satisfactorily, so I was worried. When I saw it was following Alpha instead of Anthem, my worries abated a bit, and changing the POV character was the right choice. I feel even more solidly that my time in this world is finished while my understanding of it was added to.

The thing that keeps this from being a five-star book is that I didn't feel the music this time. It was still an integral part of the storyline, but it didn't pour through the book the way Coda did. This was more of a mystery/adventure than Coda, and the focus was on that unraveling instead of the build of the music.
1,660 reviews6 followers
April 10, 2014
Concluding volume in the Coda/Chorus book pair. Alpha, one of Ant's twin siblings is the main characters as a lot of loose ends are tied up. I will admit--and it may be that I wasn't reading close enough--that a lot of it went over my head. still for your YA dystopian reader, especially those "in' to music, it is an exciting read.
Profile Image for Jami.
537 reviews7 followers
September 13, 2016
Plot: 3 stars
Characters: 3 1/2 stars
Style: 4 stars
Pace: 3 stars

I was underwhelmed. In concept, this is a great way to follow through, in reality, I found Alpha really annoying and too passive, and the plot thin.
Profile Image for Laura.
4,195 reviews93 followers
December 31, 2014
I'd swear I've read this before, perhaps in two or three other books. What kept me reading was the idea of once you've escaped from the web/matrix/whatever, going back because of family. Not only going back, but bringing friends with you. But beyond that? Yawn.

ARC provided by publisher.
Profile Image for Molly.
456 reviews157 followers
August 8, 2014
This one didn't hold my attention as much as the first one, but it was still really good.
Profile Image for Amy.
859 reviews95 followers
dnf
January 1, 2017
It hurts me to DNF this, but I just could not get into this. I tried, I really did. I'm sorry, but I just have to part ways with this book.
Profile Image for Sara.
2,287 reviews40 followers
October 22, 2014
I like Coda so much better! A sequel I didn't really need or like. :(
Profile Image for Trinity.
133 reviews6 followers
May 26, 2014
I'm too stunned to write a real review.

I loved this book, loved the warm fuzzy feelings & the heartclenches, loved being with these characters again.

14 reviews
October 2, 2014
Didn't like this as much as the first in the series, maybe it just didn't have the wow factor of the original concept.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews

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