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The Rift Uprising Trilogy #1
The Rift Uprising
The first book in the fast-paced action-adventure, The Rift Uprising trilogy—an enthralling mix of speculative fiction and military thriller—in which a young soldier comes to question the monsters she’s trained to fight against . . . and the monsters she fights for.
Seventeen-year-old Ryn Whittaker is a an elite, enhanced soldier specially chosen to guard a Rift, a mysterious and dangerous portal to alternate Earths scientists cannot control or close. Trained from the age of fourteen, Ryn can run faster, jump farther, and fight better than a Navy SEAL—which is good when you’re not sure if a laser-wielding Neanderthal or an axe-wielding Viking is trying to make it through the Rift and into your world.
But the teenager’s military conditioning and education have not prepared her for the boy who crosses through—a confused young man, seemingly lost and alone. While there’s an immediate physical attraction, it’s his intelligence and curiosity that throws Ryn off balance. The stranger asks disturbing questions about the Rift that Ryn herself has never considered—questions that lead her to wonder if everything about her life and what she’s been told these past six years has been a lie. Are the Rifts as dangerous as her leaders say? Should her people really try to close them . . . or learn how to travel through them?
Seventeen-year-old Ryn Whittaker is a an elite, enhanced soldier specially chosen to guard a Rift, a mysterious and dangerous portal to alternate Earths scientists cannot control or close. Trained from the age of fourteen, Ryn can run faster, jump farther, and fight better than a Navy SEAL—which is good when you’re not sure if a laser-wielding Neanderthal or an axe-wielding Viking is trying to make it through the Rift and into your world.
But the teenager’s military conditioning and education have not prepared her for the boy who crosses through—a confused young man, seemingly lost and alone. While there’s an immediate physical attraction, it’s his intelligence and curiosity that throws Ryn off balance. The stranger asks disturbing questions about the Rift that Ryn herself has never considered—questions that lead her to wonder if everything about her life and what she’s been told these past six years has been a lie. Are the Rifts as dangerous as her leaders say? Should her people really try to close them . . . or learn how to travel through them?
368 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 4, 2016
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September 8, 2018
*EDIT TO THE EDIT* so, this IS being sold and shelved as adult SF in stores,which means i DON'T have to rewrite the review and this is all proof that sometimes procrastination pays off! whe!
*EDIT* i am a lousy detective. this IS a YA title, which makes my review nothing more than the rantings of a lunatic. i'll rewrite it as soon as time allows, but for now, please enjoy it as an example of "me being wrong." for a million paragraphs.
People always say, "Oh, I have to get my hair done," or "I have to pick up my dry cleaning." In reality there are only a few things you absolutely have to do: eat, sleep, go to the bathroom, and, in my case, show up for my shift at work in front of an interdimensional Rift in time and space.
i was 40 pages from the end of this book before i realized it wasn't YA. up until that point, reading this as YA, i'd intended to rate it a 3.5 rounded up to 4 stars, because i'm a chronic uprounder. but now that i know that this is a book intended for older readers, it's really hard for me to give it more than a solid three stars, because i sort of factor into my star-ratings, "how successful is this book in serving its audience?," and leave it for the review to blab about my personal reaction. and this book is much better suited to a YA than an adult audience.
you may feel free to dismiss all my complaints about audience and counter that with all the really sophisticated YA titles being written today and the trend of these crossover titles bringing adults hip-deep into the YA reading-world, do these age-based distinctions really matter anymore?
but they do. of course they do. not only from a pricing perspective, where adult hardcovers run about 8 bucks more than YA, but also from an expectation of what the reading experience is going to deliver.
i enjoy reading YA novels, both the actiony escapist diversion types and the more realistic issue-based books that continue to surprise me with how competently they tackle difficult subject matters, and how literary and ambitious they often are. but even the "best" YA has bits that appeal specifically to younger readers that a savvy adult reader accepts as being appropriate for the intended audience, but would not work as well in an adult novel. and as a savvy adult reader of YA books, you overlook certain shortcuts or situations that you wouldn't in a book for adults because you understand the priorities specific to the audience, and you make allowances for them. YA is typically faster-paced and able to get away with glosses because the audience is accustomed to and craving a particular style of storytelling which sucks them in and keeps those pages turning, while adult lit tends to be more descriptive and introspective and fills in more of the blanks that would slow down a teenager who's used to a faster-paced world with all the tweeting and texting we fogeys are still fumbling at with our palsied hands.
there are situations in this book that i'd been excusing as YA-acceptable that, once i had to reexamine through the adult lit filter, became more glaringly weak. it's not that it's a bad book at all, but it definitely reads like YA, and i think it's doing itself a disservice by being marketed as an adult novel, because it doesn't hold up against other adult sci-fi books in terms of its science, its worldbuilding, or its themes, which are much more suitable for a younger audience, tending to appreciate character, romance, and action over all the scientific explanations or sociological import an older sci-fi crowd values.
again, it's a fun book with a great premise: a near-future scenario in which scientists have created secret portals, or "rifts," into the multiverse in a bunch of different locations around the world, through which creatures from other pockets of the multiverse begin to emerge with varying degrees of communication-abilities, violent tendencies, and ability to exist in 'our' world. these 'immigrants," be they animals, humanoid types, unicorns, or vikings, are all taken to "the village" and kept in camps done up like little touristy gated communities and encouraged to acclimate to our ways for everyone's safety, even though they ain't never gonna integrate into the larger world, especially the ferocious karekins, who are automatically killed whenever they emerge from the rift, due to their hyper-aggression in all past experiences. one species, the roones, are helpful humanoid types, far surpassing us in their tech-skills, and these alone are allowed to work alongside our scientists to manage the risk the rifts present. to that end, scientists begin screening children and implanting specific types with chips giving them special abilities, forgoing the pesky matter of parental consent, and only telling the children themselves when they are activated as "citadels" at the age of fourteen, when they become responsible for guarding the portals and using their enhanced abilities to deal with whatever comes out. in a pleasantly chilling detail, only the most average and ordinary children are selected because scientists do not want to take a potentially bright future away from a gifted child and they want their "super" soldiers to appear as unremarkable as possible.
these teenaged citadels have super healing abilities, increased stamina, athletic abilities, eidetic memories, and they are trained in languages, fighting techniques, wilderness survival skills, and weaponry, while their parents think they are just in school, being regular teenagers. along with having been 'improved' in so many ways, there is yet another thing preventing them from behaving as normal teenagers - they can never get their swerve on, nor even have too powerful feelings of a sexual nature. any time these lustful urges manifest, something called the "blood lust" comes over them, which always results in severe injuries to both parties, particularly if one of them isn't a citadel with magical healing abilities. ryn whittaker is a seventeen-year old-citadel based at the washington state rift, where she is the tactical leader of beta team, about to uncover all sorts of secrets surrounding the rifts and the nature of the citadels.
i loved the portals and the "what will come out next?" aspect of it, and the idea of genetically-modified people in a secret organization forced to live double lives with strict limitations on their personal freedoms - all of this has great potential for tension and dramatic situations, and for the most part, it delivers on that potential, but now that i know this is for adults, it just puts all the things i was excusing as being "YA-ish" here into a context that i just don't see working as a book for older folks who've been around longer, who've read and experienced more.
instalove. instalove, in YA, is very common. and of course it is - it resonates with the experiences of readers of that age - the heady adolescent period where you're testing the romantic waters, figuring out what you're attracted to - all young and full of curiosity and the novelty of being drawn to someone without knowing why. back when i was a young'un, i had all sorts of little crushes that were nothing more than,"that person is pretty, and i wanna kiss 'em." but adults have different priorities, and understanding why two characters would be attracted to each other gives the story plausibility and impact. we want to know why people are into each other - we want some basic attempt at character development. so, while i'm totally willing to overlook instalove in YA because i understand its appeal to that audience (while still rolling my eyes at it because it's trite), it just seems like a lazy elision to have a character fall for a boy on the sole grounds of him being her type of gorgeous, even when the character is herself a teenager. especially when she makes a point to say later, of another character:
Does he think because he admitted to me that I was an actual girl, with boobs, that I want to confess my love to him or something? I don't know a lot about guys, but I know it doesn't take much to get one sexually attracted to you. Does he actually believe I'm naive enough to confuse normal teenage lust with real feelings? Is this his version of flirting?
for all her awareness that attraction resides in something more than just proximity, she never provides a reason for falling for a newly-arrived-by-portal dude other than this "gorgeous," quality, which is certainly not enough to justify the solemn vow she makes to herself, the day they meet, that he will be the only person in the world I will never lie to.
that's a lot of melodrama to put on such a flimsy foundation.
the preoccupation with sex is also something that is, ironically, less suitable in an adult book than a YA title. i get it - you're all teenagers entrusted with a responsibility that would be taxing and stressful even for an adult, forced to lie to your families and train relentlessly, and there's a huge emphasis on physicality and adrenaline and all that free-floating energy, but you can never bone. and that's horrible and frustrating, i get it. but there's just such an emphasis upon wanting to have sex here, in all the citadel-characters, and simple horniness is responsible for so much of the plotting and for decisions that have really serious consequences. it's perfectly in keeping with the YA audience, who (hopefully) don't have as comfortable a relationship with their own sexuality as adults with decades of experience under their belts (oHO), when there's still all sorts of mystery and a little of the forbidden attached to sexuality, but an adult audience might want a bit more than just "me want sex" as a justification for the decisions of these characters.
then there are situations straight out of james bond films, which have been parodied so many times, it's awkward to encounter them "straight," where a mutually-threatening conversation occurs between two adversaries while their heavily-armed and -trained people surround them with their fingers hovering over the triggers; people who shoot things all the time without hesitating, and yet, here - everyone's just standing around letting them talk it out, while ryn is until it's like 'oooops, why didn't we shut this down instead of just standing here like the background props we are?' you can overlook little things like that in YA, for the sake of tension or whatever, but an adult is gonna raise an eyebrow at the standoff cliché, especially in a book that actually references james bond at least twice.
and speaking of references. in place of actual worldbuilding, there's relentless name-dropping of stuff that exists for us, without a single introduction of something pop-cultural that may have occurred between "now" and 2020, when this book is set. (except for maybe Transformers 5, which is actually coming out in 2017, so - oops) so you have references to harry potter and buffy the vampire slayer and twilight and true blood and game of thrones and downton abbey and great british bake-off and josh groban and rent and the little mermaid and ender's game and bourne identity and liam neeson and mad max and dr who and the hunger games and converse and best buy and starbucks and hobbits and meryl streep and red dawn and voodoo doughnuts and star trek and martha stewart and ewoks and oprah and my little ponies and planet of the apes and the matrix and the exorcist and syfy and hbo and ipads and x-boxes and mp3s and larping and google and ben and jerry's and every comic book hero/ine from spiderman to wonder woman to the x-men to batman to captain america to the fantastic four but not ONE new thing between now and 2020. and some of the references seem dated even to someone reading this now, in 2016. is the gilmore girls still going to be a relevant show to teenagers in 2020? will friday night lights references be part of a teenager's snark, nine years after it was cancelled?
"Don't you ever get sick of it?" I ask him sincerely. "Being so aloof and guarded…the Tim Riggins of it all?"
would this conversation take place?
"Okay, here we go, Ryn. Fuck, Marry, Kill: Gandhi, Eleanor Roosevelt, Christian Bale. Go."
….
"Are we talking American Psycho Christian Bale or The Machinist Christian Bale?" I manage to answer with a little smile on my face.
"Ohhh, that's a good question. And I like how you didn't bring Batman CB into the mix, 'cause it's so obvious.
i don't know, but the constant barrage of name-droppery became both tiresome and bafflingly locked-in-time.
it's a satisfying book, but it's so clearly YA. there's plenty of instances of ryn using her strength and wits to confront casual sexism and more serious girl-assaults, making her a great heroine for teen readers to cheer on, and she's got a good snap to her: He's like an enigma wrapped in a mystery wearing a smirk that makes me want to never stop slapping him, but even the assault scene lacks weight - it's see problem/solve problem/move on with no psychological component. everything is just too easy in general. for such a tightly-controlled seeecret experiment, ryn gets away with a lot of stuff she probably wouldn't have in adult dystopian sci-fi. she's going places she's not supposed to go and learning things she's not supposed to know and flagrantly flaunting this knowledge without serious consequences. and the ending? let's just say that she creates a huge game-changing situation with no indication that the aftereffects have been considered, which is absolutely fine for a YA first-book-in-a-trilogy cliffhanger, but an adult is going to have some questions. not about "what happens now?," because that's for book two to divulge, but "what did you expect to happen? were you just gonna make this mess and not clean it up - did you have no strategy or plan in place to deal with this fallout that's going to affect everything so fundamentally?"
but then, impulsive behavior without considering the bigger-picture consequences, well - that's the best part about being a teenager, right?
if this were YA, i would totally give it 4 stars, but i think adult readers who are expecting adult sci-fi are going to find it too slight.
come to my blog!
*EDIT* i am a lousy detective. this IS a YA title, which makes my review nothing more than the rantings of a lunatic. i'll rewrite it as soon as time allows, but for now, please enjoy it as an example of "me being wrong." for a million paragraphs.
People always say, "Oh, I have to get my hair done," or "I have to pick up my dry cleaning." In reality there are only a few things you absolutely have to do: eat, sleep, go to the bathroom, and, in my case, show up for my shift at work in front of an interdimensional Rift in time and space.
i was 40 pages from the end of this book before i realized it wasn't YA. up until that point, reading this as YA, i'd intended to rate it a 3.5 rounded up to 4 stars, because i'm a chronic uprounder. but now that i know that this is a book intended for older readers, it's really hard for me to give it more than a solid three stars, because i sort of factor into my star-ratings, "how successful is this book in serving its audience?," and leave it for the review to blab about my personal reaction. and this book is much better suited to a YA than an adult audience.
you may feel free to dismiss all my complaints about audience and counter that with all the really sophisticated YA titles being written today and the trend of these crossover titles bringing adults hip-deep into the YA reading-world, do these age-based distinctions really matter anymore?
but they do. of course they do. not only from a pricing perspective, where adult hardcovers run about 8 bucks more than YA, but also from an expectation of what the reading experience is going to deliver.
i enjoy reading YA novels, both the actiony escapist diversion types and the more realistic issue-based books that continue to surprise me with how competently they tackle difficult subject matters, and how literary and ambitious they often are. but even the "best" YA has bits that appeal specifically to younger readers that a savvy adult reader accepts as being appropriate for the intended audience, but would not work as well in an adult novel. and as a savvy adult reader of YA books, you overlook certain shortcuts or situations that you wouldn't in a book for adults because you understand the priorities specific to the audience, and you make allowances for them. YA is typically faster-paced and able to get away with glosses because the audience is accustomed to and craving a particular style of storytelling which sucks them in and keeps those pages turning, while adult lit tends to be more descriptive and introspective and fills in more of the blanks that would slow down a teenager who's used to a faster-paced world with all the tweeting and texting we fogeys are still fumbling at with our palsied hands.
there are situations in this book that i'd been excusing as YA-acceptable that, once i had to reexamine through the adult lit filter, became more glaringly weak. it's not that it's a bad book at all, but it definitely reads like YA, and i think it's doing itself a disservice by being marketed as an adult novel, because it doesn't hold up against other adult sci-fi books in terms of its science, its worldbuilding, or its themes, which are much more suitable for a younger audience, tending to appreciate character, romance, and action over all the scientific explanations or sociological import an older sci-fi crowd values.
again, it's a fun book with a great premise: a near-future scenario in which scientists have created secret portals, or "rifts," into the multiverse in a bunch of different locations around the world, through which creatures from other pockets of the multiverse begin to emerge with varying degrees of communication-abilities, violent tendencies, and ability to exist in 'our' world. these 'immigrants," be they animals, humanoid types, unicorns, or vikings, are all taken to "the village" and kept in camps done up like little touristy gated communities and encouraged to acclimate to our ways for everyone's safety, even though they ain't never gonna integrate into the larger world, especially the ferocious karekins, who are automatically killed whenever they emerge from the rift, due to their hyper-aggression in all past experiences. one species, the roones, are helpful humanoid types, far surpassing us in their tech-skills, and these alone are allowed to work alongside our scientists to manage the risk the rifts present. to that end, scientists begin screening children and implanting specific types with chips giving them special abilities, forgoing the pesky matter of parental consent, and only telling the children themselves when they are activated as "citadels" at the age of fourteen, when they become responsible for guarding the portals and using their enhanced abilities to deal with whatever comes out. in a pleasantly chilling detail, only the most average and ordinary children are selected because scientists do not want to take a potentially bright future away from a gifted child and they want their "super" soldiers to appear as unremarkable as possible.
these teenaged citadels have super healing abilities, increased stamina, athletic abilities, eidetic memories, and they are trained in languages, fighting techniques, wilderness survival skills, and weaponry, while their parents think they are just in school, being regular teenagers. along with having been 'improved' in so many ways, there is yet another thing preventing them from behaving as normal teenagers - they can never get their swerve on, nor even have too powerful feelings of a sexual nature. any time these lustful urges manifest, something called the "blood lust" comes over them, which always results in severe injuries to both parties, particularly if one of them isn't a citadel with magical healing abilities. ryn whittaker is a seventeen-year old-citadel based at the washington state rift, where she is the tactical leader of beta team, about to uncover all sorts of secrets surrounding the rifts and the nature of the citadels.
i loved the portals and the "what will come out next?" aspect of it, and the idea of genetically-modified people in a secret organization forced to live double lives with strict limitations on their personal freedoms - all of this has great potential for tension and dramatic situations, and for the most part, it delivers on that potential, but now that i know this is for adults, it just puts all the things i was excusing as being "YA-ish" here into a context that i just don't see working as a book for older folks who've been around longer, who've read and experienced more.
instalove. instalove, in YA, is very common. and of course it is - it resonates with the experiences of readers of that age - the heady adolescent period where you're testing the romantic waters, figuring out what you're attracted to - all young and full of curiosity and the novelty of being drawn to someone without knowing why. back when i was a young'un, i had all sorts of little crushes that were nothing more than,"that person is pretty, and i wanna kiss 'em." but adults have different priorities, and understanding why two characters would be attracted to each other gives the story plausibility and impact. we want to know why people are into each other - we want some basic attempt at character development. so, while i'm totally willing to overlook instalove in YA because i understand its appeal to that audience (while still rolling my eyes at it because it's trite), it just seems like a lazy elision to have a character fall for a boy on the sole grounds of him being her type of gorgeous, even when the character is herself a teenager. especially when she makes a point to say later, of another character:
Does he think because he admitted to me that I was an actual girl, with boobs, that I want to confess my love to him or something? I don't know a lot about guys, but I know it doesn't take much to get one sexually attracted to you. Does he actually believe I'm naive enough to confuse normal teenage lust with real feelings? Is this his version of flirting?
for all her awareness that attraction resides in something more than just proximity, she never provides a reason for falling for a newly-arrived-by-portal dude other than this "gorgeous," quality, which is certainly not enough to justify the solemn vow she makes to herself, the day they meet, that he will be the only person in the world I will never lie to.
that's a lot of melodrama to put on such a flimsy foundation.
the preoccupation with sex is also something that is, ironically, less suitable in an adult book than a YA title. i get it - you're all teenagers entrusted with a responsibility that would be taxing and stressful even for an adult, forced to lie to your families and train relentlessly, and there's a huge emphasis on physicality and adrenaline and all that free-floating energy, but you can never bone. and that's horrible and frustrating, i get it. but there's just such an emphasis upon wanting to have sex here, in all the citadel-characters, and simple horniness is responsible for so much of the plotting and for decisions that have really serious consequences. it's perfectly in keeping with the YA audience, who (hopefully) don't have as comfortable a relationship with their own sexuality as adults with decades of experience under their belts (oHO), when there's still all sorts of mystery and a little of the forbidden attached to sexuality, but an adult audience might want a bit more than just "me want sex" as a justification for the decisions of these characters.
then there are situations straight out of james bond films, which have been parodied so many times, it's awkward to encounter them "straight," where a mutually-threatening conversation occurs between two adversaries while their heavily-armed and -trained people surround them with their fingers hovering over the triggers; people who shoot things all the time without hesitating, and yet, here - everyone's just standing around letting them talk it out, while ryn is until it's like 'oooops, why didn't we shut this down instead of just standing here like the background props we are?' you can overlook little things like that in YA, for the sake of tension or whatever, but an adult is gonna raise an eyebrow at the standoff cliché, especially in a book that actually references james bond at least twice.
and speaking of references. in place of actual worldbuilding, there's relentless name-dropping of stuff that exists for us, without a single introduction of something pop-cultural that may have occurred between "now" and 2020, when this book is set. (except for maybe Transformers 5, which is actually coming out in 2017, so - oops) so you have references to harry potter and buffy the vampire slayer and twilight and true blood and game of thrones and downton abbey and great british bake-off and josh groban and rent and the little mermaid and ender's game and bourne identity and liam neeson and mad max and dr who and the hunger games and converse and best buy and starbucks and hobbits and meryl streep and red dawn and voodoo doughnuts and star trek and martha stewart and ewoks and oprah and my little ponies and planet of the apes and the matrix and the exorcist and syfy and hbo and ipads and x-boxes and mp3s and larping and google and ben and jerry's and every comic book hero/ine from spiderman to wonder woman to the x-men to batman to captain america to the fantastic four but not ONE new thing between now and 2020. and some of the references seem dated even to someone reading this now, in 2016. is the gilmore girls still going to be a relevant show to teenagers in 2020? will friday night lights references be part of a teenager's snark, nine years after it was cancelled?
"Don't you ever get sick of it?" I ask him sincerely. "Being so aloof and guarded…the Tim Riggins of it all?"
would this conversation take place?
"Okay, here we go, Ryn. Fuck, Marry, Kill: Gandhi, Eleanor Roosevelt, Christian Bale. Go."
….
"Are we talking American Psycho Christian Bale or The Machinist Christian Bale?" I manage to answer with a little smile on my face.
"Ohhh, that's a good question. And I like how you didn't bring Batman CB into the mix, 'cause it's so obvious.
i don't know, but the constant barrage of name-droppery became both tiresome and bafflingly locked-in-time.
it's a satisfying book, but it's so clearly YA. there's plenty of instances of ryn using her strength and wits to confront casual sexism and more serious girl-assaults, making her a great heroine for teen readers to cheer on, and she's got a good snap to her: He's like an enigma wrapped in a mystery wearing a smirk that makes me want to never stop slapping him, but even the assault scene lacks weight - it's see problem/solve problem/move on with no psychological component. everything is just too easy in general. for such a tightly-controlled seeecret experiment, ryn gets away with a lot of stuff she probably wouldn't have in adult dystopian sci-fi. she's going places she's not supposed to go and learning things she's not supposed to know and flagrantly flaunting this knowledge without serious consequences. and the ending? let's just say that she creates a huge game-changing situation with no indication that the aftereffects have been considered, which is absolutely fine for a YA first-book-in-a-trilogy cliffhanger, but an adult is going to have some questions. not about "what happens now?," because that's for book two to divulge, but "what did you expect to happen? were you just gonna make this mess and not clean it up - did you have no strategy or plan in place to deal with this fallout that's going to affect everything so fundamentally?"
but then, impulsive behavior without considering the bigger-picture consequences, well - that's the best part about being a teenager, right?
if this were YA, i would totally give it 4 stars, but i think adult readers who are expecting adult sci-fi are going to find it too slight.
come to my blog!
Read
June 12, 2017DNF @ 18%
God I really hate to write a DNF review for this!
It has potential. I feel the potential. But the fucking Insta-love UGH. I don't understand these weird YA/NA crossover type books, it's like:
"We are going to mix everything you hate about YA with a healthy dose of sex, enjoy."
*eye roll*
I am going to try and pick this back up at a later date but for now I just really cannot bring myself to give two shits about the plot. I'm bored.
God I really hate to write a DNF review for this!
It has potential. I feel the potential. But the fucking Insta-love UGH. I don't understand these weird YA/NA crossover type books, it's like:
"We are going to mix everything you hate about YA with a healthy dose of sex, enjoy."
*eye roll*
I am going to try and pick this back up at a later date but for now I just really cannot bring myself to give two shits about the plot. I'm bored.
October 4, 2016
3 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum https://bibliosanctum.com/2016/10/04/...
The first thing you should know about The Rift Uprising is that while it may be published under adult sci-fi and fantasy imprint Harper Voyager, it is patently, most assuredly, a Young Adult novel. Thinking there would be at least some crossover appeal, I did have to go through a brief adjustment period to alter my expectations, because I believe target audience matters. Indeed, once I donned my “YA reader” hat, I found this one easier to enjoy, and I think it has quite a lot of potential for fans of YA.
The story takes place in 2020, following the life of a seventeen-year-old girl named Ryn Whittaker, who is a Citadel—an elite super-soldier created by a secret military program in response to more than a dozen mysterious rifts opening around the world back in the mid-2000s. These rifts turned out to be portals to alternate Earths, and when it became clear that scientists were unable to close or control what came out of them, governments around the world decided to cover the whole thing up in a massive, coordinated global conspiracy.
An important development that came out of this though, was the arrival of a more advanced humanoid race from a parallel world who gave humanity the technology to protect themselves and guard the rifts. This technology involved implanting individuals with a cybernetic chip that would enhance their physical and mental abilities, turning them into powerful fighting machines. Problem was, adults didn’t do well on the implants; every single one who was a part of the initial experiment died. So instead, the government decided to put this technology in seven-year-olds (because somehow, the scientists were able to determine that young, still-developing brains were more resistant to the chip’s fatal effects) without the children’s OR their parents’ knowledge and consent. These kids would eventually become the Citadels, once their implants get activated when they turn fourteen.
This is what happened to Ryn, who has been living a double life for the last three years, ever since she found out what was done to her. At home she has to pretend to be a normal teenager in front of her family, who are blissfully unaware of the truth behind rifts and Citadels, and think that their daughter is part of a gifted government school program. In reality, Ryn patrols a nearby rift, either putting down enemies that come through or helping relocate non-hostile otherworld entities called “Immigrants” to one of the many sprawling internment camps around the world (which are also covered up by their respective governments, of course).
I’ve gone into the specifics of the premise because I feel so much of the Rift conspiracy doesn’t hold up to scrutiny. A large, widespread plot involving thousands upon thousands of people in more than a dozen countries, hiding the fact that they’ve been experimenting on hundreds of children (and praying that their parents are all idiots and won’t notice) while stashing countless hordes of interdimensional aliens in gigantic compounds located in thickly settled areas around the globe? I find it a little too farfetched and hard to believe that the world has been kept in the dark for so long, especially in this age of satellites and air travel, hungry media outlets and wary whistleblowers, class-action lawsuits and social media. In some ways, reading this book reminded me of how I felt while reading Divergent—that is, the setup is really cool, but a lot of the explanations are either iffy or require lots of logical leaps. If you don’t mind rolling with the punches though, or if you are reading this for the story and not the world-building, then this won’t be an issue.
Also to keep in mind is the fact that, as with most YA novels, there are certain tropes to watch for. There’s a romance, which I’m tempted to label instalove, because from the moment a boy named Ezra walks through the rift into Ryn’s world, she becomes utterly smitten with him. However, because all Citadels are conditioned to fly into a berserker rage the moment they make skin-on-skin contact with the object of their affection or anyone they feel even remotely attracted to (which is weird, because if you could condition any kind response into the Citadels, wouldn’t it make more sense to make them, say, violently ill at the thought of sex, instead of just plain violent? Less chance of putting your own soldiers or any number of innocent bystanders in the hospital and creating a media incident, if you’re inclined to keep the lid on a massive conspiracy, right?) Ryn and Ezra find themselves in the unenviable position of not being able to physically express their love for each other.
I wish I could say that Ryn’s motivation to blow the conspiracy wide open was driven by more noble reasons, like a desire to free herself and her fellow Citadels from the government’s yoke, or to save the Immigrants by helping them return to their home worlds. But the truth is, Ryn was mostly thinking about sex when she started on her mission to find out the truth about her implant, and the reason why she kept on fighting was because she was desperate to get laid. It’s admittedly a selfish and somewhat flimsy rationale, and therein lies another big reason why I saw this book as more YA than adult—mainly because I think an adult audience might be less patient with Ryn, who for the bulk of the book was a walking ball of angsty hormones with only one thing on her mind.
What I really loved though, was the mystery behind the rifts. Whatever may drive them, Ryn and Ezra make a great team uncovering the truth together, with him using his brains and her using her muscle. I enjoyed the suspense as it was gradually revealed how the portals work, and why the government might be going to such lengths to hide them from the world. I also liked the idea that anything at all can come out of the rifts, and I got the feeling the author had a bit of fun with that. Descriptions of the Village, where Immigrants from alternate worlds are relocated, were also amazing to behold. Imagine a neighborhood made up of a hodgepodge of different habitats and buildings to accommodate all manner of interdimensional beings. There’s even a menagerie to house all the otherworldly animals and creatures that come through.
All told, if you’re looking for a fun and entertaining sci-fi YA novel to spend a rainy afternoon with, The Rift Uprising might be exactly what you’re looking for, especially if you have a fondness for romance-driven stories. The world-building isn’t too deep and the adolescent characters might be motivated by their very adolescent yearnings, but nevertheless this book is a superfast read and its quick pacing also means never a dull moment.
The first thing you should know about The Rift Uprising is that while it may be published under adult sci-fi and fantasy imprint Harper Voyager, it is patently, most assuredly, a Young Adult novel. Thinking there would be at least some crossover appeal, I did have to go through a brief adjustment period to alter my expectations, because I believe target audience matters. Indeed, once I donned my “YA reader” hat, I found this one easier to enjoy, and I think it has quite a lot of potential for fans of YA.
The story takes place in 2020, following the life of a seventeen-year-old girl named Ryn Whittaker, who is a Citadel—an elite super-soldier created by a secret military program in response to more than a dozen mysterious rifts opening around the world back in the mid-2000s. These rifts turned out to be portals to alternate Earths, and when it became clear that scientists were unable to close or control what came out of them, governments around the world decided to cover the whole thing up in a massive, coordinated global conspiracy.
An important development that came out of this though, was the arrival of a more advanced humanoid race from a parallel world who gave humanity the technology to protect themselves and guard the rifts. This technology involved implanting individuals with a cybernetic chip that would enhance their physical and mental abilities, turning them into powerful fighting machines. Problem was, adults didn’t do well on the implants; every single one who was a part of the initial experiment died. So instead, the government decided to put this technology in seven-year-olds (because somehow, the scientists were able to determine that young, still-developing brains were more resistant to the chip’s fatal effects) without the children’s OR their parents’ knowledge and consent. These kids would eventually become the Citadels, once their implants get activated when they turn fourteen.
This is what happened to Ryn, who has been living a double life for the last three years, ever since she found out what was done to her. At home she has to pretend to be a normal teenager in front of her family, who are blissfully unaware of the truth behind rifts and Citadels, and think that their daughter is part of a gifted government school program. In reality, Ryn patrols a nearby rift, either putting down enemies that come through or helping relocate non-hostile otherworld entities called “Immigrants” to one of the many sprawling internment camps around the world (which are also covered up by their respective governments, of course).
I’ve gone into the specifics of the premise because I feel so much of the Rift conspiracy doesn’t hold up to scrutiny. A large, widespread plot involving thousands upon thousands of people in more than a dozen countries, hiding the fact that they’ve been experimenting on hundreds of children (and praying that their parents are all idiots and won’t notice) while stashing countless hordes of interdimensional aliens in gigantic compounds located in thickly settled areas around the globe? I find it a little too farfetched and hard to believe that the world has been kept in the dark for so long, especially in this age of satellites and air travel, hungry media outlets and wary whistleblowers, class-action lawsuits and social media. In some ways, reading this book reminded me of how I felt while reading Divergent—that is, the setup is really cool, but a lot of the explanations are either iffy or require lots of logical leaps. If you don’t mind rolling with the punches though, or if you are reading this for the story and not the world-building, then this won’t be an issue.
Also to keep in mind is the fact that, as with most YA novels, there are certain tropes to watch for. There’s a romance, which I’m tempted to label instalove, because from the moment a boy named Ezra walks through the rift into Ryn’s world, she becomes utterly smitten with him. However, because all Citadels are conditioned to fly into a berserker rage the moment they make skin-on-skin contact with the object of their affection or anyone they feel even remotely attracted to (which is weird, because if you could condition any kind response into the Citadels, wouldn’t it make more sense to make them, say, violently ill at the thought of sex, instead of just plain violent? Less chance of putting your own soldiers or any number of innocent bystanders in the hospital and creating a media incident, if you’re inclined to keep the lid on a massive conspiracy, right?) Ryn and Ezra find themselves in the unenviable position of not being able to physically express their love for each other.
I wish I could say that Ryn’s motivation to blow the conspiracy wide open was driven by more noble reasons, like a desire to free herself and her fellow Citadels from the government’s yoke, or to save the Immigrants by helping them return to their home worlds. But the truth is, Ryn was mostly thinking about sex when she started on her mission to find out the truth about her implant, and the reason why she kept on fighting was because she was desperate to get laid. It’s admittedly a selfish and somewhat flimsy rationale, and therein lies another big reason why I saw this book as more YA than adult—mainly because I think an adult audience might be less patient with Ryn, who for the bulk of the book was a walking ball of angsty hormones with only one thing on her mind.
What I really loved though, was the mystery behind the rifts. Whatever may drive them, Ryn and Ezra make a great team uncovering the truth together, with him using his brains and her using her muscle. I enjoyed the suspense as it was gradually revealed how the portals work, and why the government might be going to such lengths to hide them from the world. I also liked the idea that anything at all can come out of the rifts, and I got the feeling the author had a bit of fun with that. Descriptions of the Village, where Immigrants from alternate worlds are relocated, were also amazing to behold. Imagine a neighborhood made up of a hodgepodge of different habitats and buildings to accommodate all manner of interdimensional beings. There’s even a menagerie to house all the otherworldly animals and creatures that come through.
All told, if you’re looking for a fun and entertaining sci-fi YA novel to spend a rainy afternoon with, The Rift Uprising might be exactly what you’re looking for, especially if you have a fondness for romance-driven stories. The world-building isn’t too deep and the adolescent characters might be motivated by their very adolescent yearnings, but nevertheless this book is a superfast read and its quick pacing also means never a dull moment.
November 6, 2025
Ryn was selected to become a special soldier to guard the Rift. At 17, she has already seen more than her share of bloodshed and yearns for something more than just killing the unruly the Rift crossers and escorting the passive ones into captivity for the rest of their lives.
When Ryn makes a special connection with an extremely intelligent young man, Ezra, that gets pulled through the the Rift , she makes a promises that she should never keep. She promises to see him again. She breaks into the secure holding facility and discovers there is a far sinister plot behind her special abilities to guard the the Rift. Ezra makes her question everything she believed as truth.
The Rift Uprising was extremely intriguing, Foster has woven a tale that will have me coming back for more.
I received this ARC copy The Rift Uprising from Harper Voyager in exchange for a honest review. This book is set for publication October 4, 2016.
My Rating: 3.5 Stars
When Ryn makes a special connection with an extremely intelligent young man, Ezra, that gets pulled through the the Rift , she makes a promises that she should never keep. She promises to see him again. She breaks into the secure holding facility and discovers there is a far sinister plot behind her special abilities to guard the the Rift. Ezra makes her question everything she believed as truth.
The Rift Uprising was extremely intriguing, Foster has woven a tale that will have me coming back for more.
I received this ARC copy The Rift Uprising from Harper Voyager in exchange for a honest review. This book is set for publication October 4, 2016.
My Rating: 3.5 Stars
Want to read
October 7, 2016I just saw an advert for this that said:
That's not a lot to live up to or anything.... =/
The explosive start to a new trilogy that combines the fast paced action of Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games, the lyrical tone of Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke and Bone, and the emotional stakes of Pierce Brown's Red Rising....
That's not a lot to live up to or anything.... =/
August 13, 2016
I'm going to give this book 2.5 stars.
I really really liked the idea of The Rift, I liked the whole portal bringing aliens and people from other multiverses idea.
Citadels were another factor I really liked, I am a sucker for the classic genetically altered soldier, and I fell in love with the way the Citadels functioned.
Now for why I give this 2.5 stars...
The story was there, it had potential and that's what hurts. In the beginning the biggest problem I had was that I found Ryn just a bit annoying. Then she just got worse. Again, the story was there: girl meets guy, guy slowly opens girls eyes, girl starts fighting the bad guys. Her motivation for all this? Desperately wanting to get laid and needing the techie guy to rewire her implant so they can get it on.
The further I got in the book the more obvious it became that Ryn was just selfish and horny but had an attitude towards any other Citadels who might feel the same.
If the main character hadn't been so driven by her want for sex I would have gladly given this book a full 5 stars. There was just so much that was left out in lieu of her expressing her sexual tension.
The relationship with her team is summed up so quickly and their personalities so... cookie cutter it made me sad. Her family is practically dismissed half way through and then we also lose what little of the friends we were getting because all Ryn cared about was Ezra.
I really want to love this book, but I can't get over that focus on sex. A more gradual development between Ryn and Ezra would have allowed for more to be told about the Rift, Arc, the Village, and Ryn's life with her friends and family.
I really really liked the idea of The Rift, I liked the whole portal bringing aliens and people from other multiverses idea.
Citadels were another factor I really liked, I am a sucker for the classic genetically altered soldier, and I fell in love with the way the Citadels functioned.
Now for why I give this 2.5 stars...
The story was there, it had potential and that's what hurts. In the beginning the biggest problem I had was that I found Ryn just a bit annoying. Then she just got worse. Again, the story was there: girl meets guy, guy slowly opens girls eyes, girl starts fighting the bad guys. Her motivation for all this? Desperately wanting to get laid and needing the techie guy to rewire her implant so they can get it on.
The further I got in the book the more obvious it became that Ryn was just selfish and horny but had an attitude towards any other Citadels who might feel the same.
If the main character hadn't been so driven by her want for sex I would have gladly given this book a full 5 stars. There was just so much that was left out in lieu of her expressing her sexual tension.
The relationship with her team is summed up so quickly and their personalities so... cookie cutter it made me sad. Her family is practically dismissed half way through and then we also lose what little of the friends we were getting because all Ryn cared about was Ezra.
I really want to love this book, but I can't get over that focus on sex. A more gradual development between Ryn and Ezra would have allowed for more to be told about the Rift, Arc, the Village, and Ryn's life with her friends and family.
December 3, 2017
While I did enjoy the story- it was fast paced and once in a while I do like a romance heavy story - there was nothing particularly original here, and I didn't enjoy some of the views of the main characters. I might continue the series, but it has one of my least favourite tropes at the end of the novel, so I'm going to let it simmer for a while.
November 25, 2016
Review on http://www.bookishrealmreviews.com/20...
Let me start by saying that the premise for this book is ultimately amazing. The world is a version of earth set in the future; however, a "tear" in the universe allows creatures and "humans" from other worlds to come into this version of earth. As a result, children are implanted with devices to become defenders of the rift. All I can say is that is the most amazing concept that I have heard of in a long while. I'm not a huge science fiction fan, but for some reason the science aspects of this book were so easy to understand and I found myself getting totally absorbed in the world. Now lets move on to the parts of the book that I really really enjoyed.
In the beginning it was hard to relate to Ryn as a character; however, after reading through the text for a while she began to grow on me and I definitely appreciated the strength and courage she had in becoming a leader of her team. She became easy to relate to and I definitely could appreciate how difficult it was for her to continuously lead a double life: one that focused on protecting the rift and one with her family. Foster's writing also was a key point of enjoyment for me. She wrote science fiction in a way that was understandable and enjoyable. I've never found myself so engrossed in a world before. In addition, she wrote with such ease and fluidity that I couldn't help but finding myself moving through the story at a quick pace. And she definitely gained bonus points in my book for writing such an amazingly strong female character.
The only aspect of this book that I didn't enjoy was the romance. I've often noticed that a lot of YA novels seem to "need" to have some hint of romance to sell to readers; however, this book didn't need it. The characters were so well-developed and the action was so fast-paced that it seemed as though the romance was some what of a distraction. It felt too fast and too "insta-love" and I know that Ryn could have stood on her as a leading lady without the added romance.
Overall, this was an enjoyable book. If you're into science-fiction and alternate universes I would definitely recommend trying this book. It contains so many interesting elements that I haven't seen YA touch in a fairly long time.
Let me start by saying that the premise for this book is ultimately amazing. The world is a version of earth set in the future; however, a "tear" in the universe allows creatures and "humans" from other worlds to come into this version of earth. As a result, children are implanted with devices to become defenders of the rift. All I can say is that is the most amazing concept that I have heard of in a long while. I'm not a huge science fiction fan, but for some reason the science aspects of this book were so easy to understand and I found myself getting totally absorbed in the world. Now lets move on to the parts of the book that I really really enjoyed.
In the beginning it was hard to relate to Ryn as a character; however, after reading through the text for a while she began to grow on me and I definitely appreciated the strength and courage she had in becoming a leader of her team. She became easy to relate to and I definitely could appreciate how difficult it was for her to continuously lead a double life: one that focused on protecting the rift and one with her family. Foster's writing also was a key point of enjoyment for me. She wrote science fiction in a way that was understandable and enjoyable. I've never found myself so engrossed in a world before. In addition, she wrote with such ease and fluidity that I couldn't help but finding myself moving through the story at a quick pace. And she definitely gained bonus points in my book for writing such an amazingly strong female character.
The only aspect of this book that I didn't enjoy was the romance. I've often noticed that a lot of YA novels seem to "need" to have some hint of romance to sell to readers; however, this book didn't need it. The characters were so well-developed and the action was so fast-paced that it seemed as though the romance was some what of a distraction. It felt too fast and too "insta-love" and I know that Ryn could have stood on her as a leading lady without the added romance.
Overall, this was an enjoyable book. If you're into science-fiction and alternate universes I would definitely recommend trying this book. It contains so many interesting elements that I haven't seen YA touch in a fairly long time.
Read
September 7, 2016This is a DNF for me. This is marketed as an adult/YA crossover but to me sits firmly in YA. The premise is fascinating but I was looking to get my geek on, not deal with a romance. I think for those looking for a light science fiction it would be enjoyable
Read
October 13, 2017No rating because I had to DNF it. The teen instalove with a want for a download so she can have sex just isn't working for me.
October 27, 2016
**I received a finished copy for review and this was originally published on my blog, Avid Reader**
Plot: I CAN'T EVEN TELL YOU HOW MUCH THIS HAS MESSED ME OVER BECAUSE IT'S INSANITY IN A GOOD WAY. LIKE NOT AT ALL LIKE I EXPECTED AND OHMYGOD IT'S INSANE (i can't say much else or else it gives it all up but ya, it's INSANE)
Characters: okay so main character was Ryn and can we pls discuss how 1) I imagined her as the Viner Lele Pons and 2) SHE'S FREAKING AWESOME like sure she has her flaws and she is built to be AMAZING but dude she thinks like a normal person and I was like, if I was Ryn, my thought processes would be literally the same. I also reallllllly like how the other characters were described and portrayed and how their relationship is with Ryn and it was just wonderful character wise
Description/Dialogue: so remember back like 5 seconds ago when I said Ryn's thought processes were like a normal person's? SAME WITH THE DESCRIPTION AND DIALOGUE! I don't know what it is - were books not really like this before?! - but this was very refreshing! I love the realness factor to it! I might love it more than others do because I'm trying to figure out how to bring that same realness to my own book but I LOVED IT!!! TBH I just loved this entire book! Like enough that I read through the remaining 200 pages (leftover from after I read during dinner) in like an hour and a half no kidding (I timed myself)(literally started reading again at 10:30 pm and then finished at 12 am)(I might just be a Citadel myself)(okay I'll stop now)
Plot: I CAN'T EVEN TELL YOU HOW MUCH THIS HAS MESSED ME OVER BECAUSE IT'S INSANITY IN A GOOD WAY. LIKE NOT AT ALL LIKE I EXPECTED AND OHMYGOD IT'S INSANE (i can't say much else or else it gives it all up but ya, it's INSANE)
Characters: okay so main character was Ryn and can we pls discuss how 1) I imagined her as the Viner Lele Pons and 2) SHE'S FREAKING AWESOME like sure she has her flaws and she is built to be AMAZING but dude she thinks like a normal person and I was like, if I was Ryn, my thought processes would be literally the same. I also reallllllly like how the other characters were described and portrayed and how their relationship is with Ryn and it was just wonderful character wise
Description/Dialogue: so remember back like 5 seconds ago when I said Ryn's thought processes were like a normal person's? SAME WITH THE DESCRIPTION AND DIALOGUE! I don't know what it is - were books not really like this before?! - but this was very refreshing! I love the realness factor to it! I might love it more than others do because I'm trying to figure out how to bring that same realness to my own book but I LOVED IT!!! TBH I just loved this entire book! Like enough that I read through the remaining 200 pages (leftover from after I read during dinner) in like an hour and a half no kidding (I timed myself)(literally started reading again at 10:30 pm and then finished at 12 am)(I might just be a Citadel myself)(okay I'll stop now)
August 21, 2017
This book is probably the most annoying book I have read in a very very VERY long time. Let me break it down for you. Ryn is a teenager who was implanted with superpowers as a small child and at puberty was "activated" and turned into a soldier to defend a Rift that leads to parallel universes. Oh... and she can't have sex. That last part is essentially what THE ENTIRE BOOK REVOLVES AROUND. The need for this teenager and other teenagers like her to have SEX. She doesn't change the world or fight against Big Brother because- oh, I don't know, she wants to make a difference- no, no, no. It is so she can have sex with a hot boy. That is what the ENTIRE book is about. I literally started yanking on my hair, hitting my head against the couch arm, and banging my precious most beloved Kindle against my skull because the book was so terrible. It felt like 90% of this book was the most annoying journey for teenage sexual gratification EVER. And listen, I am not against my characters getting a little happy time on- in fact I love sexy books. But this book was nottttt sexy. It was weird and icky and irritating. The onlyyyyy interesting part was the Menagerie and the Village. That is literally the only positive to this book. Please, do not waste your time reading this book. Unless the above description sounds like your type of fun literature- no judgement here.
September 2, 2016
I need to stop reading Teen novels that are also movies/TV shows, at least for a while... They're really not my cup of tea right now. This is probably pretty decent if you're looking for a book about a teen girl who's conflicted about punching things, and the boy she can't be with. Also, poorly-thought-out government conspiracy to force her to punch things and not be with boys. I just couldn't take her emotions seriously, and that's the main thing the book has going for it.
November 7, 2016
Great start to the series! Claire Coffee is fabulous on audio. Just about the time I thought this was going to drop into Special Snowflake Syndrome, the main character insists that she's not "the one" and gets an apology. There's a hint of a love triangle that never really develops - but might, and it might be a rare case where it spices things up. I can't wait for the next book.
December 14, 2017
3.5/5 Stars
*I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review*
So The Rift, I have a lot of thoughts about this one. When I first read the synopsis I was all over it, a gateway to parallel universes, soldiers, and science! There was things I enjoyed about this book and other things I really did not like. Starting with the things I liked; I did really love the concept of the rift itself and all the creatures that came out of it. I also really liked all the fight scenes and the job the Citadel's do. It was really well written in those aspects howeverrrrrr there were some really trope-y things I didn't like. First off OH MY INSTALOVE. A boy gets transported through the rift and Ryn literally sees him then loses all common sense and sense of duty. It was absolutely absurd they way it was handled. In the book there is a guarded base where they take all the creatures/people that come through the rift and she's never thought about sneaking in there her whole life but suddenly she sees this boy and literally says 4 sentences to him and all of a sudden it's her life goal to get into that city to see him. Que the eye rolling. Also I felt as though the author was trying to portray a 'realistic' teen but goodness gracious. She was way over the top with her ideals, hormones, and just speech in general. It ended up working out the complete opposite where it really came off as an adult's idea of how a 'cool' teenager is. A main plot-line of the book is that this company that implanted the soldiers created them to go into rage psycho killing mode whenever they feel attracted to someone else, which was so weird. Then of course they find a way to overcome these issues because teenagers, what can you do right? Then also these are highly intelligent scientists who designed this whole base and are responsible for these Citadels but every adult is completely incompetent and ignorant. The teenagers have complete run of the place and all the 'higher ups' know absolutely nothing and can't do anything for themselves. Also you'd think these kids are in the military, you'd think that when they get caught breaking the rules there'd be some sort of punishment right? Nope, because they're really the ones who run the place. I think if they were severally punished it would have really up'ed the danger element and made it less stereotypical teenager-y. To sum it up there was some things I did like but the character's really brought down what could have been a very stellar plot with trying to be overly relatable. I will probably read the next book just to see if it improves but over all it was a bit of a let down.
*I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review*
So The Rift, I have a lot of thoughts about this one. When I first read the synopsis I was all over it, a gateway to parallel universes, soldiers, and science! There was things I enjoyed about this book and other things I really did not like. Starting with the things I liked; I did really love the concept of the rift itself and all the creatures that came out of it. I also really liked all the fight scenes and the job the Citadel's do. It was really well written in those aspects howeverrrrrr there were some really trope-y things I didn't like. First off OH MY INSTALOVE. A boy gets transported through the rift and Ryn literally sees him then loses all common sense and sense of duty. It was absolutely absurd they way it was handled. In the book there is a guarded base where they take all the creatures/people that come through the rift and she's never thought about sneaking in there her whole life but suddenly she sees this boy and literally says 4 sentences to him and all of a sudden it's her life goal to get into that city to see him. Que the eye rolling. Also I felt as though the author was trying to portray a 'realistic' teen but goodness gracious. She was way over the top with her ideals, hormones, and just speech in general. It ended up working out the complete opposite where it really came off as an adult's idea of how a 'cool' teenager is. A main plot-line of the book is that this company that implanted the soldiers created them to go into rage psycho killing mode whenever they feel attracted to someone else, which was so weird. Then of course they find a way to overcome these issues because teenagers, what can you do right? Then also these are highly intelligent scientists who designed this whole base and are responsible for these Citadels but every adult is completely incompetent and ignorant. The teenagers have complete run of the place and all the 'higher ups' know absolutely nothing and can't do anything for themselves. Also you'd think these kids are in the military, you'd think that when they get caught breaking the rules there'd be some sort of punishment right? Nope, because they're really the ones who run the place. I think if they were severally punished it would have really up'ed the danger element and made it less stereotypical teenager-y. To sum it up there was some things I did like but the character's really brought down what could have been a very stellar plot with trying to be overly relatable. I will probably read the next book just to see if it improves but over all it was a bit of a let down.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 19, 2018
The
insta-love
in the first chapter is just too much for me. I don't think I've ever witness an MC loose so much self and brains so fast before, and we were only just getting to know her. DNF 14%. Cool premise, though. Too bad.
June 22, 2017
*Source* Publisher
*Genre* Young Adult, Science Fiction
*Rating* 3-3.5
*My Thoughts*
The Rift Uprising is the first installment in author Amy S. Foster's The Rift Uprising Trilogy. Set in a not too distant future, the story features 17-year old Ryn Whittaker. Ryn is the leader of Beta Team, a group of super-soldiers who have been trained since an early age to protect the world from invaders who show up through Rifts. Rifts are portals to an infinite number of other Earths. Rifts that manage to cobbler all sorts of strange and wondrous beings and animals that drop them on Ryn's world.
*Full Review @ Gizmos Reviews*
http://gizmosreviews.blogspot.com/201...
*Genre* Young Adult, Science Fiction
*Rating* 3-3.5
*My Thoughts*
The Rift Uprising is the first installment in author Amy S. Foster's The Rift Uprising Trilogy. Set in a not too distant future, the story features 17-year old Ryn Whittaker. Ryn is the leader of Beta Team, a group of super-soldiers who have been trained since an early age to protect the world from invaders who show up through Rifts. Rifts are portals to an infinite number of other Earths. Rifts that manage to cobbler all sorts of strange and wondrous beings and animals that drop them on Ryn's world.
*Full Review @ Gizmos Reviews*
http://gizmosreviews.blogspot.com/201...
October 31, 2016
The Rift Uprising is the first book I’ve read by Amy Foster and when I read the summary, I was immediately interested. The focus is on a group of teenagers who were developed to be stronger and smarter so that they can help protect their world from whatever might come through the Rift, a portal that leads to alternate Earths and something they can’t close.
Ryn is the main character and she is also the leader of her group so when it is her team’s turn to be on the front line of the Rift the day that a boy she is immediately drawn to comes through, she makes the decision to go against protocol and this changes everything for her.
Ryn is interesting. It is clear she is a leader and she definitely doesn’t react well to those who don’t agree with her. I found that to be somewhat frustrating but I get it…she is in a role where it isn’t a good idea to question those in charge. As a Citadel, she is tasked with protecting her Earth from things that come through the Rift and that means there is potential that her family and friends could be in danger if anything would happen. As she pushes through the story and finds out more than she thought she would, she begins to understand just how much danger she and those she cares about are potentially in. Her biggest concern is always her family and friends and I liked that about her.
When Ezra comes through the portal, Ryn is immediately drawn to him and she finds herself promising things she never would have promised to anyone else. What I liked about Ezra was that he challenged her at every turn and he wasn’t someone to just take things at face value. He made Ryn think about what was really going on which leads everyone to the situation they are in.
One of the things I thought was well done was the friendships that Ryn had with her crew. It was clear to see how close they were and how supportive they were of each other. I do wish we would have gotten a better picture of the relationship that Ryn had with her parents. It was clear this was a tough situation for her and she hated lying to them but it was really only conveyed through Ryn’s thoughts and I kind of wanted to see more of her interactions with them because she clearly cared for them.
As Ryn and Ezra begin to challenge the things Ryn has been told and she digs deeper into her training, she finds out some pretty disturbing things and decides she won’t just sit by and let those in charge use her and her friends. There are very few people she trusts and the ones she has been working with day in and day out (outside of her team) are definitely not to be trusted. I won't say much about this only because I don't want to ruin anything for anyone but there are a lot of people in charge that Ryn has to
Overall I thought this was an interesting book one and the start to a solid series. The characters have been well developed and Foster has laid the groundwork for the upcoming books which will hopefully include some jumping to other versions of Earth. If you are looking for a YA science fiction story that has solid characters and an interesting story you should consider checking this one out. There was plenty of action, definitely some secrets and deception, and Foster even through in some swoony bits which I always appreciate. I’m looking forward to the next book in this series and encourage you to check this one out if any of those things interest you.
Ryn is the main character and she is also the leader of her group so when it is her team’s turn to be on the front line of the Rift the day that a boy she is immediately drawn to comes through, she makes the decision to go against protocol and this changes everything for her.
Ryn is interesting. It is clear she is a leader and she definitely doesn’t react well to those who don’t agree with her. I found that to be somewhat frustrating but I get it…she is in a role where it isn’t a good idea to question those in charge. As a Citadel, she is tasked with protecting her Earth from things that come through the Rift and that means there is potential that her family and friends could be in danger if anything would happen. As she pushes through the story and finds out more than she thought she would, she begins to understand just how much danger she and those she cares about are potentially in. Her biggest concern is always her family and friends and I liked that about her.
When Ezra comes through the portal, Ryn is immediately drawn to him and she finds herself promising things she never would have promised to anyone else. What I liked about Ezra was that he challenged her at every turn and he wasn’t someone to just take things at face value. He made Ryn think about what was really going on which leads everyone to the situation they are in.
One of the things I thought was well done was the friendships that Ryn had with her crew. It was clear to see how close they were and how supportive they were of each other. I do wish we would have gotten a better picture of the relationship that Ryn had with her parents. It was clear this was a tough situation for her and she hated lying to them but it was really only conveyed through Ryn’s thoughts and I kind of wanted to see more of her interactions with them because she clearly cared for them.
As Ryn and Ezra begin to challenge the things Ryn has been told and she digs deeper into her training, she finds out some pretty disturbing things and decides she won’t just sit by and let those in charge use her and her friends. There are very few people she trusts and the ones she has been working with day in and day out (outside of her team) are definitely not to be trusted. I won't say much about this only because I don't want to ruin anything for anyone but there are a lot of people in charge that Ryn has to
Overall I thought this was an interesting book one and the start to a solid series. The characters have been well developed and Foster has laid the groundwork for the upcoming books which will hopefully include some jumping to other versions of Earth. If you are looking for a YA science fiction story that has solid characters and an interesting story you should consider checking this one out. There was plenty of action, definitely some secrets and deception, and Foster even through in some swoony bits which I always appreciate. I’m looking forward to the next book in this series and encourage you to check this one out if any of those things interest you.
August 4, 2016
I received a free ARC of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.
The premise of this book was pretty unique and intriguing to me. I used to be a physics major, so the multiverse theory has always intrigued me. The Rift is a result of experiments done by leading minds on Earth. However, the experiments went awry and a tear in the universe occurred that allows creatures and people from other parallel universes to enter our own. Citadels, which are children implanted with the knowledge and skills to fight the creatures from the Rift, are now the world's defense system against the rift. I was really captivated by this idea, and this part of the plot was so well-developed.
I also liked Foster's writing style. It flowed well and seemed realistic. There weren't any awkward transitions, and the characters were relatable. I liked the relationship between Ryn and her family, and the way her double life puts such a strain on that. I also grew to love the other members of the Citadels on Ryn's team.
One thing I did not like was the romance. Maybe it's just me, but I am getting so tired of YA romance. I think it is incredibly damaging for YA books to create the idea that young people can only find worth through romantic relationships. You aren't even through the first chapter before Ryn meets Ezra and, as she says he is "her type of gorgeous." The romance had no basis. And there was really no need for it. This future world of the Rift and the issues it has caused was fascinating enough. It felt like a cop out to insert a romance that eclipsed everything else in Ryn's world: not being able to connect with her parents, having to lead a team, fighting creatures from this Rift. I was disappointed that this was yet another book where romance is placed above all, even when the protagonist is a strong, intelligent female that should be able to carry the story on her own.
Despite my issues with the romance, I still enjoyed the book. Foster's writing is good and the story she has created is interesting. I'm just disappointed in yet another YA romance that makes the other parts of the story disappear.
The premise of this book was pretty unique and intriguing to me. I used to be a physics major, so the multiverse theory has always intrigued me. The Rift is a result of experiments done by leading minds on Earth. However, the experiments went awry and a tear in the universe occurred that allows creatures and people from other parallel universes to enter our own. Citadels, which are children implanted with the knowledge and skills to fight the creatures from the Rift, are now the world's defense system against the rift. I was really captivated by this idea, and this part of the plot was so well-developed.
I also liked Foster's writing style. It flowed well and seemed realistic. There weren't any awkward transitions, and the characters were relatable. I liked the relationship between Ryn and her family, and the way her double life puts such a strain on that. I also grew to love the other members of the Citadels on Ryn's team.
One thing I did not like was the romance. Maybe it's just me, but I am getting so tired of YA romance. I think it is incredibly damaging for YA books to create the idea that young people can only find worth through romantic relationships. You aren't even through the first chapter before Ryn meets Ezra and, as she says he is "her type of gorgeous." The romance had no basis. And there was really no need for it. This future world of the Rift and the issues it has caused was fascinating enough. It felt like a cop out to insert a romance that eclipsed everything else in Ryn's world: not being able to connect with her parents, having to lead a team, fighting creatures from this Rift. I was disappointed that this was yet another book where romance is placed above all, even when the protagonist is a strong, intelligent female that should be able to carry the story on her own.
Despite my issues with the romance, I still enjoyed the book. Foster's writing is good and the story she has created is interesting. I'm just disappointed in yet another YA romance that makes the other parts of the story disappear.
January 28, 2017
Listened to this on audio book.
First of all- I love the cover!
So I was debating if I wanted to give this book 3 or 4 stars...
Since I listened to it I can`t judge it based on the writing, which is the most important part to me. But I did really enjoy it. The best part is the concept; it really made me think about the universe and infinity and evolution and philosophical questions. But I wanted even more! There was a bit too much insignificant back and forth nonsense going on. The characters are very one dimensional throughout the whole book... The main character goes through some changes, but they are necessary for the plot. Again, I did really like the world but I feel like the plot wasted the book.
First of all- I love the cover!
So I was debating if I wanted to give this book 3 or 4 stars...
Since I listened to it I can`t judge it based on the writing, which is the most important part to me. But I did really enjoy it. The best part is the concept; it really made me think about the universe and infinity and evolution and philosophical questions. But I wanted even more! There was a bit too much insignificant back and forth nonsense going on. The characters are very one dimensional throughout the whole book... The main character goes through some changes, but they are necessary for the plot. Again, I did really like the world but I feel like the plot wasted the book.
December 23, 2018
Recently I read "The Rift: Uprising," by Amy S. Foster. I am going to give this book a solid 3/5 stars. When I initially began reading the book I was intrigued and was excited to progress further within the novel. The premise of the Rift itself is fascinating taking into account the multiverse theory. Like an onion, the Rift isn't as simple as it may (or may not) seem and there are tons of hidden secrets revolving the Rift and ARC's many secrets.
With each page and with each layered that was uncovered; I became less interested. It's not that the information was too much for me to process but that it was being relayed to me in an extremely annoying way. Ryn, the main character, becomes more annoying as the story progresses. It is clear that she is no longer doing things because she has everyone and her own best interest at heart but because she is driven by sex. That was something that I had instantly loved upon reading this book; how strong and independent Ryn was as a female character. Of course, falling into the typical pattern of any YA book, the strong female lead needs to become unnecessarily dependant on the male character whom is introduced. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE romance, but come on! When will we get a book where the bad-ass female lead carries herself throughout the whole novel and doesn't start putting everybody and their mothers at risk.
I love the idea of fantasy plots being far-off from reality because they act as a way to remove ourselves from the chaos of the world we live in. However, at times, this book was a bit too unrealistic. I get Ryn is supposed to be a genius, but come on, perfectly executing brain surgery just off of watching somebody do it once? Are we really supposed to believe that Ryn and Ezra despite being geniuses, can outsmart the Roones and everybody at ARC? The book was unbelievable in the sense that Ryn and Ezra hardly ran into trouble considering how risky what they were doing was. We don't see Ryn and Ezra really break a sweat until the last 100 pages of the book. ARC in all of its glory and its technology somehow couldn't predict Ryn's actions and therefore allowed her to free Ezra... twice.
The insta-love aspect of this novel really didn't bother me as much as I know it had bothered some other people. Call me a hopeless romantic, but I do believe that you can feel a connection to someone upon first sight but how far can that go? Risking your life to sneak into a village to attempt to try and talk to a guy you've never even met before? I'm not buying it.
I will, however, be continuing this series. Despite the many blemishes in this novel, it was an extremely entertaining read. Even though Ryn became somewhat unlikeable towards the end of the book, there is still a part of me rooting for her and Ezra. Besides, the novel ended on such a cliffhanger, it's almost impossible to not want to find out what happens next.
With each page and with each layered that was uncovered; I became less interested. It's not that the information was too much for me to process but that it was being relayed to me in an extremely annoying way. Ryn, the main character, becomes more annoying as the story progresses. It is clear that she is no longer doing things because she has everyone and her own best interest at heart but because she is driven by sex. That was something that I had instantly loved upon reading this book; how strong and independent Ryn was as a female character. Of course, falling into the typical pattern of any YA book, the strong female lead needs to become unnecessarily dependant on the male character whom is introduced. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE romance, but come on! When will we get a book where the bad-ass female lead carries herself throughout the whole novel and doesn't start putting everybody and their mothers at risk.
I love the idea of fantasy plots being far-off from reality because they act as a way to remove ourselves from the chaos of the world we live in. However, at times, this book was a bit too unrealistic. I get Ryn is supposed to be a genius, but come on, perfectly executing brain surgery just off of watching somebody do it once? Are we really supposed to believe that Ryn and Ezra despite being geniuses, can outsmart the Roones and everybody at ARC? The book was unbelievable in the sense that Ryn and Ezra hardly ran into trouble considering how risky what they were doing was. We don't see Ryn and Ezra really break a sweat until the last 100 pages of the book. ARC in all of its glory and its technology somehow couldn't predict Ryn's actions and therefore allowed her to free Ezra... twice.
The insta-love aspect of this novel really didn't bother me as much as I know it had bothered some other people. Call me a hopeless romantic, but I do believe that you can feel a connection to someone upon first sight but how far can that go? Risking your life to sneak into a village to attempt to try and talk to a guy you've never even met before? I'm not buying it.
I will, however, be continuing this series. Despite the many blemishes in this novel, it was an extremely entertaining read. Even though Ryn became somewhat unlikeable towards the end of the book, there is still a part of me rooting for her and Ezra. Besides, the novel ended on such a cliffhanger, it's almost impossible to not want to find out what happens next.
October 13, 2017
Thank you to the publisher for the copy in exchange for my honest review.
There will always be books where you just didn't mesh well with them. Unfortunately, for RIFT UPRISING by Amy S. Foster, that was the case. I haven't DNF a book this year and I was determined to push through.
I'll keep this short - this book started off interesting and definitely had some great potential! It lost me at the insta-love between the characters. Why is this always such a popular thing? Then having sex be the main drive and motivation for the main character was weird. I wasn't expecting that when I heard this was considered a YA novel.
I did enjoy bits and pieces, like The Rift, which was a portal for aliens and humans to use to travel through different multiverses. So there was a small chunk of sci-fi mixed in there.
Overall, this book had great potential with the plot, however it doesn't do a great job of keeping the reader's interest. I know this is probably another one of those YA novels that people will be split on, but when it came down to it, I think it was more book and reader mismatch.
I give this one 2/5 stars
There will always be books where you just didn't mesh well with them. Unfortunately, for RIFT UPRISING by Amy S. Foster, that was the case. I haven't DNF a book this year and I was determined to push through.
I'll keep this short - this book started off interesting and definitely had some great potential! It lost me at the insta-love between the characters. Why is this always such a popular thing? Then having sex be the main drive and motivation for the main character was weird. I wasn't expecting that when I heard this was considered a YA novel.
I did enjoy bits and pieces, like The Rift, which was a portal for aliens and humans to use to travel through different multiverses. So there was a small chunk of sci-fi mixed in there.
Overall, this book had great potential with the plot, however it doesn't do a great job of keeping the reader's interest. I know this is probably another one of those YA novels that people will be split on, but when it came down to it, I think it was more book and reader mismatch.
I give this one 2/5 stars
October 7, 2017
Received in exchange for a honest review.
Ryn is a strong character and very strong willed. I liked how she began to think for herself and sought to find out the truth. She is beginning to question the leadership and what they did to her and her friends.
When does this occur?When one of the people who came through the rift isn’t what she thought. She goes on a journey of discovery. Of herself, her beliefs and the truth. And what she finds is truly disturbing but also riveting.
the story is great in the world building and of what ryn and her friends are. Amy Foster builds up the suspense of the revealing of the truth and all that has been done and the truth behind everything. We get a suspensful story strife with tension, a group of friends that are loyal and honest but also a romance is begun. We see what could be a love triangle and also growth of each character as they see the reality of the situation in which they live. Foster has written a inventive story that is both captivating and suspenseful with characters who some are polarizing and others just grab you from the beginning. A plot that has many twists and turns and reveals that just at times shock you but keeps you on your toes as well. You cannot put down this story and want the next as soon as you finish.
Ryn is a strong character and very strong willed. I liked how she began to think for herself and sought to find out the truth. She is beginning to question the leadership and what they did to her and her friends.
When does this occur?When one of the people who came through the rift isn’t what she thought. She goes on a journey of discovery. Of herself, her beliefs and the truth. And what she finds is truly disturbing but also riveting.
the story is great in the world building and of what ryn and her friends are. Amy Foster builds up the suspense of the revealing of the truth and all that has been done and the truth behind everything. We get a suspensful story strife with tension, a group of friends that are loyal and honest but also a romance is begun. We see what could be a love triangle and also growth of each character as they see the reality of the situation in which they live. Foster has written a inventive story that is both captivating and suspenseful with characters who some are polarizing and others just grab you from the beginning. A plot that has many twists and turns and reveals that just at times shock you but keeps you on your toes as well. You cannot put down this story and want the next as soon as you finish.
September 18, 2018
This one was interesting. I hated how the kids were used, how their parents were told. I maybe would have been ok with it if the kids seemed happy, but Ryn wasn't. The way she talked about hiding so much from her family and the rest of the world really ate at her. It was worse as time went on when Ryn found out more. I liked that Ryn wanted to know more, that she wanted to fix things, that she wanted to have a normal life. Bringing in her crew and cluing them in was a good move, they seemed to support her, if only because of what she could do for them.
The ending put a lot on the line, it will be interesting to see what happens in the next book.
The ending put a lot on the line, it will be interesting to see what happens in the next book.
April 6, 2019
I was hovering between 3-4 stars for this book and decided to settle on 3. It was fast-paced, quick to read, and very imaginative. However there were a few things I just couldn’t get over in my mind, hence the 3 stars. The first is that this is supposed to be a book marketed to adults not young adults so the insta-love does not get a pass from me like it does when I read young adult books. The other big thing is that Ezra, the love interest, is supposed to be from another version of earth. Yet, EVERY media and pop culture reference that Ryn makes he understood and vice versa. You would think on a different earth not every actor, movie, and TV show would be the exact same as on another.
June 10, 2018
Not sure if it is my mood but the protagonist irritated me and it kept getting in the way. I will try the second book at a later date.
May 27, 2019
Buckle up, kids. I haven't been on this website for a good 3 years, but I logged back in with the express intent to write a rant about how poorly written this book was. I'm truly mind boggled as to how this book made it past an editor and was published.
Let me say first that the concept of the novel and the world that was created IS interesting and had a lot of potential. I picked up the book BECAUSE the concept seemed so fascinating to me. And I feel like if the author had just polished her writing it could have been so much better.
I really, really wanted to like the character of Ryn. I was so ready for a badass female main character. But as the novel progressed, Ryn became more and more wishy-washy and too all over the place for me to like anymore. The author didn't let Ryn grow as a person. She is filled to the brim with the author's own opinions that get spewed all over the page at random intervals. She meets a boy and is INSTANTLY in love but her only desire is to have sex. The boy in question obviously is INSTANTLY in love too, and so the main driving force in the novel is not to overthrow the "evil" ARC, but it is the characters desire to have sex with each other.
The author rarely lets us experience things through Ryn, instead, she tells us everything and uses "telling" language versus "showing". Although "telling" has its uses in a story, when the entire story is told this way, it feels like the reader is just being (surprise) told what is happening versus getting to experience it first hand (which is how a novel should feel). I never felt connected to Ryn. I never felt like she was growing as a person. I felt like I was being told all of the author's opinions and judgments about every situation.
Don't get me started on all the pop culture references. THIS annoyed the sh*t out of me. It is SUCH a lazy way to write, and it's guaranteed that many of the readers will not understand the reference. To say that one of your alien species looks like ANOTHER alien species from this OTHER movie is so f*ucking lazy. If you can't come up with something original, then don't write it? And if your reader has never seen what you are referencing, and you write no other descriptors, then they have no idea how that alien species is supposed to look and you have failed as a writer. There are places in the novel when I swear, the author is just listing HER favourite movies, shows, etc. To be blunt, no one f*cking cares. I want to know the characters, the story. If I want to find out about the author I will read the bio at the end.
I saw another review that had pointed out how "cookie cutter" the other characters were, and I agree. There seems to be no depth to them and the little details that we gleam about them seem to have no importance to the story. You don't care about them because they don't feel like real people. Even the "villains" have all the typical, cliche villain traits that we have seen in a thousand other stories. Please, for the love of anything, write something NEW. I was so often confused by the characters, because they would say/do contradictory things. Just create your characters and write them CLEARLY. They come off as muddled and overlapping in traits.
I'm very distraught that fiction like this gets published. Again, I really did like the concept, but it was executed so poorly that I wanted to tear my eyes out. Please - get an editor that knows good fiction from bad fiction, and please practice your craft before attempting publication again.
Let me say first that the concept of the novel and the world that was created IS interesting and had a lot of potential. I picked up the book BECAUSE the concept seemed so fascinating to me. And I feel like if the author had just polished her writing it could have been so much better.
I really, really wanted to like the character of Ryn. I was so ready for a badass female main character. But as the novel progressed, Ryn became more and more wishy-washy and too all over the place for me to like anymore. The author didn't let Ryn grow as a person. She is filled to the brim with the author's own opinions that get spewed all over the page at random intervals. She meets a boy and is INSTANTLY in love but her only desire is to have sex. The boy in question obviously is INSTANTLY in love too, and so the main driving force in the novel is not to overthrow the "evil" ARC, but it is the characters desire to have sex with each other.
The author rarely lets us experience things through Ryn, instead, she tells us everything and uses "telling" language versus "showing". Although "telling" has its uses in a story, when the entire story is told this way, it feels like the reader is just being (surprise) told what is happening versus getting to experience it first hand (which is how a novel should feel). I never felt connected to Ryn. I never felt like she was growing as a person. I felt like I was being told all of the author's opinions and judgments about every situation.
Don't get me started on all the pop culture references. THIS annoyed the sh*t out of me. It is SUCH a lazy way to write, and it's guaranteed that many of the readers will not understand the reference. To say that one of your alien species looks like ANOTHER alien species from this OTHER movie is so f*ucking lazy. If you can't come up with something original, then don't write it? And if your reader has never seen what you are referencing, and you write no other descriptors, then they have no idea how that alien species is supposed to look and you have failed as a writer. There are places in the novel when I swear, the author is just listing HER favourite movies, shows, etc. To be blunt, no one f*cking cares. I want to know the characters, the story. If I want to find out about the author I will read the bio at the end.
I saw another review that had pointed out how "cookie cutter" the other characters were, and I agree. There seems to be no depth to them and the little details that we gleam about them seem to have no importance to the story. You don't care about them because they don't feel like real people. Even the "villains" have all the typical, cliche villain traits that we have seen in a thousand other stories. Please, for the love of anything, write something NEW. I was so often confused by the characters, because they would say/do contradictory things. Just create your characters and write them CLEARLY. They come off as muddled and overlapping in traits.
I'm very distraught that fiction like this gets published. Again, I really did like the concept, but it was executed so poorly that I wanted to tear my eyes out. Please - get an editor that knows good fiction from bad fiction, and please practice your craft before attempting publication again.
November 20, 2018
I’m going to rate this book based on three things, violence, sexual relationships, and a good plot. Violence on a scale of 1 to 10, I’d say 9. Sexual relationships, about a 7, although it was definitely zero in the beginning. Good plot, I’d say an 8, altogether I’d give the book 4.5 stars. So in this world it’s the year 2020, not far from us, and in this world scientists have been fucking around with dark matter. This results in 14 rifts opening on various parts on the planet. These rifts lead to alternate versions of our earth, millions, who knows? Probably billions. So the military takes over and forms ARC, I can’t remember what exactly that stands for, maybe they mentioned it early on and I can’t remember. Scientists along with Roones, ( A homosapien from an alternate version of our earth ) they’re not human like us but they’re highly intelligent and have more advanced technology than us. So scientists and roones try to create super humans by implanting a chip in their heads. Thing is, it doesn’t work on adults. They all died. So they implanted them in a bunch of 7 year olds and activated the chips when they were 14. Fucked up right? Believe me it gets more fucked up. These people are called Citadels, they are super strong and can handle any number of things from broken bones to really intense fights with various beings that come through the rifts. These people are so strong it’s hard to explain, it’s like watching the Incredible Hulk fight Thor, except that these teenagers look just like me and you. They’re not humongous with tons of muscles, they’re simply stronger and faster and smarter because of the chip and what ARC did to them when they were 14. These teenagers parents have no idea that they’re children are part of this, let alone the fact that these rifts even exist, no one does except ARC. They have no idea that their children patrol the rifts and try to contain what may come out of it, they have no idea that they’re children nearly die every day. As far as they’re parents are concerned, ARC stands for ( Accelerated rate curriculum ) basically they think it’s a program at school for highly gifted children. But because of their chips, the citadels never needed to go to school, their education has been basically downloaded right into their brains. So they were forced to become citadels against their will, and thanks to some nifty drugs, it more or less guarantees that they don’t tell anyone about the rifts, especially their parents. Oh and get this, citadels can’t ever have sex or become intimate with anyone. Whenever they try the blood lust takes over and they want to kill whatever’s in front of them. They pretty much turn into a killing machine, lust and sexual feelings for other people, especially boys, triggers the blood lust. So they can’t have relationships with girlfriends or boyfriends, apparently it’s to make them “perfect soldiers.” It must suck like hell for them being teenagers. Okay so in this book you meet Ryn, Ryn is a citadel and a bit of a rebel. But she is tough and very strong. At home everyone thinks she is just this shy quiet girl who doesn’t seem to want a boyfriend, little do they know she couldn’t have one if she tried. She’s the total opposite, she’s extremely smart and has a temper, rightly so in my opinion seeing as she never chose to be a citadel. So, one day when she’s patrolling the rift with her team, a beautiful boy named Ezra Massad comes through the rift. Ezra is a human just like them, except that he’s from an alternate earth. Ryn has a connection with him right away, she likes him and he’s exactly her type. She can’t think about him sexually but she can think about him platonically. Everyone and everything who comes through the rift goes to the village. The village is basically a prison, not with bars and all that, but it looks like a city, or a bunch of cities based on what Ryn describes in the book. It looks normal, which is the deceiving part, but still, no one is ever allowed to leave, human being or otherwise. Ezra is a computer genius, he can hack and basically figure out anything computer wise. He’s the one who figures out something isn’t right with ARC, that they’re not telling the citadels the truth. ARC is a corrupt corporation and I can easily see the same thing happening on our earth in the real world. ARC lies about everything. And they have a different agenda than what the citadels think. The citadels think that ARC and the roones are trying to find a way to close the rifts. They’re not, let’s face it, those rifts are every scientists wet dream. It would be awesome to go through those rifts and see what other versions of our earth is like, it’s probably extremely dangerous too seeing as you don’t know what you’re going to encounter on them. Every earth isn’t just humans, the karekins are proof of that ( Karekins are supposed to very tall race with advanced technology, they aren’t docile though. They’re always coming through the rifts trying to kill the citadels ) apparently there other earths with unicorns, as Ryn meets one at the village, and vampires. Ryn gets very intimate with one with violet eyes, they’re not docile either. Ryn and Ezra learn a horrible truth about ARC and Ryn decides she isn’t going to play by their rules anymore. Ryn is the beginning of an uprising, ARC must be stopped and Ryn and Ezra will do anything to take them down. A very good book, lots of violent fighting with lots of broken bones and bruises and injuries. But I can handle that. Not a lot in the way of sexual relationships, but one does develop, a guess wanting to kill whoever you’re sexually attracted to can be a relationship killer, literally. An excellent plot, the story line was great and a lot of background information so you don’t feel entirely lost and know what’s going on. I loved Ryn and Ezra’s character, Violet was a nice charming character too. I’m pretty sure no one liked Christoper Seeyle in this book, the head of ARC. Ryn really stands up to that cocky motherfucker. He’s the kind of guy you want to kill because he thinks he’s so much better and smarter than you. It’s like he thinks he’s one step adead if everyone and nothing and no one can touch him. He’s a dick. I can’t imagine having to keep a secret like ARC from my friends and family, what a burden. A great book, definitely will be starttye second book tonight. I give this book 4.5 stars for creativity and lots of violence that keeps me reading for hours.
September 9, 2016
Ok so I'm really not good at writing reviews... this book is like a mix between Divergent and Hunger Games. It kept me reading from the start... I have literally been sneaking reading this book at work because I couldn't put it down! The concepts are great! Love the idea of multi universes, different species and trying to figure out who the villains are in this book. I'm just really sad that I don't have a sequel that I can dive into already... for that matter the first book isn't even released! I got lucky to win a Giveaway for the uncorrected proof copy and now will be dying to know what happens until the sequel comes out. When is that???? I'll definitely recommend this book to friends and family.
October 12, 2016
More than 3.5 stars, but not quite 4.
There were some bits not fleshed out enough ( I really wish there'd been more with Ryn's -the h- family, and I really wanted to get to know the secondary characters better....and I really wish this wasn't all from the heroines pov. I'd have loved getting Ezra's pov....what he goes through Is so distinctly different than what the heroine goes through, it feels like not getting his pov, means we're missing part of the story.
But for the most part this was an amazing YA read :)
On a side note, romance wise...there's not a lot. Getting the h and H together wasn't the focus of the book, so if that's what you're looking for you may be disappointed.
There were some bits not fleshed out enough ( I really wish there'd been more with Ryn's -the h- family, and I really wanted to get to know the secondary characters better....and I really wish this wasn't all from the heroines pov. I'd have loved getting Ezra's pov....what he goes through Is so distinctly different than what the heroine goes through, it feels like not getting his pov, means we're missing part of the story.
But for the most part this was an amazing YA read :)
On a side note, romance wise...there's not a lot. Getting the h and H together wasn't the focus of the book, so if that's what you're looking for you may be disappointed.
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