Top Ten Tuesday: Best of 2017 (So Far)

hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

This week's Ten:

Top 10 2017 Reads So Far
(2017 releases but some were read in 2016)

Daughter of the Pirate King (#1) by Tricia Levenseller

Goodreads // review

Goodbye Days by Jeff Zentner
Goodreads // review


Blacksouls (Blackhearts #2) by Nicole Castroman
Goodreads // review

Gilded Cage (Dark Gifts #1) by Vic James
Goodreads // review

The Witchfinder's Sister by Beth Underdown
Goodreads // review

The Ship Beyond Time (The Girl from Everywhere #2) by Heidi Heilig
Goodreads

Traveler (#1) by L.E. DeLano
Goodreads // review

Right Behind You (Quincy & Rainie #7) by Lisa Gardner
Goodreads // review

One Day We'll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter by Scaachi Koul

Goodreads / / review

Alone (The Generations Trilogy #3) by Scott Sigler

Goodreads  // review

What can be learned from this list? Apparently I am quite fond of books with pirates in them and, more importantly, 2017 has been a great year for book's with pirates in them!

Please leave a comment and let me know your favorite reads from 2017!

Alone ~ Scott Sigler (earc) review [@DelReyBooks @scottsigler]

Alone (The Generations Trilogy, #3)
Del Rey
March 07, 2017
560 pages
add to Goodreads/buy from Book Depository/or Amazon

Reviews of Alive (The Generations Trilogy #1) and Alight (The Generations Trilogy #2)

In the final installment of an exhilarating sci-fi adventure trilogy in the vein of The Hunger Games, Divergent, and Red Rising, Scott Sigler’s unforgettable heroine, Em Savage, must come to grips once and for all with the perilous mysteries of her own existence.

“We thought this place was our destiny—not our doom.”

Pawns in a millennia-old struggle, the young people known only as the Birthday Children were genetically engineered to survive on the planet Omeyocan—but they were never meant to live there. They were made to be “overwritten,” their minds wiped and replaced by the consciousness of the monsters who created them.

Em changed all of that.

She unified her people and led a revolt against their creators. Em and her friends escaped an ancient ghost ship and fled to Omeyocan. They thought they would find an uninhabited paradise. Instead, they found the ruins of a massive city long since swallowed by the jungle. And they weren’t alone. The Birthday Children fought for survival against the elements, jungle wildlife, the “Grownups” who created them . . . and, as evil corrupted their numbers, even against themselves.

With these opponents finally defeated, Em and her people realized that more threats were coming, traveling from across the universe to lay claim to their planet. The Birthday Children have prepared as best they can against this alien armada. Now, as the first ships reach orbit around Omeyocan, the final battle for the planet begins.

I have never been one to start a book by reading the last page but never before have I been so happy that I do not do that. The ending of Alone, if read at any point except for after everything that came before it (in Alive then Alight and the rest of Alone) would be confusing and disappointing. After all of that, though? It's kind of perfect. Not something I would have ever expected, but so much better.

But you're going to want to read those other pages, too. In the first two books, we met the Birthday Children, found out who and what they are, learned why they woke up in those 'coffins' and found Omeyocan and the Springers. Just when it seemed like Em, Bishop, Spingate and the others might finally be able to survive on this planet they were created specifically for, other threats loomed on the horizon.

In Alone it's time to find out what those approaching ships might want and how Em and the others pan to deal with it. Some of the answers we seem to get early on in the book lead to some even bigger questions that had me questioning things from the first two books; things I didn't realize needed to be questioned.

With the stakes somehow even higher, readers get to see more of who the characters really are what they're capable of, both good and bad. For characters who have only been alive since the beginning of this trilogy, I thought they had been through a lot, but that was nothing compared to all that happens in Alone. The journey the author takes these characters on, from the beginning of Alive through the very end of Alone is really something.

This book, the last of the Generations Trilogy, had me questioning known facts, rethinking relationships, wondering what the characters were capable of, if actions, behaviors, or thoughts were really them, hoping they didn't did, then, maybe, accepting that they would, then hoping maybe, maybe they wouldn't and, finally, very satisfied with how it all ended. Alone feels bigger and grander than what I remember of the first two books, but more personal and human, as well; it's a great conclusion to the series.






digital review copy received from publisher, via NetGalley

Alight ~ Scott Sigler (earc) review [@scottsigler @DelReySpectra @randomhousekids]

Alight (The Generations Trilogy #2)
Del Rey
April 05, 2016
448 pages
add to Goodreads/buy from Book Depository/or Amazon

**contains spoilers for Alive, The Generations Trilogy Book 1 - my review**

In Alive, Scott Sigler introduced readers to an unforgettable young heroine and a mysterious new world reminiscent of those of The Hunger Games, Divergent, and Red Rising. Now he expands his singular vision in the next thrilling novel of this powerful sci-fi adventure series.

“If it’s war they want, they messed with the wrong girl.”

M. Savage—or Em, as she is called—has made a bewildering and ominous discovery. She and the other young people she was chosen to lead awoke in strange coffins with no memory of their names or their pasts. They faced an empty, unknown place of twisting tunnels and human bones. With only one another to depend on, they searched for answers and found the truth about their terrifying fate. Confronted by a monstrous enemy, they vowed never to surrender—and, by any means, to survive.

The planet Omeyocan may be the sanctuary Em and her comrades seek. But the planet for which they were created turns out not to be a pristine, virgin world. Vestiges of a lost civilization testify to a horrifying past that may yet repeat itself. And when a new enemy creeps from the jungle shadows, Em and her young refugees learn there’s nowhere left to run. They face a simple choice: fight or die.

In the midst of this desperate struggle, their unity is compromised from within—and a dangerous zealot devoted to a bloodthirsty god moves to usurp Em’s command, threatening to lead them all down a path to violent doom.

Praise for Scott Sigler’s Alive

“Suspenseful . . . [Alive] lives up to its hype, packing plenty of thrills. . . . A page-turner that whets the appetite for volume 2.”—Entertainment Weekly

“Fascinating and intriguing . . . a cross between Lord of the Flies and The Maze Runner and yet . . . so much more.” —Fresh Fiction

“A ripping, claustrophobic thunderbolt of a novel.”—Pierce Brown, New York Times bestselling author of Red Rising

“Unstoppable and real, M. Savage is one hell of a heroine. Get ready to be left breathless.”—Kristin Cast, New York Times bestselling author of the House of Night series

“Sigler has created a wonderful and engrossing character in M. Savage. Strong and smart, but with the naïveté and misgivings of any teenage girl, she’s someone you’ll definitely want on your side when s**t hits the fan, which it most certainly does.”—Veronica Belmont, host of Sword & Laser

“The puzzle unfolds masterfully, right down to the last page.”—Phil Plait, PhD, author of Bad Astronomy

I loved Alive, the first book in the Generations Trilogy. It was full of twists and turns and definitely some surprises. In Alight we know who Em and the others are, why they woke up in the 'coffins,' who was responsible for them being there and what was planned for them. We also know just how well they accepted that plan.

After fighting back, and leaving the ship, they have made their way to the planet where the Grownups were supposed to, eventually, live. Now, as they continue to learn about themselves and how to navigate life they have a whole new world with which to contend.

With this book on a condensed timeline, much like the first, an taking place just a few days after the characters 'woke up' we continued to learn about them through, actions and how they dealt with the (quite extreme and trying) circumstances. That continues in Alight. Things are far from settled, even if they should be 'safe,' and even if Em has been elected as their leader.

There is a lot of parallel between the two books - each place the characters in an uncertain, undefined setting where they have to work to learn the truth, while figuring out the truth not only about where they are but about themselves.

Alight takes a teenager's struggle with identity you've likely read before (is it possible to be different from your parents/who they raised you to be/what they expect) and takes it to a wonderful, sci-fi-y extreme. The characters in Alight were made to become these other people, now it's a question of if that's inevitable.

The book is action packed and exciting but poses some great questions - for readers and characters -about power, personal choice, morality, and what's right and wrong. The way the characters don't yet, fully, know each other, the doubt, the power struggles, it all made Alight a great read.

When I first read the ending, I did think it might be the ending of the series, but knowing that it's a trilogy has me very excited. The ending to Alive was pretty spectacular but I think Alight's ending may have it beat. Thankfully, we only have to wait until October for that ending ending in Book 3, Alone.








review copy received, thanks to publisher, via NetGalley