Lovin' los libros

Revolution 19 (Revolution 19 #1)
   by: Gregg Rosenblum

Publication Date: Jan. 8, 2013
Publisher: Harper Teen
Genre: Sci-Fi/Dystopian
Age Group: Young Adult
Source: Borrowed from Library
Page Count: 265 pages
Order Links: Amazon | B&N
My Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Well, it looks like I'm in the minority for this one. There were lots of negative reviews, but I really enjoyed this one. Sure, there were some things that bothered me but it was so action packed and such a fast moving plot. I enjoyed the characters (for the most part) and thought the premise was really cool. I did feel the writing was a bit simplistic and even at times a bit juvenile, which threw me off a bit. I also felt some of the transitions were rather abrupt and I needed more world building. We didn't find out enough about why the Robots took over and what their future plans are. However, I was completely engaged from start to finish!

The book does alternate between three primary characters: siblings Nick, Kevin, and Cass. After their freepost is destroyed and their parents are taken into the City, the three make the decision to rescue them by sneaking into the City as well. Cities are heavily guarded by robots and finding their parents will not be an easy task. They end up finding allies within the city (most notably Lexi and Farryn) who are sympathetic to their plight and are not happy with the way the Robots have controlled their lives.

I liked Nick's character a lot. He is the oldest and feels responsible for his younger siblings. He is the self-sacrificing one and makes his decisions for the good of the others. He takes drastic measures to find his family and it is through his character that we get to really see up close and personal just how the Robots control the citizens and the environment. While there isn't a lot of romance in this book, we do have Lexi and Nick. Lexi is one of the first people in the City to notice the siblings didn't belong and reached out to help them. I admired her for that, but I felt it was a bit interesting that she is so willing to give up her life of comfort and stability to become an outlaw. I understand she cares for Nick, but there just wasn't enough interaction and development between them to make it a very palpable relationship.

Cass is a year or so younger than Nick and while she is sweet and artistic, she's also tough. One of their newfound allies, Farryn, enjoys flirting with her and while this storyline isn't expanded upon, I am hoping something will happen with them in the future.

Kevin is the youngest of the siblings and probably my least favorite. He is impulsive and tries to act older than he really is. He doesn't like being treated like a kid and doesn't like being kept in the dark about things.
Again, I enjoyed the first book in the Revolution 19 series and while it doesn't end with a cliffhanger, it definitely had me ready to jump into the next book.



Fugitive X (Revolution 19 #2)
  by: Gregg Rosenblum

Publication Date: Jan. 7, 2014
Publisher: Harper Teen
Genre: Sci-Fi/ Dystopian
Age Group: Young Adult
Source: e-ARC received from Edelweiss and the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Page Count: 272 pages
Order Links: Amazon | B&N
My Rating: 2.5/5 stars





I really enjoyed Revolution 19, the first book in the series, despite having some issues with the lack of world building and with the author's writing style.

I have to say I was quite disappointed by Fugitive X. While I was still interested, I didn't find myself quite as engaged as I was in the previous novel. This book just fell really flat for me. The writing style still felt a bit on the simplistic side and the abrupt transitioning did not improve. We are also introduced to a lot of new scenarios and faces in this second book and while some of them were really intriguing, I felt some of them really were just used for plot filler.

At the end of Revolution 19, the siblings were once again forced to flee into the woods, but weren't able to complete their mission at hand. The fates of Lexi and Farryn are also unknown. It isn't long into the novel before the siblings get separated and each have their own storylines to follow.

I was probably the most interested in Cass's storyline and how it will affect her come the final book in the trilogy. I wish Rosenblum would have gone into more detail as to the steps that were taken in regards to Cass's character transformation though. Instead, I felt we were bogged down with what was going on with Kevin.

Kevin's storyline, while important, just ended up boring me. I was ready to get back to Nick and Cass. If anyone doubted Kevin's tech skills in the first book- they sure won't in this one. The kid knows what he's doing and I have a feeling he will play a large role in the war against the Robots. Kevin has met up with a group of rebels who are busy constructing a Wall for protection purposes. I was quite wary of this group, as they do not allow Kevin to leave to search for his siblings. It seemed too controlling to me, which made me wonder- how is that any different than the Robots?

While I liked Nick the best in the last book, I found myself irritated with him in this one. He meets up with a drifter girl named Erica and together the two make their way to another freepost of rebels. He is worried about his siblings and is determined to use the rebels to find out where they are. He forms a friendship with Erica and feels guilty for thinking about her when he has no idea where Lexi is or if she's even alive. I didn't like how Nick kept brushing Lexi off once they were reunited and how he just thought she was being jealous when really she was voicing her concerns about what Nick really knew about Erica.

Overall, I felt this book was considerably slower than the first one in the series and just didn't feel it created a very strong bridge between the first and final novels. I am quite interested in what will happen next as I am very intrigued by the Senior Advisor and what is going on there. I will forewarn you this book just ends and it left me feeling rather bereft and confused. I am anticipating that book three will focus more on the impending war between the Robots and humans and I look forward to seeing how that all plays out.