The Titan Strain ntrigued me when I first came across it. However, I could t make it to the end. I did skim the majority of the book hoping it would grip me and get me interested again. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.

The Titan Strain had a really interesting concept and some decent character with a fast paced plot. However, I felt it was just missing that little something that would make it explode and make me love it. I will definitely be reading more from this series.

After i requested this book...i then thought 'Why"....i don't want to read another Dystopia/Sci-fi this year.
But despite the lackluster cover...this book blew my mind.
With complex characters, a world set in a far away future,genetic modifications, unpredictable plot twists and assassins that care...i was ready for a roller coaster ride and this book did not let me down.
What started as a force read has now left me hanging for more and i can not wait to read the sequel.

I made a mistake going into this book.
I thought I wasn’t going to enjoy it. I mean, it sounded like it was going to be really political and just, not my thing.
Oh, how wrong I was.

What I expected was not what I got.

What I got was a kickass assassin with a conscience, in a world set far intro he future where genetic modification sets aside a species of human. These genetic modifications are meant to give better senses, eyesight and hearing (the whole shebang of whichever animal strain that’s been injected), but they also come with their downsides (reptilian strains give great senses but shedding skin isn’t fun). I just though this whole component was really interesting – and I’m only really getting into genetic sciences recently as an interest, so it was pretty cool to read about.

The world building itself was still earth, I suppose. Just way way into the future. It spoke of histories in a very general sense, with mentions of Third World Wars and talk about mythologies in an almost forgotten sense. It was interesting to see the layers of this new world though, a tiered structure of a new society.

Liane, our main character, is the top assassin in what is known as the Agency, a secret government sector that protects the world from those who would harm it. She’s broken all the records and ended the most targets, and she’s also been sheltered into this life. Maybe sheltered isn’t the right word, but she’s not told everything and she knows that – her reactions and rebellion was amazingly not out of character for her, i felt. She breaks a cardinal rule by trusting civilian police officer, Seth, but she has come to care for the mods (the genetically modified humans) in her once a month meetings with them.

I enjoyed her characters development and seeing her interact with the different tiers in this new society. I think that seeing those interactions, plus the few flashbacks, really helped not only her character development but also to see the stark contrast between a member of the Agency, general civilians and mods.

I liked Seth and Damian both. But every time I picture Damian, he’s really old so I’m not sure what to do about that in my head. I guess I’ll get over it eventually, but yeah, that’s been weighing on my mind a bit. Seth was cute, but I think, again I have a similar but opposite problem, where I think he’s super young. I don’t know if this is to do with the writing, I’m sure it isn’t, because I don’t recall if the ages of these characters were ever really mentioned.

Plot twists!
Okay this is where the book kind of started losing me a title but because I guessed a lot of what was going to happen as I was reading. Like most of the major plot twists I called from the beginning, except for one or two, and a lot of the less major plot twists were either totally predictable or totally not predictable – there was no in-between. Which is why I’m not completely unimpressed with the use of plot twists in the story – so much happens that you actually could never guess all of everything that is going to happen and you still really enjoy it even if you guess them!

These plot twists also helped with the pace. I think it started out a bit slow but really picked up once things started happening in the way you both expected and didn’t. Once I got about half way, I couldn’t put it down though.

This was a great read and I’m hoping to see its sequel soon!

•

4/5

•

This was an ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is typically the kind of book you read once and then forget it forever. The main plot is, in my opinion, fantastic: genetic modifications isn't a new topic, however I've never seen a story where GMO was used to develop animal-like features like in this book and I was fascinated by this idea. But sadly, 200 pages are hardly enough for proper world-building and better development of the story and that is what happened here. The story is set in a post-apocalyptic world after a World War 3 but we never get to see more of that. We don't see the direct impacts of the war or how the world really functions as of now. Also, there are only 3 characters in the entire story... okay, save for maybe Crispin. But other than those 4, there really isn't anyone else? That felt weird, even despite the novel's shortness.

And I didn't succeed in feeling sympathy for any of those characters. Seth was cool in the beginning, funny, charming, but he soon started feeling like a pretty useless character. I was very keen on getting to know the relationship of Liane and Damien more, to find out why they're so deeply connected other than for the 10 years of history, but we got none of that. Just because they went to some museums or trade fairs, it won't bring me closer to them.

The story itself was highly predictive and therefore not very exciting, I felt bored a lot of times. For a debut novel, it's pretty good, but in itself, it's really a "nothing special" type of read.

A rather boring read for me. I found it rather predictable and thus, didn't enjoy it as much as I wanted to. The story could have been better and the characters weren't all that interesting to me.

Very well put together. This book is the start to a series (hopefully) and the author did a nice job of providing an awful lot of background without making it feel tedious. There was an interesting love/hate relationship between two characters. Seth was fun, sort of like a puppy in human form.

I'm hoping the next book provides some more insight into the main characters. Though I was able to understand Liane's actions for the most part but I am hoping the next book allows me to connect with her a little better. Overall, however, this was a very strong start to the series. I'm interested to see where it goes from here.

I want to thank Netgalley and Mildford House Press for this partnership.

I was immediately attracted by the cover, we see Liane profile and prison bars are represented on his body.

Everything begins when London is reborn from the ashes just after the third world war. Humans are genetically modified into animal models. People are disappearing all the time, those who are left have to survive. There is the beautiful Liane formed since childhood to kill. Yet she wants to live a normal life like the others, she will secretly see the mods but when some are murdered and mutilated she will want to protect his friends at his own risk.

A dystopia as I love them filled with suspense and twists with the character of Lian endearing, a story that holds the road, captivating and moving. The author brings us here in a London after the third world war with brio. Looking forward to read more, this first book deserves to be known. I recommand it.

Liane is an Agent, trained from childhood to act as the perfect killer for the Agency, the operational wing of the shadowy, fascistic, Libertas party, the only government that exists in a future Britain, ravaged by World War 3.

London is a divided city, with the Party controlling the wealth and safety, and the "mods" living on the fringes, surviving on scraps. Mods are the result of an attempt to genetically engineer humans through drugs, now available on the black market, giving them various animal traits. The wolf mods, with whom Liane is most friendly, think she's one of them, though really she knows she's something else entirely, able to out-run, out-think and out-fight any mod she's ever met.

She's not happy in her life of government-sanctioned murder, but it's all she's ever known, and her relationship with her handler, Damian, is the only real human interaction in her life. Until she rescues Seth, a police officer who happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and finds herself with an unexpected friend.

Now she must balance her desire for freedom with her loyalty to her oldest companion and the group that saved her from an orphanage, while investigating the deaths of several mods and discovering what their deaths have to do with the Titan Strain of the title.

Good things first. This has a lot of cool ideas. I enjoy a dystopia, and the basic premise of this one is rather neat. In today's world, a fascist British government feels very timely, and I'm expecting we'll see a few more of them. I'm also intrigued by the genetic modding. It's getting closer and closer (looking at you CRISPR), and the ability to make people better at a particular occupation has a lot of potential for abuse and therefore terrible situations.

I enjoyed Liane and Seth's friendship. It's refreshing to not see an urban fantasy jump straight to the romance, and I'd love to see these two stay platonic, but watching out for each other's backs. Seth was also a nice balance to the ascetic Liane, and the book gave more of a view than we usually get into the background lives of "supporting" cast, particularly through a stalkery eye.

And the slightly creepy nature of the Agency and the world in which it lived is rather fun. I always enjoy a Machiavellian organisation and the elaborate plots they tend to be involved in, and this was good for that.

The major downside of the book however is that even though it has a really solid base of interesting ideas, it doesn't do enough with them. The book runs as a thriller. Towards the end of the book, the action doesn't stop, with exciting scenes and gun fights galore, and an impressive climax. Unfortunately, how it gets there feels very shallow. There's a certain reveal you'll see coming about a third of the way through the book, and how things progress from there follow a path you'll likely be able to work out in advance.

That wouldn't be a problem if the journey in general was enticing enough, but I found I was not too worried about getting there (would put it down and not come back to it for a couple of days). Hard to gauge the length of a book when you're reading it electronically, but my guess is it's a little too short. Certain sections read like an outline, rather than a fully fledged story, so the very promising plot was prevented from fully blooming by the paucity of detail. This needed a grimier world that I could taste, and it didn't quite give me that.

It's the first in a series, and a debut novel, and shows promise for later installments. I'll likely take a look at the next one, because the improvements that come with a developing author should sneak it further up the recommendability scale.

3.5
The 2/4 of the book was incredibly boring. But that aside the plot was great, especially towards the end. The writing wasn't bad but it could have been a lot better. Overall, I enjoyed this book.

1.5 out of 5 stars

Easily one of the weirdest review taglines I've ever written. I don't know why I went into this thinking that it was going to be a young adult book.  I mean, the cover and description are pretty good indicators that it looks and sounds like one - but, alas, it is NOT a YA book. I just wanted to warn any youngin's out there that thought they might enjoy this one.  You might, but I didn't. I'm not even a big YA fan - but I do like YA dystopians like The Hunger Games and Divergent. This was not like those books, unfortunately.

I tried and tried to like this book a little, but I just could not get into it.  The premise sounds great.  I love anything with "strain" in it (usually).  But this was more about drugs (mods) and a new mod that was leaving a trail of dead bodies everywhere.  The premise sounds awesome and the "dystopian cyberpunk" world also sounded really interesting to me, but there wasn't much world or character building to make me fall in love with anything.

The story follows a "modded" girl, Liane, who (according to the synopsis) is a girl trained since childhood to be an unfeeling, unthinking killing machine known as an Agent. The first strike with this book was Damian her "handler" as he was called. I didn't like him at all (I don't know if I was supposed to or not) but he was basically her controller and wouldn't let her do anything without being around.  I just got a bad vibe from the book right away because of Damian.  I know that he was there for a reason and that he was supposed to be this overbearing and protective handler - but I just read him as a creep who wanted to be close to her all the time. 

Then we move on to Liane's "love" interest (read screw-buddy) Seth, who is a cop and has a thing for Liane.  Apparently, this book is more "new adult" which I don't even know what that means. I've seen other reviews call it a coming of age story and I can kind of see that, but there were some scenes that really surprised me when I thought this was considered a YA title. 

The book itself reads like a "whodunit" mystery in a cyberpunk futuristic world but I just could not get into the plot, the characters, or the mystery. 

Overall, a book that I would not recommend unless you like random killing, sex scenes, modded humans, and cyberpunk (I mean doesn't it sound kinda cool?)

Despite moderate length The Titan Strain tired me. I'm sorry to say, but I find the book boring and uninspiring. There are long sections of passive voice that cripple the narrative.

I don't feel like writing longer review. As it's a low effort review, I won't be reposting it elsewhere. I was tempted to DNF the book. I persevered. In the end, though, DNF-ing it would be wiser decision.

I chose this one because the cover really caught my eye and the description also sounded like something I would enjoy reading.
It takes place in a dystopian society that started like our own but because of technological advances that granted people genetic modification and because of countless acts of war the world as we know it is quite a changed place. In their dystopian London, the main character, a woman called Liane, works of for a mysterious agency that follows the orders of leading party by killing those who get in the way. Liane is the perfect assassin, the perfect agent. She’s lead a troubled life until the Agency got to her, but ending up as their pawn doesn’t seem to suit her any better. She is caught in a web of lies while her Handler, Damian, follows his own goal and a mysterious stranger named Seth means more than he should for Liane. Rumours about the baffling Titan Strains, the perfect modification, are all around while Liane tries to figure out how far she’s willing to go for the Agency and what kind of person she really wants to be.

Right from the start I really enjoyed Liane. She’s not your typical heroine, she’s very rational and analytical but at the same time the inner questions she keep addressing all the time are very realistic and well placed. She’s not the whiny type or one who can be swayed easily. The fact that she is constantly portrayed as a killing machine through her abilities probably helps, but at the same time she is not an intimidating character, but one you actually end up liking a lot. Her whole decision-making process was very nicely described and the connections she had with the other characters felt genuine.

As for the male characters I would say they were both intriguing. Damian, her Handler (basically the guy who fills her in about the missions and who supervised all her training and guides her), has a very peculiar relationship with her, obviously a toxic one (especially from his point of view). He is very cold and calculated, quite Slytherin-like, but also he gave me the feeling that maybe sometime in the past he used to be a good guy (or as close as he can get to one) but the lust for power and greater things turned him into a cold-blooded person. His morals are obviously questionable but I could understand some of his planning and scheming and what drove him. Liane is very important for him and in a way he makes it seem like he is spoiling her and protecting her (which I guess he is), but through the book we discover that he’s actually doing it for his own selfish reasons and goals. He wants to be the puppeteer in this game.

Seth, the police officer who barges unexpectedly in Liane’s life, is the good-guy-next-door type. He does normal things with his friends like eating pizza and drinking beers on a casual evening while trying to ignore a little bit the messed up world he’s living in. He’s a very compassionate character, the one who tries to do the right thing, and at the end he even musters up his courage and ends up being brave. It’s quite an interesting contrast between him and Liane, how she’s much stronger physically than him but also mentally they are quite different; I enjoyed how they managed to learn from each other, build bridges and meet halfway.

The plot was fairly simple, though there were some interesting plot twists. The writing is not to embellished, it’s actually quite straightforward. The idea of the book is gripping and the reason for which this didn’t actually get 5 stars was because I felt that maybe more could be achieved from that idea than it was. All in all, it was an enjoyable debut book, reading it goes smoothly, not too many technical details about the modifications of anything else, predictable in some ways but quite entertaining. Recommended to the dystopia/sci-fi fans out there.

I like reading dystopian sci-fi stories. The story is great and has a strong female character. I like the world building. I enjoyed a lot.

I really didn’t enjoy reading this book. For most part it was just boring. I could predict almost everything in this book. However, considering this is the first published book the author has ever written, I would say, it was a valiant effort from her side.
Plot

Titan’s Strain by Virginia Soenksen is a dystopian young adult book set in the post third world war 3 London. In this book we follow the story of Liane who works for the Agency. It is a government organization which was established to neutralize any imminent threats to the country. What they do in the name of saving the country is beyond anyone’s imagination. There are trainees, trainers, agents, handlers, and finally administrators in the agency. The only rule is to follow everything the handler demands of you and keep your head down. Or you will be mind-wiped or killed. Liane is one of the top ranking agents in the agency and her handler Damian is the best handler in the entire agency. They complete all the missions without any mishaps and they always get the things done.
A normal Handler sees their agents as toys or as animals on their leash. But Damian cares about Liane and he urges her learn more than just to kill and hurt people. However, when it comes to training or missions he is very strict. He is kind to her since she was brought in by the agency ten years back; her only friend was Damian. Their relationship is not warm or cordial, they don’t talk to each other like friends but it is the closest she has got to having a friend in nearly a decade.
The london we see after the destruction caused by world war 3 is different. It is left in ruins and people and government are trying to rebuild what was destroyed. This new london is different in other ways; the technology has advanced since the world war 3 ended and it gave rise to a new genetic modification serum. This serum has the potential to give supernatural abilities to humans. It can cure cancer and make you look young and strong. The people who take this serum are called mods. The government has tried to stop modding and failed time and again.
Liane is special, she has everything a mod has and then some more. A rougue serum Called the Titan’s Strain comes into black market. This serum has the potential to make the genetic modifications more advanced and permanent. There is some more bad news to the already broken London. More than 12 mods were dead and the killer is still at loose. Liane wants to set things right and gets into an unlikely partnership with Seth, the officer from Genetic Modification Task Force. They both become friends while solving this case. This new relationship is forbidden according to the agency. Liane has to hide her tracks while she was with Seth. Will the Agency catch up with her lie? Who is killing mods and why are they doing it?
The rest you get it right?
I did like the book but not that much. There are a gazzilion things that could have been better. The writing seemed inconsistent in a lot of places. The first few chapters were written horribly and towards the end you can clearly see the improvement in the technique. I appreciate the author for her effort but this could have been so much better.
Things I liked in the book:

1. I really like the aspect of modding based on the animal DNA. It was so cool to see werewolf packs, reptile packs and tiger packs. The concept of modding itself is really alluring and new to me.
2. Liane was badass and I always like a strong female protagonist. The fact that the lead of the story is female gives me goosebumps.
3. The action scenes were really well written. I was contend with the amount of action and kicking assing I got from this book. However, I never expected something this good while I started reading the book.
Things I hated in this book:

1. I hate books with shallow characters. All the characters were under-developed. How much ever I tried liking Seth, I simply couldn’t. To me there was really no reason as to why his character was there. I at least thought there would be some romance angle, but I am deeply disappointed. He was there just to break whatever Damian and Laine had. No point or goal for his character. His backstory was not even detailed in the book.
2. The logic of the plot is all too similar to other books in this genre. The virus/ genetic serum spreading and government shady dealings, corrupt officials are all typical to dystopian. I would have loved to see something unique and different that would set this book apart. I tried liking the story so much but I was unable to feel anything for the characters.
3. Really the entire story was between Damian, Seth and Liane. May be in two or three chapters we have seen Crispin, the mod pack leader. A few really minor characters who were mentioned only once of twice in the entirety of the book. I mean what the hell? This is a dystopian novel for god sakes and we only have three major under-developed characters who are at times really annoying.
4. Damian’s character was better developed than Seth’s. However, I was not able to understand where he stands when it comes to Liane. I think the reason behind this is lack of emotional relationship between the characters. The story should have been little longer and it should have included more scenes which would make the readers understand how the characters react to each other’s actions.
5. The relationship between Damian and Liane was erratic. There relationship was supposed to be strong. They know each other for 10 years and all we get is glimpses of them roaming in the museums or going out for stupid dinners. These scenes tried to bring Damian and Liane together, however the effort was futile. I was not able to get the feeling that they were any closer than they were before.
6. World building requires serious help in this book. I was not able to imagine anything other than a few destroyed buildings and broken bridges. Do they still have cars, busses and other things which are normal before world war 3. The war is a big deal, and there must have been lot of casualitues. We never saw a glimpse of how the war affected the characters in the book. It should have made them vulnerable or should have changed them some how. We don’t even know why the war took place. Lot of questions to be answered and I feel it is too late to answer now.
7. The friendship between Seth and Liane – a big no from me. They were supposed to fall in love and break up some hundred thousand times to save each other from dying and in the process break all the readers hearts. Well, that did not happen. There is no spark between them, no longing for each other. I always wanted Seth to die. He is waste of time in the book, really.
God. I wanted to love this book so much. All I ended up doing was reading 200 page novel which left more depressed. I know this the author’s first published book and for that she gets a big hi-fi. I am glad she actually wrote something like this. Though this book was not great, it was still an okay read. I predicted everything and the plot was just what I thought it would. No surprise there. This book is the first in many books that make Genetic Chronicles complete. I really like the name though.
This book gets a 2/5 for characters, 2.5/5 for plot and 2/5 for world building. Three of the most important aspects of a YA dystopian novels.
I don’t recommend this book if you are looking for a thrilling read. However, if you just want to give it a try and help the debut author, I most certainly encourage you. I also warn you to not go into the book with high expectations. You don’t want to be disappointed at the end.

The Titan Strain

The name is amusing in itself. The cover of the book is so beautiful that I could not resist myself from requesting the book. I want to thanks the publishers and Net galley for providing me the e-ARC. All the views and thoughts are my own and honest.

World war 3 had occurred and the world is in turmoil. The medicine for cancer has been discovered and there is no further threat from this disease but this doesn't means that the world is at peace. There are more problems now that genetic modification has taken root among the population. These modification are not without price, the price is to lose the traits of human being and being transformed into a human animal.

Just like the highly modified humans, Mods, Lianne is not very fitting into the equation of a normal human but she is not on mods. She can jump more than mods can and she can run at a very fast pace without feeling any exhaustion. She thinks this as her birth power along with the training she received from the agency.

Agency is another mysterious body. Even though Lianne is working in the Agency, she is never allowed to question anyone, just follow orders. These are the strict instructions yet she finds herself in the situation where she can't help but wonder about all the killings she had done. Her conscience which has been made passive by the training starts questioning her blind faith in the agency. From the doubt arises disobedience.

Seth is a normal guy who works in police force to catch up the mods. Even though he knows how powerful and dangerous mobs can be, he loves his job and works with his heart. One day he finds himself surrounded by the mobs who are desperate to kill him. He was saved by a girl with similar alteration in eyes like his. He finds himself attracted towards her but he ignores the warning she gives him about the threat to his life, again and again.

Damian is the handler of Lianne since she was ten and has been her companion, sole companion, throughout the seven years of training to become a full time agent. He was proud of his Agent and wished to see himself on the seats of Administration one day with Lianne as his equal. His dreams receives a shock when he comes to know about Lianne and her betrayal. He is enraged beyond wit but orders to bring her down for brain wash as she is a very precious Agent to be killed.

The one and only lie Damian has told her came to light and Lianne is shocked. Her world seemed to be spinning. Now she just wants Seth to be safe and wreak havoc upon Agency. What is the truth? What happens to Lianne? Is Seth alive or dead? How is Damian doing?
Read the first part of 'The genetic Chronicles' The Titan Strain to know more about this book. I'll recommend to anyone who loves to read Dystopian novel.

The Titan Strain is the first book in Virginia Soenksen's Genetics Chronicles. It takes place in London in the future -- the world has been devastated by World War III, and the politics of London has changed. It is now ruled by the fascist Libertas party. The world is laxly policed, and people have started to illegally genetically manipulate themselves to gain superhuman powers to run faster, jump higher, or be stronger. The people that genetically manipulate themselves are known as "mods". Modding often comes with negative side effects; the genetic material that they use comes from animals, and as they manipulate themselves this way, they become more like the animals themselves.

Liane, our heroine, is far stronger and far faster than any of these mods. Her sole purpose in life is to carry out the wishes of the Agency through her handler, Damian. She's not allowed to speak to anybody outside of the Agency, and she has to obey all orders that Damian gives her. It's a little creepy, because if, as an example, Damian wants to go to the theater with her, he even tells her what she has to wear.

Over the course of the book, Liane meets Seth, a normal person who is a police officer working on a serial killer case, and she ends up rebelling against Damian. All of the murder victims are mods, and as she (and Seth) try to figure out what is going on, they end up discovering a new modification that has been developed, known as the Titan Strain. Over the course of the book, her entire outlook on life changes, and her world will never be the same.

It's an interesting concept, and the plot is pretty good. Overall, I enjoyed the book, and I will probably end up reading the next installment of The Genetic Chronicles when it comes out, as I am interested in finding out what happens next. It's definitely a book worth checking out.

However --

This is a good book, but it is not a GREAT book. It's not a book where I will fall asleep dreaming about the characters, or write hundreds of pages of fanfiction about because I'm in love with these people. I'm not going to ruminate about this book while I'm at work. Some of my favorite books do that to me.

There are things that could have made this book better. Amazon.com describes the world as one where "People frequently go missing in this world, and those who want to survive must close their eyes to the crimes committed on their streets." Ooh, dangerous. For some reason, I really don't feel the danger of this world, however. The same holds true for the characters. They don't have the life that some of my favorite characters have. As I thought about this, I thought that maybe it was because it wasn't written in first person point of view, like some of my favorite authors, like Veronica Roth and Marie Lu, tend to write in; but then I realized that Flame in the Mist, a book that I recently finished and loved, doesn't have that problem and is written from a third person point of view.

Will be posting on novelthoughts.blog on 5/15!

Novel Thoughts:

If I could only read one genre for the rest of my days, I probably wouldn’t choose “Sci-Fi Futuristic Dystopia”… though I would really miss reading them. This unique niche was born out of novels like 1984 and Fahrenheit 451 and has since exploded with books (and subsequent movies) like The Hunger Games, Maze Runner, and most recently, Ready Player One. Teenagers like dystopian novels because author speaks in a way that treats the readers as adults—which is both a blessing & a refresher amongst the typical YA section today, overridden with themes of sorcery, high school romance, and the scandalous lives of Manhattan’s elite…

Adults like dystopias because it takes a LOT to faze us.

The Titan Strain definitely fazed me. I must give credit to the author & mastermind, Virginia Soenksen: it’s becoming more and more difficult to come up with an original idea—let alone publish it—and The Titan Strain does that while maintaining a storyline that makes it impossible to put down.

Our heroine Liane, a semi-human black ops-esque secret agent & certified badass, is impossible to dislike. An orphan whose earliest memories include being ‘adopted’ by the ominous “Agency” and then consequently trained into a high-powered killing machine, the struggles she goes through in her fight for freedom feel incredibly real.

Though Liane is the leading lady, the focus shifts between her, Seth (the do-gooder police officer), and Damian (Liane’s “Handler”, aka a cross between her father/boss/dominant), at a speed that keeps you enthralled until the very end. The details of her past, and how it shaped her into the young professional assassin we meet, are both intriguing and a logical sequence of events… though I fought against rolling my eyes when Seth offers her a pizza, to which she responds “Pizza? I’ve never had it before!”

It is already a quick read, but my inability to put it down made it fly by. The steadily creeping buildup creates undeniable suspense and anticipation that has us begging for the climax, and when it finally happens, the narrator immediately switches to a different character’s perspective, forcing us to trudge through the next chapter to obtain a feeling of closure. A few #novelthoughts below:
1. The premise alone is enthralling. Though I would have liked to hear more about how sh*t went down in WWIII, how could you NOT be interested in the story set in the ruins of London where everyone is doping to get superhuman-like abilities?!
2. Prepare yourself for a love triangle between Katniss Everdeen, Christian Grey, and Jack Dawson. Metaphorically speaking, of course.
3. You won’t be rooting for the nice guy. And this is coming from someone who always cheers for the kind, sensitive, Mr. Right.

Recommendation: A steadily captivating read for sci-fi fantasy fans any reader who is down with a post-apocalyptic-set story, complete with advanced genetic mutations, a corrupt government, and a dash of love & betrayal.