The Great Destroyers by Caroline Tung Richmond

“The Hunger Games meets Pacific Rim, set in the 1960s Cold War.

Jo Linden grew up in a world where wars are won with the use of giant mechanical soldiers and the nuclear bomb was never invented. Yet the Cold War still rages. Only now international rivalries between democracy and communism play out at the Pax Games, an Olympic-style competition that pits young pilots of mecha soldiers against each other. The USSR's beaten the US in every game since its inception, and in the 1963 games, the US is desperate for a win. Because it's more than just the Games at stake here. Premier Khrushchev will be attending, and after he and President Kennedy are slated to sign a peace accord stabilizing the war in Vietnam-and their relationship.

Raised in her father's mecha repair shop, Jo knows more than anyone about the awesome machines and piloting. She's also the most unlikely pick for Team USA since she's a virtually unknown fighter. So when Jo is invited at the last minute to compete, she jumps at it. This could be the last chance to save her family's home from debt collectors. When Jo arrives in DC for the Games, all eyes on her. But she's got secrets of her own. Secrets that could get her kicked out the Games-and cost her family everything-if anyone found out. As competitors start dying in the arena, it's suddenly clear that it's more than the usual Pax Games, and Jo finds herself drawn into a deadly political plot with the very stake of freedom at its center.

In a global chess match between superpowers, playing out in violent games that only humanity could create, comes a terrifying story of clashing titans, deadly competition, patriotism, and the girl caught in the middle of it all.” - taken from Goodreads.com

Welcome to 1963 where World War II was won with mecha (giant robots controlled by humans) and the atomic bomb wasn't invented. The Cold War still rages and Communism and Democracy are at odds. Every four years, countries enter their best and brightest mecha drivers into the Pax Games. With the games being held in the U.S. and a possible peace agreement between Kennedy and Khrushchev, the U.S. is desperate to best the Soviets in the games.

When Jo Linden, a relatively unknown mecha pilot is tapped to replace an injured competitor, her world is turned upside down when she arrives on the international stage in a sport where few females compete. Up against the best in the world, Jo and finds herself in the middle of a political storm where someone is trying to frame her for poisoning her rivals. Can Jo uncover the culprit before war breaks out?

This is the perfect read for fans of Ryan Graudin’s Wolf By Wolf.

Visit Caroline Tung Richmond’s website.

 

Defy the Fates by Claudia Gray (Constellations book 3)

SPOILER ALERT! If you haven’t read the first two books in the series, Defy the Stars and Defy the Worlds, Stop! I don’t want to ruin the story for you.

“Hunted and desperate.

Abel only has one mission left that matters: save the life of Noemi Vidal. To do that, he not only has to escape the Genesis authorities, he also must face the one person in the galaxy who still has the means to destroy him. Burton Mansfield's consciousness lives on, desperate for a home, and Abel's own body is his last bargaining chip. 

Alone in the universe.

Brought back from the brink of death, Noemi Vidal finds Abel has not only saved her life, but he's made her into something else, something more. Not quite mech, yet not quite human any longer, Noemi must find her place in a universe where she is utterly unique, all while trying to create a world where anyone--even a mech--can be free.

The final battle between Earth and the colony planets is here, and there's no lengths to which Earth won't go to preserve its domination over all humanity. But together, the universe's most advanced mech and its first human-mech hybrid might have the power to change the galaxy for good.” - taken from Goodreads.com

This book is how a series should end. The action picks up immediately where book two ended and never stops. Fast paced, thrilling, and intriguing, Abel and Noemi take fans for a wild ride across the universe. With everyone out to get them, these two never give up on their beliefs and not only fight for their friends but for their enemies as well. After finishing this series, I cannot wait to pick up another one of Ms. Gray’s books 

Visit Claudia Gray’s website.

Defy the Worlds by Claudia Gray (Constellations book 2)

SPOILER ALERT! If you haven’t read the first book in the series, Defy the Stars, Stop! I don’t want to ruin the story for you.

“An outcast from her home -- Shunned after a trip through the galaxy with Abel, the most advanced cybernetic man ever created, Noemi Vidal dreams of traveling through the stars one more time. And when a deadly plague arrives on Genesis, Noemi gets her chance. As the only soldier to have ever left the planet, it will be up to her to save its people...if only she wasn't flying straight into a trap.

A fugitive from his fate -- On the run to avoid his depraved creator's clutches, Abel believes he's said good-bye to Noemi for the last time. After all, the entire universe stands between them...or so he thinks. When word reaches him of Noemi's capture by the very person he's trying to escape, Abel knows he must go to her, no matter the cost.

But capturing Noemi was only part of Burton Mansfield's master plan. In a race against time, Abel and Noemi will come together once more to discover a secret that could save the known worlds, or destroy them all.” - taken from Goodreads.com

Having separated from each other for what they thought was the last time, Noemi Vidal soon finds herself in a trap to lure Abel back to Earth. When the secrets of Burton Mansfield and Earth are exposed, it is up to Noemi and Abel to escape his clutches and stop the attack on Genesis. Unfortunately, this book ends in a serious cliffhanger that will leave fans eager for the final book in the trilogy.

The story will conclude with Defy the Fates out on April 2, 2019.

Visit Claudia Gray’s website.

Defy the Stars by Claudia Gray (Defy the Stars by Claudia Gray book 1)

“Our Worlds Belong To Us.”

“She’s a soldier.

Noemi Vidal is a seventeen years old and sworn to protect her planet, Genesis. She’s willing to risk anything—including her own life. To their enemies on Earth, she’s a rebel.

He’s a machine.

Abandoned in space for years, utterly alone, Abel has advanced programming that’s begun to evolve. He wants only to protect his creator, and to be free. To the people of Genesis, he’s an abomination.

Noemi and Abel are enemies in an interstellar war, forced by chance to work together as they embark on a daring journey through the stars. Their efforts would end the fighting for good, but they’re not without sacrifice. The stakes are even higher than either of them first realized, and the more time they spend together, the more they’re forced to question everything they’d been taught was true.” - taken from Goodreads.com

I really didn’t know what to expect when I first started this book. Told in alternating points of view from both Noemi and Abel, readers dive into a story full of mystery, intrigue, and romance. Enemies at first, it’s not long before Noemi and Abel realize that they are actually on the same side. Also the romance between human and machine is a slow burn that will have readers cheering the duo on. I really didn’t know how I expected the book to end, be it was phenomenal! With the story somewhat tied up, readers will be clamouring for the next installment in this series.

Book two, Defy the Worlds, (what a teaser!) will be out in 2018.

Visit Claudia Gray’s Website.

Ruins by Dan Wells (Partials Sequence book 3)

SPOILER ALERT! If you haven’t read the first two books in the sequence, Partials and Fragments, Stop! I don’t want to ruin in the story for you. Beware.

“Humanity’s final hour. Her final stand.”

Dr. McKenna Morgan and her army of Partials are threatening war against the human residents of East Meadow if Kira Walker is not turned over to her. Each day the residents did not surrender her, one of them would be executed. Partials were bred to be stronger and more resilient than humans but they only have a twenty year life span. Dr. Morgan believes Kira, a previously unknown Partial model, holds the key to curing the expiration date. Outnumbered ten to one, the humans lost one of their own every day for over a month before a renegade found an abandoned nuclear warhead. Just as a group of leaders decide their best possible course of action would be to evacuate Long Island before the detonation, the radio message stops. Even if the Partials have Kira, the group decides to move forward.

Kira has turned herself in to Dr. Morgan. Dr. Morgan is working with Dr. Vale to find a cure for the expiration date. Kira has none of the genetic handicaps that the other Partials have, including the expiration date. Dr. Morgan hopes that something in Kira’s genetic code can help save the Partials. All of the Partial doctors and leaders have already died and what remains are the soldier models. Their numbers are steadily dwindling and a new wave is expected to die in just a few weeks. Time is running out for everyone; Partials and humans. Kira has given herself up in the hope of saving everyone.

Samm stayed behind with Heron at the Preserve. Unlike the humans on Long Island with no cure for RM, Dr. Vale kept nine Partials comatose in order to harvest the Lurker pheromone, the basis for the cure for RM. The Preserve humans have been able to have healthy children while those on Long Island have not. Samm is part of the last purchase order of Partials. Their expiration date is in eight months. He knows that Kira left to go help find a cure but Samm wonders if he will ever see her again.

Nandita Merchant created the Partials and RM. She kidnapped four girls and used them for experimentation. She lied to everyone about the girls’ true nature. Ariel, Kira and Isolde are actually Partials. Ariel’s own baby died two years ago and now Isolde’s son Khan is sick with a mysterious disease and it looks fatal. It seems that hybrid children can die as well. They are packing to leave Long Island along with Senator Kessler, Xochi, Madison and her miracle baby Arwen, the first human child to survive in twelve years. Two Partial soldiers almost discover Nandita and Arwen before the group can leave East Meadow. They are planning to head to the Plum Island Disease Research Center, a completely isolated lab where Nandita worked. There, she hopes to study Khan’s illness and find a cure.

Is Kira the key to both human and Partial survival? What kind of Partial is Kira? Why was she built and why was her true existence kept a secret? Can the humans and Partials learn to live and work together? Will the cure to the Partial expiration date be found? Does Nandita’s group make it to Plum Island? Will a cure be found for Khan? Can Samm and Kira find their way back to each other? Will anyone survive?

Visit Dan Wells' website.

Fragments by Dan Wells (Partials Sequence book 2)

SPOILER ALERT! If you haven’t read the first book in the series, Partials, Stop! I don’t want to ruin the story for you.

“Their world ended. Their war didn’t.”

Kira Walker discovered the cure for RM but also discovered that she was a Partial. For now, only Samm and Dr. Morgan know her secret. She hasn’t even told her best friend/boyfriend Marcus the truth about herself. Kira may be a Partial but she ages like humans do. Also she isn’t able to link up with other Partials and lacks certain traits. Kira is on a quest for answers about herself.

Working from a photograph of herself as a young child, Kira is shown as a young child with her father and her guardian, Nandita, in front of a ParaGen building. Having lived with Nandita for the past twelve years, Kira wonders how much she really knew about her origins. Dr. Morgan was horrified when she found out what Kira was. She decides to travel to Manhattan to search the ParaGen office for answers. On her second day there, she discovers that Nandita was on the payroll with one of the largest salaries. The following day, Kira searches the second floor where she finds mostly cubicles. She sees evidence that two computers have been removed sometime after the Break. Kira also notices a few offices along one wall. One has been emptied of everything and recently. The office door is labeled Afa Demoux, IT. Kira wonders who Afa is and why his office was emptied.

Madison’s baby is the only newborn in twelve years to survive RM. Kira figured out that the Partials carried the cure. Time is running out and infants are once again dying. Marcus and the other medical research teams have repeatedly failed to replicate the cure. Now there is talk of kidnapping a Partial to extract more of the cure. On the other hand, Partials only “live” for twenty years and they are now “dying off.” They believe humans are the key to survival. War once again between humans and Partials seems imminent. Feeling the weight of human existence on his shoulders, Marcus heads outside. Heron, a Partial, reveals herself and asks Marcus to keep quiet. She shows him a photograph (the same one Kira has) and he immediately recognizes Nandita. Heron tells him to look at the child she is with. Marcus realizes that it is Kira. Heron asks him if he knows where they are and he doesn’t. She tells him that Dr. Morgan believes Kira and Nandita are vital to solving to solving the problem of the Partial expiration date. She warns Marcus that things will get interesting if they aren’t found.

Kira scavenges an abandoned electronics store. She notices that someone recently took a generator and a HAM radio from the shelves. Kira realizes that someone else is looking for the same information that she is and they are one step ahead of her. Marcus is at another Senate meeting. Humanity’s situation is growing direr. Word arrives that the Partials have come ashore and war may be closer than anyone thought. Marcus knows their only hope is to stall the Senate until he hears something from Kira.

When Kira finds Afa Demoux, he is more than she bargained for. Alone for the past twelve years, Afa believes that he is the last human on Earth. He has brief moments of lucidity. At these times, he is a wealth of information, having collected newspaper articles and every email message sent through the ParaGen server. Filed in hundreds of boxes that make sense only to Afa, Kira is a bit disappointed that he knows nothing about the Trust. Afa does have radios set up to monitor Partial communications and Kira is shocked to hear her friends are being attacked back home by Partial forces. Finding a microphone, Kira is able to radio a warning to Marcus. Two Partials find Afa’s hideout and enter. When his defense systems fail to stop them, Afa leaves for another safe house. Kira is left alone to stop them. She is surprised to find that the intruders are Samm and Heron. They heard her radio transmissions and they came to find her before Dr. Morgan does.

Realizing she was wrong about the Trust and needing to find out what she is before Dr. Morgan locates her again, Kira decides she needs to get to the ParaGen server to find the information she needs before anyone else beats her to it. With Afa’s computer expertise and Heron and Samm’s military skills, the four set out for Chicago where the server was kept.

Who and what is Kira? What secrets did Nandita keep from her? What information does she discover in Chicago? Why is Dr. Morgan looking for her? What is so important about Kira to warrant a Partial invasion? Can Marcus and the others survive until Kira comes back? Will the cure for RM and the partial expiration date be found? What is the Trust and can Nandita be found?

The Partials Sequence will be continued with book three.

Visit Dan Wells' website.

Partials by Dan Wells

“The only hope for humanity isn’t human.”

The year is 2076. It has been eleven years since the Break. The human race created Partials to fight for them in the Isolation War. Stronger and faster than humans, five years after the war’s end, the Partials attempted to destroy humanity. They released the RM virus and only those humans immune survived. With only 40,000 humans left in the world, newborns are not immune and die within days of birth. The youngest human in the world will be fourteen in a month and the entire race is on the brink of extinction.


Since the Break, the world has gone from a civilized society to a “culture one step up from the Stone Age.” In an attempt to find a cure for RM and repopulate the Earth, the Senate amended the Hope Act and dropped the pregnancy age to 18. “All women of a certain age are required, by law, to get pregnant as soon as possible.” All newborns are tracked in an attempt to find a cure. For sixteen-year-old Kira Walker, a medical intern doing her rotation in the maternity ward, she sees first hand RM’s threat to the very survival of human race. When her “adoptive” sister Madison informs Kira that she and her husband are expecting, she is heartbroken. Madison wants to be a mother even if it’s for a few hours or days. Kira decides that she wants to find a cure for RM and everyone has been going about it the wrong way.


As word in East Meadow spreads about possibly lowering the pregnancy age to 16, Kira sees her future dwindling away. Unable to spend her life mourning her children that will never live, Kira sets out to find a cure for RM. In looking through the research information, Kira notices that no one has ever studied a Partial. She decides that is where her research needs to go. The head doctor at the hospital vetoes her plans saying they are too dangerous for everyone involved. He mentions that the virus could spread or the war with the Partials would be rekindled. Undeterred, Kira sets out to obtain a Partial on her own. She is able to convince Madison’s husband, Haru; a construction specialist and her military brother, Jayden to join her on a mission to retrieve a Partial for testing. Unfortunately her boyfriend Marcus stays behind but promises to keep quiet.


With a plan in place, Kira and her friends head to Manhattan in search of a Partial. Once there, they run into trouble and are quickly discovered by the Partials. Extraordinarily, the group manages to capture and subdue a Partial. Getting out of Manhattan and back to East Meadow proves difficult with a group of armed Partials giving chase. When they call for help from the Defense Grid, their gig is up. What will happen to Kira and the others when the Senate finds out what they did? Will the Senate allow the Partial to be used to find a cure for RM? Can a cure be found in time to save Madison’s baby? Will Kira be able to patch things up with Marcus? What happens when the pregnancy age is lowered? And what if everything Kira knows and believes in is a lie?


Stay tuned to learn more about Kira Walker’s continuing journey in Failsafe in 2013.

Visit Dan Wells' website.