Ferocious, by author Paula Stokes, is the second and final installment in the author's Vicarious duology. As we learned from the previous installment, Winter Kim's sister (Rose) is dead, the man who she thought of as a father figure (Gideon) is also dead. Jesse Ramirez and Sebastian Baz Faber are in the hospital, and it appears as though Winter may have a brother who she never knew. A brother who was born after Winter and her sister Rose were given up for adoption in South Korea, and later brought to Los Angeles.

What's worse, the man responsible for it all, Kyung Cho, wants the ViSE technology that was created by Gideon. Kyung is a disgusting piece of work. He made Rose and Winter's life a living hell by putting them to work as sex workers in LA, now he wants to tear Winter's world apart even further. Winter's past was brought to light earlier in the series, and that is explored even further. She has what's known as DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder). Winter's alternative personas include her sister Rose, and a new character who we meet in this story called Lily. Lily is such a dangerous and frightening character. While Rose may be the voice of reason, Lily is the one who does the things that needs to be done to survive.

After the ViSE tech is stolen from her, Winter gets a surprising partner to hunt Kyung and end him for good. That person is Jesse Ramirez. Jesse is a veteran who lost his hearing in one ear, and has survived being shot and nearly dying. A partner who has obvious feelings for Winter. Winter's journey takes her from St. Louis, to San Diego, to Los Angeles, and then on to South Korea. South Korea is the favorite part of this story. I say that because Ms Stokes has obviously done her research and that research clearly shows in her story. She has obviously been to the country and therefore knows the scenery, the culture, and the cuisine better than anyone who hasn't been there before.

Stoke's story is amazing in that I felt as though I was along for the ride right next to Winter, Jesse, and even Sebastian who later shows up offering his much needed expertise. I have never been to Korea. I have no desire to travel there with everything going on in the Asia-Pacific region. But, I do want to try the delicious food that the author mixes into her story. Stokes does a remarkable job of weaving her characters into the real world environment that she has chosen. Stokes could have played it safe and stayed in St. Louis for the duration of this series. Instead, she upped her game even more with elements of surprise, action, and relationship moments that are finally sussed out. 

Winter's DID isn't covered up by the author, but explored with phone calls to her psychiatrist. Winter's worries about a relationship with Jesse isn't just a crutch for the story. It is an important ingredient to the final product that is filled with diverse and curious characters. Winter being a broken character who attempts to rise from her issues with DID is what made me yearn for this sequel. A sequel that might actually even better than the first installment.

You know how to avoid the underwhelming 2nd book in a trilogy…make it a duology and the problem is solved. At least with this duo it is.
Leah's Bookish Obsession
Ferocious (Vicarious) - Paula Stokes


Book Title: Ferocious
Author: Paula Stokes
Series: Vicarious #2 (duology)
Genre: Older YA, Science Fiction, Thriller
Publisher: Macmillan-Tor/Forge
Setting: LA and Seoul, South Korea
Source: I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review


⇝Add to Goodreads⇜









⇝My Thoughts⇜


⇝First off I want to thank Paula Stokes for making sure I received an arc of this personally ⇜


I feel that Ferocious rocked for a second/final book. It's well paced, action packed, and never boring. In my review for Vicarious I said this is a toned down not-quite-so-violent Kill Bill meets Strange Days, and this is true for the second book too…just less Strange Days and more Pretty Girl-13, which is another story about a girl with DID. It also has the added bonus of Jesse and Winter's romance…so sweet and blended in seamlessly with all the action going on.

This begins right where book 1 left off…and has Winter more than ready to get her revenge on Kyung for everything he has done to her family. Once the setting changes to Seoul, everything ratchets up a notch. The food, people and culture descriptions, are so well researched I felt like I was there myself.

Oh yeah...one more thing...this duo would make an excellent movie or movies.

⇝Ratings Breakdown⇜

Plot: 5/5
Main Characters: 5/5
Secondary Characters: 5/5
The Feels: 4.8/5
Addictiveness: 4.8/5
Theme or Tone: 5/5
Flow (Writing Style): 5/5
Backdrop (World Building): 5+/5
Originality: 5/5
Book Cover: 5/5
Ending: 5/5 Cliffhanger: Nope, not at all.
Total: 5/5 STARS

Will I read more from this Author? Most definitely.

I really enjoyed Vicarious last year, so I was super excited when Ferocious popped up on NetGalley! With Girl Against the Universe Paula Stokes quickly earned a spot among my favorite authors, and each new book from her just proves how diverse her talents are. She created such an interesting near future world to tell Winter's story, and it just got deeper and more complex with Ferocious . The VISE technology was fun to explore further in book two without it feeling too dense. Winter's struggles with both her situation and her own head were well-drawn, and I felt invested almost immediately even though I didn't have time to reread book one before jumping in. I did struggle a bit with the fact that Winter's perspective really didn't feel like a teen's, and the stakes didn't feel quite as dire as they did in book one. But overall, this is a great conclusion to the duology.

I received this ARC from the publisher, via Netgalley, in exchange for an honest and voluntary review. I was in no way compensated for this review.


PLEASE NOTE THAT THERE WILL BE SPOILERS FROM VICARIOUS WITHIN THIS REVIEW. READ WITH CAUTION!

Paula Stokes amps up the intrigue and adventure with Ferocious, the follow-up and conclusion to Vicarious! We pretty much pick up where we left off and see that Winter is making her plans for revenge against Kyung who essentially ruined her life and killed all the people that she loved. We also learned Winter’s secret, one that she didn’t even realize was a part of her, and that of course is that she has Dissociative Identity Disorder, and we get to see more of this play out throughout the novel. Even getting to read through two of her identity’s points of view.

Winter finds herself traveling solo while Jesse and Baz are in the hospital, healing from their wounds due to the big showdown tat the end of Vicarious. Among the many things she’s learned about herself is that she happens to have a younger brother who might still be alive. Her goal is to find him and get him off to safety before making a move against Kyung who’s already started contacting her wanting to get Gideon’s technology from her.

This one packs quite the punch for action! If the first one was more about the mystery and intrigue, this one’s definitely about action and espionage! Not long into her journey though, a part of Winter finds she will need more help and Jesse and Baz are quick to the rescue! There’s a lot more traveling in this one! Winter goes from St. Louis to L.A. to Korea! It’s a race against the clock to find Kyung and get back what was stolen before he can use it for his own sinister purposes!

I like that in this one, we get to see a bit more of Winter’s condition. I was pretty intrigued with Dissociative Identity Disorder when I was in a psychology course, I even read Sybil for further research purposes. Winter developed some of her primary identities when she was younger and the abuse she suffered while working for Kyung. And the fact that Paula put so much detail into her disorder was remarkable! It really opens your eyes to this kind of disorder and I even liked that we have Winter trying to help herself this time by contacting her previous doctor to get some advice on certain things. It showed progress for Winter’s own character development.

And can I say again how much I love Jesse? Winter has her issues with Jesse when she learned one of her identities took over for her and instigated something with Jesse. Now Jesse has to gain back her trust and Winter has learn to trust him again as well. Winter’s struggles felt very real. I appreciated that fact. At times she felt like she was going back and forth with her emotions, but given the situation she found herself in, I think that reflects reality a bit. Feelings and emotions aren’t always so black and white. And that we see Jesse and Winter basically starting over again, it kind of hit the right “feels” button at their budding romance!

I liked Paula’s use of shock factor in this one! There were so many twists and turns and turnarounds! It was like whoa! Just when I think I have something figured out, Paula would shake up all the pieces again! And I loved it! I loved how things were never quite the way they appeared to be in this one! The action was well paced too! If you weren’t having exciting and thrilling moments, you were having tension building moments that would lead to those action filled moments, or even watching some great character growth on Winter’s part! This was truly one remarkable read! And the ending was just right too!

Ferocious was the perfect kind of conclusion to Vicarious! I enjoyed taking this journey with Winter and learning a few things too! This was definitely one fun and exciting duology! I’ll be keeping an eye on Paula’s books from now on!


Overall Rating 4.5/5 stars



Ferocious releases August 15, 2017

Ferocious was definitely a wild ride, although I'm a little disappointed the stakes were way lower than in the first book. I mean the first book was "SOLVE SISTER'S MURDER" but this book was like "STEAL BACK TECHNOLOGY" and I just struggled to feel anywhere near as invested. I'm very much less emotionally attached to technology than I am with sister-stories. But I do like the plot twists! And the romance was A+ with Winter x Jesse's slowburn relationship being absolutely adorable and full of really well written character development. I am so pleased.

I loved the amount of action scenes! There was plenty of climbing buildings, death-defying acts, stabbing, guns, and scary moments. Winter was downright badass and epic the whole time.

It's mostly set in Korea, which was just incredibly written. The details pop off the page and you really feel like you're *there* in the story. I could really tell the author had lived in Korea a while and was putting in little detailed touches that just made all the difference. Also the food = delicious.

It really delves deeper into Winter's mental illness and it was explored really well. I also think it's 100% awesome that it included a positive and healthy outlook on therapy and getting help. A lot of books fall into the trap of making that a villain? But not so here.

I cannot root for Jesse and Winter enough! Plus I loved that their relationship (firstly starting as friendship) is built on respect. Jesse knows what Winter has been through and he won't push or make demands. He's so sweet. And Winter is so respectful of him too as she figures out if she has room to love. They had such cute moments. Jesse was adorable and quite vulnerable in this book too, so I'm pleased we got to see that side of him.

Plus there were some glorious dialogue moments that had me smirking to myself.

My real only downside was struggling to stay invested and engaged in the long action scenes. Sometimes their ploys and plots to get back the technology seemed over-convoluted and tedious. I wanted more of the characters instead of a plot I wasn't invested in.

Ferocious was a very satisfying conclusion to Winter's story, I just wasn't fully invested in the actual plot line. But the ending was super good and exciting!

Disclaimer: I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest shared review.

Ferocious is the second book in a duology, the first book being Vicarious. If you have not read the first book, please be advised that this review will contain spoilers of the first book.

At the end of Vicarious, Winter found out that her sister Rose had already been dead for a number of years and that she actually has dissociative identity disorder (also known as DID). In an explosive finale of the first book, Winter’s friend and boss Gideon is murdered. Her friend and co-worker Jesse has been gravely injured, and Baz, Gideon’s friend, has been injured as well. This was all done as an attempt by Kyung to have his men steal the VISE equipment for some nefarious purposes.

Ferocious begins where Vicarious left off. Fortunately, if you read the first book but don’t have time to re-read it, Stokes does very briefly recap the events that took place in the first book. This allowed me to immediately re-enter the world. Winter begins in a hunt to find and kill Kyung, the person responsible for trafficking Winter and Rose as well as the person directly and indirectly responsible for the deaths of Rose and Gideon.

Along the way, the reader is transported to both Los Angeles and Seoul, Korea as Winter hunts for Kyung. She initially plans to do this alone until an event in Los Angeles occurs that leaves her having two different “alters” (a separate personality) take over and seeking out her friend Jesse for help. Now, the hunt is on to not just kill Kyung but also to recover the VISE equipment which has been stolen for some unknown purpose.

As the plot progresses, there are several heart pulsing moments common to a thriller. This one, unlike Vicarious, does focus more on interpersonal relationships that begin to become romantic relationships. While Vicarious does deal with that as well, Ferocious does so much more heavily. I’ll admit that I was not initially thrilled about the appearance of romance elements. However, as I continued to read, I realized that the romance elements were absolutely crucial for Winter’s ultimate character development. Without the romance elements, the book would likely have ended quite differently.

A couple notes too about the diversity in the book:

Stokes’ take on DID is done in a way that comes off as very well researched and respectfully done. However, it is not written as a textbook would be written but simply as a part of Winter. As Winter learns more about DID herself, this is the only part where the clinical speak does come in a little bit. I do not have DID so I cannot comment on the representation.

Winter is Korean, and the book takes place primarily in Seoul. While Stokes is not Korean, she has lived there, and she also used beta readers. Here’s a link to her blog with several links explaining the process she went through to write outside of her own culture: http://www.authorpaulastokes.com/2016/08/vicarious-blog-tour-introduction.html
(I know writing outside of your own experiences is a huge deal in the diverse books movement so I want to point out all that she did to try to get it right.)

Finally, this is a very satisfying read and conclusion to Vicarious. If you enjoyed Vicarious, you will enjoy this one too.

Overall rating: 4/5

ARC copy given to me for honest review...Very much an action packed read and a nice finisher to the series. Nice touch the VICE technology and exploring how it can be used for evil purposes and why the "bad guys" are so eager to kill for it. Nice to see a nice depiction of a cyberpunk style Seoul, Korea....For example, Gangnam is an actual area (not just as internet joke) and it's known to be on the "high-class" side plus it's true corporations in that part of the world do handle/invest in widely fields of business under one umbrella. Finally it's interesting to see Winter multiple personalities come into play....is she a reliable narrator or not? Is what we're reading true or not?