Thank you for the opportunities to read this book. I have attempted it on a number of occasions but unfortunately I haven’t been able to get into it.

Second Born is a dystopian thriller in which your worth is established by your place in the birth order in your family. First Born children have every advantage. Not so for second or third born children.

This is a great young adult novel. Amy A. Bartol has created a fascinating dystopian society and I think young adults will enjoy this first book in a new series. It will be fascinating to find out what happens in the rest of the series.

I rate this as 4 out of 5 Stars

3 stars — Oh dear. Where to start. There were glimmers of interesting things going on, but not really enough to suck me in and make up for what *wasn’t* working for me.

We’ll start with the narrator. Ms. Reinders was solidly in the okay category. She didn’t grate on my nerves, there was some inflection, but I needed something more from her to make her stand out. In the end I think listening to the story was a bit of a disservice, because while she doesn’t have a flat narration style, there wasn’t enough emotion and interest to really allow me to connect with Roselle. Honestly, it was flat enough that I started to notice sentences being all the same length, which is not something I’m usually attuned to. In addition, her other character voices left me underwhelmed. There wasn’t always a lot of difference in them, and while I thought she did an okay Hawthorne and Agent Crow, I found her choice for Clifton to be…odd. It made him sound flighty or something. I’m not entirely sure what she was going for, but apparently it didn’t work for me. If I decide to read the rest of the trilogy, I *won’t* be listening to them.

I’m usually all about the characters in books, and part of the reason this book didn’t get rated higher is that I didn’t connect with any of them in this story. I didn’t find Roselle to be that interesting of a character, and there was nothing for me to relate to. We’re told a lot of her stellar qualities, but we don’t necessarily see them in action. I appreciated her complete mastery of all things soldier/fighting, but outside of that she was a conundrum. She would have these amazing moments where she would quip a witty retort to some asshat, and then she’d be all meek and supposedly helpless. It didn’t work. I couldn’t personally make it work in my head. I needed more consistency from her.

And OMG, I think I might have to give up on Ms. Bartol, even though I adore her in person. She LOVES making her heroines universally loved/lusted by EVERY SINGLE MALE IN THE BOOK. That’s not my bag baby. It’s why I haven’t finished any of her series actually. I don’t relate to that, I don’t get it, it doesn’t make any of her relationships special, and it doesn’t make her stand out (even though that is its *exact* purpose). As for this story, I didn’t connect with a single one of her suitors. The relationship with Hawthorne developed at LIGHTSPEED and was completely unbelievable to me. What in the world did they bond over? It felt superficial and rushed. And Hawthorne was just another bland hero trying to save the girl. Meh.

As for Clifton and Reykin (whom I’m assuming are the other two potential love interests), nothing much sets them apart either. Clifton comes across kind of older and creepy and possessive…though there was a glimmer of depth near the end. I wish we’d seen more of *that*. Reykin…well, honestly I have no idea. Maybe we’ll know more in the next books.

As per usual, there are essentially no other strong female characters, no female friends for Roselle to rely on. I’ve started noticing this since it’s been pointed out to me, and it’s disappointing when it’s missing.

Agent Crow was creepy as fuck, so well done on the villain. Though I honestly prefer a more subtle villain myself, Crow was a bit over the top for me.

So besides characters/chemistry, what does that leave us? World building and plot/action. And this was a mixed bag for me. There were SO MANY DETAILS to keep straight that I honestly got overwhelmed, and I’m still confused. But at the same time, what I did understand fascinated me, and sets itself up for some interesting future machinations! Honestly, while characters are the thing for me, if I have an amazing world/plot to fall back on, it can make up for it and still blow me away. This one wasn’t quite there, hence the middling rating. I was just left with a lot more questions: how did this world come to be this way? What was the purpose of the factions? How long has this birth order thing been a thing?

So yeah. Super mixed bag. If I hadn’t gotten the rest of the trilogy from NetGalley, I wouldn’t have hesitated in abandoning the series. It’s interesting, but not mind-blowing. However, I *do* have the rest in ARCs, so now I’m torn. Perhaps I’ll at least try the next book and see if I get more of the good stuff…

Actual rating of 4.5 stars! We all know that Bartol does a really great job of writing imaginative worlds with fully-realized characters and romances that have your heart pitter-pattering. I enjoyed this one quite a bit and liked her take on a dystopian world. She never disappoints me, and I distinctly remember thinking that I wanted the next installment immediately.

Thank you to the publisher for letting me have a copy of this book.

It was a great story that had me gripped from page one. I couldn’t put it down

Loved this book, as I love all of Amy Bartol's books. Exciting, action-packed and well-imagined with a romance thread that kept me hooked and wanting more. Exciting to see how the series develops!

I read the first 20 % of this novel and just couldn't get into it. I didn't really like the world-building and the characters were just kind of bland.

Honestly, this is one of the most reductive things I have ever read. It was just what you would expect from a dystopian young adult book in what could be a really cool world/society, but wasn’t developed enough to be great. Everything was 200% predictable; from the rebellion, to the romance. This book had such a great premise and could not follow through.

What I liked:

-The notion of Firstborns and Secondborns as well as the realization that relegating an entire people to servitude based on an arbitrary characteristic would eventually lead to rebellion. Had the potential for something great. [Reminded me of Margaret Peterson Haddix’s Among the Hidden which I remember loving when I was growing up.]

What I didn’t like:

-The characters are flat, two-dimensional, and read more like stock characters necessary to fulfill a role. Roselle is too much of a hot commodity that can do no wrong. Hawthorne is too much of a sexy, bad boy with no real personality traits other than trying to get into Roselle’s pants. The bad guys are bad. The rich and privileged are rich and privileged. Everyone fit their stereotype exactly.

-Spoiler (?): There’s a scene where Roselle is standing in the middle of the locker room, shaving her legs. Apparently, only the firstborns or supermodels shave their legs and everyone else in that locker room was completely taken aback and entranced by her in a towel, shaving. The girls were somewhat disgusted or jealous and the boys were all drooling. And when she’s told that most women soldiers don’t shave, she is instantly apologizing and asking if they’ll thing it’s gross. I don’t even know what to do with this. Performative femininity at it’s finest.

-Everything just fell into place, even when things went wrong, there was always a reason for it. The solutions just sort of presented themselves. Part of it was supposed to be about these unknown powers pulling strings the protagonist didn’t know about, but it was definitely very contrived. Even the twist about who was supposedly pulling the strings was a little too...ehh.

-There were a lot of holes in the timeline, a lot of days and weeks where nothing happened but we don’t see much development in anything. The plot is all or nothing and it messes up the pacing, making the action scenes that much more predictable. Just because there was no action happening doesn’t mean we don’t want to read about the day-to-day to get to know our characters or the world they live in.

Sci-Fi remains a genre I'll read but not one I seek out. I was truly excited to see a new series from Amy Bartol pop up on the free Kindle monthly. There is a strong pull to the dystopian worlds that Bartol creates. They are certainly space operas but they also have a touch of the fantasy that makes me want to pick it up.


While the world in the "Secondborn" series is in space and time far different than our own, the characters are the same unrealistic level of gorgeous with a penchant for instantaneous love at first sight. I could certainly live without those aspects, but that's why the characters interact so wonderfully together.


This isn't the first time an author has come up with a dystopian world where one people subjugate all the others to their vanity and frivolity. It isn't even the first time an author has written a story about young female protagonist becomes the symbol of hope for an entire rebellion.


What this story gives is an exciting adventure and exactly why I pick up a book. According to Bartol's website, the other two books have been scheduled for publication already. They are releasing less than a year apart!

Have you ever asked yourself what you would choose or have become if given the freedom to do so? In a world where firstborns rule and secondborns are basically slaves, made to support firstborns, Roselle St. Sismode must accept her fate and transition into a role she was bred to fill. Thrust into the life of a soldier she must not only learn to adapt and survive the enemy on the battlefield, but also the one close to home.

Amy Bartol has created a brilliant and fascinating sci-fi, dystopian story that weaves action, adventure and romance throughout. Her masterful skills as a world-builder transports the reader into a descriptive and detailed setting that comes alive before your eyes. The characters - both main and secondary - are rich and complex and you will find yourself fully immersed in their struggle; cheering them on and holding your breath. The intense, edge of your seat action will make you wonder how you finished so quickly and leave you wanting more.

Secondborn is a beautiful, layered, multi-dimensional start to a new series by the incredible Amy Bartol. The wait for the next book will be tough.

The premise doesn't sound all that different from many other YA fantasy/dystopian novels out there, but the world-building here really makes no sense even within itself, and falls apart at a breath of logic. One can get past that, if desired, by an attachment to characters and plot, but the characters and dialogue are not good, and the plot is kind of a mess. I unfortunately didn't get very far with this.

I think this book had a lot going for it. There were plenty of elements that definitely piqued my interests. It's set in an interesting dystopian world similar to Hunger Games (with trials, caste systems, political intrigue, interesting tech, etc.) in addition to cyborgs, fusion-blades (lightsabers?) and several fight scenes. Sounds fun, right? Unfortunately it really just fell short for me. I think this was mostly due to the execution and editing and not necessarily the overall idea and writing.

There were so many unique themes and ideas that never felt fully fleshed out to me. There was little to no character building or world building. Aspects of the world, including the politics of the world, would be brought up and then not fully explained, and in some cases never even mentioned again. It all just felt very clunky and thrown together, which ultimately just left me confused.

Overall I think the writing was not bad or disinteresting and there were a lot of good ideas present, but the story could have used a bit of sprucing up and fleshing out in more places for me to fully enjoy it.

Loved it! I've become a fan of Bartol and look forward to reading her books. Can't wait for the 2nd book in this series.

It's a long time since I read a book from Amy and I was excited to try this one.First of all I fell in love with the cover! So I start this being excited but I find my self being confused many times through the story.Everything felt too foreign and I had to reread some parts more than once. I think it has great potentials and probably the next book will be much better!

This is a frustrating 4 stars for me because it should be 5.
Secondborn is a wonderful dystopian teen novel that belongs alongside Divergent, Hunger Games and the Maze Runner; up until it shatters itself for no good reason.
Amy A. Bartol does a really good job of setting up her dystopian society (though a poor job of explaining why society is that way but I can overlook this miss) and helping us to understand the hierarchy of firstborn, secondborn and (god forbid) third or less born. She illustrates imaginative buildings that if shown on the silver screen would be gorgeous; and all the while keeping your attention because she shows us things instead of telling us. Our lead gal is strong, interesting, if a little consistent sometimes (but aren't we all?).
It all seems to be coming together beautifully. A villain is introduced, family dynamics are a mess and friends plus a romantic interest show up and things are really clicking. There's action that develops the characters forward and a lot of plot, but it's all easily understood.
And then Bartol makes a CRITICAL MISTAKE, that nearly ruins the whole book for me.
She takes this wonderfully set-up, moving forward group of people and jumps forward one year. Which means, we have to assume the relationships have grown (including the romance between lead gal and boy), catch up on politics, hear in passing about momentous battles and just assume the development of everything. UGH!

So, what should have happened?
This first book in the series should have ended with the major event that happens shortly after the year break. Having the story in that year be fleshed out and relationships developed would have been perfect. Then when our major event happens it would have everyone dying for book 2.
It's a calculated error, if you will, because I get that the time jump allows more exciting things to transpire in this book. But plot moving forward at the risk of the world and characters you've built is the wrong choice here.
Bartol has a compelling writing style. It did occur to me a few times that maybe the flow of the story was inconsistent; but by no means did it stop me from picking up the book.
I'm sorry to give this book only 4 stars but the gap in time just killed the momentum for me and makes all the relationship things that happen after it difficult to believe because I felt like it just skipped ahead and nothing felt genuine. I want to believe in the live and devotion these characters developed during that one year but I wish I had experienced it myself.

I will read book 2, but I think I'll always mourn that missing year. Maybe to fix the hole Bartol can write a novella to bridge the gap...

I loved Amy Bartol's Kricket series, so I was excited to start a new one in Secondborn.

I did enjoy Secondborn and consumed it as quickly as possible, however I was often confused (maybe because I read it so fast?). In a world where first born children rule and second born children serve the first born, Roselle is born not only born second, she's born into one of the most powerful families. Brought up to be a soldier, that's all she knows -- no parental or sibling affection, no love, just fighting. Accepting her fate as a soldier, Roselle is unaware of all the dangers that surround her because of who her family is.

It's fairly fast-paced, with romance, action, and political intrigue, however I don't get a strong feeling of who Roselle actually is. She seems like a hardcore soldier with a heart, but I'd like to have seen more of character development/description for Roselle and others. I will continue reading the series for sure and overall, I liked Secondborn.

4 <b>Fates of the Republic</b> Stars
I love this new spin on a Dystopia world. It is like the author took all the different dystopias (Game of thrones, Red Queen, Divergent and the Hunger Games and creating a world that has a bit of all of those in one story.

This story is about Roselle St. Sismode who is a secondborn she is sent away to serve as is her duty as a secondborn and leaves behind the only family she has ever known (Dune who isn’t biologically family). Roselle has been video tapped for the world to watch her train and grow up and most battle is done in her moves. Roselle finds out quickly the world either wants her dead or is in awe of her.

Roselle quickly learns that everyone is lying and everyone is following their own agenda regardless of birth order, rank or money. Roselle quickly learns you cant trust anyone.. even the man you fell in love with. OR can you??
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This book ends all of a sudden I wouldn’t call it a cliffhanger but I would say there are no answers given to anything in book 1 . book 2 doesn’t release until April 2018 so I will be impatiently waiting for that.
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https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2080052193
Pick a side , pick a character, prepare to hate and love everything that unfolds. Nothing is what it appears to be and no one is who they appear to be. </spoiler>

I loved this! This was a great start to a new Dystopia series and I had a really hard time putting this down. I listened to the audible version and have nothing but good things to say about the narrator. I am limited to when I can listen and if I had the time, I would have listened straight through to the end.

I'm a fan of this kind of series and I especially love a female warrior. I really liked Roselle's character.
The unfairness to her situation and all Second Born situations makes you root hard for her to succeed. So much seems to be against her that you can't really see that happening. I also liked that I couldn't predict what needed to happen for her to cause change. By the end of this book, I'm still not sure how she is going to succeed.

This did have the feel of Hunger Games, but with it's own unique twist. I will be anxiously waiting for book 2!

First off, thank god I'm a first born. In Bartol's world I would not be able to live Roselle's life as a second born. Being on live feed from birth for all to see, that's just wrong. Sure, she has some privacy but it's very limited. I'm glad she has Hawthorne watching out for her since she was a little girl. Because with such a horrible mother Roselle needs all the help and love she can get. This mother of her hers made me so angry, I wanted to slap her. And then there is Agent Crow. Urgh! I hate, hate, hate him. All I could think was: Can someone please kill him?! Overall, this was a very good start to a new series and I can't wait for the next book. I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thanks to NetGalley and 47North!

I loved this book from the start, Amy Bartol has such a way with writing that pulls you in and you cant put the book down, her female heroines are so strong and naturally leaders (that isn't forced upon us and made to like them) Roselle will literally kick your arse in some form or another, I cant wait to see what happens in this trilogy and will her Mother and brother survive in this world? (I hope not!)