DNF @ 4%

This book and I really just didn't agree. When on the first page the romance is the first thing mentioned -- a girl making googly eyes over a boy who may or may not like her across the fire while cooking... bats, I wasn't impressed. The cooking bats part and how the skins are used for clothing?? Um, yes??! But that is pushed into the background for a very emotional teen girl who likes the boy next door (pretty much) and her ex-best friend is now a B**** who is trying to get that boy's attention even though she could have any other boy (cue rolling eyes)

It is just too cliche for me when the world-building in the deep background should be front and center. Hello, USING BATS FOR CLOTHING? Living in the forest??

With what I was giving in the beginning, I assume most of the book will be like this and I just didn't want to go through all the cliches and silly angst. Just not the book for me.

The world has been destroyed. To survive, people live in rustic villages, bound by their common struggle to scratch out a living and defend themselves against those who are stronger - those who would use their strength to take what they desire. Sorrel has only know this world, but it was an existence has hardened her and enables her to go forward even though her world had come crashing down. Mutants attacked her village, kidnapped her best friend, David, and her little brother, Eli. As one of the sole survivors of the attack, Sorrel feels compelled to find and rescue them. However, her rescue plans soon go awry, and she needs rescuing of her own. When an opportunity presents itself in the form of a mutant, named Einstein, she struggles over whether or not she can trust him. Her village had taught her that all mutated life should be destroyed. However, Einstein may be her only means of escape... and perhaps her only true friend. In this upside-down world, Sorrel isn't the only one who is confused. As David and Eli are marched as prisoners through the wilderness to a new town, the mutant in charge takes over Eli's care, and the two develop a deep bond. This world is much bigger and more confusing than either Sorrel or David knew. What is true? It is obvious to all that things needs to change, but what does that mean and how should one bring about that change? Those are just a few of the unanswered question that resound in the characters' minds as the story marches steadily on.

Though the New Dark started abruptly, I liked the book overall. The interesting story line, the characters, and the unique world in which they now live drew me in. Unfortunately, the book ended just as soon as it seemed to begin. I would have loved a little more world development. How did all of this happen? Why are their mutants? Things like that... Despite its shortcomings, I can honestly say that I consumed the story in one gulp and am thirsty for the next part. Once I started reading, I didn't stop until I hit the last page. I would love to see what happens next. The story ends well - preparing the reader for the next installment. What will happen to Sorrel? What about David? How will the world change?

Thank you to NetGalley and to Bastei Entertainment for providing a free e-Galley of this book for review. All opinions contained above are my own.

I love mutant’s stories, so this felt as a good choice for my first requested book.

The story line is pretty interesting, but it got a little bit slow a couple of times. I liked the idea that good and evil’s lines were blurred, and you had to figure out which side you are on, what is truth and what is just manipulation.
I didn’t get as invested on the main characters as I like to be, which was a bummer.

Overall, this book wasn't meant for me, it felt perfect for a middle grader level.
Love the cover!

I did not love this book and I could it hard to get into. The idea was brilliant and different than other books that I have read in this same genre but the character development was sparse and not detailed enough to hold my attention. I could not really relate to any of the characters or really put myself in their shoes.

This book was extremely hard for me to finish. Not only were the characters not likable at all but the lack of focus and direction kept me from wanting to continue reading. There was an abundance of grammatical and punctuation errors that had me wishing it was a physical copy so I could go through and edit it myself.

I had to battle through this book to get it finished. It's 221 pages long, but to me it felt like it would never be over. I wanted to give this book the fairest chance possible, but it didn't work too well.

The New Dark tells the story of Sorrel, a girl living in a post-apocalyptic settlement of Amat, where there is no electrical energy, no currency, no internet. Those things are from the time Before. When she survives an attack by mutants and hides from them, a chain of events gets started - and she must be brave and face dangers if she wants to see her little brother Eli and her friend David ever again.
As I read the first pages of the book, I frowned, deeper and deeper. I sincerely couldn't believe this was the post-editing version of the book - The New Dark felt amateurish in its writing from the very beginning, but to its credit it does get better as the book goes - which is why it got 2 stars instead of 1.

Sorrel is so absolutely impossible to cheer for - a brat with little talent for anything except being "special" because she has a birthmark. Literally, that is all. Throughout the whole book, it's hammered into our brains how people think she's special because she has a birthmark.

I also didn't appreciate the girl-hate in the book, nor the pacing. It went way too fast, throwing names of characters that we hardly could care about before they were killed. The romance between Sorrel and David is also hardly more than some flirting in the beginning of the book, and then at some point he seems to become "the man she loves" although nothing really pointed to that at all.

I will end my rant-view here, because really, I could go on and on, but I think my point is made. With so many sci-fis, post-apocalyptic worlds, so many cool dystopian YAs, I think it's not worth reading this series.

I do think the author has potential, she clearly has creativity, and a tendency to write dark stories, which I really like, so I don't completely discard reading more from her in the future.

This book was a DNF for me. Personally, the opening scenes were hard to plow through and even after I had a hard time focusing on the story. The summary and the cover definitely gave me great vibes but the story itself just didn't pull me in right away, and that is something I really look for in a book.

Book Talk II 1/19/18
Traci Kenworth

The New Dark Lorraine Thompson. Bastei Entertainment. Nov. 2017. Netgalley. YA Dystopian.

As always, blurb from GoodReads: "She thought she knew who she was and where she came from. Then her home was destroyed. Her brother lost amongst the ashes. And the boy she loves vanished. She owed her own survival to a mutant — the very forces behind the destruction. Now Sorrel will never be the same again."



There is no "Before", there is only "Now". Because now there’s no internet, no TV, no power grid. Food is scarce, and the world’s a hostile place. But Sorrel lives a quiet life in the tiny settlement of Amat. It’s all she’s ever known ...

Until a gang of marauding mutants destroys the village, snatching her brother Eli, and David, her boyfriend. Sorrel sets out after them, embarking on a journey fraught with danger. Can she survive? The only thing that keeps her going is Eli and David. They are out there somewhere. They must be alive. And if she has her way, she will find them.



THE NEW DARK is the first book in a new YA-trilogy and will be published in November 2017. The second and third books in the series (THE NEW DAWN & THE NEW DAY) will be released in 2018.

My review: Sorrel’s village is raided after a fight with her mother. Her mother is killed and her brother stolen by mutants. Her boyfriend, David, is also taken with Eli. Sorrel determines to free them. On her way to save the day, she is bitten and falls ill. She wakes up in the camp of the Free, a weird, religious cult. They want to marry her off to their leader. Though she fights to be free, the only one who will help her is a mutant.
She tries to go off on her on, but there is a hunting party of the Free searching for her. Will she make it to Dinawl to free her brother and David? Will she learn that some mutants can be trusted? Or will a more sinister plot await them?

The characters could use a little more defining. I’m not sure I got a good grasp on them. The setting was bleak and unforgiving, exactly what a Dystopian should be. The plot went together well. I would read more of the series, just to see what happens. I felt that they cut things off a bit too soon in the end.

***

This book was strange and I struggled to stay interested. The characters weren't particularly interesting or complex.

I liked the base elements. We've got some mysterious, near apocalyptic event that lead to difficulty living and some level of mutation. This leads to human trafficking and discrimination. So the bones are decent if somewhat predictable. The actual, line to line, writing though was less than fantastic. Almost painful at times. Dialogue is awkward and unnatural.

Well the cover is gorgeous and the synopsis is amazing. I was drawn to the book from the synopsis, but that is as far as the praise can go. This book has potential but it jumps around entirely to much and is a bit hard to follow. I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book from Netgalley.

It needs a revamp, it needs more answers! I have so many, many, oh so MANY unanswered questions! Argggg! I'd love to see this book reworked and some answers put in place. Then it wouldn't drive me bonkers or feel like you missed some major plot where a chapter or two was ripped out that had what you needed.

My copy came from Net Galley. My thoughts and opinions are my own. This review is left of my own free volition.

This was by far the dumbest book I have read this year. I mean. I finished it which I see is more than some. I just felt so disappointed since the cover looked so lovely. I mean, I liked it enough to finish it (but contemplated multiple times on stopping), but I didn't love it, won't read another if there is one....I just felt NOTHING towards anyone or anything.

Yet another YA dystopian quest fantasy with a young female heroine destined (special triskelion birthmark!) to save everyone and lead to a more enlightened future whilst finding herself. Set in the second generation after some unspecified apocalyptic event that broke down society and left most technology nonfunctional and all but forgotten (despite being roughly 15 years ago), Sorrel goes on a disconnected quest to reunite with her brother and love interest.

There are glimmers of real potential for something out of the ordinary in this first book. I hope the author develops the world further and shares more backstory for the events leading up to the present and the reasons for them. I had a lot of problems with the motivations for many of the characters, and the dialogue was very uneven and awkward in places. The love interest subplot felt tacked on, honestly. It's a YA dystopian novel with a female protagonist, ergo there must be a love interest. He's unappealing and not very compassion inducing. Sorrel herself is prickly and immature and I spent most of the book really wishing someone would shake her. Nearly ALL of the characters wind up making uninformed naive choices that nearly get them killed (taking free drinks from someone you have just said that you don't trust in a dangerous strange place? Not the best judgement on display).

There are a lot of uncomfortable themes including sexual abuse, slavery, racism, violence, torture, etc.

The biggest problem with this book for me was that whatever cataclysmic event(s) which changed the world happened, they happened roughly 15-20 years previous to the narrative. That is not nearly enough time for societies to form and splinter, developing independent culture and language, and despite the story arc happening in cities that are walking distance from one another, none of them were really aware of one another. There was so much emphasis on really creepy passages (they're basically the only ones which are well written and fleshed out). The almost-sexual-abuse was creepy in a sustained manner. It just went on and on. The roving mutants who attack the peaceful settlement and triggered the whole story are not explained at all. They just come out of nowhere and maim and murder and rampage.

It was also difficult for me to form any sort of bond with Sorrel. She murders, tortures, poisons and whines her way through the book. She's not likable in the slightest.

This was a very difficult book to enjoy. I am, admittedly, not the target audience, perhaps people who really enjoy YA dystopian novels will like this one.

Two and a half stars

I really loved the premise of this story and the way it's written. It might have used a little polish in writing style before publication but over all quite a good read. It's not a key component in the story really but a little more as to what "Before" was and why all the mutants would have been good, While I liked the characters they needed a little more depth, I didn't really connect with them on any level.

This book read like someone took all the dystopian/new world/post-apocolyptic plotlines and smushed them all together. There were the people trying to live off the earth because there is no longer electricity etc., the people who believe in a coming savior, mutants, secret tunnels, separated lovers, families destroyed... I felt like Ms. Thomson should have taken Coco Chanel's advice re: accessories - look in the mirror and take one off. (Or possibly two or three) Too much going on, too many slow chapters, too many chapters that sped through what could have been interesting topics... read more like a first draft to me.

In a dystopian world created by Lorraine Thomson, Sorrel lives in her small village. Her life is unrewarding, but easy. She has a blooming love with her childhood friend David, a lifelong nemesis named Mara, a struggling relationship with her mother, and two younger siblings to take care of. When mutants attack her village, though, her whole world is flipped on its head. Her mother is killed, her friends and brother taken, and her entire home burned to the ground. Now, she must navigate a strange and complicated world with only her knife and feisty personality to keep her safe. 

I was drawn to this book by the summary provided. The description of the "Before" world and the "Now" was interesting, especially once you find out that the main antagonists of the story are mutants. Although, these are less like X-Men mutants and more like the survivors of a nuclear holocaust. I've always loved dystopian stories and I was especially encouraged by having a female main character. 

The world created in The New Dark is interesting and creative. There are veiled references to the "Before" AKA our modern world, with cars and shopping malls. It's unclear what happened to our world, but it's implied there's been some sort of nuclear war. Technology has been set back by about 500 years, some children are born as mutants who are either killed or cast out to live in exile, and humanity survives in small pockets of diverse communities. It was fun to explore this world, figure out what the new rules are, and watch Sorrel explore without the help of a guide. What's great about this version of reality is the lack of black and white values. No character is purely evil or purely good, the main characters and antagonists included. 

The plot was quick and exciting. It was incredibly quick paced and I was able to read it in a day. There's few moments of rest, which is sometimes exhausting but mostly exciting. The narration alternates between Sorrel's point of view as the traverses the wild world she's found herself in and David, who has been sold into slavery. During Sorrel's story, she encounters humans, mutants and monsters of all sorts. She learns to trust no one and gets herself in a good bit of trouble. In David's side of the story, he fights for freedom for himself and the other young people of Sorrel's village while continually getting himself in even worse situations. I sometimes enjoyed the alternative perspectives, but other times felt frustrated and manipulated when the author ended on a cliff hanger and then jumped to a different point of view. Additionally, its clear that there is a sequel in the works, so the ending left me feeling confused and curious.

The part of the novel I struggled with the most was the characters. Since we jump so quickly into the story and don't get to spend much time with these characters before the mutants attack, it's hard to feel attached to them. Once we're into the heavy action of the plot we never get to learn about these characters or have them develop. It was difficult to connect to Sorrel or David or truly understand why they felt such a strong romantic connection to each other. I can see that the author wants them to be together, but I don't know enough about the characters and their relationships to feel like I would fight along side them for their relationship. I understand both Sorrel and David on a superficial level, but struggle to describe them beyond a "strong female archetype" and "loyal male hero archetype." 

The book is great for lovers of fantasy and science fiction, specifically those who like dystopian stories. You can expect a quick and entertaining read for this book, but don't expect to dig much into the characters or have a full conclusion at the end. I'm interested to read more of this author's work and see if the next book offers some closure that the first in the series left open.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free digital ARC of this book. This book is true to its title description. The reader won't be disappointed when reading this book.

I'm not even sure where to begin. I didn't hate it. I didn't love it, or even really like it. I wasn't disappointed. I'm not angry. I just feel a lot of....nothing towards this book.

WARNING: This book contains themes of slavery, oppression, racism, sexual assault, and prejudices against disabilities. To name a few.

I understand that this book was trying to point out the wrongness of all of these issues. I do "get" that, but it just fell so flat to me. If you are going to take on such issues as these, maybe take more than 221 pages to do so...or focus on one issue at a time. It ended up just coming across as glossing over several issues without a true focus.

The New Dark follows Sorrel and David after the attack and destruction of their homeland, Amat. Sorrel and David are the "meant to be" stereotype with the typical "mean girl" Mara, who tries everything in her power to split them up. There is a lot of female backstabbing on the side of Mara and a lot of hatred on the side of Sorrel. Again, so so so tired of this trope. Can't we just have a solid female friendship? Why can't we have nice things? Sorrel also falls under the typical "special snowflake" category because of her birthmark . I KID YOU NOT. BECAUSE. OF. HER. BIRTHMARK. SHE. IS. "SPECIAL." Sexual predator Martin, of the "Free" decides to force her into marriage because of the birthmark. Nevin and Yolanda make her into a symbol of freedom in Dinawal because of her birthmark. Her grandmother filled her special snowflake head with tales of how she was special because of her birthmark. Also...what was the point of the mutants? Why did people think they were "unviable" and "wrong"? I don't understand.

WHY?

In the end I was left with one resounding question:

What was the point of it all?

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for sending me an eARC of this book.

This book was a wonderful page turning adventure. I had such an enjoyable time with Sorrel. The character development was really great for me. The only issue I had with this book was that the beginning made it very, very difficult for me to get into. I'm glad I pushed though and finished it. Lorraine Thomson did a great job and I can't wait to read the rest.