Member Reviews
A different view of life after.......after Earth's inhabitants have finally done so much damage that life outside a protective "dome" is considered impossible. After the few people left have divided the remaining living spaces and broken civilization into levels based on the haves and have nots.
The first book in the series is responsible for the introduction of the principal characters and the surrounding community/ background. Ramona Finn has done a great job of setting up a world that none of us would like to live in and populated it with people that we'd like to see get ahead in their lives. THE DECEMITES may not be the most fascinating dystopian fiction I have read, but it's pretty good. Good enough I'll read the next one as soon as it comes out.
really enjoyed the second book in the series, it had what I enjoyed about the first and improved on it. It was a fun read and I enjoyed the way the author writes.
Thank you netgalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This was a well written YA dystopian novel with plenty of world building and in depth characters. It is a bit slow to pick up but once it does its entertaining.
It took me a minute to get into this one, but then it was hard to put down. I really liked Myla and thought she was a good character, but I don't know how I felt about her and Ben. I felt like their relationship ended before it started since she hid herself. And with his reaction, I don't know that Myla would be able to completely trust him in the future. It will be exciting to see what happens next in the series.
I received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review.
I just reviewed The Decemites by Ramona Finn. #TheDecemites #NetGalley
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I really enjoyed this post-apocalyptic book. It was fast-paced and the writing had a good flow. I highly recommend this book, especially if you enjoy post-apocalyptic books with some romance.
Thank you to Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op and Ramona Finn for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This book was an absolute pleasure to read and review. This is the first novel of the new Echelon Series and it’s truly made me a fan Ramona Finn’s work. A wonderful YA Dystopian novel with some interesting characters and hierarchy. The novel demonstrates great flow, world-building, and fleshed out characters. Even the care for the side characters hosts some interesting dialogue which I’m sure we’ll see more of throughout the series.
“Why don’t we see what the cards have to say?” Gran handed me a handkerchief and rocked back on her heels. I dabbed at my eyes as she shuffled the cards, the same deck she’d been using since I could remember. The gold foil had worn off their backs, but she said that just made them more magical. They gave up a little of themselves and took in a little of us, and with each generation, grew wiser.”
Myla, the main character, is an orphan who lives with her adopted family including sister Ona and her parents. The family took her in at great potential risk and sought to keep her parents' dangerous secret for many years. Myla is a child of two Decemite parents, something we are told repeatedly is thought to be impossible as these children usually died quickly after birth, if they even made it to full term. This society lived in a society broken up into factions. Myla and her family live in the underground called ‘The Dirt’, the wealthy and lucky elites live above in ‘The Sky’. Lives that couldn’t be more different, one’s who live in The Dirt are stuck in miserable lives, doing repetitive, dangerous work, underpaid, poorly treated, hopeless. Those in The Sky seeming to have a completely carefree life of luxury.
Children are tested at 10 years old through to assessed as to how they could potentially be molded into becoming Decemites, most who apply are rejected. Those deemed as worthy injected with nanobots that make them stronger, allow them to heal, and enable them to work outside of the Dome, which both The Dirt and The Sky live under. Precious resources are outside of the Dome that their society needs to survive. This story has loads of twists and turns and I’m very much looking forward to the next installment of the series.
It was a nice coming of age sort of book, the plot and world are new, and you feel like you know so much about the characters.
I found this to be a pretty good coming of age story. Where the main character, Myla has been raised to see the world 1 way and not to question things or to rock the boat. But when her sister goes missing Myla can not just let things be and feels a sense of duty and loyalty to bring her sister back.
So she goes searching for her sister only to find that things away from home are really different than she thought. She encounters one person, Lock, she knows from home who knows a lot more about the outside world than Myla but what he tells her doesn’t mesh with what she is seeing. Enter another boy who is supposed to be her enemy, but what Ben tells her makes sense.
So Mylas growth is in taking what she is learning from people she’s known her whole life and trying to make sense of that along with what her new friend, an enemy of her people is telling her. Needless to say she’s got a lot on her mind.
I like how Myla is portrayed as someone who thinks, and doesn’t just believe what she is told. She seeks out the truth, she also has a lot of loyalty to her past. Which makes her choices a lot harder, because they affect those she loves. Having a main teen character who thinks and doesn’t just react made this a book I really enjoyed.
“Her freedom was all she had. It’s all any of us have. Why would I take that from her?”
4.5 Stars - The Decemites is a great YA Dystopian novel, with so many incredible plot points and a unique take on a future where the world is virtually unlivable. From the very first chapter, I was hooked, so intrigued by what was happening and genuinely wanting to find out more about the characters.
Myla has hidden the truth about who she is her entire life, and that makes many choices difficult for her. This book makes you consider what you would do in her place, and also gives a strong perspective on choices and freedom to make those choices. The story for me was absolutely astounding, and I am really excited to see what the future holds in this world.
My biggest critique is the world building. By the end of the book, I feel like I had a decent picture in my mind of how the characters and setting appear, but many of the details come throughout the story, so there wasn’t a clear picture in my mind early on. This is absolutely forgivable based on the plot, as the story was so encapsulating, I could hardly put the book down!
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley and am providing an honest review voluntarily.
Myla’s home was supposed to be the sole haven on a toxic, mutant-ridden Earth - Until she ran away from the domed city of Echelon to rescue her sister. She never imagined there could be humans living in the Outside. Now that Echelon is proven to be the real danger, Myla and the Outsiders must fight.
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This book started off with a bang. It felt like a good combination of The Hunger Games, The 100, and Divergent, but fell a little flat. I feel like this book could have been really really good, had the author not been pushing for it to be part of a series. Despite that, I did enjoy reading it, and I know some of my dystopian loving students would enjoy reading it too. I would definitely read the next book in the series because I want to see the Dome being opened up to everyone again. Most importantly, I want to see Lazrad go down. Thank you to NetGalley, Ramona Finn, and Relay Publishing for the e-ARC in return for an honest review.
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Favorite Quote:
“What use is freedom if we don’t look out for each other?”
This is an amazing beginning to a new series.
I've never read a book by Ramona Flynn before and this one hooked me from the first chapter and I read it in one sitting.
The action is non stop in this book and I love the main character Myla. She is strong views on what's right and what's wrong. Including when to keep or spill a secret that could affect the lives of everyone around her.
The writing style of this book was easy to follow and the plot was fantastic.
I am looking forward to reading the next two books in the series.