I am thrilled to see an author that I love (long-time House of Night fan) writing a supernatural-themed book with adult main characters that isn't specifically romance. This excerpt is a cliffhanger and sucked me in. I will be watching for it to be available on Kindle!

This short excerpt of the book was intriguing and I am definitely interested to pick up the full novel when it is released. I did enjoy the descriptions of the scenery, nature and landscapes and think that Cast’s writing style is something I would be drawn to. The characters role in the story was a little confusing, I wasn’t too sure who was a teacher or student and it wasn’t too clear where they were headed or why. However, this may be built on further down the line and the 9 pages read are certainly promising!

I can’t actually review the excerpt as it was a blank file. I’ve requested the full book anyway as the premise sounds awesome and I’m a huge fan of the Marked series. Tried the file twice and just wouldn’t work.

I absolutely love PC Cast's writing! Its thrilling and exciting and I cannot wait to see how the rest of the story develops. The excerpt stopped just as a cliff hanger and im yearning for more

This is a very short excerpt (9 pages), so I didn't get a big feel of what the book is about. The premise sounds interesting, but there wasn't enough in the excerpt to get a feel for it at all.

The story starts out slow for me because it doesn't begin with action, with showing us what's going on; rather it's a mundane car trip, watching the scenery and a pregnant person who needs to pee. That might be fine if it quickly went into action, but it doesn't. I kind of think that the story should've started with the explosion, so 9 pages in before anything really happens.

About the only thing that I can comment on is the writing style, which is okay. It grabbed my attention enough that I would be interested to reading a little more to where it goes, but I couldn't say if it's something that I would finish or not.

So overall, interesting premise, but not enough content to know if I'd actually be interested or not.

Thank you for allowing me to read this excerpt! I'm not entirely sure what I think of it, because I wasn't a big fan of the writing style, but I'm going to give it three stars because I don't want to judge the entire book based on a preview. I feel like a lot of people definitely would like this one though and I'm glad that I was finally able to read a little from P. C. Cast.

The writing of this excerpt did not make me want to read any more, and the whole premise seems very odd and transphobic. I can’t totally speak to how it is addressed in the book because this was a small excerpt, but I’m very skeptical,

Describing the cloud as shamrock colored was a very interesting way to portray color.

This was kind of awful tbh and I won't be checking out the full book. Bad writing, transphobic premise.

I was excited to see a new title from P.C. Cast. I read the House of Night series when it first came out and was a fan. I’m also really intrigued with the comparison to The Power, which I also read, I’m all for female forward novels. The synopsis sounds great, the actual excerpt…I wasn’t particularly impressed. It’s hard to really get the feel for a novel in just a few pages so I’m still looking forward to reading the full novel. Some of my qualms with the excerpt: the writing style felt very YA to me. That’s not necessarily a bad thing but when you expect an adult novel the writing comes across immature. I also found the narrative hard to follow, I felt like I really had to work to understand what was happening.

In this short excerpt I was able to really get a sense of the characters and the scene. The descriptions were very well done and I could picture myself there in the story. It starts with a very diverse cast of characters on a road trip. I was a little thrown off by the description of the person from Tulsa, as that’s my hometown. I’m curious to see where this character goes with that outdated Bible Belt stereotype.

There was definitely a good amount of mystery surrounding the situation and if I were reading this book now I would continue it to find out more.



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Read Chapters 1-2

So far, I really like what I've read, I like how detailed the setting is so I could just close my eyes and see a perfect vision of what the characters are seeing. The character, Mercury, is someone I can relate to as well, with how she's willing to stand up for her friends and not take anyone's crap.

You can see the closeness with the friends in terms of the jokes they make, and how they communicate and act with each other, and it makes me think of a weird family of sorts. I liked to know about the character's backgrounds and little information that you store in the back of your head to say, "oh yeah, I remember that" to have a better time reading, those little bits of information make you want to learn more, and I do wish to learn more.

The end of the second chapter was like a 180, it completely turned everything around and pulled me in even further, I liked how we got to know the characters, but I also like how straight off the bat everything changes, and we don't know anything until you keep reading. It's a sure way to get people to buy/read the full book, and I 100% will.

At first, I failed to realize that this was just an excerpt. By the time I was done, I couldn't wait to read more. It seems like a very promising read. Can't wait for the full one!

The concept of this excerpt is interesting, but the writing style feels elementary. The dialogue is unnatural and the prose is purple and cliché. Most lines have characters muttering, snorting, speaking in small voices, or raising a "perfectly plucked brow." It's a classic case of the author needing to show rather than tell.

I will be the first to admit that I didn't realize this was only an excerpt. Definitely my fault, because when I read that it was a feminist twist akin to The Power mixed with The Stand, I didn't read anything else! I must say, I was a little leery about rating an excerpt because I thought there might not be enough to really get a good feel for the book, but boy was I wrong! With just two chapters, I am drawn in, and can't wait for this book to come out!

This had me hooked and wanting more! The descriptions were vivid and so easy to imagine the views. I definitely can't wait to read the rest of the book.

I've seen this author's books around for years but haven't read any yet. This book sounds right up my alley. I love dystopia! I wasn't a big fan of the sample chapters, though. The first chapter seems to be a lot of dialogue and names are thrown around without telling us who anyone really is, what they're doing, where they're going, how old they are. It seems like a high school trip with a pregnant teen and a sports coach on board, so perhaps they're attending a sporting event? But they mention having been to the same location two years prior. Is this an annual event? Are these kids seniors or what? I can't tell who are students and who are teachers, especially when some teachers go by Mr./Mrs. so-and-so but then suddenly there's "Jenny," but even though she's on a first-name basis with everyone, she's said to be a teacher.

When the "event" happens, the color is described as shamrock. That struck me as very odd. There are a lot of green things that are nasty, so if this is a virus or bomb that's wiping out half of humanity, maybe its color could be described as something less cheerful than shamrock...

I wasn't very impressed by the writing, to be honest. There was a general lack of description among the characters and scenery, and what descriptions we had were very strange, like the shamrock thing and not explaining who is who or where they're going and why. I like the concept but not the execution, based on the very brief sample.

An interesting premise that draws you in and leaves you wanting more. I only wish there was more to read.

This excerpt is so intriguing I'm disappointed I can't binge the whole book. At this point the writing, air of mystery, and characters leave you wanting more. Very excited for the release of this book.

Because this is just an excerpt I can not say a lot about the book.

But those first two chapters already got my attention and I definitely want to know how it goes on! Can’t wait to read the whole book!

2.5/5

i'm nervous even giving this rating for the excerpt because really i read it because this concept makes me nervous. so called "gendercide" books always truly struggle with anything outside of the gender binary, and i cannot get a grasp on if this book will even address it from the excerpt. mostly, i plan to check it out to see if there IS anything about trans, nonbinary, or other people who do not confirm strictly to the gender binary of man and woman