Root has a great premise that is sure to pull in any fans of YA Science Fiction or Fantasy with a passional for environmental activism. And I was excited to find that, for the most part, the book stayed true to its hook and offered a great take on the genre. However, I did find the pacing of the story to be a bit slow. We didn’t have all the “chosen ones” together until close to a fifth of the way through the book. I also found that much of the backstory and some essential parts of plot development were revealed through dialogue, which made it harder for me to connect to the story.

Rae is the main character and narrator of the book. She’s recently lost her father and was sent to a boarding school by her not-evil-but-overwhelmed stepmother. Many of the characters around her seem to find Rae extraordinary but other than her supernatural ability to listen in on the thoughts of others, I didn’t learn much about her personality. Much of the narration was focused on the other six chosen teens and their stories. However, the other characters were dynamic and fun to watch with unique backstories of their own, which I appreciated.

I found the world of Root to be the most engaging element of the story. The world mirrors our own but with some exceptional advances in science that made the science fiction lover in me giddy with excitement. It was interesting to see the unexpected ways this technology played a part in the plot. And the science fiction elements are uniquely ballanced with the tranquil and rural setting of the farm where Rae spends much of the book and completes her training as a chosen one.

Root is the first book in the Spirit Era saga and is the English debut novel of Moroccan author Aurélie Benattar. This book is translated from the author’s native language which I feel is important to disclose as part of my recommendation, as it can affect the story-telling for some readers, however, I don’t feel that it affected my enjoyment of the story. The world and plot of Root are fun takes on the usual YA Science Fiction genre and while I enjoyed the secondary characters, I did struggle to feel connected to the protagonist, Rae. I’d recommend this book to lovers of unique Science Fiction and “Chosen Ones” stories with large casts.

such an interesting story and i absolutely loved the characters, i was hooked from the start and i was so excited to see what happened and how our characters grew and handled everything. absolutely love

This novel would be an excellent introduction to the SciFi genre for YA readers. I really enjoyed the level of research and detail that went into this story from the various martial arts techniques; information surrounding each of the chakras with their associated element and color; as well as the technological information provided. The characters truly embody their associated Chakra even if they don’t fully understand what that means at the beginning of the story. I also enjoyed the consistent blend of technology and spirituality.

This book was interesting at points, however, I couldn't get past the "silence" trope and the misunderstanding regarding it. I work with people with aphasia so it was a bit of a surprise to immediately encounter it within this book. Just a note, aphasia is caused by brain damage, which as far as I could gather, Rae never had. Aphasia also doesn't present the way Rae's language disorder does. But I digress, enough about language.

The story was interesting and it sort of reminded me of Scythe, what with the whole AI plot point. The author did a great job world building, but the start might be seen as a bit long due the fleshing out she had to do. Like others seemed to have done, I started reading this thinking it was a stand alone, which it is not. However, I would pick up the next one at some point as I did enjoy the book overall!

An imaginative and absorbing YA dystopian read that is set in the not so distant year of 2035. Root is the first in the Spirit Era series. The first few chapters map out this new world and its characters. The concept is engaging and highly believable, as new AI technology known as Spirit Era forsees the destruction of the planet following the demise of our ecosystems. The root cause of the disaster is unknown.

Seven teenagers, each representing the qualities of the Seven chakras are chosen to enter training in martial arts and the spiritualism of the chakras before entering the seven different virtual reality realms in order to locate the key that will unlock the truth of the impending disaster, and therefore save the earth from anhiliation. The countdown begins.

The novel hosts a clever mix of characters, my favourite being the narrator Rae, who has chosen silence since the death of her father. Whilst her physical voice is mute, her inner voice and force is strong and compelling. She is observant and reflective and her point of view shapes our perception.

Roots is an engaging read and promises to be a great series. I look forward to the next installment. #roots #aureliebenattar #netgalley

I enjoyed this but feel that I will not get the full story for a few books yet. Interesting premise, it is nice to have AI that's not trying to kill us all and take over the world. Complicated to get into ( maybe that is just me) but gets easier and more interesting as it gets deeper into the story. Will look forward to the next installment.

This was an interesting dystopian read that revolves end of the world predictions.

As a millennial, I’ve lived through many “this is the day the world ends” scenarios. None of them have had any part come true like happened in this book. As it turns out, while the world is going to end of it continues down its current route, there is a way to stop it. The keys to changing the fate of the world fall into the hands of the chakra’s- which are embodied in a group of teenagers.

These teens find themselves in a sort of boarding school where they work to not only activate their specific chakras, but to figure out who they are and where they fit in the world.

Naturally this is book one of a series and it ends on a cliffhanger while also wrapping up the main part of this particular story. It’s really interesting.

This was originally published in French and was recently released in English and the translation was great.

Thanks to NetGalley for the access to the ebook!

Unfortunately this just wasn't for me, I DNF around 10% in.

Thank you to the author and to netgalley.

The concept was interesting, the characters were enjoyable and the overall storytelling was great. I really enjoyed this book and look forward to a sequel.

I love the premise of this book and was immediately drawn to it from the beautiful cover and synopsis. The characters are vibrant and have a lot of depth, and I appreciated the world building that went into not only the future-Earth, but especially the AI simulation world. The sci-fi elements felt attainable and easy to understand, which I feel is necessary for a book aimed at younger audiences.

What I struggled with throughout this book was feeling slightly confused on multiple levels. The character interactions often felt forced and unnatural, and overall I felt like the book was trying to do too much (in particular I’m thinking of the spirit animals- maybe they will be relevant in later books but it felt like an odd addition here). I also struggled with who the audience for this book is. The writing style and plot make me think children or teens, but the incestuous plot line makes me think adult? I’m still not sure.

Overall, I don’t think I’ll be picking up the rest of this series.

You've got AI. You've got social commentary. You've got a dystopian story to set it all in place. All of those make for a book that I will very likely enjoy and I did. It had a few issues. It can take some time to get into it. However, once I started it, I had such a grand time.

This story follows Rae, a woman who had tragedy in her life and no longer speaks, and six other teenagers. They are associated with the chakras and are tasked with saving the world via an artificial intelligence. As others have said it is similar to Hunger Games or the Maze Runner in general.

While I appreciate the ARC, this book was not for me. There were too much exclamation points and things like that, many named characters which became disjointed but apparently this is the authors first boook translated to English so that might be why.

Thank you NetGalley!

Thank you to the author, Aurelia Benattar and NetGalley for the ARC of 'Root: Spirit Era'. I was gifted this ARC for my honest opinion.

'Root: Spirit Era' introduces us to seven teens who are to save the future of the world by finding the seven keys. They have to connect with each other and their Chakras in order to complete their mission. The book jumps around often and there are lots of character names to keep track of. Being that this is the author's first English translated book, I feel that the writing felt slightly disjointed. I found myself re-reading passages constantly, and still not fully grasping what the author was trying to portray. I'm sure this is due mainly because of the translations. The premise of the book has a ton of potential and could possibly be much easier to grasp as the series progresses. Overall, I did like the book, and I am interested in seeing where the seven end up, and how they grow to save the world.

End of the-world-type thing. A random selection of 7 young individuals across the world, were trained to go into an AI world to find 7 keys. Each can bend a certain chakra and other ability to help themselves survive in the AI world. They all face a challenge that will help them develop as an individual and as a team.

I love how small phrases were used from other books/films. I saw a few that caught my eye "Shock, Barrel, and Lock" ugh there was another one...

But it is no different from Hunger Games and Maze Runner... just different elements of ability.

✨Dystopian
✨AI simulations
✨Chakras

This is such an interesting concept! I love books like this that address the issues of the world and have a countdown and a selection of talented people to try to save the world. The testing simulation was very interesting and all the complicated society woven in there. I can totally see that as a possible outcome to our current social trajectory. This is the first in a series. Excited to see what happens next!

Thank you to the author and netgalley for the e-ARC for my honest and voluntary review.

Book Summary:

We've seen several tales about AI bringing about the end of civilization as we know it. But what if there was an AI intent to do the opposite – to protect humanity at all costs? AI program Spirit Era has calculated that the world will end in two years, assuming humanity doesn't do something to prevent it.

So a team must be formed with the intent of saving humanity. It will be comprised of seven teenagers to represent the seven chakras or keys. Seven people are standing between humanity and the potential end of everything.

My Review:

I love that Aurelie Benattar decided to twist up the AI stereotype in Root. Yes, there are several other tropes to replace that stereotype, but it balances out. What tropes am I talking about? Well, mainly teenagers saving the world, but that was probably pretty obvious, huh?

There are seven main characters in Root, though only one primary perspective (Rae). The singular perspective makes it easier to keep everything in order, especially as secondary characters get introduced. Overall, I appreciated the complex cast of characters involved in this adventure.

I have to say that I enjoyed Root more than I expected (or feared). I almost wish that it had been around when I was a bit younger because teenage me would have gobbled this book up and begged for more.

Highlights:
Science Fiction/Dystopian Blend
Saving the World
Multiple Characters
Environmentalism Focus

Trigger Warnings:
Famine (mentioned)
Global Disaster

The plot of this book caught my attention, and made me very excited to read it. I have been loving dystopian novels recently, and this sounded amazing.

The main character, Rae, is very interesting. Reading about the death of her father and her life after was emotional. Her background story was very well written, and I think her character would be relatable to readers.

I really enjoyed the messages from the AI creater and the journal entries through the book. It really helped to break apart the book keep my attention.

I just overall really enjoyed the plot and whole idea of this book! The technology is really cool, and the author really thought through everything. Some of the characters were strange at first, but they grew on me as I read and had good development throughout the book.

I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys dystopian novels or YA fantasy!

Rating: 4.5/5
I received an eARC for my honest opinion.

This book is great for people who want to dip their toes into the YA sci-fi world. I really enjoyed the action, the blend of technology and spirituality, a small amount of romance, finding oneself and family.

I thought the blending of technology and spirituality was done really well, it is obvious that this author did their research on both of those topics to make this book blend so well. The plot of this is different from other Sci-Fi that I have read, I found this one easier to connect with. I don’t know if it was from all the attention to details in the book at the beginning or if it's just the way this author has with her words and brings the story to life.

I thought the characters in this book were easy to connect with and I found myself relating to a few of them more but that’s pretty normal. I love that we have 7 different characters, from different parts of the world brought together to find a way to help our earth keep living on. It all started when the Keeper created an advanced AI program that predicts when the world will end and its only 2 years aways without human intervention. The 7 different young adults/teens were chosen to help with this mission and as a reader you will be sucked into a computer version of the world and must figure out what the 7 keys are, and how to save our planet. The book does start off a little slow but that is because you will be getting to learn about the characters and all the information about their mission they have picked for, after that it's all fast paced and you won’t want to put the book down.

I thought having the 7 characters connected to the 7 different Chakra was a great idea. They all have to learn more about themselves and why they have that Chakra instead of the others and how to use theirs to their advantage. The characters all have great character development throughout and at the end of this book, and I can’t wait to see what some of the characters are still hiding and if they will ever come clean to the others.

Overall, this first book of a series is great and if you love YA Sci-Fi or you want to try to see if you would like it I would recommend this book.

I want to thank Aurelie Benattar and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this book.

I really wanted to like this book more. The plot is super cool and the worldbuilding is so well done! The concept is so creative and timely, and I can't remember any other dystopian novel I have read that took place so close to current day (aside from ones written 100 years ago that thought we'd be on Mars by now). I love the international nature of the book too, and the choice to bring in the 7 protagonists from different parts of the world rather than the standard Americans. That being said, the characters themselves were just not what I had hoped for. For the most part they were just stereotypes; the dumb one, the bubbly one, the slutty/mean one, the mysterious dark and brooding one, and the main character, Rae, who is not like other girls. This book slots in perfectly with Divergent and other dystopian novels from the early 2010s.

Root is a young adult sci-fi book about seven teenagers being brought together by a mysterious “keeper” in an attempt to save the world. An AI has predicted the end of the world is coming in two years time, and these seven kids need to find seven keys in order to save the world. Our main character is Rae, a young orphan girl who doesn’t speak and reminds everyone of a fragile bird. The other six children are all interesting – they are fully developed characters with their own backstory and motivation.

The story really depends on suspension of disbelief – but this doesn’t make it less interesting. While I’ve never been interested in VR, AIs, or chakras, it was explained just enough that I could still keep up. With that being said, the characters often did or thought things which seemed unrealistic and that did pull me out of the story quite a bit.

I also really enjoyed the VR world (or whatever that world was) and all the characters there. I hope the next book has a world like that, because it was by far my favourite part of the story. And I liked the overall message, which I won’t spoil here.

Overall, I think I would have enjoyed this book more if I was younger and a bit more into sci-fi, but it was still an enjoyable read.