ARC, 415 pages
Release Date: January 21, 2014Published by: Balzer & BrayAvalon, #1Source: Literary Lush ARC ToursFor fans of: Sci-Fi, Adventure, YAA ragtag group of teenage mercenaries who crew the spaceship Avalon stumble upon a conspiracy that could threaten the entire galaxy in this fascinating and fast-paced sci-fi adventure from author Mindee Arnett.Of the various star systems that make up the Confederation, most lie thousands of light-years from First Earth-and out here, no one is free. The agencies that govern the Confederation are as corrupt as the crime bosses who patrol it, and power is held by anyone with enough greed and ruthlessness to claim it. That power is derived from one thing: metatech, the devices that allow people to travel great distances faster than the speed of light.
Jeth Seagrave and his crew of teenage mercenaries have survived in this world by stealing unsecured metatech, and they’re damn good at it. Jeth doesn’t care about the politics or the law; all he cares about is earning enough money to buy back his parents’ ship, Avalon, from his crime-boss employer and getting himself and his sister, Lizzie, the heck out of Dodge. But when Jeth finds himself in possession of information that both the crime bosses and the government are willing to kill for, he is going to have to ask himself how far he’ll go to get the freedom he’s wanted for so long.
Avalon is the perfect fit for teens new to sci-fi as well as seasoned sci-fi readers looking for more books in the YA space-and a great match for fans of Joss Whedon’s cult hit show Firefly.
*MY THOUGHTS*
There’s not much to say about this book besides the fact that it was just really boring. Don’t get me wrong, it started off with a bang, but after that it just fell off. The plot was literally like this: /_____/_____. Something big would happen and I would be completely invested. Then right after that nothing would happen. For them to be lost in this spaceship graveyard thing, it sure was boring. I was a little upset because I had seen some bloggers say that in the second half it got better, but I just couldn’t get to it. I skimmed it just to see if my theories were right. And low and behold, I was.
Then, there was the characters. First we meet Jeth and his crew. Unfortunately, I didn’t like any of them. They were all flat and under-developed. I hated the way they all acted and they were all really weird. Maybe it’s just me, but I’m not a huge fan of there being dialect and then paragraphs (like plural) before the character answers again. It puts a lot of distance between the two people talking and it just felt really unnatural. Then there was the people that they met along the way. As soon as they came up, I knew something was off about them. And of course, I called that too.
Unfortunately, this one wasn’t all that I thought it would be. Since I had heard how good it got in the end, I gave in and skimmed it, but by the time I got to the plot twists that I had heard about, I had already given up. I just didn’t care anymore. Hopefully you all will like this one more than I did.
Hopefully I will. I really like the cover and the fact that it's sci-fi. I will go into it with lower expectations however. I'm really sad to hear that about the plot… I'm an action junkee so I don't know how I'll deal. Anyway, thanks for the review!
-P.E. @ The Sirenic Codex
Bummer you did not like it. I love how sci fi looking the cover is . I've read losers in space last year and that book has not a lot of action but I gave it 3 stars. Maybe I'll like this one. Tnx 4 the review