Author: Beth Revis
Publisher: Scripturient Books, (October 6th 2014)
Genres: Science Fiction, Young Adult
From: the Author & Publisher
Format: eBook
Add to: Goodreads
Order a copy: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, The Book Depository, Amazon UK
Synopsis: The future world is at peace.
Ella Shepherd has dedicated her life to using her unique gift—the ability to enter people’s dreams and memories using technology developed by her mother—to help others relive their happy memories.
But not all is at it seems.
Ella starts seeing impossible things—images of her dead father, warnings of who she cannot trust. Her government recruits her to spy on a rebel group, using her ability to experience—and influence—the memories of traitors. But the leader of the rebels claims they used to be in love—even though Ella’s never met him before in her life. Which can only mean one thing…
Someone’s altered her memory.
Ella’s gift is enough to overthrow a corrupt government or crush a growing rebel group. She is the key to stopping a war she didn’t even know was happening. But if someone else has been inside Ella’s head, she cannot trust her own memories, thoughts, or feelings.
Review: 4 Stars - The Body Electric is a fascinating sci-fi story from author Beth Revis. Set in the future, in a world that has a landscape vastly different from our own a teen sets out on a mission to find answers after a series of events trigger her to question everything she thought she’s ever known.
Ella, the female lead character has seen loss, she’s felt it with the passing of her father and now she’s feeling it all over again as she watches her mother’s body and mind being take over by the deadly Hebb’s disease. With her father gone and his mind and technology with it she doesn’t know what to do to help prolong the affects her mother is now facing.
She’s smart, strong and lonely. Her dad wasn’t the only one in the family who has created some pretty impressive things to greatly advance science in Ella’s time and world. Her mom created a way for people to relive their memories.
Now, without giving too much away… which really I’ve not said anything at this point, because WOW… this story is intense and very layered. That’s one of the things I’ve come to love from this author. She knows how to write a great sci-fi story with characters that are memorable and their lives remarkable.
It’s without a doubt an extremely vivid story. Revis takes her world building to a whole new level. And this is where she kind of lost me just a bit. I guess I wanted more meat and bones of the story and these characters. It was often that I felt totally removed from the story with just how much descriptions where coming at me for various parts of the city. Now don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with that, I tend to love more details so I can picture things in my mind so I feel almost like I’m watching a movie while I’m reading. Yet sometimes there’s just too much and it’s hard to absorb every little thing. I felt lost throughout certain parts of the book and then others I felt as if I had already read about what certain parts of the city looked like. The only other thing that felt a bit off to me was the last couple of chapters or so. I felt that the rest of the book was so detailed and then all of a sudden when everything was exploding and coming to a head some things flew by so quickly that it really felt like the pacing was different from the rest of the book. Sadly it’s for these reasons that I couldn’t give it a higher rating.
I loved the story itself. I loved how Ella worked through the breadcrumbs to figure out each part of the puzzle. As she found some answers other questioned popped up – yet in the conclusion I was happy with the outcome. While reading I had wondered if this was going to be the beginning of another series from Revis yet it appears to have been a standalone, which works and is often a nice change of pace to have a story wrapped up in one book instead of spread over two or more. So either way, the story felt complete yet if there was more I’d be eager to see what would happen next.
In the end I believe that Revis has a great mind for sci-fi and I’m looking forward to seeing what she writes next. If she were to jump into another genre I’d give it a read as well because she does know how to weave a story that’ll leave you guessing from beginning to end. If you are looking for something with world set in the future that’s rich and vast, characters who will work hard to solve a mystery and a story that feels complete in one novel, then look no further. Sci-Fi fans should jump on this one as well, you don’t be disappointed. Enjoy!
About the Author:
Beth Revis is the NY Times bestselling author of the Across the Universe series. The complete trilogy is now available in more than 20 languages. A native of North Carolina, Beth’s most recent book is The Body Electric, which tells the story of what was happening on Earth while the characters of Across the Universe were in space.
Find Beth Online:
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads
GIVEAWAY!!!
Tour-wide giveaway (US/CAN)
Complete signed trilogy of the Across the Universe series
A signed copy of The Body Electric
An Across the Universe branded water bottle
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Awesome review, Lisa! This sounds like something I would really like and I especially like how atmospheric and cinematic it all sounds. Like you're really transported into this world. I also like the sounds of Ella already - she's def a character I would like, I think!
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