Genre: Dystopian Science Fantasy
My first dystopia. I don’t know why I haven’t read the genre before. I have watched movies, but not read books about it. Maybe I just do’t like reading about apocalypses?
In 2157, a mysterious gas known as Variant spreads across the globe, killing or mutating most organic life. The surviving humans take refuge in an underground city, determined to return home. But after generations of failures and botched attempts, hope is beginning to dwindle. That is, until a young scientist makes a unique discovery—and everything changes. Suddenly, there’s reason to hope again, and it rests within a group of genetically engineered children that are both human and Variant.
Terry is one of these children, modified and trained to endure the harsh conditions of a planet he cannot begin to understand. After years of preparation, Terry thinks he knows what to expect. But the reality is far stranger than anything he can imagine—and what he will become is far more dangerous.
Doesn’t this sound exciting? I was very thrilled to read this book. I was so sure that I would love it. The post apocalyptic world is described brilliantly by J.N. Chaney. The set up is intriguing too – the genetically engineered children and their training, the politics between the military, the science and the motherhood – I could imagine everything unfolding in front of me like a movie. It was all great, and I waited for something to happen. Something, anything that would hook onto me and pull me in. I wanted to go to the surface. I wanted to get on with the mission. Instead there’s training. And more training. The book spans a period of 8 years in the first half, so there’s a lot of clipped scenes and skipping forward. It left me feeling very disoriented. At some point the politics started getting more interesting than the actual mission. And finally we do get to the surface, and even that’s not exciting enough. Not enough happened. There was possibility here, lots and lots of it. But instead of the plot moving forward, we get questions and descriptions and more questions and more descriptions. After a point, it all started to feel repetitive.
The plot, for the most part, was predictable and didn’t have the air of suspense that would have grabbed my interest and held it tight. The characters I could understand, but not relate to. Terry sounded the same at seven and at fifteen. There was very little character development though the book spanned 8 years.
Despite all of this, the book didn’t get boring at any point. That’s what kept me reading. And the ending I didn’t see coming. I am looking forward to starting the next book, only because of that ending. I do hope that Transient Echoes will reach the potential that eluded this book.
Rating: 5.5/10
Sapphires & Stars 