Review: Astral Tide (Otherborn #2) by Anna Silver

Title: Astral Tide (Otherborn #2)
Author: Anna Silver
Source: Self-Purchased
Genre: Young Adult, Dystopia
Release Date: February 24, 2014
Reviewed by: Jasmyn

London and her friends are fugitives in a reprocessed world where anything New is illegal. But as Otherborn, they’re different. They can dream and create, which hasn’t gone unnoticed. After fleeing Capital City with an assassin on their heels, the Otherborn found nothing went according to plan. Now, they are down by two and on the run in the Outroads, but the Tycoons keep mysteriously gaining on them. And seven months later, London is no closer to her promise to go back for Rye, if there is anything left to go back for. But Zen is teaching London that there may be more to her heart than the pieces she left behind, and London can’t help but feel guilty about not looking back since they fled New Eden. Should she hold on to hope that Rye is more than just a memory, or embrace a new life and love with Zen?

In their race to outrun their enemies, one thing is becoming increasingly clear: they can only run for so long. Eventually, they’ll have to face what waits when the road runs out. Eventually, their fates will catch up to them.

This was a fantastic sequel.  The story picks up as London and her friends are on the run from New Eden, the tycoon paradise.  After discovering a betrayal, they are all a little out of sort and quite confused about what to do next.  There is tons of drama and excitement all the way through, and lots of development for the story line and the characters.

London's Otherborn skills need some work, but once she puts her mind to maxing out her abilities, she accomplishes some pretty amazing things.  The Otherborn "disease" of dreaming seems to be spreading, but the tycoons are dead set on stopping it and preserving their way of life.  London plays quite a key role and so much is going on that it's hard to really talk about it without giving away key parts of the story.

I love that the author isn't afraid to have her characters go through some pretty drastic changes.  It made them all so very real and at the end it gave me an enormous surprise (along with a cliffhanger)!!  Be prepared to read this book quickly, you won't want to put it down.

Review: Otherborn (Otherborn #1)

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Review: Otherborn (Otherborn #1) by Anna Silver

Title: Otherborn (Otherborn #1)
Author: Anna Silver
Source: Contest Win
Genre: Young Adult, Dystopia
Release Date: April 4, 2014
Reviewed by: Jasmyn

London and her teenage friends live in a reprocessed world.

Confined within Capital City’s concrete walls, London has done the impossible and the illegal. She’s created something New- a song. But her mentor, club owner Pauly, is not impressed. Since the historic Energy Crisis forced everyone behind walls generations ago, the Tycoons have ensured there is truly nothing new allowed under the sun. Pauly warns London to keep her song to herself, if she knows what’s good for her. 

What he doesn’t know is that London is keeping an even bigger secret: she dreams. And she’s not alone. London’s band-mates and friends have begun dreaming as well, seeing themselves in “night pictures” as beings from another world. As Otherborn, they must piece together the story of their astral avatars, the Others, in order to save their world from a dreamless, hopeless future. 

When Pauly is murdered and an Otherborn goes missing, London realizes someone is hunting them down. Escaping along the Outroads, they brave the deserted Houselands with only their dreams to guide them. Can they find their friend before the assassin finds them? Will being Otherborn save their lives, or destroy them?

I really loved Anna Silver's idea of what a dystopian society would be like.  I couldn't imagine trying to live in a world where nothing was new.  Now I'm not just talking about physical items.  Creativity is gone - no new songs, new ideas, new books (perish the thought).  Then London writes a new song - this is the big turning point and all hell begins to break loose.  And she's not just creating - she's also dreaming (another thing that no longer happens to anyone).  She gathers a group of other teenagers that also dream and they discover their dreams are more than just that - they are connections to another place, time, and people.

There is a great mix of action and discovery in this story.  There is always something going on, but sometimes it's an internal realization or group conversation.  There is also a "high speed" car chase, a shoot out, and several instances of running for their lives.  A good combination to reach out to a variety of readers.

London is our main character and is very well developed.  She is constantly evolving based on what she sees in her dreams and experiences around her.  The rest of the crew does not seem to evolve as much, and I really wish I had seen a little more from them.  Maybe in the next book they will shine a bit more.  The Tycoons are the controllers of everything and a character unto themselves.  They are this ominous figure always looming in the background.  Their physical absence from most of the story only made them more mysterious and foreboding.

I love a unique dystopian story, and with the genre exploding they can be hard to find.  This one really fit the bill, and if those side characters had just had a tad more depth it would have gotten five stars.

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