Title: Otherborn
Series: Otherborn (Book One)
Author: Anna Silver
Publisher: Sapphire
Star Publishing
Release Date: April
4, 2013
Pages: 290
Format: Paperback,
ebook
Genre: YA
Subgenres: dystopian,
science fiction
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?
Book Links: Goodreads l Amazon Paperback l Amazon Kindle l Barnes & Noble
"Anna Silver weaves a dark new world full of taut
suspense and characters that leap off the page." –Sophie Jordan, NYT bestselling author of the Firelight trilogy
"Travel to a world where dreaming is a radical act
that can save the world… Anna Silver’s post-apocalyptic vision is rich with
imagery and metaphysical ideas, grounded by vivid, three-dimensional
characters. A truly fresh take on dystopian." –Nina Berry, author of the OTHERKIN series
“Silver built the right amount of conflict and tension to draw
readers into her dystopian world, and created characters who are leery, yet
determined to embrace New.” –Natasha Hanova, author
of Edge of Truth
Author Bio:
Anna Silver grew up with a passion for
words, books, and storytelling. She began writing as a child and eventually
landed at St. Edward’s University in Austin where she studied English Writing
& Rhetoric. She has always nurtured a vivid imagination and a love for art,
expression, and fantasy. Currently she resides in the greater Houston area with
her family and pets where she continues to read, write, and dream. Otherborn is her first published novel.
My Thoughts:
"Now you lay your head to sleep, pray to God your life you keep. To steal your dreams, your head we'll take, and leave you dead before you wake."
If I had to pick one type of book that I tend to shy away from and hardly ever read it would be dystopian. And to be honest, I'm not quite sure why because the few that I've read I really, really loved. And Otherborn turned out to be another wonderful surprise.
"There hasn't been anything New since right after the Energy Crisis. I mean, that's generations ago. Not a note, not a song. Not a stitch, not a stroke, not a word. Nothin'. I don't know how ya did it and I don't care. I just know that it's dangerous. People aren't ready for that."
To live in a world where nothing new is allowed, there is no creativity and everyone's sleep is dreamless. This is the life that faces London and her group of friends on a daily basis. London and her friends are in a band and London goes completely against what is allowed and creates a new song. But that is not all, London dreams. And so do her bandmates. After one of London's friends go missing the group set out on a trek to find her. What follows is a journey filled with action, fear, betrayal, hurt and self discovery.
Otherborn took me a little while to get into but once I had a grasp of what was going on and how the characters fit together it really picked up and had me gripped by the story that was unfolding.
London is strong and quick to speak her mind. She is a bit rough around the edges and there were times that she exasperated me. But there's also a layer of vulnerability to her which I found endearing. As the book went on I found that I really began to like her more and more. She was more or less the leader of her little group of friends and so she carried a lot on her young shoulders.
The flesh of his mouth was a soft, easy comfort, like balm for the raw heart.
It wasn't her first kiss, but it was the first one that mattered.
In this bleak world that they live in there was the brightness of love and romance which I think shone through so brightly because of the dreary world in which they live. London and Rye had snatches of time together but it was their care and concern for each other that did it for me. Their's wasn't a gushy, gooey love, in fact there were times when they were quite snappy with each other. And though they danced around how they each felt they were there for each other when it counted.
As for the other characters, while they all had their place in the story, it was Tora who stood out the most. At first, I didn't like her. At all!!! I saw her as a threat to something that I had my heart set on happening, but she comes through time and time again!!! A truly awesome character!!
And then there were things that blew me away!! The discovery that is made in search of their friend. The horrible thing that occurs after that. (All very cryptic I know, but I don't want to spoil the story). And then the ending... I kept trying to make my ereader turn another page, but there were no more pages!!! NO WAY!!!! Please let me not have to wait too long to find out what happens next!!!
The whole concept of the storyline was new and original to me and I loved it and the way it was written. Although as I said, I haven't read a great deal of Dystopian, Otherborn was definitely up there as one of the best!!
The whole concept of the storyline was new and original to me and I loved it and the way it was written. Although as I said, I haven't read a great deal of Dystopian, Otherborn was definitely up there as one of the best!!
4.5/5 Stars!!
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Tracey, what a stellar review! I am so grateful- I can't thank you enough!!! :)
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