Hello, my friends! I’m so excited to bring you another book review. Aestus: The City is book one in the Aestus series by S.Z. Attwell, and is so much fun! I’ve talked before about how I tend to gravitate toward the chunky books, and well…. Aestus: The City is 706 pages long. So, yeah…
You might be interested to know, though, that even though the book was really chunky, I still managed to read both The City and The Colony in less than a week. I was pretty impressed with myself for that one. With a small business that centers around books, you’d think I would have tons of time to read, but it’s still a BUSINESS. So, that means I have tons of other stuff I gotta do, too. Luckily for me, though, my husband is going to be taking over some things for me and helping me out. I’m SO excited to have his help!
But I digress…
Sorry, about that, guys. My brain goes on tangents sometimes, so I have a feeling this book review will go through some editing before I publish. If only to take out the random thoughts.
Update: I took out no random thoughts. They looked like too much fun. Welcome to my podcast in written form!
This post may contain affiliate links. I’ll receive a small commission through your purchase, and I’m so grateful!
Synopsis of Aestus: The City
Jossey is an Engineer for The City. She, along with her people, live in a large city underground, to escape the unbearable heat during the day. Her job is to supervise other engineers in repairing and maintaining the electrical system. One evening, on their way back to the city, they come under attack by an Onlar, a huge beastly-looking creature, with blades for claws, and bright green eyes.
The people of the city are told not to touch the Onlar, or allow one of the blade-like claws to pierce their skin. They are told the claws are poisonous, and if they get too close, they would die from the poison.
When Jossey kills the Onlar in defense of her people, she’s hailed as a hero, and given a spot with Patrol, the City’s security forces.
Jossey has a secret, though, that she can’t tell anyone…
The Onlar soldier was human.
Excerpt
“There it is,” he whispered. He pointed a skinny arm across the canyons, across the darklands to the east. The moon floated low on the horizon, a few days past full, looking faded as time carved a shadow into its yellow face.
Jossey stared at it, amazed. It was like an entire world was there in the air before them.
It was so beautiful that Jossey forgot all about the Onlar, forgot about Father, forgot even that Tark was holding her wrist so she wouldn’t slide off the pod. She was brought back to reality when his hand tightened over her arm.
She started to complain, but he hushed her, gray eyes enormous in the faint light as he stared past her.
Then she turned to look and she wasn’t sure which of them was screaming.
****
Patrol found her the next day, draped across the base of the machine under the burning summer sun, nearly dead from dehydration. She had a massive bleeding cut across her eye and her femur had partly splintered on impact with the machine. Surgeons later told her it was a wonder she had survived.
For weeks, while she recovered in the hospital, Jossey screamed about green eyes, but otherwise refused to talk about what she had seen.
And despite their best search efforts, Tark was gone.
My Thoughts
O.M.G. this book was so good! I was immediately engrossed in Jossey’s story, and her descriptions of everything from daily life to her work on Patrol. I imagine something similar to Divergent, and imagine training rooms similar to Dauntless’ in the movies. I’m not sure how if I would be able to describe what I imagined when Sabrina described parts of the city, but trust me, it looks COOL. Expansive, but gives off a small-town vibe, all at the same time.
Characters
In the past, characters felt secondary to the story for me. I wanted the action to drive the story, and I didn’t really care what the character had for breakfast, or thought about their surroundings. I knew all that stuff was important, but it just didn’t drive my enjoyment of a story. I guess you could attribute it to my age, but over the years, my tastes have changed. I love a good character-driven story now. Give me all the motivation, and all the inner dialogue. This book is amazing about that, and the glimpses into the various characters were so much fun.
Jossey
I really enjoyed Jossey’s character. Her story and evolution from mild-mannered engineer to someone much more confident was so much fun. She struggled in her training with Patrol, but I loved watching her overcome those struggles, and her friendships with the other people in her unit. One particular teammate was rather hateful to her, but seeing how Jossey worked with her anyway was refreshing. It was a good example to us all about how to work with difficult people.
Tark
Tark is Jossey’s older brother, and the catalyst for her hatred of the Onlar. I think she fears them more than hates them, but when Tark died, she was also injured, so has spent much of her life feeling like a monster. Tark had also taken her aboveground, at night, against regulations, because she wanted to see the moon. He seemed like the kind of big brother we would all want to have.
Gavin, The Tiger
What can I say about Gavin? I had certain opinions about him from the very beginning of the story, and I was rooting for him to get his way in a certain aspect. I loved him, and even though he was the leader of Patrol, and Tark’s best friend when they were kids, he was really down to earth, and looked after Jossey the way a big brother should. The way Tark would have, I think.
Caspar
Caspar was off and on for me. I liked him at first, and as Jossey’s relationship and role in the city changed, her relationship with Caspar changed as well. I got to the point where I still liked him, but at the same time, I just wanted him to go away and leave her alone.
Councilman Sokol
Jossey’s uncle. Oh man, how I hated him. Of course, I’m pretty sure the reader is expected to despise him, so in that part, Sabrina succeeded with flying colors. I had so many bad words for him as the story progressed. He reminded me of a mob boss. Really good at disseminating, so when you’re talking to him, you think he makes so much sense, but when you think about it later, you’re like, “um, that actually doesn’t sound great.”
The Pace
Like I said before, The City is 706 pages long. I admit, it’s a lot. But, work with me here. At no point during the 706 pages, did I feel like the story lagged, or that any part wasn’t really needed. The pace was perfect for the story Sabrina chose, and every part of the book was important to carry the story forward.
One thing I’ve learned about writing over the years, is that authors who create the stories I love the most, are the ones who write a mini-cliffhanger at the end of each chapter. Michael Crichton was always really good at this, as well as Carolyn Keene (author of Nancy Drew). I can’t tell you how many times Nancy almost fell over a cliff or walked into a dark room at the end of a chapter.
Sabrina is really good at creating intrigue in her stories, so I wanted to keep reading. I needed to know what was going to happen next. I absolutely love books like that, and the authors who are able to keep me reading will typically earn a reader for life.
Points of View
Sabrina added various other points of view throughout the story, and while some people find it frustrating, it was really fun to see parts through other eyeballs. I think through both books in the series so far, there are 4-5 various points of view. Each one was handled well, because I was never confused about who was speaking. I read a book a few years ago where I would be a couple pages into a new chapter, thinking it was from one person’s point of view, and realize it was someone completely different. That was probably my least favorite part of the book. The City didn’t do that to me, and I appreciated it very much.
Plot Twists
You’ll be happy to know I’m not going to reveal any of the plot twists, because that wouldn’t be fair and would steal the fun from reading The City. I did enjoy a couple of them very much, and I liked that one of them carried over into book two, so I was given a really good reason to grab The Colony as soon as I was done with The City. Like I said above, I read both books in less than a week, so despite the fact that they are long books, They’re easy reads, and they’re engrossing reads.
My Overall Opinon of Aestus, The City
I think Sabrina was surprised I didn’t DM her screaming or yelling more often. She’s gotten used to readers doing that, but in my defense, I was too engrossed in the story to want to take time away to talk about it. I will tell you, I did DM her on Twitter once, to tell her I really hoped Jossey wouldn’t make a particular choice. That, if she did, I was done reading. Sabrina, in true author fashion, sent back “hahahahaha.” In my experience, authors absolutely LOVE when readers DM them or email them to talk about the book. It’s such a fun quirk of the indie world, because I’m pretty sure if I sent Stephen King a DM, I wouldn’t ever hear back.
But, also in my defense, the last book I read by Stephen King was BORING. So, he wouldn’t have wanted to know what I thought of the book, anyway. Or he wouldn’t care, because other people love his books, so what’s the loss of one reader?
Indie authors cherish every single one of their fans, and they work hard to create a connection and keep readers around. They understand that a loss is a terrible thing, and they don’t want to ever lose a reader. Sabrina is like this too. She treasures her readers, and loves her fans. I’m not sure what she’s writing at the moment, but I can guaran-freaking-tee you I’ll be reading it when it comes out.
Recommendation
Interested in Purchasing? Aestus, The City is on Amazon!
If you enjoy dystopian storylines that focus on daily life and danger, rather than romance, this book is for you. While I noticed a bit of romantic intrigue (will they, won’t they?), the story didn’t focus on that part, which was a nice change of pace. Even The 100 on CW started focusing more on romance rather than the story, and that bothered me. I still love the show, and I still love romance in my fantasy books, but when a book can carry a story without depending on romance, I fall in love with them. If that sounds like you, then you will love the Aestus series.
Conclusion
Did you Enjoy this Review? Share on Twitter!
I enjoyed Aestus Series: The City very much, as I’m sure you can see by my super long review. I hope you enjoyed it, though, and I hope you’ll share with your friends on social media.
Above all, I hope you head over to Amazon, and purchase this book. Let me know in the comments if you do, so I can celebrate with you!
Sabrina came on my podcast a few months ago to chat, and we had a great time, so check out that episode!
Until Next Time, Friends!
