Endure by Laura Diamond
Published: 12th July by Etopia Press
Genre: Young Adult
Page Count: 269
Format: eBook
Source: Etopia Press
Genre: Young Adult
Page Count: 269
Format: eBook
Source: Etopia Press
To most of the immortal Vie, his blood is a scourge: untouchable and useless. To some Vie, his blood is a drug. To Justin, it's something that gets him in a lot of trouble. Being poisoned by a Vie is just one example. His sister getting kidnapped is another. Whether it's being coerced by a deluded cult leader, or negotiation with Alex - an Vie scientist addicted to Anemie blood - Justin struggles to keep every mutated drop of blood he's got.
His fight for survival gets more complicated when he meets Alex's slave, Care. Despite coming from different worlds, they're both prisoners, at risk of being drained by a hungry Vie any moment. When she risks her own neck to help Justin find his sister, he's left with a terrifying choice.
Saving what's left of humanity.
Saving his sister. Saving the girl he loves.
Or sticking a stake in Alex's chest.
Justin can't decide which option will get him killed first.
Review:
4 / 5 stars
I was fortunate enough to receive an eArc copy of Endure in exchange for an honest review from Etopia Press, this will in no way effect my opinion on the book.
But guess which silly book blogger typed up the entire review and accidentally deleted it and has been too upset to tackle it again since then. Yeah that was me. I'm pretty annoyed by the whole experience but *sigh* what can you do.
Any how, when this book turned up in my inbox I hadn't requested it or read the synopsis so I just picked it up and read it on a whim and that the cover was pretty.
And because of this, it surprised me.
Judging by the cover alone I'd have guessed we'd have yet another female narrative but no not here. Finally I have actually read one of the very few YA books that have a male narrative and I loved this.
It was definitely a nice change, the writing felt different and new and it came across clearly that this was in fact a boy. It was great to see things from a boys point of view for a change.
I may have been one of the boys growing up but I certainly don't have the mind set of a boy.
Endure is about Justin, an anaemic teenage boy, looking after his younger sister whilst trying to survive as the Vie take over Earth - building a dome over the city to help their own survival, making humans into slaves and being in charge of their every movement, feeding and breathing. Its pretty scary.
At first I figured the Vie were Aliens, if you've seen the TV series "V" you'll have an idea how I was imagining this world but as the story unravelled, very quickly I realised I was wrong. I was thrilled to find out the Vie were in fact Vampires!
Wooo. I'm pretty sure this is one of the only books I've read this year about Vampires. 100% real and not made up to get the girl Vampires.
What is even better is these aren't dreamy-fall-head-over-heels-for-Vampires, but in fact they're terrifying, blood thirsty and mind controlling Vampires, getting high of anaemic blood.
Justin's sister is taking captive by a Vampire named Alex, who has a definite interest in Justin once he manages to resist Alex's mind control.
So here beings Justin's quest to rescue his sister but its not an easy task at all.
Along the way he ends up with a group of anaemic kids who believe he is the saviour mentioned in a prophecy, he ends up being tortured and almost drained to death on more than one occasion, fights vampire after vampire - though not always successfully - and of course meets a girl who he likes.
Probably one of my favourite aspects of this book was the dynamic between Alex and Justin, the conversations between the two and each of them figuring out what the other is up too. Its was great to see the story unfold between these two characters but I do have to say Alex wasn't the only one that got annoyed with Justin's stubbornness.
However, whilst I really enjoyed reading this books and I have very little to complain about, I do believe that it was more of a build up to the sequel, the way the story ended on such an open cliffhanger just made it seem like I should be expecting a lot more to happen in the future.
Which is why I'm very excited and waiting (somewhat patiently) for the sequel.
*When purchasing through this link, I will receive a small amount, once I have enough saved up I will put it towards a giveaway.
I enjoy the occasional male narrative, it's more direct in my opinion. Hopefully the sequel will be more substantial
ReplyDeleteYeah I agree, the only trouble is I find girls can be more reasonable/think things through and this could have really helped him out in the book haha!
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