Shelf Addiction Blog

Review of Audiobook Chronicles of The One Trilogy | Shelf Byte

1/29/2020

Don't miss the latest Shelf Byte episode! You'll hear a spoiler-free book or audiobook review in just a few minutes!

Today, I'm sharing my thoughts on the trilogy Chronicles of The One. If you've read the first book or all of them (or listened on audio), I'd love to talk about it! Comment below and let me know what you thought.

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Book Review | The City of Mirrors (The Passage #3), by Justin Cronin (Audiobook)

7/6/2016

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I have a trilogy finale for you today...a long awaited finale! I reviewed book two, The Twelve over two years ago. The Passage kicked off this wild and treacherous ride, read on to find out how I felt when it all came to an end with The City of Mirrors.

Publisher: Ballantine Books and Random House Audio
Release Date: May 24, 2016
Format: MP3
Pages: 598 (Hardcover) / Audio Length: Approx 29.5 hours
Narrator: Scott Brick
Source: Library Borrow
Genre: Fantasy/Post Apocalyptic/Dystopia/Horror
Review Date: July 6, 2016
Rating: 4 bookmarks

Synopsis: In "The Passage" and "The Twelve", Justin Cronin brilliantly imagined the fall of civilization and humanity's desperate fight to survive. Now all is quiet on the horizon but does silence promise the nightmare's end or the second coming of unspeakable darkness? At last, this bestselling epic races to its breathtaking finale.

"The world we knew is gone. What world will rise in its place?"

The Twelve have been destroyed and the hundred-year reign of darkness that descended upon the world has ended. The survivors are stepping outside their walls, determined to build society anew and daring to dream of a hopeful future.

But far from them, in a dead metropolis, he waits: Zero. The First. Father of the Twelve. The anguish that shattered his human life haunts him, and the hatred spawned by his transformation burns bright. His fury will be quenched only when he destroys Amy – humanity's only hope, the Girl from Nowhere who grew up to rise against him.

One last time light and dark will clash, and at last Amy and her friends will know their fate.

The story picks up about 20 years after the end of The Twelve. I found it pretty interesting what happened to all of our major characters from the previous installments. Amy, Peter, Michael, Alicia, Hollis, and more. We get to see some of the babies from the previous books as adults with their own families and kids. We got to get a glimpse of the rebuilding of society. After they've been lulled into a false sense of security, the world thought that the Virals were a thing of the past and long gone. Are they? Of course not. Nothing's that easy.

We find out what's happened in the time that's passed through a story that is laid out in a way that's similar to a Bible as something similar. The story of what happened with a Amy after taking out the Twelve and what happened shortly after are expressed in the form of a historical document.

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Video Review: The Immortal Crown (Age of X #2), by Richelle Mead (ARC)

5/31/2014

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Publisher: Dutton Adult
Release Date: May 29, 2014
Format: ebook
Pages: 432 (Hardcover)
Source: Edelweiss, Courtesy of Dutton Adult
Genre: Dystopian, Fantasy
Review Date: May 31, 2014
Rating: 4 bookmarks

Synopsis: Gameboard of the Gods introduced religious investigator Justin March and Mae Koskinen, the beautiful supersoldier assigned to protect him. Together they have been charged with investigating reports of the supernatural and the return of the gods, both inside the Republic of United North America and out. With this highly classified knowledge comes a shocking revelation: Not only are the gods vying for human control, but the elect—special humans marked by the divine—are turning against one another in bloody fashion.

Their mission takes a new twist when they are assigned to a diplomatic delegation headed by Lucian Darling, Justin’s old friend and rival, going into Arcadia, the RUNA’s dangerous neighboring country. Here, in a society where women are commodities and religion is intertwined with government, Justin discovers powerful forces at work, even as he struggles to come to terms with his own reluctantly acquired deity.

Meanwhile, Mae—grudgingly posing as Justin’s concubine—has a secret mission of her own: finding the illegitimate niece her family smuggled away years ago. But with Justin and Mae resisting the resurgence of the gods in Arcadia, a reporter’s connection with someone close to Justin back home threatens to expose their mission—and with it the divine forces the government is determined to keep secret.

Disclaimer: I received this book as a galley courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I read this book back in March and I'm happy to finally share my thoughts with you! See the video here.

Happy Reading,
~Tamara

Get the Kindle version here:

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Review: The Twelve (The Passage #2), by Justin Cronin (Audiobook)

2/19/2014

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Publisher: The Random House Publishing Group
Release Date: First published October 16, 2012 / Audio unabridged edition released October 16, 2012 by Random House Audio
Format: MP3
Pages: 568 (Hardcover) / Audio Length: Approx 27 hours
Narrator: Scott Brick
Source: Library Borrow
Genre: Fantasy/Post Apocalyptic/Dystopia/Horror
Review Date: February 19, 2014
Rating: 4 bookmarks

Synopsis: At the end of The Passage, the great viral plague had left a small group of survivors clinging to life amidst a world transformed into a nightmare. In the second volume of this epic trilogy, this same group of survivors, led by the mysterious, charismatic Amy, go on the attack, leading an insurrection against the virals: the first offensives of the Second Viral War.

To do this, they must infiltrate a dozen hives, each presided over by one of the original Twelve. Their secret weapon: Alicia, transformed at the end of book one into a half human, half viral—but whose side, in the end, is she really on?

Initially I thought this book would get a rating of 3, but after thinking on it a few days I pushed it up to a 4 because after finishing the book, I kept thinking about it. The longer I thought about it, the more I liked it.

The Twelve essentially picks up 5 years after The Passage. The Twelve refers to the twelve original virals, the death-row-inmate subjects turned-virals from the blood of Zero during "Project Noah". To save the world, all twelve must be eliminated.

Peter and Alicia are still hunting down the remaining eleven virals, Amy has settled in a community, Sara and Hollis both find themselves in an unfortunate situations. As we learn about the current status of the surviving first colony characters, Cronin also give us several flashback scenes of the weeks immediately following the viral outbreak. In between we see what has happened to those characters during the past five years Along with the flashbacks, we meet a whole lot of new characters all from various places, who also have their roles to play.

This installment was a crazy ride to say the least. There are many ups and downs and I felt bad for some of the characters at certain points. Not to give anything away, but Sara really went through hell in this book thanks to the Homeland...What's the Homeland? Let's just call it, hell on earth.

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Review: The Passage (The Passage #1), by Justin Cronin (Audiobook)

1/10/2014

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Publisher: Ballantine Books
Release Date: First published January 1, 2010/ Audio unabridged edition released June 8, 2010 by Random House Audio
Format: MP3
Pages: 784 (Hardcover) / Audio Length: Approx 37 hours
Narrator: Scott Brick
Source: Library Borrow
Genre: Fantasy/Post Apocalyptic/Dystopia/Horror
Review Date: January 10, 2014
Rating: 4 bookmarks

Synopsis:An epic and gripping tale of catastrophe and survival, The Passage is the story of Amy—abandoned by her mother at the age of six, pursued and then imprisoned by the shadowy figures behind a government experiment of apocalyptic proportions. But Special Agent Brad Wolgast, the lawman sent to track her down, is disarmed by the curiously quiet girl and risks everything to save her. As the experiment goes nightmarishly wrong, Wolgast secures her escape—but he can’t stop society’s collapse. And as Amy walks alone, across miles and decades, into a future dark with violence and despair, she is filled with the mysterious and terrifying knowledge that only she has the power to save the ruined world.

Dare I say this was an epic tale? Yep, I do. There was soooo much to this story. So multifaceted, so much detail, so many characters. It's actually hard to even address everything properly without writing a mini-book of my own. So I'll try my best without giving away major plot points.

What's this book about? In a nutshell it's a vampire fantasy novel set in a dystopia/post apocalyptic world about a girl who saves the world. I've also included a video from the author where he talks about the book. pretty interesting stuff.

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Video Review: GameBoard of The Gods (Age of X #1), by Richelle Mead (ARC)

3/27/2013

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Publisher: Dutton Adult
Release Date: June 4, 2013
Format: ebook
Pages: 464 (Hardcover)
Source: Net Galley, Courtesy of Dutton Adult
Genre: Dystopian
Review Date: March 18, 2013
Rating: 4 bookmarks

Synopsis:In a futuristic world nearly destroyed by religious extremists, Justin March lives in exile after failing in his job as an investigator of religious groups and supernatural claims. But Justin is given a second chance when Mae Koskinen comes to bring him back to the Republic of United North America (RUNA). Raised in an aristocratic caste, Mae is now a member of the military’s most elite and terrifying tier, a soldier with enhanced reflexes and skills.

When Justin and Mae are assigned to work together to solve a string of ritualistic murders, they soon realize that their discoveries have exposed them to terrible danger. As their investigation races forward, unknown enemies and powers greater than they can imagine are gathering in the shadows, ready to reclaim the world in which humans are merely game pieces on their board.

Gameboard of the Gods, the first installment of Richelle Mead’s Age of X series, will have all the elements that have made her YA Vampire Academy and Bloodlines series such mega successes: sexy, irresistible characters; romantic and mythological intrigue; and relentless action and suspense.

Disclaimer: I received this book as a galley courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Check out my video review of Gameboard Of The Gods! This was a fun and fast paced book. It was a lot to process, but I really enjoyed it! I totally recommend for those who want to check out an adult series from Richelle Mead!

Happy Reading!
~Tamara