#Blog Tour/Review - REBELLION by J.A. Souders (YA, Science Fiction) @jasouders @torteen

Series: The Elysium Chronicles # 3
Format: Hardcover, 336 pages
Release Date: July 12, 2016
Publisher: Tor Teen
Source: Publisher
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction

In this conclusion to J. A. Souders’s thrilling, twist-filled Elysium Chronicles series, Evie Winters and Gavin Hunter return to the isolated, dangerous underwater city that they fought so hard to escape.

Back in Elysium at last, Evie has finally found her true self hidden under layers and layers of false memories implanted by the woman she knew as Mother. Thanks to the intervention of her father, she knows the horrible truth about Mother and her insidious plans for her city. With the help of the love of her life, Gavin, and her best friend, Asher St. James, she’s determined to free her people from the cruel dictatorship of Mother’s laws. But how do you free people who don’t know they need rescuing?

Working with the growing Underground rebellion, Evie tries to remove Mother from her position by force—with disastrous results. As the body count rises, Evie must find a way to save Elysium before Mother destroys them all.

Rebellion is the third and final installment in author J.A. Souders The Elysium Chronicles. Evelyn "Evie" Winters has broken free of Mother's mind control manipulations and joined with the rebellion. It is now time for Evie to be the leader that the rebellion and those who know about Mother's past believes she can be. After all, Evie was not only trained to be one of Mother's enforcers, but was also labeled as the Daughter of the People. Who else can understand Mother's machinations better than those on the inside?

If you think that Souders was going to make things easy for you and wrap things up like a present on Christmas Day morning, be warned. Rebellion twists and turns it's way right to the end of the trilogy while also giving Gavin his own little adventure. Luckily, Souders doesn't go down the road that other authors have. There are no love triangles in this book. Evie has found her mate of choice in Gavin Hunter, whereas Asher St. John is more of a big brother to her, than any romantic inclinations. I am totally OK on both parts.

Evie and the Rebellion have a whole lot of paths to follow in order to defeat Mother, but none of them are easy. They need the people to believe they are capable of removing Mother from power. They need the people to believe they have a chance at a better future without Mother and her Enforcers. Especially when Mother is prone to killing off anyone who sneezes the wrong way. Especially those close to Evie. There are some strange happenings in this book and I have done my best not to reveal any of them. 

Let's just say Evie encounters certain characters that I couldn't figure out whether or not they were on her side, or they are doing a good job of making her question things. One character in particular is always around, but never really trying to stop Evie. I was really shocked at the ending. See, I love closure, and the ending really doesn't give me any sense that anything we've read in the prior two novels made any difference. I hated not seeing Evie and her real mother Evangeline not getting closer. I dare say that Evie was a rather cold fish when it came to Evangeline. 

In closing, Souders ending was either the most brilliant strategy ever, or one of the most mind blowing endings that I've read in a very long time. Either way, 

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