Format: Hardcover, 448 pages
Release Date: July 2, 2019
Publisher: HarperTeen
Source: Publisher
Genre: Young Adult / Science Fiction
Survivors of a deadly planetary outbreak take on a new, sinister adversary in the white-knuckle sequel to Contagion, which New York Times bestselling author Amie Kaufman called “gripping, thrilling and terrifying in equal measures.”
They thought their nightmare was over, but Thea, Coen, and Nova’s rescue was only the beginning. After being imprisoned on a ship they thought was their ticket to safety, it’s clear that the threat they left behind isn’t as distant as they’d hoped—and this time the entire galaxy is at risk.
Now that threat is about to be unleashed as an act of political warfare. To prevent an interstellar catastrophe, the survivors must harness the evil they faced on the planet Achlys and learn to wield the only weapon they have left: themselves.
The first installment in Erin Bowman’s duology earned a starred review from Publishers Weekly, who called the plot “intricate and action-packed,” and fans of Jonathan Maberry, Rick Yancey, and Madeline Roux will relish in Bowman’s tense, high-stakes conclusion to the events of Contagion.
Immunity is the second and final installment in author Erin Bowman's Contagion duology. Immunity picks up right where Contagion left off. Althea Sadik, Coen Rivli, and Nova Singh thought they had survived the evil they faced on the planet Achlys. They were wrong. Althea and Coen are forever altered by the Psychrobacter achli contagion and are now lab experiments and prisoners onboard the UBS Paramount. Thea and Coen find themselves evolving over the course of the first part of the book.
As the contagion takes hold, and makes them hosts (immune to the contagion), they learn they are stronger, faster, able to heal from most wounds, and can also use telepathy to speak to the other. While they are resolving personal issues stemming from the fact that Coen infected Thea when he saved her life, they also find themselves as pawns in a much larger game of life or death. Thea and Coen must try to work together, and align up others to help them if they are going to stop Radical
Lieutenant Christoph Burke.
Burke believes he's finally found a way to fight
back against the United Planetary Coalition and free Trios from its
clutches. Burke's
goal is simple: weaponized the contagion, recruit unwilling volunteers
to become his pawns in a grander scale war against the Union which
hasn't always done right for the people they are supposed to protect and
ensure they get what they need. Burke also has some powerful people in power aiding and abetting him in his plans.
Meanwhile, Nova, the pilot, is in a coma when the story opens. While Thea and Coen are being experimented on, Nova finds an unusual ally in Amber Farraday. Amber is a medic student on board the space station, her father is the
head of the team of doctors that are experimenting on Thea and Coen. She ends up taking care of Nova who isn't immune to the contagion and has nightmares from what happened on the doomed planet. Amber finds herself involved in something darker, sinister, and much more dangerous than she bargained for.
With their captors planning to target teens with a deadly scheme, Thea,
Cohen, Nova, and Amber must band together to overpower not only their
captors, but an entire political faction. While Contagion was a forward full throttle action packed story with the cast
that struggled mightily to say alive from those who were infected with the contagion, Immunity is the perfect companion in that it is more of a race against time and an enemy that wants to use them for nefarious intents.
(Note: there is a 5th character in this story we see at different points. I shall name her programmer and not say who she is. I will say that there is a entire back story to this character. You can tell who this character is related to if you truly pay attention. This character plays a pretty important role in this story and ends up helping Nova, Coen, and Amber after they escape from Burke in hopes of finding a way to defeat him.)
The name Burke has been rolling around in my head from the very beginning of the book. If you've watched Aliens (1986) with Ripley, Newt, and the Marines on a colony that went dark thanks to the Xenomorph, you will have heard the name Burke before. In fact, Burke in Aliens, is really similar to the Burke in this series. They both are both illogical in their thinking, they don't want to be told not to go down a certain path, they think they can actually handle something far deadlier than they could imagine in an effort to use them for goals that end up in tragedy and horror.
It is fair to say I really liked this story. I liked to see the addition of Amber who wasn't all in with the radicals and used her mind and skills to help Nova, Coen, and Amber against even her own father. I would have liked to see more of Nova, but she gets her chance in the pivotal final chapters and in escaping from Burke's ship. Nova also deals with her own issues in what she did in order to survive. Plus, hopefully she actually found some peace and happiness with (NO SPOILERS!!!!)
The romance between Coen and Thea evolves in a major way in this book, as does another surprising one that you've probably guessed already. This second book wasn't much in the way or horror like the first book was. This book was straight up science fiction with battleships, space stations, and visits to several new planets thus adding more characters.
Thank you to Abigail at Wunderkind PR for sending me a copy of this book and for your patience when the first book was lost in the aether and never found.
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