#Review - This Splintered Silence by Kayla Olson #YALIT #SyFy #Mystery

Series: Standard
Format: Hardcover, 368 pages
Release Date: November 13, 2018
Publisher: HarperTeen
Source: Publisher
Genre: Young Adult / Action & Adventure / Survival Stories

From the author of The Sandcastle Empire comes a sci-fi thriller that’s equal parts Illuminae and One of Us Is Lying.

Lindley Hamilton has been the leader of the space station Lusca since every first-generation crew member on board, including her mother, the commander, were killed by a deadly virus.

Lindley always assumed she’d captain the Lusca one day, but she never thought that day would come so soon. And she never thought it would be like this—struggling to survive every day, learning how to keep the Lusca running, figuring out how to communicate with Earth, making sure they don’t run out of food.

When a member of the surviving second generation dies from symptoms that look just like the deadly virus, though, Lindley feels her world shrinking even smaller. The disease was supposed to be over; the second generation was supposed to be immune. But as more people die, Lindley must face the terrifying reality that either the virus has mutated or something worse is happening: one of their own is a killer.

 

Kayla Olson's This Splintered Silence is her follow-up to the novel The Sandcastle Empire. This is a story that is a mixture of science fiction and mystery. 17-year old Lindley Hamilton is the Commander of the station called Lusca. Lindley leads a group of second generation survivors who lived while the adults on the station died of a deadly pathogen. Learning how to keep the space station running, figuring out how to communicate with Earth, and making sure they don’t run out of food are just some of the issues they've had to deal with.

But, now some crew members from the second-generation who were supposedly immune are turning up dead. Has the pathogen mutated? Is it murder? Could an alien visitor be trying to make its move? I'm not telling obviously, but you get the idea; there's lots of possibilities. This Splintered Silence is not an action book, the pacing is on the slower side, but it kind of suits the book. The mystery unravels slowly and you can just see how everything is falling apart, how panic starts to rise among the people on the ship as they realize how dark and serious the situation that they're in is.  

There are six core characters; Lindley, Heath, Haven, Natalin, Zesi, & Leo which is a good thing because any more than that, and it would have taken a larger dry erase board to keep track of them. Lindley & the final encounter with the “villain” is very underwhelming and not much of a shocker if you pay attention. The reasoning behind the attacks isn’t very shocking or noteworthy.  

Sadly, the story features a rather dull love triangle which isn't settled by the time the story ends. The background was a bit lacking. There were a few details about why the ship was in space, as well as possible romance between Lindley's mother and another tertiary character. I would have liked more details as to what was going on with earth and more of a history of the mission.

 

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#Review - The Sandcastle Empire by Kayla Olson #YALit #Science Fiction

Series: Standalone
Format: E-Galley, 464 pages
Release Date: June 6, 2017
Publisher: HarperTeen
Source: Edelweiss
Genre: YA, Science Fiction

Before the war, Eden’s life was easy—air conditioning, ice cream, long days at the beach. Then the revolution happened, and everything changed.

Now a powerful group called the Wolfpack controls the earth and its resources. Eden has lost everything to them. They killed her family and her friends, destroyed her home, and imprisoned her. But Eden refuses to die by their hands. She knows the coordinates to the only neutral ground left in the world, a place called Sanctuary Island, and she is desperate to escape to its shores.

Eden finally reaches the island and meets others resistant to the Wolves—but the solace is short-lived when one of Eden’s new friends goes missing. Braving the jungle in search of their lost ally, they quickly discover Sanctuary is filled with lethal traps and an enemy they never expected. 

This island might be deadlier than the world Eden left behind, but surviving it is the only thing that stands between her and freedom.

The Maze Runner meets Lost is how one reviewer describes The Sandcastle Empire by debut author Kayla Olson. Set in a near future where climate change has pushed the world to the breaking point, a radical faction called the Wolfpack has seized control of the government and created gulags which has separated families, and killed anyone else who refused to kneel to their demands. Eden, who has spent the majority of her time in a Wolfpack gulag on New Port Isabel, and has no clue whether or not her father is actually alive or not, escapes along with (3) others (Finnley, Alexa, and Hope). 

Eden has heard of a supposed island that is called Sanctuary Island. It is supposed to be a place that is out of reach of the Wolfpack. But, things start to get weird when Finnley disappears. After searching the island, and encountering Lost like challenges, Eden, Alexa, and Hope discover a new group of boys has arrived on the island, and they have Finnley with them. With no explanation as to what happened to Finnley, readers are just expected to move on and until the author decides to enlighten us to what happened. Eden and the rest gather together to cross the Island and discover that it is more than they could have imagined, and there are plenty of surprises to come. Is this a standalone, or part of a series? Heaven knows. 

So, I am actually nearing the point of being burned out on post-apocalyptic novels. I hear the same message over and over and over again, and it no longer moves me or motivates me. I want something new, and something that doesn't follow the same storylines. I no longer hear the message that the author is attempting to make. Whenever I read one of these books now, I feel I am in a Charlie Brown cartoon, and the speaker is all Wah Wa Wah, Wa Wah Wa, Wa Wa Wa, Wah Wah Wah! 

Apparently, this book has been optioned for movie rights. Not going to give anyone the idea that I'll be seeing the movie. Especially when I know who is involved in the project, and this person has a yacht, mansion, and private jet that he uses to gallivant all over the world not understanding how much carbon he is actually causing. The double standard of these standard bearers is disingenuous at best. 

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