I am so happy to be kicking off the blog tour today for Stephanie Diaz’s Rebellion, the second book in the Extraction series!
If this is your first time visiting my blog, welcome! Be sure to check out my review of Extraction and my chat with Stephanie during my 5 YA Authors Under 25 Twitter Chat last year.
Also, if you’re in the US, feel free to enter the giveaway below my review! One reader will win their very own hardcover copy of Rebellion from the lovely, St. Martin’s Press! Alright, here we go!
Rebellion by Stephanie Diaz
Release Date: February 10, 2015
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Genre: YA Sci-fi
ISBN: 978-1250041258
Source: Received from Publisher
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It’s been seven days since Clementine, Logan, and their allies retreated into hiding on the Surface. The rebels may have won one fight against Commander Charlie, but the war is far from over. He will find a way to fly his Core battleship to the nearby planet, Marden, no matter how many lives are lost in the process. Unless the rebels defeat him first. The rebel plan is simple: they will infiltrate each sector and weaken his infrastructure from within his ranks in order to assassinate the corrupt ruler. With every step, Clementine draws closer to losing Logan and everyone she cares about—and losing control of herself.
What a great sequel! I was looking forward to seeing the continuation of Clementine’s journey as she went into hiding to prepare for the war ahead with Commander Charlie and seeing her continue to grow in each and every chapter following that was worth the read.
In the beginning, Clementine is still very nervous about facing Charlie, so much so that she has panic attacks at the slightest trigger of a memory involving him. She’s reeling after the death of Oliver and has Charlie to think about along with all of the baggage that goes with that – and boy does that baggage weigh heavy on Clementine, as we see. But seeing Clementine get to a point where she doesn’t let Charlie reign over her, that was such a victory and I was so proud of her. This is definitely a journey one can be very excited about going on.
But if you think the sequel starts off in a good place, someone bites the dust within the first fifty pages so Stephanie Diaz isn’t going easy on the characters! Remember what I said about the heavy weight of it all? Yeah. I loved the tension this brought on. I loved the sense of infiltration and manipulation and betrayal and the caution on every page. I loved how explosive things got halfway in and how that continued on throughout.
Fear is a serpent twisting inside me, wrapping around my lungs.
I really enjoyed seeing the stakes rise as Clementine was pushed to kill or be killed. The action in this book is great but whoa, talk about emotionally gripping! My oh my! I especially loved how she kept going not just for her love for Logan but for the greater good since it was more about Logan in Extraction. It was so great to see that Clementine once again tried to turn weakness into strength and that even though she was afraid, she didn’t let that stop her. Great character development and pacing all around. She pushed through to do what needed to be done. And when pushed up against the wall, it wasn’t easy but she fought to find a way. She stepped up to the plate big time.
Towards the end, Clementine realized that Charlie wasn’t her only problem but he certainly made the other arising conflict an even greater complication for Clementine. It was so brilliant what was done here, Clementine embracing the control she has when it comes to acting in fear only to come face to face with Charlie and find herself in a position where her control is taken away because of her bravery. Long story short, this was an excellent sequel that has me anticipating the conclusion, Evolution which releases this September!
Happy Release Day, Stephanie!
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Be Sure to Check Out the Upcoming Blog Tour Posts:
Tuesday, February 10 – Hollywood the Write Way
Wednesday, February 11 – Bibliophilia, Please
Thursday, February 12 – Word Spelunker
Friday, February 13 – The Write Path
Saturday, February 14 – A Dream Within a Dream
Sunday, February 15 – Lindsay Cummings Books
Monday, February 16 – Unbound Books
Tuesday, February 17 – Inspiring Insomnia
Wednesday, February 18 – Fiktshun
Thursday, February 19 – Michael Sci Fan
Friday, February 20 – Dystopian Books
Saturday, February 21 – Book Loving Nut
Sunday, February 22 – Read Write Love 28
If you’re in the Southern California area and are itching to see Stephanie on tour, click here for dates!
You may remember me mentioning the First Draft with Sarah Enni Podcast in my Podcast Listening History post and later today, the latest episode featuring Stephanie Diaz will be posted, so be sure to subscribe and give a listen!