Hey guys, this is Abi here,
And even though it hasn't been long since I've finished this book, I thought it was time I reviewed it, because that's part of the deal.
So, with further ado, let's begin with the review!
Title: Aaru
Author: David Meredith
Genre: Science Fiction
Release date: 9th July, 2017
Status: Book 1/3
Pages: I don't know, I read it on my Kindle.
Blurb: "Rose is dying. Her body is wasted and skeletal. She is too sick and weak to move. Every day is an agony and her only hope is that death will find her swiftly before the pain grows too great to bear.
She is sixteen years old.
Rose has made peace with her fate, but her younger sister, Koren, certainly has not. Though all hope appears lost Koren convinces Rose to make one final attempt at saving her life after a mysterious man in a white lab coat approaches their family about an unorthodox and experimental procedure. A copy of Rose’s radiant mind is uploaded to a massive super computer called Aaru – a virtual paradise where the great and the righteous might live forever in an arcadian world free from pain, illness, and death. Elysian Industries is set to begin offering the service to those who can afford it and hires Koren to be their spokes-model.
Within a matter of weeks, the sisters’ faces are nationally ubiquitous, but they soon discover that neither celebrity nor immortality is as utopian as they think. Not everyone is pleased with the idea of life everlasting for sale.
What unfolds is a whirlwind of controversy, sabotage, obsession, and danger. Rose and Koren must struggle to find meaning in their chaotic new lives and at the same time hold true to each other as Aaru challenges all they ever knew about life, love, and death and everything they thought they really believed."
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
My Thoughts
Going into this book, I had high expectations, especially considering how much I liked Reflections of Queen Snow white (which I reviewed for the same author a year or so ago).
But, I have to admit, because I promised to give an honest review, that I was really disappointed at the beginning. Looking back, it was probably because this book was a slow burner, and got better as the plot progressed, but at the beginning I was sort of just waiting for something to happen.
One of the reasons why this was more of a slow burner in the beginning was because of the amount of information that we got in the beginning was almost overbearing, and even though the amount of information was necessary, it didn't make the plot much better, just because I was waiting for something to happen from the start to about 60 pages in.
One thing that stuck with me throughout the course of the book, and kept me hooked on it (in the start) there was the question of "How is this possible?" which was stuck in the back of my mind constantly. And I was waiting with bated breath to see when something proved that this couldn't possible be as good as they claimed it would be.
Because the premise, the fact that you could talk to somebody who had died was impossible, inconceivable. Which is a big reason of why I gave this book a four stars.
On the other hand, along with how much information I got, as well as that question that was constantly stuck in my brain, it made the pacing really slow, and made me loath to pick it up again once I put it down.
But despite the slow beginning, once you got into the story, it picked up in a big way. Told by the perspectives of Rose, who was residing in Aaru, and her sister Koren, the spokesperson for the same project, you never felt you were missing anything from either of the girls. Which made for a rather interesting story, especially as the plot progressed and the characters developed.
Let's talk about the plot. Even though it took a while for the plot to progress, once it did, I could not keep up! Surprise after surprise, I could not put this book down. No chapter was boring. Each one had me reeling, and super eager to read on, so I could find out what would happen to these characters that I had somehow grown so attached to.
Speaking of these characters, not only were they good as individual characters, in their own chapters, but it was wonderful to see that sisterly bond when they came together. As I read more about the overall story, it is so easy to relate to them as characters, first because any family could find themselves in that situation, and then as their separate stories merged together to make one big story and one direction, you saw what type of people they were and it was all too easy to follow their journey as more than just characters.
Saying that, as innocent the premise seems to be, there are a lot of adult scenes in this and I wouldn't recommend this to anyone under the age of 17, just because I found some of these scenes raw and really adult. I won't go into detail because these scenes were pretty far into the story and I don't want to spoil anything, but be prepared for some pretty emotional and upsetting scenes when you pick up this book.
And I have to say that even though these scenes were super intense and not for younger readers, I will say that I think they might have been necessary, because it was important to show the seriousness and what the reality of being in the public eye might come to. These scenes gave a good message of, be careful of what you put online and, even though this wasn't the main plot point, that was the way I interpreted it.
So overall, even though I had a few negative opinions about this book, it was thoroughly interesting, and I will most definitely be continuing on with the series, because I feel like this book has only been the tip of the iceberg of what this story has yet to tell.
So that was my review of Aaru, by David Meredith! I hope you enjoyed it, and let me know what you thought in the comments below!
I hope you have a wonderful day and I will see you all on Monday!
Byeeeee!
-Abi xxxxx
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