The Elected Series

Yesterday, I posted my review for “Elected,” by Rori Shay which is the first book in this series. Here is my review of the brand new sequel, for your enjoyment.

Title: Suspected
Series: The Elected Series
Book Number: #1
Author/s: Rori Shay

Publication Date: April 22nd, 2015
Publisher: Silence in the Library Publishing

Pages: 270

Purchase: Amazon | Kobo Books | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords | Silence in the Library

Synopsis
East Country upheld the laws. Mid destroyed them.

In the year 2185 Earth is rebuilding after a global eco-crisis. Countries maintain complete isolation so there’s no warfare over scarce resources. One Elected family is chosen to lead each country for one hundred years to ensure stability. Women aren’t allowed to take office and must reproduce at all costs. Technology is banned to preserve what’s left of the environment.

Yet, I’m my country’s Elected. I’ve just sanctioned technology use to ready us for war. I’m about to cross the border to spy on our neighbor. And…I’m a girl. Shhhhhh…..

I received this eBook as a part of a book tour, hosted by Lola’s Book Tours.

As soon as I finished the wonder that was Elected, I flipped to Suspected and couldn’t stop reading. Elected filled me with fear, laughs and a sense that something was not right. Suspected backed this up.

Thanks to Red Queen, I now have a chronic Don’t-Trust-Any-Characters illness and it definitely had a presence whilst reading Rori Shay’s books. The Technology Faction was too calm, Vienne was too perfect and Mid Country was too advanced.

Suspected left me longing for Perfected, the not-yet-released finale to Shay’s touching trilogy. That cliffhanger was uncalled for.

Throughout Elected and Suspected, I enjoyed the confusion and self doubt running through Aloy’s head at every moment. She was always scared that what she did wouldn’t be good for the greater mass of her people, yet she refused to allow the minorities to continue being silent. In Suspected, she was presented with Mid Country’s awful to-be leader, Calix, which created contrast and something for Aloy to compare herself to. This boosted her sense of righteousness and created a stronger leader out of a person whom was denied the right to leadership because of her gender.

Aloy’s relationships with Vienne and Griffin were unique. On one hand, Vienne was literally made for Aloy however Griffin was meant to be her enemy. From the moment I met Griffin until the moment I die, I will ship Aliffin to Pluto and back again.

Suspected was the opposite of Elected in the sense that Aloy did not see herself and the Elected family as the enemy – but as the hero and voice of the people they ruled. I personally thought it was interesting reading about a girl who overcame her self esteem ‘issues’ (I say that in the lightest sense) and turned into a woman who came to understand that her presence prevented the real evil from murdering thousands of innocent civilians.

In certain parts of Suspected, I felt like the writing was just average, and all I wanted to do was skim through the tedious descriptions. It almost created, yet another, reading slump for me, but then it picked up again towards the end.

In conclusion, I cannot wait to read Perfected, and I would love it for you to share your thoughts and opinions on Rori Shay’s works with me via the comments below!

Hello! A few weeks ago, I signed up for a book tour for Rori Shay’s new book, “Suspected.” It’s the sequel to this book and it going to be released very soon! This is my review of the first novel, “Elected,” so I hope you enjoy.

Cover Title: Elected

Series: The Elected Series
Book Number: #1
Author/s: Rori Shay

Publication Date: April 8th, 2014
Publisher: Silence in the Library Publishing

Pages: 270

Purchase: Amazon | The Book Depository| Booktopia

Synopsis

It’s the year 2185, and in two weeks, Aloy will turn eighteen and take her father’s place as president of the country. But to do so, she must masquerade as a boy to avoid violating the Eco-Accords, four treaties designed to bring the world back from the brink of environmental extinction. Aloy hopes to govern like her father, but she is inheriting a different country. The long concealed Technology Faction is stepping out of the shadows, and as turmoil grows within her country, cryptic threats also arrive from beyond their borders.

As she struggles to lead, Aloy maintains her cover by marrying a woman, meanwhile battling feelings for the boy who knows her secret—the boy who is somehow connected to her country’s recent upheaval. When assassination attempts add to the turmoil, Aloy doesn’t know whom to trust. She understood leadership required sacrifice. She just didn’t realize the sacrifice might be her life.

I received this eBook as a part of a book tour, hosted by Lola’s Book Tours.

As soon as I received Elected, I rushed to open it up and begin reading. I was so eager to read a book that dealt with today’s issues in the future and I was definitely impressed.

Rori Shay created a world which had been destroyed by climate change, ruled by sexism and left for dead by disease. She created characters that played with your trust – twisting it in some places, and warmly embracing it in others. In this aspect, I regarded Elected as a Red-Queen-Kinda-Novel, and then there was this:

Screen Shot 2015-04-18 at 3.01.33 pm

For any readers that have read the above post, or something along those lines, and really want to read a book written from the perspective such a person, Elected is the perfect book for you.

Aloy sincerely believes that the Technology Faction – a group of people rooting for the use of technology, once again – is bred out of pure evil. However, in their own eyes, Aloy is the real enemy and you have no idea who to trust…

Despite having loved the plot of Elected to Pluto and back, I felt like the execution was merely average, which is disappointing.

Screen Shot 2015-04-18 at 3.25.21 pm

I guess that sums it up. The “eventfulness” of Elected was just bleh. I felt like too much time passed and too little happened. Regardless of whether or not that’s what would happen in reality, the novel could have scored itself another ice cream if I jumping up and down, scared for the characters throughout the entire story – rather than in bits and pieces of it.

I loved the plot and characters*, the writing was above average – 3 1/2 ice creams – and the eventfulness was average. I would recommend this book to lovers of Red Queen, Branded, Divergent, The Hunger Games and Graceling.

*Griffin

Would you buy Elected, if you saw it in a shop? Or have you read it already, if so, how was it?