Tears

by Rita J. Webb

Seventeen-year-old Lelea is insane. A military project since age two, she endured surgery after surgery forging her into the ultimate soldier. Somewhere along the way, the dreams haunting her nights spilled into her days, and now she talks to creatures long dead and hears music in silence.

Through her visions, Lelea discovers her sanity isn't the only thing in danger. Her dreams call her to save the world from General Sythe, a power-hungry monster, but the secret to freeing her people lies in restoring dragonkind to the world. An impossible task since dragons have been extinct for thousands of years, if they ever existed in the first place.

Stealing a spaceship, she searches the galaxy for ancient scrolls leading to a stash of dragon eggs, but instead she finds a group of rebels and a budding romance. With the General in pursuit, she must convince her companions to trust her. If only she could overcome what is broken inside her…

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Science Fiction, Dystopia, Ebooks, Fiction

350 pages, Paperback

First published August 22, 2011

About the author

Leaving the house to go to school, I had schoolbooks spilling out of one hand, the other holding my place in a Nancy Drew novel, and bunny slippers still on my feet. My mom was a wee bit upset.

I haven't changed much. Still always have a book (or two) in my hand or creating stories in my head, and although I don't have any bunny slippers, I love writing in my jammies and snuggly slipper socks.

With my husband TJ (my own cuddly werewolf), I home-school our three girls, who keep us busy with art, science projects, books to read, dance classes, and walks about the park.

Contact:
http://TJandRita.com
http://Facebook.com/TJandRita
http://Twitter.com/TJandRita

Reviews

[Rita Webb]

An excerpt:

I can kill with my bare hands. Worse, I can inflict more pain with just a finger than they could imagine.

My chest tightens, and I quicken my steps to get away from the stares. Around a corner, I find myself alone with my Father’s face. The slogan, “The General loves you,” screams at me.

Father, if you loved me, you never would have deactivated me. I worked hard to fit in like a nice cog, obeying your commands as the good little soldier you wanted. But I could never please you.

Though as much as you hurt me, I still wish you could love me. I’d have devoted my heart and not just my body if you had given me one nod of approval.

I was two years old when you first sent me to your scientists. You put a chip in my brain to control my thoughts and filled my body with metal parts. Look what you’ve done to me—I’m not even human anymore.

You turned me into a killer.

Don’t tell me you love me.

I run past the sign, dashing away the tears with the back of my hand. Now is not the time to cry.

[Renee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I waited to review this book because I was one of Rita's beta readers, and because I'm a terrible judge of YA fiction. I don't like simple plot lines, so most YA doesn't interest me. However, and this is a big however, Tears is not simple. While there aren't as many subplots as you'd see in adult fiction, Tears has a lot to say in the white space. Originally, I worried might be "beyond" younger readers but I was wrong.

My daughter (13) read Tears after it arrived Friday afternoon. By Saturday morning she'd finished. Saturday evening, she picked it up to read one more time. She related to Lelea, saying she felt as though she were traveling through the story with her. She also liked the message that Tears gives. And yes, she did understand the subtext and totally got what was in the white space.

For those of you that haven't read Tears, I sound like I've lost my mind, but you'll understand if you read it. I recommend that you do. It is a beautiful story that encourages readers to embrace what makes us different.

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

KIDLET#1 REVIEWS!
Please note that her opinions are 100% her own.

Kidlet#1 Review: Tears, By Rita Webb.
Review by Kidlet#1 (13 years old)

What was the book about?
It was about Lelea, a cyborg who was sort of insane because her mind lives in the past. And she started to rebel against her father, the evil Father General (muahaha!) by lying and then swearing her own oath to take him down and free her people. She goes on an adventure to find the dragon eggs and save the universe from her father. Along the way, she finds love.

What did you like best about the book?
I like the adventure and description of the characters, I liked how immensely powerful the words are.

Did anything bother you about the book?
Nothing bothered me.

Who was your favorite character?
My favorite character was Jadon with her self-esteem & endurance.

How many stars do you give this book? All the stars possible.

Kidlet#1 signing off...and read this book people, it rocks.

Wendy's note: She read the book in 1 day, then turned around and read it again the next. That never happens. It speaks volumes for how well this resonated with her.
Mrs. Webb, I'd say you hit your target audience spot on.

[Katy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked this book enough, but there was so much that bothered me. And when I say bother, I don't mean annoy - I mean DISTURBED me.

First of all, I thought the characters in this book were WAY too young. Lelea, the main character is only 14 years old. After reading the summary, I thought it was a bit young to be a groomed killing machine or to have a budding romance. School-girl crushes, I can understand, but the romance sounded way more serious than a crush. And I was right. The book talks about Lelea as a "woman," and Aren (who's 15) keeps thinking about her "curves" and her "breasts," particularly her "nipples." Really?!? I'm sorry but 14 is an eighth-grader, possibly a young high school freshman. I would be naiive to say it doesn't happen that young in today's society, but 14-year-olds and 15-year-olds should not be thinking this way. This really did NOT sit well with me.

As far as the book itself, the story was all over the place! It was action-filled and very fast-paced, but the flow was very choppy, and I was so confused that the book made me as insane as our main character. And we see Lelea's point of view in "Book 1," but by the end of Book 6, the last part, we see FIVE points of view with the addition of Jaak, Jadan, Aren and even Chester. And Lelea's POV is written in the first person, while the other four are written in the third person.

Going back to the story, the concept was truly unique. HOWEVER, I felt there were so many holes in Webb's theories as she failed to explain quite a bit, and I am left with SO many questions. Apparently, the story takes place in the future, and this little group tries to go back to the past to save the dragon and her eggs.

Okay... so here are just some of my questions... What is so great about the dragon and her eggs - I'm guessing magic and the ability to grow life? I still don't understand how that world was destroyed? What was so special about Lelea other than being a cyborg bred to be the ultimate killing machine? How did she come to be the dragon's oracle? Where does her powers (mindreading, etc.) come from? How did Father General know Lelea was lying after the failed mission and that his cameras were lying during the attempted escape? How were Jadan and Lelea bald one minute and have long, black hair right after the crash? I still don't understand how the dragon became a part of Aren and how he became the Dragon King. I'm also not clear about the time travel and this "tear." And I'm still a bit confused about the emperor (the enemy from the past) and the general (the enemy from the future). So many questions swirling in my head, and I have forgotten a bunch of them.

I think I like the overall story, but the book really put my head in a spin. Maybe I'm just slow, but with the young age, the book being all over the place and the incomplete theories, I just don't think this book was right for me.

[Kelly Knapp · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! This is an incredible book. The first few pages were a little choppy, but then it settled into the story and I realized the first few pages were giving you the experience that Lelea experiences most of the time. Her life is choppy and disjointed. But this is understandable; she has been turned into the perfect assassin through numerous experiments and surgeries.

While the blurb on the book states that Lelea is crazy; she only thinks she is. Somehow, she has tapped into what life was like thousands of years before and what it could be like again if she can find a way to stop the General. She dream-walks with others (including a dragon) and learns that the devastation on her world began with the final destruction of the dragons. And, she seems to have developed paranormal abilities.

Like many Young Adult protagonists, Lelea is strong both physically and mentally. She fears she is broken so she often exhibits low self-esteem, but shows her strength when , instead of trying to make her own life better, she is determined to save life for others. She defies the General at every opportunity, speaking to her targets, helping her sister, loving the children in the nursery and finally by running away.

If I could change one thing in this book, it would be to somehow better show the beauty of Lantis. The devastation of the General’s world is clear but when they arrive on Lantis, there should be wonder in the eyes of other characters. It was clear that Lelea can see and hear the beauty everywhere. But the other characters seem confused or annoyed rather than overwhelmed. This lost it one-half star on the rating scale.

Still, this is a great read for anyone who has ever questioned their own sanity or that of someone else’s sanity. It is a great read for those who feel trapped by their circumstances and are looking for alternative ways to deal. It is a great read for anyone questioning how others should be treated. And finally, it is just a great read.

[Amy Lutchen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cover: Absolutely beautiful. The red/pink/orange hues are perfect for drawing in the eye and capturing attention by stimulating a sense of warmth, while the planetary images ensure us there’s an adventure waiting to be experienced.

Text: This sci-fi/fantasy was very well written in my opinion. Author Rita Webb has a wonderful ability to make her prose flow in a very poetic manner, in a way that every paragraph was different, yet swept into and melded to the next seamlessly. Tears is written from many POVs, with young Lelea (the main character) being the first character to emerge. The beginning of the story starts choppy and may begin leading one astray, but it serves a main purpose in exposing the way in which Lelea’s mind actually works.

Story: Young Lelea (my favorite character!), a scientific experiment of her father’s--The General--is naïve, colorful, and loads of fun, yet is a killer assassin with an insanely strange way of predicting exactly what is going to happen in the future. How you ask? Read and you’ll find out!

Lelea and her older sister, Jadon, also a scientific experiment, have both had enough of their father and his evil ruling ways (destroying both land and life), so they plan escape and in this escape become involved with a handful of very interesting and well-developed characters. One dragon-bound, one bent, and one broken. I loved learning their stories and watching as their paths twisted and turned, forcing them this way and that. Kudos to author Rita Webb in her journey to show us human response is bred from both environment and a normally invisible energy deep within our souls—the very energy that Lelea CAN SEE.

As a fantasy fan, I found so much to be excited about! Dragons and time travel and auras, oh my!
Much action and adventure is had by the group, and in their journey I felt compassion for each tortured soul, and found myself yearning for their escape from both the past and the future…

[Veronica Sicoe · Rating 3 out of 5]

In her novel "Tears", Rita Webb tackles a difficult subject from a difficult perspective.

The protagonist, a teenage girl who has been tortured and emotionally abused by her father while she was drilled to become an assassin, carries the heavy responsibility of saving the world from her father's greed and inhumanity. As if a horrible childhood and adolescence in a dystopian world weren't enough to twist her like a pretzel, Lelea must also make sense of the dreams and visions that populate her tormented mind, keep a group of rebellious and stubborn teenagers together and evade her father's henchmen while she seeks to save everyone's future.

Big chunk to chew at for a Young-Adult novel, and occasionally peppered with explicit content of sexual or violent nature (though nothing a young 21st century teeny can't handle).

The core message of "Tears", though, is very positive and heartening -- life must and will prevail as long as there is hope and courage. The tough aren't always big and strong; sometimes the toughest are also the most unlikely and vulnerable, like Lelea.

Don't be deterred by my subjective 3 star rating! It's all a matter of taste in the end, and I had to reconcile my stubborn predilection for hard sciences and "adult" fiction with Rita's rather poetic and emotionally laden YA story.

I recommend that you take the plunge into Lelea's synesthetic experiences and adventures, and find out how her innocence and daring change the fate of her world.

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tears in my opinion is a mix of sci-fi and dystopian.

The main character Lelea is physically strong but emotionally unstable. She has little self esteem and thinks she is crazy. She sees things no one else does, she can enter into dreams and talks to dragons.

Her entire life she has built to be a solider, she's endured many surgeries to make her into the ultimate solider for her father the General. She finds ways to rebel against the General all the time. She wants life to be back the way it was many years ago before her father took over. Lelea and her sister along with a few others steal a space ship and take off to find a way restore their land. Along the way she finds love and the magic to free her people from the General.

While I loved this story I felt lost at times. I wasn't sure what was real and what Lelea was dreaming. There were parts that I didn't think need to be said in a young adult novel but that is just my opinion. There were things I found a little disturbing but in the dystopian end of it I imagine they could happen. Although I would never hope they would in real life. It is a good book but somewhat different than what I normally read. The ending felt slightly rushed and some story lines I would liked to have seen develop more. I am hoping that there is going to be a sequel because while it could be a stand alone, there is some unanswered story lines. Overall I am giving it 3.5 stars.

This was given to me by the author for review. It did not affect my review in any way.

[Sheilagh Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fourteen year old Lelea hears music and a dragons call that others don’t so she is considered strange and perhaps mentally handicapped from the nanos that were planted in her brain at age three to make her a super soldier. She is however a Dreamwalker who hears the dragons call. Her father the General sucks the life out of his people with oppression and killings to extend his own life. The General uses both of his daughters Lelea and Jadon as super soldiers to get whom and what he wants. Lelea is tired of the killings the pain of her wounds and the pain of her people. She wants to heed the dragon’s call and save the dragon’s eggs so her world can change. Then her world can be the colourful world of her dreams, where food is plentiful and the people enjoy blue skies and greenery but to do so is fraught with grave danger. First she and her older sister Jadon must escape the bonds their father has placed on them. They steal and ship and find stowaways on board. Aren who Lelea has dreamed will help her find the eggs and is also connected to the dragon and Jaak and Chester who are needed to help with the dangerous journey into the past to save the Dragon’s eggs .I won’t tell you any more other than to tell you it is a journey worthy of “Lord of the Rings” as the participants are forced to bond together because of the situations and yet have temptations to betray each other. This story is a story of love rebirth and redemption and I truly enjoyed it’s telling.
4 stars out of five

[Hmr28 · Rating 3 out of 5]

In some respects this book deserves a 2 and in some a 4 so I rounded to a 3 but a three does not really represent the problems or good points of the book. The first 100 pages were excellent. A wonderful voice, with an interesting main character. Great world building (at least the start of it), lyrical writing, etc. The rest of the book....not so much. It starts out in first person present and moves to multiple characters in third person. This makes the book very disjointed. The world building after the first 100 pages was iffy, and there were some problems with how sexually aware the very young characters were portrayed as. The main character is only 14 (a very young 14 in many ways), the boy she likes is 15 and he constantly refers to her nipples, her figure, has to leave the area because of tight clothing due to an erection etc. I think if the main characters had been more like 16 this would have been fine but for a 14 year old protagonist it is a bit much. The book ended abruptly without a satisfying conclusion. I will say I liked the author's voice enough to try another of her books.

[T.J. Webb · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book, but since my wife is the author,I am admittedly biased. ;-)
The main character is an insane girl who is the result of a military experiment to create a super-soldier. She has been a lab experiment and an assassin almost her entire life. She sees things no one else can see, speaks to dragons in her mind, and somehow she must pull together a team to restore magic to a dying world. To do so she must face off against the tyrant who has been enslaving and feeding off of the human race for centuries, her father.

Here are a few of my favorite quotes:

“It’s called hope.”
“What?”
“What you feel. It’s hope.”
“Hope?”
I nod. “Always choose the option that makes you feel like this.”

_____________________________________________

I am not insane. Alone in my small cell, I recite those words to myself. If I
say them enough, maybe I’ll believe them. Maybe they’ll come true.

________________________________________________

Naked, I sit on the table in the compound's science wing. Goosebumps run up
my arms, and I shiver. Cold, but it feels good to be alive. I am on display.
They stare at me, a puzzle to be solved.

I am their test subject.

[L.D. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel like the book should have been at least twice as long as it was. There was so much that was introduced into the plot line: invading killer alien bugs, an evil dictator that doesn't die, genetic experiments, space travel, magical dragons, fantasy quests, etc... There were all these elements but nothing that had a satisfying explanation, details, or conclusion. I enjoyed the plot but that enjoyment was tempered by my confusion and the lack of more elaboration on the plot points.

The writing was easy to read, but at times felt too...simple. I kept hoping there would be more complexity to mirror the complexity of the plot. Even the characters felt too simple for the roles they were playing. I never quite believed that they had any real development or transformations. It's like they just suddenly fit the needs of the plot.

So perhaps the problem is is that I'm too old for this novel. I'm sure I would have enjoyed it more if I was in middle school.

[Delia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was okay but it had some major defects. I like the idea of Lelea's insanity allowing her to be a dreamwalker and helping the dragons and stuff but some of this book seemed a little random at times. Like when Jadon's ship was shot down and the crew ended up going past the edge of spacetime where they needed to go... a little convinient I think. Also, when the crew finds Cade he's just floating around in space. Where did he come from? How did he survive in space? Why did he appear next to the ship right when they needed him? Plus, why does Lelea call him "The Scrolls?" I wasn't happy with the ending either, the way it was written seems like the author was running out of time for the book and just plopped the ending in there. I know I'm complaining about the bad parts of this book but don't get me wrong, I actually did like it. Lelea's insane dreams made you want to learn more about her just like Aren does.

[Riegs · Rating 2 out of 5]

**ARC/GIVEAWAY**

Honest Review: I've put this in my middle-school library, and the cover's generated a lot of interest... but the concept hasn't. I think it's a bit out of their depth. From my perusal, the book seems a bit melodramatic. The message seems to be a good one, though - and that I appreciate. Thanks for the Giveaway.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got this book through a first reads giveaway, and through the first few chapters, I was wondering if I was going to be able to finish it. It starts off really slow. You've been forwarned. But somewhere around the halfway point, I was hooked. The story is very interesting, and was really unlike anything I've come across before.
Worth a read for sure.