Silent Changes

Changes #1

by Melissa Murphy

In a dystopian America, life isn't easy for Lacey DeWitt. In the last six months,her father has been killed, she and her mother were relocated to a tiny apartment, she's been pulled out of high school, and they're both forced to work in one of the government run factories.

Things take a turn for the worst when Lacey is attacked one night on her way home from work. Forced to defend herself from the very people who are meant to protect, she flees in to the forest. Now, with the help of Eric, a renegade Boot and major hottie she met along the way, she'll need to survive hungry wolves, help out a pair of stray twins, and evade capture by the Civil Patrol.

Can this 16 year old survive life on the run?

Genres: Dystopia, Young Adult

125 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 9, 2013

Reviews

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I think I need to buy the next book.

[Mommasaysread · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a Dual Review by Momma & Lil

Momma the Reviewer
Silent Changes by Melissa Murphy is quick read, especially when you can’t put it down. The book itself 110 pages and absolutely leaves you hanging and wanting more. Upon finishing the book I immediately emailed the author asking when the next installment will be ready. As soon as I know for sure I’ll let you know as I’m sure if you read this book you’ll be hooked too!

I enjoyed the interaction between the characters, even though I felt some of the relationship development a little choppy. The characters are pretty well developed and from my point of view the story was quite entertaining. Nobody discovered they had super powers or could suddenly hunt with the precision that takes years to develop. Everyone was normal and true to whom they were. To Momma, there’s nothing more irritating in a book then a character that after one day of fighting zombies they are suddenly kung fu experts. I much prefer characters that are basically true to who they were before the world fell apart. Rather than a 16 year old girl who grew up in the city suddenly knows how to hunt, skin and a cook a rabbit over a spit! There’s none of this in Silent Changes, the characters are true to form and I love it!.

While this book is clearly first in the YA category, don’t let that fool you, Momma’s in her forties and enjoyed it. That having been said it was refreshing that she was able to convey all of the important points with no poor language and scenes that were rather tense and could easily cross over into adult situations were handled well. I would have no problem having my 13 year old daughter read the book and as a matter of fact my sweet Lili read it and here is her review:

Book Reviewer Lil
Hey there, Lil here. I read silent changes by Melissa Murphy and I LOVED it. I had already heard good things about it and after reading it I needed more! I cannot wait for the next book, such a big cliff hanger.

The only thing I would say that could have been done better was making me hate the government more. From a 16 year old’s point of view I didn’t understand the full extent of what the government was doing and why it was so bad. But that was really the only thing.

I absolutely loved the book and would definitely recommend it to pretty much anyone.

[Kayla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Silent Changes by Melissa Murphy is a rather short read that leaves you wanting more but doesn’t weigh you down with needless over description. The story is short, sweet and simple, which only helps aid the urgency of being out on the run for your life.

I enjoyed the story and the fact that there wasn’t countless lines of unneeded description (I’m looking at you Gray by Pete Wentz). While it made for an easy and quick read, at times I felt there were parts of the story lacking. More information on the government and how things got to this point would have been nice. With a title like Silent Changes I found myself wondering if there would be some sort of supernatural element to it and was actually a bit confused the first few chapters thinking something supernatural was going on. With the government being a ‘villain’ in the story little was done to make you hate them.

Lacey and Eric were rather believable characters. Neither of them had skills they were super amazing at and had general knowledge that would help them survive but didn’t make for an easy survival. They did the best they could with what skills and supplies they had. Lacey does make for a likeable and enjoyable narrator. I could not stand the Twins, especially blanking-on-her-name. I felt she was far too cliché and found myself thinking of Monica Morrell from Rachel Caine’s Morganville Vampires series and well every other girl-you-love-to-hate out there. It made for a weak character that’s easy to hate and I wish more had been done with her.

Overall, Silent Changes was rather enjoyable and I look forward to the next part. I give major credit to Melissa Murphy for telling a story straight forward without tons of bells and whistles to dress it up. Wanting to know what would happen next to Lacey and Eric had me turning the pages and staying up a bit too late a few nights in a row. I’ll definitely check out the second part.

Please Note: I received a copy of this book from Mama Says Read, a great site you must check out, but the opinion expressed above is 100% my own.

[Shirley · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book was pretty good. Lacey was kind of Annoying but she was a decent enough main character. I can't wait for book 2 to see what happens to her.

[Heidi · Rating 3 out of 5]

this was a quick read with lots of action. but seriously how what why on the ending!