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Swab
Young Adult Dystopian: SWAB. Scarb are the enemy. The enemy. The enemy. I told myself this over and over. They murdered my parents. They rape the land and kill humans as if they are the vermin. They took Ray. I ran water over my face, looked at my eyes with their double lenses like two blue lakes: one navy, one ice. The enemy. And now I’m one of them.
Ray. I can almost see his brown eyes and feel the warmth of his touch like a sun-warmed towel on my skin. Will you still love me now that I’m everything you hate?
Seven years ago, most of humanity transformed into a mutated species known as scarb. With their superior speed, protective platted chitin bone structure, and deadly barbs, they easily slaughter un-changed humans. Cat and a small pocket of humans have survived. But when the scarb capture Cat’s boyfriend, she is determined to face an entire colony of the ruthless creatures to get him back. She quickly discovers she must confront not only her enemy, but the strengths and weakness inside her when she becomes scarb herself.
In Swab, Heather Choate delivers a captivating combination of suspense, romance, and self-discovery as Cat faces a treacherous world and uncertain future. Fresh, riveting and rich with surprise, this Dystopian series will leave readers hungry for more.
Ray. I can almost see his brown eyes and feel the warmth of his touch like a sun-warmed towel on my skin. Will you still love me now that I’m everything you hate?
Seven years ago, most of humanity transformed into a mutated species known as scarb. With their superior speed, protective platted chitin bone structure, and deadly barbs, they easily slaughter un-changed humans. Cat and a small pocket of humans have survived. But when the scarb capture Cat’s boyfriend, she is determined to face an entire colony of the ruthless creatures to get him back. She quickly discovers she must confront not only her enemy, but the strengths and weakness inside her when she becomes scarb herself.
In Swab, Heather Choate delivers a captivating combination of suspense, romance, and self-discovery as Cat faces a treacherous world and uncertain future. Fresh, riveting and rich with surprise, this Dystopian series will leave readers hungry for more.
255 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 5, 2014
About the author
Heather Choate
51 books31 followersHeather Choate was born in Littleton, Colorado. She now lives in a small town in Southern Colorado on a farm with her husband and five children. She chases chickens, declares war on the weeds in her garden and enjoys quietly people-watching. Most of her time is spent daydreaming of worlds and people that don’t actually exist, but reflect the beauty and complicity of humanity. Writing is her escape from diaper changes and runny noses but motherhood is the greatest journey and joy of her life.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
July 16, 2015
SWAB by Heather Choate is an excellent sci-fi & dystopia book that kept me glued to its pages. It is fast paced and full of action. The excitement never ends and I never got bored.
The author did a great job of developing a sci-fi tale which was real and very believable. She spun her story in such a way that it was easy to get involved in the story as an unseen extra character and follow along. I like this when I'm reading.
Heather Choate did an excellent job of character development. I came to know the characters and identify with them through her storytelling style. As the story progressed you could see the characters grow and developed.
I really liked SWAB by Heather Choate and I highly recommend this book to all readers.
The author did a great job of developing a sci-fi tale which was real and very believable. She spun her story in such a way that it was easy to get involved in the story as an unseen extra character and follow along. I like this when I'm reading.
Heather Choate did an excellent job of character development. I came to know the characters and identify with them through her storytelling style. As the story progressed you could see the characters grow and developed.
I really liked SWAB by Heather Choate and I highly recommend this book to all readers.
July 16, 2015
I want to start by saying that this book is not bad (I have read much worse), and the writing is good. I do however have serious issues with so many things in this book that I just couldn't give it more than two stars, and the only reason it went from one to two stars was because I liked the writing. The main plot is OK and it's a very different thing than anything I have ever read before, so kudos to the writer for that.
But I had to really work to read this book from beginning to end. The first half went on pretty smoothly, but then second half never seemed to stop, the book just went on forever. The book should have ended about 4-5 chapters sooner in my opinion, that would have made more sense and been a much better opening for the sequel.
And I am so sorry, cause I wanted to like this book. I really wanted to.
Want to know what it was that annoyed me? Read below and find out.
---- Spoilers below ----
OK, so we live in a word were human sized insects try to kill us. They take my boyfriend and then when I go to save him, they take me too. Then I am turned into a bug and all my friends get all ugly and s***, but I get a complete makeover and get bigger boobs, fuller lips, blonder hair and...yeah you get the image, I turn into a babe. WHAT?? If she had been all ugly too, I would have maybe even liked her.
And as if that wasn't all, my friends (the now ugly ones) are like "hell yeah, I am a bug and I can fly. This is awesome." Hmm...that reaction ain't working for me, not even if I try.
On top of that, Cat now seems to completely forget about her boyfriend Ray for about the whole book, until suddenly in the last few chapters she's kind of "oh, by they way, what did you do to my boyfriend. I have to find him (again)".
Then Cat dies from a massive gap in her stomach (I say hurray, cause she's kind of annoying), but...Derrick (the boy she's destined to be with) weeps for her and his tears brings her back to life. Which is just sooo Disney (like prince in Snow White) that I almost wanted to throw up.
But, what bugs (pun not intended) me the most about this book though are all the contradictions that can be found within it. I mean the whole thing starts with one since the first scene describes a scarb with green skin, then when she sees the scarb that takes away her boyfriend, she claims this is the first green one she's ever seen? What's up with that?
Then there's this whole thing with the body armor of the scarb. They have a body covered in hard plates (they're insects after all) that makes bullets just ricochet from their bodies. Still Cat can apparently head-butt the air from a scarb's lung? I would say she has a hell of a strong head to do that.
And water...water is apparently the only way to kill the scarb and they are soo sensitives that they seem to die just by being sprayed with it. Still they hang out around waterfalls, drink water (even straight for the waterfall) and yeah...wouldn't that kill them?
Lastly, at one point cat says she's in control of all the fliers. Yay! But then, why does fliers suddenly attack her from everywhere? Did I miss something? Quite possible that I did cause I just didn't have the desire to read the whole thing word for word. And to be honest, I skipped a lot in the end.
Even if that wasn't all the things I found annoying about this book, it was all that I felt I had the time to put down. It's still a lot of text in this review though, and I know that, and if you read the whole thing, you might actually have the patience to read the whole book too.
But I had to really work to read this book from beginning to end. The first half went on pretty smoothly, but then second half never seemed to stop, the book just went on forever. The book should have ended about 4-5 chapters sooner in my opinion, that would have made more sense and been a much better opening for the sequel.
And I am so sorry, cause I wanted to like this book. I really wanted to.
Want to know what it was that annoyed me? Read below and find out.
---- Spoilers below ----
OK, so we live in a word were human sized insects try to kill us. They take my boyfriend and then when I go to save him, they take me too. Then I am turned into a bug and all my friends get all ugly and s***, but I get a complete makeover and get bigger boobs, fuller lips, blonder hair and...yeah you get the image, I turn into a babe. WHAT?? If she had been all ugly too, I would have maybe even liked her.
And as if that wasn't all, my friends (the now ugly ones) are like "hell yeah, I am a bug and I can fly. This is awesome." Hmm...that reaction ain't working for me, not even if I try.
On top of that, Cat now seems to completely forget about her boyfriend Ray for about the whole book, until suddenly in the last few chapters she's kind of "oh, by they way, what did you do to my boyfriend. I have to find him (again)".
Then Cat dies from a massive gap in her stomach (I say hurray, cause she's kind of annoying), but...Derrick (the boy she's destined to be with) weeps for her and his tears brings her back to life. Which is just sooo Disney (like prince in Snow White) that I almost wanted to throw up.
But, what bugs (pun not intended) me the most about this book though are all the contradictions that can be found within it. I mean the whole thing starts with one since the first scene describes a scarb with green skin, then when she sees the scarb that takes away her boyfriend, she claims this is the first green one she's ever seen? What's up with that?
Then there's this whole thing with the body armor of the scarb. They have a body covered in hard plates (they're insects after all) that makes bullets just ricochet from their bodies. Still Cat can apparently head-butt the air from a scarb's lung? I would say she has a hell of a strong head to do that.
And water...water is apparently the only way to kill the scarb and they are soo sensitives that they seem to die just by being sprayed with it. Still they hang out around waterfalls, drink water (even straight for the waterfall) and yeah...wouldn't that kill them?
Lastly, at one point cat says she's in control of all the fliers. Yay! But then, why does fliers suddenly attack her from everywhere? Did I miss something? Quite possible that I did cause I just didn't have the desire to read the whole thing word for word. And to be honest, I skipped a lot in the end.
Even if that wasn't all the things I found annoying about this book, it was all that I felt I had the time to put down. It's still a lot of text in this review though, and I know that, and if you read the whole thing, you might actually have the patience to read the whole book too.
August 21, 2015
audiobook version
in this new fad of dystopic young adult novels, there's a scale. there are the good ones like the hunger games series and ready player one (although I think rp1 is more a general novel with a high school age protagonist), there are the decent ones like the reconners series and the maze runner series, and there are the not so good ones like the divergent series.
I would put this one above the divergent series.
my issue lies mostly with the protagonist. cat is ambitious looking to prove herself after a supply run goes bad. she and her boyfriend go out three weeks later to recover the lost supplies but get caught by scarb, the much hated and feared transformed human insect hybrids who have brought civilization to its knees. cat escapes but her boyfriend is captured. cat goes back to her settlement to mount a rescue party, because the scarb don't hold hostages. the party reaches the colony where the scarb have the captured boyfriend but get captured themselves. and while captured, the small band of humans start to undergo a painful process of becoming scarb themselves.
and here is where is the point where the book lost me. no, not because of hero(ine) becoming the thing they hated, but because of the love interest angle between cat and her search for her boyfriend. he's not heard from again until the later chapters. between that we have the typical tropes of special person who has the one special rare trait, the evil queen, the reluctant heroine who leads the rebellion against the evil queen. all of that was fine. however after the fighting there was still another 2 hours left in the book when the search for spockERRRRRboyfriend resumed.
the entire time while cat and her crew had been changed, none of them ever saw the boyfriend. in fact the scarb who captured him let on that she didn't know what happened to him, and there were no human bodies about the colony. that put the possibility in my mind that he remained human. and not only thst, it turns out that scarb who can mate are rare, and one fertile male just happens to be in the colony as well, someone who was a part of that surviving band of humans just recently caught. can you say awkward love triangle? and in fact it is discovered that not only is boyfriend still alive, he is unchanged and still holds ill feelings towards all scarb, even if they were former mates in survival a short time ago.
this b-storyline resolution involving cat's relationship with her boyfriend I thought dragged this book from decent to below. it made the other 5 and a half hours seem pointless and a waste of time. cat can't get over that he moved on thinking that she was dead, and even worse that she thinks making a romantic relationship work between him (human) and her (scarb queen) can work. even though cat has overthrown the previous colony queen she's still a part of the hated scarb. this could have all been used as the setup in the next book of the series. this section felt in fact a part of another book entirely.
in this new fad of dystopic young adult novels, there's a scale. there are the good ones like the hunger games series and ready player one (although I think rp1 is more a general novel with a high school age protagonist), there are the decent ones like the reconners series and the maze runner series, and there are the not so good ones like the divergent series.
I would put this one above the divergent series.
my issue lies mostly with the protagonist. cat is ambitious looking to prove herself after a supply run goes bad. she and her boyfriend go out three weeks later to recover the lost supplies but get caught by scarb, the much hated and feared transformed human insect hybrids who have brought civilization to its knees. cat escapes but her boyfriend is captured. cat goes back to her settlement to mount a rescue party, because the scarb don't hold hostages. the party reaches the colony where the scarb have the captured boyfriend but get captured themselves. and while captured, the small band of humans start to undergo a painful process of becoming scarb themselves.
and here is where is the point where the book lost me. no, not because of hero(ine) becoming the thing they hated, but because of the love interest angle between cat and her search for her boyfriend. he's not heard from again until the later chapters. between that we have the typical tropes of special person who has the one special rare trait, the evil queen, the reluctant heroine who leads the rebellion against the evil queen. all of that was fine. however after the fighting there was still another 2 hours left in the book when the search for spockERRRRRboyfriend resumed.
the entire time while cat and her crew had been changed, none of them ever saw the boyfriend. in fact the scarb who captured him let on that she didn't know what happened to him, and there were no human bodies about the colony. that put the possibility in my mind that he remained human. and not only thst, it turns out that scarb who can mate are rare, and one fertile male just happens to be in the colony as well, someone who was a part of that surviving band of humans just recently caught. can you say awkward love triangle? and in fact it is discovered that not only is boyfriend still alive, he is unchanged and still holds ill feelings towards all scarb, even if they were former mates in survival a short time ago.
this b-storyline resolution involving cat's relationship with her boyfriend I thought dragged this book from decent to below. it made the other 5 and a half hours seem pointless and a waste of time. cat can't get over that he moved on thinking that she was dead, and even worse that she thinks making a romantic relationship work between him (human) and her (scarb queen) can work. even though cat has overthrown the previous colony queen she's still a part of the hated scarb. this could have all been used as the setup in the next book of the series. this section felt in fact a part of another book entirely.
May 22, 2017
Humans are battling the SCARB - humanoid, bug-like creatures with origins from the Origin planet. These creatures have been murdering humans and making their lives miserable. Cat, a human, is fighting them with her boyfriend, Ray. During a fight, Ray is abducted by one of them. This is odd, because usually SCARBs just kill humans. The story gets odder when Cat and her friends become SCARBs themselves. Then it becomes a story of Cat versus the SCARB queen. That's all I'll say about the plot.
On the plus side, there is a lot of action, and the idea of the story is certainly unique.
There are, however, some contradictions. The SCARB are suppose to have tough "exoskeletons," yet they can be destroyed by water - something they are frequently around. And Cat is supposed to be able to control the SCARB fliers, yet they attack her. The characters themselves are okay. The love relationship between Ray and Cat doesn't feel all that strong, especially when Cat falls for Derrick. I would have liked a little more development of Derrick. Why Cat would suddenly fall for him doesn't make a lot of sense.
YA readers who are looking for something a little different and enjoy dystopia fantasy might find this an entertaining read.
On the plus side, there is a lot of action, and the idea of the story is certainly unique.
There are, however, some contradictions. The SCARB are suppose to have tough "exoskeletons," yet they can be destroyed by water - something they are frequently around. And Cat is supposed to be able to control the SCARB fliers, yet they attack her. The characters themselves are okay. The love relationship between Ray and Cat doesn't feel all that strong, especially when Cat falls for Derrick. I would have liked a little more development of Derrick. Why Cat would suddenly fall for him doesn't make a lot of sense.
YA readers who are looking for something a little different and enjoy dystopia fantasy might find this an entertaining read.
July 5, 2017
For nearly six years, Cat has been fighting the enemy, the scarb, insectile, merciless, totally alien. they seemed to just appear one day and tore her world apart. Then they captured her boyfriend, the only man she could ever love. And then she became one of them, she became the enemy. How could she ever accept her life now, when her head and heart, everything she was, was human, but her body was scarb. And what about Ray, how could he love his enemy?
This was a really fascinating read. Cat, the main character, had blessedly few of the characteristics which can make the heroines of young adult novels so gratingly annoying and ruin the story. The concept of going from fighting an enemy to suddenly finding yourself one of them is a really interesting one. Of course, we have to have a love triangle, jeesh, I hate love triangles! They're so contrived! But in this book at least we don't get the Catness factor, pages and pages and pages of agonising over it to the detriment of the main story. All in all, I liked this book and I'll be reading more.
This was a really fascinating read. Cat, the main character, had blessedly few of the characteristics which can make the heroines of young adult novels so gratingly annoying and ruin the story. The concept of going from fighting an enemy to suddenly finding yourself one of them is a really interesting one. Of course, we have to have a love triangle, jeesh, I hate love triangles! They're so contrived! But in this book at least we don't get the Catness factor, pages and pages and pages of agonising over it to the detriment of the main story. All in all, I liked this book and I'll be reading more.
October 31, 2018
Wonderfully written
Wonderfully written. Such strong characters. I was not expecting this at all so full of action. Love the up and downs. A for sure page turned
Wonderfully written. Such strong characters. I was not expecting this at all so full of action. Love the up and downs. A for sure page turned
April 10, 2019
Great reading
Would be nice to have a colored drawing of Cat as a swab. Different kind of reading for what I normally read
Would be nice to have a colored drawing of Cat as a swab. Different kind of reading for what I normally read
September 16, 2019
Full review on my blog here.
I got this book for free from Amazon awhile back and just got around to reading it. I almost passed it by because the cover looks kinda bad to me, but I gave it a shot anyway. There was a lot of confusion and questions, especially in the first part, that didn't get resolved, but it was a good,quick read. Cat could get annoying at times, but I didn't dislike her character. I particularly enjoyed Derrick and Iva in this. The siblings relation was really sweet too. This book does come off as a "chosen one" trope with a love triangle and fairy-tale like tendences, so if you dislike those things, you might not want to read this. The "scarb" idea was unique, and the book didn't really have dull/slow moments in it. But you might want to be aware that there is a lot of gore and fighting in this book. Despite that, it seems aimed more towards a younger YA audience (maybe around high school?)
I got this book for free from Amazon awhile back and just got around to reading it. I almost passed it by because the cover looks kinda bad to me, but I gave it a shot anyway. There was a lot of confusion and questions, especially in the first part, that didn't get resolved, but it was a good,quick read. Cat could get annoying at times, but I didn't dislike her character. I particularly enjoyed Derrick and Iva in this. The siblings relation was really sweet too. This book does come off as a "chosen one" trope with a love triangle and fairy-tale like tendences, so if you dislike those things, you might not want to read this. The "scarb" idea was unique, and the book didn't really have dull/slow moments in it. But you might want to be aware that there is a lot of gore and fighting in this book. Despite that, it seems aimed more towards a younger YA audience (maybe around high school?)
November 30, 2014
Heather Choate’s SWAB is being marketed as a “YA dystopian novel,” which would suggest comparisons to such books as “Hunger Games,” “Divergent,” or the “Uglies” series. Dystopian novels are generally set in a future would run by a totalitarian dictator who subjugates the masses for the benefit of an elite few (think President Snow). Choate’s world in SWAB actually reminds me more of the TV series “Falling Skies,” in which a rag-tag group of determined humans fight an almost impossible resistance against invading alien creatures bent on both occupying earth and absorbing humanity.
In SWAB, seventeen-year-old Cat McCabe is one of a small group of humans living on island they call Rimerock, where they plot against an insect-like alien race called “scarb” that has over-run the planet. Colonies of scarb have sprung up all over the place, each led by a Queen (called a “swab”). To Cat’s band of human survivors, the scarb seem determined to exterminate all humans. But when she and her BFF/true love Ray are out on a reconnaissance mission, Ray is kidnapped by a group of scarb. Cat and her band launch an attack on the scarb colony, hoping to destroy the scarb and rescue Ray. But what happens isn’t what they expect – Cat and her friends find themselves under scarb control, undergoing a very frightening transformation. As they become more and more scarb (and less and less human), what does that mean for the future of the human race?
There is a dystopia here, at least peripherally – the scarb Queen rules her colony with an iron fist, and Cat finds herself in a position to change that (making her a potential heroine in a battle against tyranny). But the central conflict in the story isn’t a political one. Cat has been transformed, but her biggest concern is that she still can’t find Ray. Cat has become the enemy she always hated, but what if Ray is still human? Is there a future for them? Additionally, scarb-Cat finds herself inexplicably drawn to one of her friends, scarb-Derrick – there is a suggestion that they are “meant for each other,” at least as the scarb see things (there’s a “weird energy” about Derrick that she can’t ignore). But this brings up tons of guilty feelings in Cat – how could she betray Ray, the boy she has sworn to love forever? So while the political turmoil in scarb-land is definitely present, it’s the romantic triangle that most consumes Cat.
The biggest problem I had with SWAB was how thinly developed the fantasy aspects are. When Cat is transformed, she becomes super strong, super intuitive (scarb can read each other’s minds), and super gorgeous – her bust increases by three cup sizes (!), and her brother Nathan says, “You look like a princess.” But she’s a bug! A bug with very big breasts and glowing skin, but a bug nonetheless. What exactly does scarb-Cat look like? Her eyes have two irises, she can read minds, some of her friends can fly, there’s a mention of chiton-like plates – but she still seems very human, with long blond hair, two arms, two legs, and very human emotions. At one point, she says, “We don’t belong with the bugs, because we’re human. We don’t belong with the humans, because we’re bugs.” How exactly is she a bug? It’s never at all clear.
The structure and origin of the scarb is also sketchy. They are aliens, their goal is conquest, but they are (for the most part) very human in nature. The Queens are all very territorial, and none of them are happy to see a new contender among them – thus Cat has a lot of enemies. According to Choate, the overwhelming majority of scarb can’t reproduce, which makes building their colonies more difficult – the only way to increase their numbers is to transform humans into scarb (as happened to Cat and her friends). This doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, except as a plot device. There is also a tiny red beetle called the “Origin” which is instrumental in the human-to-scarb transformation process – but it’s never at all clear what the relation is between the Origin and the scarb, or what the Origin’s position is within the scarb colony.
As expected, SWAB is the first installment in a planned series. I would recommend it for fans of fantasy romance with a sci-fi spin. This isn’t a dystopian novel in the traditional sense, and the fantasy elements definitely outweigh anything political. I had a hard time getting behind a big-boobed bug girl and her two potential lovers, but I’m admittedly decades older than Choate’s target audience. If fantasy sci-fi is your thing, and you’re not looking for a story that will make you think, SWAB might be worth a read. If you’re hoping for a real dystopian adventure story, look elsewhere.
[Please note: I was provided a copy of this novel for review; the opinions expressed here are my own.]
In SWAB, seventeen-year-old Cat McCabe is one of a small group of humans living on island they call Rimerock, where they plot against an insect-like alien race called “scarb” that has over-run the planet. Colonies of scarb have sprung up all over the place, each led by a Queen (called a “swab”). To Cat’s band of human survivors, the scarb seem determined to exterminate all humans. But when she and her BFF/true love Ray are out on a reconnaissance mission, Ray is kidnapped by a group of scarb. Cat and her band launch an attack on the scarb colony, hoping to destroy the scarb and rescue Ray. But what happens isn’t what they expect – Cat and her friends find themselves under scarb control, undergoing a very frightening transformation. As they become more and more scarb (and less and less human), what does that mean for the future of the human race?
There is a dystopia here, at least peripherally – the scarb Queen rules her colony with an iron fist, and Cat finds herself in a position to change that (making her a potential heroine in a battle against tyranny). But the central conflict in the story isn’t a political one. Cat has been transformed, but her biggest concern is that she still can’t find Ray. Cat has become the enemy she always hated, but what if Ray is still human? Is there a future for them? Additionally, scarb-Cat finds herself inexplicably drawn to one of her friends, scarb-Derrick – there is a suggestion that they are “meant for each other,” at least as the scarb see things (there’s a “weird energy” about Derrick that she can’t ignore). But this brings up tons of guilty feelings in Cat – how could she betray Ray, the boy she has sworn to love forever? So while the political turmoil in scarb-land is definitely present, it’s the romantic triangle that most consumes Cat.
The biggest problem I had with SWAB was how thinly developed the fantasy aspects are. When Cat is transformed, she becomes super strong, super intuitive (scarb can read each other’s minds), and super gorgeous – her bust increases by three cup sizes (!), and her brother Nathan says, “You look like a princess.” But she’s a bug! A bug with very big breasts and glowing skin, but a bug nonetheless. What exactly does scarb-Cat look like? Her eyes have two irises, she can read minds, some of her friends can fly, there’s a mention of chiton-like plates – but she still seems very human, with long blond hair, two arms, two legs, and very human emotions. At one point, she says, “We don’t belong with the bugs, because we’re human. We don’t belong with the humans, because we’re bugs.” How exactly is she a bug? It’s never at all clear.
The structure and origin of the scarb is also sketchy. They are aliens, their goal is conquest, but they are (for the most part) very human in nature. The Queens are all very territorial, and none of them are happy to see a new contender among them – thus Cat has a lot of enemies. According to Choate, the overwhelming majority of scarb can’t reproduce, which makes building their colonies more difficult – the only way to increase their numbers is to transform humans into scarb (as happened to Cat and her friends). This doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, except as a plot device. There is also a tiny red beetle called the “Origin” which is instrumental in the human-to-scarb transformation process – but it’s never at all clear what the relation is between the Origin and the scarb, or what the Origin’s position is within the scarb colony.
As expected, SWAB is the first installment in a planned series. I would recommend it for fans of fantasy romance with a sci-fi spin. This isn’t a dystopian novel in the traditional sense, and the fantasy elements definitely outweigh anything political. I had a hard time getting behind a big-boobed bug girl and her two potential lovers, but I’m admittedly decades older than Choate’s target audience. If fantasy sci-fi is your thing, and you’re not looking for a story that will make you think, SWAB might be worth a read. If you’re hoping for a real dystopian adventure story, look elsewhere.
[Please note: I was provided a copy of this novel for review; the opinions expressed here are my own.]
March 17, 2016
BOOK REVIEW PER KMJ BOOK REVEALS
Hey ya'll,
So I just finished reading the novel Swab by Heather Choate and it was amazing!
First off, Choate is truly a gifted writer! I loved every moment of Swab and being part of Cat's world as she tries to find a lost love and navigate through an earthly world overwhelmed by Scarb.
The highlight of this novel besides Choate's clever plot would have to be Derrick. I felt like he was the underdog of this story. Though Choate introduced him in the beginning briefly, when he first appeared in the novel speaking with Cat, I feel his presence throughout the novel was essential to allowing the readers to see a different side of Cat.
I enjoyed the action and suspense as well. There were so many battles fought throughout this novel and they were all written so beautifully that I felt like I wasn't reading, but rather imagining everything as I went along with this story. Choate I feel did a great job by making this novel in first-person because it allowed me to understand the main character, Cat, a lot better through her interactions with others.
Also, Swab is very well-balanced. I loved how the characters had such strong emotions and how everyone had their own individual personality. A lot of times characters that authors create might seem alike and I just loved how Choate's characters were uniquely different from one another.
In addition, I binge-read this book for about four days straight! Swab is just that awesome. I haven't been more proud of a novel than I am right now. I can definitely see this becoming something bigger in the future like a new television series for either MTV or the CW.
My favorite character is actually everyone in this story that is mentioned including the flat characters like Gray. Although Choate didn't heavily describe each character I thought that was a brilliant decision that she made because as a reader I got to visualize these characters on my own and her details added to my fulfillment of being entertained by this novel.
I wish my scale could rank higher, but sadly it doesn't. Swab has definitely raised the bar for future novels that I may decide to read someday. I can't wait to get my hands on the next installment of this series.
Rank: *****
Have you ever read this novel? Did you love it as much as I did? Or did it fall short? Who was your favorite character? Tell me, I want to hear what you have to say!
Until Next Time ;*
Hey ya'll,
So I just finished reading the novel Swab by Heather Choate and it was amazing!
First off, Choate is truly a gifted writer! I loved every moment of Swab and being part of Cat's world as she tries to find a lost love and navigate through an earthly world overwhelmed by Scarb.
The highlight of this novel besides Choate's clever plot would have to be Derrick. I felt like he was the underdog of this story. Though Choate introduced him in the beginning briefly, when he first appeared in the novel speaking with Cat, I feel his presence throughout the novel was essential to allowing the readers to see a different side of Cat.
I enjoyed the action and suspense as well. There were so many battles fought throughout this novel and they were all written so beautifully that I felt like I wasn't reading, but rather imagining everything as I went along with this story. Choate I feel did a great job by making this novel in first-person because it allowed me to understand the main character, Cat, a lot better through her interactions with others.
Also, Swab is very well-balanced. I loved how the characters had such strong emotions and how everyone had their own individual personality. A lot of times characters that authors create might seem alike and I just loved how Choate's characters were uniquely different from one another.
In addition, I binge-read this book for about four days straight! Swab is just that awesome. I haven't been more proud of a novel than I am right now. I can definitely see this becoming something bigger in the future like a new television series for either MTV or the CW.
My favorite character is actually everyone in this story that is mentioned including the flat characters like Gray. Although Choate didn't heavily describe each character I thought that was a brilliant decision that she made because as a reader I got to visualize these characters on my own and her details added to my fulfillment of being entertained by this novel.
I wish my scale could rank higher, but sadly it doesn't. Swab has definitely raised the bar for future novels that I may decide to read someday. I can't wait to get my hands on the next installment of this series.
Rank: *****
Have you ever read this novel? Did you love it as much as I did? Or did it fall short? Who was your favorite character? Tell me, I want to hear what you have to say!
Until Next Time ;*
April 21, 2015
I liked the premise a lot; although I suspected the origin of the scarbs pretty much from page two (if it was revealed in in the blurb, I missed it), I was at all disappointed when my guess turned out to be right.
I didn't mind (too much) the missing quotation marks or the wrong words ("punch" instead of "punctuated", "course" instead of "coarse", and "week" instead of "weak" were among the standouts). I didn't even mind when one of the scarb sub-groups was called "scallion" rather than "scavlion" at one point. Although these sort of editing errors are usually like nails on a chalkboard to me, I let them go for the sake of the story this time.
But I couldn't like the lack of logic with regard to the MC's special powers (or curse, as she rightly saw it). I'd have liked a clearer explanation of how
And why were all of the "black" scarb I told myself that the former must be true, but the author certainly didn't make it clear in the writing.
For those reasons, I nearly gave this only two stars. But I honestly liked the story despite the logic fails, and unclear explanations.
I didn't mind (too much) the missing quotation marks or the wrong words ("punch" instead of "punctuated", "course" instead of "coarse", and "week" instead of "weak" were among the standouts). I didn't even mind when one of the scarb sub-groups was called "scallion" rather than "scavlion" at one point. Although these sort of editing errors are usually like nails on a chalkboard to me, I let them go for the sake of the story this time.
But I couldn't like the lack of logic with regard to the MC's special powers (or curse, as she rightly saw it). I'd have liked a clearer explanation of how
And why were all of the "black" scarb I told myself that the former must be true, but the author certainly didn't make it clear in the writing.
For those reasons, I nearly gave this only two stars. But I honestly liked the story despite the logic fails, and unclear explanations.
December 11, 2014
Seventeen year old Cat is a human in a world where humanity is dying off. The cause? Scarb. Creatures that appear human, only with bug-like features and great strength. They even kidnapped her love, Ray. Cat and others from her community get captured by the scarb during a battle raid and find themselves transformed into the very enemy they swore to destroy. While there were those who accepted their new path, Cat still questions her own. Ray is still missing, and the other scarb in the colony they now live in regard her oddly. Instead of the usual four (or more) irises their kind displays, she has only has two. A rare trait, in which she later discovers that only queens, or swabs, have. And the queen who transformed her wants ultimate domination of Cat and her other special gifts...or the queen will kill her.
Peril, adventure, and love are major components of this novel. You feel for Cat when she desperately clings onto the love and hope for Ray, but you secretly hope that she lets go because of her new life. This is the first novel of the series, and I look forward to seeing what book two entails.
Peril, adventure, and love are major components of this novel. You feel for Cat when she desperately clings onto the love and hope for Ray, but you secretly hope that she lets go because of her new life. This is the first novel of the series, and I look forward to seeing what book two entails.
April 23, 2015
This is a book I got free from Amazon. It’s another dystopian young adult novel, but in this world, some intelligent beetles from outer space came and turned humans into scarbs, which are a cross between humans and insects. The rest of the humans tried to carry on, but the world was wrecked. Our main girl Cat is part of an attack against a hive of scarbs seven years after the end of the world, when she and some of her friends are captured and turned into scarbs themselves. They discover their culture, intelligence, etc. At the same time, she’s looking for her boyfriend, Ray, who was captured before her. Cat is kind of annoying. It’s very cool that they all transform and get extra parts and powers and strength. Her brother and his best friend can fly. She has barbs, etc. At the end, it’s clear this is a series. I like the part about turning into a bug creature and learning a new culture and a new body, etc., but I don’t like Cat or how everything is set up, so I probably won’t read the next in this series.
March 25, 2015
I'm torn between 2 and 3 stars. The book is not bad, I just didn't care for it. It is very intense - violent with lots of fighting, blood and gore. I had a hard time caring about Cat in the beginning and the ending is a real disappointment. In fact, Cat doesn't change emotionally or even grow at all through her challenges, so I had a really hard time caring about her. I'm not interested in reading the sequel.
January 8, 2015
Ok, so it's more of a romance than a sci-fi, but I liked it. The premise is facinating (though it does bother me that water kills scarb, but they still wash in it and drink it ...) and the characters are well developed and likeable. I will definitetly be reading the rest of the series as it comes out.
May 12, 2015
OK Tale
SWAB is an unusual novel with an alien race, the Scarborough, occupying much of Earth, fighting humans for control.
Some interesting ideas and situations with humans being converted.
Enjoyed the story, just not enough to pursue other entries in the series. An easy writing style that does keep the reader involved.
SWAB is an unusual novel with an alien race, the Scarborough, occupying much of Earth, fighting humans for control.
Some interesting ideas and situations with humans being converted.
Enjoyed the story, just not enough to pursue other entries in the series. An easy writing style that does keep the reader involved.
June 15, 2016
3-1/2 ⭐️
It's not popular and it's not a movie... For a reason. It was interesting, but felt very young, maybe middle grade. There's something special about HER, she is the chosen one. But all she wants to do is get back to her old life, which no longer exists. I do want to read the next book tho, so I know I've been pulled in.
It's not popular and it's not a movie... For a reason. It was interesting, but felt very young, maybe middle grade. There's something special about HER, she is the chosen one. But all she wants to do is get back to her old life, which no longer exists. I do want to read the next book tho, so I know I've been pulled in.
February 19, 2015
Well... it was original, I'll give it that. But that's where the positives start and end. The writing was not very good. The characters were one dimensional; the dialogue cringe worthy and the plot holes... sigh.. I wanted to like this book but this just wasn't very good.
March 3, 2017
It started off really good. It had a great premise to begin with, but towards the middle things got kind of predictable to the point where it almost got comical, where I was like, "Umm, okay..."
It didn't leave me dying to know what happens in the next book.
It didn't leave me dying to know what happens in the next book.
February 11, 2015
This book was only ok for me. It was just weird. They start the book by taking them out with water but they drink it and can touch it later. So weird.
June 16, 2015
Good style of writing but wasn't for me. 1 star doesn't reflect the work the author put into the writing... It just means it wasn't for me.
Read
June 23, 2016this book is very interesant
because it deals with the life of a beautiful girl
because it deals with the life of a beautiful girl
January 7, 2016
The beginning felt extremely rushed but it turned out to be a good story.
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