In a world torn apart by war, seventeen-year-old Agent 093762 is working to find her place in it. She’s moving up in rank, and things are going well—at least until she’s injured and left for dead. Now life has new meaning for her as a woman marked for death. Her life becomes a struggle for survival, and with it comes the memories of her past. Memories she would rather forget. But hope isn’t lost. She meets Logan, a man fighting demons of his own. Together, they will try to accept their past while looking to the future in this dark tale of betrayal, love and the lengths a human will go through to find redemption.
Coffee addict, reader, runner, wife, mother, teacher, writer. I’m a type-A person who gazes longingly at the lives of those around me who actually take the time to stop and smell the roses, much like a kid with a mouth full of braces who’s standing in a candy shop. Look but don’t touch! Well, I’m tired of looking, so I’m doing my best to slow down and enjoy the little things. Long afternoons spent in a hammock, with permission to nap. Check. Cuddling on the couch when it’s cold outside. Check. Trying not to make a list of what I have to do today…..ummm……I’m still a work in progress. Anyway, check out my bookshelf to see what interests me (YA dystopian rocks!). I love to chat about books and hear other’s opinions on books I loved—and hated.
I received a copy of this from my friend, the author, which has in no way affected my honest review.
This was, if not always fast-paced, certainly a high-tension story. I felt like I was right there with the MC (who is nameless for a good portion of the book) through everything; through hunger, cold, torture, and the aftershocks of PTSD. It reminded me of Hunger Games in that way-- the pain lingered and didn't just disappear on the spot, which I sorely appreciated. The characters are complex, as are their relationships with each other, and everyone has their own agenda. Logan, Bea, Riley, and even people like Gabe and Mr Stevens all felt so real (Gabe perhaps a little less dimensional than the rest, but his presence was definitely known). The constant pressure of not knowing whom to trust kept me on my toes as I read, and that ending... wow.
It was also crazy to come back and update this and read the blurb and find out she's 17 when I pictured her in her early 20s. War makes people grow up quickly, I guess.
Agent 093762 is moving up in the ranks in a world torn apart by war. Things are going well until a mission goes south and she's left for dead in an explosion. She quickly realizes that her partner was actually assigned to take her out and make it look like an enemy attack. Now, she finds herself on the run beyond the city, but hope isn't lost. She meets Logan, a man fighting his own demons and together they will try to accept their past actions and look toward the future for redemption.
Redemption by Elora Mitchell is brutal and quite abrupt, but I was hooked every step of the way. It's a YA dystopian, but rather than dealing with revolution and regime changes it focuses on a girl who is running from her past as a part of that regime as an interrogator (read: torturer). Our main character's entire world has been has been torn apart and she has to rebuild her entire life - physically, mentally, and emotionally - on her path to redemption. Overall, I highly recommend this novel to fans of the genre. I'm certainly looking forward to more from Elora Mitchell and I wouldn't say no to more from the world of Redemption either.
i recieved this book from the we ❤ YA books page for free in exchange for an honest review
Redemption is about this girl who has escaped from the city after they tried killing her. As we go through the story we see her fight to survive untill she meets a guy whos been living in the forest. As it goes on we see the two begin to form a bound and go through real tuff time. My favourite part of the story was when they were both together as we got to see their relationship form and how they will go to great lengths to save each other. The ending was sad for me and i nearly cried as it was very dramatic really suddenly but it was ok. I give this story about 4 stars.
I want to thank the author for providing me with a free ebook copy of this book for an honest review
The first two lines got me hooked and I immediately wanted to know more! "The explosion blows me across the room, sending my body sailing through the air until I slam into the wall, something cracking deep within my chest. My side instantly lights up in pain, and I can’t move."
When our main character, Hope or at this part of the book, Agent 093762, wakes up she finds herself in enemy territory. Because her rescuer Luke is the enemy she has a hard time trusting him and his wife. But it turns out that not everyone is bad because even though they didn´t seem to have much for themselves they still treated her and gave her medicine and food. Back in the city Hope finds her home being emptied of all of her things and that she´s been betrayed by the one person she trusted the most.
Being wanted and on the run she takes refugee in the woods. She´s never been out of the city before, first time was on the mission where she was left to die, so being alone in the forest scares her at first, but it gets easier and easier every day. One night she gets attacked by stray dogs and the wound almost kills her, again. When morning comes her "Phantom", Logan, comes to the rescue and saves her. Hope soon learns that he once worked for the city, too, and that the city has done terrible things to them both. An interrogator and an assassin, can they learn to trust each other? Or can Hope learn to trust him?
"I will never know how you feel or what terrors you lived through, but don’t ever give up hope. When you lose hope, even a glimmer of it, life’s not worth living.”
This is a story about surviving and trying to find out who you are and who you want to be. To learn to trust people, again. To fight your demons and traumas. To be able to love someone and let someone love you. I thought the protagonist was brave and strong, even tough she broke down a few times but that´s understandable and normal, through everything even though she struggled with the haunting dreams of the ones she´s killed and to everything that´s been done to her.
"Of all the things I’ve learned, life is not what you expect. It’s beautiful and messy and can change in a moment."
Elora wrote this story so well and it wasn´t hard to imagine everything, I can specifically think of two really vivid parts, one I even took a break to update my status about! Such detail. Two gory ones that won´t leave me for awhile.
Time really flew by in this book and for being so short I don´t feel that I needed more of this story even though I wished more for the characters and how it ended. There´s a real plot twist at the end and I´m never going to be okay from it. That might be because I don´t think it was justice enough or the redemption that I as a reader wanted.
I was a given a free copy of this book through the We <3 YA Books! group in exchange for an honest review.
I thought long about what I wanted to say when writing this review. The first thing I wanted to mention was that Elora Mitchell is a very talented writer who did an exemplary job unfolding this story.
"Death does not scare me, for when it takes me, my existence is over. What terrifies me is what I will become on my way to death."
This novel is beautifully written.
Redemption is a YA dystopian novel where the protagonist escapes from the city she's lived in her entire life because her government tried to kill her. This is a survival story. She spends everyday on the run and in constant fear that one day they'll find her and kill her. YA books in more recent years -especially the dystopian ones- have relied on now common tropes such as the love triangle and the chosen one who fights to overthrow a larger than life corrupt government. While Redemption is a dystopian novel, it does not rely on any of the mentioned clichéd tropes that have riddled this genre for years. The protagonist, Agent 093762, is simply a girl that wants to live. This novel taps into the physical and emotional struggles she encounters over many years of her trying to survive in this brutal and all too realistic world. It's haunting, tragic, at times uplifting, and beautiful.
I was hesitant to read Redemption, because I'm not much of a fan of the dystopian genre. I kept it on my list because I'd read good reviews from friends, so when it came up on a read-to-review, I took a chance on it. I'm glad I did. Elora Mitchell has a unique voice and a beautiful writing style. This book is also only dystopian in backdrop. It's a deep, psychological drama that highlights the impact war can have on those trying to live through it.
The main characters have a lot of complexity. They aren't always likeable and they don't always do the right things, but that lends honesty to the gray areas that often complicate war. Ultimately, there are no right or wrong sides, no good decisions to be made, just decisions based on experience and flawed viewpoints. Ms. Mitchell showcases these intricacies well, leading us through a phoenix transition and introspection that, although weighty in emotion, does not often weigh down the story. Her pacing is usually quite good and for much of the book, I flipped frantically to get to the next chapter. Many times, her descriptions are unique, poetic, and have hidden meanings.
The one complaint I do have about this book is it needs more editing, both to catch errors and to tighten prose (there is a bit of rambling and repetitiveness at times). For this reason, I had difficulties getting into the book for about the first third, but once the action started flowing, I was able to overlook those problems. I tend to be a stickler about these things, so if you're not, you won't even notice them. If you are, stick with it. This book is definitely worth the effort and time.
Overall, I recommend this book and I will be following Ms. Mitchell closely. She has a lot of depth, both in her writing style and her ability to handle darker subjects/more complex themes. I expect I'll be seeing many wonderful books from her in the future.
First, my disclosure.... I did receive this book free from the We ♥ YA Books! group and/or the author in exchange for a honest review. On to the review.... Redemption is a good book. It has a solid story and the author appears very knowledgeable in practical survival skills. I have read many survivalist based books and many through in things that are far fetched, unrealistic or just gruesome, and really that wasn't the case here. I found everything quite realistic and believable. I enjoyed the story however, I would have liked to have felt more of a connection to the characters. This could just be me as I find this lacking often in first person books where I feel like I am watching the story above the character instead of through the eyes of the character. That aside there's a couple places where the timeline seems to go into warp speed but aside from knowing that months or years have passed, I didn't feel like I was missing any major parts to the story either. And I didn't have time to fully digest the ending before the book was over leaving me with questions and wanting to know more. All in all I thought it was a good quick read book.
This is one of the few books in the Young Adult category that I could actually finish, and not only that, I was so intrigued by the characters and story that I read the whole book in one sitting. Unlike many of the YA books that have been published in the recent past, Redemption does not rely on the now clichéd love triangle, nor on the damsel in distress to pull readers into the story, but instead draws readers in by examining a young girls physical, mental, and emotional struggles as her world is torn apart, and she is forced to rebuild not only her life, but her entire psyche. While this author may not be on the same level as Rowling or Collins yet, for a first time author I was very impressed. I look forward to seeing what she comes up with next, and will be watching for her name in the Amazon library.
I received the book from the author in exchange for an honest review.
Okay, let’s face it: bookstores have been flooded with dystopian books for teens ever since the release of The Hunger Games. Now, I don’t have a problem with that; I love the genre, after all, and who doesn’t want to read about suffering children? (What? Just me? Seriously? Okay then.) But with the flooding of the good comes the bad: repetitive, unknown-girl-becomes-super-special-resistance-leader-heroine plotlines and tired, overused hooks. (Seriously, if I read about one more love triangle…)
And that’s where Redemption by Elora Mitchell stands out.
OK... WOW! This book was amazing! The plot grabs your attention from the start and holds it until the end, the worldbuilding is great, the emotions are powerful, the characters are well-rounded with complex personalities, the descriptions are excellent, the plot moves at a nice pace, the way you see the relationships between characters grow and evolve is wonderful, and that ending was incredible!
*NOTE: I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. That fact has in no way influenced either my opinion of this book, or the contents of this review.
I give 5 stars based on the following things: characters, setting, theme, plot/story, and conflict/resolution. There will be SPOILERS.
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. So, here we go!
Characters So the main character (Hope? Sorrow? Agent ######? I will just refer to her as MC) was very layered and interesting. Logan, the love interest was also very interesting. MC was a bit extreme at times. She went from being fully devoted to her city to being fully not in the span of a few pages. Sure, she had a lot of things happen to influence that, but it didn't feel very natural. However, how Mitchell showed how much her training was ingrained in her was very real because human beings try to cling to familiarity and what they know more often when their life situation changes. Logan was really sweet, and I found myself rooting for the two to become a couple because he was so patient and kind where she was very standoff-ish but genuine. These two were awesome. 1 star for Characters
Setting Most of this book was spent traveling from one place to another. Since it was essential to the story, I will give 1 star for Setting
Theme Finding yourself after life-changing experiences. I like that. Figuring out who you are after other people have turned you into what they want you to be? I like that too. 1 Stars for Theme
Plot/Story So there was a lot of things that happened in this book, and some of it was quite confusing. Starting off with the city wanting her dead. The book began in the middle of action and that already jostled me into a level of confusion beginning the book, which is not always good. However, the book kept pace with that beginning and pushed from one location to another, from one discovery to another, moving the story forward. The payoff of why the city wanted her dead was so simple and trivial and it made me utterly bewildered and angry. Overall, the story itself was interesting and I liked most of it. However, it was a really internal book. Not much happened and most of it was about what was going on in MC's mind and such. It wasn't bad, but there could have been a better way to execute some of the plot details. 0.5 star for plot/story
Conflict/Resolution Oh wow. The conflict of how evil the city actually was and how it ended up being resolved... It killed me. My jaw dropped. I was absolutely shocked and utterly devastated. My heart felt like it had been torn out and wow. I just couldn't. Despite how much it killed me, I really liked it. Sadly. 1 star for conflict/resolution
For a total of 4.5 stars
Overall impression: interesting, sad but sweet romance, unpredictable and really, really depressing ending. Not the type of book you would read just to pass the time. This book is meant to be devoured.
Review #2, somehow Goodreads didn't post my first review so here goes.
This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.
Holy Molloy, this is amazing. It's a tragic story - full of love, loss, and yes, redemption. As I began to read, I found it to be a little slow but rest assured it picks up very quickly. Everything from the characters, to the plot, was so heartfelt. I actually had to stop multiple times to cry. It's one of those rare stories that you can't relate to but somehow you understand. I'm sorry I can't describe this properly but it was amazing! Captivating from beginning to finish.
There are obstacles and there are these great moments where you feel apart from the conflict. However, just like real life, you can't pretend that all unforeseen things somehow all magically work out. So despite how I felt about the ending, I think it was the best possible ending to this book.
I would recommend Redemption to young adults and those who love dystopian novels. However, I hope all of you give this book a shot because you won't be able to put it down. Thank you so much Elora Mitchell for letting me read this, it was a pleasure to read and review.
I received a copy of this book from the author for an honest review. There are a lot of YA Dystopian books on the market. This one just didn't grab me as much as some, but isn't as bad as the ones that are nothing more than glorified romance novels.
The characters are interesting but some aspects of the story dragged. I didn't care for the first person writing style and felt like too many questions were left unanswered. For example, there didn't seem to be a good reason why the City wanted her dead or why there were people looking for her everywhere she went. She was after all just 17-years old so it seemed unrealistic that her life or knowledge could be that important to the City. I think it would have helped to know more history on the City to better understand the motivation.
3.5 stars. I really liked the main protagonist in this one. I am big fan of strong female leads and this fit that bill fully. I felt like I was kind of in Cormac McCarthy's The Road world while reading this book except this world has a more organized government. Either way it is a stark and scary world and I hope I never see anything like it (I will refrain from commenting on our current political climate here). Because I liked the protagonist so much I feel like I wanted more of her back story - I want to know more about how she got to be the person she currently is and also I wanted to know more about this corrupt government/city and how it all worked. All in all though it was a quick and thought provoking read about the horrors of war and the power of the human spirit.
I won a signed copy of this book in a giveaway and I was very excited to receive it. The author not only signed the book but also wrote me a very nice card and included a book mark. To clarify I received this book very fast. I won on 1/19/17, received the book 1/26/17, and am reviewing it today 2/2/17. The book cover is amazing, I love it! The book itself is very hefty which I also love. As for the story.. It was a good story. The protag wasn't my favorite and the writing style was hard (for me) to get into.. It was very "I did this and I did that" but all in all. I very much like the author. The book was good. Thank you. :-)
I hate this author. Like I officially hate her. She wrote this book so wonderfully and at the very end she broke my heart. Who ends a book like that! Where's my happy ending. Sobbing right now.
Holy crap. That was a whirlwind. I went through so many emotions when reading this book. I had no idea really what to expect because I rarely read summaries of books (I'd rather just be surprised and unbiased as I read), and I was pleasantly surprised of where this book took me. I started out thinking it was some kind of dystopian possibly-CIA type of book but got so much more than that.
The plotline was so good! Although I did find it slow in the beginning, the pace definitely picked up and my interest piqued as soon as Hope became a fugitive and had to survive on her own. I'm a sucker for survivalist stories (I mean, come on, some of my favorite books growing up was the Hatchet series and Island of the Blue Dolphins), and I absolutely LOVED that part of the book. I'm not sure what it is exactly that engrosses me so much in that type of storyline, but it just does. All of the travelling outside of the cities put me in the mind of Pretties by Scott Westerfeld but this one interested me far more. The plot had a great balance between making the reader think that everything was settling in and going to be okay only to be thrown another twist that derails where you think the story is going. It really kept me on my toes!
I loved how Hope and Logan meet and how they learn to relate to each other. I was rooting for them to be a pair throughout the book. Hope is such an interesting, well-developed character. It was intriguing for me to read as she goes on her journey to distance herself from the city and to discover who she truly wants to be. I think she was perfectly characterized in her struggles of what she had done in her past; and especially with her struggles with PTSD. I love how her characterization was kept consistent and that the way she grew up and her distance from humanity stuck with her and her thoughts throughout the book. Super realistic. Logan is such a strong, steady character and I wish we could've gotten just a bit more of him. Of course, Bea was such a sweet character and I knew instantly who she was when Hope makes her journey to her.
The ending. The ending! It tore my heart out! But it was a perfect ending at the same time.
Likes: Hope's character. Logan. The survivalist turn the story took. The ending was perfect even though it's far from what I would've wanted.
Dislikes: I think what held me back from that last star is just that I wanted more. It makes sense for Hope to hold back but I wanted more emotionality when she finds out who Gabe really is. I wanted more passion from Logan. I just gravitate towards more of a dramatic flair although I do think the tone of the characters fit the setting and writing style of the book so I'm torn between what my heart would want and what my head says.
Overall: Recommend? Yes!
*I received this book from the author for free in exchange for an honest review*
When Agent # 093762 was trapped by an explosion inside a rebel-held building she thought her life was over. However, she was rescued and nursed back to health by two of the town residents giving her a glimpse into another way of life and thinking. She escapes her benefactors and returns to the city, her home, only to discover that she had not been meant to survive that last mission at all! In fact, SHE had been the mission all along – targeted for elimination because she knew a piece of information she should never have known.
Thus begins our story and her flight from the city and the only life she’s ever known into the wilds outside the walls of civilization, where she encounters others, that like herself, no longer want to be a part of the city or its way of life.
Author Elora Mitchell has built for us a world of crumbled infrastructure, decay, and shattered humanity. People, like Agent #093762, grow up – raised by the city – without love or kindness or even a name. There is a scattered population hiding outside the city; some have joined forces as rebels to overthrow the city. Others scavenge the countryside as raiders, preying on others - isolated pockets of defenseless survivors. The action is tense and non-stop as our heroine attempts to flee the city and her pursuers, a very tight, well crafted tale. However, the final third of the novel feels rushed. Up until this point, the story has been carefully developed, with thorough description and character interaction. The final third is not as well fleshed out. I got the feeling the author either ran out of time (for some unknown deadline) or was just done with it. Having said that, Redemption is still an awesome, good story, WELL worth getting and reading, with a totally “What the what?!” type ending. This novel is definitely recommended for readers that enjoy young adult stories of life in a post-apocalyptic society.