After mysteriously waking up on a different planet, not knowing how she got there or even her name, K - as she becomes known - finds herself in a fascinating world much different to the one she can barely remember. K becomes part of an Exodian family and begins to feel at home on the beautiful, peaceful planet known as Exodus. That is until her new world is turned upside down. Can K be brave enough to stand up to the enemy and help her new family save their planet?
Aimee Jessica Russ spends her time day dreaming at work, watching TV shows and movies, listening to her favourite songs on repeat until she hates them, reading up late at night and writing, even after its past her bed time! Since a young age Aimee has loved to write. The amount of homework she got from school forced her to stop writing until she left school at the age of sixteen. She went on to study Multimedia, where she respectively came second place in a NSW Clips competition showing her talents for filmmaking and she completed a Child Care Traineeship. Aimee self published her first novel White Wings at the age of twenty two and she loves people reading her work so much that she wants to write as many novels as she can. In the future she hopes she can be a full time author and maybe even write a children’s picture book.
Alright so just to be clear I really liked Collide but I also had a lot of problems I had to try to wrap my little mind around while I was reading this merge that with SO MANY conflicting emotions. I was just very hot and cold while reading this so I expect this review will most likely be hot and cold too.
Collide is the story of 'K' a girl who has mysteriously materialised on a strange planet, the sky is green, the grass is blue, curly, and grows horizontally, The trees are red and yellow, the people are super tall (and I MEAN us mere humans come up to their waists type of tall). We learn about the amazing planet of Exodus by K's descriptions and her own experiences. She has had her memory wiped/has amnesia (we don't really know much about whats happened to her but I'm leaning towards wiped memory) so while she knows the basics like her sky is blue she knows nothing about her own family, fave colour, or what her name is.
Exodus is the planet the story takes place in. We learn about the new world through K's experiences and boy is it amazing. I loved the world Aimee created, all the Exodians are intersex which was a really cool concept and changes up the society in so many ways but mostly for the better, everyone is equal and works hard, there is no prejudice against each other and there lives are all quite peaceful. They also have their own customs that seem strange to us like not touch each other until marriage (not even a hand hold!) and not touching children once they are no longer a toddler. They all eat as a community every night, they work as farmers and don't eat any meat or kill anything without having to, there is no electricity, no entertainment asides from books, swimming, dancing and conversation. Exodis is a peaceful place with peaceful people. The planet has no sickness as there are well springs and waterfalls that heal you when you're in the water, they have dance festivals when it rains and mud fights. They also have strings that can come out of their finger tips to share information, as well as gills and ears that mold to their heads. Purple, orange, pink eyes are common and all the woman wear modest dresses down to there ankles. The world seems like it could be a utopia but with every amazing planet there's always another one who wants to claim it as their own.
While I loved the world it also annoyed me for reasons I can say are souly mine and that I didn't expect to have. The thing I realised reading this sci fi is I love intricacy of explanations, the math of science. Hearing the reasons the exodians have gills would have made me love the book all the more! I'd like to know why K doesn't say anything or ask about it. I wanted to know why the water could heal, how they were able to grow food by kneading the ground, why the trees and people were enormous, and most of all why the sky was green.
I assume its green because of the gasses in the air and actually researched what gasses would make a sky green (Its Chlorine gas if you were wondering) but I would have liked an explanation somewhere so i could wrap my mind around it a bit easier because picturing a green sky when most of the planet was blue was just hard for me.
Putting aside some explanation problems I had and some issues with the writing style I COULDN"T put the book down, I was entranced by it. If you asked me what happens in the first half of the book all I have to say is K met the family, the town, starting working and made some friends. Which sounds like it wouldn't be that interesting and it wasn't but I also couldn't stop myself from wanting to read and read and read (I warned you this review was going to be hot and cold). Everything was new and strange, there was warnings about a warring planet and of course the people who discriminated K on sight for being an Alien was enough drama to keep me invested the story.
I didn't even realised how invested I was until halfway through I freaked out and then freaked out some more because I didn't think I liked the characters enough to care what happened to them but I did and it nearly broke my heart. This was a turning part for me and once I started reading on I was entranced by the fight scenes, the struggle and strength of the towns and the willingness to protect their family and world from coming to any harm.
So even with my issues with the world building and writing I loved the story and can't wait to read the next book. There are so many questions I have and I need them answered asap.
There is so much that happens in this space adventure that I don’t want to give too much away, so I’ll try to keep this relatively spoiler free.
The story begins with ‘K’, a human girl who suddenly finds herself in a strange new place where the grass is blue, the sky is green, and the locals don’t look or sound like they’re supposed to.
It starts out similar to books like The Maze Runner – we’re dropped into the thick of it alongside the main character who has no memory and no idea what the hell is going on. I love openings like this because I know exactly as much as the main character does, I’m left asking the same questions, and I feel more connected to the character as she grows and discovers what's going on.
Luckily, K is welcomed by a family of Exodians – the inhabitants of her new home, Exodus. But K’s new life isn’t easy – she’s not only trying to regain her memory; she’s also trying to fit in with her new family and begin her new life on this strange new planet with beings very different to herself.
I don’t know what I was expecting from the aliens, but I was pleasantly surprised, even if they were a little tough to digest at first. The Exodians are vastly different from humans, and not just in appearance – they feel differently and all physical contact is forbidden until marriage. So when K falls in love with Brydan, the Exodian who first found her, things become even more tangled for K and we see her being tugged between the love she feels and what’s best for Brydan.
K goes through a lot in this story, and a plot-twist around the middle upped the action and made this an even heavier story as K’s new life is suddenly thrown into turmoil.
It’s clear from the first page that Aimee Jessica Russ has a vivid imagination and I’m looking forward to seeing it, and K, grow in the rest of the series!
Special thanks to the author for my copy of Collide!
I don’t think I’ve ever written a book quite like Collide, and while it’s not going to make my top books of 2016, it’s definitely a unique and interesting read and not at all what I expected.
‘K’ wakes up on a strange planet with no memory of who or where she is. It’s quickly apparent that she’s not from this planet - Exodus - and that the people who call the planet home are built very differently to herself. The Exodians live in communities that work together to provide for one another. They have a simple lifestyle, that relies on trust and some very interesting social constructs.
While she is welcomed into one family, there are conflicts with members of the community who consider K - an alien stranger - to be a danger, potentially a spy of another race who has been threatening to invade Exodus and take its resources for its own.
There’s a lot that happens in this book, but there are huge lulls in action. We learn a lot about this very intriguing world and it’s inhabitants, and yet there are so many questions unanswered that would have just fleshed out this world so much more. It has such promise and is so different to any other fictional world I’ve read about, I would have liked just a little more.
The writing style is also very different and at times, it was hard to read and I had to push myself through it; at other times, I couldn’t put it down, so I would encourage people to persist with it, especially in the beginning.
K and the Exodian characters are all very interesting and unique, too, and the cliffhanger ending has left room for them to fully develop in a follow-up book.
Initial Thoughts Upon Finishing Ahhh, this book has me so conflicted. I really did not get along with the writing style at all and I thought the pacing was completely off. BUT I LOVED THE PLOT. I didn't like K, BUT I LOVED EVERYONE ELSE. I didn't like the colour scheme, BUT I LOVED THE SETTING. Somebody hold me as I splinter into two. This was a very addictive read and the cliff hanger at the end nearly killed me. I am definitely going to be grabbing book two because good lord, I need to know what happens next.
Trigger warning: this book contains a rape scene.
Collide Collide was a book in The Dragon’s Hoard subscription box that I read for its monthly read-along (which I also co-host). I’m not going to lie or beat around the bush here: this is no literary masterpiece. The writing style was painful to begin with and I would hesitate on recommending the book to others. The reason that I found myself compelled to read to the end - and desperately want the sequel - was because the story itself was so addictive. I was eventually able to look past the downfalls of the book and appreciate the story for what it was worth.
The Story The book follows the story of a girl who is human (and presumably from earth) after she wakes up on another planet. She finds herself saved by a local who brings her to his family. These people are extremely tall, blue, and either painfully polite or painfully rude. Hm.
K, the main character — who remembers absolutely nothing, hence calling herself K — struggles to be accepted by the people of the planet but not being able to remember anything about herself means that she doesn’t have much choice but to go along with things. She also struggles to breathe but seems to be okay with this.
The people are immediately distrustful of her — accusing her to be in disguise. You see, the planet has been fighting a war with another planet whose people have exhausted all their resources and now want their’s. And so the story goes on.
K K is an interesting person . She deals with the situation very well given the circumstances but ultimately I did not like her. I did not connect with her and I disagreed with a great many things — a common theme throughout this book. My main sticking point? The swearing. I hate excessive swearing in books. In a creative writing piece where words are your tool, I don’t care if you’re trying to create a rugged character, they’re so unnecessary when there are so many other more descriptive and satisfying words. *deep breaths* Such crude and uninspiring language serves no purpose and is an immediate turn off, for me.
However, putting this aside I endeavoured to overcome a few other sticking points. The description of the planet was really hard to believe. Russ has mixed up a lot of the colours which instead of being novel and interesting, had me stuck imagining a very dull (colour scheme-wise) world. The native people very much so reminded me of Avatar (as in, the blue people living in trees) except that they have tentacles in their hands (or under their nails?) through which they could convey information. Straight- up, this book is a lot to take in and for this reason (ignoring the writing style) I wouldn’t think this is everyone’s cup of tea.
But Shall We Talk About the Good Bits? Anyway! Enough negativity. Let’s look at some of the pros of the books, which in my opinion, out-weighed the problems. Firstly, I loved the concept of the world. I thought the way the people lived - the feasts they had each night together with their whole tribe, the dancing in the rain, and the way they worked was great. They grow plants in a fascinating way as they’re able to encourage the growth with their hands. I thought that this in particular was awesome.
One of my favourite things in the book was the healing waterfall. It sounded like so much fun when they went and jumped the waterfall each day after work. It was wicked how the water had healing properties.
The other thing I loved was the topic of sexuality. Russ has done a really good job of diversifying her book in this way. I was thoroughly impressed with her LGBT + representation and I loved how accepted and believable this aspect of the book was. I would go as far to say that Russ’ creation of this fantasy world is pioneering in obliterating gender norms and societal expectations.
A Quick, Spoiler-y Section
So skip to the next one if you don’t want to be spoiled - although it is only a mild spoiler and not plot-related
This next bit is major spoilers about the trigger warning
The Mystery One thing that had me invested in the story was wanting to really know who K was and why she was there. Without spoiling anything I’ll just say that the book leaves us in a very interesting place and I’m absolutely dying to read on. There are so many theories I have about who she is based off some of the skills she subconsciously retains and displays throughout the book. As such, I can’t wait for the release of the sequel.
Summary Overall this was an enjoyable story. Sure it has some prominent problems and I do think that it could have benefitted from a few more revisions. However, if you’re into your sci-fi, or enjoyed a movie like Avatar, then I think if you give this book a fair go you’ll end up loving it just as much as I did!
This novel follows the character K who comes to consciousness on a strange planet with no memory. The book then goes on to explore this alien world as K becomes apart of a family of Exodians (the inhabitants of the planet) and begins to adapt to their way of life. I felt that the book dragged quite a bit in some of the exploration of this new world, there was a lot of new information being gradually shared with not much really happening. The introduction into a new world typically causes a slight lag in the story but I found that the writing was a little underdeveloped at times making scenes where only information was being shared hard to read through. Being the first book in the series, the story mostly centred around the new and odd world that both the reader and K have suddenly become submerged in. It was the last quarter of the book that really caught my attention. The action picked up which I found allowed me to better follow the storyline as it began to break away from the monotony of the life that K has created for herself. With the action also came some answers to only a few of the many questions that we had been needing the answers to. What really drew my interest was the end of the book, It shows how all our unanswered questions may have the answers uncovered within the second book. I have high hopes for the second book as it seems as if the storyline is truly going to pick up now that we have a base for the story. I'm looking forward to seeing what lies next for K!
2.5 stars I'm hesitant to give this one an official star rating as I don't want to put off other readers from picking this book up. I feel that there was an excellent story here that just fell a little short for me.
I came to love the planet Exodus and was really pleased with each new detail I read about their world. Admittedly at first I thought, 'oh, you've just changed the colours of things' but I soon found there was much more to it than that. It really was a fun world and I would have liked to read more about K's adjustment to the new planet; she took it SO well, but after reading the last chapter I suspect there is a reason she did.
Overall there was plenty about this book that I liked, but so much that I just couldn't get over. But the cliffhanger ending has likely ensured I will pick the second book.
This is book came in the October Dragon's Hoard subscription box and I'm so pleased to be discovering books that may have otherwise passed me by.