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The Mind Breaker #1
Elimination
For fans of The Hunger Games, Maze Runner and X-Men. Immerse yourself in a gritty YA dystopian adventure with telepathy, hypnosis and mind reading.
Eighteen-year-old Rex is trying to survive in a dangerous world where the government hunts down, imprisons and even kills those with psychic abilities. He’s a mind breaker, considered not only a deviation from the norm but the biggest threat to society.
Once he reveals his abilities for hypnosis, the deadly hunt begins…
Rex has to flee across the devastated countryside while an entire army of resistant soldiers searches for him. Worse yet, by going on the run, he’s endangering his one and only friend Kitty.
Rex soon realizes that together they make a vulnerable target. And the only way to save Kitty is to allow himself to be captured, thus diverting attention while his friend escapes. But nothing goes as planned, and his actions only serve to push Kitty into an even worse situation than a life sentence in prison. With his world falling apart, Rex must figure out how to fix his accumulating mistakes and regain their freedom before it’s too late.
What Rex doesn’t yet understand, is that he may soon play a major role in preventing all-out war between ordinary humans and mind breakers, a war which could lead to total extinction of the entire human race.
Eighteen-year-old Rex is trying to survive in a dangerous world where the government hunts down, imprisons and even kills those with psychic abilities. He’s a mind breaker, considered not only a deviation from the norm but the biggest threat to society.
Once he reveals his abilities for hypnosis, the deadly hunt begins…
Rex has to flee across the devastated countryside while an entire army of resistant soldiers searches for him. Worse yet, by going on the run, he’s endangering his one and only friend Kitty.
Rex soon realizes that together they make a vulnerable target. And the only way to save Kitty is to allow himself to be captured, thus diverting attention while his friend escapes. But nothing goes as planned, and his actions only serve to push Kitty into an even worse situation than a life sentence in prison. With his world falling apart, Rex must figure out how to fix his accumulating mistakes and regain their freedom before it’s too late.
What Rex doesn’t yet understand, is that he may soon play a major role in preventing all-out war between ordinary humans and mind breakers, a war which could lead to total extinction of the entire human race.
- GenresScience Fiction
352 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 1, 2016
68 people are currently reading
577 people want to read
About the author
Marina Epley
15 books28 followersI’m a former journalist turned full-time author who began writing at an early age. Growing up on science fiction, horror and action movies more than cartoons, where the stuff of my dreams (or nightmares) quickly evolved into the short stories I shared with classmates. Well, nothing much has really changed since, except nowadays I write for your enjoyment and reading pleasure.
I published my first YA dystopian trilogy The Mind Breaker in 2016, and I’m currently working on a new series. I mostly write science fiction with plenty of action and adventure, but appreciate any good stories with lots of unexpected twists and turns.
To hear about new books first, sign up for my mailing list http://eepurl.com/czyC4H
Stay updated with my new releases at:
https://twitter.com/MarinaEpley
https://www.facebook.com/writerdystop...
I published my first YA dystopian trilogy The Mind Breaker in 2016, and I’m currently working on a new series. I mostly write science fiction with plenty of action and adventure, but appreciate any good stories with lots of unexpected twists and turns.
To hear about new books first, sign up for my mailing list http://eepurl.com/czyC4H
Stay updated with my new releases at:
https://twitter.com/MarinaEpley
https://www.facebook.com/writerdystop...
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
September 12, 2017
Rex is an eighteen-year-old with a terrible secret. He is part of a subset of a post-apocalyptic population that have special mental abilities - hypnosis, telekinesis, mind-reading, and more. He's a mind-breaker, and that amounts to life in prison or worse, just because of who he is.
Lies permeate the media that society watches, tagging mind-breakers as nothing but deadly threats bent on raping, murdering or using their powers to take other advantage of the population at large. Their top-rated show involves watching mind-breakers being hunted down and exterminated by Elimination, a jack-booted black-ops group of specially trained commandos who gather mind-breakers and gather them into research facilities and death camps.
Rex tries to eke out an existence as a 'normal', but the lie he is living crashes around him as the bank he works at is robbed, and he has to use his powers of hypnosis in order to escape. Now, on the run for his life, he has to separate from his sister, Kitty, in order to save her, even if it means capture and death.
As society continues to pursue the annihilation of this enhanced race of beings, aided by the lying media and the merciless Elimination, there's going to be a reckoning - one that just might spell the end of everyone.
Content:
Drug Content:
PG-13 - Several characters do a significant amount of drinking or drugs to ease guilt or pain. Drugs are administered to control or subjugate.
Violence:
R+ - This is extremely bloody. Genocide is a good term. This dark, dystopian novel has torture, bullying, slaughter of innocents, torching of schools and hospitals. Threats and murders of loved ones for leverage or revenge. Street fighting and skull crushing abound. Noses and arms, legs and ribs are broken throughout for the joy of inflicting pain or dominance, for some of the psychotic villains.
Language:
PG - The D-word is used a bit, but nothing else.
Adult Content:
PG - There's not much, but there are some suggestions of rape and such. One of the bad guys intimates considering having his way with a girl who is not yet an adult.
Christian content:
None. There's not much talk about an afterlife, and there's not any concept of hope beyond surviving the next 30 minutes or just escaping from one bad situation into another. There are some points in the book where characters consider the concept of good and evil, or bad and worse, or who is deserving of death more than someone else. Family and loved ones appear to be the main motivating force, and on the antagonist side, apparently there is no level too low to stoop, no line too bad to cross, in a sadistic pursuit of the destruction of a new race. There are a few characters who learn about forgiveness and reconciliation, and there are some that ardently argue for peace and coexistence.
Final analysis:
Wow. Where to begin. There are some editing issues, and this book is far darker than my usual fare. As described above, there is a lot of sadism in between the covers of this novel, but the book is a fast-paced thriller that had me glued to it from the shocking and depressing start to the action-packed end. The world-building was stark and realistic. The main character spent far too much time soul searching and pondering his path, waffling in decisions until he focused on a destiny. The antagonists, and there were quite a few, were very dark and very bad. They seemed somewhat one-dimensional, unredeemable, and completely unlikeable.
I would have liked to have known more about the backstory of Wheeler and some of the evil villains like him, to get a better understanding of their motivation for hatred and sadism. A good 'bad' guy has reason and stakes or history that motivates him to be like he is.
The novel was realistic, if disturbing, gripping, a real page-turner. It sets up for a nice dystopian world war, and the world building was solid, but the character building and there were a few pacing issues that kept me from awarding the story the five stars that the plot deserved. Four Stars!
*I received an electronic copy for an honest review.
Lies permeate the media that society watches, tagging mind-breakers as nothing but deadly threats bent on raping, murdering or using their powers to take other advantage of the population at large. Their top-rated show involves watching mind-breakers being hunted down and exterminated by Elimination, a jack-booted black-ops group of specially trained commandos who gather mind-breakers and gather them into research facilities and death camps.
Rex tries to eke out an existence as a 'normal', but the lie he is living crashes around him as the bank he works at is robbed, and he has to use his powers of hypnosis in order to escape. Now, on the run for his life, he has to separate from his sister, Kitty, in order to save her, even if it means capture and death.
As society continues to pursue the annihilation of this enhanced race of beings, aided by the lying media and the merciless Elimination, there's going to be a reckoning - one that just might spell the end of everyone.
Content:
Drug Content:
PG-13 - Several characters do a significant amount of drinking or drugs to ease guilt or pain. Drugs are administered to control or subjugate.
Violence:
R+ - This is extremely bloody. Genocide is a good term. This dark, dystopian novel has torture, bullying, slaughter of innocents, torching of schools and hospitals. Threats and murders of loved ones for leverage or revenge. Street fighting and skull crushing abound. Noses and arms, legs and ribs are broken throughout for the joy of inflicting pain or dominance, for some of the psychotic villains.
Language:
PG - The D-word is used a bit, but nothing else.
Adult Content:
PG - There's not much, but there are some suggestions of rape and such. One of the bad guys intimates considering having his way with a girl who is not yet an adult.
Christian content:
None. There's not much talk about an afterlife, and there's not any concept of hope beyond surviving the next 30 minutes or just escaping from one bad situation into another. There are some points in the book where characters consider the concept of good and evil, or bad and worse, or who is deserving of death more than someone else. Family and loved ones appear to be the main motivating force, and on the antagonist side, apparently there is no level too low to stoop, no line too bad to cross, in a sadistic pursuit of the destruction of a new race. There are a few characters who learn about forgiveness and reconciliation, and there are some that ardently argue for peace and coexistence.
Final analysis:
Wow. Where to begin. There are some editing issues, and this book is far darker than my usual fare. As described above, there is a lot of sadism in between the covers of this novel, but the book is a fast-paced thriller that had me glued to it from the shocking and depressing start to the action-packed end. The world-building was stark and realistic. The main character spent far too much time soul searching and pondering his path, waffling in decisions until he focused on a destiny. The antagonists, and there were quite a few, were very dark and very bad. They seemed somewhat one-dimensional, unredeemable, and completely unlikeable.
I would have liked to have known more about the backstory of Wheeler and some of the evil villains like him, to get a better understanding of their motivation for hatred and sadism. A good 'bad' guy has reason and stakes or history that motivates him to be like he is.
The novel was realistic, if disturbing, gripping, a real page-turner. It sets up for a nice dystopian world war, and the world building was solid, but the character building and there were a few pacing issues that kept me from awarding the story the five stars that the plot deserved. Four Stars!
*I received an electronic copy for an honest review.
September 26, 2017
I enjoyed this book bunches. The main characters were very clearly developed, and the overall idea of the book was very good. However, the antagonists weren't fully developed. Luckily, the phenomenal world building makes up for it.
This book is somewhat appropriate for young adults, above the age of 14, due to the violence in the book. Elimination is about 2 young adults living in a society where most of the population is wiped out, and the remaining population is fighting amongst itself (for reasons I can't explain without spoiling the good parts). However, I can say that if you envision the scene in Harry Potter where all of Voldemort's supporters surround Dumbledores Army- and imagine that for the entirety of the series they were that outmatched numerically wise, you can envision what Rex and Kitty face. Yet, like DA, they gain support from like minded people, gain valuable lessons (for example, don't blame me for how cheesy this is, people aren't always as they seem), and lose friends along the way (if you cried when Dobby or Hedwig died, prepare to cry again).
I would definitely recommend that you give this book a try!
*I was given a print copy of this book in exchange for an honest review
This book is somewhat appropriate for young adults, above the age of 14, due to the violence in the book. Elimination is about 2 young adults living in a society where most of the population is wiped out, and the remaining population is fighting amongst itself (for reasons I can't explain without spoiling the good parts). However, I can say that if you envision the scene in Harry Potter where all of Voldemort's supporters surround Dumbledores Army- and imagine that for the entirety of the series they were that outmatched numerically wise, you can envision what Rex and Kitty face. Yet, like DA, they gain support from like minded people, gain valuable lessons (for example, don't blame me for how cheesy this is, people aren't always as they seem), and lose friends along the way (if you cried when Dobby or Hedwig died, prepare to cry again).
I would definitely recommend that you give this book a try!
*I was given a print copy of this book in exchange for an honest review
February 22, 2018
Another great read from Marina Epley. An interesting, dystopian storyline where those living on a very broken world are terrified of people with the ability to hypnotise.
Scared and not really living, the main character is terrified people will find out what he can do, but as a hero, he has to help.
Looking forward to reading the next in the series to see what becomes of him. Also keen to see his character evolve.
Scared and not really living, the main character is terrified people will find out what he can do, but as a hero, he has to help.
Looking forward to reading the next in the series to see what becomes of him. Also keen to see his character evolve.
June 5, 2018
Great storyline
I love dystopian reads , even if they are in the young adult category. This author has filled the book with lots of great characters, both hero s and villians. I enjoyed this first book so much I am looking forward to the next in th series. If it turns out to be a good read I will read even more.
I love dystopian reads , even if they are in the young adult category. This author has filled the book with lots of great characters, both hero s and villians. I enjoyed this first book so much I am looking forward to the next in th series. If it turns out to be a good read I will read even more.
February 2, 2025
Needs to be made into a trilogy. And if Noone does I will
One of the best books ever. My favorite character is Rex then chase. Has your adrenaline pounding. I love the world building.
One of the best books ever. My favorite character is Rex then chase. Has your adrenaline pounding. I love the world building.
May 11, 2017
I absolutely loved ready the book. Hoping to see Rex and Kitty hook up. Perfect way to hate Wheeler, can't wait for him to be killed. Can't wait to finishecready the next book.
July 11, 2017
ELIMINATION is the first novel in THE MIND BREAKER trilogy, set in a violent dystopian world where governmental forces hunt down, imprison and even kill those with psychic abilities.
April 10, 2018
The Adventure
Begins. Rex and Kitty have been living with a secret trying to blend in with the humans around. Only to be exposed by trying to save them.
Begins. Rex and Kitty have been living with a secret trying to blend in with the humans around. Only to be exposed by trying to save them.
September 6, 2020
The copy of this story I got sent was only a few chapters long preview but what I read was interesting & worth seeing how it progeesses
July 31, 2016
Elimination: The Mind Breaker Trilogy Book 1 by Marina Epley Book Review:
It's not often one finds themselves at the forefront of a fantastic new YA series, and yet that is what's happened to this reviewer after reading author Marina Epley's Elimination, the first in the Mind Breaker Trilogy!
First, the description.
ELIMINATION is the first novel in THE MIND BREAKER trilogy, set in a violent dystopian world where governmental forces hunt down, imprison and even kill those with psychic abilities.
Rex is an eighteen-year-old mind breaker hoping to keep a low profile. Unfortunately, he was forced to use hypnosis on criminals during an attempted bank robbery, revealing his abilities. Now considered a national threat to society, he has to flee through devastated countryside in order to remain alive. Even worse, by going on the run, he’s endangering his one and only friend Kitty, another strong hypnotist.
Rex soon realizes that together they make a vulnerable target. And the only way to save Kitty is to allow himself to be captured, thus diverting attention while his friend escapes. But nothing goes as planned, as his actions only serve to push Kitty into an even worse situation than a life sentence in prison. With his world falling apart, Rex must figure out how to fix his accumulating mistakes and regain their freedom before it’s too late.
What Rex doesn’t yet understand, is that he may soon play a major role in preventing all-out war between ordinary humans and mind breakers, a war which could lead to total extinction of the entire human race.
The dystopian future created by Epley feels so real in this first book that one expects to open their front door and see it for themselves. The complex world that protagonist Rex is forced to navigate conjures up feelings of anxiousness, fear and loneliness that can mirror parts of our world.
What really makes me love this book is how similar in plot the novel mirrors both our world and the world created by legendary comic book company Marvel, and that is the world of the X-Men. The fear of the unknown or different showcases a human tendency to judge, hate and cast out people who don't follow the "social norm" that they create. It's a fantastic social point made through a well written and amazingly creative novel, and I can't wait to see more from this incredibly talented emerging author, so be sure to pick up your copy of Elimination: The Mind Breaker Trilogy #1 by Marina Epley today!
Book Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01HW5AKK0/...
It's not often one finds themselves at the forefront of a fantastic new YA series, and yet that is what's happened to this reviewer after reading author Marina Epley's Elimination, the first in the Mind Breaker Trilogy!
First, the description.
ELIMINATION is the first novel in THE MIND BREAKER trilogy, set in a violent dystopian world where governmental forces hunt down, imprison and even kill those with psychic abilities.
Rex is an eighteen-year-old mind breaker hoping to keep a low profile. Unfortunately, he was forced to use hypnosis on criminals during an attempted bank robbery, revealing his abilities. Now considered a national threat to society, he has to flee through devastated countryside in order to remain alive. Even worse, by going on the run, he’s endangering his one and only friend Kitty, another strong hypnotist.
Rex soon realizes that together they make a vulnerable target. And the only way to save Kitty is to allow himself to be captured, thus diverting attention while his friend escapes. But nothing goes as planned, as his actions only serve to push Kitty into an even worse situation than a life sentence in prison. With his world falling apart, Rex must figure out how to fix his accumulating mistakes and regain their freedom before it’s too late.
What Rex doesn’t yet understand, is that he may soon play a major role in preventing all-out war between ordinary humans and mind breakers, a war which could lead to total extinction of the entire human race.
The dystopian future created by Epley feels so real in this first book that one expects to open their front door and see it for themselves. The complex world that protagonist Rex is forced to navigate conjures up feelings of anxiousness, fear and loneliness that can mirror parts of our world.
What really makes me love this book is how similar in plot the novel mirrors both our world and the world created by legendary comic book company Marvel, and that is the world of the X-Men. The fear of the unknown or different showcases a human tendency to judge, hate and cast out people who don't follow the "social norm" that they create. It's a fantastic social point made through a well written and amazingly creative novel, and I can't wait to see more from this incredibly talented emerging author, so be sure to pick up your copy of Elimination: The Mind Breaker Trilogy #1 by Marina Epley today!
Book Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01HW5AKK0/...
February 15, 2017
So. Good. SO GOOD! I really, really enjoyed this book! It's been a while since I enjoyed a YA book this much. Don't get me wrong, I have liked a lot of books, but this one... I didn't want to put it down. I had to since I'm an adult with a job and a family and all, but I really didn't want to!
Here's a little tidbit about me, I prefer to read books where the protagonist is female. I think it's just because I can relate to them more. However, Elimination was the kind of book where I didn't care at all that the protagonist was male. And let me add that Rex was a very good character. Seriously, all of the characters were great. Some were great in an 'I love this guy/girl!' kind of way and some were great in an 'Oh, I hate this guy/girl!' kind of way. Both show great writing and a really great book.
Thank you to the author, Marina Epley, for sending this wonderful book to me! It is on the top of my recommendations list!
*Note: I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.
Here's a little tidbit about me, I prefer to read books where the protagonist is female. I think it's just because I can relate to them more. However, Elimination was the kind of book where I didn't care at all that the protagonist was male. And let me add that Rex was a very good character. Seriously, all of the characters were great. Some were great in an 'I love this guy/girl!' kind of way and some were great in an 'Oh, I hate this guy/girl!' kind of way. Both show great writing and a really great book.
Thank you to the author, Marina Epley, for sending this wonderful book to me! It is on the top of my recommendations list!
*Note: I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.
July 31, 2016
I liked the idea behind the book and also the world building that gives the reader an explanation on how things came about. After catastrophic world events many people develop hypnotic powers. Some, of course, take advantage of them, others don't. It doesn't really matter to the government of the survivors, they instigate a witch hunt against all hypnotists. Sadly, this a story repeated time and again in mankind's history. Using ignorance and fear they use the hypnotists as scapegoats for the ills of the world. Rex and Kitty have lived for years undercover, but Rex, because he's a decent person, reveals himself. From then on, they are hunted. Captured and tortured, Rex is willing to do anything to save Kitty, but also fights back.
December 31, 2016
Very interesting, although the whole mind breaker abilities might have been done in other books, this has a nice twist to it. Also at times it seemed like the author didn't know what direction to go in and just went with whatever seemed most plausible in the storyline, but either way it was a great story filled with action and suspense, or rather wondering what was going to happen next. Although it was slow, I appreciate that, in a weird way. Can't wait to read the next books in the trilogy.
May 30, 2018
I just reread this because of KU special 3 month sign up, not realizing I had read it before. Some of it sounded familiar, but I though it was because I must have read the first few chapters in a prequel somewhere, as the 2nd half of the book didn't ring bells. So, does this say something about me or about the book - I don't know. I am reading the 2nd book though, so that is a good sign.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews