End of the Line

ReMade #1.8

by E.C. Myers, Matthew Cody, Kiersten White

You live. You love. You Die. Now RUN. ReMade is a thrilling sci-fi adventure that will take readers past the boundaries of time, space, and even death.

This is the 8th episode of ReMade , a 15-episode serial from Serial Box Publishing. This episode was written by E.C. Myers.

After a twitchy trigger finger leaves the train without a driver, the group scrambles to find a way off their runaway getaway. With food running out and still no idea where they are headed, it’s hard to imagine things could get worse…

ReMade Season In one moment the lives of twenty-three teenagers are forever changed, and it’s not just because they all happen to die. “ReMade” in a world they barely recognize – one with robots, space elevators, and unchecked jungle – they must work together to survive. They came from different places, backgrounds, and families, and now they might be the last people on earth. Lost meets The Maze Runner in this exciting serial adventure.

Genres: Science Fiction, Young Adult

34 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 2, 2016

About the author

E.C. Myers was assembled in the U.S. from Korean and German parts and raised in Yonkers, NY by his mother and the public library. He is a graduate of the Clarion West Writers Workshop and a member of the prolific NYC writing group Altered Fluid. In the rare moments when he isn't writing, he blogs about Star Trek at The Viewscreen, reads constantly, plays video games, watches films and television, sleeps as little as possible, and spends far too much time on the internet. His first novel, FAIR COIN, won the 2012 Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy.

WATTPAD: http://www.wattpad.com/user/ecmyers

Reviews

[Carrie (The Butterfly Reader) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I want to start by saying that this group needs a real leader, it can't keep going this way. The leader can not just be whoever we follow this episode. It's making it hard to follow and it tends to put down characters who were just raised up in the last one.

They finally get off the train.... after it catches on fire and Inex pulls a pretty messed up stunt. She really seems like the type that thinks her shit doesn't stink. I didn't mind her though till the beach scene in the flashback... how she was getting pissed that men thought she was good looking or her comment about doing herself. Yeah...

I'd have liked her so much more had she not done that... this serial seems to be going downhill now and that makes me sad, I liked it a lot before and now... I'll give it a few more episodes and see what I think. Hopefully it gets better.

[Elaine White · Rating 2 out of 5]

So, unfortunately, this is the second in a row that didn't work for me, which is such a shame because I was loving this series until this point.

However, I hate Inez. With a passion. She's rude, patronising, thinks she's the Queen of everything and is in love with herself. She's not a team player, she doesn't care about the group or anyone but her and Teddy. She can't see anything but herself and what she wants she has to get. She can't see - won't, more likely - and doesn't want to understand what this group have been through until now. Thanks to her, it's almost as if this is a whole new story and nothing from before is real.

When are people going to wake up and see that Holden is their best bet at survival? When are they going to see the seriously dangerous, selfish risks that Inez took with their lives in this episode?

I'll be honest. I was hoping Inez would die, at the end. I hate her that much. She has ruined this series, for me. The moment she stepped in, everything changed for the worst and I can't stand it. Good characters died, so that she could be introduced? Really?

Worse, she somehow manages to twist perfectly innocent things that people say - like Hyrum wanting to ask May for mathematical advice - into some "I'm better than you" racists criticism. Numerous times, she's acted like other people are racists when, apart from Teddy's horrible comment, they weren't even close. And let's not get started on the "I love myself" ego she has.

This quote -> "She would totally do herself - she probably would, later" - is unnecessary, but also gross for the size of ego she has. For the majority of her 'before' story, all she did was check out other girls as if they were some buffet and she only had to pick the best one. Like -> "She was feeling so sexy and good about herself, and dumbass men always had to ruin it for her." Sigh.

There was also the continuity issue where she claimed that she only played a cheerleader on TV. Except, she didn't. Ever. That was Teddy's ex-girlfriend, from the real show. Which Inez was never a part of. And she can't claim that it's because of the "show" they put on for the caretaker camera, either, because she never even faked being a cheerleader.

Overall, it just felt like this story descended the series into madness. No one was thinking logically, smart or anything, by the looks of it. It was just all about Inez being the King of the Castle and being perfect, right and wonderful, while being the absolute opposite, while everyone bowed down to her, even though she's new and always wrong.

Urgh. Just...no. It didn't work, because it was wrong in so many ways and, I swear, if she gets another POV, I might never read this series again. I want my story back. The one that was ticking along nicely until Inez and Teddy - who are both entirely useless! - hijacked.

[Nikki "The Crazie Betty" V. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Season 1: Episode 8

Left with little decision after destroying the train’s conductor, the kids make a daring escape from the train by putting themselves at risk to detach the cars from each other. Being that the train has been steadily getting faster, they know the only way they are going to survive is if they can slow the train down. Detaching their car from the rest of the train turns out to save all their lives from the end of the line.

Wherever they are now it seems to be getting colder, which won’t be good for shelter or food. What are they to do now?

This entire installment was based around the kids figuring out to get off the train, and it definitely had a thrilling quality to it. Minus Umta’s episode and what happens in it, this episode has had the most action and I thoroughly enjoyed it and am excited to see what comes next.

ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

[Marjolein (UrlPhantomhive) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read all my reviews on http://urlphantomhive.booklikes.com

2.5 Stars

This was not really my episode. They're still on the train and for a large part of the episode, nothing really happens. There's more backstory, of course, but I would have liked to see some more direction.

We're halfway through this season and I'm still completely in the dark as to what the kids are doing, why and why did they have to die first?

I really hope to see some answers in the next episodes!

Thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

[Melissa (thereaderandthechef) · Rating 4 out of 5]

actual rating 3.5 stars

it's getting interesting again!

[kelly {BookCrushin} · Rating 4 out of 5]

All of my reviews of ReMade are more plot based than my normal reviews, so they are all a little more spoilery than usual. I recommend checking out my review for the first episode before reading on!

The End of the Line is exactly where this train is going. We are now getting Inez POV, and I like her a lot, even though I question her attitude often. She is fierce and in control. She cares for Teddy in such a beautiful way, but she also takes no shit whatsoever. We also get her heartbreaking backstory, which I think explains a lot about her. We pick right up with Inez hearing the gunshot and finding Teddy, Loki and Nevaeh all standing around the dead caretaker.

This episode also filled us in on the theory that they all died at the exact same time on the exact same day. I LOVE THIS! It is a tricky little bit of information as to the hows and whys of what is going on big picture, and Inez and Teddy are not isolated from this fact.

Back to the current train situation, now that the conductor is no longer conducting the train, Hyrum (the brains), figures out that the train is picking up an unsettling amount of speed and the food and water curators were no longer working on the train. So no real reason to stay aboard. They decide they need to engage the braking system and get off the speeding train.

[*Book Euphoria * · Rating 4 out of 5]

*** I would like to thank Netgalley, Serial Box Publishing and the author E.C. Myers for sending me this digital copy of End of the Line in exchange for an honest review***

This episode is about Inez . We learn that she was a hard worker, took care of her family because she had to. The group of teens are still on the train. They all are still kind of dazed and freaked out. But they know they have to figure out a way off the train or it could be a disaster. We see team work, new friendships, guilt, and bravery. I liked how the group worked together, everyone had a part, if they were good at something they would use their knowledge to help.

Through reading these episodes you really see that you cant really judge someone, you don’t know what they’ve been through. Every time I read about a character, they are not anything like what I would've expected or guessed. Someone might seem big and tough but really be a shy quiet person. Everyone has a story. And I love that everyone is different, different backgrounds, different races. I think its great. Its how books should be.

Don’t want to say too much, but that I'm enjoying these stories. I look forward to the next episodes. I want to see how it ends :):)









Yeah had to add some Spring Day by BTS, it reminded me of Whiteout. Yup ARMY in the house :):)
***

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Review also posted at: http://underthebookcover.blogspot.com...

2/5

Thank you to NetGalley and Serial Box for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for review!

I have incredibly mixed feelings about this episode. The narrator this time around was Inez, and while I liked Inez and Teddy together from episode six, I don't think I enjoyed Inez on her own. She's very reckless, tends to jump to conclusions and just kind of rubbed me the wrong way with some of the things that she said and the way that she acted. That being said, I enjoyed the writing and story progression and the ending did have me laughing a bit, so this episode wasn't all that bad!

This episode was written by E.C. Myers and involved a character that was introduced by a different author, so I definitely expected (and welcomed) how another author would interpret Inez. One of my favorite things about this series is the wide variety of authors because you know that with each episode, you'll be getting an entirely new experience. There are so many different writing styles that readers are introduced to while reading these stories and it's always a treat to see how various authors will write about characters from other episodes. Some of the characters that were more prominent in a previous episode may sometimes take a backseat in the current episode, and vice versa.

Unfortunately, Inez just did not do it for me on her own. She seems to only care about herself and Teddy, which leads to her being somewhat hostile towards the other group members or just flat out not caring about any of them. There were also a few things that she said throughout the episode that really bothered me. At one point, she picks up an old copy of a Babysitters Club book and makes a comment about how "The snowy border on the cover was not the whitest thing on it." That was some pretty not-so-subtle racism that did not sit well with me. Especially because later on in the episode, she makes a comment about how assuming that all Asians are good at math is a bit racist, when Hyrum was simply stating that May was good with numbers. It just made no sense to me how she could make a pretty racist comment and then turn around and try to shame someone for a statement that she just assumed was racist. She also tried to get on to Teddy when he made a comment about how Gabe must be his "inner black dude" because he still believes that the whole thing is happening in his head. Another thing that bothered me was when she was getting ready to go to the beach and she looks at herself in her front facing camera and says (or rather thinks as this wasn't said out loud), "She was hot. She would totally do herself- she probably would, later." I just didn't understand why this was necessary to add in to the story, but it certainly added to my feeling that Inez is incredibly full of herself and made me dislike her even more.

Despite my obvious dislike of Inez, I did enjoy the writing and how the story progressed. This episode picks up at the end of the previous one where Loki shot and destroyed the caretaker that was running the train. Hyrum eventually discovers that the train has been progressively gaining speed and is now starting to shake due to how fast it's moving and May tells the group that if the train continues gaining speed that it will eventually fly apart. Now they have to figure out a way to stop the train before it explodes. One thing that did redeem Inez a little bit was when she volunteered to go under the train in place of Hyrum or Alex. It was her plan to detach the cars so it did make sense for her to go, but it was still nice of her to take the responsibility instead of putting it on one of the smaller members of the group. While this was not my favorite installment, E.C. Myers does a good job of continuing the story and expanding upon the world, as well as keeping readers invested in the story with his descriptive and captivating writing. One thing that I can say is that he is quite good at writing about a character that readers will likely be talking about, be it negative or positive.

With all of the ups and downs that I experienced while reading this episode, I definitely feel like End of the Line is going to be talked about for quite some time when it is released, and probably even before its release. There were a lot of things that happened in this episode and it will be great to see different opinions on all of them. This was an interesting episode and I'm really curious as to how it will continue on from this point!

[CT · Rating 4 out of 5]

The series is now back on-track (pun intended) as far as the grit, excitement, balance of real-time and flashback narrative, and fun. This series could have skipped the last 2 episodes and jumped into this one straight from the narrow escape from the caretakers.

The only odd thing that continues to bother me is character development. This style of writing (episodic) kind of gets away with it banking on short-term memory loss in between episodes. I guess this is an advantage if you distribute a wide cast of characters to different authors for them to highlight. On the other hand, unless there is one dedicated editor who is assigned to maintain the consistency of the characters, the tone of each episode, and the overall story arc, chances are, there will be conflicting elements to the story.

The rise and fall of certain characters depending on the episode is obvious. Some are given a backstory and some semblance of character, only to shrink back and be timid or insecure in a subsequent episode. In this episode, the two whom I refer to as the “older” teens are given a younger, braver and selfless spirit compared to when they were first introduced in the reality show episode. It is very inconsistent. For some reason, previously reliable characters like Loki, Umta, Hyrum, Gabe and even Sunita are now taking a back seat and almost feel restrained and not their usual selves (at least, not how they were pictured to be in their respective highlight episodes).

Notwithstanding this oddity, I really enjoyed this episode. E.C. Myers did a great job at balancing out various elements into an exciting and satisfying story.

My hope for a great ending to this series has been restored. You know what will be nice? If we get aerial sketches of the entire setting and a short profile of each character that would recap their strengths and weaknesses, so that as a reader, I can rationalize in my mind why they behave as such and such in this episode, and so on and so forth. This can be compiled at the end of the series and sold as a separate companion manual. This binder will shut me up – and hopefully allow my mind to sort characters, behaviors and storylines into their proper places. I am sure all this is clear to the team of authors, but to me as a detached reader, it isn’t there yet.

Despite my quibbles, I am loving this fresh concept of seasons and short episodes.

I received a copy of this episode from the publisher via NetGalley.

[Christy · Rating 5 out of 5]

When we left our ReMades, they were headed on a midnight train going...anywhere. Fast.

Train tracks were like your future. Except, she had no future here...

In this week's episode, the teens have to decide - stay on a train without a conductor (thanks, Loki) or figure out how to get off. With the train picking up speed, they decide staying on board is too much of a risk. Or it's decided for them when one of the cars is set on fire.

A few of my favorite parts of this week:
Getting Inez's backstory (many tears)
Coffee that looks and smells like coffee and tastes like orange juice
UNICORNS (did an FYA'er make this world?)
I finished the episode with a sense of relief...and dread. Nothing stays good for long.

Lucky for us, the writers are well on their way to a second season.

[Ross Armstrong · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is chapter 8 of the serial Remade. Our intrepid, surviving teens are aboard a train, with no idea of their ultimate destination. Could there be more caretakers waiting at the end of the line? Loki has destroyed the caretaker driving the train. It is now a runaway train, and after some fiddling with controls that they don't understand, the train seems to be speeding up. Inez, with help from Umta, who can read the strange instruction sheets, discover where the brakes are and must try to stop the train before it either crashes or shakes apart. We are told the story of Inez and her family and an attempt is made to answer a question or two of the main plotline. Still an entertaining chapter of the tale.

[Donna Sanders · Rating 5 out of 5]

Received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Episode 8 of the continuing series "Remade". This instalment was written be E.C. Myers and the main voice in this episode is Inez. We learn she arrival story and learn a little about her personality. She comes across a little bossy and controlling but when you take into account her life before arriving here, you better understand her.

[Donna Maguire · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am thoroughly enjoying this series and I am really enjoying how the book is developing with the extra twists and turns that come to light regarding the backgrounds to those we are now reading about in the story. We are finding out more about them as the books go through and they have some really interesting backgrounds, very much enjoying the introduction of the new two characters. Looking forward to more of the same as the story grows.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I connect with Inez in a certain way, so I was able to really get into this story. I enjoyed it very much and learned more about her broke my heart. You root so much for this characters when you find out their backstory and she was no exception. I would recommend this story. 4 out of 5 stars.

[Mandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Inez. Pretty sure she's my favorite character so far.

Check out my recap—and join the discussion—at Forever Young Adult.

[Forever Young Adult]

Graded By: Mandy C.

Read the review here.