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Red Aberrant
Rhymori--meaning the Realm Under the Kingdoms--is divided into four colonies. The Colony of the Undecided (the people who don't know where they want to go when they die), The Colony of New Beginnings (the people who crave a fresh start every day), the Colony of the Free (the people who can't live with any rules or punishments), and the Colony of the Lawful (the people who cannot live without rules, and appreciate punishments for crime more than anyone else).
After working well for many generations, a weakness in the system was brought to light. Including seventeen-year-old Hadley, not all people are meant to fit the molds society has to offer. These people are called Aberrants, and they are prophesied to rise up together and wipe out the government system as Rhymori knows it.
As the Last Aberrant, Hadley must destroy the governor's most prized possession, and set the final stages of the Aberrant's plan in motion. But when her closest friends' lives are in jeopardy, will she have the strength to push through even if it means losing everyone she loves?
After working well for many generations, a weakness in the system was brought to light. Including seventeen-year-old Hadley, not all people are meant to fit the molds society has to offer. These people are called Aberrants, and they are prophesied to rise up together and wipe out the government system as Rhymori knows it.
As the Last Aberrant, Hadley must destroy the governor's most prized possession, and set the final stages of the Aberrant's plan in motion. But when her closest friends' lives are in jeopardy, will she have the strength to push through even if it means losing everyone she loves?
254 pages, Paperback
Published March 24, 2019
82 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
March 19, 2019
The first in a YA dystopian fantasy trilogy, Charity Ryan’s debut novel was hit and miss for me; parts really intrigued me and kept me interested, while others had me slogging through the story.
I really loved the idea of magic and souls presented in the story, and was what kept me intrigued. The idea of having four separate souls and the consequences of having three of them expelled at adulthood was a fun and scary concept to see to fruition, providing motivation for our protagonists. The way magic (or magick as the story spells it) works I loved as well, coming out of a glass orb and different colors having various uses.
The setting felt a bit flat and lacking in some parts; I couldn’t quite picture an unique and vibrant world. It felt like a generic dystopian setting, not much different than any other YA dystopian story. Nothing stood out in this aspect. We don’t see much of the world besides the Red lawful colony, and I assume that the other three areas will be seen in future installments.
The biggest issues by far I had were the pacing and the prose. Outside of a couple of interesting moments, the story felt like it dragged for the first half to two-thirds of the story. For a while, I was waiting for the story to push forward, but not much happened. There was plenty of action and intrigue and suspense throughout, but I didn’t feel the full punch of them until close to the end when things really get intense. The way the lore and world building was delivered didn’t feel natural to me; much of it was introduced out of nowhere and I got lost. The prose felt a bit choppy in a lot of spots, leaving me confused a few times during the story.
Most of the characters had an aspect that felt ‘paint by numbers’ to me; while they had a bit of character, they were missing that factor that made them memorable. The one exception is Hadley, the main protagonist, an orphan living on the streets. She has quite a few layers to her, caring for her friend and disliking how things are, and at the same time, holding a lot of doubts as she’s forced to make a lot of hard choices. The villains and their motives felt underdeveloped as well, and I wished they had some more depth.
Despite the issues, Ryan has a lot of potential to grow in her craft and I look forward to the continuation of the Aberrant saga, especially after that ending.
I really loved the idea of magic and souls presented in the story, and was what kept me intrigued. The idea of having four separate souls and the consequences of having three of them expelled at adulthood was a fun and scary concept to see to fruition, providing motivation for our protagonists. The way magic (or magick as the story spells it) works I loved as well, coming out of a glass orb and different colors having various uses.
The setting felt a bit flat and lacking in some parts; I couldn’t quite picture an unique and vibrant world. It felt like a generic dystopian setting, not much different than any other YA dystopian story. Nothing stood out in this aspect. We don’t see much of the world besides the Red lawful colony, and I assume that the other three areas will be seen in future installments.
The biggest issues by far I had were the pacing and the prose. Outside of a couple of interesting moments, the story felt like it dragged for the first half to two-thirds of the story. For a while, I was waiting for the story to push forward, but not much happened. There was plenty of action and intrigue and suspense throughout, but I didn’t feel the full punch of them until close to the end when things really get intense. The way the lore and world building was delivered didn’t feel natural to me; much of it was introduced out of nowhere and I got lost. The prose felt a bit choppy in a lot of spots, leaving me confused a few times during the story.
Most of the characters had an aspect that felt ‘paint by numbers’ to me; while they had a bit of character, they were missing that factor that made them memorable. The one exception is Hadley, the main protagonist, an orphan living on the streets. She has quite a few layers to her, caring for her friend and disliking how things are, and at the same time, holding a lot of doubts as she’s forced to make a lot of hard choices. The villains and their motives felt underdeveloped as well, and I wished they had some more depth.
Despite the issues, Ryan has a lot of potential to grow in her craft and I look forward to the continuation of the Aberrant saga, especially after that ending.
March 26, 2019
Let's do an overall:
Overall, I liked the book. There were parts that I would have done different but the story was good. The two big things in this review I will cover are the characters and the pacing of the plot.
Characters:
Overall, I feel that the characters are all unique and bring something new to the table but I don't’ think they were used well together. One thing I will mention about my own writing, I like to write groups of threes, usually two boys and one girl. But I did like how Ryan did this with two girls and one boy. Group of threes led me to get to know the characters better and I feel like I understand them better.
Hadley King:
I liked Hadley but I had a few comments about her. I think she was supposed to be our strong female lead but she ended up being a bit flat for me. She didn’t show much emotion and I didn't really feel any of that strong leader I hoped for. She did have a few moments were I cheered her on but then there were other times where I questioned everything about her decisions. I think she did bring something new and different than the other characters but I hope in the next book or two, we get to know more about heart.
Rachel Wagner:
Rachel made me question a few things. In the beginning of the book, we get her point of view but I didn’t think this added to the book. I feel like we could have learned all this information from Hadley but I do think she played an important role. She is a close friend to Headley and becomes her motivation. I think she was well rounded and she did grieve her brother in an apport way but I felt like that dragged the story down a bit.
Spencer Wythe:
Out of the three, I love Spencer the best. I think there is something about male character start I end up connecting to them more. I like how we saw his backstory and how it became relevant to the end and climax. I think that he could have been used a few more times early in the book. I think we could have also been introduced to him earlier. He’s a rounded character and the one I relate to the best, as I said.
Pacing:
One thing I like about a story is the pacing. For the most part, I think this story could be restructured. The first act, to me, took up the first half of the book. To get to the story took way to long.
The whole thing with Hadley choosing whether or not she was going to expect took so long and I felt like most of act one was about Rachel dealing with the departed and death of her brother. This does add to the story but at the same time, it overshadowed what I really want to read about.
Since act one took so long, act two was quick and not much was there. I think there were about two or three chapters for act two. Act two is where most of the action and getting to know each character. Bonding and world building are the best part of act two and it was glanced over to me.
Act three and the climax felt a bit jagged. Out of the whole book, this was my favorite part. The action keep coming and I loved it. It grew and grew but then there are times where It would drop. I feel like the attention by Ryan was to give the reader a quick break but it didn‘t come across well to me. Also something that was a bit of ao moment for me is when Spencer and Hayley kiss. I called this from the binning. When you’re writing in the dystopian genre, there are tropes that people love to read but I didn’t liked how she did this one, the romantic subplot. I would have rathered Hadley and Spencer stayed patterns than this rushed love thing. When we hit the very last moment of the noel, I felt that Hadley’s wish made the whole book feel useless. What was the point. But when we get the epilogue, I’m once again ready for the next book. I can’t wait for the rest of his series.
Final words:
I’m so greatful to Charity Ryan for letting me be an arc reader. I loved her work but there are places where she can improve throughout her next novels. I can’t wait to see her grow and became an amazing author.
Overall, I liked the book. There were parts that I would have done different but the story was good. The two big things in this review I will cover are the characters and the pacing of the plot.
Characters:
Overall, I feel that the characters are all unique and bring something new to the table but I don't’ think they were used well together. One thing I will mention about my own writing, I like to write groups of threes, usually two boys and one girl. But I did like how Ryan did this with two girls and one boy. Group of threes led me to get to know the characters better and I feel like I understand them better.
Hadley King:
I liked Hadley but I had a few comments about her. I think she was supposed to be our strong female lead but she ended up being a bit flat for me. She didn’t show much emotion and I didn't really feel any of that strong leader I hoped for. She did have a few moments were I cheered her on but then there were other times where I questioned everything about her decisions. I think she did bring something new and different than the other characters but I hope in the next book or two, we get to know more about heart.
Rachel Wagner:
Rachel made me question a few things. In the beginning of the book, we get her point of view but I didn’t think this added to the book. I feel like we could have learned all this information from Hadley but I do think she played an important role. She is a close friend to Headley and becomes her motivation. I think she was well rounded and she did grieve her brother in an apport way but I felt like that dragged the story down a bit.
Spencer Wythe:
Out of the three, I love Spencer the best. I think there is something about male character start I end up connecting to them more. I like how we saw his backstory and how it became relevant to the end and climax. I think that he could have been used a few more times early in the book. I think we could have also been introduced to him earlier. He’s a rounded character and the one I relate to the best, as I said.
Pacing:
One thing I like about a story is the pacing. For the most part, I think this story could be restructured. The first act, to me, took up the first half of the book. To get to the story took way to long.
The whole thing with Hadley choosing whether or not she was going to expect took so long and I felt like most of act one was about Rachel dealing with the departed and death of her brother. This does add to the story but at the same time, it overshadowed what I really want to read about.
Since act one took so long, act two was quick and not much was there. I think there were about two or three chapters for act two. Act two is where most of the action and getting to know each character. Bonding and world building are the best part of act two and it was glanced over to me.
Act three and the climax felt a bit jagged. Out of the whole book, this was my favorite part. The action keep coming and I loved it. It grew and grew but then there are times where It would drop. I feel like the attention by Ryan was to give the reader a quick break but it didn‘t come across well to me. Also something that was a bit of ao moment for me is when Spencer and Hayley kiss. I called this from the binning. When you’re writing in the dystopian genre, there are tropes that people love to read but I didn’t liked how she did this one, the romantic subplot. I would have rathered Hadley and Spencer stayed patterns than this rushed love thing. When we hit the very last moment of the noel, I felt that Hadley’s wish made the whole book feel useless. What was the point. But when we get the epilogue, I’m once again ready for the next book. I can’t wait for the rest of his series.
Final words:
I’m so greatful to Charity Ryan for letting me be an arc reader. I loved her work but there are places where she can improve throughout her next novels. I can’t wait to see her grow and became an amazing author.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 8, 2019
Wow, it took me a long time to get this review out. I finished this book about a month ago, and since then have been SO busy with school. No joke. Preparing for finals is killing me.
Anyways, on to the review for Red Aberrant! Here comes a spoiler free review for ya'll :)
Thing I enjoyed:
I enjoyed (some of) the characters.
Hadley-
I liked her character, but I didn't like her as much as I loved Spencer (my favorite character). She was brave, strong, and I thought she was super smart. Turns out she's not as smart as I thought because
Rachel-
I really hated Rachel for a long while. I warmed up to her towards the end , but nonetheless she's my least favorite character ever. Although she acted realistically about it brought the book down as a whole. She seemed too overprotective of Hadley and it was very, very annoying.
Spencer-
My absolute favorite character! I wish he had more "screen time." his personality and character were intriguing. I want more of his backstory Although I don't agree with his choice to he was still pretty loyal and sweet.
Jeff-
Didn't really care for him.
My favorite quote in the whole book was, "no one was around, yet every eye was on him." page 162.
Other things I enjoyed:
-Good writing style.
-Cool concept for the story line, not what I expected but interesting all the same.
-Prose doesn't feel awkward, and flows well throughout the story.
-Short (page wise), but doesn't feel rushed.
-Detailed, great descriptions, easy to read, awesome world building.
-Good first novel in the trilogy, because it leaves me wanting to know what comes next.
-For this being a first novel, it's very impressive.
-
-
-The magick concept was pretty cool.
-I liked the map in the front of the book, and the glossary in the back.
-The notes and pages in the book Hadley was reading gave me major Caraval vibes.
-This book gave me Divergent vibes overall.
-I got connected to the characters.
Things I didn't like as much:
-The ending. I hate it with a passion.
-The overuse of the word, "gravel" at the beginning.
-There were a few typos. Not like it's some horrible thing, because lots of books have typos, and everyone makes mistakes. I didn't look down on the book because of it, just thought I'd bring it up.
-
-
-Did I already say the ending?
Overall though, this book was pretty good! I would recommend. Good job, Charity Ryan! And good luck to the books you write in the future :)
Anyways, on to the review for Red Aberrant! Here comes a spoiler free review for ya'll :)
Thing I enjoyed:
I enjoyed (some of) the characters.
Hadley-
I liked her character, but I didn't like her as much as I loved Spencer (my favorite character). She was brave, strong, and I thought she was super smart. Turns out she's not as smart as I thought because
Rachel-
I really hated Rachel for a long while. I warmed up to her towards the end , but nonetheless she's my least favorite character ever. Although she acted realistically about it brought the book down as a whole. She seemed too overprotective of Hadley and it was very, very annoying.
Spencer-
My absolute favorite character! I wish he had more "screen time." his personality and character were intriguing. I want more of his backstory Although I don't agree with his choice to he was still pretty loyal and sweet.
Jeff-
Didn't really care for him.
My favorite quote in the whole book was, "no one was around, yet every eye was on him." page 162.
Other things I enjoyed:
-Good writing style.
-Cool concept for the story line, not what I expected but interesting all the same.
-Prose doesn't feel awkward, and flows well throughout the story.
-Short (page wise), but doesn't feel rushed.
-Detailed, great descriptions, easy to read, awesome world building.
-Good first novel in the trilogy, because it leaves me wanting to know what comes next.
-For this being a first novel, it's very impressive.
-
-
-The magick concept was pretty cool.
-I liked the map in the front of the book, and the glossary in the back.
-The notes and pages in the book Hadley was reading gave me major Caraval vibes.
-This book gave me Divergent vibes overall.
-I got connected to the characters.
Things I didn't like as much:
-The ending. I hate it with a passion.
-The overuse of the word, "gravel" at the beginning.
-There were a few typos. Not like it's some horrible thing, because lots of books have typos, and everyone makes mistakes. I didn't look down on the book because of it, just thought I'd bring it up.
-
-
-Did I already say the ending?
Overall though, this book was pretty good! I would recommend. Good job, Charity Ryan! And good luck to the books you write in the future :)
March 22, 2019
A wholesome first novel by a rising author!!!
I received a free ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I was given an unedited version of the novel, and thus my review will be based on that.
Whilst I am typically not a huge fan of the dystopian genre, I actually liked this book. The concept was vastly intriguing and Ryan was able to include the essentials of detail, without resorting to a slew of info-dumps. Her passion is eminent throughout the novel, and she truly pours her heart into each and every page.
The novel focuses on seventeen-year-old Hadley's mission to obtain the Governor's special orb, and (excluding the epilogue) takes place entirely within The Colony of The Lawful. The book follows the perspectives of Hadley King, Rachel Wagner and Spencer Wythe.
The world-building of the colony was fairly good. There was enough detail in there to paint a good scene, without overdoing it. There is also a well illustrated map provided in the book.
Outside the colony walls is never really touched upon, but I wouldn't count this as a negative, since the characters themselves don't seem to know what's out there. (Aside from 3 other colonies)
The author's style is original and generally flows well across the page. As is the case with all authors, Ryan's style is developing. But in its current form, I find it smooth and easy to read, whilst not being overly simplistic.
In terms of characters, we get a good sense of personality for each of them, and each certainly had their flaws, which I would always count as a positive. The descriptions were slightly vague, but I get the sense the author wanted to provide just enough for the reader to form their own mental picture.
Charity Ryan is a fresh, talented author with some real potential and I look forward to seeing what she comes out with next. Red Aberrant is a relatively short novel in comparison to others in the dystopian/fantasy genre, and I definitely recommend you check it out for yourself and form your own opinion!
I received a free ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I was given an unedited version of the novel, and thus my review will be based on that.
Whilst I am typically not a huge fan of the dystopian genre, I actually liked this book. The concept was vastly intriguing and Ryan was able to include the essentials of detail, without resorting to a slew of info-dumps. Her passion is eminent throughout the novel, and she truly pours her heart into each and every page.
The novel focuses on seventeen-year-old Hadley's mission to obtain the Governor's special orb, and (excluding the epilogue) takes place entirely within The Colony of The Lawful. The book follows the perspectives of Hadley King, Rachel Wagner and Spencer Wythe.
The world-building of the colony was fairly good. There was enough detail in there to paint a good scene, without overdoing it. There is also a well illustrated map provided in the book.
Outside the colony walls is never really touched upon, but I wouldn't count this as a negative, since the characters themselves don't seem to know what's out there. (Aside from 3 other colonies)
The author's style is original and generally flows well across the page. As is the case with all authors, Ryan's style is developing. But in its current form, I find it smooth and easy to read, whilst not being overly simplistic.
In terms of characters, we get a good sense of personality for each of them, and each certainly had their flaws, which I would always count as a positive. The descriptions were slightly vague, but I get the sense the author wanted to provide just enough for the reader to form their own mental picture.
Charity Ryan is a fresh, talented author with some real potential and I look forward to seeing what she comes out with next. Red Aberrant is a relatively short novel in comparison to others in the dystopian/fantasy genre, and I definitely recommend you check it out for yourself and form your own opinion!
August 15, 2019
First of all, I am so proud of Charity for publishing her book at such a young age. I too am a teen author and Charity inspired me to publish my debut novel at age fifteen.
I was a beta reader for Charity before she published her book and I really loved the concept and the idea, but it was difficult to understand because there was not nearly enough description and it was difficult to imagine what was going on, but the story itself was really well done.
I was a beta reader for Charity before she published her book and I really loved the concept and the idea, but it was difficult to understand because there was not nearly enough description and it was difficult to imagine what was going on, but the story itself was really well done.
June 2, 2019
Before I get into my reivew for this book I wanna mention how proud I am of Charity for going out and publishing her book. I first started following her while I was still writing and made a writing instagram. She's such a sweet girl and I hope she makes it big one day as an author. Like all of my reviews I always make sure all my thoughts and oppions are honest and my own.
To star off with my review I found the summary of Red Aberrant to be a bit short. There's not much to it but alot of books are like that so no biggy. I loved the cover of this book and thought it was a good match for the story.
This book is told in third person and has multiple point of views. I'm not for sure what the point of Rachel's point of view was. We never really gained any new information from her parts.
Character wise I didn't connect with any of the characters at all. I didn't like Hadley or main character or Rachel her friend. I feel like there was so much more to Hadley that we never got to see, that we needed to see to understand her. In the beginning of the book we find out shes living on the streets i assume and that her family left her maybe? I'm not a 100% on this part, I only remember that her parents are not in this story and I wish we had some more information on Haldey's backstory. I for some reason found Rachel to be an annoying character. There's a couple more charaters we are introduce to but they didn't really stick well with me either. Rachael's brother also calls Hadley all these different names which I didn't understand. Did he not know her name or did he think those names were funny? Either way I found it annoying because every time he talked he called her something different.
With the summary of this book I thought it would have been more sold on politics. Which in a way it is but we don't get to see how exactly their government is run. The government is curupt but we aren't shown everything they do that's bad. We just know there's 4 colonies. And we never get to adventure into those other places. Honestly this book made me think of Divergent a lot.
There's not a whole lot of magic in this book and I wish there was more of it. That's what made this book different from Divergent was the magic. The magic system however wasn't explained the best. From my best of understanding there's these glass orbs that is the source of the power if you break them and whisper something. It wasn't explained what exactly theses orbs were made or how they came to exist. Maybe it'll be explained in the second book.
The layout of the town is a bit confusing but there's supposed to be a map in the finished copy I believe. I think this will help readers alot.
Over all I found the book to be okay. There's alot of room for improvement but the author is still young and learning. This is her debut book and I will always support her 100%.
To star off with my review I found the summary of Red Aberrant to be a bit short. There's not much to it but alot of books are like that so no biggy. I loved the cover of this book and thought it was a good match for the story.
This book is told in third person and has multiple point of views. I'm not for sure what the point of Rachel's point of view was. We never really gained any new information from her parts.
Character wise I didn't connect with any of the characters at all. I didn't like Hadley or main character or Rachel her friend. I feel like there was so much more to Hadley that we never got to see, that we needed to see to understand her. In the beginning of the book we find out shes living on the streets i assume and that her family left her maybe? I'm not a 100% on this part, I only remember that her parents are not in this story and I wish we had some more information on Haldey's backstory. I for some reason found Rachel to be an annoying character. There's a couple more charaters we are introduce to but they didn't really stick well with me either. Rachael's brother also calls Hadley all these different names which I didn't understand. Did he not know her name or did he think those names were funny? Either way I found it annoying because every time he talked he called her something different.
With the summary of this book I thought it would have been more sold on politics. Which in a way it is but we don't get to see how exactly their government is run. The government is curupt but we aren't shown everything they do that's bad. We just know there's 4 colonies. And we never get to adventure into those other places. Honestly this book made me think of Divergent a lot.
There's not a whole lot of magic in this book and I wish there was more of it. That's what made this book different from Divergent was the magic. The magic system however wasn't explained the best. From my best of understanding there's these glass orbs that is the source of the power if you break them and whisper something. It wasn't explained what exactly theses orbs were made or how they came to exist. Maybe it'll be explained in the second book.
The layout of the town is a bit confusing but there's supposed to be a map in the finished copy I believe. I think this will help readers alot.
Over all I found the book to be okay. There's alot of room for improvement but the author is still young and learning. This is her debut book and I will always support her 100%.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews