The Qinali Virus

by Valerie J. Mikles

Rage. Poverty. Disease.

They’re gone. Every last one.

The cost was great. The population has been devastated. But for the survivors, utopia has arrived. Then the suspicious death of a young person forces Amber to question her world like she never has before. The Contentedness Council is after her, determined to protect their world. Now Amber must unbury her city’s repressed past, expose the crimes that led to their utopia, and find a way to stop the Council from killing the world...again. Join astral-projecting asexual Amber and her telepathic sister as they fight to save the human race from extermination!

Genres: Science Fiction

332 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 13, 2020

About the author

My name is Valerie Mikles. I’m a PhD astronomer with a passion for writing and creative arts. While I enjoyed traveling to telescopes around the world as a black hole hunter, I have since returned home to Maryland where I work on weather satellites for NOAA. When not writing, I can be found at the community theater, acting, choreographing, or stage managing. I’ve also written and produced a series of comedic short films about asexuality, inspired by my own journey of self-discovery. I’m a regular attendee at science fiction conventions and enjoy cosplay. My fandoms include Firefly, Stargate, and Star Trek, and anything that allows me to make another blue dress. My motto in life is that I can be everything I want, just not all at the same time.

Reviews

[Starr Davies · Rating 3 out of 5]

What I liked:

The Qinali Virus has a fantastic premise for our post-apocalyptic world. I enjoyed the concepts of disease and discontent mixed with powers: empathy and astral projection. I also did not mind the gender-fluid pronouns or concepts. I actually found it a little fascinating that everyone chose their own gender instead of having it predetermined by fate or science for them. I wish this could have been a bigger part of the story to help make it a little clearer just how it worked, but I did enjoy the concept. 

I absolutely loved the way Amber could project herself, and how she often struggled to control her power. Amber's social anxiety is relatable, and I enjoyed the fact that she isn't one who enjoys being touched by others and that she doesn't form connections with anyone outside of her own family. It gives her another layer of depth that she seriously needed and makes the almost robotic, stilted nature of her character make sense. 

What I didn't like:

The world is fascinating, and I found myself wanting to learn more about the world itself. This felt like a big shortcoming of the book. A lot of information is packed in there, and at first, I felt like maybe I understood what was happening -- until Amber's projection became known to the Council. Then everything started to get muddled and I had a hard time following the context. I would have been happy with another 5-10,ooo words in this book to help clarify everything about the world. Maybe not all at once in one place, but enough to really flesh out this world and make it feel real. I often felt like I was only scratching the surface of what Mikles intended, and that there is a lot more to the story than we readers were made privy to. 

While I loved the concept of what the empaths could do, as well as Amber, I often found myself confused by the details of what was actually going on. It was more like going through the motions than being in a setting and active in it. 

The gender pronouns. Okay, I know I said I liked the gender-fluid nature of the people in this world. That didn't bother me. What did hold me back was that I had a harder time picturing and connecting with the characters because of the gender pronouns. Honestly, this isn't something I've really thought about before. I assume it's because the descriptions were a bit lacking (outside of their clothing) and I couldn't be sure what I was looking at. It interrupted the flow of the fictive dream for me. The only character I felt any connection to was Cal, and even that took a while. In fact, I didn't even know that Cal was "male" for several chapters (or at least what felt like several chapters). Perhaps that's why it took a while to connect with him. 

And let's talk about Cal and Amber. Again, she is a bit socially distanced because of her therapy, and she doesn't form connections with people. So when Cal flirts with her, she doesn't seem to notice. But even I didn't notice, and if it was handled better, I think readers could have known even if Amber didn't. In fact, if Dax hasn't told Amber Cal liked her I wouldn't have known it for a long time. Amber and Cal form a bond with each other, but it's sort of tenuous until, at the end of the book, suddenly she loves him -- an emotion I didn't even know Amber was capable of because of how robotic she is in the entire book. I buy that she cares about him, but not really love. 

While I liked Amber's social issues and how it gave her depth, I did not like how she felt like a victim of circumstance throughout this book. Only in a handful of chapters did she take a more active, investigative role, and that was well over halfway through the book. Things happened to her over and over again and she just sort of went with it instead of fighting back. Her confusion in these situations caused confusion in me, which is another reason I would have liked her to be more active and investigative to get to the answers and make her feel like a strong leading lady. Aside from her projection, Amber felt really weak. 

I also noticed this book is marketed to 13-18-year-olds, but I feel like the author is missing the mark here. Our main character is in her late twenties, making her too old for a YA audience to really connect with. I might even be hesitant to accept that it's a New Adult novel. I feel this is important to mention, just so people don't go into the novel with expectations that will probably not be met. Not that the book couldn't be suitable for that age, but I find it's harder for them to relate to someone who is almost ten years older than them.

Overall:

This book was not a page-turner full of action. I enjoyed the first few chapters, but after that, I expected things to really pick up and they just didn't. While stuff certainly happened in the first half of the book, it felt slow-moving, bogged down. The pacing was just a bit off for my taste. 

I really struggled with my rating on this book. I wanted to give it four stars so much. The writing style is great and the tone seems to fit the story really well. Mikles had so much fantastic potential here, and her writing is honestly better than some other author I've read. But those missing elements and missed opportunities really pull this book down a notch.

Would I recommend it to others? ... I'm not sure. There's so much potential that I want to, but I'm afraid others might be disappointed like I was.

[Isaiah · Rating 4 out of 5]

To see more reviews check out MI Book Reviews.

I got an ARC of this book.

Remember when I was doing an indie author spotlight and I got really excited? I remember. Then I got into a reading slump and couldn’t pick up a book at all. It was rough. I kept reading this story one page at a time. Before I jump into the review, check out these links from the author and a little blurb as well!

Web page: http://www.valeriejmikles.com
Amazon page: https://www.amazon.com/Valerie-J-Mikl...
Social Media: https://www.facebook.com/vjmikles

“The past year has been amazing for me in terms of expanding my brand
and creating new works. The Qinali Virus signaled my first break from
my long-running space opera adventure series The New Dawn. Earlier
this year, I ventured into YA with a YA Space Opera about an asexual
demi-girl living on a space station. Later this year, I’m planning to
release a military sci-fi story featuring a non-binary amputee
soldier. While queer identity is not a central source of conflict in
my stories, it has been amazing to use my characters to explore my own
identity. Mostly, I just love stories that take place in the future.“

So obviously, Mikles is an author to watch! I am beyond excited to start reading more of their work.

The first thing that stood out to me is that this is both a utopia and a dystopian all in one. I love the way that the “ideal” world is severely flawed. It makes the dystopian that much more sweet for me. I love seeing the cracks forming and exploding out in a dystopian. The world building was pretty intense with this one. The world building often drove the plot and I was sometimes left behind. I caught back up, but I felt like I needed just a bit more to really feel like I understood things. Though, that might be the point. There is no way I could understand everything. So I still really enjoyed that aspect. It is fun to learn more about the world as the characters do. It doesn’t make sense that I could know too much more than they did.

I loved that pronouns were represented! You know what I mean. There were neopronouns, there were they/thems. There were pronouns that were not just he or she. I LIVE for books like this. Give me all the genders, thank you. I also loved that the MC is aro and ace. It is so rare that an aroace character gets page time, it is even more rare when it is super explicit without being a huge plot point. Mikles really nailed the casual queer representation.

My biggest complaint about the book really was it was a bit more hardcore sci-fi than I am used to. I am a baby when it comes to sci-fi. It has to be exactly the right thing or I get all muddled and lost. So if you are a sci-fi fan, then this really is a good book I am just a wimp! I am incredibly thankful that I Mikles let me read this book. I can’t wait to read more by them! Maybe I will be fully converted over to the sci-fi side of books instead of my niche genre reads. If anyone could do it, I bet Mikles could.

[Patricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

31/2 out of 5 stars
They are all gone from Rage, poverty and disease . There are a few survivors and with that utopia . When there is a suspicious death gets Amber to question what the world and what her purpose is in this new world . With the council after her as she tries to uncover the past and expose the crimes . Then there is the fact that the Council wants to kill off the world . Will Amber and her sister uncover the whys and will they save the world .

For me it was a little hard to connect with the main characters in this book . Amber came off as a little robotic and being the good girl at the begining of the book . That could of been the way the author wanted to protray her .cause she just go through therapy to help her deal with the loss of a parent. As you read you see her really start to become more human as she has her eyes open to what is really going on. There are so many characters in the book that are well written and complex. They all bring the story together .

Ok I will admit when i started this book I found it very slow moving at the begining but i kept with it and was really surprise how i got sucked into the story and the characters . The author takes us on an adventure through an apocolapyse . The author doesn't really bore us with the details of how the earth ended , she does it in snippiets here and there . I had a bit of a confusion over the way the author talked about gender idenitity . Over all i really enjoyed this book and the characters did grow on me towards the end . So if you want an really good story about survival check it out .

[**Elle**Bee**Double U** · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Qinali Virus we are introduced to an Earth that has been rid of poverty, hate, crime, and disease...in other words it's Utopia. However, there are things that just aren't adding up for Amber. What was suppose to be a side mission to find some information about the place she may to be going in her dreams and then later projecting herself to, as well as the history behind their new world turns into a life changing mission. Now Amber and Jenise are running away to save their lives as well as the human race from extermination.

Starting out this book was a bit slow. But I was really happy that I, as a reader, wasn't bombarded with a whole history of how the world came to be what it was at the beginning. We get snippets throughout the book and when Amber's mission truly begins I found myself more enthralled in the story and reading faster just to finally see in Amber with be able to save everyone.
When it comes to characters, Amber for me was a bit robotic. However, I think that was the author's intention since she had went through "therapy" after losing a parent to achieve contentedness. She finally had to grow and open her eyes to realize that while her little "city" was a Utopia, it came at a high price, especially to those outside the barrier. She also had to come to terms that there were people (including their leaders) that were willing to risk everything and anyone to obtain the peace, even risk genocide once again.

[Si Clarke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amber lives in a post-capitalist society where everyone is content all the time – if they're not, the Contentedness Council will step in. But they're not Amber's biggest concern right now – she's too busy worrying about why she can't stop projecting versions of herself into places she isn't. Her sudden appearance at the family home upsets her little siblings – which draws the ire of the Council and risks tearing the family apart.

If you were to imagine the pseudo-utopia of Sherri S Tepper's the Gate to Women's Country crossed with the genre-busting weirdness of Premee Mohamed's Beneath the Rising, you might end up somewhere like this novel.

The story idea, the world-building, and the characters are all skilfully handled and enjoyable. The ace-aro rep is a delight to see. There's a lot to love here.

Where this novel lost a star was in the execution. There were so many competing ideas that weren't as clear as they could have been (two different viruses, multiple people groups, characters with similar names, etc.). One more round of developmental editing could have made this story into an unforgettable five-star experience.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the society that Amber lives, everybody is suppose to be content and happy in there lives Negative thoughts are discouraged such as using the words a Joyful End instead of death. Amber knows she is different than everybody else but hiding it is the only way for her to live a somewhat normal life. But when certain people learn about her "gift", they want to use her for her own means. But when she learns that her sister has another gift, she knows that they are in danger and need to leave to save their family and themselves. I had a problem with understanding some of the gender identity pronouns, I understood it after most of the book but it confused me until then.. But the characters felt real and they story was well written.

[Clinton Sites · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a complex novel both in terms of the science the author places it in, but also in the socio-political arena. The interpersonal interactions between the protagonists and both sides of the conflict kept my interest through to the end of the novel. The resolution of the virus issue itself was such that the author has a great beginning to work from for follow-up novels set in this world.


I hope this alert comes across correctly - my apologies if not. I had a difficult time while reading in understanding the mental differences in choosing attractions between people. Gender is a physically a binary as opposed to a mental choice for ones sensuality. It made it difficult for me to follow the roles each person plays.

I received a review copy.

[Brandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this book. It was a new twist to the apocalypse world. The main character is a girl who can project herself to other places while her real body sleeps. She's scared to let anyone know what she can do and hides it. She slowly learns that there is a threat in the form of one of the people in power because the woman can read her mind. Things slowly unravel until her and her sister are literally running for their lives. If you like most apocalypse book with a look into the future you'll probably like this book.

[Megan Boniface · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was pleasantly suprised by how much I loved this book. The characters were complex and well written as was the story. I was on the edge of my seat waiting to see what happened next and for the truth to be revealed. I could imagine this exact situation (genocide) being done by biological warfare in the real world. I'm hoping we get to see another book with Amber, Jenise, Cal, and Dax! I love them so much haha!!

[Nadine Vansant · Rating 4 out of 5]

Superb book. Start and finish are absolutely well imagined and described. The middle part is slower and a bit tedious. But the end makes everything up. Is it a virus or something else? Where is it? Is it controlled? Who will die??? Who will not?? Who made it? Who released it? Who can help? Can they Help and how... so many questions, but I will not succumb: no spoilers. You'll have to read yourself

[Samantha Lundergn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting story that had an intriguing take on a world that is supposed to be Utopia. The plot line started a little slow for my taste but overall it was well written and enjoyable to read.

[Valerie Mikles · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love that this book features an asexual/aromantic character.

[aspeccharactersoftheday]

https://aspeccharactersoftheday.tumbl...

[Joseph Baird · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometimes Utopia isn't all its cracked up to be. Mikles is a fantastic author and I would recommend her unique brand of sci-fi to anyone.