Remaining Human

by K.B. Blank

She risks her humanity… for the truth.

Sheila knows the Sera aren’t fully human. Others worship them, but to her they’re underhanded crooks and liars who use religion to hoard knowledge and peddle influence. Yet when a twist of fate puts her on the path to joining them, Sheila resists until she realizes there’s only one way to find the truth behind the Sera–to enter the dangerous pilgrimage to become one of them. But even she does not know how far she is prepared to go, or what she is willing to risk obtaining it.

The journey to the Lost City, the source of the Sera’s knowledge and power, is not an easy one, and Sheila will need to gather friends, solve deadly riddles, and thwart enemies and traitors. But in the search for the truth, one problem haunts her most—can she survive with both the answers and her humanity intact?

Unknown Binding

Published April 22, 2022

Reviews

[Delphia Von Heeder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Remaining Human is Book 1 by K B Blank. Remaining Human is different. There are humans, but the Immortals are Sera, golden beings. The Sera Entekhabi wants Sheila in exchange for a debt her father owes. She is sent away and this non stop story had betrayal time travel, so much excitement. I can't wait to see what happens in book 2. I received an arc for free and am leaving my review voluntarily.

[Lesley Jackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting mix: A future time after an appololytic event which has taken the remaining human race back to the Dark Ages with evolved humans now drip feeding previous technology to bring them back towards a technological age from books recovered from the past. With chosen young humans given the challenge & opportunity to ascend to evolved status. It follows a number of young adults to this end, with clues that this is our Earth's future time, working back to a new future.

I enjoyed this complex book, plenty of different characters, with some explanations but not fully formed, so it leaves you guessing and waiting for the next book in the series to see what develops at the different time eras.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Sage · Rating 1 out of 5]

Abysmal, pointless, and a complete waste of time. The plot trudges along at a snail's pace and yet has no resolution, the characters do not develop, and the worldbuilding makes no sense, I did not care about any of the characters by the end, except the two who were gratuitously killed off. This is worse than an obvious "first" novel; this is one that should never have been accepted for publication. (Yes, this is the harshest review I've written in recent memory, but it was well-earned.)

[Lena And Cat · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received an ARC for an honest review.

I would say this is a dystopian not a fantasy.
The idea behind this is that due to a catastrophic disaster and disease people have lost almost all technology and knowledge. The only knowledge that still remains is that what has been written down in books. Besides the local people there is a small group of Sera golden god like entities. Only the best can be chosen to enter te monastery and train to hopefully succeed and be transformed into a Sera.

What did i like about the book... the plottwists in the end it ties the book together and everything about the Sera.

I would have liked if the romance was much more present. The auther barely scratched the surface of it so it was lacking the dept i needed to be fully invested in it.

[Clinton Sites · Rating 5 out of 5]

A ride through a future that may be possible

Reviewed in the United States on April 25, 2022

I received a copy for review from BookSirens.
This novel has a very detailed world building setting - one that a reader can become immersed in easily.
The characters are well developed and react to situations as one expects them to based on their backgrounds.
The protagonist- Sheila, has been living a rural existence her whole life until an incident from her fathers past comes back to haunt them. She is set on a confusing quest: but to say more would be giving the joy of discovering what it is as she does..

Bottom line- an excellent novel IMHO.

[Jaime Andrews · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. I wanted to like this book but it was so over the top I couldn't put it all together enough to enjoy it. It was like a car crash I couldn't look away from and while I loved the ideas, the payoff wasn't there. It needed a lot of editing. Golden humanoid immortals, the Library of Alexandria, giant chickens and katanas do not all belong in one book. At least not like this. For the longest time I couldn't figure out whether I hated the book or loved it and then came time travel. Lordy lordy. There's the makings of 4 or 5 really good books in these pages, just sort out the plots and make them each standalone. Together, it's too messy.

[Sofia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hmm this book had a bit too much of fantasy mixed with sci-fi for my taste, its a well written book, but I didn’t really connect with the characters, and I thought I would like when I understood that there were book keepers and almost god like creatures named sera, time travel, well pretty much you name it… but again, this book for me, was an arduous task to finish…

Keep in mind that by the end you’ll have lots of lose ends on hands and few answers that will probably be answered in future books..

Thank you NetGalley for the free ARC and this is my honest opinion…

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This was definitely something different, with some interesting world building and characters.

Perhaps a bit more character building in part 2 of the series which I am looking forward to reading.

I enjoy technology and dystopian type novels so this was kind of right up my alley.

[Laura (auntieyorgareads) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an advance review copy of this eBook for free from the author and BookSirens, and I am leaving this review voluntarily as a courtesy.

The Sera, the "golden" and enlightened people of the "new" world, are seen as being, well, like humans but not human. They are the ones who are leading civilization back into a technological era after the destruction of the world as we know it. Shiela, a teenager raised on the outskirts by a father who stole from the Sera library, is taken as payment for a past favor and she finds herself among the chosen few who will be given a chance to become Sera themselves. But Shiela doesn't want to become one of them… she wants to remain human.

This dystopian story with a fantasy feel was extremely enjoyable and the world and character building were full of rich detail. There were so many things that I liked about this story. Once I was invested, I couldn't turn back and now I want to see what happens next. I can't wait to read the next in the series and hope that some of the characters and worlds we were introduced to will be explored further!

[Emmeline Everdeen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. It was a very unique story a mix of fantasy, sci fun, time travel and adventure. I found it intriguing and it held my attention. I do feel the ending was a bit rushed and I was disappointed about a few character kill offs but overall I found it a good read and would like to read book 2.
I received this book from the author through Voracious Readers Only

[Sydnee Birkeland · Rating 2 out of 5]

Somewhat enjoyable read. Not earth-shattering or anything I would praise high up. The worldbuilding is a little confusing and the characters do not progress much. I received this as an advance readers copy and am leaving this review voluntarily.