Panacea Exodus

by L. Ana Ellis

A new person is in charge of research at Panacea Corp, and she’s planning to create a disposable army through controlling the embedded chips of cryogens—people who have had their bodies frozen after passing away. The team must find a way to stop her while dealing with nonstop downpour, jail time, and a horde of curious gawkers descending on a remote area to watch the cryo invasion.

Panacea Exodus is book 2 in the Panacea Trilogy. For the first book see Panacea Genesis.

365 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 20, 2022

About the author

L. Ana Ellis, a sleep-deprived government worker by day, lets her imagination roam free while writing speculative fiction late into the night. After spending her days toiling over spreadsheets in a windowless cubicle with fluorescent lighting, and unbeknownst to her coworkers who think she spends her evenings watching cat videos, she spends her nights creating worlds that are more of a commentary on the present than an accurate prediction of the future.

Speculating about how societies will change in the future fascinates her; she is undeterred that so far she has been wrong 100% of the time. When she’s not pondering how societies operate or writing about alternate realities, she enjoys Ren Faires, Cons, and, as her coworkers suspect, watching cat videos.

She lives in the Washington, DC area with her husband, two cats, and the occasional foster kitty. When procrastinating, she occasionally posts on Twitter as @lanaellisbooks or Instagram as l.ana.ellis.books (although her Instagram page is mostly cat photos). She publishes under the indie press Fire-Forged Books.

Reviews

[Ellie Mitchell · Rating 5 out of 5]

~About

Set in the year 2115, the story begins by delving into Mariela Stafford’s past, allowing us to better understand her, if only by a small measure.

Back in the present (2115), Mariela seeks a way to be free of a ‘kill switch’ implanted within her body. Meanwhile, the location of the mysterious Area 52 is revealed to the general public, with dramatic consequences.

~Characters

For the purpose of this review, I will briefly explore three of the leading characters: Mariela Stafford, Cooper O’Connor, and Viola.

-Mariela Stafford

Mariela Stafford (former CEO of Panacea Corp) is a stubborn individual who holds her emotions in so she doesn’t appear weak to others. However, her independent façade hides a deeply emotional and caring woman who has grown in many ways. As a reader, re-entering her life in this fictional sequel was intriguing – and at times sad – for she had lost much while simultaneously carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders. While I never fully warmed to Mariela’s character, I did come to understand her more deeply over the course of this book. As a result, I could better appreciate the sacrifices that she had made in her life and the complex motivations behind them.

-Cooper O’Connor

Cooper O’Connor, a former college professor, is a bright yet complex man, who feels unmoored in life since being fired from his academic career. I came to admire Cooper over time, for he was frequently battling conflicting emotions, while maintaining a courageous sense of inner strength. Despite harbouring resentment for some specific individuals, he has a way of showing his more caring side, even when he doesn’t want to. However, even Cooper has his limits: throughout this sequel, I saw him challenge other people’s decisions, saying no to opportunities when he could no longer find any justification for engaging with them.

-Viola

Viola is a secondary antagonist in this story. As Cooper's ex-partner, she posed a frustrating obstacle to him finally being able to get on with his life. She is both mesmerizing and ruthless, the sort of woman that you may eventually begin to trust, just as she pulls the rug out from under you. I never knew where the characters stood with her or if she would ever ‘do the right thing’. While she often presented herself as a highly capable, intelligent and put together business-woman, there were times where she appeared to be incredibly naïve, a quality which surprised me, given that she is a highly accomplished neuro-scientist. Overall, I never liked or trusted Viola and I find it unlikely that many people would.

~Positive Aspects
There were many things which made reading Panacea Exodus an enjoyable experience:

·Firstly, the way the narration shifts between characters allows readers to delve deeper into their individual storylines.

·Secondly, the plot is full of surprising twists that – at times – left me speechless.

·Thirdly, there was frequent tension between characters, which provided an added layer of interpersonal conflict to the narrative.

·In addition, different sub-plots were woven seamlessly into one-another, with opposing character goals frequently clashing.

·Moreover, the technology of the story’s world was fascinating to behold. I was especially in awe of the ‘soup pools’, which allowed for the sharing of complex information over great distances.

·Finally, the characters were each complex, with a range of interesting – and competing – goals. Just when I thought I had figured some characters out (in terms of their motivations), they would surprise me.

~Neutral Aspects

The only thing that let this story down was the lack of proofreading. Various typos and incorrect words were prevalent, causing me to do a double-take quite a few times throughout my reading experience.

~Memorable Quotes

While there were many interesting quotes, the following three stood out the most.

1) ‘Technology cannot keep us from death, but it can keep us from life’.
2) “Sometimes people bend the rules to protect things and people they care about.”
3) ‘Funny how some people resisted the truth’.


~Overview

Overall, Panacea Exodus was a brilliant second instalment to a thrilling series, which explores the role of human-integrated technology and how it drastically impacts a fictional society.

Key themes included technology, survival, deception, power (and corruption), trust and friendship. The story was gripping throughout, with a bittersweet ending.

My Rating: 5 stars.
I would highly recommend this book to lovers of dystopian novels.

[Theresa Biehle · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent follow on to the first book continuing on the same themes of exploring the goodness/badness of technology and the extremes that humans will reach to either have it or destroy it.