I really enjoyed the book right up until the end, which just didn't seem to come up to the standard of the rest of the book. After a really enthralling adventure it really felt like the ending was rushed to its conclusion - hence only 4 stars.

It's not too far fetched to imagine a future like the one depicted within this book, or the causes for it. The more we begin to rely on drones and augmented soldiers to fight wars, slowly but surely handing over more and more control to computer intelligence, the closer we get to the characters in the book and ultimately entities like 'Lotus Blue'.

I'm hoping the ending in this book isn't the end and that there'll be more books in this dystopian future. ( )

Fantastic, interesting use of nano-technology.
A post-apocalyptic tale that is a bit different. ( )

DNF. Interesting premise and excellent world building hence the three stars. Otherwise, this book annoyed me and I gave up at p.105. I felt like I had to force myself to get through a chapter. Not worth it. ( )

I didn't enter this book with specific expectations, but it just didn't get there for me. There are a TON of characters, a number of whom aren't clearly introduced or described, which made for some very confusing moments where I had to stop and backtrack. The story itself wasn't particularly compelling for me either. I think there is an audience for this book; I just wasn't part of it.

[This review is based on an advanced review copy received from the publisher via Edelweiss.] ( )

Lotus Blue by Australian author, Cat Sparks is a post-apocalyptic story that tells the story of Star, a seventeen year old girl who, with her older sister, medic Nene are part of a group of nomads, travellers that journey along the Sand Road, crossing dangerous desert that is populated by rogue machinery and other strange monsters, remnants from a past time and long forgotten war. While her sister appears to guard a secret about their past, Star longs to break free, to experience a different life and is making plans to run away when their wagon caravan sees an Angel satellite crash to Earth, this, in turn, sets off a series of events that sends Star in a new direction. Meanwhile, an old and powerful entity called a Lotus Blue has awoken in the desert. This was the deadliest of all war machines and appears to have it’s own agenda.

I struggled with this story as I found the many characters, the detailed world building and references to so much technology quite confusing. Rather like a puzzle, each nugget of information needed to be evaluated and placed in a way that would move the story forward. Eventually I was disappointed that the main character, Star, really wasn’t all that important to the story as she seemed to be there more to react to rather than control the events. The author did a stellar job in bringing this futuristic land vividly to life, but unfortunately I simply had to work too hard to make sense of the story. ( )