2.5 Stars

CW: kidnapping and rape and of women/girls, women are held captive for breeding programmes then stripped of organs and thrown into the rubbish - literally, racism - no POC are being bred, violence, gore

Well Tara certainly has a brutal vision of our imaginary post apocalyptic future!

This was quite a mixed reading experience for me. The storyline itself was good and Anna was a suitably bad-arse heroine warring with her survival instincts and her growing feelings towards her 'found family'. The problem was that this point was quite laboured throughout the story so it grew a bit tiresome. You know you are going to rescue them, Anna, so stop having a page worth of inner turmoil and get on with the bad-arsery. Also, I loathe love triangles even more than usual when there is zero chemistry between any party. Zero. In terms of whether I would get a copy for the library I am torn. It is actually quite a disturbing but interesting exploration of how authorities might react in the face of a dying population. That will be good in terms of students having a lot to talk about but it is most definitely senior fiction as it made for quite uncomfortable reading. The writing itself wasn't great and the characters were really flat and often unlikeable. I think I will pass on this one and explore some other options in this genre. Given the direction the NZ curriculum is heading it's probably wise to save up for some quality NZ fiction. ( )

4.5

More to come... ( )

SEE REBORN BY SAME AUTHOR FOR A SPOILER FREE REVIEW OF ALL THREE BOOKS IN THE TRILOGY... ( )

(Disclaimer. read my p.s 2 before reading my rant.

Pissed off cause I have decide a while back not to read a book of a series that is not done. I am very forgetful so when book 3 comes out and it has been a year or more, it means I have to re read book 1 and 2.

I checked and on amazon I noticed book 1 and 2 were out and book 3 would be out on July 15. So I thought yes I can safely give this series a try.

To discover that coming book is one of those stupid shorties. Another trend of late. The YA adults write a few books which becomes part of a series, but then have to also write a little book, about 60 pages so the publisher and author can earn more.



Okay End of Rant!
This was what I wrote while reading

I'm 53% done with Born: What a surprise. I assume this is not YA? I love it. talking about rape and much more sexual and more mean than I am used to due to most books in this category are written for teens. Of course this book has flaws but I am enjoying it. — Jul 11, 2013 01:04pm


What I think are flaws is that yet again there is a love triangle in a book. Why? Why do so many authors feel the need to have a love triangle while people are surviving in a new world? If your world is interesting enough there is no need for that. please.

Other flaws: She tells us she managed to survive as a child of 9 for 10 years because she never does something without a care. She always plans and has a lot of patience.

Well what happened? We meet her and this girl is anything but patience or careful!! It annoyed me that it was not consistent meaning I think someone can't change in 1 day into a total different person with totally different habits just because she meets 2 people she likes.

There are many good things though: Very interesting new world. Interesting character and although she annoys the hell out of me when she communicates (if you can call it that) with Will, she is also smart and brave and sometimes a bit stupid which makes me laugh.

I love that this is not for teens and I hope she will sleep with Will in book 2. ;)


Not sure what rating to give it.


P.S If you know of a good YA or Adult kind of dystopia/utopian book which is not part of a series, I would love to hear.
Or any recommendations for series that are finished or just any old good book.

P.s 2 (July 29): Just found out that apparently someone made a mistake. The book that would come out in July which according to amazon would have only 60 pages or so, is not a shorty but it is book 3!! So apologizing to Mrs Tara Brown. You Rock!! Reading book 2 now and I like it. ( )

OMG...I just stayed up all night to read this. Once I started, I couldn't stop. There was so much that was just plain GOOD about this book. Yes, it has romance in it, but it also has a lot of the human factor in it. It is a girl who has lived alone since the beginning learning what it is to be human again, instead of just going on auto-pilot and surviving. I am getting ready to read the next one, and I know it will be just as good as the first.

The fact that it is a "zombie" book was just a bonus. The whole of the book is fantastic. Most readers will not be disappointed with this. Only die hard zombiephiles will have a problem with it. I LOVE Z books too, but I am, after all, just a girl. ( )