The Murder Complex by Lindsay Cummings: Book Review

An action-packed, blood-soaked, futuristic debut thriller set in a world where the murder rate is higher than the birthrate. For fans of Moira Young’s Dust Lands series, La Femme Nikita, and the movie Hanna.

Meadow Woodson, a fifteen-year-old girl who has been trained by her father to fight, to kill, and to survive in any situation, lives with her family on a houseboat in Florida. The state is controlled by The Murder Complex, an organization that tracks the population with precision.

The plot starts to thicken when Meadow meets Zephyr James, who is—although he doesn’t know it—one of the MC’s programmed assassins. Is their meeting a coincidence? Destiny? Or part of a terrifying strategy? And will Zephyr keep Meadow from discovering the haunting truth about her family?

Action-packed, blood-soaked, and chilling, this is a dark and compelling debut novel by Lindsay Cummings.

SPOILER FREE REVIEW

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Lindsay Cummings is yet another author with a book that I just happened to discover while watching an interview with her and Sasha Alsberg on YouTube. When I heard about her debut novel, The Murder Complex I instantly felt like I really wanted to read it. Probably because it was all about survival and strategy which is something I like reading about to learn just in case the world ends up being a similar type of "f**ked up" reality. I saw this at the library and without even reading the blurb I picked it up in an instant and added it to my already massive pile of books I'd have to sort through two hours later and decide which I was actually really wanting to take home - obviously The Murder Complex ended up being one of those "chosen ones". That, my friend, is the power of book reviewers if you think we don't really do or mean much to anyone. Though if I were to give a quick overall review on this book, I'd really just have to say that if a debut novel can make me question how they are over the age of twenty and basically have not been discovered by a few simple short stories at high school or something crazy like that then they are definitely doing their job. I'm just a little melancholic thinking about the fact that this is only a duology and I won't have that much time to delve into this world once I get my hands on the next book, The Death Code, as it will be the last one.

The Murder Complex is the story of a young girl called Meadow and a young boy named Zephr, who both live in a city where everything is cut off from the rest of the world by a massive gate surrounding it and cannot live without having to survive first. They are controlled by a government of people who watch their every move and make sure that they do not attempt to escape the perimeter of the city or the tiny pins in their arms will zap them dead. Meadow is coming up to her test which decides whether or not she can get a job and provide for her family. Zephr is one of those that collects the dead bodies of the unfortunate to live and survive with his older friend, Talan who he practically considers his only family even if they aren't related. Soon Meadow and Zephr end up meeting almost by fate and start discovering some weird and different things that they didn't expect to be true. Meadow ends up feeling responsible and regretful for the things she has done but soon finds her way with Zephr and they come up with a plan to do what no one sane has ever thought about doing before. Escape.

Things I LOVE about The Murder Complex:

* Meadow and Zephr are cute together and I ship them so much! If there was any couple cuter than Aelin and Rowan, I'd have to say that Meadow and Zephr are next in line. I don't know why but I think it's the way I notice them when they start to connect and realise how much they actually like each other. It's not a confusing or disorientating experience for them and I like that because I have kind of gotten sick of seeing relationships in books where they can't make up their damned minds and it's like, come on! What on Earth is stopping you two? Love each other already! You were meant to be!

* Survival is one of my favourite things to read about! You have to thing about one thing if our world becomes anything similar to The Murder Complex, Red Queen or The Hunger Games; Who are gonna be the ones to survive because they know what the hell they're doing? It'll be the readers and movie fanatics. We'll have watched and thoroughly subconsciously taken in everything we need to know about survival. I already know I'll be good with a bow and arrow thanks to a school camp and thanks to The Hunger Games, both book and movies, I know how to set a trap for an animal and how to sleep in a tree without falling out of it. You've got to think that even though book reviewers or book lovers in general may get crap for having a job in something "so basic" or not having a "real job", we will be the ones who have learnt to live in different types of realities and think more logically and sanely about it because we have thrust ourselves mentally into these worlds. You think we come out the same once we're done with a book like that? No my friend. I know myself I was very different once I had finished reading all three The Hunger Games novels. You come out a stronger person in a way and that's what I love about novels like this. Think I'm crazy and all but that's what I believe and good luck to you non-readers when you need to know how to live in the woods and survive and no one is there how to teach you.

* It's unique in its own way - new content is what every reader needs! Yeah it may be a 'survive or die' novel which is pretty similar to The Hunger Games but it isn't like any other novel I've read or heard before. New content and ideas are always attractive to the average reader so it's much more understandable that something like this novel would do pretty well. I applaude to the up and coming authors that have the guts to write about something that hasn't really ever been written before. I feel like that's the true art of being an author. You hook readers by being the one with fresh and new ideas. That's how you become a best selling author (think about every best-selling author you've read - is every one unique from the other? Yup, thought so).

Overall I have given this novel a four out of five stars. This book was so bloody and brutal so obviously it may not be the best for very squeamish or easily offended people (However I'm pretty squeamish so it didn't sicken me that much). It was highly descriptive and well thought through. I did absolutely love it and basic enough for me to feel hopeful about my own writing (This is literally what I think about everytime I read a novel). I can't wait to get into The Death Code but at the same time I'm already wishing it wouldn't end so soon. Fanfiction anyone?

Go add The Murder Complex to your Goodreads list HERE

Go buy it on MightyApe with 1 day delivery in New Zealand HERE

Buy it on Book Depository with free shipping world wide HERE

Find more out about my writing career at:

http://ellafleming-christie.weebly.com

My YouTube Channel: FeathersandFaith

The Jewel by Amy Ewing: Book Review

The Jewel means wealth. The Jewel means beauty. The Jewel means royalty. But for girls like Violet, the Jewel means servitude. Not just any kind of servitude. Violet, born and raised in the Marsh, has been trained as a surrogate for the royalty—because in the Jewel the only thing more important than opulence is offspring.

Purchased at the surrogacy auction by the Duchess of the Lake and greeted with a slap to the face, Violet (now known only as #197) quickly learns of the brutal truths that lie beneath the Jewel’s glittering facade: the cruelty, backstabbing, and hidden violence that have become the royal way of life.

Violet must accept the ugly realities of her existence... and try to stay alive. But then a forbidden romance erupts between Violet and a handsome gentleman hired as a companion to the Duchess’s petulant niece. Though his presence makes life in the Jewel a bit brighter, the consequences of their illicit relationship will cost them both more than they bargained for.

SPOILER FREE REVIEW

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Being a debut novel of an author who once considered this story to be a "thesis project" made me really think about how much talent this author has. When I picked up this novel at the library, I did because I was continuing my infatuation with books about empires and princesses and all that jazz. Little did I know that when I would finish it, I would be completely pulled into the storyline and love interests that plagued the book. I found myself laughing at hilarious dialogue and literally almost crying at parts where Violet was being treated badly. The level of emotion and relatable moments was unbelievable and I don't think I've ever read such an emotional book since Breaking Dawn. I have to say well done to Amy for doing so well on her first YA fantasy series.

The main idea of the story intrigued me as so far I have never read anything about young girls in a kingdom who are born with a mutation that allows them to bear children which keep the royalty alive. They are taken away from their families living in the slums and are sent to a school that teaches them how to control their powers and acts accordingly in order to be presented to the royalty of the Jewel. The Jewel is the wealthiest area of the Kingdom being the very centre of a whole city which surrounds it in a circle, and each circle around it is a different type of reality and wealth. From the Jewel outwards it becomes a poorer and poorer state of life. Violet is from the very edge of the city where everyone is poor and is ripped from her family at the age of twelve to go stay at this school for four years before she is finally transferred to the Jewel to be prettied up for an auction and then bought off to the highest bidder as a surrogate to be their bearer of children.

Throughout the novel I constantly noticed Violent rebelling to certain things and feeling like she did not want to be controlled which is exactly how I would feel in that certain situation. Feeling like she was nothing but a tool to be used and then thrown away without feeling like she was even part of a family or to even have the chance to mother her own child. Knowing that her best friend, Raven, has to go through the same thing she does kills her inside - even more so knowing that she or her can't do anything about it. A forbidden love emerges too soon for her to even process it but she has to remind herself that in her position, she is not allowed to have any sort of relationship with anyone. The only friendship she has, and is really allowed, is the one with her mute servant, Annabelle. I feel a major pang of sympathy for Violet because she will never see her family again through this experience but she discovers some things and not everything as it seems. In terms of her powers she does better than others with growth which is why she was bought by the Duchess of the Lake. She wants to have a baby faster than any other so that it will be chosen and betrothed to the Electress' newborn baby son. All this seems so overwhelming to such a young girl at sixteen years old and I feel so bad for her being a mother myself and knowing that if I were in her situation, I would be going a little bit mental about the whole idea of it too.

Things I loved about The Jewel:

* Violet and Ash are a match made in heaven! These two were so obvious from the start. I absolutely loved every moment they managed together and the fact that they cared so much to even risk possibly being found out and executed. They're so cute and I can't wait to see how they develop in the second novel!

* The idea of the image, shape and growth powers is so unique and awesome! Considering the fact that most novels these days are writing about either the same "superpowers" or ones that just seem too typical, it's nice to see an author come up with something that's different and challenges the minds of the readers that have been buried in literature with every trope on the surface of the earth (a little dramatic but seriously though).

* I need a friend like Annabelle, although it would be nice if she could actually speak! She was the sweetest person to Violet the whole time she stayed at the Duchess of the Lake's house and always spent time with her when she had nothing to do. I loved that she was caring and was so amazing at dressing Violet up in clothes and makeup for any event she was expected to attend. I would probably cry if she ends up being killed off in the future.

* How unique and different the storyline and themes were! If every author managed to have an open mind like Amy then we'd have a hell of a lot more readers! I think some can get very bored of the same thing over and over like a love triangle or a rebellion rising and as much as I tend to love books like that, it's nice to read something that has never been written about before and it brings competition to the writing game. Readers want this to be fun and so that it's more challenging to choose who should win a book award.  We want fresh content and new names and places that are completely made up. We want stuff like this and that's why I loved it so much.

Overall I have given this book a four out of five stars for being such a dramatic change in the writing game. It has different themes and even Violet thinks a little differently from most protagonists which is what I really enjoyed. I can't wait to read the second one and find out what happens after that devastating ending which you'll have to read if you want to know what that is!

Go add The Jewel to your Goodreads list HERE

Go buy it on MightyApe with 1 day delivery in New Zealand HERE

Buy it on Book Depository with free shipping world wide HERE

Find more out about my writing career at:

http://ellafleming-christie.weebly.com

My YouTube Channel: FeathersandFaith