Wednesday, September 12, 2012

The Sneak Blog Tour and Giveaway!!



 Sneak
(Swipe 2)
 
Author:  Evan Angler 
ISBN: 1400318424 (ISBN13: 9781400318421)
Release Date: September 4th 2012
Format : Kindle
Pages: 288
Genre: Dystopian, Young Adult,
Science Fiction
Series:
Swipe #2





Summary
In a future United States under the power of a charismatic leader, everyone gets the Mark at age thirteen. The Mark lets citizen shop, go to school, and even get medical care-but without it, you are on your own. Few refuse to get the Mark. Those who do . . . disappear.

Logan Langly went in to get his Mark, but he backed out at the last minute. Now he's on the run from government agents who will stop at nothing to capture him. But Logan is on a mission to find and save his sister, Lily, who disappeared five years ago on her thirteenth birthday, the day she was supposed to receive her Mark.

Logan and his friends, a group of dissenters called the Dust, discover a vast network of the Unmarked, who help them travel safely to the capital city where Lily is imprisoned. Along the way, the Dust receives some startling information from the Markless community, opening their eyes to the message of Christianity and warning that humanity is now entering the End of Days.

When the Dust finally arrives in the capital, it seems that all their careful planning is useless against a government that will do anything to bend its citizens to its will. Can the gentle words Logan has found in a tattered, banned Bible really stand against the most powerful military the world has ever known? Can Logan even sacrifice his own freedom, choosing to act through faith alone?


Review
This series really draws you in with plot twists. As I began to read this book, I thought that Chancellor Cylis was running some type of cult. As I continue to read, his simple cult turns out to be something much darker. He seems to want to rule the world. He did it in a sneaky way where no one really thinks that’s what he wants. However, his plans seem to involve joining Europe, a key step in global domination. He hadn’t really appeared in the first two books, but I wonder if he would make an appearance in the third book of the series. 

The plot is more intense this in this book then in the last. There are more moments that want you to hope for the best for Logan and his crew and hope he escapes. You also have moments where you can’t believe that Cylis, the leader of New America, would actually do that to his people. Out on his own, Logan is traveling to where he knows his sister is being kept. He has to learn fast that there is no one out there for him to trust besides “The dust” and Peck. Nowhere is safe for long, as the DOME is catching up to Logan. The plot gets more interesting as you learn about the River, a trail of safe houses for markless to travel on. It's similar to the Underground Railroad. That’s what Logan, Hailey, Dane, Peck and The dust use when they get split up on their way to Beacon. Beacon isn’t anything like what Logan expects it to be when they go to search for the place called Archeron. 

Now that Logan is on his own, he is not only on watch for people from DOME, but he is also have to learn which markless he could trust and which he shouldn’t. Trusting new people is hard for anyone, and Logan learns that right away that he shouldn’t trust new people right away. Right now all that’s on Logan’s mind is being with his sister. He wants to save her no matter what, even when all of it seems hopeless to do. Logan is more brave in this book then in the first. He is willing to do anything when it comes to saving his sister, even if it means going into the heart of a militarily compound. 

As for Erin, I’m disliking her more and more for her being on her fathers side, (who works for DOME) instead of the boy who had trusted her. She even turned in Hailey to her father, so that her father would leave her alone. I just don’t like her turning in her friends just like that. Though she soon realizes whose side she should be on. It made me change my whole view on her in just a few minutes as I continued to read the story. Erin even stays with the crew at the end, and even meets a fellow hacker named Shawn. Shawn is the person that lead her to Logan and the others in the first place. 

Peck is known everywhere in the markless community. You learn in the first book that he is Daniel Peck who was Lily’s (Logan’s sister) friend. He’s popular in the markless community and where ever he goes people know him and follow him. The dust are people who he has saved and they look up to him. Even I’m loving his character as the story goes. He is fit to be the leader along side Logan the two of them makes a great team. 

Hailey is a girl who is Dane’s and Logan’s friend since forever. Hailey was with the dust for a long time now following what Peck’s. She leaves her home in hopes to find Logan and she does. She’s a great friend, but she's involved in an unromantic love triangle. She likes Logan, who's uninterested in her, and Dane likes Hailey, but she doesn't like Dane. It’s all messed up for her, but she has one mission and that is to help get Logan to Beacon. 

Dane was a bit annoying in the book. As I mentioned before, he likes Hailey and hates the fact that Hailey likes Logan and not himself. He hates it so much that he stops being friends with Logan for it. He acts jealous and a brat towards Logan, and finally decides to leave that group to stay in a markless village. I'm glad he did it. It caused too much unnecessary jealousy because Logan told Dane countless times that he doesn’t have that kind of feelings for Hailey, but Dane doesn’t listen. 

 I do feel that at the very ending of the book was a bit more rushed, but as long as there is a third book I’m fine with this type of rushed ending.
Rating
5 out of 5 Howling Wolves



 Swipe
(Swipe 1)
 
Author:  Evan Angler 
ISBN: 140031836X (ISBN13: 9781400318360)
Release Date: May 8th 2012
Format : Kindle
Pages: 280
Genre: Dystopian, Young Adult,
Science Fiction
Series:
Swipe #1






Summary
Everyone gets the Mark. It gives all the benefits of citizenship. Yet if getting the Mark is such a good thing, then why does it feel so wrong?

Set in a future North America that is struggling to recover after famine and global war, Swipe follows the lives of three kids caught in the middle of a conflict they didn’t even know existed. United under a charismatic leader, every citizen of the American Union is required to get the Mark on their 13th birthday in order to gain the benefits of citizenship.

The Mark is a tattoo that must be swiped by special scanners for everything from employment to transportation to shopping. It’s almost Logan Langly’s 13th birthday and he knows he should be excited about getting the Mark, but he hasn’t been able to shake the feeling he’s being watched. Not since his sister went to get her Mark five years ago . . . and never came back.

Review


I can say that I wondered if I would like 'Swipe' because it is a middle-school type of book, but in the end that didn’t make any difference; I loved the futureistic feel of this book. I loved how you connect to the characters right away, and you know they are young by the way they act and talk. I’m really excited to read the next book to read what happens to Logan. 

This book takes place in the future with very different technologies then we have. An example is a sound amplification systems that seems rather low tech. A powder is used like a microphone when teamed up with a gel that is placed in the ears. What ever that powder is around, that sound could be heard with the help of the gel from long distances. Another example are gloves called wailing gloves that make noise when you move your hands around. Another interesting thing are in the city of Spokie everyone lives in buildings. Not your normal buildings, ones where it’s one room per floor. For example: There is the ground floor, second floor is the kitchen area, third floor is the  dining area, forth floor is the washroom and so on and so forth. I find this interesting, as there is one example of a house like this in Asia, built on a very skinny lot. It's an interesting idea that this is the norm for people.

'Swipe' is a dystopian novel taking place in the future, with a whole new look on life. America is split up into three parts and our characters live New Cicago in a small town of Spokie. The plot was great, I found it very addicting and I never got tired of reading this book.  I like the idea of the thing called the Mark.  The Mark is what allows people to get jobs and to pay for things. At the age of 13, everyone must decide if they get the Mark or not. If they don't,  they have no way to make money so they are left to fend for themselves in a part of the town called Slog Row where all the Markless go. (Any readers of the 'Left Behind' series may grasp the Biblical connection, were a global leader forced people to get a similar mark or die.) Ever since Logan’s sister died after getting the Swipe, he's been paranoid about almost everything. Even though people don’t believe him, he might not be wrong with his reason to be paranoid. With the help of the new girl Erin, he learns about the mystery of the death of his sister and what DOME has to do with it. I’ve been going back and forth between sides throughout reading this book. I couldn’t pick the side I like until I learned the ending of this book and it left me so surprised.

Logan is our main male character of the story. He is only 12 years old when the story starts and he’s as paranoid of everything. Ever since his sister died, he has been going from floor to floor checking if everything is fine ever since. All those around him believe that it's all in his head, but Logan himself believes that he's right to be paranoid. I find it sad that everyone thinks he’s make believing this stuff. I like his character and I find him a bit funny seeing him try to talk to the new girl Erin. He so doesn’t realize when a girl is trying to ignore him, but he doesn’t give up and finally gets Erin’s attention, which I found cute but sad as their conversations continue.  

Erin is our new girl in this book who is the same age as Logan. At first, she’s a loner only thinking about wanting her family to be back together again. Though after meeting Logan and learning about how a bad guy name Peck is after him, they work together to try and capture Peck under the DOME agency's noses. I love her character, but the way she sees the people in Slog Row is really hurtful. I guess people see them as less then human because they don’t have a Mark, but I can’t believe this girl has that type of prejudice at that age.  

There are also these kids called “The Dust” they take orders from Peck. There is about five of them, who take kids when Peck says so. It's interesting to note that they're also kids who haven't been Marked yet. You don’t know until the end what their real reasons for taking Logan are, and when you learn this you will be surprised.


Rating
5 out of 5 Howling Wolves




About the Author


Evan lives without the Mark, evading DOME and writing in the shadows of Beacon.
Swipe is his first book. But if anyone asks, you know nothing about it, and you didn't hear anything from him. Don't make eye contact if you see him. Don't call his name out loud. He's in enough trouble already.
And so are you, if you've read his book.





Website
Twitter username


Giveaway
10 Paperback copies of Swipe and Sneak, US and Canada only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway 

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