This book was sent to me from my wishlist, strangely enough from the actual author! However, all opinions are my own, honest and unbiased. This review may contain spoilers. This post includes affiliate links.
Title: The Extinction Trials (#1)
Author: S. M. Wilson
Genres: YA, Dystopian
Buy links: Amazon - Book Depository
Synopsis:
The Extinction Trials is set in a world where there are two continents: Earthasia and Piloria. Earthasia is home to all of the humans, it is overcrowded, they are rationed and share beds. They have little food or power supplies. Then there is Piloria, the continent of the dinosaurs. This is home to some of the most terrifying dinosaurs but it is lush with foliage, fruit and space.
Every year, 100 people are selected and sent to Piloria on a mission, usually this is to find new food supplies but this year they want these 'finalists' to find and bring back three dinosaur eggs so that the DNA of dinosaurs can be examined.
The 100 people are selected through a series of secretive trials. This book is dual perspective and we follow Stormchaser, an orphan who was saved by a herbivorous dinosaur who lives on Earthasia and Lincoln whose sister is afflicted with the lethal disease that there is no known cure for. Whoever passes the trials, goes to Piloria and brings back the eggs is awarded food, housing and healthcare for them and their families. We also meet other characters that are taking part in the mission.
My thoughts:
This book is amazing. I love reading about dinosaurs, I listened to the audiobook of Jurassic Park at the beginning of this year and loved it. I had heard that dinosaurs were in The Extinction Trials but I didn't know much else.
This book is blurbed as The Hunger Games meets Jurassic Park and this is so accurate. The people face off against each other and there is a rush against time just like in The Hunger Games. Some of the dinosaurs in this book are terrifying and there were some violent scenes. The description was great, I could really picture the scenes in my head, although the way I pictured some of the dinosaurs was actually different when I looked them up!
The characters were interesting but sometimes annoying. Lincoln was secretive, he didn't want to tell anyone about his sister and he was driven towards winning but there were times that I felt it would have been useful for him to mention his motives. Early on, when Lincoln and Stormchaser meet they are instantly attracted to each other which was also a bit irritating because there were bigger threats at stake and they had barely spoken. Despite this, I feel that the relationships in this book were well developed by the end and I enjoyed the interactions between some of the characters. I became emotionally invested somehow and by the end of the book I was emotional. So much happened, there were things that I wish were different but I understand why they were there and overall, I did really love this book. So much so that I am going to dive right into the next one straight after finishing this review.
If you like dinosaurs/dystopian novels, I would really recommend checking out this book. It was a really great read and although parts earlier on in the story weren't always great, the action really picked up and it was well worth reading on for.
My rating: 4.5/5 stars
Liked this post? Check out my review for book 2 in this series here.
Title: The Extinction Trials (#1)Author: S. M. Wilson
Genres: YA, Dystopian
Buy links: Amazon - Book Depository
Synopsis:
The Extinction Trials is set in a world where there are two continents: Earthasia and Piloria. Earthasia is home to all of the humans, it is overcrowded, they are rationed and share beds. They have little food or power supplies. Then there is Piloria, the continent of the dinosaurs. This is home to some of the most terrifying dinosaurs but it is lush with foliage, fruit and space.
Every year, 100 people are selected and sent to Piloria on a mission, usually this is to find new food supplies but this year they want these 'finalists' to find and bring back three dinosaur eggs so that the DNA of dinosaurs can be examined.
The 100 people are selected through a series of secretive trials. This book is dual perspective and we follow Stormchaser, an orphan who was saved by a herbivorous dinosaur who lives on Earthasia and Lincoln whose sister is afflicted with the lethal disease that there is no known cure for. Whoever passes the trials, goes to Piloria and brings back the eggs is awarded food, housing and healthcare for them and their families. We also meet other characters that are taking part in the mission.
My thoughts:
This book is amazing. I love reading about dinosaurs, I listened to the audiobook of Jurassic Park at the beginning of this year and loved it. I had heard that dinosaurs were in The Extinction Trials but I didn't know much else.
This book is blurbed as The Hunger Games meets Jurassic Park and this is so accurate. The people face off against each other and there is a rush against time just like in The Hunger Games. Some of the dinosaurs in this book are terrifying and there were some violent scenes. The description was great, I could really picture the scenes in my head, although the way I pictured some of the dinosaurs was actually different when I looked them up!
The characters were interesting but sometimes annoying. Lincoln was secretive, he didn't want to tell anyone about his sister and he was driven towards winning but there were times that I felt it would have been useful for him to mention his motives. Early on, when Lincoln and Stormchaser meet they are instantly attracted to each other which was also a bit irritating because there were bigger threats at stake and they had barely spoken. Despite this, I feel that the relationships in this book were well developed by the end and I enjoyed the interactions between some of the characters. I became emotionally invested somehow and by the end of the book I was emotional. So much happened, there were things that I wish were different but I understand why they were there and overall, I did really love this book. So much so that I am going to dive right into the next one straight after finishing this review.
If you like dinosaurs/dystopian novels, I would really recommend checking out this book. It was a really great read and although parts earlier on in the story weren't always great, the action really picked up and it was well worth reading on for.
My rating: 4.5/5 stars
Liked this post? Check out my review for book 2 in this series here.
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