Title: Lethal Seasons Author: Alice Sabo Source: Goodreads Publication Date: August 8 2014 Genre: Sci-Fi, Dystopian Author's Blog Part of a series?: A Changed World #1 |
Nick counts survivors. It’s been ten years since the virus started paring down the human population. Cities are empty, people have scattered across the country. Every summer, like an early flu season, the virus comes back in a new mutation and takes more, whittling away the human race. Nick travels the country to find communities that might barter for essentials and tries to get a headcount of those remaining. But not every settlement is willing to share that information.
On one of his travels Nick finds the body of a young woman who was gunned down in an abandoned house. Also at the scene is the body of a well-armed man in black body armor. A random killing isn’t out of the ordinary in the makeshift society of the post-virus world. From the placement of the bodies, Nick can tell they shot each other. A person, hunted and murdered by a mercenary is very disturbing. When every person left alive is essential for the survival of humankind, the murder of a young female becomes especially heinous.
When Nick is tasked with finding her younger siblings, he sets off to rescue them with a desperate determination. He carries the profound burden of the loss of all his family and friends to the virus. Saving these children would lighten that burden. Inadvertently, the idyllic life he enjoys at High Meadow settlement is suddenly threatened.
The settlement is right on the verge of becoming self sufficient. They live carefully, but comfortably in a world shattered by season after season of deaths. Now they have to fear more than another season of illness. Rumors of attacks and roving bandits compound the difficulty of simple survival.
The changed world that Nick had finally come to accept turns out to harbor more secrets and lies than he had imagined. At a point of crisis, with no explanation, the reticent government shuts down the few remaining services. With the help of a fugitive biobot and stolen weapons, Nick must discover why someone would send teams of mercenaries to track and kill these children. Even if it brings them right to his doorstep.
On one of his travels Nick finds the body of a young woman who was gunned down in an abandoned house. Also at the scene is the body of a well-armed man in black body armor. A random killing isn’t out of the ordinary in the makeshift society of the post-virus world. From the placement of the bodies, Nick can tell they shot each other. A person, hunted and murdered by a mercenary is very disturbing. When every person left alive is essential for the survival of humankind, the murder of a young female becomes especially heinous.
When Nick is tasked with finding her younger siblings, he sets off to rescue them with a desperate determination. He carries the profound burden of the loss of all his family and friends to the virus. Saving these children would lighten that burden. Inadvertently, the idyllic life he enjoys at High Meadow settlement is suddenly threatened.
The settlement is right on the verge of becoming self sufficient. They live carefully, but comfortably in a world shattered by season after season of deaths. Now they have to fear more than another season of illness. Rumors of attacks and roving bandits compound the difficulty of simple survival.
The changed world that Nick had finally come to accept turns out to harbor more secrets and lies than he had imagined. At a point of crisis, with no explanation, the reticent government shuts down the few remaining services. With the help of a fugitive biobot and stolen weapons, Nick must discover why someone would send teams of mercenaries to track and kill these children. Even if it brings them right to his doorstep.
You know those books that you can't find interesting however hard you try to, and trying to finish them is like wading through thick mud? This book is one of them.
Lethal Seasons was really hard to get through and a few too many times I'd tried -to no avail- to throw myself into a good reading pace. I would try to imagine the scenes, to create the story world in my mind, but Lethal Seasons just didn't work out for me.
One of the many reaosns why Lethal Seasons was not an enjoyable read is due to the fact that it had little to no character development. Every character would sound the same whenever they talked, and only one or two characters acted distinctly different to others. I couldn't get a feel of the characters due to their lacklustre traits and bland dialogues. Everyone was seemingly respectful to one another and almost everyone was overly decent. It was too much. Where's the quirky character? Or the one who goes around getting in trouble? Where's any of that? We can't have all of the characters agreeing with each other all the time just to make the story going smoothly! There has to be some conflict!
I am of the opinion that character development plays a huge role in getting the reader to have a better feel of the story that the author is creating. The characters bring life into the story, and without any investment in their development, it will feel like the author is simply trying to rush to the story's ending.
Lethal Seasons wasn't so much terrible as it was unpleasant, unsatisfying, or just plain dull. As I stated above, the main reason that led to the downplay of this book was because of its insuffiency of character development. Had the author made the characters to be more alive and original, maybe I would've liked it more. Putting that aside, the difficult situations that the characters faced proved to be a challenge and at times, this would make the story interesting and thought-provoking. The pace of the book was neither fast nor slow; it moved at its own pace and although to say I was bored, the complications that arised in the story would engage me at times.
I am of the opinion that character development plays a huge role in getting the reader to have a better feel of the story that the author is creating. The characters bring life into the story, and without any investment in their development, it will feel like the author is simply trying to rush to the story's ending.
Lethal Seasons wasn't so much terrible as it was unpleasant, unsatisfying, or just plain dull. As I stated above, the main reason that led to the downplay of this book was because of its insuffiency of character development. Had the author made the characters to be more alive and original, maybe I would've liked it more. Putting that aside, the difficult situations that the characters faced proved to be a challenge and at times, this would make the story interesting and thought-provoking. The pace of the book was neither fast nor slow; it moved at its own pace and although to say I was bored, the complications that arised in the story would engage me at times.
Overall, this book still has a lot of room for improvement, and I hope that the author will take note of the lack of depth in characterization which would've otherwise made Lethal Seasons quite a promising read.
- readers who are interested in books that has a futuristic setting
- readers who are looking for dystopian that focuses on enviromental disasters
My rating for Lethal Seasons
why did I only give it two stars?
I don't think I can stress enough that the lack of good characterization has totally blew away any chance of me liking the book. The interaction and dialogues between the characters were stiff and tedious. I didn't have any touched or overwhelming feelings when I finished it.
I don't think I can stress enough that the lack of good characterization has totally blew away any chance of me liking the book. The interaction and dialogues between the characters were stiff and tedious. I didn't have any touched or overwhelming feelings when I finished it.
An e-book of Lethal Seasons was kindly provided by the author, Alice Sabo via email at my request to review her book. This review is written in my honest opinion and is uninfluenced by anyone.