This Mortal Coil: Emily Suvada (This Mortal Coil, 1)

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Looks like this book will be the first in a trilogy, so ... hoping this trilogy does not follow the YA Triangle Roadmap of Ugh. hey hey if you want to read Emily Suvada's awesome guest post, a THIS MORTAL COIL SURVIVAL GUIDE, you can find it here! i'll start with the stuff i liked first. the plot and the concept was excellent. there have been no shortage of apocalyptic plagues in speculative fiction, but both the concept of the virus itself and the circumstances surrounding it were extremely original. i mean, bodies exploding and floating around in a giant Death Cloud??? that's the kind of macabre shit i can really get behind, man. there were also so many plot twists, and i wasn't expecting at least half of them.

I’m no sci-fi connoisseur but even I enjoyed everything about this genetics-science-talks in this book. How instinct is ingrained and how the brain works. There’s something to be said about how ‘realistic’ the world is since evolution still works the same way and keep biting human beings in their ambitious ass. For this section, I’m only going to talk about the main character very briefly. I don’t want to give too much away within the book by talking about all the characters of importance and relevance to the story. I really feel Cat is truly the most important character, as well, especially with how this book ends. After a rather long and complex section devoted to the role of genetics in inherited disease which is clearly close to his specialty of biochemistry, Doig moves on in subsequent chapters to look at famine and violence/wars in human mortality over the centuries, as well as self-inflicted causes linked to lifestyle choices and behavior involving alcohol, smoking and drugs. So many details of the plot are revealed in the exact same way as the world. Along with that so many plot points were because of stupid actions by the characters. Convenient scenes were just thrown in there at the right moment.Mato as a character was a fantastic addition for the get go, especially with the element of him being completely grey and I had no idea if I wanted to trust him or not. I also feel like I can add in Jun Bei as a new character here as well, as though we only got snippets of her in This Mortal Coil, I feel like we really began to understand her in This Cruel Design. There were definitely both human parts of her revealed to Cat, and the more dangerous side. Cat might have found a vaccine for the deadly Hydra plague, but the journey has revealed secrets that shattered her world and has left her reeling, no longer truly knowing who she is or what her purpose should be. Camping in the woods with Cole and Leoben, Cat is hoping for a chance to regroup and decide on her next move, but time is running out if she is going to prevent Lachlan from reprogramming humanity. She also needs to learn how to control her new panel and deal with the memory glitches that threaten to reveal more secrets. THE CHARACTERS. Even if you are fine with everything else I wrote above, HOW COULD YOU DEFEND THE HORRIBLE CHARACTERS. The cheesy ass villain. The no chemistry romance. The annoying ass characters. The kinda, but not really love triangle. The writing for this was wonderfully descriptive, and the overall plot and pacing was good. I never felt bored, or feel the need to skip text to get into the action - the action was pretty much continuous, and I didn't want to stop reading.The world building is also done well, and fully explores the world in which the characters inhabit. However a downside to this was that I wanted to send more time with Catarina on her own in the world, especially when we first meet her. More time spent exploring the horrors that the people left behind must face, and the sacrifices they make, would have helped to better understand the virus itself, and why everyone is so afraid of it. I feel I could have understood the former Neurosurgeon and his family more, and perhaps had more sympathy for them, if I had a better understand of what they'd been through. As it was, I just really wanted Catarina to punish them, and I felt a little let down by her actions.

A great science fiction blend of post apocalyptic survival and genetic technology. It's like Warcross meets The Walking Dead. One thing that really makes me think is everyone has ‘healing tech’ built-in and how doctors actually can barely heal you traditionally anymore because they’re so used to just fine-tuning your apps than ‘treating’ you physically. How scary to think that we all get so used to technology and how much we end up depend on it to the point of in danger of losing our learned skills. Such a terrifying thought indeed.You know that super rare feeling where a sequel is as awesome as the first book in a series? Where it doesn't suffer from that "second book slump"? Such a unicorn, right? WELL. It happens here, friends! After the amazing twistiness that was This Mortal Coil, I was kiiiind of unsure if the author could replicate such amazing plot twists and surprises. Could she keep the characters developing and still likable? She sure could, and she did! Forced to question everything she knows and everyone she trusts, Cat discovers that the biggest threat of all may be buried in her own mind. The word was here before I was born, and it will be keep spinning after I am dead. The universe is continuous; I am the anomaly. I am the thread that begins and ends, the flame that sputters out. A chance collection of proteins and molecules that perpetuates itself, bound by the electric fire of my mind.