Blog Tour Review: The Sowing by K. Makansi

From the Back Cover:

The Famine may be over, but the Resistance has just begun. 

When Remy Alexander is fifteen, her older sister is murdered in a cold-blooded classroom massacre. When the Okarian Sector hides the truth behind the attack, Remy's family goes underground to join the clandestine and growing Resistance movement. Now, three years later, Remy is beginning to find clues about why her sister was murdered. But at the same time, Valerian Orlean, the boy Remy once loved, is put in charge of hunting and destroying the Resistance. As Vale fights to protect his people and Remy seeks justice for her sister, the two are set on a collision course that could bring everyone together - or tear everything apart. 

THE SOWING, the first book in The SEEDS Trilogy, is set in a post-apocalyptic world. In the wake of environmental destruction and a devastating population crash, the Okarian Sector was forced to fight to establish a civil society in a chaotic world. After the loss of seed biodiversity in the destruction of the Old World, genetic modification and artificial agricultural techniques are the Sector’s only choice. Science reigns supreme. The Okarian Agricultural Consortium, a corporation dedicated to perfecting these modified seeds and providing only the best food and medicine to its citizens, becomes the government’s most important arm. But even the purest gold is tarnished over time, and the Sector’s noble goals devolve into manipulation, control, and oppression.

Written by the mother-daughter writing team of Kristy, Amira, and Elena Makansi, this debut post-apocalyptic thriller features romance, enduring friendships, edge-of-your-seat action, and heart-wrenching betrayal.

My Thoughts:

I really enjoy dystopian young adult novels, and I'm always looking for something new in the genre, so The Sowing went on my list as soon as I saw it. I was drawn in right away as the story opens with the brutal murder of Remy Alexander's older sister, Tai, and the mystery of who was behind the attack and why deepens. After religious wars followed by years of famine decimated the population, the remaining society has evolved and organized itself into a series of farms and research labs--those who come up with the ideas and those who do the manual labor to implement them--to keep the people safe and healthy. But there is another group of people who have realized the Sector and OAC have been manipulating their subjects for years with genetically modified food, and that they will stop at nothing to ensure their programs of oppression, forced labor, and breeding remain in place. After the massacre, Remy and her parents, who used to be prominent officials in the Sector, flee to the Wilds where they join this group, the Resistance, living outside of the Sector's reach among the mysterious and secretive Outsiders, spreading the news of the Sector's lies and manipulations, taking shots at  the Sector's storage and research facilities when they can, and working toward a day when the Sector's programs can be exposed and destroyed, restoring the order of nature and free will among the people.

It's a difficult and dangerous life, and over three years, Remy has become a hardened and seasoned rebel fighter. But she left a little piece of her heart behind when she fled the Sector in the form of Valerian Orlean, her almost-boyfriend and son of the two most powerful people in the Sector, the chancellor and the head of the OAC. And Vale has just been appointed as the director of a new program aimed at breaking the Resistance. Vale was raised for success and leadership; his life has been one of privilege and luxury, but he takes his training very seriously and determines to do what is necessary to preserve the stability of the Sector, even if it means finding out that Remy Alexander broke his heart and disappeared three years earlier to aid his enemies, and even if it means he'll have to turn her over to the authorities for punishment. But when Remy and Vale come face-to-face during a rebel mission gone horribly wrong, neither of them will ever be the same again. Forced to consider that everything he has ever known has been a lie, Vale must decide where his loyalties lie, and Remy must determine if she has the strength to keep fighting, and if she can trust Vale in the process.

I'm torn between calling this just OK or saying that I really liked it. Because I did like it, but not as much as others in the genre. I really enjoyed the first two-thirds of this book, but I thought it started to unravel a bit toward the end. The story is pretty fast-paced, though I will admit to skimming over some sections of scientific and technical jargon. The world-building is well-drawn and believable, the characters are interesting, and the motivations and relationships are very realistic. But in the end, I had more questions than answers. I realize this is first in a trilogy, so I know all answers will be revealed with time, but I had been expecting more meat to chew over in the meantime. I think one of my biggest issues is that the truth of what the Sector has been doing in secret was only touched on and the repercussions of it not expanded enough for me to understand what was at stake if the Sector wasn't stopped, and therefore I couldn't totally get what the Resistance was fighting for. I also couldn't get a good handle on the two men in Remy's life, and it would appear a love triangle is forming for the remaining books. Her Resistance friend Soren is aloof, condescending, and shady, though for all of that he seems to have an attachment to her, and Vale seemed inconstant to me. Initially, I really liked him; he's smart, compassionate, and capable, but his life-changing decisions were made pretty much on the fly and he thinks about other girls a lot. So bottom line is I thought this was a good read, and something different, but I'm not dying to know what happens in the next book. Time will tell if I decide to continue with the series.

My Rating:  3.5 Stars out of 5

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GIVEAWAY!

Enter to win your own copy of The Sowing by leaving a comment on this review with your email address!

This giveaway is open to residents of the US & Canada and closes at 11:59pm Tuesday, December 17, 2013. Winner will be selected at random. Thanks and good luck!

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