Birdkill

Robyn’s recent past is missing. And she’s not sure she wants it back.

Robyn Shaw has amnesia, a recent trauma so great her mind has veiled her memory. When she starts a new life teaching at a research institute devoted to exceptionally gifted children, the last thing she expects is for those blocked events to be lying in wait for her.

Plagued by dreams of death and blood that threaten to overwhelm her, Robyn is fragile and vulnerable. When she meets student Martin Oakley plucking sparrows from the air and breaking their necks, she is pitched into a vicious battle that threatens her grasp of her own mind.

Attacked from without and within, Robyn struggles to maintain her increasingly tenuous hold on reality as journalist Mariam Shadid races to discover the dreadful secret buried in Robyn’s past before her friend is consumed by insanity.

*Contains Spoilers*

 

Ever wondered what would happen to the mutants at 'Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters' if the government had found them first? Or rather, had created them first? Birdkill by Alexander McNabb uncovers a multi-national engineering program of experimentally created children and drug-infused soldiers. Though this novel has nothing to do with the X-Men, I couldn't help but create connections and revel in the horrifying amazement of McNabb's story of weaponized children and disastrous drug trials.

 

Robyn suffers from amnesia and has recently been rehabilitated, given the chance of a new life working at the Hamilton Institute in England, a few hours away from London. Robyn struggles to adapt to life with a black hole in her memory, fighting nightmares and visions brought about by a seemingly evil little boy. Readers will sympathize with Robyn and fear for her survival as she uncovers the ghastly secrets that the Institute hides. Even though she's fighting for her sanity, Robyn is much braver than I feel I would be in her situation. One dead bird from a little boy and I'd be out of there. However, Robyn's intelligence and desire to help teach these children, while finding out what's really going on, outweighs her fear.

 

Mariam met Robyn while they were both being rehabilitated and she became Robyn's lifeline. Now, as best friends, Mariam worries and hopes for Robyn's safety in overcoming her amnesia. Mariam is hired by a news website and is immediately (conveniently?) assigned to a whistleblower story. Mariam is a dedicated, focused, and ruthless journalist who does not give up, even if she's in mortal danger. Readers will be both terrified and excited at what Mariam uncovers about the Hamilton Institute, the genetically altered children, and the military drug trials. Her intelligence and need to discover the truth often outweighs her concern for her personal safety. A little naïve in my opinion, but I'm not a journalist. I am a reviewer who knows how the book ends... and if I could have warned Mariam, I would have.

 

Birdkill is a book that astounds and horrifies. It's a little different than McNabb's other novels, but is undoubtedly full of action, conspiracy, and death. The plot begins with Robyn's assignment to the Hamilton Institute, where the topdogs of the hidden agenda can keep an eye on her while also ensuring that her memory does not return and threaten their program. Meanwhile, Mariam learns about the Hamilton research and trials from the whistleblower that opens Pandora's box of chaos and secrets. Readers who enjoy thrillers and conspiracy will lose themselves in Birdkill, hoping for the best and preparing for the worst. When facing a group of powerful men who live by the motto 'two can keep a secret if one of them is dead,' the odds are stacked against an amnesiac and a reporter who won't let it go.

 

Rating: 4/5 Cups

Wither

By age sixteen, Rhine Ellery has four years left to live. She can thank modern science for this genetic time bomb. A botched effort to create a perfect race has left all males with a lifespan of 25 years, and females with a lifespan of 20 years. Geneticists are seeking a miracle antidote to restore the human race, desperate orphans crowd the population, crime and poverty have skyrocketed, and young girls are being kidnapped and sold as polygamous brides to bear more children.

When Rhine is kidnapped and sold as a bride, she vows to do all she can to escape. Her husband, Linden, is hopelessly in love with her, and Rhine can't bring herself to hate him as much as she'd like to. He opens her to a magical world of wealth and illusion she never thought existed, and it almost makes it possible to ignore the clock ticking away her short life. But Rhine quickly learns that not everything in her new husband's strange world is what it seems. Her father-in-law, an eccentric doctor bent on finding the antidote, is hoarding corpses in the basement. Her fellow sister wives are to be trusted one day and feared the next, and Rhine is desperate to communicate to her twin brother that she is safe and alive. Will Rhine be able to escape--before her time runs out?

Together with one of Linden's servants, Gabriel, Rhine attempts to escape just before her seventeenth birthday. But in a world that continues to spiral into anarchy, is there any hope for freedom?

*May Contain Spoilers*

The beginning of The Chemical Gardens series is a whirlwind of dealing with scientific failure. Wither, by Lauren DeStefano, shares the story of a girl who only wants to be free for the last four years of her life. Even if that means hiding, worrying, and constantly watching her back. Being captured and sold as a willing bride, Rhine promises that the illusions of luxury won't eclipse her memories of freedom. 

Rhine is a smart 16 year old girl who knows how to act in order to get what she wants. She believes that if she can make her husband fall in love with her, then she'll be trusted more. So when the time comes to make her escape, it'll be easier to slip out. But she doesn't factor making friends into her escape plan. Rhine is an orphan whose parents were killed in a bomb explosion. She knows life is scary, hard, and often leaves bruises. She's down to earth with a strong will and has the advantage of being able to understand others. Readers will enjoy Rhine's hope in a desolate situation and connect with her through her desire to be with her family through the end. The relationships she forms with the other wives, the attendants, and her husband will reveal her as a sweet, caring, yet wary character. 

The story begins after Rhine has already been kidnapped. She, along with two other girls, is picked to be the bride of a House Governor while the ones not chosen are killed. Rhine wakes up in a mansion and is forced to prepare for her wedding. She believes that if she can convince Linden to love her and trust her as his first wife then she'll be able to escape. But she begins to fall for her own lies as she comes to care about those she's trapped with. Will Rhine be able to keep her focus on her escape plan or will she be taken in by the illusions and holograms that make her prison beautiful? 

I absolutely loved the writing style of this book. It's written in first person which immediately puts readers into the role of main character. The emotions that Rhine experiences are easily related to. The illusions that test Rhine, I found myself falling for, wondering how great it would be to experience that. Wither is a struggle between freedom and the false feeling of being free that will enchant readers.

Rating: 4.5/5 Cups