Terra: Genesis by A.S. Winchester w/ Author Q&A

I received this book for free from the author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Terra: Genesis by A.S. Winchester w/ Author Q&A

Terra: Genesis by A.S. Winchester
Genres: Sci-Fi (YA), Dystopian (YA)
Pages: 564
Goodreads

Cala is an Exceptional. Her intelligence is beyond the majority of the population of New Earth. On her 18th birthday she will be taken from her family and put in the Program. With just weeks before her birthday, she is in an accident leaving her on the brink of death.
The only way she will survive is to be turned into a cyborg. Entering into the Program as this new version of herself, she finds that the Program isn't what everyone thinks it is. Can she survive or will the Program destroy her?

This book is absolutely amazing. The story is attention-getting with plot twists, love triangles and moments that will really tug at your heart-strings.

The story is fantastic. It’s sort of a mesh of The Terminator meets The Giver meets Divergent – a cyborg in a controlled society – oh, and in space! There are a lot of twists and turns in the plot, keeping you guessing and moments that make you want to cry .. there’s one moment that still gets me ?

The characters are all unique and play some big roles in the story. There’s the main character, Cala – she’s intelligent, knows her way around technology and keeps to herself. She’s a little angsty, like most teenage girls are, and makes some dumb decisions. Her character really develops throughout the story, though, because her psyche suffers after the accident causing her to have split personalities. I’m not going to go into too much detail, because spoilers, but the ‘other’ her is Aleka & she’s a firecracker.

Then there is her family, which are all quirky and lovable. Her older brother, Royce, is the family member you get to know the most. He’s kind of hysterical, making you wish you could just put your hand in the book and shake him, but he just loves his sister and doesn’t know how to deal with certain situations.

And of course, the love triangle, but again spoilers! Just know, there’s some ‘Team’ potential! Overall, the author did a fantastic job creating some great characters. There’s a whole slew of characters that are all unique and you’ll quickly decide who you love and who you hate.

The book’s structure doesn’t consist of chapters, instead the story is divided into 3 sections, told from 3rd person point of view with changes of POV or setting are divided by just a simple double-line break. It’s a unique writing style and makes for a very interesting perspective.

There a few minor errors throughout and one aspect of the writing that kind of agitated me. When there is a bit of dialogue, the author uses hair descriptions instead of names to determine who is speaking. So instead of he said or Cala said it would be the blonde haired boy said or the brown haired girl said. It’s something that distracted me, but that is a personal preference and didn’t take away from the overall amazing story!

This is a fantastic read that will have you feeling surprised, angry, happy and heartbroken – really, the full range of emotions. It will have you feeling a little empowered, like you can get through anything if you just believe in yourself but to also accept the support from the people who love you. It will definitely get you hooked and wanting the sequel immediately.

Check out the authors website for more information on the Terra series! This is going to be a 6 book series, with one releasing each year. So now’s the time to enter this world!

Q&A with A.S. Winchester

A.S. Winchester, or Addison Winchester, has written short stories (Trapped and A Princess & Her Dragon) and poetry. She makes her novel debut with the Young Adult novel Terra: Genesis, which is the first book to a six book series. She was kind enough to answer a few simple and fun questions to offer us some insight into this novel: what her inspiration was, what we can expect in the future and which man she thinks Cala should end up with! 🙂

Q: What was your inspiration for the story?

A: Oh… this could be such a long answer so I’ll try to condense it. Originally, “Terra” started out as a short story romance inspired by the space element of Star Wars and the dystopian elements found in Hunger Games, Divergent, and the like. As I said, it was supposed to be a love story between Cala and Liam, but I became creatively invested in the Program, New Earth and Old Earth, and Cala’s story outside of the romance. It transformed into a heavy dystopian/science fiction story with elements of romance over six book. It was also supposed to be first person and was up through draft eight of “Genesis”. I ended up curiously trying out how it would read in third person. I fell in love with how the story expanded and unfolded beyond just Cala’s point of view so I kept it. I haven’t looked back since everything

Q: What is the significance of the symbol on the cover?

A: That’s the Exceptionals Pin.

Q: Who did you enjoy writing more: Cala or Aleka?

A: Both characters definitely have their own pros and cons, but I’ll always favor Cala. There’s a warmth and kindness about her that doesn’t leave me a little bit nauseous. I love Aleka and how twisted she is, but living inside her head long enough to write out her actions is rough.

Q: Without spoilers, how is Cala different in Terra: Identity (book 2) and will we be seeing more of Aleka?

A: We’ll see this transformation within Cala in book two as she comes to terms with who she is and what happened to her throughout book one. As for Aleka… she’s always with Cala, but how she’ll make herself known… you’ll see!

Q: Which characters are you most excited for us readers to get to know/see the development of in the next book?

A: Specifically in “Identity”, I really can’t wait for everyone to see Cala’s growth. It’s absolutely impressive to watch her come into herself. I also am really excited for you readers to get to know Gabriel, introduced in the preview to “Identity”. He’s such an intriguing character to me.

Q: Do you already know how the whole story is going to end?

A: Yes, I do! The entire thing is completely plotted out start to finish and was before I started into this. Obviously, that’s all the major and sub-plots. There are transition scenes and such that aren’t completely outlined yet.

Q: Last one for fun: Are you Team Liam or Team Del?

A: I know I really shouldn’t pick a “team” so to speak, but I found myself learning to love Del more and more as I went along between the rewrite from first to third person as well as while plotting the series. There’s more of a tragic depth to him that I really am enthralled with.