Blurb: A gripping, tension-filled survival saga with a Brave New World heroine you won’t be able to forget!
It started on a very ordinary school-day, one that was supposed to have ended with a shopping trip with Tess, we wanted summer tops and to talk about boys. But then they turned up, and although we didn’t realize it at the time, we were never going to do anything normal again. We’re about to made extinct, well most of us. They call themselves The Colonists – for obvious reasons. They’re so polite and so damn good-looking you have to do a double-take to understand they’re actually mass-murdering misanthropes! There’s nothing quite like an alien invasion to propel your negative attributes to the fore, but I’m dealing with them, well hey, because I have to. I may be locked in a cage and treated like an animal, but I won’t comply. My name is Carabel Caffarelli, I’m from Highbury in England, and I am a human who is intent on escaping/surviving.
For readers of: The Hunger Games – The Maze Runner – Divergent – Animal Farm
Buy Now We Are Animals today, for an enthralling, young adult dystopian survival book that will keep you on the edge of your seat!
My Review
Likes
It’s not very often when I get to the last page and want to immediately reach for the next book in the series, but I did when I read Now We Are Animals. Book 2 isn’t out yet unfortunately, but I sure hope it will be soon!
Desperate to evade the fate that will reach her when she turns eighteen and a half, Cara escapes. It was more luck than anything that allows her to get away from the cattle ranch. However, there is nowhere to go, and before she knows it she becomes captive to an alien family, whose daughter wants Cara as a pet. I fully appreciated all the emotions that Cara goes through being a captive, including the large part of her that wants to accept it and just be grateful she’s alive. But human nature is such that eventually the need to be free begins to emerge. Aggie is a great personality. She’s Cara’s captor – so we long to hate her, but she’s so well portrayed that we can’t help but grow to like her too, which makes the ending all the more shocking, clever writing!
There is an element of The Hunger Games and The Maze Runner here, as in everything looks terrible, but because we are routing for one person to survive we are gripped. Cara is someone I instantly liked, and therefore cared for her outcome. She’s not perfect, but she’s a survivor, pulling hidden strength from within to face the atrocious odds against her. The book opens on a school day and very quickly moves into invasion. Though, horrifically, millions are killed, we don’t once see any gore – for which I am thankful. This isn’t a book about an alien invasion so much as it is about human nature. It’s a look at ourselves and a diagnostic approach to how we live.
Gripes
It is obvious from the units being built, and the way they are ‘funneled’ into the places, that the survivors are instantly treated as if they are animals, not happy, carefree animals such as rabbits and squirrels, but cattle, such as cows and pigs; fed in troughs, sleeping on hay and herded into groups. It was with a sigh, therefore, when I read a couple of the dialogues pointing out the obvious comparisons. Now We Are Animals is a great story, and it’s a very small gripe that only popped into my head a few times as I was reading, and doesn’t prevent me at all from highly recommending this book to you, nor will it prevent me from reading the following book, so maybe it’s not important.
To sum up
Now We Are Animals was gripping from start to finish. It has a fabulous, imaginative plot and really good characters. It is sci-fi, but it is set in present day and on Earth. The story is told by Cara’s narrative and her journal entries. However, I loved the alien chapter headings and the alien prologue, very, very clever. I think the author is a master storyteller, and the writing flows with ease inviting the reader in and holding their attention till the very end. There’s not much more to say other than I highly recommend this book and hope you will take a look at it for yourself.
$2.99 US or £1.99 UK ~ This author has a few books out, but he has only just become an indie author, so please consider offering a bit of encouragement and grabbing yourself a copy if you fancy a read.
Visit R P Nathan’s website.
Review warning: Before you rush off and buy any book that someone reviews you should read the free sample chapters provided on Amazon, this way you can decide for yourself if this book is your cup of tea or not. Happy reading everyone!
T N Traynor 