My daughters and I enjoy young adult, dystopian novels. I was really looking forward to reading the Regina Shen series from author Lance Erlick. While the fourth novel was recently released; we needed to backtrack and begin from the beginning! I'm sharing my review of Resilience today--and I am really looking forward to reading the rest of the series!
Quick Summary of Regina Shen: Resilience (Book 1) by Lance Erlick. Regina Shen is an outcast forced to fend for herself in a world that bans books and artifacts from before the Great Collapse. An approaching storm could be the least of her problems. The World Federation condemns Regina and her family to live on the seaward side of barrier walls. Those walls were built to hold back rising seas caused by abrupt climate change and as a place to dump outcasts.
A hurricane threatens to destroy Regina’s world, tearing her from sister, mom, and home. Now Federation agents claim she has unique DNA that could prevent human extinction. It's too bad she doesn't trust them enough to barter fairly, let alone with her life. Three-hundred-plus-year-old Grand Old Dames rule the all-female Federation using a rigid caste system. Their notorious Department of Antiquities, under the command of Chief Inspector Joanne Demarco, polices barrier walls, destroys knowledge from the past to suppress dissent, and pursues Regina for her genome.
Regina survives by her wits on swampy islands and thrives on salvage from sunken cities, including illegal print books from before the Federation. With her photographic (eidetic) memory, she defies Antiquities by consuming salvaged books not available in the Federation, which makes her an outcast even among her exiled peers. With Antiquities in pursuit, Regina fights to stay alive and avoid capture while hunting for her family. Does she have the resilience to survive both the storm and Antiquities?
Readers will be drawn into the setting of Resilience. Some authors are masters at creating a story's setting in such a manner that readers really experience the fictional world. Erlick accomplishes this and more in Resilience. Erlick draws readers completely into Regina's World. Through Erlick's words, readers will feel the darkness and despair of Regina's world. I was able to put myself in the swamp with Regina and the other characters. This doesn't happen, at least to this degree, for me with many books and I found myself completely involved and invested in Regina's world and her storyline.
Resilience is action packed and dramatic. This book is about survival--and the resilience required to survive. Erlick creates a fictional world--but, he also creates valid, realistic scenarios for his characters to face in that world on each and every page. There were no "slow points" in this first novel. Even when the plot twists were building--Regina's daily survival kept the story moving at an action packed pace.
Resilience offers quite an introduction to the Regina Shen series. Readers won't find much resolution to the storyline in this first book. Readers will; however, become very attached to the main characters and their experiences. Resilience introduces readers to the characters, the series, and Erlick's futuristic world. While a lot happens to the characters in this first book, it is designed to move readers onto the second book of the series.
Would I recommend Resilience by Lance Erlick? I loved this book. I put down Resilience after the last page--and immediately picked up Vigilance, the second book in the series. This book, as I said, doesn't offer much resolution to Regina's story. It lays a lot of the groundwork and background for the series--but, does so through very action packed pages and dramatic scenes. I would recommend this book for dystopian/science fiction fans with a preference toward strong female lead characters. I will be sharing reviews of the remaining books in the series throughout the month of July.
Meet the Author.
He was raised by a roaming aerospace engineer, growing up in various parts of the United States and Europe, as well as traveling through Asia. He took to stories as his anchor, including the works of Asimov, Bradbury, and Heinlein, and has been writing since age eleven.
He was raised by a roaming aerospace engineer, growing up in various parts of the United States and Europe, as well as traveling through Asia. He took to stories as his anchor, including the works of Asimov, Bradbury, and Heinlein, and has been writing since age eleven.
In an ideal world, Lance would find time loops where he could step out for a week at a time to read and write. Then he would return to the moment he left, without life getting in the way. Of course, since everyone would have the same ability, he suspects life would still sneak in.
Growing up, he was inspired by his father’s engineering work on cutting-edge aerospace projects to look to the future.
Lance is also the author of short stories and novelettes.
Connect with the author: Website Twitter Facebook Goodreads
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