Hey everyone! I'm so excited to host the book/blog tour for Atlas, written by Becca C Smith. In this blog stop includes a quick spotlight on the book, a review and a giveaway, so be sure to check everything out!
Book Description:
Kala Hicks is part of a covert elite military team that answers directly to the President of the United States. But during an emergency mission aboard Air Force One, Kala is shocked to discover that the real threat is none other than the President himself. Defying her commanding officer, Jack Norbin, Kala takes the shot, and her life changes forever.
The moment the President is killed, a supernatural force speaks to Kala, telling her that she has to commit one act of atrocity every four days… or the world will end. Thrown into a reality she never could have imagined, Kala faces off with creatures of legend; from demons determined to make her fail and plunge the Earth into chaos, to angels who don’t trust her to do the job and are willing to kill her to claim it for themselves.
Pitted against the forces of good and evil, Kala must choose whether to save the world by doing the unthinkable, or sit back and let it burn. And four days later, she’ll have to do it again.
Excerpt from the End of Chapter 3:
Very carefully, Jack opened the door that led to the President’s office.
What awaited them was terrifying.
President Jareth Wilton stood behind his desk. He was wearing a vest that held five grey bars of C-4 wired into a bomb. Wilton was a tall man, well over six feet with stark black hair and a long face. He was a young President, only fifty years old, but he looked like he’d aged twenty years since the last time Kala had seen him at a press conference, with dark rings under his eyes and worry lines on his forehead.
But his smile was what made the scene surreal and horrific. His thin lips were grinning as if he’d just climbed Mt. Everest.
President Wilton stared directly at Jack as the door swung open the rest of the way. “I figured it out! I figured out how to break it! No one will ever have to do what I’ve had to do again! Do you realize what this means?”
Kala knew then and there that the man was cracked. Figured what out? Break what? He was rambling like a mad man.
But the more frightening moment came when Jack responded back to Wilton. “Killing yourself is impossible. People have tried that in the past.”
Not only was President Wilton talking crazy, but apparently Jack knew his language and was responding accordingly.
Kala noticed that Wilton’s eyes lit up when Jack spoke. “You’re the one they sent to replace me.”
Jack nodded.
What? Kala was seriously confused.
Kala spoke up, “What’s going on Jack?”
Replace him for what?
Jack didn’t acknowledge Kala or the rest of the team, which was shifting uncomfortably behind him.
Wilton shook his head, serious. “You can’t do it. You have to let me detonate this bomb. We have to crash the plane! It’s the only way to stop it!”
“You can’t stop it!” Jack yelled back.
“I can and I will!” Wilton talked into an earpiece. “NOW!”
The plane nose-dived.
Everyone jolted forward and stumbled from the force of it.
Jack barked orders, “Lali get up to the Flight Deck and by any means necessary take over this plane!”
Lali paused for a second, she looked more confused than Kala felt, but after a moment to gain her bearings as the plane was falling fast, she managed to high-tail it out of the room and up to the Flight Deck.
Kala was sure they’d hit ground at any moment.
Jack aimed his gun at the President’s head.
Wilton was frantic. He ducked behind his large oak desk that was bolted to the ground.
“You can’t kill me! You’ll ruin everything!” Wilton yelled.
Jack turned to Kala and Derek. “No one shoots him but me!”
Kala kind of nodded, but she was in shock at the fact that they were about to flatten a part of the capital with Air Force One. She really didn’t care what Jack was saying. She couldn’t let President Wilton set off that bomb and kill thousands.
Jack shot at the desk, trying to hit the president, but he didn’t come close.
Only Kala could make a shot like that and not get them all killed from shooting a hole through the plane.
Kala and Derek made eye contact. Kala could tell Derek was thinking the same thing. He whispered so only Kala could hear, “Do it.”
Kala’s nod was barely perceptible.
Jack saw her and his eyes went wide. “Kala STOP!”
Kala shrugged. “I can’t let him do this, Jack. I’m sorry.”
Only the top of Wilton’s head was showing.
It was enough.
Kala took her shot.
Title: Atlas
Author: Becca C Smith
Genre: YA urban fantasy
Review:
I absolutely LOVED the plot of Atlas. Becca Smith has written a novel that is unique, fresh and captivating for the YA genre. I loved how Smith blends mythology with angels and demons into the modern day world in Atlas.
The set up of the novel is simple enough: Atlas (a mythological being/god) is burdened with the responsibility of carrying the world. However, many centuries ago, Atlas had tricked a human into taking his place, and thus Atlas has been relieved of his job and the human has to bear the burden of the world (not literally.) The job of the Atlas-replacement person (also known as Atlas) is to prevent the apocalypse from happening by saving the world every four days--which, as you can imagine, isn't an easy task. The consequences of past Atlases failing to save the world every four days can be seen in history: the Black Death, World Wars, etc. In the end, the Atlas always managed to save the world in time before the apocalypse truly happens and Earth becomes a living hell. The only way a new human can take the place of the current Atlas (human) is by killing the current Atlas.
So naturally, Kala, the main character, feels as if her world has been flipped upside down when she kills the suicidal President only to discover that he was the current Atlas, and, as a result, Kala is now the new Atlas. Perhaps I should mention that Kala is a sniper working for the secret service as well.
Worlds collide as Kala struggles to adjust to accepting the fact that magic is real. And that Demons and Angels exist. And that these supernatural beings are all after her. The Demons want to prevent her from completing her mission in 4 days, thus bringing upon the apocalypse (aka, their version of heaven.) Meanwhile, the Angels want to ensure that Kala completes her mission or have a trained to-be Atlas kill her and take her place (as it turns out, there are mortals all over the world that has spent their lives training to accept the "honor" of being Atlas.) The only catch? Kala's first save-the-world-mission happens to be killing Jack--her one true love and also the human next in line to be Atlas until Kala messes things up by shooting the President.
I love how the plot is all twisted, but not too complicated to follow. Also, I enjoyed the character growth Kala undergoes throughout the novel. Although Kala doesn't express a lot of emotions, I like her character quite a bit. She's very logical, calm and collected.
The pacing was perfect--spot on! The other characters were all fun to read about, though none were as "deep" as Kala. The writing was mostly smooth, although there were a a few awkward lines here and there. I guess my only real "complaint" is that Kala sounded like a teenage even though she was supposed to be an adult. I guess all I am saying is that the words/phrases she used doesn't sound like something an adult would say. But really, that's not a problem if I just pretend Kala is an older teen (who happens to work for the secret service, lol.)
Although I categorized this novel to be a YA book, this is probably aimed towards older readers (14+).
Normally I would've rated this book 4 stars, but I decided to give it 4.5 stars simply because the plot was so unique (and I love mythology spin offs.) I devoured this book in 2 days!
Rating:
And now...we have a Giveaway! 5 lucky winners will win a paperback copy of Atlas! (US only)
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