Elixir
Red
Plague Trilogy
Book
One
Anna
Abner
Genre: YA Paranormal
Publisher: Mild Red Books
Number of pages: 200
Word Count: 50,000
Cover Artist: Sweet & Spicy
Designs
Book Description:
The red plague has devastated the
human race, turning billions of people into zombies with red eyes and an
insatiable hunger for human flesh. The virus sweeps through the population so
quickly a possible cure is left to rot. Seventeen-year-old Maya Solomon may be
the only survivor who knows where it is. But to reach the lab in Raleigh, North
Carolina she will have to outrun the infected boy tracking her every step and
cross into a city swarming with monsters.
Excerpt:
A buzzing
circular saw woke me five minutes before my alarm was supposed to go off.
Instant, achy terror consumed me. I scrambled out of bed in my PJs and crouched
at the end of the hall, peeking around the corner into the living room beyond
the foyer.
"Dad?"
I hissed.
He stood, hands
on hips, in front of our big screen TV staring at local news.
I sagged against
the wall in relief. For a moment I'd thought... But no. We weren't being
attacked by red-eyed plague victims.
Dad hadn't heard
me, but around and between his arms I watched the agitated news anchor struggle
through her report.
"If you are
in a heavily infected area," the hollow-eyed brunette read off the
teleprompter, "you are instructed to shelter in place. Do not attempt to
travel. Roads and highways are impassable, particularly in Raleigh and Charlotte.
The safest thing for you to do is stay where you are. Lock your doors and
windows and wait for further instruction."
A tiny hiccup of
fright escaped my throat, and Dad whipped his head around. His normally slicked
back blonde hair was dry and messy as if he hadn't bothered to comb it at all.
"Maya,"
he exclaimed, pasting on a friendly smile. But under the positive facade I
could tell he was just as terrified as I was. The world was falling to pieces
and we both knew it.
About
the Author:
One of my first memories is
dangling over the arm of our living room sofa telling myself a post-apocalyptic
survival tale in which my mother and I were the last two people on earth. It
was so fun, I never stopped telling stories. In high school, I faked being ill
so I could stay home to work on a novel about a nanny who falls in love with
her boss' bad boy nephew.
As an adult I earned a college
degree, got married, and had a child, but I never stopped writing. It only got
more fun. I wrote through my lunch breaks at work. I wrote on the treadmill at
the gym. Eventually, I had dozens of short stories, novellas, and full-length
novels piling up on thumb drives and in plastic tubs.
Now, I'm ready to share my
stories with you, starting with The Dark Caster Series and the Red Plague
Trilogy. I hope you love reading them as much as I loved writing them!
I was given the chance to read and review Elixir, and without further ado, here is the review:
Title: Elixir
Author: Anna Abner
Genre: YA zombie
Review:
I completely devoured this novel in one sitting (I think I read Elixir in a about 2 and a half hours.) The suspense was taut between the pages from start to finish--kudos to Abner for penning such a gripping book! I literally sat in front of the computer, glued to the monitor as I scrolled through the pages as fast as possible.
The set up isn't drastically different from your typical zombie apocalypse set up: a virus has spread like the plague, making victims to become flesh craving monsters with bloodshot eyes. However, there seems to be a tiny, teensy, weensy fraction of the population that seems immune to this disease.
Maya, the main character of the book, is a 17 year old girl whose father works at a lab searching for the cure to the "zombie" disease. As many cities become over run by zombies, Maya's father begin making preparations should it happen to their town. One day, while her father is at work, Maya gets attacked by a zombie and escapes by hiding in the bunker her father had installed for such scenario. After 14 days of hiding underground and no signs of her father ever coming back, Maya ventures into a very different world.
Remembering her father had mentioned something about completing the cure the day he disappeared, Maya embarks on a journey to his lab in the city to find this cure. On the way, she (unwillingly) picks up ab 8 year old girl. They soon get pursues by a pack of zombies and is saved by other fellow survivor--including a wannabe soldier named Pollard.
I really think Abner did an incredible job with building Maya's character. She's very unique, especially when compared to other heroines of zombie books. First of all, she's not exactly what you would call bad-ass; she's terrified of guns (not good in a zombie infested world) ever since her twin brother committed matricide. However, although no expert wilderness survivalist, Maya does keep her cool and use logic and reasoning to navigate through the dangerous new world. Also, Maya loves music and the author does an excellent job depicting this through descriptions (told from Maya's POV) that make musical reference (ie. footsteps pounded to a staccato beat or something like that.) Also, I am so glad there was no insta-love and that Maya wouldn't take any of that "I'll die for love" kind of crap; no, she's all about learning how to survive.
Even though there was no insta-love, there were some attempts of Pollard trying to strike up a relationship between him and Maya. I personally found those scenes awkward; I'm not sure if the author did that on purpose or not (since Pollard being an awkward sort of guy is pretty plausible.)
Anyways, final thoughts: Awesome read! You'll fly right through it, especially if you love music and zombies. The book is an on-the-edge-of-your-seat kind of read :-)
Rating:
Okay....done with me gushing? Be sure to enter the giveaway to win your own copy of Elixir. Giveaway is open internationally!
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