Hello! We're really excited to be a part of the blog tour for The Silver Sickle by Ellie Ann today! We've got Ashley's review of the book for you, as well as a pretty nice giveaway. In celebration of the blog tour, Ellie Ann is giving away a $25 Amazon Gift Card to one lucky winner! So be sure to fill out the Rafflecopter form at the end of the post for your chance to win.
Be sure to stop by the rest of the stops on the tour for more reviews and excerpts. You can find the list of stops by visiting the tour schedule.
About the book
Title:The Silver Sickle
Author: Ellie Ann
Published by: Stonehouse Ink
Publication date: July 2013
Genres: Science Fiction, Young Adult
Synopsis: The Silver Sickle is for fans of steampunk, cyberpunk, Veronica Roth, Scott Westerfield, and Allie Condie.
The end of humanity will come through the Silver Sickle . . .
Farissa lives every moment with reckless abandon, for it may be her last. Any day now, the alien goddesses will harvest her and take her to the mysterious Silver Sickle, never to return. She’s accepted that. What she can’t accept is this new idea of freedom Zel has planted in her head. She’d give almost anything to be with Zel, but how can she run from her destiny if it means putting the whole kingdom in danger?
Everyone in the desert kingdom believes the goddesses are immortal, but Zel has invented a way to kill them. Now all he has to do is convince Farissa to run away with him and plant a seed of hope in her heart that she’s not destined to die. Little does he know that one seed of hope could change the course of the future.
About the author
Ellie Ann is a New York Times and USA Today bestseller of science fiction, comics, and thrillers.
I was born in the jungles of Thailand, was raised in a small farming village in Iowa, lived in the middle of a Texan desert, and now abide in the Ozarks.
I like writing fairy tales, tall tales, thrillers, science fiction, and am seriously interested in transmedia storytelling.
I’m a creative editor for Stonehouse Ink. I’m a producer of interactive books at Noble Beast.
Come say hi! I don’t bite. Unless I’ve been turned into a zombie.
Ashley's Review
The Silver Sickle is a wonderful mix of sci-fi, romance, steampunk/cyberpunk, and good vs. evil. There's action, adventure, secrets, romance, aliens, and all kinds of things that make a story great! Once I got a few chapters in, I was sucked into this world and the characters and had a hard time putting this book down.
There is quite a bit of world building, and I felt like it was enough to know a little bit about the structure of the world and why things are the way they are. It's enough to know that the Amar are worshiped as goddesses, there's a king who rules the people but worships the Amar, the cogsmen are metalmen who function as the king's guard, and there are people who are "harvested" as sacrifices to the Amar. But I still had so many questions about this world, and I finished the book feeling like I had been told more things than I had been shown. I wanted more, and I still have so many questions about this world and its people. Also about the world the Amar came from, but I think that's a story for a different day.
I did really enjoy how the romance was done though. There's no instalove, which was really nice. Zel and Farissa are in love from the beginning of the story, and it's implied that they have been for quite some time. The only thing standing in the way of their happily ever after is the Amar - they've marked Farissa as one of the consecrated and there is no way she can escape without them finding her. They both are forced to make choices and sacrifices that could ruin their plans to run away together, but they do it because they love each other. Friendships and rivalries are also dealt with, and I really enjoyed the way Ellie handled all of the relationships in general.
The book is told from three perspectives - Farissa's, Zel's, and Gira's. Gira is the leader of the Amar, and her chapters really made me think about why she does the things she does and about how the "evil" characters aren't always totally bad. I wish there were more chapters from her, because I think it would have been interesting to learn more about the Amar from their leader. I mean, we learn about why they're there and what they're planning and how they mourn and think, but I really felt like there was just so much more to be learned. I also kind of wish there was a fourth perspective so that we could have learned more about the cogsmen. They were my favorite characters, and I feel like I don't know enough about them!
Overall, I think this book had a lot of potential. I think it might have made a good duology, especially if more information was included about the Amar and the cogsmen. Or maybe some short stories to go along with it would be nice. I enjoyed the stories and the characters, but I always felt like something was missing. I definitely think sci-fi and steampunk fans would enjoy The Silver Sickle, especially if you like a little bit of romance and dystopia thrown in. I would give it a 3.5/5, but I will definitely be looking in to more of Ellie Ann's works!
The Giveaway!
Thanks for stopping by today!
--Ashley & Paul
Thank you for the review, Ashley.
ReplyDeleteWonderful review, Ashley! I think I'd really enjoyed this one, too. It sounds fascinating and full of great characters. Gira sounds like a really intriguing POV and complex, too. And can I say yay for no insta-love!? How great is that!
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