Home > Categories > Books > Young Adult > Violet Black review
Set in the near future, this first book in a fast-paced trilogy will hook you in from the first page.
Violet Black and Ethan Wright are both in a coma after contracting the lethal M-fever. They have never met:
I couldn't speak, but I was trying so hard to communicate and then . . . then . . .
I pushed. And something, someone, pushed back.
Her name is Violet. Violet, but she is sunshine-yellow, and I need to find her because I think she might be just like me.
But there is a far more serious reason for Ethan to find Violet: the sinister Foundation is trying to hunt them down.
Product reviews...
Violet Black is set in the not too distant future where various viruses have affected the world, the most recent being the M-Fever, which makes Covid19 seem like a mild cold. We are immediately introduced to Violet and the Ethan, the main two characters in this book, with each chapter alternating viewpoints for the entirety of the book. Ethan and Violet are two of the VERY few children to have caught M-fever and survived but they quickly discover they can communicate telepathically and this puts them in jeopardy. I liked the fact that they take their time learning how to use their abilities, growing stronger as the book progresses. There were times when this felt a little fast, so I would remind myself that we aren't getting an accurate sense of time.
The plot itself takes a lot from books of old but has plenty of excitement, so I wasn't bored whilst reading it, everything flowed along really well and although the relationship between Violet and Ethan feels like it moved far too fast, I can put it down to near death experience, fear and simply being a teenager. For some reason there is a character list at the start of the book, I always find this quite superfluous and annoying if all of the characters are new to us and that this should be regulated to sequels or the back of the book. I was pleased to see many references to Auckland, Piha etc. and the changes that have come to our country in this world, so many books I've read by NZ authors seem to ignore NZ, so this was good.
I enjoyed this more than I thought I would, the book flowed well and whilst I knew how it would basically end, early on in the book, I still found it well written and I am looking forward to when the next book comes out.
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