Title: Revelations (The Elysium Chronicles #2)
Author: J.A. Souders
Release Date: November 5th 2013
Publisher: Tor Teen
Age Group: Young Adult
Source: Finished copy from publisher
Six weeks after her arrival on the Surface, Evelyn Winters is no closer to unlocking the memories lost in her subconscious than she was when she first came. Isolated in a strange new society, Evie has only Gavin Hunter to remind her of who she once was.
But even with a clean slate, it’s easy to see that Evie doesn’t fit in on the Surface. And as her differences make her feel more and more alone, she can’t help but yearn for that place she doesn’t remember: the isolated city hidden in the depths of the ocean. Elysium. Home.
But she can’t exactly tell Gavin what she’s feeling. Not when he’s the one who helped her escape Elysium in the first place, and has the scars to prove it. Though the doctors say otherwise, Gavin believes that Evie just needs time. And if her memories don’t come back, well, maybe she’s better off not remembering her past.
But the decision may be out of their hands when Evie’s ever-elusive memories begin to collide with reality. People and images from her past appear in the most unlikely places, haunting her, provoking her…and making her seem not only strange but dangerous.
Evie and Gavin can’t wait around for her memories to return. They’ll have to journey across the Outlands of the Surface to find help, and in the end, their search may just lead them back to the place it all started…(Spoilers if you haven't read Renegade.)
Revelations isn't quite the sequel I expected it to be, which doesn't make sense at all because it's not like I knew what to expect from this. Evie being out of Elysium and up in the Surface made for one unpredictable adventure all throughout, if nothing else. It was slow to start and I had trouble staying focused initially, but once the action started, it never stopped.
After suffering unknown injuries during their escape from Elysium, Evie feels lost and alone in a world she's never known before, and she keeps having "blackouts" where her brain seems to revert to her Enforcer training, endangering not only herself but everyone else around her as well. I knew that EMF field bit at the end of Renegade would come to haunt her, so this wasn't a surprise to me at all, but it sure was sadistically enjoyable to see Evie go through those blackouts because it just meant that her job in Elysium was far from being done.
As Evie travels the world topside, trying to find a cure to her strange illness, we now get to learn just how devastating the apocalyptic event that shook this fictional world was and how the humans above sea level coped with that. It irked me how Evie had it somehow easy at first, so I was relieved to find out that it was other people's hidden motives and not her charm that brought her where she needed to be.
In this sequel, Evie is quite the polar opposite of who had been in the first book, but it's understandable. Now, she's the one in a world new to her so she's the one who requires help, although that's not to say she was helpless. Oh, no. She may have lost her memory, but definitely not her willingness to take matters into her own hands when she sees fit. Admittedly, that put her in a lot of trouble, but what fun is a book without trouble?
With more time they spend together and the more people they spend it with, it is inevitable that Evie and Gavin's relationship would encounter its own hurdles. And, oh, man, I really thought they'd be done for. Gavin was with Evie through everything - well, almost everything - but that doesn't mean he agreed with her the whole time. He often irritated me because of how unreasonable and prideful he was, but turns out there is actually a reason for that - a reason that is yet to be known but has been hinted at a lot. Seeds of a love triangle were planted in this book, but for now, there is no reason to worry about that, and I sure hope Souders keeps it that way.
All in all, for me Revelations didn't surpass Renegade but although I feel like not much progress was made in this book with regards to the series' overall plot, I still enjoyed it and I'm really looking forward to the third book because that one has a lot to tackle.
MY FAVORITE PART was
"And what, pray tell, do you know about sexual practices that involve straps?" There's laughter in his voice.
I straighten my shoulders and lift my chin. "I am well-versed in the ways of mating." I frown. Where did that come from?
"You are, are you?" he says, still laughing. He threads my arm through his. "Well, then, do tell. I'm obviously not as 'well-versed' as you.":))
RATING:
I didn't realise this was a series! I've read a few reviews for it...so total DUH moment to me. *hides* STILL. It does sound like a pretty cool series, although it's annoying when the sequels don't live up to the main series, eh? Dang. I always get annoyed at that.
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