Horde Blog Tour: Review

HORDE
Razorland #3
Ann Aguirre
Young Adult/Dystopian
432 pages
Feiwel & Friends
Available October 29th
Source: ARC from publisher for review

THE STORY
The horde is coming.

Salvation is surrounded, monsters at the gates, and this time, they're not going away. When Deuce, Fade, Stalker and Tegan set out, the odds are against them. But the odds have been stacked against Deuce from the moment she was born. She might not be a Huntress anymore, but she doesn't run. With her knives in hand and her companions at her side, she will not falter, whether fighting for her life or Fade's love.

Ahead, the battle of a lifetime awaits. Freaks are everywhere, attacking settlements, setting up scouts, perimeters, and patrols. There hasn't been a war like this in centuries, and humans have forgotten how to stand and fight. Unless Deuce can lead them.

This time, however, more than the fate of a single enclave or outpost hangs in the balance. This time, Deuce carries the banner for the survival of all humanity.

MY THOUGHTS
Horde concludes the Razorland trilogy in a frenzy of claws and teeth, but in between the deep lacerations and the brutal blows delivered to our hearts Ms. Aguirre beautifully infuses the warmth of friendship and first love, filling each emotional slice and tear the Freaks make with just enough light to fight off their darkness. Horde takes us on more of a journey than the previous two books, Deuce and Fade constantly in motion as they seek to build an army capable of meeting the Freaks head on, but instead of being a slow build to a final epic battle, we’re given a more painfully realistic setup wherein minor and major battles (both mental and physical) are fought throughout to keep our breath escaping our lips in short pants. The pacing is beautifully executed, blood and death chilling our blood while love and family heats it again, leaving us exhausted and emotionally depleted by the end, but also so very hopeful.

Deuce has been an extraordinary young woman from the beginning, her mental and physical toughness accompanied by a sweet vulnerability when it comes to dealing with relationships and feelings of any kind. In Horde she’s at the top of her game as a fighter and leader, but the true beauty of her lies in her weaknesses just as much as it does her strengths, and the devoted effort she makes to be both emotionally and physically demonstrative to those she cares for is as much a joy to experience as her battlefield successes. In the darkness of the underground enclave she was a warrior only–her life dedicated to a single purpose–but the woman at the end of Horde is a striking combination qualities, too large and full of life to fit in any one neatly labeled box.

Fade has our hearts in a vise for a good portion of this book, the lingering effects of the abuse he endured in Outpost present and accounted for, and we can’t help but flinch or wince with him whenever someone makes physical contact. He’s been such a force to be reckoned with in these books that it’s a special kind of torture to see him brought so low, but through his obvious pain the fire that’s always burned so brightly in him shines, and we have the pleasure of watching him fight his way free of the fears paralyzing his mind to find Deuce waiting patiently for him on the other side. The two of them together are an extraordinary and unforgettable pair, one destined for the favorites shelf to be read and enjoyed again and again.

Overall, Horde is an emotionally-charged and action-packed finale, showing us with more than just Deuce how one person can inspire change and rewrite what was sure to be a dark and bleak history, both humbling us and sparking in us a renewed desire to bring forth our own change, however small it may seem in the grand scheme of things.

Rating: 4/5

Find Ann:

Website • Facebook • Twitter • Goodreads • Amazon

Ann is a part of the Fierce Reads Tour (along with the amazing Leigh Bardugo, Gennifer Albin, and Jessica Brody), so be sure and check HERE to see if they're coming to a stop near you!

• • • • • • • • • •

HORDE BOOK TRAILER

• • • • • • • • • • 

GIVEAWAY

Thanks to the always outstanding team at Macmillan, I have paperback copies of both Enclave and Outpost to give away today, as well as a hardcover copy of Horde. To enter, please just fill out the Rafflecopter form below. Giveaway is open to US/Canada only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

• • • • • • • • • • 

Be sure and check out all the remaining stops on the tour for more interviews, reviews, guest posts and chances to win!

Monday 10/14

Rainy Day Ramblings

Tuesday 10/15

Supernatural Snark

Wednesday 10/16

Two Chicks on Books

Thursday 10/17

Almost Grown-Up

Friday 10/18

Alice Marvels

Monday 10/21

The Midnight Garden

Tuesday 10/22

PageTurners

Wednesday 10/23

Curling Up with a Good Book

Thursday 10/24

Birth of a New Witch

Friday 10/25

Adventures of a Book Junkie

Guest Post: Ann Aguirre

I'm thrilled today to welcome Ann Aguirre to the blog to chat a little bit about her upcoming young adult release Enclave. I had the opportunity to read and review Enclave as part of a tour through Teen Book Scene and you can read my review HERE. I absolutely adored this one, and am greatly looking forward to the next book in the series, Outpost.

Let's say you have written yourself as a character in Enclave, can you give us a short anecdote on the number of scars you bear, the name you've been given, and how you came to earn that particular name?

Since I have children, but I'm no fighter, and I have no skill at building or fixing anything, it's pretty clear I'd be a Breeder. That means I'd have only one scar on my arm. Since I'm smart, they'd pair me with a handsome male in the hopes that our children would therefore be reasonably attractive and intelligent. Though all knowledge of genetics has been lost, they do retrain a rudimentary understanding that when you mix two things you sometimes get a combination of qualities in the new product. It's quite likely that I'd end up having babies with Stone, or someone like him.

I'd also share in the responsibility for watching and caring for the young until they grow old enough to start basic brat training. Not school as we know it, but survival skills, crucial for life down below. Unfortunately, even with their best efforts, the infant mortality rate is high and the life span is short, due to privation and quality of life issues. The Wordkeeper maintains charts to keep the breeding schedule as varied as possible, though there are some problems of consanguinity, naturally, which contributes to the decline in population. Being a Breeder is heartbreaking because you must toughen yourself emotionally and not permit yourself to get attached to the young for whom you care. Hence, the rather derogatory name.

If I survived to age 15 and got my name, then my name would be earned by chance, like everyone else. Your name is determined by whatever object your blood spills on when you move your hand after the cut(s). If there are two objects struck, (which happens rarely), the person ends up with a compound name, and everyone makes fun of him for being called Hammershoe, for example.

Thank you so much for stopping by Ann! There are so many fascinating aspects to life in this post apocalyptic environment, so be sure to be at the bookstore on April 12th so you can immerse yourself in Deuce's world! If you want more information on Ann, Enclave, or any of her adult romance and science fiction/fantasy releases, you can find her here:

Website

ENCLAVE (from Goodreads):

New York City has been decimated by war and plague, and most of civilization has migrated to underground enclaves, where life expectancy is no more than the early 20's. When Deuce turns 15, she takes on her role as a Huntress, and is paired with Fade, a teenage Hunter who lived Topside as a young boy. When she and Fade discover that the neighboring enclave has been decimated by the tunnel monsters—or Freaks—who seem to be growing more organized, the elders refuse to listen to warnings. And when Deuce and Fade are exiled from the enclave, the girl born in darkness must survive in daylight, in the ruins of a city whose population has dwindled to a few dangerous gangs. As the two are guided by Fade’s long-ago memories, they face dangers, and feelings, unlike any they’ve ever known.

Review: Enclave

ENCLAVE (Razorland #1)
Ann Aguirre
Young Adult/Post-Apocolyptic
259 Pages
Feiwel & Friends
Available April 12th
Received for review as part of a tour through Teen Book Scene

THE STORY
Deuce has always wanted to be a Huntress. Though her pretty looks could also make her a good Breeder, she's never wanted to do anything other than protect and support her enclave by going out in the underground tunnels in which they live and hunting for food. And on the day of her naming, the day she goes from being a mere number to having an actual name and purpose, she achieves her goal.

She is quickly partnered with Fade, a young man not born in the enclave and rumored to have lived Topside for several years before being forced underground. He doesn't seem to like her, or anyone, but they both know they need one another for support against the Freaks–monstrous human-like creatures that lurk in the tunnels waiting for a fresh meal.

Deuce and Fade quickly learn the Freaks are a bigger threat to the enclave than they thought previously, and when they find their closest neighboring enclave has been overrun, they know it won't be long before they're next. Quickly following their report to their superiors however, Deuce and Fade are both exiled Topside, a place where betrayers of the enclave are sent and never thought of again. For Deuce it's the worst punishment she can imagine, a certain death sentence, but with Fade by her side she realizes her entire life has been a lie and now the two of them must navigate their new circumstances together.

MY THOUGHTS
Enclave is a story enveloped in literal and figurative darkness, its pages revealing to us a cruel yet fascinating world set in the bowels of a world we once knew, grim and dank tunnels now the environment best suited for survival after the apocalypse ravaged everything above ground. We are held transfixed by Deuce and her enclave's way of life, as thoroughly in the dark as to the rules and regulations that so rigidly define this new existence as the characters are to the way of life that came before. Our shared curiosity–Deuce and company's for all the small tokens and trinkets that are meager representations of a life lived Topside, and ours for their method of survival–makes us partners in this tale, existing side by side in drastically different realities but breaching the paper-thin barrier between our worlds with our equal interest in the other's quality of life. Though Deuce is unaware of our existence, we feel intimately connected to her as we watch remnants of our current lives pass under her inquisitive gaze, and we can't help but want to share our lives with her, answering her questions as she shares her story with us.

Both she and Fade make it nearly impossible not to be invested in their day to day struggles, their physical strength echoed in the breadth of their mental capacity as their minds are always working and questioning while their bodies move to protect and support the enclave. The fact that touch is forbidden within the enclave structure save for those who are Breeders makes their quiet moments pulse with tension and heightened anticipation, and we anxiously hold our breath as they progress from strangers to hunting partners to exiled friends, and then finally to a potential romantic pair.

Once Fade and Deuce are forced Topside, our already keen interest spikes to a new level as we seem to switch roles with Deuce, her expulsion from the familiar tunnels of her home and her entry into the world above ground startling and unnerving in its difference, but for us it's coming home–back to a world we recognize and inherently understand despite its change in appearance. Reading as small items, creatures, and weather patterns shock and amaze Deuce is exceedingly satisfying, the relationship we formed with her in the tunnels strengthening as she explores our world with the same unhidden interest we possessed in our travels through hers chapters before. Though Topside is familiar to us, we still find ourselves sharing in both Fade and Deuce's enthusiasm and curiosity for uncovering just what happened to the entire population, asking the same questions they desperately want answered as all three of us tread carefully in this new life.

Enclave is the beginning of a spectacular journey, one where we are not just a reader, but a companion to those written in ink on the pages. This story does start a bit stronger than it ends, Fade and Deuce's journey to find a settlement his father mentioned once lulling a bit toward the conclusion of this obvious part one of not-sure-how-many, only to pick back up just as we are faced with the final page. It's not so much a cliffhanger as an abrupt end and, essentially, a "to be continued". Overall though, Enclave is a quick and extremely interesting read, and a journey I will no doubt be continuing.

Rating: 4/5