I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Machinations by Hayley Stone Series: ,
Published by Hydra on July 26th 2016
Pages: 343
Format: eARC
Source: NetGalley
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Perfect for fans of Robopocalypse, this action-packed science-fiction debut introduces a chilling future and an unforgettable heroine with a powerful role to play in the battle for humanity’s survival. The machines have risen, but not out of malice. They were simply following a command: to stop the endless wars that have plagued the world throughout history. Their solution was perfectly logical. To end the fighting, they decided to end the human race. A potent symbol of the resistance, Rhona Long has served on the front lines of the conflict since the first Machinations began—until she is killed during a rescue mission gone wrong. Now Rhona awakens to find herself transported to a new body, complete with her DNA, her personality, even her memories. She is a clone . . . of herself. Trapped in the shadow of the life she once knew, the reincarnated Rhona must find her place among old friends and newfound enemies—and quickly. For the machines are inching closer to exterminating humans for good. And only Rhona, whoever she is now, can save them.
Every once in a while I come across a novel that clearly isn’t written for me. This doesn’t mean the novel isn’t a wonderful book on its own or isn’t worth someone else’s reading efforts; merely that for myself something didn’t “click”. I wasn’t satisfied on a base level with this book and I’m not certain if it was the main character, something about the plot, or the writing style – but this one just didn’t cast the same spell over me as most post-apocalyptic novels tend to and I couldn’t really put my finger on why.
Rhona Long is a survivor – a survivor who, after her death, has herself is cloned so that she may continue leading the human existence against the machines that crushed civilization. The vestiges of humanity need a leader to hold hope of overcoming the mechanical horrors they created in hopes of making human life everywhere easier. Unfortunately, an attack occurs on the bunker where Rhona’s clone is being grown and she must flee with her life without having any memories of her life before waking up in the cloning tank.
Meanwhile, Camus, the new leader of the human resistance and Rhona 1.0’s lover, struggles to accept the return of the love of his life in the form of a clone who remembers nothing. Rhona did not tell Camus about the clone program and he struggles to fight his attraction for the clone-who-is-not-her.
It’s a tall order when any novel attempts to create a narrative so close to the original Terminator story line: the end of civilization due to the computers we created to make life easier, the computers hunting humanity because we are a threat, the life of survivors hiding from these machines. Unfortunately, I’ve yet to read a novel that really captures the complexity and genius behind the Terminator franchise. Machinations also failed live up to it’s iconic predecessor and quickly becomes a novel about a clone finding her way in this new world and invokes a love triangle to add a little more suspense into the mix for female readers.
Machinations is an interesting entry into the post-apocalyptic genre that will please readers looking for plenty of intrigue and romantic suspense.
The fact that Machinations did not live up to my admittedly over ambitious expectations wasn’t at the heart of my dissatisfaction with Machinations. I couldn’t connect with the main character and half way through I wasn’t invested in the characters – not for a lack of effort on the author’s part with her colorful character histories, the evolution of clone Rhona understanding of the world and some interesting character interactions. Maybe I just wasn’t in the mood for this sort of novel, I’ll never know. Machinations just didn’t engage me emotionally or intellectually for some unknown reason. I’m relatively certain, regardless of why I didn’t enjoy this novel as much as anticipated, my issues were probably due to the fact that a basic ingredient was missing for me. I definitely suggest others check out Machinations if they are a science fiction or post-apocalyptic romance fan.
This novel will appeal to readers who enjoy post-apocalyptic fiction, love triangles, romantic suspense, novels that end with plot twists and love interests with English accents.
About Hayley Stone
Hayley Stone has lived her entire life in sunny California, where the weather is usually perfect and nothing as exciting as a robot apocalypse ever happens.
When not reading or writing, she freelances as an editor and graphic designer, falls in love with videogame characters, and analyzes buildings for velociraptor entry points. She holds a bachelor’s degree in history and a minor in German from California State University, Sacramento.
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