Review of Otherborn by Anna Silver and INT giveaway!

I am so thrilled to introduce Otherborn by Anna Silver. Anna is a terrific new YA author, with a wonderful book to share with all of you.

Goodreads Book Description: London and her teenage friends live in a reprocessed world.

Confined within Capital City’s concrete walls, London has done the impossible and the illegal. She’s created something New- a song. But her mentor, club owner Pauly, is not impressed. Since the historic Energy Crisis forced everyone behind walls generations ago, the Tycoons have ensured there is truly nothing new allowed under the sun. Pauly warns London to keep her song to herself, if she knows what’s good for her.

What he doesn’t know is that London is keeping an even bigger secret: she dreams. And she’s not alone. London’s band-mates and friends have begun dreaming as well, seeing themselves in “night pictures” as beings from another world. As Otherborn, they must piece together the story of their astral avatars, the Others, in order to save their world from a dreamless, hopeless future.

When Pauly is murdered and an Otherborn goes missing, London realizes someone is hunting them down. Escaping along the Outroads, they brave the deserted Houselands with only their dreams to guide them. Can they find their friend before the assassin finds them? Will being Otherborn save their lives, or destroy them?

Publisher: Sapphire Star Publishing 
Release Date: April 4, 2013

Pages: 290 

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

My review:
For those of you who have been following along on my reviews, you know that I love discovering new authors. Finding a gem in such a deluge of novels is pretty difficult, but Otherborn is definitely one of those gems. I was approached by the author to review her book, and I'm glad she sent me a copy!

Otherborn by Anna Silver is an amalgam of genres-- I would describe it as a YA science fiction dystopian novel. We are introduced to London, a hardened young girl who has to live in a world where nothing is New. No one ever dreams, except for her. She and her band of friends (who have also started dreaming) start to realize there is a lot more to their world than they realized. The Tycoons rule their world, and because of war and lack of resources, everyone lives in squalor. They barter, steal, and trade to stay alive. When one of their gang gets brutally killed and another kidnapped, the friends journey to find their missing companion, and discover secret upon secret along the way.

I was actually reading another similar and well hyped book at the same time, and put down that one in favor of this one. The world building is fascinating and not one I've seen yet. The characters are all very distinct, and as the reader will find out, have more layers than one. The pacing is great, and I was surprised more than once with some terrific twists to the storyline. Silver is very good at description-- I could distinctly imagine the surroundings and what their journey looked like.

The one issue I had with this book was London herself. She is a very prickly protagonist, and Silver takes a risk at making her the main character. I had a hard time liking her. That said, I know this is likely to be a trilogy, so her growth has to come in three books. So I'm willing to wait.

Overall, a terrific first installment by a new author with wonderful world building and fascinating characters. I'll be picking up the next book, for sure!

Author Bio:

Anna Silver grew up with a passion for words, books, and storytelling. She began writing as a child and eventually landed at St. Edward’s University in Austin where she studied English Writing & Rhetoric. She has always nurtured a vivid imagination and a love for art, expression, and fantasy. Currently she resides in the greater Houston area with her family and pets where she continues to read, write, and dream. Otherborn is her first published novel.

Book Links:

Otherborn Goodreads page: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17162371-otherborn

Otherborn book trailer on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fiWzY-jTRg

Otherborn excerpt on my website: http://www.annasilverauthor.com/otherborn.html#excerpt

Otherborn listing on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Otherborn-Anna-Silver/dp/1938404327/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1364238677&sr=8-1&keywords=Otherborn

Author Blurbs:

"Anna Silver weaves a dark new world full of taut suspense and characters that leap off the page." –Sophie Jordan, NYT bestselling author of the Firelight trilogy

"Travel to a world where dreaming is a radical act that can save the world… Anna Silver’s post-apocalyptic vision is rich with imagery and metaphysical ideas, grounded by vivid, three-dimensional characters. A truly fresh take on dystopian." –Nina Berry, author of the OTHERKIN series

“Silver built the right amount of conflict and tension to draw readers into her dystopian world, and created characters who are leery, yet determined to embrace New.” –Natasha Hanova, author of Edge of Truth

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