Pages: 240
Published: April 17th 2013 by Lazy Day Publishing
Series: Aberrant #1
Source: From Author for Tour
In the future Dystopian society of Cabal, the government instills equality for all and offers its citizens the perfect system. There is food, shelter and jobs for everyone. The one requirement is to follow the rules without question, including the government’s match in marriage and “The Day of the Chosen”, a lottery that randomly selects families to conceive children as natural means hasn’t existed in generations. Following her eighteenth birthday, Olivia Parker accepts her requirement to marry her childhood best friend, Joshua Warren, and is eager to start her work assignment and new life when it all comes abruptly to an end as she’s arrested and thrown in prison. The only crime committed, her existence. Olivia is unlike the rest of the world born not from “The Day of the Chosen.” The truth haunts the government and puts her life in grave danger as one simple fact would destroy the perfect system.With Joshua’s help, Olivia breaks free of prison and is forced on the run. Together they set out to find the promised rebel town in search of a new home and new life together. Their situation seems less than promising as they reach the town of Haven. New rules and customs must be adhered to in order to stay. Leaving would mean most certain death in the large expanse of the Gravelands. Time is running out as the government mounts an attack to destroy Olivia and bury her secret with her. Thrown into a world unlike their own, they must quickly adapt to survive.
Cabal is a futuristic, dystopian world that is seemingly wonderful on the surface, underneath… not so much. Every citizen, on their eighteenth birthday, participates in a matching ceremony for marriage and then later following, “The Day of the Chosen” which is a lottery designed to give married couples a child. Women can no longer conceive children as we know it to be today, and haven’t been able for a very long time. Olivia is matched with her best friend Joshua, and on the night of their marriage the government captures Olivia and imprisons her for reasons she knows nothing about. It’s after her mother is also imprisoned that she learns she was conceived naturally, the last child to be born that way in decades and she may also carry the ability to. After rebels break her out of prison, she escapes with Joshua outside of the walls and learns that the life she knew is not the peaceful, orderly life she once though… and now Joshua and her are on the run for their lives.
I absolutely adored Olivia. She was such a great main character and I immediately formed an attachment with her. She was very inquisitive and I loved how she always had a bit of a rebel streak in her; reading romance novels in her parent’s basement… skipping school. From the very first chapter, the flashback when she was a child, I instantly liked her. I also really liked Joshua, the other main character although I think part of my liking him so much was due to the fact that Olivia adored him. All of the other characters I was incredibly suspicious of, and still am. I think that was the intention as you will quickly learn that things are not as they seem in the world of Cabal. I constantly was questioning everyone that Oliva and Joshua interacted with them in fear they would turn against the couple.
The world building was fantastic albeit not all of the questions have yet been answered, but that is to be expected as up until the last page Olivia and Joshua are still learning about the world they live in. I love the elements of advanced science that were added in spontaneously and I loved the descriptions of each new place they encountered.
The pacing and plot are phenomenal… at no point during this book did I feel like I could put it down. I read it in one sitting and am still crying for more! It’s incredibly fast paced, and that starts from the moment you open to the first page.
I cannot wait to read the next book in the Aberrant series. I love the hints of an upcoming revolution and I’m dying for answers on how Olivia’s mother and the other characters will come into play. I’m sure that Haven and Genesis will come into play quite a bit in the next book!
I definitely recommend Aberrant if you love dystopians! It’s a fast paced and plot driven and you won’t be able to put it down!
About Ruth Silver
Ruth Silver is the best-selling author of Aberrant. The Young Adult/New Adult Romantic Dystopian Adventure, Aberrant is the first in a trilogy, released April 17th, 2013. Silver first began writing poetry as a teenager and reading heaps of fan fiction in her free time. She attended Northern Illinois University in 2001 and graduated with a Bachelor’s in Communication. While in college she spent much of her free time writing with friends she met online and penning her first novel, Deuces are Wild, which she self-published in 2004. Her favorite class was Creative Writing senior year where she often handed in assignments longer than the professor required because she loved to write and always wanted to finish her stories. Her love of writing, led her on an adventure in 2007 to Melbourne, Australia. Silver enjoys reading YA/NA novels and sharing her favorite books with other readers. She also enjoys photography, traveling and of most of all writing.
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