Sunday, March 20, 2016

Review: The Unremembered Trilogy by: Jessica Brody

The Unremembered Trilogy 
By: Jessica Brody

Series Order: Unremembered, Unforgotten, Unchanged
Genre: Dystopian, Young Adult Sci-fi

Unremembered Synopsis:
Length: 320 pages

The only thing worse than forgetting her past . . . is remembering it.

When Freedom Airlines flight 121 went down over the Pacific Ocean, no one ever expected to find survivors. Which is why the sixteen-year-old girl discovered floating among the wreckage—alive—is making headlines across the globe.

Even more strange is that her body is miraculously unharmed and she has no memories of boarding the plane. She has no memories of her life before the crash. She has no memories period. No one knows how she survived. No one knows why she wasn’t on the passenger manifest. And no one can explain why her DNA and fingerprints can’t be found in a single database in the world.

Crippled by a world she doesn’t know, plagued by abilities she doesn’t understand, and haunted by a looming threat she can’t remember, Seraphina struggles to piece together her forgotten past and discover who she really is. But with every clue only comes more questions. And she’s running out of time to answer them.
Her only hope is a strangely alluring boy who claims to know her from before the crash. Who claims they were in love. But can she really trust him? And will he be able to protect her from the people who have been making her forget?

From popular young adult author Jessica Brody comes a compelling and suspenseful new sci-fi series, set in a world where science knows no boundaries, memories are manipulated, and true love can never be forgotten.

My Rating:


Unforgotten Synopsis:
Length: 416 pages

Some memories are better left forgotten... 

After a daring escape from the scientists at Diotech who created her, Seraphina believes she is finally safe from the horrors of her past. But new threats await Sera and her boyfriend, Zen, at every turn as Zen falls prey to a mysterious illness and Sera’s extraordinary abilities make it more and more difficult to stay hidden. Meanwhile, Diotech has developed a dangerous new weapon designed to apprehend her. A weapon that even Sera will be powerless to stop. Her only hope of saving Zen’s life and defeating the company that made her is a secret buried deep within her mind. A secret that Diotech will kill to protect. And it won’t stay forgotten for long.

Packed with mystery, suspense, and romance, this riveting second installment of Jessica Brody’s Unremembered trilogy delivers more heart-pounding action as loyalties are tested, love becomes a weapon, and no one’s memories are safe.
 

My Rating:


Unchanged Synopsis:
Length: 432 pages

So many secrets are buried within these compound walls.
I used to be one of those secrets.
 


After returning to the Diotech compound and undergoing an experimental new memory alteration, Seraphina is now a loyal, obedient servant to Dr. Alixter and the powerful company that created her. Happy and in love with Kaelen, another scientifically-enhanced human designed to be her perfect match, Sera’s history with a boy named Zen is just a distant memory from a rebellious past she longs to forget.

But as Sera and Kaelen embark on a nationwide tour to promote Diotech’s new product line—a collection of controversial genetic modifications available to the public—Sera’s mind starts to rebel. She can’t stop the memories of Zen from creeping back in.

As more secrets are revealed, more enemies are uncovered, and the reality of a Diotech-controlled world grows closer every day, Sera will have to choose where her true loyalties lie, but it’s a choice that may cost her everything she’s ever loved.

My Rating:


My Overall Review:

Caution may contain spoilers!!

This is probably one of the best trilogies I have read in a long time. Jessica Brody is a remarkable author, she is an amazing story teller and has put together an great story here about true love, mad scientists and time travel. 

I met Jessica Brody a couple years ago at a book signing, she is such a sweet person and after hearing her talk about her book during a panel I sat in on I knew I just had to read this series. However, sadly life got in the way and other books came out that jumped to the front of the line and this series just kept getting pushed further and further down the list. So when a friend on Goodreads (Erika from Maniacal Reader) asked me to do a Buddy Read and suggested this series, I jumped on the chance. This was my first Buddy Read and I really enjoyed it, it's great hearing what others think about books. 

“Let me not to the marriage of true minds 
Admit impediments. Love is not love 
Which alters when it alteration finds, 
Or bends with the remover to remove. 
O no, it is an ever-fixed mark 
That looks on tempests and is never shaken; 
It is the star to every wand'ring barque, 
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken. 
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks 
Within his bending sickle's compass come; 
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, 
But bears it out even to the edge of doom. 
If this be error and upon me proved, 
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.” 

The first book centers most around Sonnet 116 by William Shakespeare. One of my favorite poems of all time!  A nameless girl is found among the wreckage of a plane crash in 2013 with no memory of who she is or where. She's sent to live with a foster family, but as time goes on she discovers she is not what she seems. There is much more to her than meets the eye. Then a boy name Zen enters her life and shakes up all she has come to know and love, but there is more to Zen as well. He knows this nameless girl, Seraphina. 

I loved how this book kept you guessing you never really knew what was going to happen next. I was not prepared for the futuristic twist this series was going to take. SERA AND ZEN FROM THE FUTURE...WHAT?? TRAVELING THROUGH TIME?!? I was definitely not ready for that, it was a welcome surprise that really added to the story. I like being surprised when reading a book, it nice not knowing what is going to happen next.

“Trust your heart."..."It's the only thing that will never lie to you.”

You come to find that Sera and Zen were trying to escape from Diotech, the company that created Sera from synthetic DNA, another twist I did not see coming. They planned to run away and travel back in time to 1609, the year Shakespeare wrote Sonnet 116, a place Diotech could never tear them apart. However, like all great plans things went array, they were separated on the journey to 1609. 

We get to meet so many amazing characters throughout this first book. Like Cody, Sera's nerdy, sarcastic thirteen year old foster brother. I loved him has a secondary character. He definitely added a little something to the story. Then there's the mysteries Dr. Maxxer, when I first came across her character I knew there had to be more to her story and I wasn't disappointed, she came back in Unforgotten with an even more detailed story. Both Cody and Dr. Maxxer make an appearance in Unforgotten actually, they play a major part in what develops throughout the second book. 

Sera and Zen made it to 1609, away from Diotech and Dr. Alixter, the monster determined to take Sera away from Zen and use her for his own diabolical plans. However, things go wrong when Sera shows off her talents in order to save Zen. She winds up on a witch trail while Zen lies dying from a mysteries illness.  This is about when Kaelan is introduced, a Diotech agent tasked with unlocking Sera's cryptic memories to a cure for Dr. Alixter and bringing back Diotech's trillion dollar investment. From the beginning I did not trust him. I was TEAM ZEN all the way!! I was until the very end. However, as time went on and his personality started to shine through and I began to like his character more.

We find that Dr. Maxxer plays a huge role in much that happens throughout this story, and why Sera ended up in 2013 instead of with Zen. Cody also makes an appearance in this book as an adult with his own family. It was nice to have familiar secondary characters return, especially when you thought they were gone for good. 

Once again it seems Diotech is going to win this battle as well because Sera will do whatever it takes to save Zen. They have a bond that no one can destroy, no matter how many times they alter her memories. That is until she returns to Diotech, and makes an exchange for the antidote to cure Zen.

The final book. Unchanged was bit of a challenge for me to finish. I had a hard time with the new Sera. Diotech once again altered her memories but this time they tweaked a few things and she was never really the same character we had come to know and love in the first two books. Zen isn't able to bring her back to him as easily, she thinks of him has the boy that deceived her thanks to Diotech's technology. It was interesting to see her struggle with what she has been told is right and what she knows to be right. That constant struggle made this a remarkable final installment to an already great series. 

We learn so much about Diotech and who Sera really is in Unchanged. This was a great ending to a remarkable story. While I wasn't to keen on the ending of the third book, it was still one of the best endings I have read in a while. It truly shows you nothing can stand in the way of true love. 

"Yes...Always yes."

I would definitely recommend this trilogy! It is an amazing read and I'm sorry it took me this longer to get to reading it. I hope to read more of Jessica Brody's work and I really hope she writes more books like these. The mystery and unexpected twists and turns really kept me engrossed in the story, it kept me wanting more. She did an amazing job bringing the Diotech world to life. 



Published by: K

****All synopses come from Goodreads.****