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Title: Escapement
Series: The Neumarian Chronicles #1
Author: Ciara Knight
Genres: Dystopia, Science Fiction, Young Adult
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Escapement
The Neumarian Chronicles #1
Ciara Knight
Ciara Knight, February 2013
ISBN 978-1939081018
Trade Paperback
From the author—
I would surely be hard pressed to come up with an opening chapter that is more intense than that in Escapement and, more than 200 pages later, it still gives me chills. The evil that one person can direct at another is chilling and it’s so much worse that a mother could behave in such a manner towards her own daughter. Add in that this young girl feels completely helpless and that her mother’s power is so all-encompassing and you have an amazing story in the making.
Semara is indeed “just” a young girl but her idealism has not been wiped out quite yet…and then things get even worse. Her mother sees the irrefutable proof of Semara’s one instance of defiance and, at the same time, a strange power within Semara shows itself and dooms her to a slave’s existence or, worse, horrific implants to make her compliant. The only person who cares about her at all is a worker named Bendar, or so she thinks, but then a young man named Ryder comes into her life.
Characterization and plot are equally strong in this first in the series. I felt a real empathy with Semara and especially appreciated the friendship between her and Raeth, a friendship that survived incredible odds. At the same time, my natural antipathy for the queen and her general increased exponentially every time one or the other came on the scene while my liking for Ryder, and the attachment between him and Semara, grew as naturally as any reader could want .
The world drawn by Ms. Knight is dismal but rife with questions about just how the aftermath of the war became so despotic and unforgiving and what might lie ahead. The queen’s determination to have complete control and cause such pain to others, her callous indifference, is frightening in its intensity and gave me a good sense of what a true sociopath is. Resistance would seem to be impossible but, as always seems to be the case with humanity, there are those who would see an end to the tyranny. Semara, Raeth and Ryder will discover that they do indeed have reason to hope.
Ms. Knight has pulled me in 100% and I plan to read the rest of the series as soon as I can—I really need to know what will happen next.
Reviewed by Lelia Taylor, September 2014.
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Book #2
Pendulum
Haunting memories.
Terrifying dreams.
Crippling lies.
Trapped in a world of deception, my sanity rests with the love of Ryder Arteres and our renegade friends. Six months of scouring the ocean floor in a rebel ship fleeing our homeland, delivers us to a possible alliance with the opportunistic European Council. Our only hope is to utilize our forbidden gifts to free our people from slavery, proving our worth. But when a trusted ally turns traitor and a new breed of the queen’s weaponry is revealed, I’m forced to face the terror of my past to save our crumbling future.
Book #3
Balance
Life on a war-ravaged Earth is a dying experience. Finally, after years of tyranny, the rebellion rises. Once I rescue my fiancé Ryder Arteres, I, and the rebel general, will fight to free our people. In a war where alliances shift and friends betray one another, will the final battle prove the truth of the prophecy the queen has so feared—her death—or will I lose everyone I love?
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About the Author
Ciara Knight writes to ‘Defy the Dark’ with her young adult speculative fiction books. Her most recent Amazon best-seller, Escapement, book I of The Neuamrian Chronicles, released to acclaimed reviews securing a Night Owl Top Pick and five stars from InD’Tale Magazine.
When not writing, she enjoys reading all types of fiction. Some great literary influences in her life include Edgar Allen Poe, Shakespeare, Francine Rivers and J K Rowling.
Her first love, besides her family, reading, and writing, is travel. She’s backpacked through Europe, visited orphanages in China, and landed in a helicopter on a glacier in Alaska.
Author links:
    
    
  
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