Seeds of War by Rachel Fisher

Summary

The mission of Eden must be fulfilled and Eden’s best Seekers are needed. Forming a new group they dub the Seeders, Fi, Asher, and Sean are joined by a new addition as they set out to bring hope and support to the Topsiders in the form of radios and heirloom seeds. As radio broadcasts begin to reconnect the survivors, the Seeders stumble upon mysterious broadcasts from unknown stations. When two of their own new radio stations go silent within days of each other, Fi and her companions realize that something is terribly wrong. Eden finds itself pitted against a growing and unknown force as their very mission lights the flames of war.

• Number of pages: 262

Review

First off, if you haven’t read book one in this trilogy then read it. Once you are finished go straight to this one. Book two picks up right in the moment where it ended in book one, and there is lots of information in both books so you wouldn’t want to miss anything, trust me. I had to reread the first book in its entirety because there was no way that I was going to remember all the little details that were present, but then again that could be just me.

If you have read my post on the first book then you will have noticed that I emphasized that book as a survival book. So what does that make book two, Seeds of War? For that I will have to steal a word from the book itself, and that word is “Reconnection”. What does that mean exactly? Well, Fi and her Family have made it to Eden, they have settled in, they have revived their strengths, and now Fi is out to reconnect with the people living in the world, the “Topsiders”, and to replant the original plants and grasses that were first created when the Earth was young, before humans tampered with it. Sorry if that gave away a few spoilers of book one, but there is no other way for me to describe what is going on in this one. So mainly, Fi, Asher, Sean, and a new friend named Sara are off to save the world by helping the scientists of Eden recreate the Earth’s original properties, but along the way trouble starts to brew.

After reading both books, I feel like I have traveled Topside right along Fi. The characters were amazingly created by Rachel Fisher, who seems to have a real talent for making a story real. The plot has always been amazing, intricately created with points that make it seem like everything that has happened to these people in 2030 something is very possible in our future, but what I found most interesting was the characters. And what I love about this author is that although Fi is the main character that we usually follow, we still jump from character to character to character depending on the scene. I really got to know all of them in a deeper way, which was great for my nerdy side. And they felt believable because of it in a sense that if I was tromping in the forest with three other people with the weight of the world sort of literally on my shoulders, this is how I would feel. These would be my concerns, if that makes any sense. I also got the sense that unlike book one, this was more of a moral or ethical book. I loved how these moral and religious questions popped up in Fi’s mind because I would think that is normal. What if God was punishing them? What if killing someone meant saving someone else? What are your choices? It all heightened the sense of survival and the problems they were all facing.

Anyway, I again found Rachel’s work great. I thoroughly enjoyed the story, and I am just dying to get my greedy little hands on book three. (Hope it doesn’t take too long!) It was an excellent story, but it is also a "thinking" kind of book. Lots of scientific stuff and theories. At times confusing, but never unbearably so. Something I do think I should warn you about is that this book may not be for the faint hearted. This is still survival of the fittest, kill or be killed. There were parts where it may be a little bit bloody or scary and pretty intense, but it was all done to heighten the sense of danger that the author was giving off. At least, that’s what I felt. Either way I feel like this was a wonderful book, and the series is turning out to be a real mind opener, not just some silly little love story. I really like that. (Though the love story in this book is amazingly sweet, just saying.) So from 1-10? Seeds of War is a definite 8.5

Eden's Root by Rachel E. Fisher

Summary

It is 2033, and the world hovers on the edge of explosion as unexplained crop deaths lead to severe global food shortages. Is the United States, the Sickness is taking lives slowly, creeping its way into every family. Thirteen-year-old Fi Kelly has already faced the Sickness in her own family, toughening her at a young age. But when her dying father makes a shocking confession, Fi realizes that her toughness will be pushed to its absolute limits.

Saddled with an impossible secret and mission of saving her little sister, Fi gets out to transform herself into the warrior that she must become to survive the coming collapse. Along the way, she will discover that evil can be accidental . . . and that love can be intentional.

• Number of pages: 376

Review 

Eden’s Roots deserves a round of applause and a cheer or two. If any other bloggers have read and reviewed this book along with me, then I hope it is safe to assume that they were just as equally captivated by this amazing sci-fi story as I was, but I would love to put my two cents in as well. Fi is a narrator and Leader like no other. I followed her like a member of her Family would, and I am proud to say I survived this journey right along side her. The world is coming to an end in the ways of the normal every day-to-day life. To be honest the details as to what exactly is going on left me a little fuzzy, but I will try to summarize and explain the details without giving too much away. Food, regular food, has been contaminated over the years, processed and manipulated so many times that over eventually it has generated so much disease and created the “Sickness”. The “Sickness” in this book refers to cancerous diseases, though I believe other kinds of diseases are considered as well. The amount of Sickfood soon starts to kill all forms of vegetation, and basically the world is in for a global Famine. Anyway, no one really knows about the Sickfood, except a selected few such as scientists who are preparing for the worst and have created a safe haven where they can reconstruct and rebuild. One of those few people is Fi’s dad who is one of the main scientists working on the effort to build this haven, Eden. When he becomes Sick, he and his family are crossed off from the list of candidates allowed to join this new colony and have a better chance of survival. Before his death he gives all he knowledge to his daughter in the hopes that she can lead her sister and mother to safety.

It was incredible seeing how a girl that is pictured as normal, as ordinary, is transformed into this character with the burden of much older and wiser people, a person who leads many souls to safety. The process written in which she does become a warrior with all the fighting and toughness included was a bit lengthy, but overall created a picture of complete and utter dedication. Fi is really no average girl, but then again isn’t there something more than average in all of us? Along the way she meets and connects with a group of people that I have come to love as well. Each and every individual was spectacularly created to contribute and share some love with me, as the reader. The journey was arduous, the conditions frightening, and I felt it all first hand.

I really want to focus on how this book was written in regards to point of views. It had a switching view from Fi, to her best friend Sean, to another boy that you meet along the way. They all tie together, obviously, but it was Fi’s mind that was kept dominant. She was the core of the story, as well as the core of her Family being Leader. I felt her burden, her determination, and her uncontrollable rage. That’s what really made the story amazing. It made it real, you know? It wasn’t a story about a girl who become a super hero and a hard ass and overall seems untouchable, neither about a girl who is weak and in the end shows her true colors. This was a book of survival, and it emanated off of Fi like an odor. She felt pain, fear, and worry along with happiness, excitement, even peace. I admit to some well-deserved tears on my part (much to my families amusement). It wasn’t laugh out loud funny, but I also felt humor and love written between words. I found it a great experience.

I also loved how real the situation all seemed. This book frightened me in that aspect a bit. The Famine, the Sickfood, the fact that a lot of the things that we have and do today were portrayed in a different light to show how terribly it could all go wrong. It seemed possible. I do have to warn my readers that this book is mild in many ways, but it could get very graphic in many others. Like I said, this is a survival story, and the things done in this book were things that may seem out of hand, but it was done in order to survive. It brought up some serious questions that I found interesting to think about. What would you do to survive? What would you give, sacrifice for the good of yourself and loved ones?

As I look over my review I realize that it is a bit long, and I am pleased with that. Why? Because it means that this book opened my brain a bit more, and had me thinking, reaaaally thinking. It wasn’t a book to just follow along. I really thought if that makes any sense. It was . . . and “intelligent” book, I guess. Like food for thought! From 1-10? Eden’s Roots gets an 8.5