Due to my participation in the Book Blitz for this very same collection of books, this post will be focused mainly on the story from the collection that I decided to read and review. Here is the link for the Book Blitz which lists the links for the collection itself, and each story's blurb, and the main website links for its other amazing authors.
Title: Dissension (Chronicles of the Uprising Book 1)Author: K.A. Salidas
Publication Date: February 3, 2014
Genre: Dystopian, Science Fiction, Fantasy
Genre: Dystopian, Science Fiction, Fantasy
Blurb:
The great cataclysm wiped almost all life from the face of Planet Earth, but tiny pockets of survivors crawled from the ashes, with only one thought: survival, at any cost.
But not all survivors were human.
In the dark, militant society that has risen in the aftermath, vampires, once thought to be mythical, have been assimilated and enslaved. Used for blood sport, their lives are allowed to continue only for the entertainment of the masses. Reviled as savages, they are destined to serve out their immortal lives in the arena, as gladiators.
And there is no greater gladiator than Mira: undefeated, uncompromising...and seemingly unbreakable. When an escape attempt leads Mira into the path of Lucian Stavros, the city's Regent, her destiny is changed forever.
Lucian, raised in a culture which both reviles and celebrates the savagery and inhumanity of vampires, finds Mira as intriguing as she is brash. An impulsive decision -- to become Mira's patron -- changes more than just Lucian's perception about vampire kind. The course of his life is altered in ways he could never have predicted -- a life that is suddenly as expendable as hers.
Can Mira prove to Lucian that all is not as it seems? Can Lucian escape centuries of lies, bloodshed, and propaganda to see the truth? Or will the supreme power of the human overlords destroy them both?
But not all survivors were human.
In the dark, militant society that has risen in the aftermath, vampires, once thought to be mythical, have been assimilated and enslaved. Used for blood sport, their lives are allowed to continue only for the entertainment of the masses. Reviled as savages, they are destined to serve out their immortal lives in the arena, as gladiators.
And there is no greater gladiator than Mira: undefeated, uncompromising...and seemingly unbreakable. When an escape attempt leads Mira into the path of Lucian Stavros, the city's Regent, her destiny is changed forever.
Lucian, raised in a culture which both reviles and celebrates the savagery and inhumanity of vampires, finds Mira as intriguing as she is brash. An impulsive decision -- to become Mira's patron -- changes more than just Lucian's perception about vampire kind. The course of his life is altered in ways he could never have predicted -- a life that is suddenly as expendable as hers.
Can Mira prove to Lucian that all is not as it seems? Can Lucian escape centuries of lies, bloodshed, and propaganda to see the truth? Or will the supreme power of the human overlords destroy them both?
Kayla's Thoughts:
I take anthologies very seriously, so when given the choice to read one selection from the Shades of Chaos anthology, I went through each book and read a passage or two. Then with actually not much deliberation at all, I chose to read and review Initiation and Dissension by Katie Salidas. Now since Dissension is quite a bit longer than Initiation, which is a handful of pages and merely describes Mira's first battle in the arena as a gladiator and her thoughts on her last day of freedom and the terrible agony her capture caused her, I will be focusing mainly on that piece in this review.
First of all, let me just state that I love the series prologue. The basic history of what happened to lead us to this moment in the story where Dissension starts. It describes two species, shaken up by terrifying events that led them to restart their entire society. Vampires and humans had to work together in the beginning, but things take a turn when the humans find a way to come out on top. And come out on top they shall...which is how the games themselves started. Vampires, which have been considered the epitome of evil for centuries, are now the victims. Having to shed blood for the humans' amusement just to be able to feed on a regular basis. You win, more rations. You lost, you either die quickly, if you are lucky, or are tortured by light. Not enough to kill, but enough so you feel every ray. It's enough to make this human want to go inside this book and be one of the opposers of this atrocity. I want to be one of the rebels who helps Mira out in her and the Regent's mission to stop this.
But I am getting ahead of myself...
Dissension takes place thirty years after Mira was placed in her first battle in the arena. Thirty years after she learned she needed to do whatever it took to survive. She has become the best fighter of her region, but she has yet to succumb to her enslavers. Which I absolutely love. Her attitude may get her in trouble, but it is that very attitude that had me rooting for her from the very beginning. Some characters are quiet until a chance at retribution reveals itself and they take it, fighting against the forces working against them, and that works for them. But Mira never failed to find a reason to fight back, even if it was just with a few choice words, or, in her case, A LOT of them. There was a couple of cases where I thought the snark was unnecessary and where it would have benefited her and possibly the story itself if she was quiet and simply assessed her surroundings, but other than that, I absolutely thought she was a great character and one to definitely watch.
Now I actually would have liked more of the Regent's own point of view throughout the story. He is the one who becomes Mira's Patron after meeting her in a way that could have basically signed Mira's own death warrant. But after meeting with him a few times and talking, which is not usually what a Patron would do with their hosted fighter, she realizes that he is not like all the other humans. Well, she actually goes back and forth between thinking this and thinking that he is just like all the others, because honestly, the humans have given her no reason to trust any of their kind. But it is after a particularly heavy fight, one that nearly kills Mira, that things take a turn toward her possibly being able to trust him with the information she knows and which he asks of her.
First of all, let me just state that I love the series prologue. The basic history of what happened to lead us to this moment in the story where Dissension starts. It describes two species, shaken up by terrifying events that led them to restart their entire society. Vampires and humans had to work together in the beginning, but things take a turn when the humans find a way to come out on top. And come out on top they shall...which is how the games themselves started. Vampires, which have been considered the epitome of evil for centuries, are now the victims. Having to shed blood for the humans' amusement just to be able to feed on a regular basis. You win, more rations. You lost, you either die quickly, if you are lucky, or are tortured by light. Not enough to kill, but enough so you feel every ray. It's enough to make this human want to go inside this book and be one of the opposers of this atrocity. I want to be one of the rebels who helps Mira out in her and the Regent's mission to stop this.
But I am getting ahead of myself...
Dissension takes place thirty years after Mira was placed in her first battle in the arena. Thirty years after she learned she needed to do whatever it took to survive. She has become the best fighter of her region, but she has yet to succumb to her enslavers. Which I absolutely love. Her attitude may get her in trouble, but it is that very attitude that had me rooting for her from the very beginning. Some characters are quiet until a chance at retribution reveals itself and they take it, fighting against the forces working against them, and that works for them. But Mira never failed to find a reason to fight back, even if it was just with a few choice words, or, in her case, A LOT of them. There was a couple of cases where I thought the snark was unnecessary and where it would have benefited her and possibly the story itself if she was quiet and simply assessed her surroundings, but other than that, I absolutely thought she was a great character and one to definitely watch.
Now I actually would have liked more of the Regent's own point of view throughout the story. He is the one who becomes Mira's Patron after meeting her in a way that could have basically signed Mira's own death warrant. But after meeting with him a few times and talking, which is not usually what a Patron would do with their hosted fighter, she realizes that he is not like all the other humans. Well, she actually goes back and forth between thinking this and thinking that he is just like all the others, because honestly, the humans have given her no reason to trust any of their kind. But it is after a particularly heavy fight, one that nearly kills Mira, that things take a turn toward her possibly being able to trust him with the information she knows and which he asks of her.
Verdict:
This story is definitely full of action, a bit of humor, and is absolutely a wonderful start to the entire Chronicles of the Uprising series. It needs a few tweaks here and there and could do with a bit more meat to the story, mainly another point of view, as stated earlier, sprinkled throughout, to make it seem a bit more whole, but other than that it is one worth reading. I am putting the series on my TBR list because I have to know if Mira gains the freedom she so craves. This story made me feel for the vampire race. It made me long for humans to understand that in this case, they have become the monsters.
Links for Book:
Author's Bio:
And if you can believe all of those lies, there is some beautiful swamp land in Florida for sale...
Katie Salidas resides in Las Vegas, Nevada. Mother, wife, and author, she does try to do it all, often causing sleep deprivation and many nights passed out at the computer. Writing books is her passion, and she hopes that her passion will bring you hours of entertainment.
Links for Author:
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Sounds interesting
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