This week I will be reviewing Aaru written by David Meredith. The synopsis for Aaru immediately pulls you in, so when I got the request, I knew I had to read this one. Who doesn’t like a book that uses technology to change life as we know it? So I said YES!

Aaru

Author: David Meredith

Series: The Aaru Cycle #1

Genre: YA Sci-Fi

Publication Date: July 9, 2017

My Rating: 5 pens!

Goodreads Synopsis: “…Death and the stillness of death are the only things certain and common to all in this future…” 
-Friedrich Nietzsche
Rose is dying. Her body is wasted and skeletal.

She is too sick and weak to move. Every day is an agony and her only hope is that death will find her swiftly before the pain grows too great to bear.
She is sixteen years old.
Rose has made peace with her fate, but her younger sister, Koren, certainly has not. Though all hope appears lost Koren convinces Rose to make one final attempt at saving her life after a mysterious man in a white lab coat approaches their family about an unorthodox and experimental procedure.

A copy of Rose’s radiant mind is uploaded to a massive super computer called Aaru – a virtual paradise where the great and the righteous might live forever in an arcadian world free from pain, illness, and death. Elysian Industries is set to begin offering the service to those who can afford it and hires Koren to be their spokes-model.
Within a matter of weeks, the sisters’ faces are nationally ubiquitous, but they soon discover that neither celebrity nor immortality is as utopian as they think. Not everyone is pleased with the idea of life everlasting for sale.
What unfolds is a whirlwind of controversy, sabotage, obsession, and danger.

Rose and Koren must struggle to find meaning in their chaotic new lives and at the same time hold true to each other as Aaru challenges all they ever knew about life, love, and death and everything they thought they really believed.

Topics and Triggers: Death, Cancer, Family, Grief, Afterlife, Public Figures, Technological Advancement, Stalker

Purchase Amazon US | Amazon UK

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I received a copy of Aaru from David Meredith in exchange for an honest review.

Aaru follows the point of view of Rose and her sister Koren. Rose has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and does not have much longer to live. Koren is only thirteen-years-old, and must deal with the fact that Rose may not be around anymore. Enter Aaru. Aaru is a super system by Elysian Industries, that takes away all the bad things in this life. No pain. No crime. Just peace.

Soon, Koren finds herself as the spokesmodel for Aaru, but with fame comes dire consequences. Both Rose and Koren try to find their places in their changed lives, where everything they believed and thought has changed.

As I sat reading Aaru on my phone, I could not put it down. With each page, the suspense grew. I could not wait to see what would unfold next to Rose and Koren.

So onto the review:

• The Details

Aaru is filled with so many great details. The details bring the world and the characters alive. I was able to imagine each scene as vividly if a movie were playing in my head. 

• The Characters

Each character in Aaru is well-developed. From Rose and Koren to the Elysian Industries staff. All of them bring their own unique personalities which only enhances the storyline.

• The POVs

Aaru is mostly told in alternating points of view between Koren and Rose. The reader gets to experience the different lives between Koren and Rose. As I read more of the book, I was excited to see what was happening in the eyes of each sister even as events were happening at the same time.

• Aaru

Wow just wow! The entire place and the concept of Aaru (an alternative heaven) are simply amazing. I felt completely enveloped in the world and honestly wish that we could have more of it. Or at least more backstory into the development of Aaru. The detail in Aaru is fantastic.

• Koren’s Age

Koren is only thirteen years old, but she acts much older. She curses a lot at the beginning, and her whole attitude resembles that of someone close to sixteen to eighteen. I really like Koren’s character, but I just wish that she was a bit older.

• Word Choice

Some of the vocabulary is a bit high level for the audience that this book is for. It also sometimes made for confusing sentences. For example, when one of the characters “dispensed her conservative business attire suit.” Although the sentence does make sense, the word choice sounds forced and confusing.

Aaru is a wonderful book that flows nicely. The characters and the system of Aaru are full of detail. I loved the details that Meredith used to create his world. And I loved that I was able to feel the strong emotions through his characters. I yearn to know more about the inner workings of Aaru, and what happens next. 

Purchase Aaru today on: Amazon US | Amazon UK

Thank you again, David Meredith, for the opportunity to review your book!

Would you want to become a part of Aaru? Let me know in the comments below!

 

 

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