Review: Really good start to a series!
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 03 5, 2014
I was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest opinion.**This review may contain spoilers**Genesis by Jason Rowe and Brian Palmer is the first book of what will be an eight book series. The story is set in the future, and in my opinion, has the feeling of being set during the Seven Year Tribulation. The first part of the story lays the groundwork for showing us how the world we currently know has changed. There is a one-world government which is supposed to keep everyone safe, but we see that this isn't truly the case. We are soon introduced to twelve people who are brought together and taken to a different place to be trained for what will likely be the battle to bring down the government and the evil that is ruling the world.It was pretty difficult to keep the twelve characters clear in my mind, especially with some of the names being somewhat similar. I kept getting Jamila and Palesa, Juan and Jin, and Palesa and Pizi confused at different times. There is a list at the beginning of the book which describes the characters, but I am too lazy to continuously go back and forth. I got it mostly figured out towards the end.I really liked and connected with some characters much easier than others (which may be due to the fact that I was getting some of them confused). My favorite character was Tavis. I loved that he was a tough guy, a fighter with a sensitive side that he didn't want anyone to see. I liked Stone and the fact that even though he ends up being the leader of the group, he isn't all of a sudden perfect. He has his struggles and things he has to work through, and I really like that he almost doesn't care if he gets everything right/fixed with himself. I REALLY identify with that side of him. He has feelings for Gabrielle, although he can't feel too strongly since they haven't had enough interaction to know each other very well, IMO. I think Stone knows he and Gabrielle aren't meant for each other (at least at this time), but towards the end, I felt like he didn't really care...he liked her and wasn't going to try to hide it from her anymore...being true to himself instead of pretending. I also enjoyed Andrea and Tavis with Poe as well as Bart and Simra.This story has the potential to go so many different places with seven more books to come. There are plenty of characters to get to know a lot better as well as the main storyline. I'm really looking forward to reading the rest of the series. I do hope that the authors put a short synopsis of important details from past books at the beginning of each new book. I typically won't start a series until all the books are published. If I do start before they are all published, I re-read all the books when a new book is published. However, I really do not want to re-read seven books when the last one comes out, and my memory is too horrible not to have a refresher.Finally, please note that the authors are donating a portion of the money from this series to helping free women and young girls from the sex trafficking trade in Mumbai. You can read more about it on the Goodreads page for the book here: [...]... That, in itself is worth supporting by purchasing the books in the series. So, give this book a try. You get to support a worthy cause as well as enjoy a really good story!!