{Review} The Apocalypse Gene by Suki Michelle & Carlyle Clark

ASIN #: B005WZZS82

File Size: 551 KB

Page Count: 239

Copyright: October 17, 2011

Publisher: Parker Publishing Inc.

Book Summary:

(Taken from Amazon)

Olivya Wright-Ono's once loving home has been converted to a hospice for the dying. Her ability to see auras forces her to witness, with agonizing detail, the vibrant colors of life consumed by malignancy.

The beautiful and troubled, Mikah, is an elite Empath in the ancient Kindred clan, led by the brooding, ever-morphing, monster named Prime. Mikah has learned a terrible truth. The plague is linked to Kindred origins.

When Olivya sees evidence of disease creeping into her mother's aura, she has no one to turn to but Mikah. Together, can they unearth the Kindred's secrets and find a cure? Can she trust this boy whose power allows him to manipulate her very emotions?

With her mother's life and the fate of the world in the balance, Olivya and Mikah embark on a quest to stop the Pandemic, only to discover it is far, far more than a mere disease ...

Mandy's Review:

Olivya's having a hard time with the fact that her childhood home has been basically turned into a den of death. Her breaking point comes when her mother finally gives in to the euthanization of her 5th grade teacher. Previously, her mother said that she'd never euthanize a person, but now that money is running low she has to do something different. (We've all been there, I'm sure.) Olivya's dead-set against euthanizing anybody because that's how her father left them to fend for themselves: he killed himself by euthanization, which Olivya found cowardly. There are moments where Olivya seems selfish and bratty. The good thing about her is that she realizes how she's acting shortly after and apologizes to her mother. Eventually she comes to terms with her father's choice of death, but it isn't easy.

Mikah lives with the Kindred clan, but is the only member who's not been Intiated into it. Part of him is drawn to the idea of fully belonging to the clan, but then there's the other part of him who looks down on and fears them. The clan members seem to be emotional vampires feeding off of the misery of the Indigenous humans, better known as Indigs. There comes a time where Mikah learns who he really is and how his parents played a role in his genetic makeup. He also realizes that some of the clan members aren't really who he thought they were and that he's misjudged them with his ignorance.

As I was reading this novel, I was thinking about how to describe this book to you all and here's what I came up with ... This book is a huge conglomeration of a dystopian-futuristic-mythological-paranormal mix. I know that sounds weird and you may be wondering how all of that could possibly work together to make a novel but, oddly, it does. The dystopian aspect comes from the setting of the novel. The pandemic has wiped out a lot of America's population and has caused it's own apocalypse of sorts. Because of the pandemic, futuristic elements have naturally evolved: the children go to school online using holo-sims and there are tracking devices that can be injected into the legs of children who're punished. Aspects of the familiar mythological stories (Kraken, Medusa, etc.) are introduced as part of the Klan's lineage. Finally, the paranormal element is introduced with people's magical capabilities, auras, empaths, and so on ... the Pandemic itself has paranormal aspects about it. So, these elements, while seemingly separate, mix together to make The Apocalypse Gene what it is ... An interesting story unlike any I have ever read before.


*An ecopy of the novel was provided by the authors in exchange for an honest review.