Joey got separated from her twin brother Jesse when their luxury spacecraft broke apart halfway to Mars. The terrorists are dead, but so are most of the passengers who escaped a dying Earth for a new life on a new planet.
The remaining survivors, the future of humanity, are scattered across the lush planet of Mars. Joey and Kami are in a mountainous forest, and they’re locked in a power struggle to guide the people. Jesse and Rai landed on the coast, and are desperate to reach their sisters.
This new world can be a fresh start, where everyone is equal and class sectors are finally made obsolete, if only Kami would give up her self-appointed position as Commander of Mars. Both Joey and Kami are willing to die for their beliefs, even sacrificing the lives of those who’ve chosen to follow them, unless cleared heads can prevail before it’s too late.
I finally got around to writing my review for this amazing book! The teens have finally made it to Mars, but this doesn’t mean that everyone on the ship has safely arrived. The terrorist did manage to take out quite a few people, and even more have been scarred for the rest of their lives. Joey and Kami have been separated from their twins, Jesse and Rai, who landed on the coast of Mars. Joey and Kami try to reunite all of the kids in the pods who were scattered around the planet while Rai and Joey try to find their sisters. Joey doesn’t want there to be classes or a “Commander” on Mars but instead is taking this as a chance to create a truly equal society. Kami disagrees and decides to appoint herself as the commander of Mars.
I couldn’t decide which book I liked better, Emergence or Serpents and Saviors. Let’s first discuss the character development in this book. I felt as if the characters in this novel were a lot more fleshed out, and that each of their desires was truly shown. In Emergence, I thought that Kami was going to be quieter, not ready to be Commander of Mars and create a society. I could have kinda guessed that from Joey, but not necessarily her. Kami’s ideas made me dislike her a lot more than I had in the first novel. This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, as I didn’t really have any feelings for her before. But now, I can tell which characters I truly like and truly dislike.
It was also interesting to see Chuck interact with his sick father. He was painted as a villain in the last novel, but now it is hard to put a label on him. I enjoyed having scenes specifically with him.
I wish that there was a bit more focus on the other kids and twins that are on Mars. I feel like most of the series has been focused on only Jesse, Joey, Kami, and Rai. It would be interesting to see how the others are coping. They all seem to be very sheep-like. When Kami was in charge, they followed her, when Joey told them not to follow, they didn’t follow. I hope that they get a little bit of time just to themselves, maybe like one other pair of siblings, just to see how the others are truly coping.
The pacing of this book was fast, even though it was shorter than the previous. I felt that the ending felt a bit rushed, but that might have just been because everything was becoming so suspenseful that I read it very quickly. The world-building was amazing as the characters get to explore their new Martian surroundings. There were no editing errors that I noticed at all.
I would recommend this series to anyone who enjoys YA science fiction and fantasy with romantic and suspenseful elements.
I received an advanced copy of this book and this is my voluntary review.
Overall Rating: 4/5
