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The Retreat by Kelly St. Clare: Blog Tour + Giveaway + Book Review: Suspenseful Storyline and a Mysterious Mandate

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Hey, all, it’s Alexa, coming at you on a Thursday (FYI, it’s gonna be that way for the next three weeks), and today I present to you a creative, new sci-fi dystopian: The Retreat by Kelly St. Clare.

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Publication Date: August 30, 2016

Description:

Earth is ruined. Humankind destroyed. And it’s old news.

Romy’s life is simple—for a genetically enhanced space soldier: pick up space junk with her four friends, and stave off the invaders fixated on stealing Planet Earth. It isn’t much. But it’s temporary—only another 850 years to go, give or take.

When her crew tangles with a gulp-worthy alien mothership, Romy’s return to Earth is brought forwards at hurtling pace. Strength comes from the unlikeliest of quarters.

As does leadership.

…As does betrayal.

Plot:

Interestingly enough, this storyline is not as fast-paced as I thought it was going to be (until the end, but more on that later). Yet at the same time, it isn’t at all boring or what I’d call slow. It starts out pretty nice, actually, with a fun introduction to the crew you’ll be spending the next 300-or-so pages with, then moves into some action and suspense; but after that, excepting a few spikes, the overall feel is pretty even-keel for a dystopian. The various dangers hang quite threateningly over Romy’s head for the duration of the novel, but, despite her many questions and except for Lucas (I’m not in the least sorry about what happened to him), it’s not a RUNNING-FOR-YOUR-LIFE-FROM-THE-BAD-GUYS suspenseful, but more of a “I’m-cool-here-but-uh-what’s-going-on?” curiosity. 

Until the guillotine drops of course. And once it drops, it drops. The pacing skyrockets; I was super-glued to the story, felt like I was sprinting along with those characters, heart pounding, as hungry for answers as they were as they desperately tried to escape.

Sidenote: Personally, I’m not a huge fan of the way it ended, but that’s more of a personal preference thing, and it definitely leaves a lot open for the next book.

Plot: 4 stars out of 5.

Characters:

To be honest, this story is so plot-centered that, until the end, I had some trouble connecting with Romy as an MC. It wasn’t that I didn’t like her—she seemed cool enough—I just didn’t quite love her. I understood her and I was willing to see where her story would go, but there was some spark missing.

That changed though. As we neared the end and her development crescendoed, she seemed to… become more human to me; the more I learned about her, the more I liked her and the more I enjoyed her as an element of the story.

The other characters, while not the most unique I’ve ever seen, were unique amongst their group: each one filled a different role (especially Houston; took me a while to decide how I felt about him, but once I did, that crude, fanboy, utterly unprofessional doctor, I loved him), and they all added something important to Romy’s crew, her family.

Characters: 3 stars out of 5.

Writing Style/Setting:

If plot’s the strongest part of this novel, I’d say setting and worldbuilding are a close second. The Retreat has a lot of the normal setup points for a dystopian (mysterious overlords, hungry for power, lying to and using literally everyone), but it’s all intertwined with less common elements like SPACE and the varying personality of Romy and her knot. There are several witty, amusing parts that literally had me chortling out loud, and it was just interesting to read about some of the twists that could be put on a classic dystopian world.

Writing Style/Setting: 4 stars out of 5.

And so we come in at just over 3 1/2 stars out of 5. Despite a few issues with characters and ending, I think this was a creative take on the sci-fi dystopian world, and if you’d like to pick it up for yourself, you can find it on Amazon for $10.58.

So read any dystopians with a rather uncommon setting? How about a contemporary or something from another genre? Don’t forget to check out the other stops on the tour, and I’ll see you in the comment section.

~ Love, Alexa <3

About The Author of The Retreat

Kelly St. Clare

When Kelly St Clare is not reading or writing, she is lost in her latest reverie. She can, quite literally, drift past a car accident while in the midst of her day dreams, despite the various police sirens and chaos.

Books have always been magical and mysterious to her. One day she decided to start unravelling this mystery and began writing. Her aim: To write stories she would want to read. As it turns out, this failed miserably. Do you know what it is like to read something you’ve written? Impossible, that’s what. Not to mention, the ending is ruined before you’ve begun. Never-the-less, Kelly loves it and wishes she had more time to squeeze it in between her day job as a physiotherapist.

Fantasy of Frost, the first title in The Tainted Accords, is her debut novel. It’s sequel, Fantasy of Flight released May 2015. Fantasy of Fire is now available!

A New Zealander in origin and in heart, Kelly currently resides in Australia with her soon-to-be husband, a great group of friends, and some huntsman spiders who love to come inside when it rains. Their love is not returned.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

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Notes: I received a free ecopy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Content: some cursing, violence, and somewhat uncomfortable (though amusing) puberty discussions.

2 Comments


  1. // Reply

    I”m not a big dystopian fan, but I do read one occasionally. I admire good world building, so this might be one for me.


    1. // Reply

      If you’re into strong worlds, I’d say this is definitely one to look into. 🙂

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