Read from May 3rd-4th, 2015

Author: Siobhan Davis

4.5 Stars

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Planet Novo, nestled in space twelve hundred miles above the surface of the Earth, is the new home of 17 year old Cadet Ariana Skyee. Confused by the government-sanctioned memory erase and distressed at her impending forced marriage and motherhood, Ariana’s plans for the future are thrown into complete disarray.

As the traumatic events within her family life enfold, Ariana grows increasingly alarmed at the authorities apparent preoccupation with her and feels progressively more isolated and alone.

Her growing feelings for fellow Cadet Cal Remus intensify as the recently announced pageant, ‘The Calling’, gets underway. Struggling to comprehend the continuous, inexplicable dreams of the mysterious Zane, discovering the past helps shape her future, with devastating personal consequences.

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A futuristic novel with dystopian vibes that had a touch a paranormal, True Calling was enthralling right from the start. Aside from a brief interlude when I had to physically force myself away from the book so that I could get some homework done, I could not put this book down, and hence neglected a stack of homework that I should have been doing instead… And who needs sleep on a Monday morning anyway? Pfft… *shakes head* No joke, some of my notes that I jotted down while reading included “just let me do my homework!!” and “I just want to read!! Why??” Yeah, so that happened…

So much happened in this book. Plot twists; huge character and story arcs; mystery; rebels; friendship; love; political intrigue; a Selection-like contest (except not); great family relationships and a range of dynamics; homo and bisexuality and what that means in terms of going from a modern society who largely accepts the different sexualities to a corrupt government controlling what was set out to be the perfect utopia; and so much more. As you can probably tell, chaos ensued – which I loved.

The only criticism that I have for this book is that despite the disasters that ripped the world apart and decimated the human population affected our entire species, on both Novo and Earth we only seem to hear about Americans. I mean, what happened to the rest of the world? In this reality, the claim is made that in 1996 various leaders from countries all over the world formed an alliance and started working on Nova – yet we don’t appear to see these other countries at all.

On a similar note, how did the new government come to be in power? Who chose? How were they chosen? Because they obviously weren’t the best choice… What’s the deal with the extrasensory abilities? The dreams and Ariana’s “6th sense”? What are the origins? Why do only a select few have them? Is there any correlation between them? Were they “chosen”? Maybe it has to do with one of the disasters that racked the Earth? Can the government impregnate people with their hormone injections? I have no clue, but I do love to speculate.

May I also note that the title was very aptly chosen – it tied into the story really well. Plus, the cover is beautiful. I mean, look at it.

True Calling was such a great, enjoyable read and I am super grateful to Siobhan Davis (the author) for approving my request on NetGallery for a copy of this book (and the next one!) in exchange for an honest review. She actually has a WordPress blog which I will be sure to check out and you should too. I cannot wait to dive into Beyond Reach which is the second installment in the series.