Aaru Book Review!

Before I get started with this review, I just want to say really quick that I received this book for free in exchange for review. All opinions expressed in this post about this book are my own.

When David Meredith, author of Aaru, approached me about reading his book in exchange for a review, I was a bit hesitant at first due to not knowing if this would be a book I would like. I don't read as much sci-fi as I used to. Once I read the description, though, my interest was piqued and said yes to the review.

The story of Aaru follows the story of Rose Johnson, her little sister Koren, and. a little later in the story, Magic Man (who we never find out the real name to). At the very beginning, we start with Rose being in the hospital with leukemia. We are introduced to Mr Ashe as well, head of Elysian Industries, who explains what Aaru does. Aaru allows those who pass away to live on through the technology they have created at Elysian Industries. Rose passes away within the first couple of chapters (this isn't a spoiler, I promise) and wakes up in Aaru. The story continues from there and you get to see what happens within Aaru and what life is like for Rose there. And you also get to see what happens after Rose's passing through Koren's eyes as well. Like I said, later in the book, we are introduced to Magic Man and he was definitely not my favorite person. In this book or any other book that I have read this year. If ever.

Overall, I enjoyed the story. The concept behind the story was interesting. Who wouldn't want to overcome death and live beyond it? It was a good idea going back and forth between Rose in Aaru and Koren outside of it. You could see the sisters struggle with wanting to do even the simplest of things that they were able to do before Rose's death, like give the other a hug when it was needed.

I was drawn in at page one and it carried on for the first few pages. And then got a bit bored going into the story due to having to learn the ins and outs of Aaru and what life was like after Aaru entering the Johnson family's life.

Things picked up and got so much more interesting within the second half of the book. Especially as we are introduced to Magic Man. That man creeps me out to no end. The way he spoke, thought... Horrible man.

With the way this book ended, it set it up fairly well for a second book. I would definitely be interested in picking it up when it does come out.

I do have a couple of issues with the book. There were some grammatical issues that I wanted to fix but couldn't due to my copy being a PDF file that I received directly from the author. The other issue I had with it was that the only ways I could read it were electronically, either through my Kindle or the Kindle app on my phone. As was mentioned in a previous post, ebooks are my least favorite way to read books. But that's more of a personal preference and not something to do with the book itself. There were things I wanted to mark in the book or tab but couldn't in the way I wanted to but couldn't due to it being electronic. But again, that isn't the fault of the copy I have and more of a personal preference.

Overall, this a fairly solid 4 out of 5 star read for me.

If you've read this book, let's discuss it in the comments. If you're interested in reading, let's discusss that, too! Or if you want to discuss it on Twitter, you can reach me at @KindredBookmate.

Your kindred bookmate,
Cassie