Rating: 3/5

Genre: YA Sci-Fi/Dystopian

Recommended Age: 14+ (some violence, slight sexual content)

Pages: 368

Author Website

Amazon Link

I purchased my own copy of this book, but I do represent Blaze Publishing. My opinions are my own.

Synopsis: Sixteen-year-old Maia Graystone lives in a world of fear. Trapped inside the hellish pit below Rhine prison with psychopaths and murderers, she spends every second worrying about the brother she left behind, knowing that if the other inmates don't kill her first, the asteroid hurtling toward the earth definitely will.

When a mysterious benefactor rescues her from prison and offers her a spot in the Shadow Trials, she jumps at the chance to receive a coveted place for her and her brother on the space station in the stars. Things get complicated when she's paired with Riser, a dark soul harboring his own reasons for wanting the Emperor dead. With the asteroid days away, the Trials looming, and her brother's fate hanging in the balance, she discovers the only thing more dangerous than the Emperor's court is her conflicted heart.

A bit of sci-fi and dystopian on my weekend? Heck yea! I love this common combo between the two genres and I wasn’t that disappointed in this read. It was beautifully written and the world building was awesome. The character development was also really good and all in all I thought it was a decent read.

However, there were some things that bugged me about this book. There are numerous plot holes in this book that aren’t explained at all and the plot points seemed to be one in the same. This made the book really boring to read and I actually fell asleep during part of this read. The pacing was also really slow for me and I didn’t like how the book seemed to mainly focus on the romance. The draw of the overall story kept me going, but it was a wrestle for me to get through some of the book.

Verdict: It’s a decent read and if you like this genre you’ll surely enjoy this book.