Review - Moirai

Moirai (#2) by Ruth Silver

Age range: YA Adult

I was sent a copy of this book for the purpose of reviewing.

Please be aware that this is a review for the second book in the series. Please check out the first book; Aberrant here



Continuing from the first book in the series, the reader meets Olivia and Joshua once again following them from their run from the government of Cabal. Upon being swept up by the members of a small community called Shadow, both Olivia and Joshua are finalising the plans in regard to the incoming uprising.

If you have read the first book, you would know that Olivia is not the most normal eighteen year old, being suspected that she may be one of the last women to be able to conceive naturally and now, she has been given special talents and abilities from a procedure named 'Mindonsiphan'. 

She and Joshua both need to develop their talents if they are going to be able to assist with the uprising.

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My rating: 4/5 stars.

I had rather mixed views in regard to Moirai. However, I have still given it quite a high rating as my reasons for having mixed views are mostly due to personal preference and stylistic issues rather than anything inherently wrong with the book. I still really enjoyed the series and am very excited for the next book.

Firstly, within the first few pages the name of the town, Shadow, is used six times. Many of the times it was really unnecessary and I believe that the usage in the first few pages could be cut down and still read well.

I also felt the characters a little weak in this book; I really disliked Adelaide, a child who was rescued by Olivia and Cate from a town called Thena. I kept expecting her to be a spy of the government due to the way she was written! She was really odd and not believable at all. I understand that it is stated that she was "incredibly bright" but some of her actions for a six year old just did not seem correct:

Within her first 24 for hours of being in Shadow, she was rather outspoken:

"I'm bored," she announced. "Can we go home?"

I suppose at first I just find this incredibly rude and any child that turned around and said that to me would get a rather harsh speaking to! More importantly, what I find unbelievable about this is that she was, less than 24 hours ago, buried alive, found by two strange women, taken back to a strange town.. and all of her family are most likely presumed dead! She must be a psychopath because I do not see how anyone could be so chipper about this!

Next, this section really bugged me:

"She put the Bo Staff down and Adelaide used it to her advantage, managing to knock Hazel on her back. Adelaide put a food on Hazel's chest, keeping her pinned down.
"Don't ever say that to Olivia again," Adelaide demanded with a fierce intensity. "She saved my life and took me in. More than I can say about you."

 While I understand the need to teach her self defence as really, that is what the community of Shadow are about, she is 6. The latter part of the quote really unsettled me; all Hazel had really said is that Adelaide is not Olivia's child; let us keep in mind that it is stated that she had only been in town a few days up to this point, Hazel is therefore completely justified in that! I know a bond can be created quickly, but, surely a child would not forget their own mother and father so quickly?

These are not the only points I have to make about this child psychopath; however, I do feel it may have worked better if she was perhaps older; 9, even 10. It would have given her a bit more emotion and perhaps then could have used her anger at the fact her parents are dead as right now, she seems just unreal. I loathed every second I had to read about her.

There were a few iffy moments between characters as well, when Olivia sees her dad for the first time after believing he was dead, the reunion seemed oddly calm. Same for when she goes back to visit her mother. I felt the minor characters a bit stale and cardboard like! They did not have the passion which most of the Shadow residents seemed to have!

Anyway, on to something a bit more positive now. The plot was as fantastic as ever, I really do love Silvers writing style and I never guessed what was going to happen. She has left a huge cliff hanger at the end that left me screaming and pulling my hair out! So I do hope the next book is not too far away.

I would also like to praise Silver for her fantastic writing when it comes to dealing with romance. She does it utterly perfectly; never too much and always at the right time. One must remember they are reading about two hormonal teenagers who are overcome with love and Silver deals with that excellently.

Something I never speak about, which I perhaps should, are covers of the books. Both Aberrant and Moirai have such beautiful cover art that I feel I should mention it! They are perfectly done and rather simplistic which means they stand out.

To conclude; the Aberrant series is such a good series to get into and I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys YA dystopia.

Price: £3.21
Buy it: Amazon.uk |Amazon.com
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