Blog Tour, Review & Giveaway: Ascendancy
(Van Winkle Project #2) by Karri Thompson

BookCrushin is thrilled to be a part of the second leg of the Ascendancy Blog Tour! Ascendancy is the second book in the Van Winkle Project by Karri Thompson. In today’s post I have all the book and series information, an excerpt, my review Ascendancy, and there is also a tour-wide giveaway! Be sure to check out this very cool dystopian series and follow other stops on the tour for more information!

 

Ascendancy by Karri Thompson

Series: The Van Winkle Project #2
Category: Young Adult, Dystopian
Publication: November 30th, 2015; Entangled Teen
Purchase: Entangled Teen, Amazon, B&N, Indigo Books

I’ve been lied to, deceived, and manipulated once again. I shouldn’t be surprised, but in a way I am. You’d think I’d be treated with dignity, my every desire fulfilled by those who need me the most. But instead, they plan to control me, keep me hidden, and force me to be complacent while I give birth over and over again.

Hell, I’m the one who’s supposed to save humanity, right? I’m the one with the power to re-populate this world of clones, my ancestors who were produced from harvested DNA.

Michael. He loves me. At this point, he may be my only friend. There may be others. Tension is building in the regions. A secret sect is growing. A rebellion is imminent.

My awakening into this future should have been my savior, my renaissance, my ally.

But instead, it has become my plague.

Excerpt:

Michael was the only good thing to come out of my awakening. I didn’t know how long we’d have together, but I realized I wanted to make every second with him count. Twisting to face him, I brought my right leg to the other side of his body and kissed him gently at first, and then a little harder as he brought his hands to my back, massaging his fingers against my shoulder blades.

His lips moved to my neck, and he slid his hand through the hair at the base of my head. I lay against him, savoring his warm breath at my throat as his chest pressed against mine.

“Duck!” Cradling my body, he scrambled to the floor, bringing me down with him.

“What?” I whispered.

“I saw something outside. A shadow. It looked like a person.”

“Victoria! I need to get her.” Crawling on my hands and knees, I entered the living room and picked up my sleeping baby.

“Behind the couch. Let’s go.”

“Watch her,” I said, and rested her on the floor next to Michael.

Drawing the laser pistol from my waist, I scooted to the edge of the couch where I could see the back door.

“I locked it,” he whispered, “but any Security guard or SEC can open it.”

The door slid open. I aimed my pistol, my arms and hands trembling.

Review:

[book rating=3.5/5.0]

“Something big is going to happen, and after it does, you won’t need to hide anymore.”

Ascendancy is the second book in the Van Winkle Project series and it picks up right where book 1, Mirror X, left off. Possible spoilers for book 1 may be included in this review. This was an action-packed sequel & it definitely left me wanting more.

There is so much action to start off and things stayed fast-paced throughout. I was so excited for Cassie and Michael to start off their new Van Winkle project in the unsupervised nation of Tasma, but I knew it was too good to be true. So things turned into chaos and Cassie & Micheal are on the run again, but this time things are different. They have no idea whom they can trust and they can’t decide if following orders from anyone, even from those who they thought were their friends. It was hard for them to determine if their so-called friends are doing things in the interest of Cassie, the Van Winkle project or just in the interest of themselves and political power.

I really, really felt for Cassie in this book. She has decidedly accepted her new life and that maybe she was fated to save what was left of the human race, but at what cost to her and her children? Not to mention that she never planned on having these babies, especially as an 18 year old, and if she had been made a willing partner in the plan, things could have been different from the start. Sometimes science can be too determined to restrain itself; the potential for advances of society are too important, but honestly at what cost to humanity? Do the means outweigh the cost? Is it by any means necessary?

Well the government thought so and so does Cassie and Michael; but the difference is that Cas & Michael are fighting for their freedom while still working towards saving humankind, ethically. Cassie and Michael grow closer throughout the entire book as they are on the run the entire time and needing to depend and trust one another, because they can’t trust anyone else. I really wanted Cassie to give Michael a break when it came to forgiving him, but she seems like she is still placing a lot of the blame on him, even though she understands that he may have been a willing participant at the beginning, but now he has put his life on the line for her. Cassie is still strong willed but also scared and frightened. They both take a lot of risks for each other and I hope they eventually find some solace.

I feel like I have just as many questions after finishing as I did when I started book 2. It was entertaining, but the reader in me wanted more answers. I am assuming this is a trilogy because, hello?! that ending did not clear anything up! Come on, I need a HEA! I wanted to like this story more, as I said in my review of Mirror X, that I think this can be a very divisive story, and I felt that Ascendancy had a bit of something missing, it had plenty of action, intrigue and mystery, but I wanted more. Maybe I needed more romance or something to believe in. I am definitely going to be on the lookout for information about a final book, as I really do need to know how this story will end.

 

Series:

Mirror X (The Van Winkle Project #1)

Publication: June 30th, 2014; Entangled Teen
Purchase: Amazon

Kelly’s Review

Cassie Dannacher wakes up in a hospital over 1,000 years into the future after her space capsule is retrieved from space. She soon learns that 600 years prior to her arrival, the earth was struck by a plague, killing over half of the world’s population. Naïve and desperate, Cassie, who longs for home and is having trouble adjusting to the new, dictatorial 31st century government, is comforted by Michael Bennett, the 20-year old lead geneticist at the hospital where she was revived.

But why is Cassie in genetics’ hospital in the first place, and why do several of the people around her seem so familiar, including Travel Carson, the hot and edgy boy she is fated to meet? Soon she discovers there is a sinister answer to all of her questions – and that they want something from Cassie that only she can give.

Author Bio: Karri Thompson

Karri Thompson, a native of San Diego, California, grew up hanging out at the beach, playing sports, and eventually attending San Diego State University where she earned her bachelor’s degree in English and master’s degree in education.  When she’s not nerding out at San Diego Comic-Con or watching Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings movies for the umpteenth time, she can be seen doing normal people stuff like teaching high-school English, cooking delicious meals for her family (she attributes all of her culinary skills to the Food Network), and attending her son’s football games.  In her spare time, she writes young adult and new adult fiction, her biggest passion, and loves listening to hard rock music and going to concerts.  She hopes to live long and prosper, and that you will, too.

Author Links:

Website  **  Twitter  **  Instagram  **  Facebook

 

Giveaway:

A signed copy of Ascendancy by Karri Thompson; open US only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway