SPSFC REVIEW: AESTUS OR MAY I PRESENT YOU MY FIRST BOOKISH CRUSH OF THE YEAR?

Hello and happy Monday, everyone! I am so glad to be back with a review, and I really hope this would be the first of many, because I have so many reviews to write, argh! But at least, I wrote one, and that’s something, right?
Anyway, today I am here with the first book I have read for the second phase of this second edition of the SPSFC and I am so glad to share it with you! It is a bullet review or sort of, and I really hope I would make you curious!

Title: Aestus Book 1: The City
Series: Aestus #1
Author: S.Z. Attwell
Pages: 706
Publication Date: August 6, 2020

An underground city, built centuries ago to ride out the devastating heat. A society under attack. And a young solar engineer whose skills may be the key to saving her city…if she doesn’t get herself killed first.
When Jossey was ten, the creatures of the aboveground took her brother and left her for dead, with horrible scars. Now, years later, she’s a successful solar engineer, working to keep her underground city’s power running, but she’s never really recovered. After she saves dozens of people during a second attack, she is offered a top-secret assignment as a field Engineer with Patrol, but fear prevents her from taking it…until Patrol finds bones near where her brother disappeared.
She signs on and finds herself catapulted into a world that is far more dangerous, and requires far more of her, than she ever imagined. The creatures and the burning heat aboveground are not the only threats facing the City, and what she learns during her assignment could cost her her life: one of the greatest threats to the City may in fact lie within. With thousands of lives at stake, can she act in time?
Aestus is an adult dystopian science-fiction series set centuries after climate change has ravaged much of Earth. An epic story of vengeance, power, shifting loyalties, and survival that looks at just how far people will go to protect what they love, brought to you by science writer S.Z. Attwell, Aestus paints a picture of a world in which far too little has changed.

So… As I was saying, this was the first book I read for the second phase of SPSFC2 and it was amazing!! And sure, maybe it’s not so good, because it sets a high bar for the other books to come, but oh boys, this was good! And it was good in so many different ways!!

1) it is a chunky book but it does not feel like it at all. 

2)the writing is smooth and you would turn page after page, repeating to yourself “just this one chapter and I’ll stop”. But you are not fooling anyone, not even yourself. 
And sure, the writing alone is not why you are keeping at it, so keep reading this list!

3) the characters. We have some really interesting characters here, with their personalities and all their goods and bads. And meeting them all is worth your time! And the best part is that we have a lot of supporting characters in there, and if, on one hand, I would have loved to see more of them and to get to know them better, we see enough and they are not just plain or bidimensional. They all feel real, and I appreciated them a lot.

4) Gavin. He is my book crush at the moment. He is not my usual crush, but I could not resist him! So here we are, Gavin. 

5) Caspar, because he almost made it. He was so close to be my book crush and even if, in the end, he lost to Gavin, he is an amazing character and you should meet him! Also, he is more my kind of character, and I loved him, even if Gavin is Gavin.

6) the worldbuilding. Even if the part about the Onlar may not be the most surprising, the world per se is a fascinating place. Maybe not one I would visit on vacation, because I am a delicate flower and need luxury to bloom but fascinating nonetheless!

7) the plot. And even if the plot as a whole to me is both a plus and a minus, it is captivating and interesting and you just need to keep reading to see what would happen next. The minus part is purely linked to a matter of personal taste: we have strong dystopian vibes in there and I am not a fan, but even so I was completely enraptured by this book!

Aside from the dystopian vibes the only thing that didn’t work amazingly well for me was Jossey, the main character. She is a strong and determined young woman who is trying her best to do the right thing, even if the right choice is not always the easiest one, and even if she finds herself surrounded by lies and half thruts. And yet, even with all this, I wasn’t really so invested in her. I did not actively dislike her, but I wasn’t her biggest fan.

But, to be honest, this was minor because I really had an amazing time with this book, and I really hope it would get more love going on! 

That’s all for today! I really hope that my review made you at least a tiny little bit curious because this book was surprising, and good, and I really really enjoyed it! What do you think? Let me know!!

Happy reading!
S.

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