Conditioned Response (Phoenician #2)
By: Marjorie F. Baldwin
ISBN: 9781476405711
Published April
20, 2012
Available
Format: ebook
My Rating: ★★★★★
Author’s
Synopsis: Shayla didn't ask to be a Councillor. A Phoenician shouldn't have to
live among the humans, let alone take part in their world. She only came here
when the Seven Chiefs ordered her to go with Raif, a Proctor from the world
Outside. They said they had a Plan. The Seven Chiefs always had a Plan, but
Shayla had made plans of her own now, after 13 years of life under the World
Council.
Raif had never intended for things to go
this far. A few months, maybe a year, and he could send the little Phoenician
girl home again, back where she belonged. Where she'd be safe. Even a Proctor
couldn't protect her from the World Council. He couldn't protect himself. The
Seven Chiefs had gotten him started on a quest for answers about his own
genetic history and the further he dug into it, the more questions he had.
After producing a Designated Heir, Raif finds himself in competition with his
own progenitor for control of his future and Shayla seems to be the only one
who can save him now.
But nothing is as it seems and no plan
survives first contact with the enemy. Who will live and who will die—and whose
Plan is this anyway?
I have had the
immense pleasure of working with Friday on this lovely novel. She swears it is
cursed, but I say great things come to those who… toil… endure… a lot… I know
she has been looking forward to the release of Conditioned Response for a very, very long time, and I am happy to
be a part of the process.
I’m not much for
reading the same book more than once. I do it occasionally for some of my
favorites, and I obviously have to read what I edit or proofread more than
once, but Conditioned Response is
something that can definitely be read again and again.
This is a long
novel, which is common for a lot of sci-fi or epic fantasies and the like, but
you never really feel like it is taking a long time. You get so absorbed in the
story, in the lives of these characters, that you can’t do anything but hang on
every word and eagerly turn every page wanting even more. At the end, 230,000
words in, I was STILL sad it was over.
Every character
is fleshed out so well, even the more minor characters. There is so much depth
to each one of them and they each have their own story, sometimes only briefly
touched, but you get to know every one of them in some way. This is very hard
for an author to do, and Friday does an amazing job.
This is one of
the most intriguing, action-packed, and emotionally charged novels I have read
in a long time. I was sympathetic. I was angry. I laughed, a lot. I cried,
quite a bit. I dreamt about the story. I thought about the characters even when
I was not reading. I was hooked. What more can you ask out of a book—a piece of
literary art?? Anything that can make
you feel—anything—is a success. And Friday has a huge success on her hands. I
wish her the very best with this and all of her writing endeavors.
Stop by tomorrow, May 25, 2012, for an author interview with Friday!!!
