Saturday, August 16, 2014

(Blog Tour) Guardian (Proxy #2) by Alex London // Review and Giveaway!!


GUARDIAN (Proxy, #2) by Alex London Release Date: May 29, 2014 Hardcover, 352 pages Publisher: Philomel Genre: YA / Dystopian / LGBT
The pulse-pounding sequel to Proxy! Inspired by The Whipping Boy and Feed, this adrenaline-fueled thriller will appeal to fans of The Hunger Games and Divergent.
In the new world led by the Rebooters, former Proxy Syd is the figurehead of the Revolution, beloved by some and hated by others. Liam, a seventeen-year-old Rebooter, is Syd’s bodyguard and must protect him with his life. But armed Machinists aren’t the only danger.
People are falling ill—their veins show through their skin, they find it hard to speak, and sores erupt all over their bodies. Guardians, the violent enforcers of the old system, are hit first, and the government does nothing to help. The old elites fall next, and in the face of an indifferent government, Syd decides it’s up to him to find a cure . . . and what he discovers leaves him stunned.
This heart-stopping thriller is packed with action, adventure, and heroics. Guardian will leave you breathless until the final page.
A fast-paced, thrill-ride of novel full of non-stop action, heart-hammering suspense and true friendship—just as moving as it is exhilarating. Fans of Anthony Horowitz's Alex Rider series, James Dashner's Maze Runner, Patrick Ness's Chaos Walking series, and Marie Lu's Legend trilogy will be swept away by this story.
Amazon | B&N | IndieBound | Goodreads


My review


Synopsis:
In the new world led by the Rebooters, former Proxy Syd is the figurehead of the Revolution, beloved by some and hated by others. Liam, a seventeen-year-old Rebooter, is Syd’s bodyguard and must protect him with his life. But armed Machinists aren’t the only danger.  People are falling ill—their veins show through their skin, they find it hard to speak, and sores erupt all over their bodies. Guardians, the violent enforcers of the old system, are hit first, and the government does nothing to help. The old elites fall next, and in the face of an indifferent government, Syd decides it’s up to him to find a cure . . . and what he discovers leaves him stunned.

Cover:
Oh, I love it! I already liked the cover image of Proxy and this one is great too! One look and you know what you'll get: sci-fi.
Analyzing this one, you could even take it one step further. The cover of Proxy shows two boys arranged like two sides of a coin. Now, the cover of Guardian shows two boys next to each other. Equal.

Title:
The title fits, but it also prepares you for the huge cliché waiting in this book.

Writing style:
The book is written in third person and told from three points of view. Syd, Marie and Liam. It is captivating and I only needed one moment to get back into the story. Guardian almost starts where Proxy ends. It shows, that Jubilee wasn't really an happy end.
I was hooked on immediately and it was over far too soon!

Characters:
Syd became a symbol of freedom and a captive at the same time. Everything he wanted was a new start for society. But now he has to see, that other people abuse him to gain power. Syd is powerless and endangered all the time because not everyone is happy about the new system. He also misses Knox and seems to be a bit depressive. I can't blame him for that, it even makes him feel more real. Later, there's going to be a strange illness that starts killing people and Syd realizes, that he has to act before it's too late.
Marie tries to deal with her new situation and works for the military. She believes in doing the right thing until the new government lets down her family. Marie starts to see, that the new system is everything but perfect. She asks Syd vor help and they try to fix things together.
We also get a new character: Liam. Well, he can't replace Knox, but he's interesting and Syd's bodyguard. Here is the only problem I had with the book. It's such a cliché! A victim-bodyguard-relationship. Really? Okay, guess he's the only guy who was able to get close to Syd ...

Noteworthy:
Compared to Proxy, Guardian is definitely differed. It shows, that a new start isn't always perfect. And sometimes a good deed can curse a lot of problems.

Stuck in my Head:
„Syd kept flipping pages, looking at diagrams – could those be instructions for the machine? Syd understood mechanical things, far better than he understood people. Machines could be programmed, rewired, redesigned. Fixed. People where another matter entirely.“ (p. 175)
What I didn't like:
Nothing to complain. Well, except for the whole Syd-Liam-bodyguard-cliché.

Quick and dirty:
I was blown away by this book! Proxy was great and Guardian can easily compete with it.
Liam couldn't replace Knox in my eyes but he was an enrichment. It was impossible to put down this book and now I am sitting here with mixed feelings. I don't want it to be over! I want another sequel! Right now!!

Chapter One – GUARDIAN by Alex London
At night, they disposed of the bodies. There was no ceremony, no ritual, no remembrance.
“They’re human,” some argued.
“They were human,” said others. “Now they’re meat.”
“We have to study the infection,” said the doctor.
“We have to contain it,” said the counselor and gave her orders. “Burn the bodies.”
A work detail was tasked with the burning. One by one, in the dead of night, green uniforms with white masks hauled corpses to the pile. The corpses were webbed with black veins, their entire network of blood vessels visible through the pale skin. Dried blood obscured their faces and each had a single hole in the temple by the eyes, where the killing bolt went in. They were put down like livestock, burned like sacrifices.
As the bodies crackled, the doctor watched the flames, her face half in shadow, half dancing in firelight. “I believe there is a cure for this,” she said.
The counselor, standing beside her, nodded, but did not turn to look her way. “Your cure is worse than the disease.”
“You believe that?”
“It’s the truth. Your way is treason.”
“You’re in denial,” the doctor said. “This is going to get worse if we don’t stop it.”
“It’s a new world, Doctor,” the counselor replied. “We can’t turn back the clock.”
“Even to save people’s lives?”
“These”—the counselor gestured at the bodies—“are not people.”
“If it spreads?”
“Is it spreading?”
The doctor watched the young members of the work detail tossing the bodies on the pyre. They moved with the assurance of youth, the kind of attitude that allowed them to stare infection and death in the face and believe it would never touch them. “I don’t know.”
“It is your job to know.”
“I can hardly understand it. The blood turns against the body. Itching, burning. Then, expulsion. Half of them bleed out.”
“And the other half?”
The doctor clenched her jaw. “They haven’t bled out yet.”
“They are in pain?”
“They can’t communicate, but we have to restrain them to keep them from scratching their skin off with their fingernails.” The doctor sighed. “So, yes, they are in pain.”
“Put them out of their misery,” the counselor ordered.
“But, we can still learn—”
“Those are the orders.” The counselor walked away, two green uniforms trailing her into the jungle. The doctor took off her white smock, pulled the blue gloves from her hands with a loud synthetic snap, and stood before the flames. She watched her latest failed experiments turn to smoke and ash in the bonfire, every bit of blood boiled away, with all the information it might have contained.
She had ideas, dangerous to share; but if she didn’t find a way, she feared, this sickness would go further than any of them could imagine. She would record a message in case she failed. She hoped that someone would still be alive to receive it.
Read the Exclusive 3 Chapters from London’s new release, GUARDIAN here: http://bit.ly/SgMw3b 
You can read the short story PUNISHMENT, the PROXY prequel on Wattpad for free right now! Meet Syd, Knox, and Liam (from Guardian) at 15... http://w.tt/1mtouLm
C. Alexander London grew up in Baltimore, Maryland. He's an author of nonfiction for grown-ups (under a slightly different not very secret name), books for teens (as Alex London...see above), and, younger readers. He once won a 12-gauge skeet-shooting tournament because no one else had signed up in his age group. He's a Master SCUBA diver who hasn't been diving in way too long, and, most excitingly, a fully licensed librarian. He used to know the Dewey Decimal System from memory.
He doesn't anymore.
While traveling as a journalist, he watched television in 23 countries (Burmese soap operas were the most confusing; Cuban news reports were the most dull), survived an erupting volcano in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a hurricane on small island in the Caribbean, 4 civil wars (one of them was over by the time he got there, thankfully), and a mysterious bite on his little toe in the jungles of Thailand. The bite got infected and swollen and gross and gave him a deep mistrust of lizards, even though it probably wasn't a lizard that bit him.
Although he has had many adventures, he really does prefer curling up on the couch and watching some good television or reading a book. He enjoys danger and intrigue far more when it's happening to somebody else.
He lives in Brooklyn, NY.
 Blog

August 7th - Book Chic Club – Review/Interview
August 8th - Cheryl Rainfield ~ Guest Post
August 9th - Bookish – Spotlight
August 9th - I Read It & Wept ~ Review (Proxy/Guardian)/GP
August 9th - Like A Bump On A Blog – Spotlight
August 10th - Book Escape – Top 10/ Spotlight
August 11thA Leisure Moment ~ Review (Proxy/Guardian)
August 11thReads All The Books – Review (Proxy/Guardian)
August 12thDebbie Bookish – Review (Proxy/Guardian)
August 13thUnconventional Librarian – Review
August 14thWord Spelunking ~ Review (Guardian)
August 14thKate Tilton's Blog – GIF Interview
August 15th - Fangirlish – Review (Proxy/Guardian)
August 15th - What A Nerd Girl Says – Review (Guardian)
August 16th - Books To Remember – Review (Guardian)
August 16th - A Bookshelf Full of Sunshine – Review (Guardian)
August 16th - The Reading Date ~ Review (Guardian)
August 16th - Reading Fictional ~ Review (Proxy/Guardian)
September - Bookish Tiffany – Review (Proxy/Guardian)
September - Bookish ~ Review (Proxy/Guardian)
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