Review: Evolution

Third book in the Extraction trilogy
By Stephanie Diaz
Available now from St. Martin's Griffin (Macmillan)
Review copy
Read my reviews of Extraction and Rebellion

Clementine has been to the center of her planet and back.  She expected to find a better life, but instead found corruption and a horrific plan to sacrifice everyone on the Surface to save those in the Core.  She joined a rebellion, but recently discovered a truth that changed everything, and an external threat that just might be more of a danger to her people.

I must admit, I was worried that the aliens would let Commander Charlie and the other officials off the hook.  Invading aliens with advanced technology would be a reason for some to resort to extreme measures.  I think there's never a reason for the kind of medical experimentation that they were doing, but at least it is more of a reason than they were doing it because they're the bad guys and thus do bad things.

I've been looking forward to the arrival of the aliens since the end of EXTRACTION, when their existence was revealed.  REBELLION dealt with the eponymous rebellion instead of picking up that thread. While I was quite satisfied by the alien's appearance in EVOLUTION, I wish Stephanie Diaz had seeded some more information about them earlier in the trilogy.  I was really interested in their past interactions with humans and sad that that was only a fact in this book.

I continued to enjoy Clementine and Logan's relationship, as well as the refreshing lack of a love triangle.  There are not many YA dystopians without one.  Both of them are ridiculous about offering to sacrifice themself for the other, but I believed in their connection and their worries. 

I can't say I'll ever be a dystopian fan, but I truly enjoyed the Extraction trilogy.  I think it is because it leaned more towards the science fiction end of things, and really expanded beyond the government versus one special girl.  I look forward to seeing Diaz's next novel, now that her debut trilogy is done.

Stephanie Diaz is half-Latina and has written about what diversity means to her at Latin@s in Kid Lit.

Review: Rebellion

Second in a trilogy
By Stephanie Diaz
Available now from
Review copy
Read my review of Extraction

REBELLION starts a week after EXTRACTION ends.  Clementine keeps flashing back to Oliver's death and the other terrible things she's been through.  Her mind is still sharp, but she's not exactly up to taking part in space battles. 

But time is ticking down for the rebels to foil Commander Charlie's plans, and she and her boyfriend Logan go undercover in a work camp while the other rebels infiltrate other places.  Clementine's mission: sow dissent and prevent the workers from being injected with a mind-control serum.  (It all makes sense if you've read the first book.)

Clementine and Logan's relationship was a highlight of REBELLION for me, so I liked getting to see them interact more.  They each make the other feel more safe, but their dedication to each other can be used against them.  However, much of the cast is new as Clementine is sent to a new location.  There are some reoccurring characters, including an antagonist from Clementine's childhood who proves to be more than a senseless bully.

Unfortunately, REBELLION did feel like the middle book in a trilogy.  EXTRACTION promised aliens, but they aren't quite there during the time period of REBELLION.  There's a new setting, but it's pretty similar to the Surface of the first book, and the differences aren't explored in depth.  There's a greater focus on internal conflict until the antagonist shows up.  (Oddly, the conflict remains mostly internal, but for a very external cause.)

I'm excited to see how Stephanie Diaz will finish her debut trilogy.  She knows how to write a fun sci-fi yarn, and she ended REBELLION with one hell of a hook.

Review: Extraction

First in a trilogy
By Stephanie Diaz
Available now from St. Martin's Griffin
Review copy

In the world of Kiel, people from the Surface are tested on their sixteenth birthdays to see whether they are worthy of living in the Core.  Maybe five people are picked per year.  Clementine is determined to make it, and to do well enough to convince the Core people to change their mind about Logan, her brilliant and strong boyfriend who happens to be disabled.  When she does make it to the Core, it is a struggle to fit in and excel.  Especially because the Core sees the Surface as an enemy, still.

I have to give it to Stephanie Diaz.  She does a good job of making the division between the Core, Surface, and other layers seem plausible.  The Surface people did revolt, and lost hard.  They're all killed off before they turn twenty, and a population of mostly children doesn't have much potential military force.  There's an acid rain that plagues the surface and also keeps them from becoming upwardly mobile.

EXTRACTION definitely has some narrative influence from the dystopian trend.  However, it does slot more into the rising science fiction trend as the story goes on.  There is much more to Clementine's world than there initially appears to be.  EXTRACTION also avoids the dreaded love triangle.  Any gestures towards it are mere feints, and the boy who would usually be the other leg of the triangle is not a mysterious bad boy but a petty, cruel villain with the merest shade of sympathetic backstory.

I thoroughly enjoyed EXTRACTION, even with the brutality of life on the Surface and the boot camp in the Core.  The romance between Logan and Clementine is both sweet and strong, two people who love each other deeply and have each other's backs.  I like that their love story was allowed to stand on its own.

And for those who aren't sold, I have one word: aliens.