Friday, August 5, 2016

There Once Were Stars

Remember when I told you about my awesome resource for great new FREE e-books?  Well, this was one of them!  And I'm so glad I got it!

There Once Were Stars
Summary (via mcfarlanebooks.wix.com): Peace. Love. Order. Dome.
That's the motto that the Order has given the residents of Dome 1618 to live by.  Natalia Greyes is a resident of Dome 1618, a covered city protected from the deadly radiation that has poisoned the world outside for four generations.  Nat never questioned the Order, until one day she sees a stranger on the outside of the dome.

Now Nat wants answers.

What has the Order been hiding from the good and loyal people of Dome 1618?

Nasa Experiment

Review (3/5 stars): The YA Dystopian Future genre is not something I delve into very often, but I find that when these types of books are written well, like this one, they leave you on the edge of your seat, disappointed only when you have to put it down and rejoin the real world. 

Within the first few pages you can easily visualize this other world where people live in domes to protect themselves from a deadly virus. It's fun, because as the reader you will find yourself imagining crazy plot twists and wondering what's real from the very beginning. Are they a science experiment? Are there really other domes? Does anyone know they're there?

The only criticism I have is that the lead character, Natalia, was very immature. However, she's 16 and lost her parents when she was very young. So, in some respects I actually applaud the author for keeping Natalia a little more true to real life. Often, in this type of book, the teenager is mature far beyond her years, handling every crisis with ease and knowing more about the world than all of the adults around her. So, even though Natalia's immaturity was often mildly annoying, so are most other 16 year olds.

The other characters in the book add nicely to the story. I felt like there were some unresolved storylines though. I never really understood why the grandmother acted the way she did toward Natalia and I wonder if the uncle's storyline ended the way it did to open the door for a sequel.

Overall I really enjoyed this book. I'll definitely look up other books by Melanie McFarlane, (who it turns out lives not too far from me!!) and may even dip my toe in another dystopian future.

(I received a free ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.)


Did you know that Nasa did an experiment in 2015 and stuck 6 people in a dome for 8 months?!?!  I saw a (very bad) movie about this not too long ago, but I had no idea this was actually happening!  It's to prepare for the mission to Mars.

Watch the video to see inside the doom and meet the crew!


I think I'd go bonkers.  Do you think you could live in a confined space with only a few other people? Leave a comment below~

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