Extraction Blog Tour: Review, Excerpt + Giveaway

Welcome to my stop on the Extraction blog tour! Today I have an excerpt from the book to share along with my review - and don't forget to enter the giveaway! To follow the rest of the tour, click on the banner above.

Extraction (Extraction #1)

Author: Stephanie Diaz

Genre: YA Science Fiction/Dystopia

Release Date: July 22, 2014

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

Buy Link: Amazon 

Description:

"Welcome to Extraction testing."

Clementine has spent her whole life preparing for her sixteenth birthday, when she’ll be tested for Extraction in the hopes of being sent from the planet Kiel’s toxic Surface to the much safer Core, where people live without fear or starvation. When she proves promising enough to be “Extracted,” she must leave without Logan, the boy she loves. Torn apart from her only sense of family, Clem promises to come back and save him from brutal Surface life.

What she finds initially in the Core is a utopia compared to the Surface—it’s free of hard labor, gun-wielding officials, and the moon's lethal acid. But life is anything but safe, and Clementine learns that the planet's leaders are planning to exterminate Surface dwellers—and that means Logan, too.

Trapped by the steel walls of the underground and the lies that keep her safe, Clementine must find a way to escape and rescue Logan and the rest of the planet. But the planet leaders don't want her running—they want her subdued.

With intense action scenes and a cast of unforgettable characters, Extraction is a page-turning, gripping read, sure to entertain lovers of Hunger Games and Ender's Game and leave them breathless for more. 

Today I have to prove I deserve to stay alive.

I push the front door of my shack open a crack, enough to peek outside. It's dark and dusty out there. Soft pink moonlight falls on some of the shacks across the street. A small black ball hovers through the air with two red lights blinking on its metal surface.

I hold my breath, waiting for the cam-bot to pass. The red lights - fake eyes, we call them - double as motion sensors and cameras. They monitor our every move, relaying a live feed to the security hub in the city. Nighttime curfew isn't over yet, so I don't want to get caught.

But I hate waiting. My nerves have been on edge all night. Not just because of today, which is scary enough, but also because Logan should be here already. The wardens kept him late in the fields, but his extra shift shouldn't have lasted this long, or even half this long.

Finally, the cam-bot is far enough down the road that it probably won't notice me. I slip outside into the cold. Bitter wind rips at my red-orange curls. The wind is loud, but not loud enough to drown out the whimpers floating from the other shacks, from children having nightmares. Nor does it cover the constant hum of the acid shield in the sky.

Tonight the moon beyond the shield is only half an orb, but it still fills the sky, blocking many stars from view. Every night I see the pink acid clouds swirl on its surface and drip into the vacuum of space, pooling in rivers across the thin membrane scientists built around the edge of our atmosphere.

Every night I pray the shield won't break and let the acid through. 

Dropping into the dirt, I lean against the front wall of my shack and dig my boots into the mud. I hug my knees to my chest. My heart hammers beneath my ribs. In my head, I recite chemical formulas - like LF for the moon's acid - and divide big numbers by other big numbers to stay calm.

Logan will be here soon. And I'll get through today.

The smells of sewage and decay settle in my nose. I try to ignore them. There isn't time today to regret the way the Developers have made me live for sixteen years.

There's only time to escape.

Extraction is the thrilling first book in a new young adult science fiction/dystopian series. It follows main character Clementine as she prepares for the day she's always dreamed of - Extraction testing. If she shows she's Promising enough in the tests, they'll take her away from her horrible life of starvation and labor on the Surface to live in the luxurious Core. All she's ever wanted was to escape the Surface - and now it's her chance. Even though it means leaving Logan - the boy she loves - behind. Clementine is surprised when she's picked as one of the teens to be Extracted. She's excited to see the Core and what life will be like down there - but she also promises Logan that she'll find a way to get him to safety with her and away from the Surface. Things in the Core seem perfect - no hard labor, warm beds, plenty of food - everything Clem could have wanted. She still doesn't trust the Developers or the other high ranking citizens though, and her fears are confirmed when she learns of a plan to exterminate all the people living on the Surface - including Logan. Clem is now on a time limit to stop the government, save Logan and the other innocent people on the Surface, and to manage all of it while staying alive.

I found the concept of this book to be immediately fascinating. There's no shortage of science fiction and dystopian books out there, but this one had a promising story line that had an air of action and suspense as well. I'm happy to say that it didn't fall short of my hopes and proved to be a solid and well written first book in the series. The characters were well written, especially our main character Clementine. She's strong, brave, devoted, and will do whatever is right - no matter what. She's obviously not perfect and has flaws like everyone else, but one thing that irritated me to no end was her incessant inner dialogue about Logan. She was constantly repeating that she could handle everything because she had to save Logan  - or that everything would be okay because she had to save Logan. It drove me nuts that she seemed to have a broken record in her mind about saving Logan and it made me dislike her character. Due to my issue connecting with Clementine, I wasn't able to fully immerse myself into the story like I usually can, and I found myself distracted and unable to fully appreciate the other aspects of the story. The setting and world building was fantastic - the author wrote with such detailed imagery and vivid descriptions that I could easily see everything mentioned in the story like I was there myself. I love that quality in this genre because it can make or break a book for me if it isn't written in a way that I can envision. 

The writing was well done and had an intriguing and original story line. I loved the concept of the book and eagerly read all about this strange world the author created. I hope that the same attention to detail will continue in the following books - it really makes it stand apart from others. The plot was fast-paced and flowed effortlessly, so I found myself gliding through the book at a quick rate. The author mixes a lot of different genres into the story aside from the obvious science fiction and dystopian aspects - there's also action, adventure, suspense, and romance - something for fans of all genres to enjoy. Overall, this was a unique and very well written dystopian book that would have excelled in my opinion - if it weren't for the irritating qualities I found in the main character. The plot is full of potential and there's tons of ways the author can take the story, so I'm really hoping that any kinks in the book will work themselves out and the next installment will blow my mind. I'm definitely going to read the next book with high hopes that I'll be able to really lose myself in the fascinating world and heart-pounding plot the author has devised. Recommended for fans of science fiction and dystopian novels, as well as those who enjoy fantasy, action, and suspense.

Twenty-one-year-old Stephanie Diaz wrote her debut novel, Extraction, when she should've been making short films and listening to college lectures at San Diego State University. When she isn't lost in books, she can be found singing, marveling at the night sky, or fan-girling over TV shows.

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