Active Memory Blog Tour: Review + Giveaway

Active Memory (Mirador #3)
Author: Dan Wells 
Genre: YA Science Fiction
Release Date: February 13, 2018
Publisher: Blazer + Bray

 

Description:

From Dan Wells, author of the New York Times bestselling Partials Sequence and the John Cleaver series, comes the third and final book in the dark, pulse-pounding, sci-fi neo-noir series that began with the acclaimed novel Bluescreen.

For all the mysteries teen hacker Marisa Carneseca has solved, there has been one that has always eluded her: the truth behind the car accident in which she lost her arm and a mob boss’ wife, Zenaida de Maldonado, lost her life. Even in a world where technology exists to connect everyone’s mind to one another, it would seem that some secrets can still remain hidden.

Those secrets rise violently to the surface, however, when Zenaida de Maldonado’s freshly severed hand shows up at the scene of a gangland shooting. If Zenaida is—or was—still alive, it means there’s even more about Marisa’s past that she doesn’t know. And when she and her friends start digging, they uncover a conspiracy that runs from the slums of Los Angeles to the very top of the world’s most powerful genetic engineering firm. If Mari wants the truth, she’s going to have to go through genetically enhanced agents, irritatingly attractive mob scions, and some bad relationships to get it.

Dan Wells’s widely acclaimed series continues with his most shocking, pulse-pounding, and visionary story yet.

Other Books in the Mirador Series:

Active Memory is the mesmerizing third book in a young adult science fiction/dystopian series that will leave readers begging for more. It continues to follow our main character, Marisa, as she and her friends find themselves in more trouble and with even more questions than before. It seems that if Marisa wants to learn the truth about her past, it's going to cost her (and many others) a lot more than she ever thought.

This book was amazing, just like the other two before it. Every single aspect was expertly done, and if I had to think of something that didn't blow me away, I would have to go with the author's use of the third person point of view. Don't get me wrong - it worked great for this book and only slightly bothered me and my reading experience. I'm just a huge fan of first person POV and the deep connection that the reader can develop with the narrator. Other than that personal opinion, this book exceeded any hopes or expectations I might have had. I've read the previous two novels in the series along with several other books by the author and have adored each one. This was no exception.

The characters were all well written with distinct personalities, especially our main character, Marisa. The secondary characters were decently well rounded, and we continue to get to know them more with each installment. The story line wasn't wholly unique - which is pretty much impossible to do these days anyway. The thing that made this novel stand out for me was the incredible world building. Since the story takes place in the not so distant future (around the year 2050), a lot of the objects and situations were familiar - so it didn't feel unrealistic or out of the question. When we're introduced to all the new technology - like the djinni, for example - it didn't feel like it was out of the realm of possibility. I could actually see a world like this in the future, which made it so much cooler and fun to think about - as well as to picture in my mind. Because of the natural blend of present and future societies, I found myself slipping inside Marisa's world right from the very first page of the book - and I didn't come back out until the very last word. I could go on for a long time about all of the various technology and changes that are in this future world, but that still wouldn't be able to convey all of the sheer awesomeness. The pace was pretty steady at first and then picked up speed as the plot thickened and things got crazy. By that point I was reading as fast as I could to see what was going to happen. I can't wait to see where the story's going to go and what all might happen. With the author's immense storytelling abilities, I know that this series is going to continue to be amazing. Very highly recommended for fans of YA, science fiction, and dystopian fiction!!

 

New York Times bestselling author Dan Wells is best known for his horror series I AM NOT A SERIAL KILLER, of which the first book is now an award-winning movie through IFC Midnight. His other novels include THE HOLLOW CITY, a supernatural thriller about schizophrenia, EXTREME MAKEOVER, in which a beauty company destroys the world, and two young adult science fiction series: the post-apocalypse PARTIALS and the cyberpunk MIRADOR. He has written for television, on the upcoming science fiction series EXTINCT, and wrote and produced the horror comedy stage play A NIGHT OF BLACKER DARKNESS. He cohosts the Hugo-winning podcast for aspiring writers called Writing Excuses, which has expanded to include its own writing conference. He also writes short fiction and game fiction, and edited the anthology ALTERED PERCEPTIONS to help raise funds for and awareness of mental illness. Dan lives in northern Utah with his wife, 6 children, and more than 400 boardgames.

Hardcover set of the Mirador series (Bluescreen, Ones and Zeroes, & Active Memory) by Dan Wells & T-Shirt

Starts: 2/20

Ends: 3/6

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Nothing Left to Lose Blog Tour: Review + Giveaway

Nothing Left to Lose (John Cleaver #6)
Author: Dan Wells
Genre: Fantasy/Paranormal/Horror
Release Date: June 6, 2017
Publisher: Tor Books 

Description:

New York Times bestselling author Dan Wells continues his acclaimed John Wayne Cleaver series, popular with fans of Dexter

Hi. My name is John Cleaver, and I hunt monsters. I used to do it alone, and then for a while I did it with a team of government specialists, and then the monsters found us and killed almost everyone, and now I hunt them alone again.

This is my story.

In this thrilling installment in the John Wayne Cleaver series, Dan Wells brings his beloved antihero into a final confrontation with the Withered in a conclusion that is both completely compelling and completely unexpected.

Don't forget to catch the film adaptation of the first installment in the series, I am Not a Serial Killer, in theaters August 26th.  

Praise for JOHN CLEAVER SERIES:

"Top-notch writing and well-structured suspense elements keep the story moving briskly."―Publishers Weekly

“Fans of Jeff Lindsay's Dexter series will welcome Wells's gripping debut.” ―Publishers Weekly on I Am Not a Serial Killer

“Wells's debut is an unabashedly gory gem. This deft mix of several genres features a completely believable teenage sociopath (with a heart of gold), dark humor, a riveting mystery, and enough description of embalming to make any teen squeamish, even if they won't admit it. Buy multiples where it won't be banned.” ―Kirkus Reviews (starred review) on I Am Not a Serial Killer

“This dazzling, un-put-downable debut novel proves beyond a doubt that Dan Wells has the gift. His teenage protagonist is as chilling as he is endearing. More John Wayne Cleaver, please.” ―F. Paul Wilson, New York Times bestselling author

“The beauty of the prose, mixed with the depth of characterization, gives the haunting, first person narrative a human touch. Regardless of your age or your genre preferences, you will find this story both profound and enthralling.” ―Brandon Sanderson, New York Times bestselling author

Nothing Left to Lose is the latest installment in the highly original and thrilling John Cleaver series. One of the great things about this series is the fact that each book is just as fantastic as the last. A lot of series have a tendency to go downhill after a couple of installments, but this is definitely an exception to that. I fell in love with these books after reading the first one and I continue to be happily surprised with each successive novel. 

Every aspect of the book is very well done. The main character, John, is complex and fascinating. He's a teenager, but has seen and done things that most adults will never get to in their lives. Even though he's a legitimate monster hunter who's wanted by the FBI, he's really accessible and easy to identify with. John is certainly realistic with his many flaws and shortcomings, along with his redeeming qualities. I continue to love watching him battle and kill the Withered, and getting to know him even better. The secondary characters are always realistic as well, and the people we get to know in this book are no different. The plot was exhilarating and had me eagerly devouring each page as quickly as I could. Every book in this series continues to pleasantly surprise me with the originality and uniqueness - both of which are so hard to find anymore. I loved learning everything I could about these monsters that John hunts and kills. Every part of the story is richly detailed with vivid imagery and descriptions that bring it all to life in front of the reader's eyes.

The last thing I want to touch on is one of the most important to me personally: the writing style. The book is done from the first person point of view - from John's perspective. This was the perfect fit for the book, and I'm so incredibly happy the author chose to do it this way. I love the deeply personal connection to the narrator it allows, and it almost always allows me to have a richer reading experience than any other writing style. I don't think any other POV would have done the story justice - and I'm really glad I'll never have to find out. I highly recommend this book and series to fans of fantasy, paranormal, urban fantasy, thrillers, and horror! 

DAN WELLS writes a little bit of everything, but he is best known for the Partials Sequence and the John Cleaver series, the first book of which is now a major motion picture. He is a co-host of the educational podcast Writing Excuses, for which he won a Hugo and now helps run a yearly, week-long writing conference. In addition to novels, novellas, and shorts, he has also written and produced a stage play, called "A Night of Blacker Darkness," and works as a staff writer on the TV show "Extinct." He has loved in the US, Mexico, and Germany, and currently resides in Utah with his wife and six children and 439 boardgames.

    

 You can purchase Nothing Left To Lose at the following Retailers:

        

(1) Set Copy of the John Cleaver Series (6 Books in Total) by Dan Wells.

Giveaway is open to International. | Must be 13+ to Enter

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Bluescreen Blog Tour: Author Guest Post + Giveaway

Welcome to my stop on the final day of the BLUESCREEN blog tour! I have a fun guest post by the author to share with you - and don't forget to enter the giveaway! I didn't review the book for this tour - but I did get a chance to review it for another one, so check out my review of the book HERE!

Bluescreen (Mirador #1)
Author: Dan Wells
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Release Date: February 16, 2016
Genre: YA Science Fiction/Dystopia

Synopsis:

Los Angeles in 2050 is a city of open doors, as long as you have the right connections. That connection is a djinni—a smart device implanted right in a person’s head. In a world where virtually everyone is online twenty-four hours a day, this connection is like oxygen—and a world like that presents plenty of opportunities for someone who knows how to manipulate it.

Marisa Carneseca is one of those people. She might spend her days in Mirador, the small, vibrant LA neighborhood where her family owns a restaurant, but she lives on the net—going to school, playing games, hanging out, or doing things of more questionable legality with her friends Sahara and Anja. And it’s Anja who first gets her hands on Bluescreen—a virtual drug that plugs right into a person’s djinni and delivers a massive, non-chemical, completely safe high. But in this city, when something sounds too good to be true, it usually is, and Mari and her friends soon find themselves in the middle of a conspiracy that is much bigger than they ever suspected.

Dan Wells, author of the New York Times bestselling Partials Sequence, returns with a stunning new vision of the near future—a breathless cyber-thriller where privacy is the world’s most rare resource and nothing, not even the thoughts in our heads, is safe.

Top 10 Travel Spots

BLUESCREEN is a very international novel, with characters from all over the world, and in some cases still living all over the world. The main character and her best friend live in Los Angeles, where they hang out with a girl from Germany and a boy from Russia; their other two friends live in Beijing and Mumbai. Part of the reason I did this is because I think it's true: our world is getting smaller every day, and the Internet is connecting people in a way that really does make distance seem meaningless. The other reason I did this is because I love to travel, and I was doing a lot of it while writing the book, and it was a fun opportunity to bring up characters and cultures that are close to my heart. With that in mind, here are the Dan Wells Top Ten Travel Spots!

1) Asia and Africa

I have to get these out of the way first, because as much as I love to travel I have never been to either continent! I know! As soon as I get the chance to visit either, for whatever reason, I'm jumping on it.

2) Mexico

Don't worry, I'm going to get more specific with my travel spots soon, but Mexico as a whole deserves it's own entry in the list. I lived in Mexico when I was younger, and I fell in love with it--the people, the food, the culture, and then the people again because I love them so much I have to mention them twice. Last year I did a Caribbean cruise with my sister, and we visited all kinds of neat places, and I thought they were great, but when we got to Mexico I lost it; I started talking to everyone, buying everything, and pointing out super awesome things to her like walls and license plates--things that aren't, in fact, super awesome, but which I loved because they looked so familiar and made me feel like I was home again. If you have a chance to go to Mexico, pretty much anywhere in Mexico, take it.

3) Las Barrancas del Cobre, also in Mexico

I lived in the state of Chihuahua, which is right on the border of Texas and New Mexico. The two biggest cities are Chihuahua and Juarez, and I loved them both, but my favorite spot was up in the mountains, in what they call La Sierra Tarahumara, after the indigenous people who live there. Las Barrancas del Cobre means "The Copper Canyons," and these mountains and canyons are some of the largest and tallest and deepest and most beautiful in the world. Marisa's family restaurant, San Juanito, is named after the little town I lived in here.

4) Stuttgart, Germany

I also lived in Germany, in the city of Stuttgart, for two years with my wife and kids; we just moved back a year and a half ago, and I miss it immensely. Stuttgart is in the southwest corner of the country, more or less, in the area we call The Black Forest. It's not the fanciest or most glamorous city in Germany--whenever I tell Germans that I moved to Stuttgart they would usually frown and say, "Why Stuttgart?"--but we loved it, and I can't wait to go back again.

5) The Rhine River, also in Germany

One of my favorite things in all of Germany was to take the train from Stuttgart to Koln, because it follows the Rhine River and its phenomenally pretty, historic and picturesque

and absolutely overflowing with castles. It feels like there's a new one at every little bend in the river. Our mental picture of the Middle Ages, and the basis for much of Tolkien's Middle Earth, and by extension the entirety of modern fantasy, has its origins in this part of the world. It is worth taking this train ride even if you don't need to go anywhere.

6) Berlin

This is my favorite city in the world. I would move here in a heartbeat if it made sense for my family at the moment; once my kids have grown up and moved on, my wife and I will probably move back here. It's hard to describe what makes Berlin so great, so how about this comparison: Berlin today is like Paris two hundred years ago, the nexus of government and art and industry in all of Europe.

7) Elizabeth Bathory's Castle, Slovakia

Most of the castles in Slovakia are restored and maintained, but not this one--Elizabeth Bathory is still so feared that no one will go near it. The only way to get there is through a spooky forest road to a faded valley where you look up at the crumbling ruin on the top of a desolate hill, and you know what? It's perfect. I wouldn't have it any other way.

8) Westminster Abbey, London, England

Living in Europe you see a lot of churches, and I saw a LOT of churches. Some of them are great, like the cathedral in Koln, and some are downright amazing, like the cathedral in Prague, but none of them affected me like Poet's Corner in Westminster Abbey. It's full of quotes and monuments for the greatest writers of the English language, and you can feel a sort of sacred genius and weight of history as you stand among them. Visiting the Corner is without exaggeration my favorite part of any visit to London.

9) Buenos Aires, Argentina

Mash Paris and Berlin and Mexico City together, and you have Buenos Aires--it has art and energy and power and sophistication and a rough edge underneath it all, all at the same time. The architecture is beautiful, the food is great, and the people are some of the nicest I've ever met.

10) Grand Staircase, Utah

And now back home to Utah. Utah has more national parks and monuments than any other state, and they're all amazing, and I was going to write this entry about Bryce Canyon because it's so cool and recognizable, but you know what my actual one is? Grand Staircase-Escalante. It's not a giant canyon, or a wacky rock formation, or a verdant forest, it's just a sweeping desert, rocky and barren and stunningly majestic. Living in a desert you grow to appreciate the beauty of desolation, and Grand Staircase is stunning.

There you go: my top ten places to visit. It feels like a big list, but the world is enormous and wonderful and this covers such a tiny part of it. I look forward to adding more places to my list for next time, and I hope you do too. 

Thanks for stopping by and sharing your top ten travel spots with us Dan!

Follow the Bluescreen by Dan Wells Blog Tour and don't miss anything! Click on the banner to see the tour schedule.

Dan Wells is a thriller and science fiction writer. Born in Utah, he spent his early years reading and writing. He is he author of the Partials series (Partials, Isolation, Fragments, and Ruins), the John Cleaver series (I Am Not a Serial Killer, Mr. Monster, and I Don't Want To Kill You), and a few others (The Hollow City, A Night of Blacker Darkness, etc). He was a Campbell nominee for best new writer, and has won a Hugo award for his work on the podcast Writing Excuses; the podcast is also a multiple winner of the Parsec Award.

 

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