This Mortal Coil
Author: Emily Suvada
Published by: Penguin Books
Pages 454
Format Paperback
My Rating ★★★★
‘There’s no gene for run like hell.’
‘My darling girl, if you’re reading this, it means I am dead. I know you want to grieve, but there is something I need you to do.’
When a lone soldier, Cole, arrives with news of Lachlan Agatta’s death, all hope seems lost for Catarina. Her father was the world’s leading geneticist, and humanity’s best hope of beating a devastating virus. Then, hidden beneath Cole’s genehacked enhancements, she finds a message of hope: Lachlan created a vaccine. But only she can find and decrypt it…if she can unravel the clues he left for her.
The closer she gets, the more she finds herself at risk from Cartaxus, a shadowy organisation with a stranglehold on the world’s genetic tech. But it’s too late to turn back. There are three billion lives at stake, two people who can save them, and one final secret that Cat must unlock. A secret that will change everything.
My thoughts:
I’ve just finished reading This Mortal Coil, and honestly I’m a little conflicted about this one. I found the premise really interesting, and loved the concept of this lead character struggling day to day to survive in a futuristic world where disease has taken over and people have tech installed in their bodies. This was a recommended read for me, and I was keen to get started. It really felt like a book with so much potential, and I was immediately intrigued by the concept of the virus itself. The circumstances surrounding it were extremely original and I quickly became immersed in Catarina’s world after just a few short chapters.
The story held my attention completely throughout the first half of the book, but after a while I did feel that the plot was a bit slow at some points in the second half.
I enjoyed how action-packed the story was, but it did feel slightly too heavy on romance in my opinion, and I didn’t find the ‘chemistry’ between Catarina and Cole very believable. I can’t help but think the whole story could’ve worked better without the romance element at all. In my opinion, it just didn’t feel like a particularly exciting or nuanced romantic relationship that I could get actually behind.
However, the story certainly took place in a very cool and unique world, and I didlove the plot twist towards the final chapters of the book, which helped to reel me back in fast, until I had finished every page from start to finish.
Overall, I felt This Mortal Coil was a book with an excellent concept, but was in some ways ruined by a messy execution and pointless romance. (By the skin of it’s teeth) I have rated it four stars overall though, because of the elements that I really enjoyed. I don’t want to be too critical, because in truth I think I have been a little biased, as I have read better works within the sci-fi fantasy genre already in the last few months. If you enjoy some clunky romance in your books you’ll probably like this a lot. I’d recommend this one to fans of the Divergent series, and the Netflix show, Orphan Black, mainly because there is A LOT of technical talk about genes and geneticists, and those bits got a bit dull. Sadly, I think much of the science went over my head after a while.
The second book in the series comes out in October, and despite some mixed feelings on this one, I think I’ll probably give it a go.
Overall reaction:
Published by: Penguin Books
Pages 454
Format Paperback
My Rating ★★★★
‘There’s no gene for run like hell.’
‘My darling girl, if you’re reading this, it means I am dead. I know you want to grieve, but there is something I need you to do.’
When a lone soldier, Cole, arrives with news of Lachlan Agatta’s death, all hope seems lost for Catarina. Her father was the world’s leading geneticist, and humanity’s best hope of beating a devastating virus. Then, hidden beneath Cole’s genehacked enhancements, she finds a message of hope: Lachlan created a vaccine. But only she can find and decrypt it…if she can unravel the clues he left for her.
The closer she gets, the more she finds herself at risk from Cartaxus, a shadowy organisation with a stranglehold on the world’s genetic tech. But it’s too late to turn back. There are three billion lives at stake, two people who can save them, and one final secret that Cat must unlock. A secret that will change everything.
My thoughts:
I’ve just finished reading This Mortal Coil, and honestly I’m a little conflicted about this one. I found the premise really interesting, and loved the concept of this lead character struggling day to day to survive in a futuristic world where disease has taken over and people have tech installed in their bodies. This was a recommended read for me, and I was keen to get started. It really felt like a book with so much potential, and I was immediately intrigued by the concept of the virus itself. The circumstances surrounding it were extremely original and I quickly became immersed in Catarina’s world after just a few short chapters.
The story held my attention completely throughout the first half of the book, but after a while I did feel that the plot was a bit slow at some points in the second half.
I enjoyed how action-packed the story was, but it did feel slightly too heavy on romance in my opinion, and I didn’t find the ‘chemistry’ between Catarina and Cole very believable. I can’t help but think the whole story could’ve worked better without the romance element at all. In my opinion, it just didn’t feel like a particularly exciting or nuanced romantic relationship that I could get actually behind.
However, the story certainly took place in a very cool and unique world, and I didlove the plot twist towards the final chapters of the book, which helped to reel me back in fast, until I had finished every page from start to finish.
Overall, I felt This Mortal Coil was a book with an excellent concept, but was in some ways ruined by a messy execution and pointless romance. (By the skin of it’s teeth) I have rated it four stars overall though, because of the elements that I really enjoyed. I don’t want to be too critical, because in truth I think I have been a little biased, as I have read better works within the sci-fi fantasy genre already in the last few months. If you enjoy some clunky romance in your books you’ll probably like this a lot. I’d recommend this one to fans of the Divergent series, and the Netflix show, Orphan Black, mainly because there is A LOT of technical talk about genes and geneticists, and those bits got a bit dull. Sadly, I think much of the science went over my head after a while.
The second book in the series comes out in October, and despite some mixed feelings on this one, I think I’ll probably give it a go.
Overall reaction: