Naomi Hughes

After an attack on earth, all reflective surfaces become weapons to release monsters, causing a planet-wide ban on mirrors. Despite the danger, the demand rises, and 17-year-old Marty Callahan becomes a distributor in an illegal mirror trade—until he’s caught by the mayor's son, whose slate is far from clean. Both of them are exiled for their crimes to one of the many abandoned cities overrun by fog. But they soon realize their thoughts influence their surroundings and their deepest fears begin to manifest. With fast pacing and riveting characters, this is a book that you’ll finish in one sitting.

Refraction

Sheila Goicea

I received a copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! In no way does this affect my rating or review. Also, thanks to Page Street Kids and The Fantastic Flying Book Club for sending me a finished copy!



All included quotes have been taken from an ARC and may not match the finished publication. 

Content Warning: Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Death, Gore, Injury

Refraction is a fast-paced Sci-Fi thriller packed full of surprise and character depth. I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered that the story was told by a male lead, and there was no romance! (It’s such a refreshing feeling to read about a different character dynamic. I'm getting tired of the “strong female lead who doesn't need anyone to help her” being in the spotlight constantly).

Marty Callahan does not disappoint in character. After an alien invasion on Earth, he has had to learn how to survive on his own, and survival doesn’t always look pleasant. Marty has taken up the occupation as a mirror-dealer. Since the invasion, mirrors, and anything with reflective surfaces have become outlawed as they cause fears to manifest. Desperate to buy passage to London--one of the few cities still contactable since the invasion, and where his brother was last known to be--Marty will stop at nothing to get there. The eerie fog surrounding the island makes escape to the mainland utterly impossible. Anyone who enters the fog is killed within moments by the creatures that lurk there. 

The island becomes smaller and smaller, and Marty is finally caught. He’s banished to the mainland, AKA his death, along with the mayor’s son. What makes his banishment most interesting is Marty’s struggle with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. His struggles are craftily worked into the scenarios throughout this story that make his character tangible, as if the reader is living his story. I thought that this aspect was done so well, and I really enjoyed how the author crafted his entire character.

Refraction is a unique story that brings to light how fears can consume someone if they aren’t kept in check. This will be the perfect read for anyone who likes The Illuminae Files.

Vulgarity: None.
Sexual content: None.
Violence: Moderate.

My Rating: ★★★★

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Paige Green

Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Author: Naomi Hughes

Book Series: Standalone

Rating: 5/5

Publication Date: November 5, 2019

Publisher: Page Street Kids

Recommended Age: 14+ (OCD, suicide mention)

Synopsis: After an attack on earth, all reflective surfaces become weapons to release monsters, causing a planet-wide ban on mirrors. Despite the danger, the demand rises, and 17-year-old Marty Callahan becomes a distributor in an illegal mirror trade―until he’s caught by the mayor's son, whose slate is far from clean. Both of them are exiled for their crimes to one of the many abandoned cities overrun by fog. But they soon realize their thoughts influence their surroundings and their deepest fears begin to manifest.

Review: I read this book in 4 hours and I have to say it's one of the most imaginative and best alagorical works of sci-fi I've ever read in my life. The book did amazing to draw the connection between the world and the writing was amazing. I loved to have a realistic OCD rep in this book as well. I highly recommend this book.

My only complaints are that the fight scenes went a bit fast, the pacing is extremely fast paced, and the character development could have been better with some of the background characters. Other than those I absolutely loved this book!

Verdict: Get it now!

Leelynn Brady

Disclaimer: I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to Netgalley, Page Street Kids, and Fantastic Flying Book Club for this free copy.

Do you know how much I wish I had freaking exciting books like this when I was growing up? Seriously though. I was not expecting to have a near heart attack kind of hyped up experience from reading something like this, and I was completely wrong!

First, I wanted to say that I really appreciate Hughes being so thorough in listing all of the potential trigger warnings that her book has in her Goodreads Review. I have seen so many people – not that I know personally but around – that feel like the world should not cater to someone’s triggers, but I mean, people don’t have to be jerks about it and they usually are. So for Hughes to be so aware and considerate about this, and made it a point to list them for us was really great.

Second of all, I really enjoyed the premise of this novel. I think about how many times I look into a reflected surface on a daily basis, and I don’t know if I would be able to discipline myself enough to NOT put myself in danger like that. And it’s not even the makeup or anything, but just to see what’s on my face, or see what’s up with my hair, or even put on and take out my contacts! But it’s also interesting that even though mirrors can be used to unleash monsters, people still want to sell and buy them on the “black market”. If it’s so dangerous, what would they want to use it for? Or is it just too difficult to not look at yourself every once in a while? Well, wait didn’t I just say that about myself?



Also, I felt like Hughes did such an amazing job with showing a realistic take on someone with a disability that would normally rely on their medication but can’t do so because of the current state of the world. Sometimes I feel like people think its easier to portray someone with a disability in the “real world” because there wouldn’t be much… obstacles that they could have to face if everything was perfect. Sure, an author could write about how damaging it could be for someone to be rejected for their medicine because of a lack of health insurance or something of a real life problem like that, but how would we figure it out when the world just went to hell? What would we do to keep ourselves balanced and functional? This is where Hughes did a great job with going into that thought process, and I appreciate that this came from an #OwnVoices author in regards to OCD.

This was such a great science fiction/dystopia type novel, and I’m so glad that I got to read it! I’ve also seen some reviews of people that NEVER read science fiction novels, and loved this, so I would recommend you giving this a try if you’re still a SFF newbie!

Belle Ellrich

*I WAS PROVIDED A PHYSICAL COPY FOR THE PURPOSES OF A BOOK TOUR. THIS DOESN’T AFFECT MY OPINION*

My first words after finishing this book were “wow” and “what the hell.” I kid you not, I was stunned into practical silence.

I held low expectations going into this book due to my being resurfacing from the horrors of a book slump. The good news of having low expectations? This book’ll blow your mind.

First of all, there isn’t a single ounce of romance in this book.

None.

Do you know how rare that is in YA fiction nowadays? Almost nonexistent! So, when the trope of “two guys (fill in the blank here)” was brought to my attention, I was like, hmmm. But nope! Not a single bit of romance; just good ‘ole friendship.

And I loved it. I think we need more of that in YA books! I think that that’s something we’re really missing in regards to the realistic appeal factors, and I think it’s definitely something that should be happening more often than the fairytale “love-at-first-sight” trope.

However, with all good books come some faults. There were a few parts toward the mid and end of this book that I just got a little iffy about.

For one, there’s a rather traumatic scene with the MC and an injury he receives. One second, he’s up and running; the next, he’s down and screaming. I kind of found this one scene, in particular, to be confusing and of not much sense. It didn’t seem right to me that he was fine for one moment and then down in the next, but then back up and running again just paragraphs later??

Moving on from that, there were also some parts toward the end that were more obvious than not fillers, and I found myself skipping through them due to their lack of importance to the story, characters, or plot.

All things considered, though, I did really love this book. Again, having low expectations gave this book a seriously high standing in my current views, and I will definitely be rereading it again in the future. For that, I rate it 4.25 stars. I’m excited to see what Hughes will release next!

Refraction

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