About the book
Beneath rock and soil, trees and oceans, she lies.
Under concrete jungles and poisoned rivers, she slumbers.
She is Mother Earth.
And mankind has turned its back on its mother.
The visions begin on Terran’s seventeenth birthday. Horrifying images pummel her brain, while a voice commands her to see beyond the world she thought she knew and into the heart of it. Gaia has awakened, brought to consciousness by the greed of a species that has tainted every aspect of her being in a tide of indifference. With this awareness, comes rage. Gaia calls upon her children to unleash her fury, wreaking vengeance on humanity.
Terran will emerge in a world on the brink of collapse, to face a being whose wrath is beyond imagining.
My review
Rise of Gaia is a quick easy read that also touches on some bigger, more important messages such as climate change and just the state of the planet in general. With all the recent storms and bush fires the book certainly comes at an appropriate moment in time.
In the first chapter we are introduced to Terran. Terran has a comfortable life as your typical teenage girl, she spent ends most of her time hanging out with her best friend, her parents love her and treat her well. But on her 17th birthday everything begins to change. She is wracked by a terrible vision of doom and destruction.
So we come to learn that Terran is Gaia’s (mother Earth’s) chosen one. Meant to redress the balance and fight for the planet. Something which initially at least Terran is on board with, but she has no idea just how far Gaia wants her to go. This leads to a great dynamic where Terran does want to help the planet but equally is not willing to do some of the morally abhorrent things Gaia demands.
My favourite aspect in rise of Gaia though was definitely the relationship between Teran and Beth. Too many YA fantasies like this end up focusing on the pretty boy who falls for our unusual, but plain looking main character. I love how, without getting too spoilery, that dynamic is turned on its head in Rise of Gaia and the true heart of the book ends up not being the teenaged girl’s insanely gorgeous and mysterious boy crush and rather her relationship with best friend. Very satisfying.
The book is well written throughout and just an all round solid, quick and entertaining read. Recommended to anybody who likes YA fantasy/sci fi.
4 stars
I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to Dave from the WriteReads and Kristin.
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