By: Cait Marie
*I received a free advanced copy of this book from the author for my honest opinion.*
Adaptive is book two in The Elite Trials series. There will be spoilers from book one, Reactive. Adaptive spoilers will be at the very end and a warning will precede them.
Read my review of Reactive here.
The Trials are over. Everything Lune has fought and trained for since arriving in Tatum City is over. She is finally outside the city walls, but instead of winning her freedom, she’s been given the title of Elite Guardian. And her mission is to find Bren.
Bren has been sent off on a secret mission by Renold Tatum, the latter of which doesn’t believe he’ll follow through. Lune is sent out into the wild to find him and make sure he completes his mission. If he fails, she is to kill him. For years, she has dreamed of escaping the city, but with her best friend and newly-discovered sister in danger, she can’t runaway. She must follow orders.
With the insufferable Ryker as her “Keeper” (aka he has to make sure she does what she is supposed to), Lune rediscovers the dangers of the outside world. The city was dangerous, but at least she knew how to protect herself within the walls. Outside its protection, from men of the Recruiter Clan to wild beasts to mother nature, she must fight for her life to save those she cares about most.
Reactive was one of my favorite books of 2018, and I think it is safe to say Adaptive is going to make the 2019 list.
Dystopian has always been one of my favorite genres, but there are few series that stick with me. The Elite Trials will be one that does. It is already right up there with The Hunger Games, and if you know me, you know how big of a deal that is.
This series is so original and well thought out. It’s full of action and snark, but it also has romance. It’s a great balance overall. Nothing feels too fast or slow, and the characters feel real, despite the powers we learn more about in this book.
Adaptive gives a closer look into this world we had only seen a small corner of before. Without giving too much away, there exist a haven of sorts. People live freely there, and those with powers train. There are glimpses into how their world came to be, with references from today’s world like certain movies, which were fun to guess. Three were actually super easy because I’ve seen them a million times, but I’m still trying to figure out the superhero one…
I love all the characters, including the new ones. Lune still kicks butt. Ryker is grumpy, and both he and Bren are full of secrets we’re only just barely starting to find out. I miss Asher a lot, but now there’s Jaxon. He’s the funny best friend of Bren. He reminds me a lot of Kenji in the Shatter Me series, so obviously I love him with all my heart.
This book is so intense and amazing. Just when I thought I had things figured out, they’d change. There were twists and reveals all throughout, and it was hard not to sit and binge-read the whole thing in one sitting (stupid responsibilities!). I cannot wait until book three. The wait might actually kill me.
“The not knowing… It was the most excruciating thing I’d ever feel.”
Becky Moynihan, Adaptive
*SPOILERS**SPOILERS**SPOILERS*
Okay, so I have loved Bren from the beginning, but now I have mixed emotions and can’t make up my mind. Ryker was awful in the beginning, but from the beginning of Adaptive, I knew there was more to him than meets the eye.
I love Lune and Ryker’s snark-filled arguments and how they keep saving each other, even while fighting. I have this feeling that he’s one of those characters who cares a lot more than he lets on. Maybe I’ve read Shatter Me and A Court of Thorns and Roses too many times. My love of the enemies-to-lover trope might be affecting my judgement. Don’t get me wrong, I still love Bren. I just think he’s hiding a lot more. We’re only scratching the surface of all that these two are. We also find out that Lune was seen in a vision as a part of a bigger plot, and I’m very curious to see how this all plays out.
So, theories: She’s a lot more powerful than we know yet, possibly with gifts they don’t know about. Tatum wants to use her for something, but the others want to use her against him to bring down the city. Her mom had something to do with her being kidnapped, that’s why she wasn’t around at the lake when Bren originally found Lune as a child. Ryker is the Recruiter Clan leader’s son, and he’s going to be their destruction because he’s really a good guy. Iris is going to be super powerful like Lune.
I might be totally wrong about all that, but I do know everything is going to be awesome. I can’t wait to see what actually happens!
Functionally Fictional 