Battle Ground by Rachel Churcher - Book Tour & Review
Battle
Ground
Sixteen-year-old Bex Ellman has been drafted
into an army she doesn't support and a cause she doesn't believe in. Her plan
is to keep her head down, and keep herself and her friends safe – until she
witnesses an atrocity she can't ignore, and a government conspiracy that
threatens lives all over the UK. With her loyalties challenged, Bex must decide
who to fight for – and who to leave behind.
The Battle Ground
series is set in a dystopian near-future UK, after Brexit and Scottish
independence.
Purchase Link
My Review
Battle Ground is the first book in a new series set in a dystopian future where the army recruits teenagers and trains them to make citizens feel safe from the terrorist threats that seem to be happening more and more frequently.
Bex, the main character, is in the army with her friend Dan. Their other friend, Margie, has deserted them and taken off with a school teacher who believes the government is lying about the threats.
Dan is determined to prove his worth in the army, but Bex doesn't care either way. She just wants to finish school and move on with her life. Instead, she has to deal with more than she ever could have bargained for.
I don't want to spoil anything, but I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I flew threw it faster than any other book I've read this year (if I recall correctly), and that's saying something. I honestly couldn't put it down. It's engaging, thrilling, intense, and wild.
I felt bad for Bex throughout a lot of the story. She wants to do what's right while training, but more often than not, she gets punished for it. It's actually kind of ridiculous what she has to put up with.
I didn't care much for the higher-ups in the army that Bex and Dan had to deal with. They were all terrible characters who aren't hard to dislike. Although, after reading the synopses for the upcoming books, I have a feeling one of them may come around and end up not so bad in the end. I could be wrong, though.
If you love YA dystopian fiction, or books that will immediately suck you in and take you on an action-packed ride, you'll definitely want to grab a copy of Battle Ground today.
5 very well-deserved stars from me!
Author
Bio –
Rachel
Churcher was born between the last manned moon landing, and the first orbital
Space Shuttle mission. She remembers watching the launch of STS-1, and falling
in love with space flight, at the age of five. She fell in love with science
fiction shortly after that, and in her teens she discovered dystopian fiction.
In an effort to find out what she wanted to do with her life, she collected degrees
and other qualifications in Geography, Science Fiction Studies, Architectural
Technology, Childminding, and Writing for Radio.
She has
worked as an editor on national and in-house magazines; as an IT trainer; and
as a freelance writer and artist. She has renovated several properties, and has
plenty of horror stories to tell about dangerous electrics and nightmare
plumbers. She enjoys reading, travelling, stargazing, and eating good food with
good friends – but nothing makes her as happy as writing fiction.
Her first
published short story appeared in an anthology in 2014, and the Battle Ground
series is her first long-form work. Rachel lives in East Anglia, in a house
with a large library and a conservatory full of house plants. She would love to
live on Mars, but only if she’s allowed to bring her books.
Social
Media Links –
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/Rachel_Churcher
2 Comments
Thank you for a lovely review, Jasmine! I'm so glad you enjoyed the book!
ReplyDeleteYou're very welcome! :) Looking forward to the rest of the series!
DeletePlease try not to spam posts with the same comments over and over again. Authors like seeing thoughtful comments about their books, not the same old, "I like the cover" or "sounds good" comments. While that is nice, putting some real thought and effort in is appreciated. Thank you.