Title: H.A.L.F. The Deep Beneath (Book 1)
Author: Natalie Wright
Category/Genre: Young Adult/Sci-fi
Publication Date: January 7, 2015
RATING: 5 stars
H.A.L.F. 9 has taken his first breath of desert air and his first steps in the human world. Created to be a weapon, he proved too powerful for his makers and has lived a sedated life hidden from humans. But H.A.L.F. 9 has escaped the underground lab he called home, and the sedation has worn off. He has never been more alive. More powerful. Or more deadly.
Erika Holt longs to ride her motorcycle east until pavement meets shore. She bides her time until graduation when she’ll say adios to the trailer she shares with her alcoholic mother and memories of her dead father. But a typical night in the desert with friends thrusts Erika into a situation more dangerous than she ever imagined.
Circumstances push the two together, and each must make a fateful choice. Will Erika help H.A.L.F. 9 despite her “don’t get involved” rule? And will H.A.L.F. 9 let Erika live even though he was trained to kill?
The two may need to forget their rules and training and if either is to survive the dangers of the deep beneath them.
Note: I received a copy of H.A.L.F. The Deep Beneath (Book 1) in exchange for an honest review.
What a joy to review this book! I love alien sci-fi, so when I came across the opportunity to read the H.A.L.F. series by Natalie Wright (thank you Natalie and Xpresso Book Tours!), I jumped on it. My intention was to read all three books and review the series as a whole, but life got a little crazy on me, so I’ll just be talking about the first one.
The adventure begins when Erika drives into the Arizona desert with her best friend Ian and her ex-boyfriend Jack. All they want is to star-gaze and talk about life, but things take a bad turn after a couple of strangers show up uninvited. It gets even more dangerous when a powerful genetic weapon—H.A.L.F. 9—stumbles onto the scene after escaping the lab that has held him prisoner for 17 years. The situation quickly spirals into a life-or-death race against time as Erika is pulled into a world she never knew existed . . . a world that she, her friends, and H.A.L.F. 9 might not be able to survive.
This book is laid out really well. There’s a short prologue, for backstory and suspense, and the rest is told from various points of view. We get to see a lot of it through Erika’s eyes, but the author lets us poke around in H.A.L.F. 9’s head as well. We also get a view from the main antagonist’s perspective, which sheds some light on the lab's political agenda and the reason H.A.L.F 9 was created in the first place.
The plot kept me engaged, and the characters felt real and relatable. What I enjoyed most was Natalie's writing style. It’s descriptive and clever, with a touch of sarcasm, and I appreciated the Spock-like musings she gave H.A.L.F. 9 as he tested his abilities and tried to interact with the humans around him. The whole thing had a cool, Escape-to-Witch-Mountain-meets-Roswell vibe to it. Overall, this was a fun and exciting read.
I’d recommend the first H.A.L.F. novel for any teen craving a suspenseful sci-fi adventure. But I have to warn you—this one ends on a cliffhanger, so you’ll end up going back for more!
Author Bio:
Natalie is the author of the award-winning science fiction series H.A.L.F., and The Akasha Chronicles, a popular young adult fantasy trilogy with over 2 Million reads on Wattpad. She lives in Tucson, Arizona with her husband, teen daughter, and two cat overlords.
Natalie spends her time writing, reading, geeking out over nerd culture and cool science, and meeting readers and fans at book festivals and comic cons throughout the western United States. Natalie appears frequently on radio, podcasts and vlogs such as The Speculative Fiction Cantina, Front Row Geeks and iHeart Radio.
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