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Erin Bowman

Författare till Taken

13+ verk 2,006 medlemmar 109 recensioner 1 favoritmärkta

Serier

Verk av Erin Bowman

Taken (2013) 554 exemplar
Vengeance Road (2015) 519 exemplar
Contagion (2018) 327 exemplar
Frozen (2014) 138 exemplar
Retribution Rails (2017) 125 exemplar
Forged (Taken) (2015) 90 exemplar
Immunity (Contagion Book 2) (2019) 79 exemplar
Dustborn (2021) 77 exemplar
Stolen (2014) 24 exemplar
Bagisiklik (2020) 1 exemplar

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Taggad

Allmänna fakta

Födelsedag
20th Century
Kön
female
Nationalitet
USA
Födelseort
Connecticut, USA
Bostadsorter
Connecticut, USA
New Hampshire, USA
Utbildning
Rochester Institute of Technology (Web Design, Minor in Creative Writing)
Agent
Sara Crowe (Harvey Klinger Inc.)
Kort biografi
Erin grew up in rural Connecticut, where she spent most of her childhood telling stories. It is rumored that her first words were not “Mama” or “Dada,” but “Once upon a time.” In middle school, when kids were going off to sleep-away camp for the summer, Erin was attending writing camp and penning short stories.

At the Rochester Institute of Technology in upstate New York, Erin studied web design (and minored in Creative Writing because she couldn’t stay away from stories). After several years working in advertising and designing websites for various brands, she has moved on to writing full-time. When not writing, she can often be found hiking, commenting on good typography, and obsessing over all things Harry Potter.

Erin is represented by Sara Crowe of Harvey Klinger. Her debut novel TAKEN will be published by HarperTeen April 16th, 2013. She lives in New Hampshire with her husband. (From the author website: www.embowman.com)

Medlemmar

Recensioner

My opinion of this one didn't start to change til the last 75 pages; then it turned from well-written but shallow to something more interesting and harder to put down. Still. This is one of those books that takes all the tropes and has a nice long satisfying wallow in them, but doesn't transcend them in any way. Good cover art and a few tropes I enjoy get this book a ways, but there's a limit.

Expecting the author to think about what it means to be a settler on stolen land was definitely expecting too much. (Except where convenient to the plot, of course.) I don't really know enough to comment, but it didn't sit right with me.… (mer)
 
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caedocyon | 33 andra recensioner | Feb 23, 2024 |
My rating of Contagion (Contagion #1): ★★★★★

My rating of Immunity (Contagion #2):
★★★★☆

I was so excited to finally read the second of Erin Bowman’s Contagion duology, Immunity! Contagion was amazing (as you can tell from my rating of it) and began such a unique YA story, both in the way it was written and the plot. My favorite parts of it were definitely the way the sci-fi horror was done and the shifting perspectives of the whole crew. That cliffhanger ending got me even more hyped for Immunity and the continuation of this thrilling space adventure.

Surprisingly, Immunity actually picks up right where Contagion left off, and I mean right where it left off. I’m glad, particularly with the way the first book ended, that Bowman didn’t decide to leave a gap or put in a bunch of beginning filler when going into this second book. And once again it’s a thrilling ride from beginning to end just like the first. This being said, the way in which the two books probably differ the most is the motivations behind the pacing.

In Contagion the pace was really driven by the constant action of the characters and the terror of their thoughts as they were forced into survival mode. With Immunity however, there is little immediate action now that our returning characters are off Aclys. This is not to say that I found any parts dull though. Actually, in general I found the pacing to be quite similar to the first book, the momentum was just propelled by subtler means. Instead of running, fighting, terror, and suspicion like the first book; Immunity focuses instead on the aftermath of dealing with traumatic events, loss and grief in general, finding ways to cope, finding hope in the dark places, finding the strength to overcome adversity, and the formation of new bonds. It’s the same story, next chapter.

I can’t say I don’t miss the science fiction horror aspects though. There is certainly still some of that in this book as well, but it’s also certainly no longer the focus. We do still get the shifting perspectives of various characters like in Contagion, but this time there are less perspectives, as again it really hones in on the individual experiences of overcoming, recovering, and rebuilding.

I feel that this change in focus and perspectives are probably the main contributors as to why I didn’t enjoy this installment quite as much as the first, though I did still really enjoy it and truly appreciate the new themes.

I don’t really want to say too much about the plot of Immunity because one of the best parts of this series is not knowing what will happen. To keep it brief: Thea, Coen, and Nova thought escaping Aclys would be the end of what they saw there— however, they couldn’t be further from the truth, as Aclys was only the beginning. Now they must both continue fighting against and find a way to use their experiences on Aclys and how it has changed them to save not just themselves but the entire galaxy.

Thea, Coen, and Nova are joined by a new group member: Amber. Each of these characters gets a POV like in Contagion and each one still feels like such a unique and intriguing character. We go into each person’s backstory bit by bit, learning more about their past as we continue in their present time. I love these characters so much! They are each so strong willed, brave, and caring while still being such different people from one another.

Now I know this is supposed to be a duology, but once again I really feel like we were left on a huge cliffhanger. While it’s entirely possible that the author just chose to leave this story in such a way on purpose to suggest a sort of cyclical nature, I can’t help but to think that this isn’t it for this story. I for one, wouldn’t be mad about seeing it continue either.

On a final note I just want to revel a little longer on the fact that this was a YA science fiction horror novel. Can we have more of those PLEASE. Also, I did something new and put together a different playlist of songs that remind me of this book. I have seen a few people do this before and I have always loved how music has the ability to attach itself to things and when you hear that song that brings back a memory it can be such a visceral experience. The only note I want to make in particular for my choices is that the last song is specifically meant for the last scene of the book ;).

Immunity Playlist:
“Bracelet” by Lauv
“Paralyzed” by Mystery Skulls
“Invincible” by MNQN
“Break Myself” by Something Corporate
“My Blood” by Twenty One Pilots
“Only Love Can Break Your Heart” by I Blame CoCo
“Unstoppable” by Lianne La Havas
“Starlight” by Starset
“Home” by Vince Staples
“Sun of a Gun” by Oh Land

My rating of Contagion (Contagion #1): ★★★★★

My rating of Immunity (Contagion #2):
★★★★☆

… (mer)
 
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rianainthestacks | 4 andra recensioner | Nov 5, 2023 |
I love this book!Contagion is a YA space thriller very reminiscent of the Alien movies. The pretty sci fi cover originally drew me in, but when I read what it was about it definitely seemed up my alley and it was! This is the first thing I have read by Erin Bowman and I cannot wait for the sequel in this duology, which is set to release next year. This also makes me want to read her other works while I wait for the second book!

Hevetz Industries is an energy company that drills the largest amounts in the system of a renewable energy source called corrarium. A large part of the Hevetz company is also dedicated to research as they find new planets and ascertain whether they contain any corrarium and how the company is effecting the environment. One such team is currently evacuating a planet due to severe weather conditions when they get a distress signal from a far away planet. Being the closest, it is their duty to answer the distress signal, but under their current circumstances the crew that gathers together for the mission is a bit rag tag. Only one of the team has any search and rescue experience, the pilot is under a sort of trial period of flight, and one member is just a young intern trying to add something to her resume to get into the college she wants. But the group is also in a rush to get off planet and gets swept along without much explanation.

They soon find out that they are on their way to a planet that everyone believed had been disregarded as not worth the trouble, long ago. The S.O.S. Is coming from a Hevetz drill crew called Black Quarry that was on a classified job there. This planet has extreme weather conditions and is in a tidal lock with it’s sun. There is a thin strip of median where people can work and one previously known attempt at research done there. All that’s left from that time is a single survivor and plenty of rumors.

In fact, the sole survivor, now an older doctor of the Hevetz company, is one of the rescue crew headed to the planet now. If the rumored stories and distance (necessitating cryo) weren’t enough to have the crew on edge, the state of the Black Quarry drill crew’s ship, once there, definitely gives them something to think about. The Black Quarry crew has experienced something quite unexpected and the rescue team truly has no idea what they are getting into, at least for the most part.

I love the perspectives in Contagion, which come from the varied array of characters on the mission. They are diverse and convincing and the jumping from one POV to another contributes a lot to the build up of suspense. I really appreciated that of these characters there was some POC and LGBTQ representation. There was also a good representation of different age groups and careers and specialties within the company, so all in all there was a very rounded view of the occurrences in the story. Even with there being a larger number of perspectives, I still ended up enjoying the characters a lot.

The suspense build was multi-faceted and excellent. I’ve already mentioned how the POV swaps added to this sense of suspense but this was merely a piece of creating the tension. The way we learn about the characters is another factor. Instead of learning a lot of background information at the beginning, we don’t know very much at all and slowly pick up information along the way- often from what other characters pick up about each other. So we never know anyone’s full story and often we know only what others infer about each person. Add to this the rumored stories of what happened the only other recorded time Hevetz had anyone on this planet. At first the rumors alone create a sense of mystery and a need for caution, but as the characters begin to piece together the truth of what happened, the sense of danger increases.

Most of all though, it’s the writing style that is able to have you there on the edge with the rescue crew.It takes a lot of skill to write this many character perspectives well, to build suspense, to create a mystery that will have the reader guessing up to the very end, and to leave that reader eager for a second book. And I for one, cannot wait for the second book! It’s even more difficult because the ending was sooo cliff-hangery!! In the meantime, Contagion gets a 5/5 stars from me! ★★★★★
… (mer)
 
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rianainthestacks | 11 andra recensioner | Nov 5, 2023 |
So much language

Also, I would have liked this better if the girl-disguised trope lasted more than like two days.

2 stars
 
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libraryofemma | 33 andra recensioner | Oct 20, 2023 |

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Statistik

Verk
13
Även av
1
Medlemmar
2,006
Popularitet
#12,833
Betyg
3.8
Recensioner
109
ISBN
82
Språk
5
Favoritmärkt
1

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