A Book Review of Viral Execution by Amanda L. Davis

Buy on Amazon!

With microchips implanted in their skulls at birth, the slaves of Cantral and Cillineese have labored under the tyrannical rule of the Nobles and their computers for decades. Monica, a Noble who avoided the implanting and escaped a death sentence at the age of four, is now sixteen. Having freed the slaves from Cillineese and Cantral, Monica embarks on an even more dangerous journey, across the ocean to the Eursian continent where a rogue noble has established a governing system of his own that was not affected by Cantral’s downfall.

In the meantime, the freed slaves of Cantral have taken the law into their own hands and are exacting revenge upon their former masters, including the very people who saved them. Monica and her friends Simon and Aric must escape the city and reach Eursia in time to stop the rogue noble’s implementation of his system, which would enslave everyone in that part of the world.

The fate of millions rides on Monica’s shoulders. As the only chip-less person in the world, she must find her long-lost mother, destroy the Eursian computers, and free the slaves before Eursia suffers the fate of Cillineese—termination.

Series: Cantral Chronicles (Book 3)
Genre: YA Dystopian Science Fiction
Publisher: Living Ink Books (October 14, 2014)
Page Count: 352 pages

The Plot: The plot was interesting. All of the coding of the chips reminded me of some of my family members who are very good at that sort of thing. The pace heightens more as the story goes and I enjoyed the circularity with the climax alluding back to the first book. I also enjoyed that the book showed the aftermath of a revolution. Often it's shown as everything is over, but revolutions often come with side effects, such as chaos before a new system is established. 

The Characters: Monica is an interesting main character. She's brave and determined. I can relate to her in some ways like her being adopted and wanting to know about her birth family, but gosh, does she get hurt. All. The. Time. She gets beat up more than other character in the book. It got irritating. Finally in this book she gets some love since in every other one she just seemed to be beat up and rejected 24/7.

I liked Wheaten aka Ten. She was sweet and her backstory was really sad. Aric was cool as well. It was neat having a doctor around. Monica certainly needed it, though I wish they weren't related so we could have had some romance. Simon is all right, but I guess I couldn't relate too much with the ornery old man side character. I preferred Ten and Aric. over him. I liked seeing more nobles like Rose, Dedrick, and Jacob. We didn't get much of a villain in this book, since we didn't know who he was till later on and even then his motivation seemed a bit lacking. 

The Setting: I liked that in this book we get to see more of the Cantral Chronicles world what with going overseas to Eursia with new languages and such. It was refreshing and good for the climax of the final book. 

Epic Things: The coding was really fun what with cloning and sleeping programs and all other sorts of things. Also big explosions!

The Theme: Little God is mentioned in the Cantrol Chronicles even though the author is Christian, which I thought was interesting. Monica prays a little and her mother mentions God a few times but no more than that, but many themes of sacrifice were shown throughout without the book getting too preachy. I enjoyed that. 

Content Cautions: I'd rate this book at about PG-13. There isn't excessive violence, but when there is it can get a bit bloody. Characters are shot and there's a slightly graphic neck stab near the beginning.

Conclusion: I feel like I should have enjoyed this book more. It was certainly interesting, but the characters didn't grab me and that was the deal breaker. Just three stars for this one. 

About the Author: 

Amanda L. Davis is the award-winning teen author of the Cantral Chronicles, a dystopian trilogy. She enjoys reading and writing and comes up with new novel ideas while spinning yarn or running on the roads near her home. She was born and raised a Florida girl and loves the warmth of the South.

You can find her on her website, Facebook and Goodreads!

Other Books by Amanda L. Davis:
The Cantral Chronicles Book 1: Precisely Terminated
The Cantral Chronicles Book 2: Noble Impostor

If you liked this post, come back every Saturday for more writing advice, character interviews, book reviews and more! On Sundays I have Soundtrack Sundays where I post a new score piece, Tuesdays are Tea Tuesdays with tea reviews, Wednesdays I have Wonderful Word Wednesdays where I post a new vocabulary word, and Fridays are Fan Fridays where I post tags and other goodies. To help support my dream to be an author follow this blog, like me on Facebook, watch me on deviantART, and follow me on Pinterest and Twitter. If you want to know more about my books check out them out here. Thank you! :)