Week 49 Reviews: The Fear Trials, The Murder Complex

From Goodreads:
Meadow Woodson has been trained to survive. This is a prequel to The Murder Complex, by Lindsay Cummings, and it is set in a blood-soaked world where the murder rate is higher than the birth rate. For fans of Moira Young's Dust Lands series, La Femme Nikita, and the movie Hanna.


Meadow Woodson's father calls it The Fear Trials, and it is a rite of passage in their family. Meadow is up against her brother Koi. The Fear Trials will both harden her and make her brave. If Meadow wins, she will get a weapon of her own and the right to leave the Woodsons' houseboat without her father or mother at her side. Set in the violent, complex, and mysterious world of The Murder Complex, and introducing Meadow Woodson—a teenage girl trained to survive no matter what the cost—and her family, who are together for the last time on their houseboat in the Florida Everglades.

From Goodreads:
An action-packed, blood-soaked, futuristic debut thriller set in a world where the murder rate is higher than the birthrate. For fans of Moira Young's Dust Lands series, La Femme Nikita, and the movie Hanna.

Meadow Woodson, a fifteen-year-old girl who has been trained by her father to fight, to kill, and to survive in any situation, lives with her family on a houseboat in Florida. The state is controlled by The Murder Complex, an organization that tracks the population with precision.

The plot starts to thicken when Meadow meets Zephyr James, who is—although he doesn't know it—one of the MC's programmed assassins. Is their meeting a coincidence? Destiny? Or part of a terrifying strategy? And will Zephyr keep Meadow from discovering the haunting truth about her family?

Action-packed, blood-soaked, and chilling, this is a dark and compelling debut novel by Lindsay Cummings.

My Review:
So going into this, I hadn't read the synopsis, so I though that these were an entirely different series, so yeah, there was that brief confusion, but that cleared up quickly, and while I still want to read the series, I'm so glad that I read this one!

I enjoyed the short chapters so much, they did what they were supposed to, they racketed up the tension, and yeah, it was just so entertaining! I just had to keep swiping the page to get to the next one, I wanted to have more!

I would never want to live in this world! The Institution, who are the snobby ruling people, expecting people to be thankful for working so hard for the Institution while the Institution kills them, and be grateful for that? Let's see how well you deal with it, then!! So frustrating!

And then there were the mysteries. Behind the deaths that Zephyr causes, to Meadow's mom, to the dreams of Meadow that Zephyr's had, all these were just so intriguing, and then adding in the blood and survival, there was just like, non-stop action! And that ending! I need The Death Code now, such a cliffhanger!

Favourite line from The Fear Trials: "'I never trusted planes. Sometimes they crashed. And everyone died.' 'That's Dead, always so positive.'" Yeah, not the best outlook on planes!

Favourite lines from The Murder Complex: "Sometimes, you have to trust people. It's fine. You've got your dagger, and you've got me. Crazy automatic weapon here, Meadow." Yes, Zephyr, you're very much like an automatic weapon!

These were an awesome beginning to the series, and now I can't wait for The Death Code, and I really hope that it's going to be up on Edelweiss!!

Author: Lindsay Cummings
Series: The Murder Complex #0.5, 1
Read: November 3rd, 3rd, 2014
Source: Tuebl, Edelweiss
Reason Why: Sounded really good! And they're 2014 Dydstopia Books, Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2014 Books, and The Murder Complex is a WoW Book!
Publisher: HarperTeen Impulse, Greenwillow Books
Published: May 27th 2014, June 10th 2014

The Fear Trials:

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

4.5/5 Stars

The Murder Complex:

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars