Charlotte grew up with her nose in a book and her head in the clouds. At fourteen, her English teacher told her that the short story she’d submitted was wildly romantic, so she decided to write a novel. Thus began her foray into epic fantasy and dystopian sci-fi, with sweeping romances, heroic adventures, and as much juicy drama as she could possibly squeeze in.
We definitely have to take a minute to thank Charlotte for answering our questions. I have to admit, I’m glad to see there will be some more romance in book two and the fact that she likes bad boys….
Get to know her a little before you read my review!
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
When I read the summary for Fury by Charlotte McConaghy I thought it sounded intriguing and while I hadn’t heard anything about it, I decided I wanted to check this one out. I have to say, I opened this up and as soon as I did, I wasn’t able to put it down. The characters and the story pulled me right in and I couldn’t put it down until I finished. Even now I am excited to see when book two will come out.
The world has been changed by the decision to force “the cure” on its citizens. Now, people don’t feel emotions and the intent was that it would eliminate the problems happening due to how people reacted. This decision actually created another level of problems in that people now don’t feel anything and react inappropriately to things going on around them. As Josi calls people, they are a bunch of drones. What I would have like to have known is more about the decision makers and what the catalyst was to figuring this was the right solution. With that said, I though McConaghy did a great job building out the background of the creation of the cure and the goal behind the end result.
The book transitions well from different points of view as well as from the past to current time. Through all of this, I was able to see how things got to be as they are for Josi as well as see things from the other characters perspectives…which added to the story. The story starts out with Josi/Josephine, the main character, interacting with Anthony, her shrink at the asylum she is in and we begin to find out more about why she is there. Because she is telling Anthony her story, the flashbacks give us her past as well as more information about her relationship with Luke, her boyfriend and the person Josi believes will come save her.
Josi has grown up being shuffled around to various foster homes and when she was placed in a house that had a boy who did something horrible to her, she reacts and is turned in as someone with a rage issue. This was the action that changed things completely for Josi as when she is turned in; she is given to the scientists in charge of the cure to be used for testing.
Every year on the same day, Josi loses herself completely. She wakes up naked somewhere random with only brief memories of what happened the night before and it is because of this, she ends up meeting Luke and ultimately ending up in the asylum she is in. As the present time creeps closer and closer to that horrible day, both Josi and Luke are working to figure out how to manage this. They both know that this may be the last chance they have to save Josi from the beast that takes over every year and they are willing to do whatever is needed.
Luke is an interesting character and I really liked him. His story was interesting and I thought the way he and Josi met was great. Additionally, I know he had some secrets but I have to say that I appreciated the fact that he came clean to Josi before the end of this story. He is clearly willing to do whatever he needs to in order to save and protect Josi.
An added layer to this story is the idea that there is a rebellion “out there” somewhere that included other people that were fighting the idea that the cure was the answer to the issues of the world. I hope we get to learn more about them in the next story and where this one left off, I have an idea that we will.
I have only touched the tip of the iceberg with this review and that’s mostly because I don’t want to give anything away. I think McConaghy does a great job of revealing bits and pieces of the story but I do have to say, there is a pretty big cliffhanger at the end of this book. I am really looking forward to the next book of this series and can’t wait to see where McConaghy goes with this story.
Thank you to Netgalley and Momentum Books for the review copy.
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