You Knew the Price (Nothing is Promised 2)

This was a great sequel! The switch to a new point of view character worked out well, we get a new main character to focus on and her story, while the main plot line smoothly continues on. I really liked how the author pulls this off and the main character from book 1 has a very important part still to play too and is a side character in this one. I liked getting to know Zuri and her family and friends. It was hard to read about her grief, but also great to see how she slowly comes out of her shell a bit and how the book ends on a hopeful note. There are some big developments plot wise about this dangerous plot that they’re trying to stop and some reveals as well about what’s going on. The world building is great and it really comes alive. There is a lot of information about this new future and I like how it’s both a grim image of what might be to come as well as a hopeful image of what we could achieve. All in all this was another great read in this series and I look forward to book 3!

YOU KNEW THE PRICE is the second instalment in Susan Kaye Quinn’s post apocalyptic, speculative fiction, hope-punk, series of interconnected story lines set in the year 2050. YOU KNEW THE PRICE should not be read as a stand alone as it picks up two days after the events of book one WHEN YOU HAD POWER. As a quick explanation, hope-punk is often about people fighting for a change in a dystopian setting such as a post apocalyptic society. SOME BACKGROUND: In the past thirty or so years, the world has been ravaged by several pandemics, ecological disasters, and global warming to the point that air quality is questionable, and food stocks are in short supply. The few remaining people have to apply for a ‘family’ and a place to live, often forcing a number of people together in order to thrive. AIs are the norm; implants are used to communicate but someone is siphoning the power, threatening the few who survive. Told from third person perspective (Zuri ) YOU KNEW THE PRICE follows Zuri Hill- Gray, the Great Los Angeles Regional Director for the United States Energy Consortium (USEC) in the face of possible sabotage of the power grid on the Pacific coast. Power Island One engineer Lucia Ramirez (When You Had Power) has made it her mission to provide as much damning information about a possible saboteur but with it comes the knowledge that someone has taken control, and Zuri is unable to stop the people whose actions are about to hold the world hostage in a matter of days. As Zuri and Lucia mount an offensive in the face of betrayal, Zuri quickly discovers that to act means the possible destruction of life as they know it. YOU KNEW THE PRICE is an intricately detailed story of possibilities and the potential for Earth’s destruction. As the pandemics ravage humanity, environmental and ecological disasters continue to destroy the air,water and ground quality leaving the world’s population dependent upon the powerful few. YOU KNEW THE PRICE is a thought-provoking, dark and edgy storyline heavily based in both scientific fact and fiction, a fiction that may be closer to reality than we could have ever imagined.

I love this series! I have to admit that book #1, while it was amazing, sort of left me confused, what with all the engineering references. The engineering world is just not something I'm very familiar with. I loved the characters though and they pulled me into the story. Well, let me tell you, book #2 blew the story open for me! I don't know if it's because of what the Midwest is going through right now with the power outages and the rolling power grids., but I get it now. This installment features a different character, Zuri, and I loved learning her backstory and discovering her badass character underneath it all. I can't wait to see what she does in book 3. Susan Kaye Quinn has done it again. She has created a world that took me out of my comfort zone, educating me to a whole new world. I highly recommend this series! Give it a try!