Book Shelf: The Body Electric by Beth Revis

The future world is at peace.
Ella Shepherd has dedicated her life to using her unique gift—the ability to enter people’s dreams and memories using technology developed by her mother—to help others relive their happy memories.

But not all is at it seems.

Ella starts seeing impossible things—images of her dead father, warnings of who she cannot trust. Her government recruits her to spy on a rebel group, using her ability to experience—and influence—the memories of traitors. But the leader of the rebels claims they used to be in love—even though Ella’s never met him before in her life. Which can only mean one thing…

Someone’s altered her memory.

Ella’s gift is enough to overthrow a corrupt government or crush a growing rebel group. She is the key to stopping a war she didn’t even know was happening. But if someone else has been inside Ella’s head, she cannot trust her own memories, thoughts, or feelings.

So who can she trust?
 
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Review:

The Body Electric by Beth Revis is an intriguing and mysterious futuristic tale that blends government intrigue and terrorism with romance and suspense in an unknown and exciting story that will leave you wanting more.

As someone who actually wasn’t a fan of Beth Revis’s debut Across the Universe, I was a little bit daunted heading into this novel. I didn’t know what to expect, but the premise looking promising and the storyline was enticing enough that I dived head first into the story. While it took a little while for the story to pick up, the world and the mystery surrounding the main characters history was something that caught me from the very beginning and had me eagerly reading along and trying to piece the clues together.

The Body Electric is set in the futuristic city of New Venice, Malta and follows Ella Shepherd a teenage girl who lives within New Venice. The Body Electric details a world where technology is advancing every day and science is literally opening doors into other people’s minds. As the daughter of two renowned scientists, Ella lives in a united and highly government controlled world after a massive war destroyed much of the country decades before. In this imaginative world Beth Revis has concocted, individuals wear cuffLINK devices on their wrists connected to tiny nanobots inside them that allow people to access online information, make calls, communicate, pay for things as well as almost everything else.

As the primary care giver to her terminally ill mother, Ella finds her already difficult life begin to unravel further when a series of supposed attacks from a group of rebels leads Ella to begin questioning everything she thought she knew about herself and those around her. The leader of the group claims they used to be in love despite Ella having no recollection of him. Her mother’s already deteriorating condition takes an unexpected twist. The leader of New Venice wants her to spy on the rebels using her mother’s technology and Ella’s ability to get into someone else’s mind and suddenly Ella beings displaying abilities and straits that aren’t quite normal. Or human. With her country on the brink of another war, Ella is guided by images of her dead father and must uncover the truth about her past if she can ever hope of having a future.

I have to say I was very impressed by this story. The main character was fantastic to follow and the world Revis has constructed was very interesting. All the hallmarks of a standard futuristic tale was there, but Revis still managed to explore something different within the story. I liked that Revis took her story from the usual American or English setting and set it in Malta. Now, I don’t want to give away spoilers, but I thought it was very clever how she managed to develop the story; I honestly had no clue as to why our main character Ella’s memory was so different than that of rebel leader Jack’s and I thought it extremely smart how Revis slowly brought clues about Ella to light. The ultimately discover of Ella’s past and the truth about why she was the way she was and what she could do was very exciting.

This story was fast moving and exciting for the majority of the way through. Beth Revis pens a likable herione in Ella; someone you vye for and honesty like. Ella’s relationship with rebel leader Jack was very well thought out and even though they had a history, I found their present to be wonderfully constructed too. They had great chemistry and Revis managed to develop their relationship while not compromising the rest of the action based, scientific and fast moving storyline.

Mysterious and edgy, The Body Electric ends very well, but I’m still really not ready to let the world and characters go. Beth Revis concludes the story in a way that could very well be the end, but with the discoveries at the end and the revelations brought to light, I for one would very much enjoy a sequel and seeing Revis expand on this world and story further…..

Rating:
Source: Sent for review by Xpresso Book Tours and the author (Thank you ladies!)
Format: Kinde ebook
Buy it: Bookworld | The Book Depository | Amazon | Smashwords | Barnes & Noble | Kobo
My Recommendation: If you enjoyed Disruption by Jessica Shirvington or any of Beth Revis's other work, you won't want to miss this.
Cover: I like the green and think it's simple, but sweet.
Will I read sequel/continue with series: I'd love to read more, yes.......