The Pearl Savage by Tamara Rose Blodgett (REVIEW + GIVEAWAY)

Genre:	Young Adult, Fantasy, Stempunk
Publication.Date	June 14th 2011
Pages:	272
Published By:	Tamara Rose Blodgett |
Website	Tamara Rose Blodgett |
	The Pearl Savage - Goodreads
My review copy:	Received from the author in exchange for an honest review
Where to get:	Barnes and Noble | Amazon |

     "The Guardians," have saved a fragment of 1890s America in nineteen spheres when a natural disaster threatened to drive humanity to extinction. One hundred forty years later, Clara is a seventeen-year old princess that feels a great obligation to her kingdom that is encased in a steam-engineered, bio-sphere for their survival. Clara's father, King Raymond, passes away when she is only twelve, leaving the Kingdom of Ohio in the sadistic rule of her mother. Queen Ada has promised Clara's hand in marriage to an abusive prince of a neighboring sphere. When it's discovered that there are people outside the sphere that did survive, Clara deliberates on escaping Outside to a future free of abuse and tyranny. Unbeknownst to Clara, the Clan people of the Outside have their own calamity and set of perils. Those two objectives collide in an emotional and tumultuous story of love, duty and survival.

Suddenly, with both the clan and sphere peoples’ destiny in her hands, Clara finds herself torn between love and duty…(goodreads.com)

“...because of the foulness of her mother's emotional river, a current which ran swift, changing its path without warning...”

     Bracus looked at the female behind the sphere that the Evil Ones had constructed in his grandfather's grandfather's time, her image obscure. He had watched the female for months and had seen her in strange clothing while supervising workers in the fields of sea creatures that yielded shimmering jewels.
     He also knew she was beautiful and.. he wanted her.

     Clara stood on feet grown shaky from stress and said, "Thank you all most kindly for your presence at my Day of Birth Celebration; I am most grateful for your allegiance and loyalty."
     Ada waved her hand dismissively, "Yes, yes Princess Clara, they understand that," her eyes narrowed upon Clara.
     Clara thought that may be the case but felt the words were most important to say. The queen cared not, but loyalty was an uncertain thing, cultivated through decent treatment, not fear. A lesson her mother did not ascribe to. A lesson taught by her father, King Raymond, long-since passed... someone she never forgot.

   

    

     OH. My. God.
     I loved this book. SO MUCH. I've read this book 3 times already and still can't seem to get enough of it! I'm a huge fan of Tamara Rose Blodgett's brilliant works. She's made of win and her stories speak right to my heart. Every time I pick up one of her novels (whether it's the Savage series or her wicked awesome corpse-raiser series, Death) I just want to lock myself away from the rest of the world and read. Just read. Devour the whole thing in one sitting and then re-read, slowly savoring every word. Not caring about anything but the story, the characters and the fabulous atmosphere of the world she created. It's my happy moment. My pink bubble of happiness. My guilty pleasure. SPA for the soul and mind.

      The Pearl Savage is the first novel in the fantastically imagined Savage series. It's a beautiful and touching tale of love, friendship, sacrifice, destiny, promises and difficult choices. It's a fight for freedom and equality, struggle against abuse, depiction of greed and howling injustice in the world driven to the brink of extinction. Above all, it's a marvelous, wonderfully narrated, multi-layered and complex creation, written with passion and something I like to call the wow-factor.

"Their history clear in that regard, they needed to be ever-vigilant with the savages. The Time Keeper had made it known that they were a people apart, possibly not even the same species."

     In 1890 something horrible happened. Some sort of natural disaster (most likely an asteroid hitting the planet) almost drove humanity to extinction. The ash-covered earth was no longer inhabitable, and so "The Guardians" created the spheres - steam-engineered, impenetrable bio-zones, where people could live normally, breathing purified air. Not everyone could be saved, though, as there were only 19 spheres created. Sick or old people were left behind. Miraculously, some of them managed to survive and adapt to the hostile environment. People gathered together, creating clans. A new race of men was born - the Band - bigger, stronger, and with gills to help them breath. The Band protected the clan, taking special care of the precious females, so fragile and sparse in number. Unfortunately, not every clan out there is governed fairly, some of them are nothing more than criminals, aggressive, despicable and violent.

      Clara, a seventeen-year old red-head girl, is a princess in the Kingdom of Ohio. Her life is the opposite of a fairytale, though. Her father, King Raymond, had passed away, giving in to the untreatable sickness, and ever since then her mother (Queen Ada) had taken to the cup. She's a horrible person, who doesn't care about anything other than alcohol and will stop at nothing - even if it means selling her own daughter - to get her precious grapes for wine production. Abusive, violent, cruel and nasty, she often takes her rage out on the poor Clara, who dares not  stand up to her, afraid that her People will suffer punishment. When Queen Ada promises Clara's hand to a bilious prince of a neighboring Kingdom, Clara, together with her trusted friends, plots an escape plan. She saw the savage outside the sphere, she knows people live there, and if living outside the protective walls of bio-zones can grant her freedom from the never-ending abuse and humiliation, then she is willing to give it a try.  What she doesn't realize, though, is that the Clan people have their own plans for her, and it's not necessarily something she will be happy about, either...

The guard watched the shy female with Joseph of the Band. He kept his smirking to himself. His time would come. A female would not be his weakness. He would bend her to his will.

   Um, awesome much?!
The Pearl Savage is such a vibrant and deliciously imaginative tale! A one-of-a-kind, breathtaking, touching and charming, but also often thrilling and disturbing story. It's beautiful. Simply beautiful. I've never come across anything like that! It's so freaking unique! Tamara Rose Blodgett did a fabulous job creating a phenomenal steampunk world with a fancy, lyrical XIX-century-ish language straight from the Victorian era. The setting and the costumes, the characters and the way they express themselves, the sparkling atmosphere and evocative descriptions - all that makes for an exquisite and thoroughly compelling read.

Some promises a person could not keep, even if their lives depended on it.

     It's the kind of book that requires 100% of your attention 100% of the time. You need to focus on what you're reading and skimming through is strictly forbidden, otherwise you'll miss all the essential details that are hidden throughout the whole story. Seriously, every word accounts for something. There are bits and pieces of information that may seem unimportant, but trust me, they are. Blodgett doesn't waste time and paper blabbing away, she creates a complex and well thought-out plot line. If you skim through, you'll just end up frustrated that you wasted your time.

She was unlike any of the females he had seen, which were rare in his clan. A female was highly prized and safeguarded. His eyes caressed her face, the skin like cream from the cow, her eyes like the sea near his cousin's clan... hair the color of fire burnt down to embers.

      I loved the narration style! I'm not a big fan of different POVs, but in The Pearl Savage it worked so well! You get to learn what the main characters think - and not only just Clara, Charles and Bracus, but even the evil little traitor who is plotting something totally evil (like all the evil traitors usually do). And I know that you must be thinking "gee, that sounds like a lot of POVs and the whole thing must be quite confusing", but really, it isn't. At all! Tamara cleverly changes the font style each time the POV switches to the next character, everything is pretty clear and straight-forward. The complexity is there, but it's not in the least overwhelming or annoying. What can I say? It works perfectly! I enjoyed the flashbacks, too! For once you actually knew those were flashbacks, instead of wondering "where in the world this passage/chapter just came from?!"

      Clara was such a wonderful heroine! Brave, strong, thoughtful and caring. So lovely, sweet and, um, very hot! :) A redhead in a corset dress, with pearls in her hair? OMG, how insanely awesome is that?! I can totally imagine this book being adapted into a fantastic movie! I found the characters to be realistic and believable. Sophisticated. Well-drawn and vivid. I genuinely cared for them, especially Clara and Charles. The bad guys, though? Aw man, you will love to HATE them! And I'll bet you, you will swear under your breath at least once while reading about their evil schemes!

      The bottom line is: This book totally blew me away. It's the coolest thing ever. I mean, come on! Victorian era + steampunk + freedom quest + love?! WIN! An absolute must-read! 

 

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Thanks to the fabulous
Tamara Rose Blodgett

We have a paperback and eBook copy of The Savage Blood - second book in the Savage series up for grabs today!

You can get your free copy of The Pearl Savage on AMAZON! - CLICK

open to:  

PAPERBACK: US/CANADA

eBOOK: INTERNATIONAL 

and eBOOK: US/CANADA

Ends: January 15th

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About the Author

Evie is the Blogger behind Bookish. She enjoys reading many different genres, especially YA, Paranormal, Contemporary Fiction and Fantasy.

She loves talking to authors and is always happy to welcome them for interviews, and guest posts. She also likes spreading the love for awesome books and  chatting with fellow book-worms.

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