Almost Human-Discovery Book 1 by Ashleigh Reverie

Almost Human: Discovery Book 1 by Ashleigh Reverie

Book Blurb

The controlling and secretive New American Government has created a series of perfectly compliant, genetically modified human soldiers. Emotion, Independent thought and all forms of communication are forbidden. Their only purpose is to obey.

Used as a pawn in somebody else’s escape plan, Edel finds herself with unexpected freedom. She has been taught everything she needs to survive- except how to be human.

Danny is one of Harpton Main’s rich elite, but beneath the shiny surface of his perfect world lies a dangerous secret, frequent bouts of uncontrollable rage and endless questions about his origins.

A chance encounter with Edel leads to more questions than answers, and Danny will stop at nothing to discover the truth about himself.

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Best Book Editors Review

I’ve been looking forward to this, and I wasn’t disappointed. I messed up big time and accidentally read book 3 before book 1—but even knowing how the story develops much later, it didn’t detract from this one bit, and if anything, it added another layer of being able to go back and find out how it all began.

We say books, ‘Had me gripped from the first page.’ This book did that with knobs on. The opening scene is electric and an excellent opening precursor to the rest of the story.

In this story, we predominantly follow Jay and Edel–but we keep track of Danny’s story, too, until the two parties collide—and that’s explosive.

But the darling of this book is Edel. She is so absolutely human. The way the author describes her thoughts and feelings is sublime. Anybody who has ever felt that they don’t fit in will empathise with every word and moment of utter confusion.

The writing doesn’t bother to stop at brilliant, it just carries on to whatever is better than that.

I don’t read sci-fi, and this isn’t my genre of book at all—but it is still one of my favourite books of the last five years. Even the sci-fi elements, which would normally leave me cold, are so well written that I loved them. Ashley Reverie is a great writer. She understands moods and emotions and twists them until they snap. My favourite author ever is Dean Koontz and Ms Reverie can keep pace with him.

A highly recommended read and one not to be missed.

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About Ashleigh Reverie

About the author

Ashleigh Reverie lives in the North of England with her husband and two children. She has silently nursed an obsession with the characters in her books for two decades before she decided to write them down. When she isn’t working hard on writing her stories, she is usually asleep in her hammock dreaming up new ones.

Other Amazon Reviews for Almost Human: Discovery Book 1

Shelly Helal

This book was phenomenal!

Reviewed in the United States on 28 October 2023

Verified Purchase

This book was phenomenal! I’m a sucker for genetic engineering books and this one caught my attention right from the get go. Recently I’ve been having trouble sticking with books, but I read the whole series and the two novellas in a week. The first book was amazing and was able to set up the dystopian world in a natural way without pages and pages of description. Jay and Edel are such real, flawed characters that I was rooting for from the beginning. I love seeing their relationship grow and develop. I think this book is such a great example of the father-daughter dynamic done well, which isn’t something shown in a lot of books. It’s rare to have characters that stick with you after you read the last page, and these ones definitely stayed in my mind. Can’t wait for the next book!
-Riley Helal

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Mrs Helen Buckfield

Fantastic!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 27 February 2024

Verified Purchase

I loved this book. It gripped me from the start and didn’t let go. The story, set in a dystopian society of the future, exceeded my expectations with its cast of fully fleshed-out characters and world-building that feels eerily prophetic. Though the concept of genetically engineered humans is a staple of science fiction, the emphasis here is on their relationships with others, rather than the ‘nuts and bolts’ of their genesis. Edel, a brilliantly conceived character, suffers from what could be described as a ‘conditioned’ autism; a product of her treatment by her Poly-Gen creators. She must learn how to overcome this conditioning to survive on the outside. After her inadvertent escape from Poly-Gen, she is harboured by Jake, a man with his own demons. Their interactions form the core of the narrative as Edel struggles to understand herself, let alone others. In contrast, Danny, a GE man secretly raised in a loving family, knows what it is to be human. However, unlike Edel, he cannot comprehend or control the fault in his engineering which, under certain stimuli, causes him to go into meltdown with dangerous consequences for others. Though Edel and Danny could learn a lot from each other, their differences outweigh their similarities, and the result of their meeting is explosive. This fluidly written book is a pleasure to read, and I look forward to reading the next in series. Highly recommended.

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SJM

Gripping First Book in Series!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 13 February 2024

Verified Purchase

This book had me totally engrossed from the moment it starts till the end, where it leaves you wanting more. It’s a character driven dystopian story but with plenty of action too. The main character Edel, almost human, is interesting and I’m looking forward to seeing her development into society. At first you get the feeling she will never fit in and wonder how she’s going to survive, and gaining total control over her emotions and actions. Without the help of Jay I think she would be doomed, but will she let him? This is a great first in series as there are so many threads to be explored still. Danny’s quest to find the truth about himself is another interesting angle.
I highly recommend this book and I will be reading the sequel!

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