When I started reading Escapement, I felt like the story had a Branded/Divergent feel to it. While it does has some minor similar aspects, it is entirely different from this book. This is the first book I have read that has a lot of action in a Dystopian book. It is very suspenseful and has just moved to the First Place on my favorite Dystopian books.

Semara has lived with her mother, the Queen since she was six years old. She used to live with her dad but one day she got handed over to her mom and she didn’t like it one bit. She was treated horribly by her own mother, to the point of almost torture. Each year, Semara has to pick a Neumarian, people with special gifts that the Queen hates, to be killed. The day of her sixteenth birthday is the day she has to pick once again in order to be part of the council of where they live. As she’s looking all over the place, she notices a familiar face–one that belongs to a person she never thought she would see again, considering she had sent this person to be killed but had helped escaped, not knowing what the future held for this person. Once the Queen noticed what was going, she sent Semara to be put as a slave to the General (evil incarnate) but Semara is rescued and her journey begins with betrayal, sadness, and new powers she hadn’t thought she had.

The covers of the whole series caught my attention a lot and, while I struggled whether or not to sign up for review, I am so glad I did! I entered a new world where everything is raw and a little gore-y. I finished this book in two days (basically in 1 day because I only read 2 chapters the first day). I ate it all up once I started reading.

Ciara Knight has brought it all with this new series. ( )

I kind of had a love/hate relationship with this book. In fact, it took me most of the book to actually gain interest in it. And then, I gained interest only in the last few chapters. However, those chapters were good enough that they sparked my interest to read the rest of the series, so the book cannot be that bad. Right?

Okay, so it wasn't terrible. In fact, the story itself is quite interesting. A girl who is a princess is haunted by the decision she made almost four years before to basically sentence her best friend to death by dumping her sick and frail body out in the middle of nowhere. Keep in mind she is not the one who caused the girl to become sick, that can be put on her mother, who basically tortured the girl for information. Well, supposedly for information. I mean, there was a chance the girl knew something that could potentially aid this queen in her genocide of an entire race, but it is an even bigger possibility that the queen just likes torture, likes to feel powerful. Anyway, the girl escapes right before her mother is about to replace her heart with one of stone or metal, cannot remember which, in punishment for finding out the supposed dead girl is really alive, with the help of the very girl the princess felt so guilty over and her brother. They go on the run, and basically find out about a supposed prophecy that involves the three of them and the end of the queen's rule.

*deep breath* That sounds like a mouthful, but pair that up with science fiction and you've got yourself quite the story. No, that is not what caused my interest to slowly gain momentum throughout this book. It was the fact that the beginning started weirdly. I mean, we find that the princess contains powers. Powers that actually are prevalent in the race that the queen is trying to destroy. But the author doesn't even introduce those powers. She basically states throughout the story that the powers started before the time that the actual story begins for the reader. She mentions a couple of situations where the powers actually began to manifest, but I would have liked for the story to start there. She could have kept the fear the princess feels toward her mother, but then added the element of even more fear when something happens that the girl cannot explain which just happens to be one of the reasons her mother kills. I just felt the beginning was a bit incomplete and couldn't connect with the beginning because of that.

Then comes the rest of the book. Most of it just felt jumbled to me. Because of its rocky start I just didn't feel as if I could truly understand or connect to the characters throughout the rest of the pages. And also, the whole love interest aspect seemed a bit confusing to me. The princess and the boy who helped save her, only due in part to his sister's wishes, feel an unexpected connection. But the thing is, because she is in fact the queen's daughter, he keeps his distance, or at least tries to anyway, and shows animosity toward her. But instead of one situation bringing them together and them finally coming to terms with their connection and basically admitting their love for one another, which kind of did happen in a way, they have a love/hate relationship. Well he has a love/hate relationship with her. One moment he is basically snapping at her due to his despise at how she has lived and her immediate relations, and the next he is cuddling up to her and treating her like his heart belongs to her completely. I just couldn't get over that.

All in all, I have never given up on a book, and I did not want to with this one. It is worth the read, and I have seen people give it at least four stars, but to me, it only became worth the read when the last few chapters came up. They just seemed put together and so much less jumbled than how the rest of the book felt. ( )

Ten years after the great war of 2185 the queen’s reign is threatened by uprisings and fear. In celebration of my sixteenth birthday it is my duty as princess to sacrifice a slave to be initiated into the ruling council, solidifying my mother’s empire. When my own erratic powers surface I’m captured and tried for treason. Slaves hate me, my mother wants me executed, and my only chance of survival rests in the hands of a young man, Ryder Arteres, whose sister I sentenced to death.

Unbeknownst even to herself, Princess Semara possesses a Kantian mind, yet also has Neumerian powers. Raised by her beloved father until he was killed, she was then given over to the mother she'd never met - Queen Mandessa Valderak. For some reason the Queen seems to detest her daughter, and has her reprogrammed at least twice, the first time for not being cruel enough, and then for trying help her friend. Semara's young life has been filled with pain, for aside from the Queen, her General, and Semara's two secret friends, no one has any idea she is anything other than a pampered Princess. Without her wonderful childhood memories of being with her father and Bendar's constant care whenever the Queen isn't watching, Semara would have broken years ago.


Now that her 16th birthday is upon her she is required to kill a sacrifice before getting the implant that will initiate her into the ruling council. The slave pulled forward turns out to be Raeth, her secret childhood friend from her time on the Queen's ship. The friend she was forced to watch being tortured, and the one she was supposed to have killed. Semara had risked much the day she rolled poor Raeth's body off the gangway and onto the desert sand, giving her the only chance she could to survive. So when she sees Raeth is to be her victim Semara refuses to kill Raeth and refuses to accept the implant. Her powers become active, forcing her to flee the Queen's ship or risk becoming a Slag slave. Her refusal of the implant starts a violent chain of events; the Queen orders her to be Slagged - replacing part of her body with mechanical device, but she is rescued by strangers at Raeth's request before they put the mental implant in, but not before they slice her open to replace her "weak human heart" with one of metal. The rebels heal her and she stays with them, for the Queen has labeled her a traitor and put a bounty out for her capture. Somehow Princess Semara possesses a Kantian mind, yet has Neumerian powers, reason enough for the Queen to turn her into a Slag slave or marry her off to the evil General - though it would be a marriage in name only. In reality she would be his slave.


Those that rescued her shelter her at great risk. During this time it is discovered that her powers combine with both Raeth's and her brother Ryder's - creating the prophesied Triune. Once the people see that these three form the Triune they risk everything to get the three young people over to Europe, where the bulk of the resistance is, for the prophecy says the Triune will be what destroys the powers of the Queen and ruling class. Of course the journey is beyond risky, and has a very slim chance of success, particularly with the extra things they must do, or get, while on their way across the Wastelands and hostile territories.


For the trip to even have a chance of success someone needs the mental implant in order to repel some of the creatures that inhabit the desert Wastelands. So less than a day after her refusal of the implant she finds herself unable to escape it, this time by her own choice. For the only options were to force Raeth to endure yet one more invasive piece of machinery or accept it herself. Ryder can't take it as he doesn't have a Kantian mind and would die instantly, and Raeth only could because of all the circuitry the Queen had already put in her while torturing/experimenting on her. Semara would do anything to save Raeth from having to undergo that again, even at her own expense. Her worst personal nightmare come to life - having the implant and Neumarian powers while on the run from the Queen.


From the very beginning of their journey things go wrong, yet somehow they manage to survive each calamity as it occurs. As they journey together they grow closer, all the while Semara is terrified that Ryder, who she is falling for, will hate her beyond all reason once he learns that she was with Raeth when his sister was tortured. The three experience numerous adventures while trying to reach the coast to to catch an ENR ship and help the resistance, each learn from the others. The book ends with a bang, leaving you itching to get your hands on the second book in the series, Pendulum. ( )