No.  This time I didn't wait.

This time, despite the fact that I knew it was nothing like Confessions, I knew I wanted to buy Laura Josephsen's new book, Rising Book 1: Resistance.  

Dude, it's awesome.

Before I start fangirling about the whole book (which will contain many spoilers), I offer you the non-spoilery, LOL lacking review over here.  (Hey, I had to sound "professional", LOL).

Alright, on with the excitement!

This book is awesome on so many levels--the plot, the worldbuilding, the characters. (Ok, all of it.)

I absolutely adore how the story starts of as being lighthearted (I mean, how can the main character being chased by cows not be amusing?) and pans out to this enormous, epic story that addresses Big Issues like war and prejudice and how people react to them,  I'll admit I was worried when I went into reading this book, knowing it was book one of two and aware that Book 2 isn't finished yet.  (My fear of reading WIPs is showing itself.)  I had so many questions as I started reading the book--What kind of author was Laura?  Was she the kind of author that would leave Luke hanging on for his life, waiting for the Millennium Falcon to save him before the next installment? Or maybe, even worse, she would stop in mid sentence and I would spend the next year wondering what was the other half of the sentence!  Much to my relief, the ending was nothing like that.  She tied up the major plot points while opening new plot doors which make me eager for Book 2.

The characters are diverse and dimensional--two huge points when I'm reading a book.

We meet Alphonse first and are able to grow with him throughout the course of the novel.  He goes from being "immersed in a bubble of academia" to managing to escape from several dangerous situations (though he can't seem to evade a certain four-years-old, LOL).  I appreciated the little details that were put in--like the references to him needing to shave.  For me, it underscored the fact that, no, this person isn't in their teens, he is a young man.  Seeing his character's progression throughout the book was one of my favorite aspects of the book.  

While we move forward with Alphonse, with Mairwyn, we journey backwards.  Her painful past is revealed in a raw, agonizing, unfiltered way.  As we "remember" with her about what happened during the war, we feel her torment and can understand the shame she feels about her scars she has to carry.  Again, like with Alphonse, I enjoyed the small personal details--her constant fidgeting with her multi-tool--because of the depth it added to her character.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she finds a way to make a flying vehicle and tears up the skies (with Alphonse holding on for dear life, no doubt) because, dude, the girl deserves some joy in her life. 

Even the minor characters are rich and have their own personality.  I have a soft spot for Reynold because I think people who stand up for the Right Thing are awesome.  Adding an element of double agentness to it makes it epically awesome.  I confess when Ellery was introduced (and I realized she was going to stick around for a while), I balked.  Kids suddenly thrown into a plot normally make me wince. But, as I continued reading, I was able to appreciate her open emotions to everything that was going on.  I thought the scene when she came into Mairwyn's room, talking about killing the spider, was written exceptionally well.  It was that scene that won me over.  I love the contrast in personalities of the survivors from Mairwyn to Lachlan to Brenna to Derrek and Lorelei.  Laura did a brilliant job of highlighting the differences between them and how they managed to move past the horrors they endured.

Now, characters are great and all, but we all know I'm a sucker for the 'ship.  ♥ Alphonse and Mairwyn ♥ She challenges him to move out of his comfort zone and he helps her to see how awesome and beautiful she is because of (not in spite of) her backstory. Though their personalities are completely different, they are able to save each other (sometimes more literally than others).  The progression from strangers to aquaintances to friends to Something More never felt forced or awkward.  (For example, the scene when they go to Alphonse's house and Mairwyn borrows his clothes could have been written much, much differently filled with USTy looks and double entendres.  Instead it was laced with annoyance and embarrassment--perfect for the characters at the time.)  I don't think they'll ever be an overly romantic couple (I'm pretty sure if Alphonse bought Mairwyn flowers, she'd want to know why he didn't buy her tools instead, LOL) which is perfectly them.  

So yeah--go buy a copy for you and a few for your friends.  You won't be disappointed.  In fact, you'll find the characters camped out in your brain for a while. :D :D


The links (thanks faith_king):

Kindle at Amazon
Paperback at Amazon
Nook at B&N
Smashwords
Goodreads