Book Review: 'Til The World Ends... by Julie Kagawa, Ann Aguirre, and Karen Duvall

Title: 'Til The World Ends (Blood of Eden #0.5) 
Author: Julie Kagawa, Ann Aguirre, and Karen Duvall
Release Date: January 29th 2013
Publisher: Harlequin Luna
Source: Received from the publisher via NetGalley

Dawn of Eden by Julie Kagawa

Before The Immortal Rules, there was the Red Lung, a relentless virus determined to take out all in its path. For Kylie, the miracle of her survival is also her burden-as a doctor at one of the clinics for the infected, she is forced to witness endless suffering. What's worse, strange things are happening to the remains of the dead, and by the time she befriends Ben Archer, she's beginning to wonder if a global pandemic is the least of her problems....

Thistle & Thorne by Ann Aguirre

After a catastrophic spill turns the country into a vast chemical wasteland, those who could afford it retreated to fortresses, self-contained communities run by powerful corporations. But for Mari Thistle, life on the outside-in the Red Zone-is a constant struggle. To protect her family, Mari teams up with the mysterious Thorne Goodman. Together, they'll face an evil plot in both the underworld of the Red Zone and the society inside the fortresses that could destroy those on the outside...for good.

Sun Storm by Karen Duvall

Sarah Daggot has been chasing storms since she was a child. But after the biggest solar flares in history nearly destroy the planet, she becomes a Kinetic, endowed by her exposure to extreme radiation with the power to sense coming storms-in the cosmos and beyond. And she's not the only one. Sarah believes the Kinetics are destined to join forces and halt the final onslaught of the sun. She'll vow to keep trying to convince the one missing link in their chain of defense, the enigmatic Ian Matthews, up until the world ends.

My Thoughts

Let me start by saying, I only got this book from NetGalley in order to read Dawn of Eden, the Blood of Eden prequel by Julie Kagawa.

I've not always been a fan of this authors writing, but I'm always happy to be surprised and proven wrong; and I can say, hand on heart, that I was entirely surprised by this short story - I LOVED it!

Not only did I think it was very well written, but I absolutely loved where Julie Kagawa took her characters. Kylie and Ben were a joy to read, the emotional connection I had with them, and the connection between themselves, was incredible. If only the author had used the same technique for BoE.

Unlike BoE, Dawn of Eden is definitely more adult, having quite an intense sex scene between our two heroes. I actually felt that this was a more comfortable story from the author as I've always found her YA characters feel a little forced. If Julie Kagawa wrote like this (adult) more often, I'd probably be a bigger fan.

A fantastic glimpse into the origins of the Red Lung virus, and my favourite Julie Kagawa story to date.
5 Stars ~<;]

I read the opening few pages of both Thistle & Thorne by Ann Aguirre and Sun Storm by Karen Duvall and found that neither story took my fancy and so I wont be reviewing either of them - sorry