2 out of 4 stars
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Sonar The Surge, written by B. Truly, is a sci-fi fantasy romance about Symone and her family, Syira and Shiray, and how their relationships with their love ones were challenged and evolved in the war, between the snow-filled planet ruled by people called the Polaris and the descendant of humans who have supernatural powers called the Kadanans. The book is connected to the author's previous two books that have the same two words in the title for more insights about the characters' backstories, but the author did say that this book can be read as a stand-alone. This review will be from the perspective of not knowing the previous two books, so anything that I have problems with might've been already been answered in the previous two books.
Symone had lost everything that she loved in her past life to the point where she doesn't want to feel that pain again by not letting herself love another. But suddenly, an attractive aristocrat named Nile caught her attention. She really wants to love him with all her heart but she feared it might bring her despair again. Syira loves Kadeem, the Polaris's prince who had betrayed his own kind to get together with her. Shiray and Bryan do love each other, but their past scarred them to the point of questioning their love with one another. This book will explore their relationships and how the war has affected them, while also be filled with many intense actions along the way.
This book focuses on romance first and action second, which makes sense in the grand scheme of things when you have to develop your main cast. While I personally have my problems with the relationship aspect, I do like Shiray and Bryan's. They're the most developed relationship and the most meaningful one. The main characters are charming for the most part. I really do enjoy some of Symone's interactions with the other characters, both main and side ones. They're wholesome and it gives off the vibe of being a family really well. The action scenes are really well done and it pumps me up each time the author tells and show things that are exciting to see while also really heartbreaking in some the war scenes. The ending part of the book was sweet and it was a nice conclusion to the book. The book is also professionally edited. I've only found a couple of errors when I read it.
The main thing that irritated me the most was how some of the relationships were handled. Symone and Nile's relationship started well enough, but it felt really forced after the beginning of the book. I feel like it would've flowed naturally if it wasn't for some of the filler that drowned it from being decent at best. Syria and Kadeem are fine, but I feel like you have to actually read the previous book to get the full experience of their relationship. The same could be said for Shiray and Bryan but their past wasn't the huge factor but more of a tool to develop their relationship further. For being a heavy romance book with sci-fi on the bottom, it sure didn't make me feel for the main couples except for one of them.
All in all, I'll give this book 2 out of 4 stars. While it didn't do well with its romance, it sure did have some neat action moments even if it's pretty minimal. And the character interactions are pretty nice to see. I recommend this book to those who are above the age of 17 and would love to see some action and sci-fi elements. The romance may be a letdown, but I'm sure you might enjoy some of them.
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Sonar The Surge
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