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The Sun Dwellers by David Estes
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Includes a bonus Dwellers Short Story (Anna's Story) and a sneak peek at David Estes' follow up YA dystopian series, Fire Country!
With those she's closest to dying around her, Adele embarks on a secret mission to the Sun Realm to assassinate the President. Along the way she'll uncover secrets about her relationship with Tristan that she might not be ready to face.
Tristan has a secret, too, one that's been eating him up inside ever since he met Adele. Will he reveal all, and risk the loss of friendship and love at a time when he needs it the most?
At the same time, Adele's mother, General Rose, must lead her soldiers into battle to face the sun dweller army in the hopes of holding them off until Adele can complete her mission. Can she outlast the strength of President Nailin's elite fighting force?
There's only one truth in their world: someone must die.

Actual rating: 4.5 stars

Oh yes, I'm not done with my reviewing rampage just yet.

But this time, I have to actually eat my words back. Hah! How about that? Because I remember being sorely disappointed after reading the beta version of The Sun Dwellers until I wasn't sure anymore if I'd like to read the ARC version.

Glad I changed my mind because this time around, the book turned out much better that I was expecting it to be.

Mr David Estes, what an author you are. Writing books with a pace of The Flash, until we, The Beta Team can hardly catch up anymore and still delivering a hit like this.

Personally, I still think The Star Dwellers as the best out of the three books so far. With The Sun Dwellers, some jokes and retorts got a bit overused and repetitive. And I also think The Sun Dwellers could use a darker tone. You know, with the war and their mission to put an end to President Nailin regime, sometimes I found Tristan, Adele, Roc, Tawni, Trevor and Ram as a bit too...playful, perhaps?

Anyway, I've made it to Book 3 now and I read all three in the same year! My mom would be so proud of me because jeez, I have never been a compliant reader. Saying that, I think I need to take a break from Estes books for a good 2-3 months just as a precaution so that I don't get bored with his style of writing.

Yup, I definitely could use another 2-3 of his books until I can confidently decide if he deserves to be in my favourite authors list.

Yes, I'm throwing a challenge at ya, Mr. Estes. *wink2*

Now that we already on the subject of writing style, you know what? I think I need to read more books by male authors. They are straightforward in the way that they deliver the story, they are focus and directed.

I like that.

After a let down from The Star Dwellers cover (I mean, honestly, I couldn't come up with a better cover either), that cover for The Sun Dwellers is soooo much better and just look at that, isn't it gorgeous?

One small problem which becomes more obvious since now, Anna's story is taken out from the book is that the change of POV can be confusing at times. With The Moon Dwellers and The Star Dwellers, I could adapt with the change flawlessly since Adele and Tristan spent so little time together but now as they occupy the same setting almost all the time in The Sun Dwellers, yeah, the problem becomes more apparent. Well, I don't know if there's a solution for this apart from paying greater attention to the chapter headings.

Well, maybe just another tiny bit of criticism, in the earlier part of the book, Tristan and Adele takes a great care in making decision of whose lives worth taking but towards the end, this noble virtue ends up getting partially neglected. I know the situation is pressing but if they were to feel more remorse, then I would respect Adele and Tristan more?

Okay, I totally missed the whole reason why this book lost its 0.5 star. It was because of the massive info dumping in the middle. And also I'm not really sure what's the relevance of introducing these new characters, Linus, Sinew and Bren. Unlike Mep who had a brief cameo in The Star Dwellers, these three characters didn't leave any impact to me and to the story.

What else;

***Spoilers ahead***


Yay! I finally know why Trevor is so loyal to General Rose.

Again, hooray! Now I know why Trevor was such an ass when he first met Adele.

I really liked the part where the team crowd-surfed. I think this part is very cool and believable.

The part where Roc and Tristan had to undress Trevor was hilarious!

I really, really missed Elsey in this book. :(

***Spoilers finished***

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