I am back with another book review, today it is Radio by Sophia Elaine Hanson. Thanks so much to the author for providing me with a copy of her book for an honest review. As always, all opinions are my own.
I got the opportunity to read the first book in this series, Vinyl, around this time last year and I really enjoyed. This series is dystopian, but I found it was different from other dystopias I have read. The genre is so bogged down but I think Hanson is able to make this series stand apart.
I will just quickly say, while this review will be spoiler-free-ish for book two, there may be some spoilers for book one, just with plot and characters and stuff.
As with book one, Hanson continues to write succinctly. Despite the fact that it is an almost 350-page book, I flew through it. I think that's a combination of the writing style, the story itself, and the pacing of the book.
I was happy to see the relationship between Roark and Ronja develop, I know it was something that was worked in but not really the main focus - rightly so in that book. But in this case, there was some down time between events and having their relationship move forward filled the gaps. I think Hanson wove it in quite well, it wasn't just randomly thrown in because ROMANCE but because it made sense within the story.
As I mentioned in my previous review for book one, this series really is just a classic dystopian. It has everything I want in the genre and I really appreciated that. For a while, it felt like all I was reading was dystopian, but after taking a step back from the genre, I can really appreciate what Hanson has created. We got to see a bit more of the world around Revenia, into other nations. I liked this aspect because so often, in books like these, we see what is happening in one nation, but not how it affects or is seen by other nations in the world. I think about something like The Hunger Games and wonder, is there life outside the districts? What about other nations? What happened to them? Hanson weaves a history trying to answer some of these questions and I think, helps add an even more refreshing spin on the genre.
I liked how the story didn't drag on, something that is often a problem with the second book in a series. I think this book has a lot going for it and helps develop the series. And don't even get me started on that ending! How on Earth was that pulled off!? I am hotly anticipating book three so we can get some details!
Overall, great second book to a refreshing series; highly recommend.