REVIEW: True Calling by Siobhan Davis

Planet Novo, nestled in space twelve hundred miles above the surface of the Earth, is the new home of 17 year old Cadet Ariana Skyee. Confused by the government-sanctioned memory erase and distressed at her impending forced marriage and motherhood, Ariana’s plans for the future are thrown into complete disarray.

As the traumatic events within her family life enfold, Ariana grows increasingly alarmed at the authorities apparent pre-occupation with her and feels progressively more isolated and alone.

Her growing feelings for fellow Cadet Cal Remus intensify as the recently announced pageant, ‘The Calling’, gets underway. Struggling to comprehend the continuous, inexplicable dreams of the mysterious Zane, discovering the past helps shape her future, with devastating personal consequences.

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I received an ecopy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

MY THOUGHTS
What really drew me into this book was, yes, I admit it, the cover. I have an attraction to covers featuring space, and while this book was not exactly what I was expecting, I was not disappointed!

This book takes place on Planet Novo, which is a man-made planet in the atmosphere of Earth to protect people from the dangers currently going on Earth. Not everyone is on Earth, though, only the smartest and the healthiest got to live on Novo. Ari's family is among them and life is just fine, except for these strange, realistic dreams she has of a person named Zane, whom she has never met. Then, the Novo government places The Calling, in which all 17 year olds will basically be in forced marriages, in order to increase the low population.

At first, I was doubtful about this book, as I felt like it was beginning to sound very similar to Matched. Then, as the book went on, I begin to ignore the similarities and began to really enjoy this book. What really made it was the romance! I'm usually annoyed by the romance in books,  but I adored this one! Cal and Ari are just perfect for one another and you can tell that they love each other! Sure, the romance was a bit cheesy, but what's romance without some cheesiness?

I was fully expecting this book to be all about The Calling, but that's only the tip of the iceberg. There actually ended up being a Part II (there's more than 2 parts by the way) which is from Zane's perspective, yes, the same Zane that Ari has dreams about. Zane is on Earth, where things are not the best, and is in a resistance that is against both the government on Earth and Novo. At first, I wasn't really into Zane's perspective, I was really interesting in what was going on with Ari, but I quickly grew into his perspective. Zane's perspective gave an insight as to what the government was doing, and what was going on in general. There are so many things that we found out thanks to his perspective! There was speak of rebellion in Ari's perspective, but it wasn't until Zane's perspective that we get to see that this book is about so much more than The Calling.

Now, onto the sad part: What did I not like? I love this book and I had hardly any problems with it, but, I hate saying this, I did have a few. One problem is that I was confused by how Ari and her family seem to have some memories of Earth, when those memories were supposedly erased. For example: Ari mentions forests where she grew up. There is also mention of an uncle that committed suicide on Earth, but how do they know these things? My other issue is the psychic abilities. I felt like it wasn't explained enough as to why people have them. And that's it. Those are my only problems, and they're really minor and pretty easy to ignore.

IN CONCLUSION
This is a really great dystopian that took me by surprise! Sure, it has similar ideas to other books, at points, but this book has so many new, unique ideas as well! This book is exciting, with a great collection of characters, and I had a very hard time putting it down! I definitely recommend it to sci-fi and dystopian fans!
Am I going to continue the series! Yes! Especially after the way this book ended!

I hereby give this book

4 Wheels!

Meaning: It was amazing!