Quanta (The Shadow Ravens, #2)

by Lola Dodge

Just because Quanta can see the future doesn’t mean she can change it. She’s spent most of her life imprisoned, feeding her captors information to keep herself alive, but she’s finally reached the endgame and her death creeps closer by the moment.

The son of two senators, Altair Orpheus leads a life of privilege that provides the perfect cover for his side job: working with the rebel Shadow Ravens to undermine the ruling Seligo government. Everything is running like clockwork until he crosses paths with Quanta. As he watches her deftly maneuver through life in a perverse prison, his plastic heart melts. A jailbreak would be suicide, but Tair is willing to sacrifice everything to give her a chance at happiness.

Now Quanta senses a terrifying new future brewing. She and Tair are bound together, but every image of them kissing, snuggling, and acting knee-weakeningly happy is balanced by a much darker possibility. They’ll be picture perfect together, but only until time rips them apart. How can she follow her heart when she’s seen how their love plays out?

• ISBN10: 099608648X
• ISBN13: 9780996086486
• Publish Date: 23 October 2015
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Ink Monster
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 388
• Language: English

Reviews

[Silvara]

Check out my other reviews, discussions and link ups at Fantasy of the Silver Dragon.

This was just as good as the first book. I was slightly confused at first, because this book deals with entirely new characters. But after a while we hear a bit about Cipher and Knight again. Quanta is a really interesting character, and I was soon lost in her story.

Just like the first book, I fell in love with Quanta from the first pages. Tair pulled me in quickly as well, and his sister too! The bad guys in this are really twisted and evil. Though I'm sure they don't think of themselves that way. And I liked getting to see a bit into the society of the rich and powerful. It was a different perspective, and helped to flesh out the world even more.

We do finally get to learn more about, and eventually meet, Lady Eva. Tair trained with her before the book opens, and he is in contact with her briefly a few times during the book.

This book is a bit darker than the first one, mostly because of Quanta's history in the labs. She's been tortured, drugged, there are hints that she was raped, and she is constantly being used to track down and capture the Shadow Ravens. She does her best to thwart that, but doesn't always succeed. And if she refuses to show them anything, she is tortured more.

Despite all that, she isn't as broken as you might expect. Both this book and the first one, have very strong female characters that would make good role models in the "you knock me down, I get up and keep fighting" areas. Quanta wasn't waiting to be rescued. She never expected to be after 10 years, and now that the chance has appeared, she is every bit as helpful to trying to escape as Tair. She's actually more useful in a lot of ways.

This is definitely a series I need to own in a physical format. If you haven't read it yet, why are you waiting?

This review was originally posted on Fantasy of the Silver Dragon

[Angie]

I received an ARC through NetGalley.

Quanta was kind of crazy! I totally did not expect most of that to go down. For the past ten years, Quanta has been a prisoner and lab rat. She's a Red Helix with the very rare gift of clairvoyance. She can see the past and future after glimpsing the "timeghost" of a person, place, or thing. This makes her a very powerful asset to those who wish to take down the Shadow Ravens, as she spent ten years with them as well. Too bad that Quanta isn't going to give up information that easily, but once a new guy appears in the lab, her powers take an interesting (and deadly) turn.

I really enjoyed Quanta, especially how the namesake's ability worked. She isn't all powerful or all knowing. Like I said, she needs something to prompt her visions. But even then, whether she sees forward or backward isn't always up to her. And while the past is set in stone, the future isn't, so she sees all kinds of possible futures--some more clear than others. Of course, meeting the mysterious new guy, Altair, changes her ability in a big way. I won't tell you what, but it's pretty intense and leads to a lot of action and danger!

There isn't as much romance in Quanta as there was in Cipher, but I'm okay with that because there's more coming! Quanta and Altair had more to think about than kissing. Death is a very real possibility for both of them as he tries to break her out of her lab-prison. Even though Quanta can see the future, that doesn't really help them escape. It just shows them what's possible and what's not. It's like a map of sorts. Most of the book takes place on the same day, because of reasons!

Quanta was really great. It kept me furiously flipping pages to see what would come next, and while it left me with a happy ending, there's obviously more to come. Not everything is resolved! There are bad people lurking around!

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.