The Eden Conspiracy

The Liberty Box Trilogy, Book 2

By: C.A. Gray

Narrated by: Melissa Williams

Length: 7 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's summary

The refugee caves have been destroyed, and most of the refugees are dead. The Potentate now knows of their existence and will stop at nothing to wipe them out completely. He suspects that terrorist Jackson MacNamera is among them, as well as reporter Kate Brandeis's fiancé, hacker Will Anderson - and probably therefore Kate herself. Now that the Potentate is aware of security threats, most of the strategies the rebels used to get back onto the grid before now no longer work. The Potentate knows the rebels are on foot, and he knows they were at the caves not long ago. They can't get far.

The remaining rebels, among them Jackson and Kate, have Kate's fiancé Will to thank for their survival: he arrived back from the dead and in the nick of time, bearing classified information about the Potentate's plans to expand his influence internationally. But the remaining rebels and the Council cannot agree on whether their top priority should be spreading truth far and wide and freeing as many citizens from government control as possible, knowing that they will likely die in the process, or escaping to New Estonia, in hopes that they might live out the rest of their days in peace.

Kate, meanwhile, finds herself torn between Jackson and the fiancé she thought she lost, and between the damsel-in-distress she once was, and the rebel she believes she has always been underneath. Whether the other hunters will support her or no, she knows she must use her influence over the people of the Republic to tell them the truth, no matter the cost. But is she strong enough to withstand the government's lies?

©2016 C.A. Gray (P)2016 C.A. Gray

Rebellion!

No one will ever accuse this book of suffering from sophomore slump, that’s for sure. After a successful opening in the first book, the action really ratchets up in The Eden Conspiracy and certain characters become more vivid plus I learned a lot more about the two factions.

I already knew that the Potentate and his minions exercise a sort of mind control over the people, brainwashing really, but here I learned that they can direct it at a particular person. Kate has bought into the resistance fullbore but that propels her into doing something rash, bringing herself some very unwanted attention but she shows an unexpected strength when that happens even while she distrusts herself and Jackson immensely.

Things go from bad to worse for the band of refugees but a small group splinters off to find a new sanctuary while Kate heads back home to enlist her brother Charlie’s help with a project. Unfortunately, government agents are soon in hot pursuit and whether Kate can accomplish her mission is in real doubt.

Kate and Jackson come into sharp focus in this part of the trilogy and she especially shows a lot of growth emotionally and physically, no longer the simpering wuss that she used to be. In fact, Will’s behavior towards her becomes much more annoying because she realizes how condescending he’s always been, perhaps warranted before she grew a backbone. Jackson, on the other hand, is the perfect man, to the point of being irritating at times (but he always redeems himself). Many of the characters from the first book kind of fade into the background but Kate’s brother and parents are prominent with her mother being as aggravating as she can be. Last but most certainly not least, the Potentate’s point of view comes into play and, now that he is is much more evident, his bad guy persona comes to the fore with chilling effect.

With the first book, I indicated that I thought the narrator was a bit lacking but I saw a lot of improvement in this second book. Ms. Williams really got into the story this time and there’s more life in her voice although I still think most characters’ voices are too much alike. That aside, I do enjoy listening to her.

All in all, this was a really good continuation of the story and I’m excited to now move on to the third, and last, book.

Such great action!

Yes!!!! I know the second book would be way better than the first one (review can be found here)! It completely blew my mind, I listened to the audiobook in one day. I was so eager to find out what will happen with… everything and everyone. We follow Kate’s love life, we follow the (now) two groups of rebels, with accent on the one our main characters are in, obviously, and we see all characters evolve. I absolutely loved it!

Kate is the one more in focus right now as she has a lot to deal with. She wants to be independent, she wants to prove herself to the group of rebels, she wants to fight side by side with them. Being reunited with her fiancée, she has to deal with her feelings as well. She not only sees the world differently, she sees herself and her relationship with Will with different eyes. Her evolution in this second part of the story really amazed me and what made me like it even better was how the author managed to put it into words, by following her personality from book one and growing it into something stronger.

Jackson proves to be (again) an honest man. His integrity is visible in all his decisions, including his feelings for Kate. His abilities are better taken advantage of and his choices are explained with maturity. Having his perspective, as well as Kate’s gives us an overview of their entire relationship and how he is able to help her grow even when they are not near. I loved it!

Oh, since we speak about perspectives, with the Potentate’s thoughts we have the complete picture of the story. His need to rule and his obsession for control are so well described. He is smart, he is trying to be one step ahead of the rebels and sometimes even manages. He is a fantastic character as well.

The narration was ok as well. As I was mentioning in my review for book 1, I would have wanted a better voice acting, but the narrator managed to transmit the emotions and the determination in each affirmation, so that’s ok with me.

All in all, I absolutely cannot give “The Eden Conspiracy” less than 5 stars. If “The Liberty Box” (book 1 in the series) did not convince you, please pick up book #2! It is great, simple as that! Enjoy J

I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by C.A. Gray. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.

A little similar still

So with this book we get more exciting with the crazy plot and scary people in charge of everyone! I really enjoyed this second in the series a bunch. I recommend if you enjoy dystopians as this author has done n excellent job of measuring out the right amount of information to make me suspenseful! I give it a 5/5 stars.

The narration in this one was better, but I still think the voices sound too similar unfortunately. I like the emotion in the character’s voices but I think there needs to be more distinction. I give the audio a 4/5.
I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by C.A. Gray. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.