Review of Vicarious and Ferocious

Duology Review of Vicarious and Ferocious

I hadn’t read either part of this YA duology, but when I was given the chance to read them both back to back, I said okay! I love doing back-to-back series reads and because these are high-stakes thrillers, it was even more fun to move from one to another! My joint review of Vicarious and Ferocious will be spoiler free!

Vicarious by Paula Stokes

Published on August 16, 2016

Source: from publisher for review

Synopsis adapted from Goodreads: Winter Kim and her sister, Rose, work as high-tech stunt girls for Rose’s ex-boyfriend, Gideon, engaging in dangerous and enticing activities while recording their neural impulses for his Vicarious Sensory Experiences, or ViSEs. When Rose disappears and a ViSE recording of her murder is delivered to Gideon, Winter is devastated. She won’t rest until she finds her sister’s killer. But when the clues she uncovers conflict with the digital recordings her sister made, Winter isn’t sure what to believe. To find out what happened to Rose, she’ll have to untangle what’s real from what only seems real, risking her life in the process.

Review of Vicarious:

This first book sets up the duology’s main quest: Winter Kim’s search for vengeance. She and her sister Rose were sex-trafficked out of a Korean orphanage, then subsequently rescued.  Now they work for Rose’s ex, who hires them to engage in high-risk activities and record them for his virtual reality company. Rose models and goes to speed-dating parties, while Winter and her sidekick Jesse break into buildings and such. Then Rose is murdered and Winter vows to find her killer.

Vicarious was a sci-fi-themed thriller with dark undertones. Paula Stokes’ bio says she was a mental health nurse, and it seems like her professional knowledge played a part in the story. The book has a lot to do with the psychological scars that Winter and Rose have as a result of the horrible experiences they endured. Winter is (understandably) guarded and troubled, hesitant to trust. I thought Vicarious did a good job of balancing plot with character development, which is a hard thing to do in a thriller. There’s a revelation in the book that didn’t entirely take me by surprise (as I’ve seen similar plot twists in several YA books) but that I thought worked well here.

Ferocious by Paula Stokes

To be published on August 15, 2017 by Tor Teen

Source: from publisher for review

Synopsis adapted from Goodreads: When Winter finds out that her sister is dead and that she has a brother she never knew about, only two things matter―finding what’s left of her family and killing the man who destroyed her life. Her mission leads her from St. Louis to Los Angeles back to South Korea, where she grew up. Things get increasingly dangerous once Winter arrives in Seoul. Aided by her friends, Winter attempts to infiltrate an international corporation to get close to her target, a nefarious businessman named Kyung. But keeping her last remaining loved ones out of the line of fire proves difficult, and when all seems to be lost, Winter must face one last devastating decision: is revenge worth sacrificing everything for?

Review of Ferocious:

I liked Vicarious, but I thought Ferocious was a stronger book. Or perhaps it just built well on what had been set up before. I was happy that the revelation from Vicarious I mentioned above wasn’t just a plot twist — it helped me understand Winter much better and gave me much more empathy for what she’d been through. Jesse is obviously in love with her and I was really rooting for the two of them to make it as a couple.

This book continues Winter’s quest to avenge her sister’s death, which has morphed into an all-consuming desire to see justice done. I also loved that much of this book took place in Seoul, as Winter tracks her target there and, aided by allies she may or may not be able to trust, tries to track him down and outwit him. There’s a lot of suspense, but also a fair amount of psychological depth as Winter tries to balance revenge with her recovery … and maybe even a relationship.

If you like high-tech thrillers, you should definitely check this duology out – I liked the way these books balanced plot and character!