Prototype Exodus is No Sophomore Slump!

So, it wasn’t soon after I finished Prototype D that I discovered there would be a second book, Prototype Exodus. I was extremely excited upon hearing this and even scored an advanced reader copy (ARC) of the book in exchange for an honest review. Let me start by saying this: Buy this book!

If you are fresh out of reading Prototype D, Prototype Exodus picks up five years after the events in Prototype D following Des. In the wake of a nuclear bomb explosion, Des is not only angered but saddened at the loss of his companions who he had found in the five years he had been away from Mainland. He ventures out in pursuit of who is responsible for the death of his people, and his search brings him right back to Mainland.

Much to my disappointment, but not surprising, Mainland has done little in the way of allowing the Outlanders to make them feel as if they are welcomed. We shift to Hazel and her life on the outskirts of Mainland, where all the other Outlanders are, and her struggling to keep her father alive. Robots have become the primary security in Mainland and they’re pretty well suppressing the “New Mainlanders,” as the Outlanders are now called, just as badly as they were before.

Yet when Des comes back, everyone’s heads spin. General Bracken is pissed. And the two presidents are also not too pleased. Des wants answers and justice for the lives that were lost in his village, but he – along with everyone else – finds out some surprising things before he can get his answers.

I was quickly wrapped up in this book. It begins fast paced and never lets up. I found myself highlighting so many excellent quotes from this book. Jason D. Morrow, the author, sets a perfectly imperfect world up for the reader to get wrapped up in. While in Prototype D, I knocked off a star for the beginning taking me a while to get into with him setting up the world, this was not a problem in Prototype Exodus, as he just needed to expand on his world to create tensions for his characters.

I think the biggest let down of this book was the fizzle that was Nolan and Hazel’s romance. I expected that the two of them would have had some type of romance that would happen in this second book. While it definitely is nothing that is a huge plot point to the book, it was just a little bit disappointing. What I loved most though about the fizzle of their romance was that Des noticed something was there. So, I haven’t given hope up that they won’t work out.

Morrow’s writing is full of great details, so be sure as you’re reading to note them! His foreshadowing was done well, and I loved how I was able to get a little bit into so many different characters’ minds throughout this book. It is written in third person, omniscient, and Bracken was a point of view that I found to be extremely troubling. I give this book an overall rating of 5/5 stars, making it my first five star rated book of the year! Morrow moves through character POVs seamlessly and weaves a fantastic story. This is a book you don’t want to pass up. I’ll leave you with one of my favorite quotes from the book.

“I might have been built to kill, but I can choose not to.”