Awesomesuace Kelly from Reading the Paranormal is just blowing UP Smash Attack Reads! She’s back with another original review! You REALLY want to read this one! 
Synopsis (Goodreads):
Sold into slavery to pirates at the young age of four, Summer learns to survive the rough seas of subterfuge and thieves through silence. When the boat she’s lived on most of her life is destroyed, Summer finds herself washed up on the shore of a new world, a phantom universe full of the bizarre and extraordinary. She meets Gage, the one boy who understands the girl with no speech. But when their lives are put on the line, will Summer finally call out? Or will all be lost in the fathomless depth of silence?
My Thoughts: Before we get into this review, I’m going to take a moment to talk about pirates. I have a long standing love affair with fictional pirates, provided they have good hygiene and don’t have scurvy. In fact, I’ve made it one of my missions in life to educate people on the dangers of scurvy (and good oral hygiene but that’s only because I read The Postman when I was young and impressionable and the talk of the survivors dying of “raging oral infections” stuck with me in a BIG WAY! *shudder*). Now, I don’t actually know much about scurvy except that you get it if you don’t eat enough vitamin C and it makes you lose your teeth. Therefore, the sum of my PSA is “eat oranges, don’t get scurvy”. Ta-Da! Words to live by, people. Words to live by.
But we were talking about pirates, weren’t we? Now, my ideal type of pirates tend to be strong, clean men who often work without their shirts and bathe regularly. Due to the fact that they’re usually displaced noblemen with a chip on their shoulders they have access to plenty of oranges and they NEVER get scurvy. The pirates in this book weren’t quite in that realm, I must admit. They were a little on the dirty side and, as it turns out, none of them were displaced noblemen. How disappointing.
Admittedly, the pirates played a smallish role in this book. We were also given men who dealt in human slavery (jerks), time travel (err… what?), a dystopian society (err… double what?), and a girl who was taught that talking leads to beatings. The time travel part took me a bit by surprise. I probably could have gleaned it from the cover but… I’m apparently not very observant.
The beginning of the book takes place in 2010 with flashbacks to Summer’s life as a young slave. It chronicles how she came to be in the hands of slavers and how her spirit was crushed and she learned to stop talking to protect herself. Then some big stuff happens and suddenly she and a few of her fellow slaves find themselves 200 years in the future in a world that has changed drastically from what they knew. Picked up by a group of young soldiers, one of whom begins falling for Summer almost immediately, they’re shuffled off to interment camps for the people who keep popping up from the past.
Part of me can see why Gage falls for Summer so quickly. She’s physically fragile, emotionally damaged, and she has no sense of self-worth. He feels a need to protect her and show her that she’s more than just a slave girl who was an oddity because she refused to speak. Summer slowly lets down her walls and allows Gage to get close to her. I’m personally a huge fan of insta-attraction and I think it was well done here.
Plot wise, we have a mysterious group who keep popping up to try to capture Summer (for reasons that aren’t revealed until close to the end), a futuristic government that doesn’t quite know what to do with the multitudes of people suddenly appearing out of thin air, and another group that looks like it’s trying to help those displaced in the great time-travel debacle. While I enjoyed parts of the book, I was really taken aback by the time travel. I honestly didn’t realize that the first part of the book took place in modern time (I’m sorry, when I hear “pirates” my knee-jerk reaction is that it’s the 1800s) and to suddenly have the setting shift dramatically and have to learn the history as to what led to this new world government was a bit jarring. I adjusted to it and I ended up enjoying the book but I did have to shift mental gears halfway through.
Overall interesting, if at times a bit chaotic, you’ll enjoy this book if you go into with an open mind. And if you don’t think that pirates only plundered the seas in the 1800s. There’s huge setup for later books, so don’t expect everything to be made clear when you reach the end. Still, I had fun reading it.
© 2012, Smash Attack Reads. All rights reserved.
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I’d let those pirates plunder my seas.
Errrr… I mean… I’m pretty sure there are modern day pirates, but nothing like the stereotypical pirates of the 1800s.
Yeah, modern day pirates don’t quite live up to the displaced nobleman picture in my head. Boo.
Question! Can you talk a little bit more about this: Part of me can see why Gage falls for Summer so quickly. She’s physically fragile, emotionally damaged, and she has no sense of self-worth.
I don’t really understand how the two ideas fit together in that sentence; Gage falling for Summer quickly and the fact that she seems, at least from that description, to be in no state to be in a relationship. If that makes sense? I’m just having trouble following here.
It’s the whole protector thing. He starts out appalled that anyone could do the things to this girl that has been done to her and he steps in to keep her safe from more pain and whatnot. Being forced to be in close proximity with Summer shows him that there’s more to her than what’s on the outside. He ends up falling for her as he sees the strength she has.
No, she’s not ready for a relationship at that point, but he sees her as someone who’s been forged by the atrocities done to her and he begins to admire the strength it took for her to survive under those conditions.
Does that help?
I honestly though you were being a smart ass with that piece of the review, Kelly!
Ha! No. I guess I just didn’t finish my thought. I got too caught up in my scurvy-fighting PSA. Lol!
Ash, did you know that Odd and I went to school together and she’s my go-to girl when I need book recs that’ll blow my mind? True story.
No focking way! Small damn world. ♥
Okay so the whole “forged strength by atrocities” thing makes much more sense than thinking that he just liked her because she’s physically frail and a basket-case, which makes Gage sound like a major-league creeper. (Girl, I *worry* is what).
But if he ends up falling for her when he finds her inner strength (which I’m presuming is not a euphemism) is he really initially attracted because she’s weak? I’m new here, and I’m puzzled.
Now that you pointed it out, it does make him sound like a creeper the way I wrote it. Lol! Oops.
No, I don’t think he’s attracted because she’s weak but, at the same time, because she is he’s forced to do some things that put them into close contact where he begins to … you know, now I’m not sure. He does fall for her very fast. Maybe he likes ladies who rely on his strength.
I don’t know anymore. I still like the insta-attraction thing (it’s a PNR fave!) and the idea that you can fall for someone without knowing anything about them. Maybe he just found her intriguing and things blossomed from there.
I’d like to point out that I’m writing these comments while under the thrall of cold medication. Ignore anything that doesn’t make sense.
Darling, even on cold medication, each and every one of your thoughts are like the darling little farts of thousands of tiny baby honeybees, emerging into the dew-soaked dawn. You are Just. That.
I love a good instant-attraction, and I’m always trying to ascertain what makes certain instant attraction scenarios work, which is why I’m wondering whether if Gage had seen an orphaned kitten, for instance, before he ran into Summer, whether he’d be a proud cat-daddy instead of running over and getting all up in Summer’s business. Because from here the parallels are a little compelling.
But if he’s the kind of guy who’s like OOH SOFT GIRL NEED PROTECTING SMASH then that says something about him and moreover, Summer’s reaction to that attitude also plays into the equation. Like, having been so long on her own, what was it about Macho-Kitten-Adopter Gage that let Summer let her guard down?
Fascinating, these things are. Fascinating.
[...] Guest Review: Phantom Universe: Kelly talks pirates and scurvy. [...]