This book was very fast paced, and while it isn't super long, it does pack quite a lot into those 190+ pages. It definitely kept you wanting to read and find out more. I really liked our main character. Asher is a fighter, but it's his inner strength that is even more impressive. When you find out the truth about his background and realize the struggle he has to keep his identity, it's really quite impressive. And heartbreaking.

The story world was interesting, although somewhat basic. The one thing I missed getting was any real backstory to the world. We know that the Colony is evil and the Insurgents are the ones trying to fight back and rescue the innocents, but we don't really know how the world got to that point. Not that you always need that information, but it would have been nice to have. Speaking of the Colony, this was another thing that griped me just a bit - the villains of the story are very one dimensional, and since we get a few chapters told from one of their points of view, I expected to get a bit more about them and why they are what they are.

Speaking of points of view, this was another thing that wasn't a bad part of the book, but was just a bit odd. The book is told in first person with most of the chapters from Asher's point of view. There are, however, a handful of chapters that are told from other character's POV - two from a side character's POV and four from the main villain. It just seemed like a random choice and it did break down the flow of the story just a bit for me.

There is a second book in this series (which might just be a duology, it's hard to tell), but I haven't decided yet on whether I want to read it or not. This one did end on a fairly hefty cliffhanger, so I probably will. Just not right now.

** review will be live on blog on October 21, 2024 **

Subject A36 is book one in The Colony Series by Teri Polen.
This is an excellent dystopian story.
I was intrigued throughout and really enjoyed the writing style here.
I’m excited for book two.

In the future, people with desirable traits are taken captive and their genomes stripped to produce designer babies. People who are abducted do not survive. From the beginning, I was on board with teenager Asher and his fellow insurgents with their mission to free captive children. It was fun to cheer on the good guys.

Polen is particularly good at showing how characters are feeling. The characters gesture, stand, slouch, etc., in realistic ways. It helped bring everyone to life. Polen is also skilled at introducing characters. They come on scene fast enough to get the story rolling in this complex world, but slow enough (and distinguished enough from each other) so the reader can keep everyone straight.

Because it's a Polen story, I did expect twists, but there was quite a surprise that caught me about half way through. I should have seen it coming, but I didn’t. And then another twist about two-thirds of the way through, and a couple more near the end. All great fun, I love it when a story surprises me!

My only nitpick is the young insurgents seem awfully organized, with sophisticated plans and wisdom beyond their age.

I love the final scenes. Polen ramps up the tension and the personal stakes. (I may have teared up a little.) She also leaves a solid story thread for book two.

Thank you to NetGalley and Black Rose Writing for this wonderful reading experience. I am happy to give my honest opinion.

Another fun, easy read. If you're an "experienced" reader especially in the YA dystopian genre you probably will be able to quite accurately predict the plot twists, ending, romance, etc. Regardless, the book ended on good enough of a cliffhanger to make me want to pick up the sequel.

Did not finish. This novel was not for me. I had a hard time connecting to the story and the characters.

Thank you to the publishers, author and NetGalley for a free copy of this book!

My opinion of this book changed a few times while reading, but ended on a good note overall! I always enjoy stories like this where I feel this could actually come to be in our world, and a future where people's "good" genes are harvested wouldn't surprise me. I was a little confused at the beginning when, after a few chapters, I realized the main character was male- I feel as if it changed my perspective on the story line completely when that was made clear. Other than that I look forward to see where this series goes!

This started off strong, and I was completely engaged ... and then it dropped off a bit. I ended up skimming through most of the middle and then read the last quarter. Overall, I liked it, and I will definitely look for the next book (which is why I wanted to post a review rather than declining to give feedback).

The writing is tight, the pacing was actually pretty good (it's really the fault of our current world situation right now that I couldn't focus), and although I found the ending really frustrating, I'm sure that's also a good sign, right?

I'll give it 3 stars, but that reflects my inability to read it thoroughly more than my actual enjoyment of the book.

Subject A36 is a terrifying story that takes place in a horrible dystopian future. The book begins with a flashback to introduce the MC but you won’t know anything about the Colony and the world the characters live in. You will then slowly get new information and understand how terrifying it is. I loved that there is no world-building and you are directly thrown into this universe. It was fast-paced (sometimes a little bit too fast in my opinion) and some events were predictable, but others I did not see coming at all! I love when a book surprises me like that!
It was a short book, a great introduction to the series in my opinion, and I will read what is next because I need more.

Subject A36 is a story about survival, betrayal, love and friendship! I definitely recommend it!

My Favourite Thing: Nerd alert: I love the science and ethics in this book! It combined my two favourite things: reading science fiction as a hobby and learning about biology in school. Although not everything was perfectly factual, Polen was very close and gave readers an essence of the atmosphere. I found Subject A36 to be uncanny, as in despite the fact it's fictional and futuristic, it heavily reflects our society today. Cosmetic surgery, radioactive treatments, implants... cloning and genetic engineering is coming next. I appreciate the science elements of the book for entertainment purposes as well as its thought-provocation.

Recommended For and Similar Reads: This book covers a range of genres/topics, meaning there's no way you can go wrong with it! Subject A36 discusses ethics, morality, sciences, heroism, growing up too quickly, relationships in desperate times, and heartbreaking realities. Similar reads are Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, The Catalyst by Kristin Smith, The Originals by Cat Patrick, Brave New Girl by Rachel Vincent (and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley), and even Jurassic Park by Michael Chrichton!

Main Selling Point:
This book teaches teens a thing or two about ethics, morality, and growing up too quickly without boring them to death. There's plenty of action and adventure to keep them entertained as well!

For the first 10% or so this book was an easy 5 star, i loved the characters and the set up but then it was made clear that Ash wasn't a girl and that totally threw me, changed the entire tone of the story and dropped it down to 4 stars. By 50% I was really irritated by something and it took another few chapters to realise that it was the wordiness of the characters. I have spent a lot of time with 16 / 17 / 18 year olds and while the occasional one might be eloquent it's a rarity but these teenagers all spoke properly with no slang, no shortened words, no concatenations, they were all very aware of feelings and how to articulate them - it just didn't ring true so we end up at 3 stars.

This doesn't mean this is a bad book - it's a cracking story with an interesting concept, just all the characters have the same voice and it's not one of a teenager.

In a dystopian future the world is divided in The Colony and the Outliers where people from the colony "harvest" the desirable traits from outliers by extracting genes and basically treat them like cows. The Insurgents are a group who try to fight back and free people from certain and that's where we meet Asher. He a well trained and competent soldier from the Insurgents who has lost his parents and sisters when he was younger after a raid by the Colony. Now he is in the rebel group together with his best friend Noah and girlfriend Brynn.

The plot will not be real surprising if you have read books like this before, but the writer does a good job with the twists and turns, action, establishing characters and setting up the beginnings of a serie. In the end it got a little bit too repetitive for me in regards to certain plans and outcomes, but overall it was a book that I very much enjoyed reading and had me turning the pages fast.

*** An ARC was provided to me in exchange for a honest review ***

In this world we have a group known as The Colony, people who are prepared to harvest anyone for positive genetic features. We don’t know why, or how, this world came about - and I was rather surprised by the lack of information about the bigger world picture created in this debut dystopian novel. That lack of detail possibly comes as we’re focused on quite a small segment of the world - a being identified as A36 and a group of Insurgents trying to rescue those at risk of genetic harvesting.
Our story opens with a dramatic escape by an eight year old boy. He has been briefed by his parents about what to do if soldiers ever arrive at their home. We have no idea why he’s told this, or what could happen, but it certainly gives an engaging opening.
The focus then shifts in time to some years later. The boy, Ash, made it to his safe place where he was taken in. We learn he’s spent years being trained as an Insurgent and is pretty efficient. A substantial period is spent establishing the character of Ash and the dynamics of his relationships. It’s evident that this is to explain his actions later on. Things start to go wrong, and we learn that the group has been compromised. It’s part of an attempt to get back subject A36...and it doesn’t take us long to work out this is Ash.
What we then follow is the betrayal of Ash’s team, the capture of someone important to him and Ash’s plan to help those he loves. Along the way we learn a little more of just what has been done to Ash, and further details to hint at the bigger picture to this experiment.
While there are parts of this that jar a little, it is an interesting idea with characters you quickly become invested in. There’s enough of a suggestion of what’s to come to make me keen to read book two. Thanks to NetGalley for the entertainment, allowing me to read this prior to publication in exchange for my review.

Having spent the afternoon reading this book, I can say it full incorporates the feel of a dystopian book. The blurb doesn’t give to much away which I like. I had a sense of excitement throughout to see what would happen next. Brilliantly written.

Loved this book beginning to end. I can't wait to see where the author takes us in the next book. Really quick read, page turner.

This is a debut novel in a series that is a dystopian tale. The premise of the novel is intriguing and grabs you. But, overall, it was just okay for me. I think some of the pacing or flow of the story was too clunky for my taste.
It’s an interesting idea and the following books may provide a more flowing narrative.
I will continue to keep my eye on this writer.
Thanks to #Netgalley #BlackRoseWriting

The main protagonist in this book is Ash and the majority of the book is from his perspective with a couple of chapters from others. For the first couple of chapters I thought Ash was a girl and that the relationship with Brynn was a F/F one. I soon discovered that was incorrect and adjusted that view when someone referred to his as their brother. The book starts off briefly explaining the world we are in. It says all disease has been cured by gene editing, including HIV. As a scientist this got me off on the wrong foot because HIV is not a genetic disease, it is a virus that causes AIDS, the disease. I found it hard for the author to say that infections by viruses and bacteria are fixed by splicing genes. I think that got me off on the wrong book for this book. In addition, I didn’t understand why they needed to harvest people and kill them when all you need is a bit of DNA or RNA to fix their attributes and make designer babies, so to speak. Also, Ash kept referring to Brynn as his sister quite a few times throughout the book despite the fact they were in a relationship. That was also a bit wrong. I know they aren’t blood related at all but it didn’t sit right. Apart from that, the book was easy to read, although it was quite obvious who Subject A36 was very early on but not revealed until half way.
I didn’t love it, but I also didn’t hate it. The writing was good, I just think the science part set me off on the wrong foot.

Subject A36 generally stayed within the boundaries laid out by the YA dystopian before it - a society split among the haves and the have-nots, atrocities committed by the haves (justifiable in their view), a teenager who is "special" in some way with a group of compatriots who work to overthrow/defeat the haves. The plot moved fairly predictably, with the characters growing to understand their situations, leading to an expected cliffhanger. The writing was good, with characters having their own voices and word choice, and the action was well constructed within the genre. If you enjoyed the Hunger Games, Maze Runner and Divergent series, or are just wanting another within that vein, you'll definitely enjoy Subject A36. Otherwise, it doesn't do anything to differentiate itself from the pack of YA dystopian novels before and after it.

I have been testing the waters with different dystopian books in the past couple of years. Each brings something different to the table. The strongest foundation of a dystopian situation for me (I have come to realise) is if the plot based on current trends and some facts related to those trends. In the world we are to enter gene modification for health has extended itself to something a lot more superficial. The explanations are part of the narrative, so I will refrain from revealing anything further.

We have viewpoints of many people in the story, both good and bad but our main voice is Asher. He is the boy/man of the moment, he lives with insurgents who regularly try to prevent 'The Colony' from abducting more people for their nefarious purposes. I have to admit the secret reveal was pretty evident from the beginning, given the numerous hints we are provided but the writing was good, and I was caught up with the people enough to want the best for them regardless. One reveal did take me by surprise, and it did add a whole other layer to the story. There is a lot of descriptions of the emotional bonds between people and how they function. It is a very vivid portrayal and gives the necessary depth to (still) teenagers who had to grow up before their time. This was one of those books where the age and the actions of the people did not bother me much given the hardships of the world they live in.

With regards to the world-building itself, we are given the barest of glimpses. The rest is hopefully to be revealed in the following books. The glimpses we are given only show us how the scientific side is assembled and their priorities but not the Government and what that might look like. The ending is a cliffhanger, and that is an important thing to note for those who may not like such a state without the next instalment in hand.

I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, but the review is entirely based solely on my own reading experience.

Subject A36 is set in a dystopian world where desirable genetic traits are stripped from people, without their consent and resulting in their deaths...

I found this to be a surprisingly compelling read. The plot skipped along quickly, and I really liked the whole premise of gene stripping. There were a lot of integrated flashbacks which worked really well to give context without feeling like they were holding the story up at all.

The protagonist, Ash, is a strong lead with a good level of vulnerability and compassion that make him easy to relate to. And it was refreshing to have a male MC, something that is somewhat rare in YA novels. I loved the cast of supporting characters though too, especially where we were given enough background to really come to understand them.

This review has been posted to Amazon and Goodreads.

The overarching thrust of this plot is entirely predictable. This is not unheard of - there are only so many plots in the world, after all. Predictability is acceptable if the characters are complex or if there are interesting elements along the way. Polen is going for some interesting elements but it falls short. The science, in particular, doesn't make any sense. The premise works - the inherent dangers of genetic engineering as it intersects with the class divide. But there is only the thinnest explanation for the genetic harvesting. That motivation feels tacked on, a way to explain the revolution rather than focusing on the hunt for Subject A36. Asher is not a fully developed character either. Had Asher and the super-soldier plot been fully developed this would be a much stronger experience.