Happy Saturday y’all! Today’s book is one I read back this spring when I was having all that drama and never got a chance to share with you. I really enjoyed it too! I enjoyed it so much that I downloaded and have purchased the entire series. Viggo and Violet are two very different characters with a common goal: find out the truth. If you enjoy fast-paced dystopia, I highly recommend you read The Gender Game.
The Gender Secret by Bella Forrest Series: The Gender Game #2
Published by Self Publish on 2016-11-21
Length: 426 pages
Reviewing eBook from My Book Shelf
Rating:
Reading Challenges: 2017 Dystopia Reading Challenge
Gliding over the treacherous Green in a shaky aircraft that she has no idea how to land, Violet Bates is still in shock. The harrowing events of the previous night play over in her mind as she asks herself question after question.
Why did Lee Desmond Bertrand behave the way he did?
What is the truth about the mysterious silver egg stowed beneath her seat?
What happened to Viggo and where is her brother? Is either of them still alive?
When Violet manages to reach the toxic ground alive, she has landed in a world of unimaginable danger. She has barely time to catch her breath before she is sucked into a perilous journey at breakneck speed - to uncover secrets guarded for centuries and find the only two people that matter.
The Gender Secret by Bella Forrest is the second book in The Gender Game series and picks up about one day after the events of the first book. Viggo is in the detention center and Violet is on the run after having escaped both Matrus and Patrus. I was hooked from page one. This book is nonstop, keep you on the edge of your seat suspense. I loved the addition of dual POV this book. It worked well to flesh out the two main characters and the motives behind their actions.
Violet is an easy character to empathize with. Life has really dealt her a crappy hand. After Lee’s betrayal at the end of The Gender Game, Violet is now on the run in the Green, the no-man’s land area between Patrus and Matrus. Her resourcefulness and trek north toward the mines to save her brother is a reminder of the lengths she’s willing to go to for her family. Her brother has been their since he was 8, and well she really doesn’t know if he is alive or dead, but she’s determined to find out. You have to respect that! With Lee’s betrayal and her framing Viggo, Violet is trying to not feel guilty while at the same time those walls that Viggo started to breach in the first book are now reinforced with steel. She trusts no one and questions everything.
So I really liked Viggo in the first book, but I feel in love with him during this one. His POV adds a lot to his character. I questioned his motives and why he was so kind to Violet in The Gender Game, but here the reader gets a glimpse of his thoughts through his perspective. I loved it! Viggo is kind, compassionate, and fighting this attraction he feels for Violet. She reminds him so much of the wife he lost and loved, but his feelings for her are different. When Patrus offers him freedom in exchange for bringing her and what she took back, he goes into the Green after her, able to track her though the egg.
The plot can almost be split into two: first the Green and then the underground facility located near the center of the Green. For much of the Green, Violet and Viggo are separated. Viggo knows these woods and the dangers they hold, but Violet has only heard rumors and her chapters while within the Green are frightening and suspenseful. Then the facility they find together is a new mystery and added element to the story. What they find there is nothing I would have expected though. It gave a new twist to this already exciting series.
Overall I really enjoyed The Gender Secret. The two societies have been hiding much from their people, and Violet uncovers some truly gruesome things. Violet and Viggo’s relationship is complex, but I love the way the author shows how they grow to feel for one another. And the twist at the end….I need more!!! If you enjoy fast-paced dystopia, I highly recommend it!
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