Today is a very special day. For the first time, I'm hosting a tour stop for Inceptio Blog Tour.
Hope you all enjoy it!
Title:
Inceptio
Author: Alison Morton
Published: Silverwood Books (2013)
Description:
New York, present day. Karen Brown, angry and frightened
after surviving a kidnap attempt, has a harsh choice - being eliminated by
government enforcer Jeffery Renschman or fleeing to the mysterious Roma Nova,
her dead mother's homeland in Europe.
Founded sixteen centuries ago by Roman exiles and ruled
by women, Roma Nova gives Karen safety and a ready-made family. But a shocking
discovery about her new lover, the fascinating but arrogant special forces
officer Conrad Tellus, who rescued her in America, isolates her.
Renschman reaches into her new home and nearly kills
her. Recovering, she is desperate to find out why he is hunting her so viciously.
Unable to rely on anybody else, she undergoes intensive training, develops
fighting skills and becomes an undercover cop. But crazy with bitterness at his
past failures, Renschman sets a trap for her, knowing she has no choice but to
spring it...
Review:
Wow, what a story!
I don’t think I have
enough good words to fully express how special this book is—at least, not yet.
It’s not only spectacular—for me—because it’s part of my first ever Blog Tour,
but it is so mainly due to how different and fresh and original it truly is
when compared to most of the books I’ve been reading lately. I have never read
anything like Inceptio before. The way Morton developed the story with
something new and thrilling always happening, the characters that ultimately
are so believable, and the creation of Roma Nova by itself, all these things
together are somewhat pretty amazing.
I really liked
Morton’s writing. It is not only quite different from what I’ve come across so
far, as it also shows that everything she puts on paper turns out to be
important somehow. I also very much enjoyed the true balance between dialogue
and narrative, especially because, as a reader, I felt all the good, the bad
and the utterly scary thins going on on Karen’s life and, to me, that’s one of
the most imperative components in a book. Plus, every single character I found
it to be extremely well built and solid. It never mattered how significant their
part was in the story, it never mattered how big or small their “physical”
presence throughout the book was, all the background, all the crucial information
about what motivated them, what made them want to act, want to love, want to
protect, is there. This allows the reader to somehow connect with the central
people in the story, and to allow himself a chance at being part of the
adventure instead of only watching, reading about it.
I particularly liked
Karen. She’s an enormously curious and active figure, with a strong personality
and a huge amount of bad luck, especially in the first half of the book. Since
everything happens to her all the time, the way she responds to problems and to
all the new stuff occurring in her life ends up being one of the most
interesting aspects of this book. She’s that edgy, exceptional kind of
character that in a crazy way captivates the readers attention and even when
the book is over, when there’s no more pages left, she’s still pretty much in readers’
thoughts. Renschman was a huge contributor to that unique alliance between
reader and heroine. He’s such a damaged man, who helplessly watches everything
getting out of his control, that becoming the “evil” character, the villain,
was precisely what we could do best. And what a scary guy he turned out to be!
It gave me the creeps more than once.
Another element that
completely caught me by surprise was the alternate reality—I was aware of this
when I first started the book but I could have never imagined how plausible and
appealing Roma Nova would turn out to be in the end. I’m a woman so… this would
definitely be the most amazing and exciting place for me to live in; but that
aside, this is a country that speaks for itself and that’s unbelievably
beautiful for the way it keeps its inheritance alive. I couldn’t help myself to
fall deeply in love with it—and not because Nonna and Conrad are locals!
Intriguing, imaginative
and with a sturdy political side to it—that completely fascinated me—this is
the perfect book to anyone who is looking for something different and unusual.
I can’t wait for the sequel!
About the author:
A
'Roman nut' since age 11, the mosaics in Ampurias (Spain) triggered her
wondering what a Roman society would be like if run by women. That idea bubbled
away in her head for years.
Playing
around with words much of her life - playwright (aged 7), article writer, local
magazine editor and professional translator - she came to novel writing in
reaction to a particularly dire film:
'I
could do better that that,' she whispered in the darkened cinema.
'So why don't you?' replied her other half.
Three
months later, she had completed the first draft of INCEPTIO.
After
a West Kent childhood and uni in Leeds, Alison worked as a civil servant in the
City of London, dealt in coins and antique jewellery, head-hunted chief
executives, served as a Territorial Army officer and owned a translation
company. With a BA in French, German and Economics, she went back thirty years
and bagged an MA in History. She now lives in France with her husband.
Pursuing
her interest in women's history and a nod to her own military service, Alison
published a history eBook Military or
Civilians? The curious anomaly of the German Women's Auxiliary Services during
the Second World War in March 2012.
*Giveaway*
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Want to check the rest of the Tour? Then here are the previous and next tour stops!
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