Eternal Reads: Suzanne van Rooyen

Title: Obscura Burning.
Author: Suzanne van Rooyen.
Publication Date: December 7th, 2012.
Publisher: Etopia Press.
Genres: Sci-Fi, Young Adult.
Format: Paperback, 300 pages.
Source: Provided By Author.
My Rating: 4.5/5

The world's going to end in fire...and it's all Kyle's fault.

Kyle Wolfe's world is about to crash and burn. Just weeks away from graduation, a fire kills Kyle's two best friends and leaves him permanently scarred. A fire that Kyle accidentally set the night he cheated on his boyfriend Danny with their female friend, Shira. That same day, a strange new planet, Obscura, appears in the sky. And suddenly Kyle's friends aren't all that dead anymore.

Each time Kyle goes to sleep, he awakens to two different realities. In one, his boyfriend Danny is still alive, but Shira is dead. In the other, it's Shira who's alive...and now they're friends with benefits. Shifting between realities is slowly killing him, and he's not the only one dying. The world is dying with him. He's pretty sure Obscura has something to do with it, but with his parents' marriage imploding and realities shifting each time he closes his eyes, Kyle has problems enough without being the one in charge of saving the world...

Review

Obscura Burning is a really fantastic and incredibly interesting novel that will have any sci-fi lover hooked from the first few chapters. Suzanne van Rooyen created a great, wonderful and unique story line that kept me constantly turning the pages – I just didn’t want to put it down! There are so many twists and turns throughout Obscura Burning, which were amazing – and I loved how real the whole thing seemed – even though it was sci-fi! The smallest of decisions could set off a completely different chain of events throughout the book, and you get to experience them all with the main character. Although Obscura Burning was little confusing at times, and I found it a little hard to follow, it was pleasure to read and I loved every minute that I was reading it.

Kyle Wolfe is our main protagonist and he is gay – at least, he’s pretty sure he is. I’d like to say quickly, that if you’re not interested in, or don’t like LGBT stories in general, I really wouldn’t recommend this book. Although there aren’t any graphic scenes or much romance throughout this book at all – but there are plenty of references. Moving on! I really loved Kyle’s character, he was a really down-to-earth guy, and even though the book was written by a woman, it didn’t show through on to Kyle’s character in the writing like I’ve seen before in the past. Although a little messed up and definitely confused about a number of things in his life, Kyle was a solid, interesting, smart and generally a caring guy and very well developed. There was also this dark and mysterious edge to his because of his memory loss, which made him even more likable.

Even the secondary characters throughout Obscura Burning were amazingly well developed. Danny is Kyle’s boyfriend, and I liked his character a lot at first. He was kind, sweet and seemed to really care about Kyle. However, as the novel progressed, my dislike of him grew quite a bit – he became a little self-centred (even though he had his reasons) and I really questioned some of his decisions and motives. Overall though, he was a nice character to read about, even if I had my doubts about him. Shira is Kyle’s and Danny’s best friend and from the start I wasn’t really that keen on her at all. She was also a little self-centred, and I didn’t get the impression that she cared much about Kyle at all – even as a friend. It seemed like she actually pitied him, but that’s probably just what her character was like. Lastly, is Mya; a girl Kyle meets in both parallels; in one they become best friends and in the other she’s completely different and cruel. I really did love Mya’s character though (in the reality where she and Kyle are friends); she was kind, caring, sweet, funny and treated Kyle like a normal person – unlike pretty much everyone else in their tow – and she was definitely my favourite secondary character!

Overall, I thought Obscura Burning was a really well written and absolutely mind-blowing and extra-ordinary novel, with an ending that left me stunned and shocked to my very core. I had no idea how the story would end; and I must have come up with tons of different possible outcomes - but I just didn’t see the ending coming! I believe it well and truly deserves the 4.5/5 star rating, and if it weren’t for a few of the things I’ve mentioned, it would have definitely earned that extra half-star. Obscura Burning is a dark, twisted and mysterious novel that I’m sure anyone will be drawn into, even if they’re not a huge sci-fi reader. Susanne van Rooyen’s writing is really beautiful and in a league of its own, I’ve never read anything like it before. I can’t wait to read more from Suzanne van Rooyen in the future, she’s definitely an author to keep an eye on!

Quotes

There’s nothing worse than a doctor’s waiting room, than that dread of anticipation liquefying your insides. Spent enough time around shrinks as a kid. They always asked why. Why did you set the fire? Because I like it. But why? I didn’t know then, but maybe I do now. Because there’s real power in controlling something that beautiful and that destructive. - Page 94.

She’s going through hell? As if me getting burned was a walk in goddamn Armadillo Park. Hell is getting beaten up by your dad every night because your mom works the night shift. Hell is feeling less of a human being for liking boys. Hell is being suffocated by the guilt of cheating on someone you love. Hell is second- and third-degree burns, new dressings, needles and nurses, morphine, and split fucking reality that makes you wish you were dead. That’s hell for you, Mom. - Page 129.

"Hey, Miss Death and Feathers, at least I'm not the one banging my dead friend's boyfriend." - Page 216.

Thank you Xpresso Book Tours for hosting this feature!

Purchase

Amazon UK Amazon US Book Depository

The world's going to end in fire...and it's all Kyle's fault.

Kyle Wolfe's world is about to crash and burn. Just weeks away from graduation, a fire kills Kyle's two best friends and leaves him permanently scarred. A fire that Kyle accidentally set the night he cheated on his boyfriend Danny with their female friend, Shira. That same day, a strange new planet, Obscura, appears in the sky. And suddenly Kyle's friends aren't all that dead anymore.

Each time Kyle goes to sleep, he awakens to two different realities. In one, his boyfriend Danny is still alive, but Shira is dead. In the other, it's Shira who's alive...and now they're friends with benefits. Shifting between realities is slowly killing him, and he's not the only one dying. The world is dying with him. He's pretty sure Obscura has something to do with it, but with his parents' marriage imploding and realities shifting each time he closes his eyes, Kyle has problems enough without being the one in charge of saving the world...

About Suzanne van Rooyen

Website Good Reads Twitter

Suzanne is a freelance writer and author from South Africa. She currently lives in Finland and finds the cold, dark forests nothing if not inspiring. Suzanne is the author of the cyberpunk novel Dragon’s Teeth (Divertir), the YA science fiction novel Obscura Burning (Etopia) and has had several short stories published by Golden Visions Magazine, Space and Time and Niteblade. Niteblade nominated her short story Where dreams are grown for the Pushcart Prize. Her non-fiction articles on travel, music and other topics can be found scattered throughout the Internet. Although she has a Master’s degree in music, Suzanne prefers conjuring strange worlds and creating quirky characters. When not writing you can find her teaching dance to ninth graders or playing in the snow with her shiba inu.
Suzanne is represented by Jordy Albert of the Booker Albert Agency.

Excerpt

Closing my eyes, I imagine New Mexico burning, can almost smell it, the pungent pine, fireball mesquite, and smouldering cacti. I should be worried about the damage the UV’s doing to my scars, but after tonight, none of that will matter. Just when you think it can’t possibly get any hotter or the mercury will explode, the temperature rises just a few more degrees. Today, Coyote’s Luck lies in a simmering mirage, hotter than any hell imaginable.

The crush of mesquite huddling between the tombstones offers little respite from the sun. Sticking to the dappled shade, I thread my way toward Danny’s grave. I’m not alone.
She looks like a ghost with the white sundress fanning around her legs, her long black hair teased by the warm breeze. For a moment, I think it’s one of the ch’iindi made flesh, until she turns at the sound of my step.

Gabriela, her face a teary-eyed frown. She folds her arms and returns her gaze to the grave. When did she get so thin? She was always so voluptuous, a shorter, less saggy version of her mother. Now she looks more like a sixteen-year-old kid, barely there in layers of cotton.
We stand in silence, both just staring at the grave. The rosaries dangle over the stone, tied in knots around the stems of already dead flowers. There’s a white and blue beaded one, the one that was attached to Danny’s bed, the one he’d kiss at night before going to sleep.
“I miss him so much,” Gabriela says eventually.
“So do I.”
“I blame you, you know.” She casts me a sidelong glance.
“Maybe you should.”
She nods and sniffs and fingers one of the blooms turned brown by the heat.
“Dead, all of it.” She tears the petals from the stalk. “Little Maria, now Daniel.” She turns her dark eyes on me, searching for something I wish I could give her.
“This is killing my parents. Daniel was their only son. They’ll never have more children. Once, I had a brother. Now I’m alone. Sister to dead siblings.”
That’s the most Gabriela’s ever said, to me at least. I’m stunned into uncomfortable silence. There’s nothing I can say that’ll make it right. But tonight, maybe there’ll be something I can do.
“I wish I could make it right.” My words sound so pathetic.
She harrumphs and digs her sandaled toe into the dirt. “Nothing can make Daniel dying right.”
“I’m sorry.” There is nothing else I can say without trying to explain the whole confusing story and Gabriela’s not the type to believe in rifts in reality. “Tell Daniel you’re sorry. He’s the one who died because of you.” She takes a deliberate step away from me, crosses herself, offering prayers in Spanish to the ether.
“I loved him, you know.” Maybe I am to blame, but she makes it sound like I don’t give a crap that he’s dead.
“Obviously not enough.”

Author Interview

1. Do you judge a book by its cover?
All the time. That’s not to say that all my judgements are accurate but a book cover is really important. If I’m standing in a store torn between two books of equal price with equally interesting blurbs, I’ll certainly take the one with the nicer cover - that’s just the way it is.

2. Is there a series you'll read over and over again and never get tired of?
Series? No. I’m not really into series. I find myself often reading the first book and never further. I may make exceptions for trilogies and I’ll have to see how it goes with The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater before changing my mind on book series.

3. What are two of your favorite fictional worlds that you'd like to see together?
Wow - that’s tough. Merging two worlds. Hm... I think Capt. Jack Harkness from Dr Who and Torchwood could just about take on anything and anyone so I’d like to see him take on some comic book heroes. I reckon Capt. Jack should make a guest appearance in The Avengers or X-Men - get Torchwood on the hunt for Magneto or Loki. That could be fun!

4. If you could meet a fictional character, who would it be and why?
It’s a tie between Capt. Jack Harkness and Morpheus, the Sandman and King of Dreams. Capt. Jack because he is awesome and has seen the future and would be infinitely interesting to talk to and Morpheus because he lives inside people’s dreams - I think he’d have a unique perspective on the human condition.

5. How do you feel about book to movies or book to TV shows?
Love them when they’re done well, which isn’t all that often. I’m a bit of purist tending to prefer the book to adaptation but I’m the first to admit that movies like Stardust and Coraline are fantastic and actually improve upon the original books. I think all the Nicholas Sparks movies have been an improvement on the books but the one that wins hands down is The Vampire Diaries. I could never get into the books despite trying more than once. The TV series however? Yeah I’m a total Damon Salvatore fangirl.

6. How many unread books do you have? On your TBR list?
Hundreds. I add more than I can ever hope to read but at least it gives me options. I love the sample function on Amazon - makes life easier being able to scroll through samples on my Kindle and get a taste for the book before purchasing it.

7. What's your favorite book this year?
I read this in November last year but it remains a favorite: Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion. A totally unexpected and brilliant book about zombies. I hope the film adaptation will do it justice!

8. Ebooks or physical books? Which do you prefer?
Ebooks - more practical, lighter, easier to travel with and they save a hell of a lot of shelf space.

Giveaway!

One lucky winner will win:

1 autographed paperback of Obscura Burning.

1 ebook of Dragon's Teeth (epub, mobi or pdf).

1 $10 Gift Card for Amazon.

3 surprise items from each of the main characters.

International residents may enter.

Contest ends January 31st, 2013.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Eternal Reads

20 December 2013

Review: Obscura Burning by Suzanne van Rooyen