Review: Blue Into the Rip by Kev Heritage

Blue Into the Rip

Author: Kev Heritage
Series: Into the Rip #1
Publisher: Massive Banger
Genre: YA Science Fiction
Format: Ebook
Release Date: December 7, 2013
Source: Received from author
Rating: 3 Stars
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***I received a free copy of this book from the author. This has in no way changed my opinion of the book. The review below is my open and honest opinion.***

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Blue didn’t want to be in the future
…they didn’t want him there either

A rip in the fabric of time, a far-flung globally warmed future, a flooded Earth and the only remainder of civilisation – a militaristic organisation living underneath ‘Desert Amazon’…

Getting back home to rescue his little sister Annie was the only thing that mattered to messed up, mixed race teenager, Blue (named after his stupid, googly blue eyes) – and that was the problem – home was over four hundred years in the past.

Ripped forwards in time from his odd hippy parents, their peculiar house and his lonely school life, Blue had only one thing on his mind: return. But how does a lowly cadet in a militaristic Academy living in a post-apocalyptic future achieve such a goal, especially with the distractions of girls, pilot training, spacewalks and his almost constant unpopularity?

The more Blue found out about this flooded, gung-ho annoying future, about himself – who and what he was (was he even human?) – and the equally disturbing and shocking truth about his ‘parents’ – the more he realised getting home was the only solution. Wasn’t it?

If Blue knew one thing, it was that he would at least try.

My Review:

Time travel mixed with space=awesome. I am such a nerd. This book is a story about a boy who, while trying to find his young sister, accidentally gets ripped hundreds of years into the future. He is forced to join a strict military academy and accept his new life after being told there’s no way to go back. But Blue isn’t just going to forget about his family and his old life. He’s determined to find his sister and his parents.

Blue was an interesting character. He does some pretty stupid things throughout the book and at times I wanted to slap him. But he is caring and compassionate and I loved how protective of his sister he was. If a male character is protective over his younger sister I automatically love them. I think it’s because I’ve always wanted an older brother. When Blue was in the past, he was considered a freak. He has huge blue eyes and a photographic memory and everyone made fun of him for it. His eccentric parents didn’t help his case much either. But in the future, suddenly all his strange qualities come in handy. He excels at his military classes and is truly in his element. He even begins to think that maybe he could make a life for himself here. But not without his family. I really enjoyed watching Blue grow and develop throughout the novel. He was a great MC and it was refreshing to read from a male POV.

The supporting characters were also really great. I especially enjoyed Hermans and Wurtz, both humans who have grown up on other planets. Hermans is such a good person. He was determined, intelligent, and was a symbol of integrity. Wurtz was a little rough around the edges and at times, scary, but really he was just a big teddy bear and I loved him.

The author does a really great job of describing this new world. His descriptions of the “rainforest” were absolutely stunning. I felt like I was there, walking along the paths with Blue and his friends. There was also some really cool tech and space travel which of course I loved. I do think that the author could have done a slightly better job of world-building. What happened to the world? Why are there so few humans left? But this is the first in a series so maybe we will learn more in subsequent books.

Something that I really struggled with was the language. It was so different than anything I was used to. The closest thing I can compare it to is the language used by the Gladers in The Maze Runner but in that book I was able to get used to it. I never got used to the language in this book. There were some parts that I genuinely didn’t understand because of the language used.

The other complaint I have is the ending. It was really confusing to me. I think for the most part I understand what happened, but it took me awhile and I had to reread a few sections to figure out what was going on. It was complicated because of the time travel piece, but I think that it could have been done better.

But overall this book was a quick, fun, and interesting read. There are lots of twists in this book and a constant question of who Blue could trust. I thought I knew the answers, but then the author would completely surprise me. I loved that this book was able to shock me so much. If you like space and time travel or enjoyed the CHAOS series, you will definitely enjoy this book. Happy reading all!

Have you guys read this book? Heard of it? What do you think of the time travel mixed with space element?