Reviewed: February 28th, 2021
Release Date: March 20th, 2020
In a distant future… A world divided… A walled city in a devastated wasteland… a struggle for power becomes a struggle to survive… with friends like these, who needs enemies?
How would you survive beyond the comfortable walls of your world? For Starla, a struggle for power becomes a struggle for survival when she finds herself on the wrong side of the wall. Fleeing her abductors and lost in the wasteland, she faces starvation, warring factions, bloodthirsty creatures, and the endless burning sun.
And then there’s Ari… who is she really? And can she really trust this girl from the wasteland to lead her back to the city gates? One thing’s for sure, Starla’s once privileged life will never be the same…
Set in the dystopian Australian outback, the spoilt and selfish Starla falls prey to those out for what they can get and although she’s dreamt of crossing the wall, reality is like nothing she ever expected. Fortunately for her, even though she doesn’t admit it at first, she meets Ari.
Ari is surviving. She exists and she dreams of what she has lost, but she carves her way one day at a time out of the salt encrusted flats. She know it’s no real life but she doesn’t see any other choice until she finds Starla cowering in her bolt hole.
The story progresses as the two girls set out to return to the city behind the wall. Starla is determined to return home, and Ari is hoping to retrieve a life she lost. The journey is not only about surviving, but also self discovery. They have a long trek ahead of them, over brutal terrain and they only have each other to rely on.
This is an engrossing tale, that begins a little slow as the world building develops, but boy is it worth the read. A well written Dystopian fantasy with well drawn characters that you can relate to and root for. Things are never what they seem and P.J gradually builds the tension and the action so you want to know what happens next and you can’t put the book down. Roll on Book two Ari Goes to War which releases on April 20th, 2021.
P. J. Sky is a writer of short stories and novels, mostly in the post-apocalyptic and dystopian genre, for YA and adult readers. Born and raised in the UK, P. J. Sky wrote from a young age. A Girl Called Ari is their first novel.
You can find PJ on various social platforms:
Website: https://pjsky.wordpress.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PJSky2001
Link to book on Amazon UK: eBook | Paperback
Link to book on Amazon US: eBook | Paperback
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If you enjoy fantasy books then you will love my book which is available in eBook or paperback: Sentinals Awaken. My second novel Sentinals Rising is currently on pre-order and releases March 17th 2021. Sign up to my newsletter and download a free novella called Sentinals Stirring and get notified when my next books are published.
Helen Garraway 