REVIEW: ARCLIGHT BY JOSIN MCQUEIN.

Title: Arclight
Author: Josin L. McQuein
Series: Arclight #1
Edition: Hardbound
Publication: April 23, 2013 by Greenwillow
Pages: 403
Source: Bought from Fullybooked
Category: Romance, Dystopia

Synopsis:

No one crosses the wall of light . . . except for one girl who doesn’t remember who she is, where she came from, or how she survived. A harrowing, powerful debut thriller about finding yourself and protecting your future—no matter how short and uncertain it may be.

The Arclight is the last defense. The Fade can’t get in. Outside the Arclight’s border of high-powered beams is the Dark. And between the Light and the Dark is the Grey, a narrow, barren no-man’s-land. That’s where the rescue team finds Marina, a lone teenage girl with no memory of the horrors she faced or the family she lost. Marina is the only person who has ever survived an encounter with the Fade. She’s the first hope humanity has had in generations, but she could also be the catalyst for their final destruction. Because the Fade will stop at nothing to get her back. Marina knows it. Tobin, who’s determined to take his revenge on the Fade, knows it. Anne-Marie, who just wishes it were all over, knows it.

When one of the Fade infiltrates the Arclight and Marina recognizes it, she will begin to unlock secrets she didn’t even know she had. Who will Marina become? Who can she never be again?

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I've only seen Arclight several times and only heard about it a few times. I wasn't really familiar with the book at all because embarrassingly as it is, I wasn't THAT interested about it. I don't honestly know what it is about. Though I admit the cover pretty much did the job of convincing me to get it. And at this point, I am awed by it. AWED TO THE CORE.

Arclight is a facility that has so much light. It is surrounded with Grey and then the Dark where deadly Fades live. These Fades are humans poisoned when they entered the Dark and according to the humans in Arclight, no one survives the Fade. But Marina did. She is rescued from the Grey but the people who helped her didn't come back. Everyone in Arclight loathes her for being an anomaly plus she can't remember anything from her past. When the Fades attacked Arclight, they captured one Fade, Rue. They are dumfounded that he looks like a regular boy who can speak and only talks gibberish to Marina. Curious enough, Marina tries to know more about her past, about Tobin's father and the Fade and she's gone back to the Dark with Rue. She finds the truth she never expected to have happened and what she truly is.

Arclight is so fascinating. Arclight itself was built after the world and civilization's destruction after a science experiement gone terribly wrong. The nanites that are supposed to me a medical breakthrough in curing illnesses only it got out of hand and turned into a weapon that created the Fade and killed 90% of the human race. What I simply couldn't understand are: how are these nanites can't be exposed to light and how can they disintegrate a human body to pass through walls and still be whole afterwards. If it weren't for Rue, I will always imagine them just like the Death Eaters in Harry Potter.

The plot of Arclight moved as slow as a snail but that didn't annoy me or stop me to finish the novel. This is the first time it happened to me because I hate slow-paced stories. I devoured Arclight page by page and moved along with it slower than usually because Arclight kept unravelling mysteries and secrets as I go through it. The romance isn't so bad at all. Even if I felt like there's a brimming love triangle in one corner, it is a love triangle like no other. The story did focus on much important aspects such as the war with the Fade and the Fade itself and brought touches of intriguing romance in between. Arclight is so good on its own am afraid a sequel would just ruin it!

Marina is a tough chick. Without her memories to answer her questions, she braved facing her new life in Arclight. No matter how badly people treat her because of being different, that didn't stop her to care. She cared about her friend's safety but most especially Tobin. I loved Tobin's courage and emotional control and Tobin's father is so ideal. It isn't hard to fall in love with these amazing characters.

Arclight is suprisingly good that one book satisfied my bookish needs. It is thrilling and magnifyingly amazing! Arclight is more than that beautiful cover and even though I wouldn't want it to be a series, I can't help but be excited for book 2! I want more Tobin!

"Someone's attention shouldn't have a physical weight, but it does. Hate's a heavy burden; hope is worse."

"I wasn’t home. Home wasn’t that bed and that pain. Home didn’t hurt. There were no strangers who hid their faces or their voices from me. Home held no secrets."