Curiousity Quills Presents: The Altar of Reality Tour


Altar of Reality
Altar of Reality, by Mara Valderran
Genre: young-adult, dystopian, science-fiction romance
Publisher: Curiosity Quills Press
Date of Publication: January 22, 2015
Cover Artist: Alexandria Thompson at Gothic Fate

Description:
Sixteen year-old Madeline has struggled with epilepsy for most of her adolescent life, leaving her something of a social pariah. Things go from bad to worse when she wakes up from her first grand mal seizure in an extremely unfamiliar world but surrounded but familiar faces. Her hometown is in ruins, the aftermath of a Cold War turned hot.
Thomas, the boy that stomped on her heart a year ago, and his brother Brandon have been hiding
her away since the explosion that killed her parents. The Lord Commander, now running the
southern territories, believes Madeline died with them and the brothers need to keep it that way.
The biggest problem? The explosion happened when she was twelve.
Madeline isn’t sure what to believe. The brothers insist her memories must be of a dream life she
created while in her coma. But when she returns to the reality she knows, they insist this wartorn
world must be the dream. She doesn’t know if she’s truly caught in the middle of a brewing
rebellion or teetering on the brink of insanity. As she finds herself flipping between the two lives,
her heart becomes torn between two versions of the same boy and the lines between her realities
begin to blur.
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My Thoughts
Alter of Reality offers YA readers that rare chance to experience the coupling of first-rate fantasy and contemporary elements.It is quite refreshing to have an imperfect heroine.  Not only that, but one who's imperfection (in this case grand mal seizures) gives her the key to her power.

This fast paced read puts readers in the thick of dimension-travel goodness from page 1.

One of the thing that makes Madeline a wonderful heroine is the honesty with which she is written.  She makes no promises that her power deems her any more or less human.  Though it is also true that she is quite the sympathetic character, but not for the reasons that one might think.
Her illness...though an important story element, is shown to be little more than a means to an end in the grand scheme of things.
It is also quite refreshing to watch her having to bungle her way through' learning  the skills that she needs to protect herself in her parallel roles.

The interactions and interplay that Madeline maintains between worlds as the story progresses, gives the tale the cohesiveness that it needs and helps to drive the plot nicely.
The many realities also provides very rich storylines for the supporting players in this read.
In some cases, it even serves to make them more interesting than they would be otherwise.  The multiple love interests found here can serve as a source of much frustration.

The story ends on a serious cliffhanger that leaves readers chomping at the bit for answers that only the adventures of a book 2 can provide.



About Mara
Mara ValderranMara Valderran is an author of young adult and new adult books, but she's more than just a
madwoman with a writing box. She is an avid reader and fan of all things sci-fi and fantasy. She
loves roller skating and movies, though typically not together. She hopes to one day meet Daniel
Jackson from SG1, or at least the actor who played him. When she’s not writing, you can find
her reading, playing video games, or counting down the days until DragonCon.
Her debut novel, HEIRS OF WAR, has been met with great reviews and was featured on
Wattpad in 2013, raking in over 600k reads. The series continues with the second book, HEIRS
OF WAR, CROWN OF FLAMES, released in Summer 2014. Her short story “The Austenation”
will is included in the Borderlands Anthology and she is looking forward to publishing her
young adult dystopian ALTAR OF REALITY with Curiosity Quills Spring 2015.

Find Mara Valderran Online:
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

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