Review: Whispers in Autumn by Trisha Leigh

Goodreads synopsis:

In 2015, a race of alien Others conquered Earth. They enslaved humanity not by force, but through an aggressive mind control that turned people into contented, unquestioning robots. 
Except sixteen-year-old Althea isn’t content at all, and she doesn’t need the mysterious note inside her locket to tell her she’s Something Else. It also warns her to trust no one, so she hides the pieces that make her different, even though it means being alone. 
The autumn she meets Lucas, everything changes. 
Althea and Lucas are immune to the alien mind control, and together they search for the reason why. What they uncover is a stunning truth the Others never anticipated, one with the potential to free the brainwashed human race. 
It’s not who they are that makes them special, but what. And what they are is a threat. One the Others are determined to eliminate for good.



Release Date: July 24, 2012
Pages: 388 (Paperback)
Series ? #1
Publisher: Create Space

LONG STORY SHORT:

Whispers in Autumn sounded good from the premise, the cover is plain beautiful and the beginning of the book convinced me that it must be epic. Well, a little bid closer to the middle I wasn't so sure anymore. I certainly liked the world building and the overall story idea, but it lacked uniqueness, suspense and plot for me.

REVIEW:

Whispers in Autumn totally had me in after I read the synopsis. The whole idea of including seasons and the elements and season-travelling into a dystopian novel sounded so original to me that I had to read it!

I was a bit disappointed, though.
I liked this book in the beginning, when the reader was introduced to the story, this whole new dystopian world. The concept of who ruled the world was very different from everything I've ever read before, but then the how was very ... unoriginal.

Whispers in Autumn reminded me a lot of Matched with the daily routine everyone has to follow and the food that's served in just the right amount and the exercise everyone has to get and how the government chooses your job for you and how Althea had to pretend she was like everyone else while she was clearly not.
The elements that could've been original - as I said the story of how the US became what it is in Whispers in Autumn or who the government really was - ended up being a blur to me. Nothing was really, clearly explained, everything came in bits and pieces that somehow made sense and somehow didn't.
What I was missing, as well, was really fast action. I mean there were a lot of incidences that increased the suspense, very crazy things happened to people and in general, but throughout the whole book there was never that moment when my hands begin to shake and I can't put the book down because there is a very bad fight or a life-saving escape or something.
The story just goes on, the situation gets kinda dangerous, the government is sorta suspicious and the time is somewhat running out for the kids.
And then the book ends and leaves us guessing what will happen next and I'm not sure yet if I want to find out.

Don't get me wrong, though. In retrospect Whispers in Autumn lacked a lot of things for me, but in general I enjoyed reading the book and it was pretty short, so that I would recommend it to people who really liked Matched and who don't need a lot of action in their dystopias.