Book Review: The Symbiosis by Casie Aufenthie

Genre(s): Science fiction / Romance

Content warning: There are scenes of violence (one involving a child), attempted sexual assault, and themes of mind control that may be disturbing for some.

Samara seeks to save the man she loves from a terrible fate. She works with the Resistance, an organization hoping to change the world for the better and wrest power from the tyrannical Council. The trouble is, the man she’s trying to save is entangled in the Council’s politics so deeply it’s going to be a challenge to reach him.

While Samara and Tristan remain fixtures in the story, just as they were in The Drift, Wyatt (Tristan’s older brother—and one of the villains from book one) gets a larger share of page time. During this book, Wyatt became my favorite character—he’s not the villain I believed he was, and he developed into a fantastic champion for his brother. His character was very well done.

Anyway, I loved this book as a sequel, and I think I enjoyed it more than book one. There was more intrigue and intensity, and while there were still moments of raw emotional turmoil for one or more of the characters, I didn’t find myself sobbing through the final 20% of the book like I did with The Drift.

Don’t get me wrong: I really enjoyed The Drift, but that heart-wrenching ending wrecked me, so I put off reading the sequel for…a few months. Casie Aufenthie has a knack for portraying emotions in her stories, and is very good at making this reader cry.

But, this second installment in her series ends on a distinct note of hope. The ending was perfect, and I’m eager to read the third book once it’s available.

As mentioned this is book 2 in the series. You can read my thoughts on book 1 here: Book Review: The Drift by Casie Aufenthie.

Author website: casieaufenthie.wixsite.com