Exile (The Extinction Trials #2)
by S. M. Wilson
Publisher – Usborne
Release Date – 31 July 2018
Buy – Amazon | Book Depository

Betrayal. Sacrifice. Survival. Welcome to The Extinction Trials.

After surviving on Piloria once, Storm and Lincoln are the obvious candidates to return to the dinosaur continent to test the new virus that should clear the way for human settlement. But they have their own priorities – finding a cure for the plague that’s sweeping Earthasia, and keeping themselves alive.

For my review of the first book The Extinction Trials please click here.

The Extinction Trials series is fast becoming one of my favourite series this year to date. I don’t think I’ve read a sequel like this in such a long time, I feel that it even beats the first book by 100%, everything from the depth of the story-line woven in the world, new friends and enemies and emotional impact of it, the adventure, suspense is literally makes your heart pound with each page turn.

Exile follows on from The Extinction Trails, everything in Earthasia is becoming harder, people are struggling when living with the blistering plague, shortage of rations and housing. After Stormchaser had the won the trails, things have got harder not easier, from living in a shelter to living in a house with two families is a lot louder than it had been. Strom isn’t used to having siblings and most of all she is missing the greens, brightness, the refreshing nature of Piloria even with the danger of the dinosaurs. Whilst Lincoln is working on the viruses from the eggs extracted from the trails, he finds that there is something else on Piloria that is worth going back for to save the one he loves. Along the way, they reunite with the forbidden island that is full of rich evergreens, long lost families and some new predatory dinosaurs that roam this world.

What I loved the most was returning to the world of Piloria, the vision that Susan creates with the world building of Piloria is literally like paradise, it’s a world that sucks you back in depsite the danger that constantly looms on the island and that’s exactly what Stormchaser and Lincoln feel like. The fluency of her words, the emotions that run through you when your racing to know what happens next. There are moments where your frozen just like Stormchaser, or your thinking “No don’t do that. They may look like innocent chicken creatures, but THEY ARE NOT!!!” Nothing in that world is innocent except for the diplodocus – my favourite I would like to point out for future reference. Also where was Milo in this book???? I missed the way Susan captured him as a kind dinosaur, a friend, that not not all of them are bad.

Exile was very much Lincoln’s story, his chance to prove himself with Stormchaser, bridge the gap that come between them but also as reader you came to understood and love him even more. He become stronger, more courageous and brave in this story, but he also allowed his emotions, his true nature to really built trust and a unlikely family love like no-other. I also loved new characters like Octavious, he’s the Hammond of the story, a man so down-to-earth but wheels so much authority and power. There is no shortage of adventure when it comes to new even unlikely friends but also new enemies. In comparison to The Extinction Trails, the writing and storyline through the characters is woven so deep that you can’t help feel the emotions, live the story, and the connection with us, the reader with Storm and Lincoln’s perspective is unparalleled.

You are literally reading a story as if it was 65 million years ago, your running and being chased by dinosaurs in a dystopian world of Piloria and the survival of humanity is threatened. What could honestly be better than reading this? This is sincerely the most jaw-dropping and phenomenal sequel I’ve read in a long time, it didn’t suffer from any middle book syndrome. I feel Exile is far more superior, suspenseful and more exciting and it totally beats Hunger Games in my book.

Rating – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thank you to Usborne for providing a copy in exchange for an honest review.