ARC Review: Range (I Am Not Junco #4) and The Magpie Bridge (#4.5) by J.A. Huss

Finally, the latest installment in the kickass science fiction and fantasy series I Am Just Junco is coming out in April. Actually, there are two books coming out–Range, book #4, and The Magpie Bridge, book 4.5, a novella. I read the first three books last year and I really enjoyed them, so you can imagine how excited I was for these two. Check out my ramblings about the two books below!

Range (I Am Not Junco #4)

Two years have passed since Inanna stole Junco away from Lucan. Two years of unimaginable pain. Two years of isolation, mutilation and torture. Two years of fear and loneliness in a morph tank. And that’s not something you just get over, even if you are psycho-assassin, Junco Coot.

Now Junco has to learn to live with the consequences. Her Siblings are suspicious and angry, half her team is dead, Tier is wreaking death and destruction, Lucan is holding his secrets close, and she is spiraling out of control.

There is only one partnership that matters anymore – only one person she will trust and take direction from – and only one way out of the Hell she’s been sentenced to.

Junco is tired of fighting and death. She’s had enough and this time she means to end it – once and for all. — Goodreads

Welcome back, Junco! I have to say I missed the crazy foul-mouthed girl. In this book, she’s even crazier than ever, but that’s just because of all the shit that she’s been through. I swear, this girl has gone through all sorts of hell and there’s only so much that one person can take, even if she is more powerful and devious than anyone ever realizes. In Range we see just how broken, confused, vulnerable and alone Junco is. She doesn’t really know who she can trust and she’s on the brink of going completely insane, but we still see her planning her course of action and following her guts. She’s still this totally imperfect character that you would root for any time. She’s still my favorite thing in this series and it’s just as well because this book had so many things going on.

I guess it’s been a while since I read the previous books because I got a bit confused and lost with all the myths, religion, and the science stuff in this book. There was so much going on and it had so many little twists that I couldn’t understand and follow anymore. I had to keep reminding myself that I was reading a science fiction fantasy. It was so crazy, but I found it interesting at the same time because I never would have thought about those things. I would have to commend the author for that.

I have to say this isn’t my favorite book in the series, but it was still a great read and I cannot wait to find out how this series ends.

The Magpie Bridge (I Am Just Junco #4.5)
Tier was left with one specific order and he’s not about to screw it up. He might lose all his allies, his brothers, his shot at defeating the High Order, and his own Eternal Salvation – but he’s willing to risk it all to keep one small girl alive.

Tier reveals his part in the epic tale of The Seven Siblings, spilling secrets and motivations that will leave you breathless and wanting more. — Goodreads

I don’t know but I felt better after I read The Magpie Bridge. I guess it’s because it isn’t as tumultuous as Range and the underlying emotion in this novella is more of hope than anything else. The novella is also a nice break from Junco’s perspective. This time it’s from Tier’s perspective and we get to see his side of the story and how he figures in all of it.

Like all the books in the series, The Magpie Bridge was an easy read. For me it’s not as action-packed and fast-paced as the rest, but it feels like the slow calm before the big reveal–which I guess is just fitting for the book preceding the last installment in this crazy rollercoaster ride of a series.

Note: I received review copies of the books as part of my participation in the tour. All opinions and views expressed here are my own.

Watch out for the official release of Range and The Magpie Bridge on April 1st! And you better check out the official blog tour which will run for the whole of month of April. There are some awesome prizes to be won, folks. ;)

Read my review of books one to three here.

 
I Am Just Junco by J.A. Huss

Clutch (I Am Just Junco #1)

In 2152 the avian race is on Earth looking for something stolen from them decades ago – their genetics. At the center of the search lies the Rural Republic; a small backwards farming country with high hopes of military domination and a penchant for illegal bioengineering.

19 year old Junco Coot is the daughter of the Rural Republic’s ranking commander. She’s the most foul-mouthed, wildly unpredictable and ruthless sniper the Rural Republic has ever trained. But when her father’s death sparks a trip into forbidden places, she triggers events that will change everything she knows to be true.

As an elite avian military officer, Tier’s mission is to destroy the bioengineering projects, kill Commander Coot’s daughter, and return home immediately. There’s just one problem. Junco isn’t who she claims to be.

With no one to trust, not even herself, Junco must confront the secrets of her past and accept her place in the future, or risk losing herself completely.

Junco Coot can’t even remember her trip off Earth; she was too busy being morphed into her new avian body. But reality hits her hard when she wakes up to find her new life is not what she expected. Not even close. Tier is on trial for disobeying his commander’s kill order and only Junco seems to care.

In most places the avian coming-of-age Fledge ritual would be nothing more than mass murder, but here in the capital city of Amelia, it’s called growing up. Junco has no choice; either fight to the death to prove her worth or get sent back to Earth in the hands of her enemies.

Her new military team is hostile, her body is being taken over by an illicit artificial intelligence, the avian president wants her dead, and her only friend is a ten-year old throwaway boy.

On a foreign habitat, in a foreign culture, and surrounded by people she can’t trust or count on, Junco must find a way to save herself and Tier without losing her immortal soul in the process.

Flight (I Am Just Junco #3)

Escape from Earth. Check.

Morph into an avian body. Check.

Survive Fledge and Deliverance, soul intact. Check.

Bring her Siblings back to Amelia and restore the avian race? Not so fast, darlin’.

There’s a new twist on an old prophecy and this one brings the End of Days. Junco must make a choice, but the choices all confirm her only worth is tied up in killing.

Lucan has secrets. Secrets that will make the Stag Camp look like playschool. And the lies are flowing like a mountain river during spring thaw. But he needs Junco to cooperate just a little bit longer or it all falls apart.

The Siblings on Earth are waiting for the Seventh to return and pull their clutch together. But Earth has secrets too — secrets that change everything.

Junco has survived against impossible odds, but the cost of survival is higher than she ever imagined. Luck is about to catch up with Junco Coot and her debt must be paid.

 About the Author

J. A. Huss never took a creative writing class in her life. Some would say it shows. Others might cut her some slack. She did however, get educated and graduated from Colorado State University with a B.S. in Equine Science. She had grand dreams of getting a Ph.D. but while she loves science, she hated academia and settled for a M.S. in Forensic Toxicology from the University of Florida.

She went on to write science curriculum for homeschoolers and now runs a successful home business that creates and offers online science unit studies. When she’s not writing science curriculum or fiction, she works as a farm inspector, traveling the Eastern Plains of Colorado in variety of environmentally friendly vehicles that never have four-wheel drive, so when she gets stuck in the mud in said vehicles, she has to beg for assistance from anyone who will help her. She is not bitter about that at all.

She’s always packing heat and she is owned by two donkeys, five dogs, more chickens and ducks than she can count, and of course, the real filthy animals, her kids. The I Am Just Junco series was born after falling in love with the ugliest part of Colorado and the Rural Republic is based on the area of the state she currently resides in, minus the mutants, of course.
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