It’s my review stop for the I Am Just Junco Dot Com blog tour! This science fiction series by author J.A. Huss totally took me by surprise. “Just Junco” turns out to be a foul-mouthed super badass heroine and the series totally kicks ass.
In the first pages of book one we are introduced right away to Junco, our heroine who is by no means a girly-girl. She’s the type who knows all her weapons and firearms, would probably go nuts over a motorcycle helmet sale, and could care less about fashion and anything frilly. All she knows are secret military ops and assassinations. She’s been trained to be a ruthless killer since birth and she’s pretty good at what she does, but we learn that there’s so much more to her and everybody wants her for themselves. Everybody here means the aliens or Avians as they are called, and the humans, all the different factions and republics. They all have an agenda and Junco is right smack in the middle of it all.
Clutch, Fledge, and Flight are pretty much made of the same stuff–they are all exciting, action-packed, and emotional in different ways. In each succeeding book, the excitement and emotional factor rise and you can’t help but be swept along with it. It’s hard to talk about specific events without giving anything away.
What I really like about this series is the main character, Junco, who is truly a badass killing machine, but we also see a vulnerable side to her. We see how her life has been like since she was young and we see how things affect her. We see her being constantly barraged with things that could bring any person down, but we see her cry, get hurt, and bring herself back up. She is one character that you would truly feel and root for to the end.
Another thing I like about the series is that it’s very fast-paced and the story is very original. I like the author’s unique writing style. I like that there’s always something happening and each twist to the story is revealed at the perfect moment. Sometimes you’d think there are too many twists, but they all add to the story and come together nicely. I also like the play with mythology and religion mixed in with the science.
This series is a fun sci fi piece with a dash of dystopian and a little bit of fantasy. It really is pretty exciting and I can’t wait to read what happens next.
I received e-copies of the books for review with no obligations. All opinions and views expressed here are my own.
About I Am Just Junco
Clutch
Book One I Am Just Junco
By J.A. Huss
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.
Book Trailer: http://youtu.be/Iz0PWDGoTJY
Fledge
Book Two
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.
Book Trailer: http://youtu.be/b_LYS0N1OAY
Flight
Book 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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It sounds like a great series. I like sci-fi because, like all stories, they are about people…but they are about people in very cool settings doing incredible things. :)
haha thanks for the detailed review!
Thank you for the awesome review Leah! You totally made my day! :)
Thank you for the opportunity to review your books! I really enjoyed them and I can’t wait for the next one. ;)