Watcher by @AJEversley is a Dystopian Festival pick #dystopian #yalit #bookish #giveaway
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  • N. N. Light
    • Feb 26, 2021
    • 6 min read

Watcher by @AJEversley is a Dystopian Festival pick #dystopian #yalit #bookish #giveaway



Title: Watcher


Author: AJ Eversley


Genre: Dystopian


Book Blurb:


Hunt the bots. Avoid the carbons. Stay alive. Sawyer’s life is simple, if not easy. Her home might be in ruins, but she can protect what’s left of it. A city destroyed by the bots—that’s home. Humans have been hunted, but Sawyer is one of a few who have turned the tables. She’s a Watcher. Taking out the bots one by one. Protecting what’s left. It’s the carbons she needs to be wary of. Faster and stronger than humans, they’re dangerous. But Sawyer’s smarter. That will keep her alive. At least, that’s what she believed. But the carbons are evolving, and their plans are ever more cunning. Suddenly her friends are dying. Safety can no longer be taken for granted—not even for the Watchers. At least she has Kenzie. Love is a strong word, but whatever they have, it’s what keeps her going. Embarking on a desperate mission to save humanity from extinction, Sawyer discovers that the line between friend and foe is no longer easily drawn when one of her own betrays them. And when a horrific plan comes to fruition, Sawyer will have a choice: who to save, and who to let go. Divergent meets Terminator in this epic YA Trilogy.


Excerpt:


I knew I wasn’t alone. They’d never leave until every last one of us disappeared.


From the edge of a rooftop, high above the boulevards below, I breathed in the cool, damp air as I monitored the nearly empty streets. Whispers of rain threatened to erupt from the melancholy sky above, as if to echo the sentiment of my surroundings. The ruined city, once a place I called home, was nothing more than a pile of rubble thanks to the Bots and Carbons roaming the streets. Buildings had been torn to pieces, leaving gaping holes in those that still stood, uninhabited but for a few survivors. It was no longer liveable, not the refuge I’d known ten years ago, but it was my reality. And as a I scanned the dark metropolis before me, I clung to the feeling of freedom before the burden took over me. The silent promises I had made and had yet to fulfil.


Quiet and cold as it always was, the darkness hung like the night. Thick clouds lingered over the city, leaving it in a constant state of gloom with the threat of rain hanging over us. The only light shining in this dim city was Sub 9, the enemy’s headquarters. The lone building lit up in the distance, as I stood bathed in shadows. Darkness was my friend, my confidant, my ever-constant reminder of who I was and my purpose.


I was invisible to those below me but I saw them. All thanks to Adam, a scientist with a fascination for robotics before the war broke out.


“All clear and ready to go Sawyer?” The voice of Sam, one of our technicians, startled me as it reverberated through my earpiece.


“Yeah, all good.” I clicked on “the Eye,” and the lens blinked over my right eye. “I’m turning you off now.”


“Aww, come -“ My earpiece was muted before he’d finished his argument.


The six Bots marching below me lit up green through the Eye. Their oversized steel frames were hard to miss as they stomped through the city streets searching for survivors. Most towered over me with ease, and at nearly four times my weight, they were enormous, but their boxy structure and heavy feet made them easy targets for our weapons. Although they weren’t swift and agile like the Carbons, they were still dangerous and had to be eliminated if we hoped to survive.


Another two Bots were a mile away, and four more were stationed past them, shining green on the little lens over my eye. They were dispensable and constant entities in the city since it fell over ten years ago. The Carbons, however, were saved for the more important tasks and hadn’t been seen in weeks.


No matter how human the Carbons looked, they all had one flaw – a microchip at the base of their skull. They were carbon copies of us, hence the nickname, but despite their obvious human appearance, they were manmade machines sent to destroy us. They’d become the deadliest foe mankind had ever known and my constant enemy for the past ten years.


I was part of a team searching the streets of Cytos. Watchers. Together, we eliminated any Bots and Carbons that crossed our path. Twelve Bots tonight. Twelve to be eliminated. I’d fought more than this at once – twelve was nothing to me.


Standing, I held steady, waiting for the right moment, as the wind pushed me onward. My long, dark hair swirled around me, but I pushed it back. I never feared being seen. Head-to-toe covered in black, camouflaged and unheard, even by my companions, I was a shadow.


I checked the line secured to the top of the building and around the harness at my waist again, mostly out of habit. The moon tried to peek through the clouds, illuminating the metal on the weapons secured at my hip and across my back. The thick armored suit I wore was like the night sky as well, dark and ominous. I stepped onto the edge of the skyscraper I was stationed at and leaned forward, letting gravity take me over the edge as the butterflies moved from my stomach to my throat. Wind roared in my ears. I free-fell ten, twenty, thirty stories before the belt around my waist tightened. The line tethering me to the building held strong as I glided to earth.


I dropped the remaining distance. My feet didn’t make a sound as they hit pavement. Bots could sense human presence, but they hadn’t spotted me. Yet. They walked closer, oblivious, as I crouched and hid behind an overturned trash can. One breath in, I freed my gun from its holster. One breath out, I steadied my aim. I knew where to shoot. One more easy breath, and I squeezed the trigger. Once, twice, six shots in all, and they were down, an easy kill as usual. The bullets hit dead center, frying their control panel.


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What makes your featured book a must-read?


Action-packed and gripping, you should read Watcher for the worldbuilding alone. AJ Eversley imagines a near dystopian future that sees concerns about how technology can be weaponised come to life.


“I have read a lot of dystopian young adult books. What is most important about these types of books is the world that the story is built around and the characters. Check and check to both elements as this book had it and more. Sawyer is a strong female lead... The ending left me with a big desire to check out the next book and see how it all ends. Anyone who is a fan of dystopian, young adult books needs to grab a copy today. This is a recommended read.” Five Stars- Cheryl.



Enter to win an e-book bundle of all 17 books featured in the Dystopian and Post-Apocalyptic Bookish Event:



Open Internationally.


Runs February 23 – March 2, 2021.


Winner will be drawn on March 3, 2021.



Author Biography:


As an avid reader from a young age, it only made sense that one day I would write my own stories. I grew up in a small town in central Alberta Canada where there wasn't much to do but read, cheer on the Oilers and attempt to enjoy the long winter months. After high school, I attended college where I played 4 years of college basketball and eventually went into Recreation as a career. I stayed at the college I graduated from, before making the move to full-time writing. My first book series, The WATCHER Series, was self-published in 2017 and later picked up by Aelurus Publishing to be republished. The three-book series, along with a second four-book series EVERMARKED, set in the same world have been released in 2020. Currently, along with finishing up the above series, I am working on my first YA Fantasy word titled THE SIX THRONES (check out a sneak peek in my blog at www.ajeversley.com) which I hope to have out soon as well! Find out more about me on my Instagram, facebook or twitter page, or join my newsletter for instant updates!


Social Media Links:


INSTAGRAM: @authorajeversley

TWITTER: @AJEversley

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