Across the Sea
The Dartmoor Chronicles #2
by Jen Minkman
Published: April 17,
2017
Publisher: Dutch
Venture Publishing
Genre: Dystopian,
Science Fiction, Young Adult
Blurb:
All that matters now is revenge, and I know who deserves it.
“I’m going to kill the president,” I say in a voice that
scares me when I hear it. “You hear?”
“Sarah…” Kian looks at me helplessly.
“You hear?” My voice rises, a note of hysteria creeping into
my words. “Don’t you dare telling me that what I feel is wrong. That this exact
anger is what consumed the Old World. Because our New World is no better.”
Sarah and Kian have ended up on Tresco. They have brought
Jinn home, but at a price - the president of Dartmoor is hot on their heels,
and the only people who can help them live on the island of Lundy in the north,
or in the notoriously rebellious community of Exmoor. When they team up with
Walt and Leia, the Young Keepers of Lundy, as well as the leader of Exmoor, a
makeshift army is put together to put an end to President Jacob's rule once and
for all. The islanders and mainlanders will do everything in their power to
make the New World into what it was truly supposed to be.
Will Kian be able to honor his uncle's legacy? And will
Sarah keep her family safe and find out what happened to Jinn's twin brother?
Find out in this final installment in the Island/Dartmoor series!
Buy Link:
Beyond the Fence (The Dartmoor Chronicles #1)
Read My Review of Beyond the Fence Here!
Excerpt:
I decide to interrupt their one-on-one before the situation
spirals out of control. “If you take these hard drives, consider them a gift,”
I say, and hold the king’s gaze. “But as a reward I want to know what’s on
them.”
A profound silence follows my words. At last, Walt’s the
first one to break it. “That seems fair,” he says.
“It does,” the king concurs, and he looks at me as though he’s
trying to figure out whether I deserve to get the same treatment my uncle once
got here. I don’t know what Tony did to be deserving of his special status, but
I want in on the action. “I’m willing to help you with your questions, Kian.
Believe me when I say I don’t like to be secretive. I’d rather blast my
knowledge abroad for everyone to hear, but you can’t make a deaf man listen.
Some people choose to become madmen and stay that way. I don’t want to bring
the world to the brink of ruin yet again.”
His words remind me of the scrolls Saul got me to read. That
wise story by a certain man called Khalil Gibran, and his words about the
madman discovering who he truly was. “But who’s to say your knowledge will
cause the same problems that the Old World was rampant with?” I object.
“Suppose you had a cure for the war disease – surely revealing that wouldn’t
stir up trouble?”
Out of nowhere, King Locryn grabs my wrist and holds it in a
rather painful grip. “Kian,” he says through gritted teeth, “I don’t have all the
answers. If I knew how to save all those sick people I’d tell them in a
heartbeat. Is that understood?”
“Y-yes,” I stammer, flinching under his penetrating, dark
gaze. “Understood.”
“Good.” He lets go of my wrist again. “You know, the biggest
problem in the Old World was misunderstanding. Your uncle knew that. Many
people here in Exmoor know it. Walt, you know this. That’s why we try to understand
each other, by talking things through, so not a single individual will be
deemed a madman just for being different.”
“It’s important to you,” I mumble. “This poem about the
Madman. The piece of text on the scrolls you pay with.”
Locryn nods solemnly. “The greatest lesson we take away from
that piece of text is that people may seem different on the surface, but
without their disguise they’re all from one source, really. We may wear several
masks within our lifetime, or one mask in each lifetime, but our essence is
ultimately the same. I could have been in your shoes and you could have been in
mine. I firmly believe if I don’t understand someone now, I should just leave
them be and wait for another time – or lifetime, even – to figure it out.”
“But what if you can’t leave them be?” I protest, thinking
of Jacob and the masks he’s wearing. “What if a madman forces your hand?”
Locryn sighs. “Then you need to come to the aid of the
oppressed, like I’m going to do for you tomorrow. Every ruler needs boundaries
because it will teach him or her to grow like a healthy part of this world, not
like a cancerous tumor.” He puts his hands on top of the treasure I’ve shared
with him. “I’ll share these with you, Kian. You have my word.”
“I could make myself useful,” I say. “I have a few years of
translation experience under my belt. I worked at the Bodmin Library. Frances
to English.”
My Review:
Sarah, Jinn and Kian have finally
reached the island; and Jinn is happily reunited with his father. But their
happiness is short lived when they learn that they were set up and was followed
by the president. They take all the people and go hide out in caves but with
their food and supplies running low someone has to make a run for it. So Sarah
and Kian are the chosen ones and find another way out of the caves to go find
help on another island.
Sarah is just a seventeen year
old girl who lost her father at the young age of twelve and now she has to
leave her boyfriend behind so she can hopefully save him again and his family
from the president, hopefully she makes it back before it is too late. When
Sarah makes the decision to leave the cave she knows she may never see Jinn
again but there is a good chance that she may not see her Mom and little
brother Tim again either if she can’t stop the president in time.
Can Sarah and Kian make it to the
other islands and convince the people there to help them save Jinn and his
people along with the people on the mainland too? Can Sarah stop the president?
Can she save her family, Jinn and everyone else too? Will they finally get to
live the life they deserve? Will they ever be free? Will they always be slaves
to the president?
I have truly loved reading The
Dartmoor Chronicles and following along with Sarah, Kian, Jinn and everyone
else on their adventures. I love the world that the author has created for The
Dartmoor Chronicles. Jen Minkman is just an awesome writer and I love all of
her stories and I can’t wait to read more of them. I love the whole concept and
meaning behind The Island Trilogy and The Dartmoor Chronicles and would love to
read more of this nature. Where does Sarah and Kian go from here? Where will
their lives lead them next?
If you have not read the Island Trilogy
or The Dartmoor Chronicles then let me suggest that you do. They are both just
so amazing in their own way.
About The Author:
Jen Minkman (1978) was born in Holland, in the town of Alphen aan den Rijn. When she was 19, she moved between The Hague, Salzburg (Austria), Brussels (Belgium) and Cambridge (UK) to complete her studies in intercultural communication. She is currently a teacher of English, career counsellor and teenage coach at a secondary school in Voorburg, Holland. She tries to read at least 100 books a year (and write a few, too!). She is a published author in her own country, and translates her own books from Dutch into English for self-publication.
Jen Minkman (1978) was born in Holland, in the town of Alphen aan den Rijn. When she was 19, she moved between The Hague, Salzburg (Austria), Brussels (Belgium) and Cambridge (UK) to complete her studies in intercultural communication. She is currently a teacher of English, career counsellor and teenage coach at a secondary school in Voorburg, Holland. She tries to read at least 100 books a year (and write a few, too!). She is a published author in her own country, and translates her own books from Dutch into English for self-publication.
In her spare time, she plays the piano, the guitar and the violin. For every novel she writes, she creates a soundtrack.
'I have always been drawn to writing. My first book was a sci-fi novel at the age of eight, which I painstakingly typed out on my dad's typewriter and illustrated myself. Nowadays, I stick to poetry, paranormal romance, chick lit and/or fantasy. In my home country, I am the first-ever published writer of paranormal romance, and I will gradually make my books also available in English (seeing I have to re-write and translate the books myself, this will take some time!).
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