Resurgence by Kerry Wilkinson (Silver Blackthorn Trilogy, Book #3)

"Following Reckoning and Renegade, Resurgence is the thrilling conclusion to Kerry Wilkinson's heartstopping Silver Blackthorn Trilogy.

'Can I ask you one thing...why does it have to be you?'

My throat is dry but I manage to say the words clearly enough: 'If I don't do it, who else will?'

An entire country has been lied to. Silver Blackthorn was supposed to be one of the privileged few, chosen to serve and help rebuild a shattered nation. Instead she has been forced to become a rebel.

Tales of her defiance have spread throughout the land. King Victor and the Minister Prime want her dead; the resistance groups are desperate for her help.

Silver's friends and family are in dire jeopardy - hiding is no longer an option. As her travels take her into the furthest reaches of an unknown land, she is forced to make new friends and hunt for new allegiances.

Final battle lines are being drawn. The time has come.

And then there's the hardest choice of all: Opie or Imrin?"

Another whole year I had to wait to find out what happens to Silver Blackthorn and her friends and it was totally worth it.  As always with trilogy books, it takes me a little while to settle back in and get my bearings having had to wait for a whole year.  As before, I always think it would be a good idea to read the previous book in the trilogy only to leave it too late and have the newest book arrive and then I can't bring myself to wait any longer.

Once I had settled back into the book, I raced through it, desperate to know what happens.  It really felt like I'd never been away, the storyline and pace picks up just as though it was yesterday that I last read Renegade.  

As expected, fans of Silver Blackthorn will find this book emotional as Silver's path runs far from smoothly.  It is lovely to see all Silver's comrades back, although be prepared to lose some along the way.  

As with the first two books, fans of The Hunger Games will love this.  There are plenty of twists and turns to keep fans guessing what will happen to Silver.

I loved reading the afterword from Kerry Wilkinson and finding out that the ending was the only one ever planned right from the very start.  I love that!

An excellent YA trilogy which was well worth the wait! If you haven't started it yet, I envy you as you'll be able to read all three in one go and I bet you will, as you won't be able to put them down!

Resurgence is out NOW and available to buy here.

And as part of the blog tour, a nice little treat for fans of Kerry Wilkinson who tells us about his five favourite fictional heroines:

DOROTHY GALE

My favourite thing about Dorothy’s escapades in The Wizard of Oz is that she’s clearly the baddie. She starts her killing spree the moment she gets to Oz, her house crushing an innocent ‘witch’ who was going about her business. Probably on the way to Tesco, or something. When interrogated as to whether she’s a witch, Dorothy says she can’t be – because she’s too young and good-looking.

She’s an ageist and massive narcissist who believes attractive people are naturally good, and she celebrates this by having a group of little people – munchkins – put on some sort of weird dance for her. If that’s not enough, she then taunts the (so-called) ‘Wicked’ Witch of the West about killing her sister and steals the dead woman’s shoes.

Instead of returning the shoes, Dorothy later murders the ‘Wicked’ Witch by throwing water on her, which is an over-reaction to say the least. This is family genocide! She then steals the witch’s broomstick just because she can.

She has no control over her dog, endangering the wizard’s return to Kansas because Toto leaps out of the balloon. Dorothy also gets a scarecrow, tin man and lion to do her dirty work. PETA should have a word. After all the chaos she’s created in Oz, she then clicks her heels and sods off home.

There’s something about being an evil psychopath masquerading as a do-gooder that I find intrinsically pleasing.

CJ CREGG

The West Wing is one of my favourite shows of all time – and at its absolute core is perhaps the strongest female lead TV has seen. CJ is consistently the smartest person in a room of very smart people. She doesn’t enrapture the others around her with bimbo-esque giggles and skimpy clothes; she does it through intelligence and wit.

She’s once asked, ‘What are you wearing?’, by a reporter and replies, ‘A dress’. She doesn’t need saving by any of the characters and, instead, is frequently their saviour. The best thing about the character is that she doesn’t need other characters to point at her and say, ‘she’s smart’. This is a conclusion that viewers can figure out for themselves simply by watching. The fact Allison Janney won four Emmys for her portrayal of CJ should give you a clue as to how great both she and the character is. 

JESSICA JONES

Before the success of the Netflix TV show, Jessica was the star of her own very adult-themed comic, named ‘Alias’. She was the hard-drinking, arse-kicking female superhero before it was cool to be any of those things. Beyond that, however, I always enjoyed the smaller stories, specifically the Come Home arc.

It’s set in a small American town, think high-school-where-everyone-knows-everyone-else; a church where they are all judged on a Sunday. There’s a sheriff and a reporter and they’re all looking for a missing teen, suspected of being a mutant. There are other things going on in the town, too – but I love the idea of someone with superpowers being involved in something that’s seemingly so tiny.

For me, the television show never quite got there – but this is my favourite iteration of Jessica. I can go back to that story again and again.

REY

Every list like this needs an up-to-date entry – and I love Rey from Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Critics can say it’s a remake of the first movie or whine about other plot points but I DON’T CARE. I saw it on the day it came out in a packed cinema and then again a couple of days later. I’ll keep watching it for many reasons, one of which is that Rey is such a terrific heroine.

I love that she doesn’t need, or want, Finn to save her (‘I know how to run without you holding my hand’; that she can fly the ‘trash’ Millennium Falcon as well as anyone; can wield a lightsaber; scavenge; look after herself – and everything else.

I get that critics say she’s a ‘Mary Sue’ character – an idealised female – but we’ve only seen part of her story so far, so let’s wait and see how it all pans out, yeah? Plus, no one bats an eyelid when male leads are seemingly great at everything . . .

MICHONNE

One of the biggest disappointments of The Walking Dead TV show is that Michonne has been sort of forgotten by the writers. While Carol and Maggie have been given plenty to do, Michonne is on the sidelines, looking badass but rarely getting in on the action.

In the comics, Michonne is the character on whom everyone can rely. I don’t want to spoil much – but she has a better revenge on The Governor than ever happens on-screen, plus she has her own storylines. After 130-odd issues featuring her, she is still a key part of the plot – and long may that continue.