Blog Tour: The Sowing by K. Makansi

About The Sowing:

Print Length: 319 pages

Publisher: Layla Dog Press

Remy Alexander was born into the elite meritocracy of the Okarian Sector. From an early age, she and her friends were programmed for intellectual and physical superiority through specialized dietary regimes administered by the Okarian Agricultural Consortium. But when her older sister Tai was murdered in a brutal classroom massacre, her parents began to suspect foul play. They fled the Sector, taking their surviving daughter underground to join the nascent Resistance movement. But now, three years later, Remy’s former schoolgirl crush, Valerian Orleán, is put in charge of hunting and destroying the Resistance. As Remy and her friends race to unravel the mystery behind her sister’s murder, Vale is haunted by the memory of his friendship with Remy and is determined to find out why she disappeared. As the Resistance begins to fight back against the Sector, and Vale and Remy search for the answers to their own questions, the two are set on a collision course that could bring everyone together—or tear everything apart.

In this science-fiction dystopia, the mother-daughter writing team of Kristina, Amira, and Elena Makansi immerses readers in the post-apocalyptic world of the Okarian Sector where romance, friendship, adventure, and betrayal will decide the fate of a budding nation.

My Review:

Let me start off by asking you this: Have you ever read a book and then tried to describe it to someone, only to not be able to find the words to make them understand everything that happened in the book? This is how I feel about this book. I was trying to tell my husband about it, because that is what I force him to sit through every time I really like a book. He doesn't read for fun, so he gets to hear about what I read. 

Anyway, I was trying to tell him the whole book in summary basically. The only problem was that I kept remembering more of the story I wanted to tell him about. I couldn't quite figure out how to explain the sciencey bits though. I understood the story without any problem even though I don't know anything about genetic coding or anything like that, but when it came time to explain it I was at a loss.

This is how I feel trying to tell you all about this in the review. The story is wonderful. It took me a few chapters to really get into it because it switches between two main characters' POVs but after the first few switches I was hooked. The characters are so complex and well developed, the world is amazingly detailed, and the story line is terrific. 

So basically this is set somewhere in the future. We have totally ruined our world, there was war and famine and poisoned ground water. We almost left a wasteland for our descendants to try to survive in. Then in steps the scientists. They re-engineer all the plant life to be able to survive the disaster that is now the land. They go further though and totally wipe out hunger. Everyone is fed. Food and diets are modified to suit each individual to benefit them the most.

Sounds perfect, right? Except, as we all know, this will never work. There is always going to be an elite cast that is going to take advantage and a worker cast that is going to be practically slave labor. Some people would rather go back to how things were before all the wars and destruction. They want to have natural food that they can grow and eat. They want equal status in the world. I would have to say I would be part of this Resistance if the world was really like this. 

This book is about some of the people, in both the Sector (the elites and their subordinates) and the Resistance (self explanatory there). This is about the fight between them over their rights to grow and eat natural foods, among other rights. As with anything like this, there is a little political intrigue with higher ups keeping major secrets from family and coworkers. 

Most of the main characters are teens and young adults that either know, or used to know each other mainly from Academy. There are love and hate relationships between them that feel honest and realistically written. Nothing in this book seems fake or forced. It is all easy to believe and easy to visualize. The detail is amazing. I can picture the locations and see the characters in them. The characters are easy to empathize with, or hate depending on the character. 

I eagerly await the sequel to this book. I think that this book ended on the perfect note. It ends right in  the middle of an important time in the fight between the factions and leaves you wanting more. There are loose ends that clearly show that this is part of a series. The hook was well done though, and I didn't feel all out of sorts because it ended where it did, as I have with other books I have read that were part of a series.

I recommend this to anyone that enjoys reading about futuristic, post apocalyptic type worlds in which characters have to face hardships that we can barely imagine. Anyone that enjoys science and science fiction should check this series out. There are no explicit intimate scenes, though some of the violence might upset young readers. I recommend this for older teens and adults. 

About K. Makansi:

K. Makansi is the pen name for the mother-daughter writing team of: 

Kristina Blank Makansi – Born and raised in Southern Illinois, Kristina has a B.A. in Government from University of Texas at Austin and a M.A.T. from the College of New Jersey and an opinion on everything. She has worked as a copywriter, marketing coordinator, web and collateral designer, editor, and publisher. In 2010, she co-founded Blank Slate Press, an award-winning small press focusing on debut authors in the greater St. Louis area, and in 2013, she co-founded Treehouse Publishing Group, an author services company assisting both traditionally and self-published authors. In addition to The Seeds Trilogy, she is hard at work revising her historical fiction, Oracles of Delphi, set in ancient Greece.

Amira K. Makansi - Amira graduated with honors in three years from the University of Chicago where she earned a BA in History and was a team leader and officer for UChicago Mock Trial. She has served as an assistant editor and has read and evaluated Blank Slate Press submissions since the press was founded. She is an avid reader and blogger who also has a passion for food, wine, and photography. She has worked at wineries in Oregon and France and is approaching fluency in French. Along with working part-time for BSP, she works for a wine distributorship in St. Louis. In addition to The Seeds Trilogy, she reviews books and blogs about writing, food and wine atThe Z-axis.  

Elena K. Makansi – Elena is a senior at Oberlin College where she is focusing on Environmental Studies especially as it relates to her passion–food justice. She’s also studied studio art and drawing and has had her work featured in several college publications. While in high school, she won numerous writing and poetry awards, was awarded a scholarship to attend the Washington University Summer Writing Institute and attended the Iowa Young Writers Studio. She also won a scholarship to represent her Amideast cohort as the “resident” blogger during her study abroad in Amman, Jordan. She and Amira backpacked through Europe together and share a passion for cooking, baking–and, yes, eating. Elena maintains a Tumblr and a blog, Citizen Fiddlehead, about food and other topics.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own and were in no way influenced. I was not required to leave a positive review.