IA: Initiate By John Darryl Winston: Book Tour

Welcome to the book tour for John Darryl Winston’s IA: Initiate.

If you’ve never come across a book tour on blogs before, basically, a group of bloggers post something about the book every day, one day on each blog.

The way the other tours I’ve taken part in have worked is that the bloggers taking part are each sent a copy of the book and they post their reviews on the relevant days.

This one works slightly different, as they don’t send out copies of the book.

As I’d already committed to doing it when I found that out, it seemed only fair to find another way to take part. The other options were to post some promotional material, but you all know I am not comfortable recommending a book I haven’t actually read.

So that leaves option three, which I quite like the idea of. I will be posting an excerpt from IA: Initiate below and letting you decide if it’s something you would like to read.

IA: Initiate – Blurb from the back cover

IA: Initiate is an origin story and a hero’s journey that follows thirteen-year-old orphan Naz Andersen and his nine-year-old sister, Meri. They live in a present day alternate Detroit/Chicago-like city known as the Exclave where they are surrounded by poverty, gang violence threats on every corner, and drug dealers rule the streets. Naz thinks he is ordinary except that he hears voices, has nightmares, and walks in his sleep.

The most important thing in the world to Naz is protecting Meri and getting her out of the Exclave and into the prestigious International Academy. But Naz has a secret, one that he is oblivious to, and only Meri knows. When Naz becomes the target of a notorious street gang he begins to discover the voices in his head, the nightmares, and sleepwalking are actually telekinesis and telepathy at play, a gift from his father of whom he has no memory.

IA: Initiate – An Excerpt

Present Day …

It is the city, a city that never dies although some of its inhabitants meet that fate daily. The city lives and breathes day and night, dark or light. In contrast to the city’s downtown with its skyscrapers, arenas, and casinos, the northern neighbourhoods are like a sea of identical blocks attached to a grid of intersecting lines. Suburbanites pass through the city into its downtown then return to their perfect palaces. This image from high above suggests a pattern of order that is betrayed by the chaos found below where uncertainty is the only certainty and chaos the only order. This chaos is reverently referred to with pride by its indigenous population as the Exclave.

Smoke and its accompanying aromas fill the hot humid air on this early, late summer morning. There is smoke from late night and early morning cooking, smoke from all manner of narcotics, and smoke from smouldering house fires set and put out through the night—although some are still ablaze.

And there are the sounds that set this scene: a dog barking relentlessly, sporadic gunfire, sirens in the distance, a train that passes through like clockwork, and a constant beat and rhythm coming from somewhere … everywhere … nowhere, that define the “silence” of the Exclave at dawn.

It is feared by those who are on the outside and rightly so. But it is home to those inside its invisible walls. Like a modern-day Troy, it is safe haven for some; however, for others, it is a place from which there is no escape. But there are a few that see bigger things and different places—other worlds.

IA: Initiate: My thoughts

I like the sound of IA: Initiate. It sounds to me like a story of passion, relationships and a strong will to live, coupled with some supernatural undertones. I like the YA/dystopian theme in books and I think this one is going to nail it. It’s one to go on my “to be read” list for sure.

Have you read IA: Initiate? Would you recommend it? Let me know in the comments 🙂

You can find me here: Twitter Facebook Bloglovin Pinterest and Instagram Please do stop by and say hi!