Collide by Melissa West Series: The Taking #3
Published by Entangled Teen Pages: 247
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
Military legacy Ari Alexander has survived alien spies, WWIV, and a changing world order. But when the new leader of Earth uses Jackson—the only boy she's ever let herself care about—to get to her, Ari has no choice but to surrender. To free Jackson, she agrees to travel to the national bases to train others to fight. What she discovers is a land riddled with dying people. Ari has the power to heal by turning the fighters into aliens—half-breeds like her. If she succeeds, together, they have a chance at overthrowing the alien leader, Zeus. But if she fails, everyone she holds dear will be wiped away forever. Once again, everything Ari' s come to believe is thrown into question. In a world of uncertainty, loyalties are tested, lies are uncovered, and no one can be trusted. If Ari and Jackson have any hope at survival and at preserving a life for the future, they must fight the final war with their eyes wide open.
Check out my reviews of Gravity (The Taking #1) and Hover (The Taking #2).
Collide is a show-stopping, blood-pumping, heart-pounding finish to The Taking series, and hard-core Sci-Fi fans will be just as blown away by this finale as romance fans will be.
Ari is a bad-ass of EPIC PROPORTIONS in Collide and Melissa West didn’t hold back with Ari’s character. Ari fully transforms into a fearless leader in this last book of the series, and it was awesome to see her take on a strong female lead. She is a weapon of mass destruction in Collide and goes to all lengths to fight for what she believes in and to keep safe the ones she loves.
Jackson is as dreamy as ever, and never fails to anchor Ari when she needs it. I really enjoyed his character, and when combined with Ari’s character, the romance element was out of this world. As a team, as partners in this battle against Zeus and Kelvin, Ari’s love for Jackson and his love for her is what makes them strong. They are stronger together than apart, and Melissa West wholeheartedly proves this.
Jackson stands slowly, effort etched into his face, the muscles in his arms flexing. The door to his room starts to open, and my gaze flashes over, every fiber in me focused on keeping it shut. “They’ re coming,” I say.
“It doesn’ t matter,” Jackson replies, his voice like a warm blanket over my heart, soothing the ache that’ s been there since he disappeared. The ache I feared would never go away.
“They can’ t contain us. They will never contain us.”
The pacing was perfect for this final installment and the plot was compelling, thickening with the pace of the novel. So much action was packed in, one might be afraid that it would take away from the love story- but it didn’t. Despite enough scenes and action sequences to make any Star-Wars fan or Star-Ship Troopers fan squeal for joy, the romance between Ari and Jackson is really where it’s at.
I was SO HAPPY and actually a little shocked that Melissa West didn’t let this thread of the story be overpowered by the Sci-Fi elements, but the woman is MAGIC. Melissa West creates the perfect combination of action/romance qualities in Collide, but for me, it is definitely the relationship between Ari and Jackson that transcends space and time. West really knows how to craft a meaningful relationship between her main characters, and that is what ultimately kept me turning the pages at breakneck speed.
And as if she needed to add any more depth to her story and make certain aspects seem relevant to the world today, West goes and drops lines like this to really get you thinking:
“I don’ t like what this means, joining forces with the enemy, but maybe it’ s not about sides. Maybe it’ s about the best people—the best kind—surviving. Maybe it’ s about the birth of a new species, one that isn’ t so fixated on the other and is more focused on the best life for all.”
Collide was AWESOME and although I’m sad to see it end, I’m so glad Melissa West gave her fans a terrific ending to this STELLAR series.
And don’t forget to check out one of the COOLEST GIVEAWAYS EVER below. It includes and awesome annotated copy of Gravity and ROSWELL SEASON ONE. How cool is that!?
About the Author
MelissaWest writes young adult and new adult novels for Entangled Teen and Embrace and Penguin/InterMix. She lives outside of Atlanta, GA with her husband and two daughters and spends most of her time writing, reading, or fueling her coffee addiction. She holds a B.A. in Communication Studies and a M.S. in Graphic Communication, both from Clemson University. Yeah, her blood runs orange.
Author Links: Website│Goodreads│Twitter│Facebook Book Tour Organized by: YA Bound Book Tours
About Melissa West
Melissa West writes young adult and new adult novels for Entangled Teen and Embrace and Penguin/Intermix. She lives outside of Atlanta, GA with her husband and two daughters and spends most of her time writing, reading, or fueling her coffee addiction.
She holds a B.A. in Communication Studies and a M.S. in Graphic Communication, both from Clemson University. Yeah, her blood runs orange.
I have had my eye on this series for a while. It sounds really interesting.
It’s definitely a fun read. Hope you get to check it out soon! Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
Sounds like an interesting series and the covers are gorgeous!
The covers are what first drew me to this series. I LOVE THEM. They would make great posters. Thanks for stopping by! 😉
I’m so excited to start The Taking series, it looks like one I’m going to love and Roswell was one of my favorite tv shows.