This Mortal Coil by Emily Suvada | Book Review

This Mortal Coil by Emily Suvada
Release Date: 7th November 2017
Genre: YA, Science Fiction
Source: Publisher, NetGalley
Rating: ★★★
Goodreads

When a lone soldier, Cole, arrives with news of Lachlan Agatta’s death, all hope seems lost for Catarina. Her father was the world’s leading geneticist, and humanity’s best hope of beating a devastating virus. Then, hidden beneath Cole’s genehacked enhancements she finds a message of hope: Lachlan created a vaccine.

Only she can find and decrypt it, if she can unravel the clues he left for her. The closer she gets, the more she finds herself at risk from Cartaxus, a shadowy organization with a stranglehold on the world’s genetic tech. But it’s too late to turn back.

There are three billion lives at stake, two people who can save them, and one final secret that Cat must unlock. A secret that will change everything.

This Mortal Coil was a fun, action-packed YA story about a virus that makes people literally explode. It’s all a bit grim, and I don’t think the story would be for everyone following the Covid pandemic, but I had a lot of fun reading it. 

I really liked the main character, Catarina. She was science-y and nerdy, but in a cool, sophisticated, l-know–what-I’m-doing kind of way. Not that nerds aren’t cool, but she was one of the coolest ones. 

I found the concept to be very interesting, especially all the stuff about the virus. I get that it’s not for everyone right now, but I still really enjoy reading about viral outbreaks and how people could possibly deal with them. This virus was a little different as it was a bit of zombie, a bit exploding organs. Fun! 

I think this is such a solid YA book, and while I’m personally not going to continue on with the trilogy – I didn’t quite care enough – I think younger readers would love it and get a lot out of it. There’s even a not-so-terrible love triangle too!