Blog Tour: When The Silence Ends by Jade Kerrion - Review + Author Interview

When The Silence Ends

When you choose your friends, you also choose your enemies.

Seventeen-year old Dee wants nothing more than to help her twin brother, Dum, break free from the trauma in their childhood and speak again, but the only person who can help Dum is the alpha empath, Danyael Sabre, whom the U.S. government considers a terrorist and traitor.

The search for Danyael will lead Dee and Dum from the sheltered protection of the Mutant Affairs Council and into the violent, gang-controlled heart of Anacostia. Ensnared by Danyael’s complicated network of friends and enemies, Dee makes her stand in a political and social war that she is ill equipped to fight. What can one human, armed only with her wits and pepper spray, do against the super-powered mutants who dominate the Genetic Revolution?

America, nevertheless, is ripe for transformation. Exhausted by decades of belligerence between humans and their genetic derivatives—the clones, in vitros, and mutants—society is on the verge of falling apart or growing up. Dee, with her sassy attitude and smart mouth, is the unwitting pebble that starts the avalanche of change. In her quest to help her brother become normal, Dee will finally learn what it means to be extraordinary.

When the Silence Ends is the Young Adult spinoff in the award-winning Double Helix series and can be read as a standalone novel.

Buy it from Amazon US | Amazon UK

Jade Kerrion

Jade Kerrion, an award-winning author, got her start in fan fiction. She developed a loyal reader base with her fan fiction series based on the MMORPG Guild Wars. She was accused of keeping her readers up at night, distracting them from work, housework, homework, and (far worse), from actually playing Guild Wars. And then she wondered why just screw up the time management skills of gamers? Why not aspire to screw everyone else up too? So here she is, writing books that aspire to keep you from doing anything else useful with your time. She lives in Fort Lauderdale, Florida with her wonderfully supportive husband and her two young sons, Saint and Angel, (no, those aren't their real names, but they are like saints and angels, except when they're not.)

Blog | Facebook | Twitter

And now, let's welcome Jade to the blog for an author interview!

1.     Tell us a little about your book.

On the one hand, When the Silence Ends is the story of an ordinary girl, Dee, facing ordinary challenges. She holds down two jobs to pay the rent, makes sure her twin brother gets to his speech therapy class, and wonders how to pay for college. Dee, however, is an ordinary girl in a world transformed by the Genetic Revolution—a world that is struggling to deal with the social and political repercussions of human derivatives: the clones, in vitros, and mutants. What chance does “ordinary” have in a world of “extraordinary” people?

2.     How did you come up with the title?

Silence is a key theme in the novel. Dum, Dee’s twin brother, has not spoken ever since a shattering event destroyed their family when they were five. The novel is the story of Dum’s journey out of silence. A secondary theme is that of secrets. Danyael Sabre, the alpha empath who trains Dum, has secrets of his own, and as the story unfolds, the silence around an eighteen-year old secret comes to an end.

3.     What inspired you to write this book?

Young Adult novels abound with extraordinary protagonists. I’m sure that in your travels through books, you’ve met the child of destiny who’s fated to end a war and unite two worlds. You’ve probably also met the quiet kid who doesn’t quite fit in, who discovers his amazing super powers and uses them to save the world. Of course, there’s the protagonist who stumbles upon a mysterious world that coexists alongside her reality, populated by sparkly vampires and handsome werewolves.

I’ve found two major themes running through most YA novels: the first, as I noted above, the extraordinary teenage protagonist, and second, the adults are frequently the enemy, ranging from indifferent parents to murderous despots. Neither of those observations particularly aligns with my observations of life.

So, when I set out to write a YA spin off my award-winning Double Helix series, featuring Dee and her twin brother, Dum, I wanted my readers to appreciate adults in more roles than that of the enemy. Some of them are, of course, but like the real world, there’s a vast spectrum of them; some adults even become Dee’s friends and mentors. More importantly though, I wanted my readers to appreciate the power of “ordinary.”

4.     Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?

I’d like my readers to realize that “extraordinary” is within all our grasps, and it has nothing to do with destiny, superpowers, or being loved by a vampire. Dee is the embodiment of ordinary, but she still manages to change her world for the better. If she can do it, there’s no reason at all the rest of us can’t.

5.     Do you have a favorite line or scene from your latest release?

It’s hard to choose just one scene. I enjoy many of the scenes involving Jessica—the fifteen-year old alpha mutant, who, unlike Dee, isn’t ordinary, but is striving to find her own brand of normality, nonetheless. My favorite scene, however, is the very last scene at the concert when the silence ends. Several readers have reported tearing up at that scene.

6.     Do you recall how your interest in writing originated?

I started at the age of thirteen when my school essays were returned to me with a bunch of “A”s scrawled over the top. Teenagers are impressionable. Being much more impressionable than most, and believing that my teachers knew what they were doing, I figured I was destined to be a writer. It’s only taken me tens of thousands of hours of work since then to be halfway decent at writing (and I’m still learning each day), but one has to start somewhere.

7.     Who is your favorite author and what is it that really strikes you about their work?

Neil Gaiman is pure genius in his storytelling ability.

8.     Have you published anything else?

My award-winning Double Helix series includes three books, Perfection Unleashed, Perfect Betrayal, and Perfect Weapon. When the Silence Ends is set in the world of the Double Helix, and readers will find that many of their favorite characters play much larger roles in the main series. My YA science fiction novel, Earth Sim, was just released as well and is currently on tour. It is a compelling and whimsical view of Earth’s history through the eyes of the two students assigned to manage our planet.

9.     What’s next for you? / What is your next project?

I’m currently working on a paranormal romance called City of Eternal Night. Once I finish that, I’ll start work on the fourth novel in the Double Helix series. My plan is to release three novels in 2013.

10.  Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?

I just want to say thank you. Thank you for your support, your enthusiastic reviews, and your outraged e-mails over what I did to some of my characters. Thank you for loving them. Thank you for rereading my novels. Thank you for trusting me with your time. I do promise to honor that trust and keep delivering fantastic novels that keep you reading past your bedtime.

Here's my review of the book, finished around the 8th of February!

My Rating

My Review

When The Silence Ends was a fantastic novel. I loved every moment of it. When The Silence Ends is a spin-off from the Double Helix series, with several characters like Danyael, Jessica and Zara appearing in this book. Here, we are reintroduced to two characters we saw in Perfect Weapon. Dee and Dum. Dum doesn’t speak due to events that occurred in the past. Dee is his sister, and who I truly do admire.

Throughout the book, I felt that while it displayed the amazing powers that mutants could have, especially that of Dum’s, it did truly show me how a simple human without any powers could influence so much. Dee was someone without any powers. Yet, she fought so hard for what she wanted, protected Dum in ways that is scarcely impossible to imagine. And the depth of love she had for her friends and the people around her was so great. Truly, she was an inspiration.

Heh, its really so much easier to write a review when you love the book so much. I read this book, a long time ago, right at the beginning of this year. And yet, right now, everything is still in my head. And it makes me want to read this book and the whole Double Helix series again.

This book was truly a good read. The storyline was well thought out, well paced, and just about everything good you could want to see in a novel. There was even a small romance, though not overdone that it would over shine the main theme of the book.

As for character development, it was great. It was amazing to see how Dum slowly recovered from that silence that had trapped him for so many years. And I especially loved how Dee coped with everything. Her strength of will is truly amazing. I dare say that without her, Dum wouldn’t have survived all those years.

I love Jade Kerrion’s writing style. Its just so natural that you just feel like you’re really there, experiencing the story right where the characters are. There is humor in the book too, and if you do know the backstory of the other characters, there are sure to be scenes that will make you smile. Heck, even if you don’t, I’m sure you’ll smile.

And the last few sentences of the book brought tears to my eyes. I won’t say what and spoil the surprise, but it truly did touch me. Overall, I think she has crafted an amazing story, one that does not just speak about how mutants are superior, but with the strength that she has given Dee, just a young girl of 17, has showed us that humans too can be strong. And of course, that teenagers, while we may be young, should not be looked down on. Because Dee truly did impress me. I recommend this book to just about anyone who likes science fiction. I mean, I honestly feel that this is an excellent story, along with the books in the Double Helix novels. Its easy to read, yet I would say the tone is just right, and its just very natural. Definitely a 5 star read:)

So yep, that's about it for today! Thanks for visiting! :)