Review: Cipher by Aileen Erin

Cipher

Author: Aileen Erin

Release Date: October 14, 2014

Publisher: Ink Monster LLC

The Shadow Ravens Book #1

ISBN13:  9780989405096

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Review Copy Source: NetGalley

In the not-too-distant future, the color of your helix tattoo shows exactly how your DNA was modified—green for super-smart scientists, black for pumped-up warriors, white for the immortal Seligo—but Cipher’s red helix is a death sentence. It’s a sign of unstable DNA, which is probably the reason she can manipulate electricity.

When she was eight years old, Cipher made the mistake of showing her uncle the tattoo. In return, he killed her parents and tried to kidnap her.

She’s been on the run ever since, and twelve long years later, Cipher is tired of hiding. Survival isn’t enough anymore. She wants her life back.

Hacking into the Citadel mainframe is a huge risk, but it pays off when she finds a database on red helixes. Before she can copy it, she loses control of her power, charring her last processor, and the only person in the Arizona Voids that can get her back online is her oldest friend, Knightly. She hasn’t seen him in person since she started running, and Knight 2.0 is fully upgraded with a six-pack and knee-melting smile.

For a girl like Cipher, trust doesn’t come easily, but Knight makes her yearn for a life she knows she can’t have, especially when every secret she reveals endangers them both.

I am very much on the edge about CIPHER. There were a lot of things I really enjoyed about it, but then there was so much left out that after the fact I feel like I missed half the book.

Cipher is an interesting character. She's a red helix that escaped death as an infant and is constantly on the run, hiding from her uncle and those that are out to eliminate her kind. I felt like the author did a pretty decent job of giving us her back story and explaining who she is. Knight is a Shadow Raven who's devoted his life to searching for the little girl who saved his life when he was little. He is also working undercover for the bad guys who hunt down and kill red helix babies, in hopes of saving as many of them as he possibly can. We find out that they share a past pretty quickly and although they both have memories of the other I just didn't feel like they KNEW each other enough now for the relationship they had by the end of the book.

I am really bummed to see that book 2 will be following different main characters for the reason i just listed. I really enjoyed getting to know Cipher and Knight, but I don't feel like I am done learning about them. They JUST started a relationship and still have a lot to learn about each other and I feel like we are being cut off way too soon. Hopefully Cipher and Knight will be involved in book 2 as well so we can get to know them a little more.

We only scraped off the tip of the world and the characters in The Shadow Ravens series with CIPHER and really wish the author would have dug a little more into everything. So although I enjoyed this book, I am left feeling like I really needed more. Even after saying that, I will most likely pick up book 2, Quanta, when it comes out.

I gave it 3/5 stars

* This book was provided free of charge from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.