3.5/5 stars! So I was really intrigued by the concept of chakra-based conceptualization and since the Root chakra is the first chakra, it felt like a fitting title for the story. I was also impressed by Rae's character. I wasn't sure how a mute character would work when so much of story-telling relies on dialogue. The author handled it well, and I didn't feel the story suffered from it. This worked as a good YA dystopian story, although there were some areas where the writing lost power and was hard to follow. Overall, a good first book in this series and I'm looking forward to seeing what's next.

I received an advance review copy for free through NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily

7 Teenagers — 7 Chakras — 7 keys to save humanity

The year is 2035 and the world is facing its own end as predicted by the AI, Spirit Era, in two years time without major changes. This books follows Rae, a fifteen year old who has chosen silence, along with six other teenagers as they work together to find the seven keys. Each has been hidden in one of seven virtual reality Mantras designed to mimic the most likely disasters the world is facing. Can they succeed in finding the first key, or will all hope for humanity be lost?

This novel would be an excellent introduction to the SciFi genre for YA readers. I really enjoyed the level of research and detail that went into this story from the various martial arts techniques; information surrounding each of the chakras with their associated element and color; as well as the technological information provided. The characters truly embody their associated Chakra even if they don’t fully understand what that means at the beginning of the story. I also enjoyed the consistent blend of technology and spirituality.

The only complaint I have for this novel is that it’s fairly slow to start due to all the information and world building that takes place. However, once past that point, I couldn’t put this book down.

While I think this story would be great for YA SciFi fans, there is mature content including violence and death.

Overall Rating: 4.5⭐️

Root is a very interesting concept that I felt was well written given the its complexity. At times, it did feel as though I was reading an educational book rather than a YA novel, but I did enjoy all that I learned.

It took me a while to get through this book and I was not fully invested in the characters by the end of the story. I will say that I am looking forward to watching this story grow, however, due to its really unique concept.

Root: Spirit Era by Aurélie Benattar
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It’s 2035 and an AI has predicted that the world will end in 2 years. The only hope is if 7 teenagers, that the AI has chosen, enter a simulation world to retrieve 7 keys to saving the world from ruin. We follow Rae, one of the seven chosen ones, on this journey.
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What I liked:
-I love a good dystopian. One that is not the same old “chosen girl has to be brave and be a leader of a rebellion” trope. This story felt original and was really interesting because I was genuinely intrigued what would come next.
-I liked the chosen seven and the diversity in personalities they had. In this book we got some good backstories for like four of them but I’m hoping to hear more from ALL of them in the upcoming books.
-I liked where this part of the story ended but am also slightly frustrated because I went into this book naively thinking it was a standalone. Then halfway through I realized, to my disappointment, that there would be much more to the story. Not disappointed in a bad way,but in that I was really excited to see how it ended and now I have to wait.
-There are baby goats. I mean, c’mon.
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4⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I really enjoyed this book and I am looking forward to when the next is available.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a digital copy before the release date.
Although it was an interesting concept, I had some trouble getting into it. But it was fun to get to know the characters and the story got more engaging after a while.

Root is a very interesting concept for a science fiction novel - it delivers everything it promises to and it worked but it felt like something was slightly missing. I didn't find myself particularly invested in the overarching plot or the characters and there was just something lacking that was making it impossible for me to engage in the story - which is very unfortunate because I loved the world so much.

Root is the perfect title for this book. I had trouble getting into at first, but as I continued, the characters really started to burrow into my brain and I got attached. The concept is super interesting, and the execution plot-wise was really well-done. It relies on suspension of disbelief, but no more than in recent YA dystopian. Very interesting fusion of sci-fi and new age ideas. The prose is where I had more trouble, as it was disjointed and relied too heavily on cliches. However, this is the English language debut for this author so I think that this can really improve in further books.

A teen girl who has lost the ability to speaks is selected, along with six other teens from the four corners of the world, to save humanity. The book is very fleshed out and has unique characters . I think the concept is interesting and engaging .

First up, I was provided with an ARC with thanks to NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my non biased review. We as readers follow from the perspective of Rae, a teen girl with a cool haircut who has lost the ability to speak. Through her we experience many things such as wild heart touching (and heart breaking) adventures in multiple worlds to learning about the other well fleshed out ‘main’ characters and their unique situations, and how they have been thrown together in order to help save Earth from a world ending cataclysm predicted by an AI algorithm. We get the chance to fall for many minor characters too, all with their own unique quirks. The fact the Rae cannot talk doesn’t affect the dialogue or story at all for me which I take as a good sign of a well written character.

I feel this book would be greatly enjoyed by young teens and seems to be aimed at that audience although it does deal with some very serious and adult topics (though with a fairly light hand). I still very much enjoyed it as an adult reader though!

As with most books that I choose to read, I was taken in by the blurb. I admit that I did go into it warily, it seemed to touch on a few new age type subjects and I’m forever the skeptic. Those things are dealt to readers like me with lightly though, and my interest as an environmentalist and a tech nerd were well satisfied with how the author deals with all the multiple subjects meshing together.

I read the English version, I believe the original manuscript was written in French. No doubt things get lost or altered in translation but I felt it was a good translation even though I didn’t read the original or finalised English book due to reading an ARC.

I really hope this series continues on, I throughly enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone looking for an easy but very enjoyable sci fi/fantasy read.

this was a great concept for a scifi novel it does what I was expecting and worked as a scifi book. I really enjoyed the way Aurélie Benattar wrote this and it was a good start to the Spirit Era series. I was invested in what was going on and enjoyed the idea of silence in this world. It was really well done and I hope the series continues.

"Earlier, in the middle of the night while I was fast asleep, he rapped lightly on my door. Still half asleep, I stumbled to the hallway where Ali, Keiji, and Alpha were waiting for me, giggling nervously. “Secret meeting!” Alpha whispered."