SPSFC Book Review - Secrets of PEACE by T.A. Hernandez

Rune S. Nielsen is part of the EPIC Indie team of judges.

Had I not really liked the first book I read for the competition (this is a review for the SPSFC) I'd definitely have finished this one. It's well-written, the characters are likable, and it gives off cool postwar dystopic vibes. That said, the setting and world-building are not thought through enough.

So this is a cut. DNF at 20 %.

Title: Secrets of PEACE
Author: T.A. Hernandez
Genre: Dystopian, assassin/espionage sci-fi romance.
Pages: 271
Independently published: 2016

Buy the book

Get to know T.A. Hernandez, read the interview.

The good stuff
(Spoiler warning.) Secrets of PEACE is a sci-fi assassin romance novel with a YA feel and the first in a series.

Zira is a young woman who considers herself a rookie assassin despite having done four kill missions. She’s convinced that the other assassins think of her as too young for the position, and Zira wants to prove them wrong.

Trained for combat since infancy she works for the future rulers of the US, the PEACE Project.

“The WHAT Project,” you might ask?

Well, as it says on the cover, “The PEACE Project rose from the ruins of a global war to take power over a new America.” The PEACE organization is split into parts where the members wear differently colored armbands. The five parts are
Protect,
Enforce,
Advance,
Control, and
Eliminate.

The PEACE Project is supposed to be the good guys. They have a lot of people doing good deeds like handing out food and providing security. Also, there’s a lot of propaganda surrounding them. Things are not that simple though…

If you'd like to know more about the SPSFC competition and our roles as judges watch this video.

Part of a trend
As you might have guessed, this one has a strong future postwar setting like those found in the Divergent and Hunger Games series, likely the most popular YA sci-fi theme when this novel was written back in 2016.

If you loved those books and want more, this is for you. Please, just ignore the rest of this review.

About the author
I picked this book as I like romance and sci-fi and as I know the author's reputation. T.A. Hernandez did very well in last year's fantasy novel competition SPFBO where her book, Tethered Spirits, went all the way to the finals.

The reason this is a cut
I’m not big on certain kinds of YA novels as one of my pet peeves is stuff that just doesn’t make sense. To me, some YA books make perfect sense while others simply don’t.

Since it’s written by an SPFBO finalist I expected a well-written and thought-through book. I dived in, hoping for the best…and while it is well-written I quickly realized that parts of the world-building and setting were confusing or unbelievable, while others were pretty cool.

Some great dystopic vibes here and there, don’t make up for the rest, and unfortunately, certain things seemed too much of a stretch.

The non-gossip compound
Zira has lived at the PEACE compound since birth and she and her friends work for the same organisation. Zira eats lunch with her best friend. They talk and hang out, but unlike her best friend, Zira’s armband is black. They work for different branches.

Those with black armbands go out on secret assignments and are not allowed to tell the non-assassin people working for PEACE what it is they do. So, her best friend has no clue that Zira's an assassin or at least Zira is sure she doesn't.

That makes sense, right?

Of course, it doesn’t. The assassins wear black armbands, and spend their time training with weapons, and martial arts…and you want me to believe that the others who grew up with them at the compound have no clue what they do? That people don’t gossip, that no assassin has ever blown their cover with their friends letting out this secret into the wild (if you can call wearing a black armband a cover?)

And Zira’s best friend is not dense but described as inquisitive. She won't stop asking questions! Why doesn’t she suspect what Zira does? Or maybe she does, and it's all a part of the Secrets of PEACE, or it’s explained later. Maybe they are mind-controlling people? I don't know; I didn't get that far, but as a reader it didn’t make sense to me, and that’s what matters.

Young or not?
Being an assassin at 18 means the others think of Zira as too young for the job. Alright, I guess this actually makes a lot of sense...until it doesn't.

Zira’s assigned a partner, Jared. He's a good-looking and more experienced assassin, and he began as an assassin at the age of 16.

So, now I'm confused. I just learned that 18 is super early to become an assassin, enough so for it to be an issue. But Jared, who’s like the top assassin, began at 16. Why then is 18 an issue? Why confuse the reader?

About cars
Zira is in postwar Seattle, where "…devastation surrounded her. The rubble of once-proud skyscrapers littered the sides of the streets..." Some pretty cool vibes there. Great writing.

But then we learn that people don’t really drive cars any longer.

In the US? Really?

“Yes, Rune! Buses, trucks, and taxis are what’s in use.”

“Wait, so you want me to believe that the American people have given up their cars? That they’ve switched to public transportation?

“Yes.”

“Today, the US is almost at the top of the global list of places with the most cars. As an example, there are twice as many motor vehicles in the US compared to Denmark where I live (it’s about 1 per person in the US and ½ of that here.)

“Americans utterly love cars and I’d only believe they’d switch to public transportation if they were forced to…like at gunpoint. Also, there’s oil in the US, and what about electric cars? It should be possible to fuel at least some of the cars, I think.

“I could be wrong, I guess. Just didn’t feel the need to keep reading as these things kept on popping up.”

Conclusion
Even if the negative stuff I sprouted above is me misunderstanding things or being too hard (sci-fi is makebelieve, I get that) I still liked the first book I read better (at 20%.) And I’d still have picked that one over this one…or I would unless I’d been younger. It’s quite possible that had I been my younger self, I’d have picked this one. I liked the main characters in Secrets of PEACE, liked thier budding friendship, and hoped it would turn into romance. As an adult reader, this is just not as much for me, I feel. And sorry, for not reading the full book. I'll like to read the rest once I have time!

Now, I have one more book to judge in the initial phase! I hope it’s a great read.