Guest Review: Klaxon at the Core (Signal to Noise, #2) by Tayla Andor

After surviving alone on Noise for years, Bastian and Theo are exhilarated and terrified by the thriving chaos of Central. Even in the middle of civilization, they stand apart, bound together by their years of isolation. Central is their chance to change that and find the ordinary lives they never knew on Noise. Long, lonely days struggling to survive are firmly in their past.

But the present holds conflicts of its own, and if Bastian and Theo hope to survive to enjoy their new lives, they may have to return to the hard ways of their difficult past …

Reviewed by Vivian

Theo and Bastian finally have left Noise behind and all the horrors of the last three years of solitude as they fought to survive against the Armor incursion. But all those dreams of luxury and peace are smashed when the politics of power come to play.

And Theo and Bastian are power--as it's never been seen before.

With their emergence other powers jockey for position and peace falls beneath the onslaught of allegiances and greed. The twins closer than ever find they must make a decision about how they want to live... and die.

I loved how Theo and Bastian's relationship strengthened further as they experienced more. Through psionic testing, meeting new people and challenges. They were both still beautiful, dedicated and strong. No wasted time with petty personal conflicts as the story is driven by external conflicts.

So, I have one gripe about this story. There are these nods to other science fiction stories that while intended to be cute or a nod are extraordinarily distracting from this story I don't need characters' names to automatically trigger me into thinking about some other plot and rip me out of reading this one. Admiral Olmos (Battlestar Galactica) and Jane Stewart (Star Trek mash) really just aggravated me by interrupting my reading experience. You will also note that the Armors really begin to resemble another foe from sci-fi. While in book one it read very much like an Aliens homage, the sequel has a definite Borg quality to it.

But, the end... Great job. Nicely done, exciting, and sacrifice. The strong conclusion leaves the reader with a better impression and pulled my rating from somewhere around 3-3.5 stars to 4.

Favorite quote:

He could feel Bastian's deep delight now that it was their choice that bound them together rather than uncertain fate.

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