This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Free Book Program, which is open to all readers and is completely free. The author will provide you with a free copy of their book in exchange for an honest review. You and the author will discuss what sites you will post your review to and what kind of copy of the book you would like to receive (eBook, PDF, Word, paperback, etc.). To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email.
This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Donation Program, which was created to help nonprofit and charitable organizations (schools, libraries, convalescent homes, soldier donation programs, etc.) by providing them with free books and to help authors garner more exposure for their work. This author is willing to donate free copies of their book in exchange for reviews (if circumstances allow) and the knowledge that their book is being read and enjoyed. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email. Be sure to tell the author who you are, what organization you are with, how many books you need, how they will be used, and the number of reviews, if any, you would be able to provide.
Lydia P. Brownlow is a science fiction writer who grew up in Louisville, Kentucky. She is a graduate of Rice University and the University of Texas School of Law. Though a lawyer by training, Lydia has often found herself in the classroom instead of the courtroom. She’s taught high school, junior high, college, and law school. Teaching science fiction to her high school students inspired Lydia to write Vermilion Sunrise.
Reviewed by Chinazo Anozie for Readers' Favorite
Vermilion Sunrise is a YA sci-fi novel by Lydia P. Brownlow. Seventeen-year-old Leigh Crawford wakes up to find that she’s no longer on Earth. Along with other teenagers, all under twenty, she has traveled light years to another planet called Marjol. The video information on the spaceship transporting them explains that they had volunteered to colonize Marjol and were the third group to land. They had been traveling in cryosleep, which preserved them so that they hardly aged but erased their most recent memories, including that of volunteering. Leigh’s first reaction is disbelief, and she’s determined to return home until she realizes it took almost 22 Earth years to make the trip and probably the same to go back—if she even can. She realizes that Marjol is her new home, and she’ll likely never see Earth or her family again. Determined to embrace her new reality, she’s eager to meet the other teenagers. As they spend more time on the planet, she and the others realize they may not be alone and that some things they’ve been told are lies.
Vermilion Sunrise is a fantastic book, like a hybrid of The 100 and Maze Runner. Brownlow’s detailed plot and worldbuilding are commendable. Her description of Marjol, with its three moons and orange sun, was so vivid that I had no trouble visualizing it. I also loved how each character had their traits; this made them memorable even though there were many. For example, I could always count on Olu as the calm voice of reason, especially when tensions heightened. Michele had her Maori adages, and Noah, the easygoing Aussie, loved surfing. The diverse cast was all very relatable and resilient, doing their best on an alien planet with the little they had. I connected so much with them that I always got anxious about their safety, especially when they went on expeditions or sustained injuries. A slow burner, Vermilion Sunrise is an excellent introduction to the rest of the series as it answers many questions as the story goes on but leaves you eager for more by the end.
