Once again Jennifer Armentrout managed to take a fairly simple, run-of-the-mill plot and turn it into something entirely her own. Armentrout’s greates...moreOnce again Jennifer Armentrout managed to take a fairly simple, run-of-the-mill plot and turn it into something entirely her own. Armentrout’s greatest strength is not originality of the plot, or even her characters, but rather the dialogues that flow very naturally. She is familiar with current slang and she uses it strategically, which gives her characters and extra layer of believability. Nothing they say ever seems forced, they are realistic and easily relatable.
Yes, Armentrout relies upon familiar tropes, but she turns them into a quick, enjoyable, very hot read, and sometimes, that’s really all I’m looking for. Desperate to run away from her deeply traumatic past, Avery chose a college thousands of miles away from home. She is extremely lonely, wary and mistrustful. When she (literally) runs into Cameron on her first day of class, she is determined not to let him anywhere near her. But Cam is gorgeous, sweet and above all determined. No matter how many times Avery tries to push him away, he just keeps coming back.
I honestly don’t know how someone with Avery’s past would actually behave, but the way Armentrout wrote it didn’t strike me as something out of a textbook, or worse yet, a self-help manual (Katie McGarry, I’m looking at you here!). She didn’t, perhaps, use Avery’s past to its full potential, but what she did seemed genuine to me.
All secondary characters were very well done, with the exception of Avery’s mother. Given how responsible she was for Avery’s state of mind, I would have liked to see her more nuanced, more tangible. She was no more than a constant negative presence in Avery’s life, when she could have easily been much more. With just a little more work on these details, Armentrout could have turned this enjoyable, compelling read into something even more wonderful and, more importantly, memorable.
I’m not sure which couple the sequel focuses on, but I have my hopes and I’ll keep my fingers crossed that I’m right. Whoever it may be, Cam and Avery will surely be around and I will enjoy seeing them through someone else’s eyes.
3.5 stars Wow. I feel like a rug has been pulled from under my feet.
In Spirit, Kemmerer deviated from the usual PNR route and brought something even mo...more3.5 stars Wow. I feel like a rug has been pulled from under my feet.
In Spirit, Kemmerer deviated from the usual PNR route and brought something even more emotional and entirely unexpected. It was a bold move, a very risky one, but I always appreciated authors who toy with a genre and make their own rules. While I struggled with both Hunter and Kate at times, I applaud Kemmerer’s effort to do something different and throw her readers off balance.
It could be his element that’s making me love Hunter and hate him at the same time, or it could be a series of questionable actions on his part. Whatever the cause, it made Spirit an extremely thought-provoking, emotional read and left me feeling conflicted… pacified, but not quite ready to trust Hunter completely. Not just yet.
Hunter Garrity is one troubled boy, my friends. If you thought Gabriel’s story was heartbreaking, just you wait until you spend some time in Hunter’s head. Not only is he completely alone in the world, but he is being abused and neglected by the very people who should be taking care of him. I’d probably be bitter and untrusting if I were him, too.
When the new girl shows up in school, Hunter is immediately drawn to her, but he’s sure she has some kind of hidden agenda. Everyone always does, right? Why would she be any different? Unfortunately, Hunter is paranoid, but he is also right – Kate Sullivan is a Guide in training, and she may not be there to get Hunter specifically, but she is definitely after the Merricks.
Hunter has no idea whom to trust, but more importantly, he just can’t decide where his loyalties lie. He wants desperately to hate the Merricks and do what he was taught was right, but they keep making it impossible by being reliable and nice. Guards, on the other hand, haven’t done a single thing right, but Hunter’s father was a Guard and Hunter was trained to become one, so what does that say about him? Every part of Hunter’s story is extremely painful. There were times when I wanted to strangle him, but even then I felt more pity than anger. Kemmerer did an outstanding job with this character, possibly better than with anyone else.
The noose is tightening around the Merricks. The Guards are starting to view them as formidable opponents instead of just underestimating them like they used to. Things are more dangerous than ever in Spirit and Michael and his brothers are forced to make some hard choices. The easiest thing to do would be to just pack up and leave, but each of them now has a reason to stay.
January 2014 can’t come soon enough. Nick’s story promises to be the most heartbreaking of all and after Spirit, I have no idea where Kemmerer might take it, which is both upsetting and thrilling at the same time. Brava, Ms. Kemmerer!
It’s no secret that I love urban fantasy more than any other genre out there, and I love it even more when urban fantasy flirts with horror just a lit...moreIt’s no secret that I love urban fantasy more than any other genre out there, and I love it even more when urban fantasy flirts with horror just a little bit. I discovered the Edie Spence series entirely by accident, really enjoyed Nightshifted, the first book, and now I’m happy to report that the second book didn’t diminish my love for it in the least.
I think what people like most about Edie is that she’s just a regular woman, very non-heroic and plain. She works her night shifts at the hospital, gets conned over and over by her addict brother and pushed around by the supernatural community. She has no lasting relationship, no real friends, and her bond with her family is tenuous at best. One can’t help but feel compassion for Edie and her sad, quiet life, but there are times when she seems just a bit too passive. I like reading about regular people in unusual circumstances, and I don’t necessarily want them to be fearless or heroic, but resourceful would be nice. Edie is often just a pushover, for her brother, her co-workers, the mysterious Shadows and the entire supernatural community, especially the vampires. She gets involved in their business in very odd ways, they get her to do their dirty work with just two words of flattery and then keep her in the dark and fail to protect her from things they brought to her doorstep.
I pulled on my scrubs and all the silver that I currently owned. Between my belt, bracelet, and badge – which might warn me a second or two before any attack –I’d give myself even odds on surviving for five seconds once I was outside my door. Five whole seconds, although not necessarily painless ones.
In Nightshifted, Edie took it upon herself to save a vampire child, and now that vampire child, Anna, asks her to be some kind of Ambassador, involves her in things Edie doesn’t even begin to understand, and then just disappears without protecting her in any way. There were times when I wanted to yell at Edie to grow a spine, but there would be no point. She is who she is.
"You can't just leave anyone. It's one of your biggest virtues, and one of your worst flaws.
Edie is constantly surrounded by grotesque creatures she relentlessly takes care of, even when it’s not her job to do so. As I said in my opening paragraph, I love it when urban fantasy flirts with horror, and Cassie Alexander balances the fine line between the two wonderfully. Sure, some of the descriptions might turn your stomach (they did mine, and I’m not exactly a delicate flower), but this is what sets the series apart and I really like it.
At this point, I’d hate for Edie to find a steady relationship and then get her act together and become less pathetic (harsh words, Maja, harsh!). I don’t want a man to fix her life, that would be even more pathetic. I want her to find her own footing, start taking care of herself and then maybe get into a serious relationship, preferably with Asher. I like Asher for her, and I have a feeling he wouldn’t just abandon her like Ty (although he did give me reason to think otherwise). He’s charming and attractive and, you know, definitely NOT a zombie. I’ll keep my fingers crossed.
What I really wanted, but didn’t get from Moonshifted was a stronger story. The first half was essentially plotless, or at the very least directionless. So many things were happening at once, and at the same time, nothing was happening at all. I still couldn’t clearly outline the plot for you, nor do I wish to try. For the first 80%, Moonshifted suffered from the worst case of Second Book Syndrome I’ve ever seen, but at least it ended with a bang. Hopefully, the next book, Shapeshifted, will be a bit more exciting in that regard.
3.5 The Assassin’s Curse, Cassandra Rose Clarke’s debut novel, is an exciting and unusual adventure filled with pirates, magic and, of course, assassin...more3.5 The Assassin’s Curse, Cassandra Rose Clarke’s debut novel, is an exciting and unusual adventure filled with pirates, magic and, of course, assassins. It’s a must read for everyone who’s grown a bit tired of the same ol, formulaic stories. This book could never have a girl in a pretty dress on its cover.
Here’s something I’ve noticed in Clarke’s adult book (The Mad Scientist’s Daughter), and it’s even more pronounced here: she tends to write slow-developing, complicated and subtle romances. Sometimes they’re so subtle, in fact, that you can’t even be sure they’re there. She doesn’t hesitate to throw a third, fourth or even a fifth person into the mix, and she doesn’t hesitate to let that third (fourth, fifth, you get the picture) person win. While I recognize and even appreciate the originality, I don’t always like it. Call it a personal flaw if you will.
Now, in the interest of full disclosure (and please take into consideration that I’m risking my life by writing this down because there will be quite a few bloggers willing to come for me with torches and pitchforks), I must admit I didn’t like Naji all that much. I understand why a girl like Annana would be drawn to him after growing up in such unusual circumstances, but I guess that, somewhere along the line, I’ve outgrown characters like him.
”Yeah,” I said. “This is Naji.” “I was expecting a little boy,” Marjani said. “He acts like one sometimes.”
And he does. For a trained assassin, Naji acts far too much like a twelve-year-old boy, and his behavior was just too off-putting for me. He takes the whole broody-and-mysterious thing just a bit too far. I like a dark, quiet hero as much as the next girl, but for me, there really wasn’t much to like about him.
In terms of plot, The Assassin’s Curse is seriously underdeveloped. After an excellent introduction in which our heroine, Ananna, escapes an arranged marriage on a stolen camel of all things, the usual narrative structure quickly becomes neglected, if not altogether abandoned. Even the ending wasn’t the cliffhanger I’d expected. Instead, the book just sort of ended at a pretty random place, there was no real climax and the resolution never came. A few questions were answered, but nothing was actually resolved.
What I really did like about The Assassin’s Curse was the language. A lot of people thought it was inferior to Moira Young’s writing, i.e. the dialect she used for Saba, but I think the two were created with different things in mind. They serve different purposes, and they are both excellent, each in its own way. Ananna’s language use cleverly emphasizes her lack of education and social finesse without disrupting the fluidity of Clarke’s prose or taking away from the reader’s enjoyment. In other words, it is different and useful, but by no means impenetrable.
Considering that this is the only positive thing I’ve written so far, I wouldn’t blame you for thinking that I didn’t like this book, but I honestly did. I just felt that there were enough positive reviews out there and that I could afford to be brutally honest and critical. The Assassin’s Curse is certainly worth your time and I hope you’ll give it a chance.
Is there anything a mother wouldn’t do to save her son? Even if they are mostly estranged and angry at each other? Would she willingly walk into a pla...moreIs there anything a mother wouldn’t do to save her son? Even if they are mostly estranged and angry at each other? Would she willingly walk into a place where the air is poisonous and hundreds of zombies roam about?
Of course she would. I would, too.
That’s the choice Briar is forced to make, and it really isn’t a choice at all. Sixteen years ago, Seattle was destroyed by one of her late husband’s inventions, and she became an outcast, a poor, single mother with no one to rely on. From that point on, Briar and her son were lucky when they could cross the street without someone spitting on them for something neither of them played any part in. Briar’s son Zeke is only sixteen and he’s desperate to clear his father’s name, not knowing that his father really is guilty of turning Seattle into a poisonous prison. And there is no doubt in Briar’s mind, her late husband poisoned the air, flattened the city and created rotters, the zombies. But every boy wants his father to be perfect, so Zeke runs away from home to go to Seattle and prove his father’s innocence.
As much as I enjoyed the (too few) steampunk elements in Boneshaker, what I found most intriguing was the complexity of Briar’s relationship with her teenage son Zeke. I normally dislike situations that stem from lack of communication between characters, but in Boneshaker, their reasons for not sharing secrets with each other were so painful and real that I couldn’t blame Cherie Priest for deciding to write it exactly like that. It is what made these characters truly alive, as if they didn’t exist until they were around each other or thinking about each other. Despite the alternate history setting and all those fantastic inventions, despite the zombies and everything else that was exciting, Briar and Zeke were what really kept me on the edge of my seat. When it comes to character bulding, Cherie Priest is the best psychologist I’ve come across since Ann Aguirre, which is saying something, my friends.
But it appears that everything good comes at a price, and excellent characterization was very pricey indeed. In terms of steampunk, Boneshaker leaves a lot to be desired. I realize I’m very nitpicky when it comes to this sub-genre, but if authors won’t use the endless possibilities it provides, I see no point in writing it at all. The steampunk bits did not blow me away like they did in Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences, and I expected more from Priest language-wise, to be honest. Still, keep in mind that Boneshaker won the 2010 Locus Award for Science-Fiction, so this is probably just me being unreasonable and difficult. I get like that sometimes, just ask my siblings. :)
Although Boneshaker didn’t leave me completely satisfied, I am intrigued and eager to read the next book in this series.
Wow, sometimes the cover and the synopsis can be terribly misleading. Nightfall is a romance, yes, a very steamy one at times, but the primary focus i...moreWow, sometimes the cover and the synopsis can be terribly misleading. Nightfall is a romance, yes, a very steamy one at times, but the primary focus isn’t the relationship between the two main characters, it’s the apocalypse underway and the (diverse) group of people brought together by horrible circumstances.
The backstory was just a bit too vague for my liking, but the action and the horrid creatures more than made up for it. Giant, cannibalistic dog-men followed the group’s every movement and the fact that they were humans before they became mindless monsters made them even more horrifying – and interesting… in a morbid sort of way.
However, it needs to be said that the true strength of Nightfall lies in its secondary characters. Obviously (well, it’s obvious to me anyway), this is what Ann Aguirre does best - for those of you who don't know, she co-authored this book with Carrie Lofty. All her characters, no matter how small their role, are fully fleshed out.
Points were lost due to a hero who took broody and difficult to a whole new level. While Nightfall is not primarily romantic suspense, the poor timing still bothered me a great deal. By the time Mason got around to dealing with his feelings for Jenna, I was both exasperated and in a decidedly unforgiving mood.
The second and the third book focus on secondary characters from Nightfall, paranormal romance-style. One of them is my absolute favorite which makes me even more eager to pick them up.
4.5 stars Unsettling, grim, nerve-wracking, action-packed, frightening, riveting, enthralling, intelligent, fast-paced, claustrophobic, eerie, appallin...more4.5 stars Unsettling, grim, nerve-wracking, action-packed, frightening, riveting, enthralling, intelligent, fast-paced, claustrophobic, eerie, appalling, passionate… Any one of these words can be used to describe Spark, and yet, not even all of them put together come close to explaining the all-consuming thrill ride that is this book. Amy Kathleen Ryan achieved something not many authors can: Spark is one of those highly adaptable books that can be read one way by a younger audience, and completely differently by someone older. Behind the exciting story are layers and layers of psychology and current issues that can be discussed for hours on end.
Spark picks up exactly where Glow left off. The girls are back on the Empyrean, but all they did by returning was replace one religious tyrant with another. Kieran is leading the ship with sermons, lies and deceptions, and not even his ex fiancé can stand in his way. Weaverly has more enemies than she can count, both on Empyrean and the New Horizon, and Seth has lost everything when Kieran took over.
She’d been through too much. Some part of her had snapped. Her humanity had gone on hiatus, and what was left behind was her animal instinct: kill, hurt, maim, survive.
There are no heroes in Spark. Each of these characters exist in a moral gray area, and Kieran, who started out as a classic hero in Glow, turned into something entirely different. The most frightening thing about him is his firm belief that he is right, that he is being led by God and that, as God’s chosen vessel, he can do no wrong. Weaverly and Seth are confronted with the impossibility of reasoning with someone like him while still trying to find the remnants of the person he used to be.
What makes Spark truly stand out is that Amy Kathleen Ryan doesn’t hide behind the age of her characters. She refuses to adapt, embellish or gloss over the ugly facts. There are some truly selfless and kind secondary characters because there have to be – there always are in life - but the leaders, our protagonists, are all power-hungry and selfish to the core. There’s nothing even remotely good in Kieran Alden anymore, and Weaverly Marshall is on the verge of insanity, crazed by her need for revenge. Oh, sure, Seth Ardvale had a change of heart and came to understand the error of his ways, but all that got him were a couple of fractured ribs and a place in the brig.
She’d known fear before, of course, but this terror at the end of her life had been new. It hollowed her out, debased her, turned her into nothing more than airless lungs and bloodless brain. A gray cloud had crept into the borders of her vision and a voice inside her had screamed, I’m dying! I’m dying now!
And the situations they’re in are even more dangerous than last time. In Glow, the crew was fighting an external enemy and the disaster was of much bigger proportions, but that somehow made it less personal. In Spark, the kids of the Empyrean are mostly fighting each other, and as it turns out, there’s nothing more dangerous or cruel than a group of young people left to fend for themselves, especially when the kids in question are motivated almost entirely by revenge. Survival takes the back seat in Spark. Kieran and his crew are willing to sacrifice almost anything to get their parents back and inflict revenge on the crew of New Horizon.
Spark is obviously not for the faint-hearted. It gave me food for thought but, quite frankly, these aren’t things I enjoy thinking about. Who knows how any of us would behave in such conditions? Extra brownie points go to Amy Kathleen Ryan for achieving the impossible and getting me out of my reading slump. Hurray!
I must have read around fifteen books about memory loss in the last two years, and 90% of them just sort of blended together after a while. I’m afraid...moreI must have read around fifteen books about memory loss in the last two years, and 90% of them just sort of blended together after a while. I’m afraid All the Broken Pieces will join that crowd in no time. It’s been a few days and I’m already a bit hazy on the details, but I’ll do my best to make it as clear as possible for you so you can decide for yourselves. There are no major flaws I can point out, and I won’t try to convince you NOT to read it, quite the opposite, in fact. The story pulls you in quickly enough, the pacing is decent and the characters are interesting so there’s no real reason not to, if a good pastime is all you’re looking for.
My biggest problem with Cindi Madsen’s second book was that I didn’t believe any of it. Olivia wakes up in a hospital room with no memory of how she got there. Her parents are there, overjoyed that she woke up from the coma and anxious to get her in a better shape so they can move across country to escape the bad memories. Liv isn’t too thrilled about moving, she’d rather stay where she is and try to remember her past, but her parents are determined to make a new start, so they do. In a matter of days, Liv finds herself in a small town in the middle of nowhere. Her school life is exactly what you’d expect from this type of book: there’s a girl she instantly befriends, the mysterious bad boy who turns out not to be so bad after all, the prerequisite mean girl who just happens to be the bad boy’s ex, and plenty of high school drama to keep it all together. Finding a single memorable thing is an impossible task.
The love interest becomes clear very early on, and their budding relationship follows a fairly predictable pattern. While I have absolutely nothing against Spencer himself (I found him quite charming at times), their push-pull dynamic started driving me crazy after a while. He would be all kind and full of understanding one day, and completely cold and uncommunicative the next, which was fine for a while, but was taken a bit too far in the second half. His reasons for acting in such a way, once they were revealed, were pretty grave, but not convincing enough.
This is a fairly short review because there’s honestly very little to point out about this book. I was entertained, but unimpressed and it left me feeling lukewarm at best. For a second, more positive opinion, please read my friend Rachel’s review at The Readers Den.
I have a small confession to make, though it’s hardly a secret since my review is here for all to see: I wasn’t really a fan of Blood Red Roa...more3.5 stars
I have a small confession to make, though it’s hardly a secret since my review is here for all to see: I wasn’t really a fan of Blood Red Road. In fact, I was so disappointed by it that I never intended to read Rebel Heart. That said, I’m happy it showed up on my doorstep completely unexpectedly. Painful as it may be, I like the direction the story is taking.
Rather than focusing on giant killer worms, Moira Young decided to explore the extent of human cruelty and willingness to survive. The pacing is noticeably slower, but Rebel Heart undoubtedly offers more than its predecessor – at least to a reader with my preferences. It is emotionally intense, grim and layered – I could actually feel the dust on my skin for the first time, and it was a most welcome feeling, one that told me Young has finally done it right.
If there’s one thing I admire about Young (other than the language, of course), it’s that she’s more than capable of surprising me. This is what sets her apart from most Young Adult writers: she goes where the story leads her, regardless of what it might mean for her, and even when it’s not easy for her characters and, ultimately, her readers.
Whatever objections I had to Saba’s character in Blood Red Road (and I had quite a few) no longer apply. It’s almost like she was still a work in progress then, and now she’s finally completed, damaged but consistent, well-rounded and perfectly clear. I didn’t necessarily approve of her actions or even like her most of the time, but I understood her and everything she did made sense to me.
After what she’s been through in Blood Red Road, Saba simply had to change one way or the other. I’m glad Young chose not to ignore the emotional trauma she would have suffered. Instead, all her decisions have repercussions that could have been foreseen, but in no way avoided. Spirits of the people she’s lost follow Saba’s every step. She is terrified and broken, afraid to touch her bow, and desperate to hide it from Lugh, who is in no better shape himself. Whatever the Tonton did to him left him bitter and furious – at Saba, at their father and especially Jack. It is so hard for Saba to admit that their relationship has changed, that they’re no longer the inseparable twins they used to be and that Lugh can no longer offer the same sense of security and warmth. Here. Now. Alone. With none but my own heart fer witness, I’ll say it. Without Lugh, I’m able to breathe. He smothers me. Chokes me. Pens me in. Tethers me to him with his worry and anger and sorrow and fear.
For most of this book, Saba and Jack are nowhere near each other, and yet he is always with her, every second of every day. I’m very uncomfortable with some of the events in Rebel Heart, but I accept them as proof of good writing and I can’t help but appreciate the risks Young decided to take. At this point, I can’t even imagine a happy ending for these characters.
But I’ll end this review on a more positive note. Here’s some candy for fellow Jack fans: I think about Jack. Of how it’ll be when I see him agin. When he’s holdin me tight an I’m holdin him tighter an the heartstone’s burnin my skin. I think of what we might say. Him to me. Me to him. I ain’t no soft girl. I don’t know no soft words. Be with me, Jack. That’s what I’ll say. Burn with me. Shine with me.
It should take me no more than three words to convince you to read this book. They are the same three words that convinced ME to read it, and I haven’...moreIt should take me no more than three words to convince you to read this book. They are the same three words that convinced ME to read it, and I haven’t regretted it at all. Those three words are… are you ready? Four hot brothers. That’s all you need to know.
*sigh* Oh, okay. I suppose I should write a “proper” review. Here it goes:
Four Merrick brothers have a very strong connection to the elements: Michael controls earth, twins Gabriel and Nick control fire and air respectively, and the youngest, Chris, controls water. All four of them are far more powerful than they should be which causes the other Elementals to fear them and attack them at every opportunity. The brothers can’t use their elements to defend themselves because they’re all young and untrained and loss of control on their part could mean the loss of many innocent lives.
When two older boys ambush Chris and beat him almost to death, a girl from school comes to his rescue. She somehow chases them away and gets him home but Michael, his legal guardian since their parents died, practically chases her out of the house. Chris doesn’t really know her, even though she’s in some of his classes. He’s heard about her, though, everyone has. People say that she sleeps around with anyone who asks nicely enough. But Becca isn’t like that at all. She’s been through a lot and she’s just trying to keep her head down and avoid being noticed. Then, suddenly, she is in the middle of Chris’s drama, and a gorgeous new boy is showing a real interest in her.
You probably figured out from that last sentence that there is a love triangle in this book. In my humble opinion, there’s no such thing as a good/interesting love triangle, but I can tell you that this one is less painful than most. It made sense in a strange kind of way and it kept me in suspense because, unlike with other love triangles, I actually wasn’t sure which boy Becca would end up with. Another thing worth mentioning is Brigid Kemmerer’s writing – it is much better than I expected when I first heard about this book. Her style doesn’t draw attention from the story itself, it is straightforward, clean and very easy to read.
Storm doesn’t end with a cliffhanger, but it has a pretty open ending. So many things are unresolved and I can’t wait for Gabriel’s book to be out. This is the type of not-quite-cliffhanger I can live with: everyone is safe, but there are a lot of questions that need answers.
If you are going to read Storm, definitely read the short story prequel first. It takes place about 4 years earlier, and it helped me understand why Michael is the way he is. My recommendation: go read it. Just keep those smelling salts near – these boys will make you swoon!
Late in the 21st century, the government, no longer the United Kingdom but Central Coalition, found a new way to deal with criminals. Instead of priso...moreLate in the 21st century, the government, no longer the United Kingdom but Central Coalition, found a new way to deal with criminals. Instead of prisons or even capital punishment, they get a clean slate, or more precisely, they get slated – their memory gets wiped clean and, if they’re underage, they get assigned to a new Mum and Dad, a whole new family they’re supposed to treat as their own. Kyla has been slated nine months ago, and the time has come for her to leave the New London Hospital and go live with her new parents and sister. The tightly controlled society is run by the Lorders (Law and Order Officers) and it’s normal for people to disappear, be taken away any time, with little or no warning. All slated wear a Levo around their wrists - it is a device that measures their moods and keeps things from getting out of hand. If they feel anything too strongly, their Levo shuts them down and they black out in pain.
As entranced as I was by this story, I did manage to notice some discrepancies. The problem with putting your character in such a challenging situation, or rather state of mind, is that it’s very hard to remain consistent. Kyla doesn’t know very much about the outside world when she leaves the New London Hospital, she even has no idea how to use the car door handle, and yet no one is surprised when she recognizes the sound of gunfire just a few days later. We could probably explain it away easily, with something simple like a movie, but the skeptic in me always assumes the worst.
Also, I love to know a bit more about the background with my dystopias. It’s not enough to just describe the society, I need to know how it came to be. (This pretty much sums up my problems with Divergent). In Slated, some of it was explained towards the end of the book, but it was too little, too late. I hope the sequel will take care of that.
The romance didn’t quite reach me. I liked Kyla and I liked Ben, but I never understood how their relationship happened. Or why. At the beginning, Ben is described as a gorgeous boy every girl in school wants to be with, but he remains uninterested until Kyla shows up. Then, suddenly, he’s all over her, friendly, protective, always there to help. She is, of course, insecure and convinced that he’s dating another girl, even when he starts spending all his free time with her. What makes it bearable is that Slated is not really focused on the romance, it’s focused on Kyla’s recovery, past and new family, all of which was handled perfectly.
Minor issues aside, Terry did a great job with the subject of memory loss. The beginning of Slated reminded me a bit of the beginning of Thyla. But the most interesting part Terry explored is muscle memory. Sometimes, Kyla would just stop thinking about things and start moving instinctively – she discovered a lot if things about her old self that way, her ability to drive just one of them.
Me pointing out a few flaws doesn’t mean that I didn’t enjoy Slated. As far as dystopias go, it was better than most. If you’re a fan of the genre, you won’t want to miss it. If you’re a fan of all things British like I am, you’ll enjoy the British setting and the distinctly British language.
A copy of this book was kindly provided by the publisher, Hachette Children's Books UK, for review purposes.
2.5 stars I bought my copy of The Space Between Us right on the release date, October 16th 2012, and then spent almost three months staring at it longi...more2.5 stars I bought my copy of The Space Between Us right on the release date, October 16th 2012, and then spent almost three months staring at it longingly, too much of a coward to actually read it. I’d been almost afraid of it. Well, not almost, I was honestly scared– considering how much I loved Virtuosity, Martinez’s debut novel, my expectations were pretty high, and I knew there was much room for disappointment. It’s possible that I’m being vastly unfair by comparing the Space Between Us with Virtuosity, but in my own defense, Martinez was the one who set the bar so high. I don’t read contemporary that often, not if I can avoid it (which I usually can), and there aren’t many contemporary titles that left a lasting mark on me, but Virtuosity is one of them. The honesty of it all, the psychological insight, convinced me that Martinez is a skilled storyteller. Alas, I was headed straight for disappointment.
Teen pregnancy is never easy, but when your father is a pastor and you end up being severely punished for it even though you’re not the one who’s actually pregnant… well, hard doesn’t even begin to describe it. That’s Amelia’s life in a nutshell. She is a high school senior, captain of the female hockey team, responsible, serious and very restrained. Or at least she was, until her younger sister Charly, a party person and an attention-seeker, got pregnant. Instead of finishing her senior year and going to Columbia as she’d planned, Amelia ends up moving to Canada for six months to help cover up her sister’s shameful secret. Her achievements mean nothing – what Charly needs, Charly always gets, and this time she needs Amelia to sacrifice everything that matters to her.
I wish I were one of those people who can like a book even though they don’t like any of the characters. I am not. Being in Amelia’s head was, quite frankly, a horrifying experience. If there was ever a more unlikable character, I must have blocked it out of my memory because I simply can’t remember it now. But here are a few facts about our narrator: she is utterly incapable of standing up for herself when it matters and she’s painfully aware of it, so to compensate, she takes her issues out on everyone else, especially people who are actually nice to her. She thinks she’s better/ smarter/ more deserving than anyone around her, and it’s not an opinion she ever keeps for herself. She is suspicious, rude to nice people and always ready to lash out at the slightest provocation… or even without one. I have yet to stumble upon a more close-minded, judgmental character. I would have preferred a true anti-heroine instead of this accomplished, yet utterly unlikable protagonist.
Keeping all of it in mind, it stands to reason that she’s too self-absorbed to fall in love, at least in a way that would convince the readers and have them rooting for her romance. And again the comparison is inevitable; Ezra is a decent love interest, nicely fleshed-out, but Jeremy King he is not. And while I’m being unfair, Jeremy and Carmen had so much chemistry between them that’s simply not there between Amelia and Ezra, although they had a few lovely moments. Again, Amelia is too self-centered to every truly be in a relationship and as hard as Martinez tried to redeem her (or have her redeem herself) towards the end, in my opinion, it was too little, too late.
I do think that contemporary fans might find something more in Jessica Martinez’s sophomore novel. It is not my genre of choice and doubt it ever will be, so please take my opinion with a grain of salt.
”Whether you know it or not, each one of you is at a critical turning point. If you are willing, there is still time to turn back from the terminal p...more”Whether you know it or not, each one of you is at a critical turning point. If you are willing, there is still time to turn back from the terminal paths you have chosen. But Holbrook is your last chance. In the peace of these woods, we can lead you back to society, show you how to assimilate, nurture appropriate behavior. But if you turn your back on this final opportunity, the rest of the world will not be so kind.”
Well, they weren’t exactly kind either. Faye Robson has been fighting with visions and nightmares for years. Instead of trying to find ways to help her at home, or simply listen to her, her father brought her to Holbrook Academy, a glorified mental institution, and just left her in the not-so-gentle hands of Dr. Murdoch. At Holbrook, Dr. Murdoch maintains order with the help of her vicious Caretakers, armed with Tasers and pepper spray. They punish and degrade students at the slightest provocation, but Faye’s group is targeted even more often than the others, and something is happening to them at night while they’re under the influence of sleeping pills.
There are authors who write descriptively and atmospherically like it’s the easiest thing in the world because it comes naturally to them, and some of those authors are among my favorites. However, there are also authors who’d like to belong to that group but can’t quite pull it off. Sarah Wilson Etienne is one of them. Her prose screams that she was trying too hard. I’m not sure what she was aiming to accomplish with the first three or four chapters of Harbinger, but I can tell you that she failed spectacularly. As much as she tried to make her descriptions of Holbrook and the surrounding woods stunning and memorable, her sentences simply lack colorfulness and depth. She doesn’t even have a distinctive style like Tahereh Mafi, for example. (Hey, you can like Mafi or not, but you can’t deny that her writing is different.) As far as I can tell, she tried to find her voice and failed.
The worldbuilding was also a mess. (Wow, I’m being especially eloquent today.) In the not-so-distant future, people don’t live in cities anymore, they are organized in Cooperatives. What are these Cooperatives? Who runs them? If not in the big cities, where do they live? What caused the society to move and reorganize in such a radical way? Etienne mentions something about oil, and then around 25% she mentions Peak War, but the real explanation doesn’t come until later, and even then it’s a lot of telling and no showing, and I just couldn’t see the point. Why would she set her story in a dystopian world if she wasn’t going to develop it properly? Halbrook Academy could have existed in today’s world with a few minor adjustments. In fact, that would have been so much better because the focus needed to remain on the institution alone. I really don’t see the point of throwing your characters in a world that you leave unexplained until the very end. Bits and pieces of information were thrown in randomly, but it was too little and much too late. The second part of the book was even more confusing and it showed that en excess of ambition can be a very dangerous thing indeed. I’m sure the story about the Red Paint People sounded fascinating in theory, but the end result was confusing and… well, I was trying not to use the word terrible, but it seems that I have no choice. It was a disaster.
In case all this wasn’t enough to keep you away, there’s also the small matter of instalove. Faye and Kel meet and they instantly know that they’re special to each other. Her powers work differently on him and he isn’t at all uncomfortable around her like everyone else seems to be. At one point, she suspects him of spying, but she’s drawn to him nevertheless. She doesn’t really trust him or confide in him, but of course he’s gorgeous so they must be made for each other.
In my opinion, Harbinger isn’t worth your time. If it were a self-published book, I’d say it’s one of those that gives self-publishing a bad name. I struggled to finish it, and I had trouble keeping up with the abrupt changes in pacing. Sarah Wilson Etienne has great imagination, but her writing needs more work.
My name is Mia Price, and I'm a human lightning rod.
After an incredibly promising start and a lot of excitement on my part, the second half of Struck...moreMy name is Mia Price, and I'm a human lightning rod.
After an incredibly promising start and a lot of excitement on my part, the second half of Struck really fell flat and completely failed to impress me.
On the surface, Struck is pretty original: a girl who gets hit by lightning over and over again is doing her best to keep her family alive and sane after a huge natural disaster, while being pulled in two different directions by religious fanatics and their opposers. Both groups are convinced that the Armageddon is coming in just a few days and that they desperately need Mia’s special abilities, therefore they’re ready to do just about anything to force Mia to join their side. To make matters worse, her family is also divided: her mother has been completely brainwashed by the powerful televangelist, Prophet, while her brother wants nothing more than to join the other group, Seekers. Sounds very interesting, right? And it is, for the most part, just be aware that you’ll find the same story we’ve seen a million times before if you look just a little deeper beneath the surface.
I felt that the thing that drew me to this novel initially, Mia’s ability to attract lightening, wasn’t explored nearly enough. That’s what I wanted to read about the most. After the delicious statement at the beginning of the book (“My name is Mia Price and I’m a lightning addict.”), I was expecting the author to take this much, much farther than she actually did. Instead she chose to go down a well-worn path: Mia running blindly into danger to save her mother or her brother, the beautiful, mysterious boy that simply refuses to tell her what his deal is, Mia being stupid, Mia being stupid, Mia being incredibly stupid… well, you get the picture.
For me, there comes a point in the book where I get so irritated by the main character’s choices that I stop caring for the plot altogether. I think what bothered me the most was that a lot of Mia’s problems could have been avoided with one or two serious conversations. She kept making stupid choices to keep her brother out of trouble, when all she really had to do was sit down and explain a few things to him. Same goes for Jeremy: he insisted on being vague while warning Mia to stay away from the Waste and the Seekers, when the whole truth would have been much more effective.
Still, I suppose if you’re in the mood for paranormal YA, you could do much, much worse than Struck. I have no objections whatsoever to Bosworth’s writing style, the beginning is very compelling, it pulls you right in so you don’t have to go through that torturous period of getting into the story. I just wish she maintained the same level of originality till the very end, instead of hiding behind tropes and clichés.
I always enjoy boarding school books (unless they’re contemporary, in which case I tend to run away screaming), and I’d hoped Night School would be a...moreI always enjoy boarding school books (unless they’re contemporary, in which case I tend to run away screaming), and I’d hoped Night School would be a fine addition to the group, or in the best case scenario, that it would stand out in some way. Sadly, it’s not special at all, and it’s not even paranormal like I’d expected. It has the structure and the tropes of a paranormal YA novel, but no paranormal elements whatsoever. Consider yourselves warned.
Allie is a very troubled teen. After her older brother ran away from home, she started acting out and being completely out of control. She even got arrested a couple of times. When she gets herself expelled from yet another school for vandalism, her parents decide to take drastic measures. They send her to Cimmeria School, a very prestigious and very private boarding school located two hours’ drive from London.
Cimmeria is not your ordinary school. Students are all extremely talented and very rich, the program is highly demanding, and they get certain liberties and luxuries they wouldn’t get anywhere else. The school has many rules and failure to follow them always results in dire punishment, but one rule is most important of all: if you’re not invited to join Night School, don’t ask questions about it, don’t try to identify students who are in it and don’t ever, under any circumstances, try to disrupt Night School activities. Allie adapts to her life very easily, but she soon starts investigating odd things that are happening in Cimmeria, with the help of a few friends and her boyfriend.
Technically, Daugherty’s writing has no major flaws. There are no rough transitions, confusing or repetitive sentence structure, no naked dialogue, no telling instead of showing. The problem was entirely in the content.
Cliché after cliché after cliché, that’s what Night School has to offer, with the addition of some very disturbing details. The love triangle takes up a good part of the book, but it’s not just any love triangle: it’s about a difficult choice between the guy who’s been nothing but sweet and supportive and honest and the guy who got Allie drunk and tried to date-rape her on their first (and last) date. (But he is handsome and disgustingly rich and FRENCH!) Wow. How anyone could ever choose between them, I have no idea.
The way Allie changed from very problematic to obedient and hardworking the second she set foot in Cimmeria didn’t sit well with me. It takes a little more than a new school uniform and two gorgeous boys to fix those kinds of problems, and yet, Allie got better overnight. Her character was very inconsistent and it was clear to me that C.J. Daugherty doesn’t know the first thing about issues behind such behavior. It bothered me immensely that she didn’t approach the subject seriously enough.
In my opinion, she also failed to create tension in her story. More time was wasted on the love triangle drama and on the summer ball then on the main story line. Needless to say, when the big revelation came, it was very anticlimactic and it made very little sense. All this led to an unsatisfactory ending that really wasn’t an ending at all. It was almost like someone cut out the last chapter. There was no real climax and nothing was resolved at all.
Some of my friends on GoodReads rated this book very highly and I’m pretty sure it will have many more fans. Maybe I’m just getting tired of reading the same story over and over again.
![Zoo Station [A Memoir] The Story of Christiane F.](http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1336602104s/13435894.jpg "Zoo Station [A Memoir] The Story of Christiane F.")
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