Lately, I’ve been growing increasingly tired of all the apocalypse scenarios we’re being bombarded with. Getting me to read one without whining too ha...moreLately, I’ve been growing increasingly tired of all the apocalypse scenarios we’re being bombarded with. Getting me to read one without whining too hard is no small feat, my friends. But even though Monument 14 has been getting some very mixed reviews, I felt weirdly drawn to it from the start and surprisingly enough, ended up enjoying it. We’ll call this intuition, although dumb luck might be more accurate.
Emmy Laybourne’s version of the apocalypse is what makes Monument 14 work. None of it is too hard to imagine: the chemical disaster, weather gone mad, people affected according to their blood type, child predators using the opportunity to do their absolute worst. Really, this could all happen tomorrow! When Dean and Alex woke up that morning, they didn’t even dream that they wouldn’t be coming home that day, that there would be no home to come back to. Who could have predicted that they wouldn't be going to school at all, but that they would end up in a superstore with twelve other terrified kids and with raging weather outside.
In such claustrophobic environment, characters become extremely important. Worldbuilding itself, while convincing and terrifying, didn’t do much to show Laybourne’s skill. Characters, on the other hand, showed how great a writer she is, despite this being her debut. She did more than just flesh out Dean and Alex, she breathed life into all 14 of her characters equally. Each name came with a complete person with opinions, backgrounds, traumas, and more importantly, coping mechanisms. We get a clear picture of each of them, even though we only see them trough Dean’s eyes.
Each of these kids reacts differently and Laybourne is an excellent psychologists. Everything her characters did made perfect sense in those circumstances, and she showed rather excellently how people deal with grief and fear in so many different ways. Some kids fight to be in charge and organize the others to increase their chances of survival, while the others raid the pharmacy for prescription drugs. Some even attempt to do both. Adding the smaller kids into the mix was a risky, but extremely smart move. It was them, or the need to take care of them, that kept the older ones from losing it.
For the most part, our Dean is no hero. He is not one of the popular kids, he is not smart like his younger brother, he has no talent for sports and his people skills need work. But there was something about his sardonic voice I found very easy to identify with and while he kept doing stupid and embarrassing things, I couldn’t help but sympathize. His thoughts and comments were often unintentionally hilarious, which only made me like him even more.
The almost-cliffhanger Laybourne left us with didn’t bother me as much as these things usually do. There was at least some closure, not an ending, but a new beginning, a change in the circumstances that promises a brilliant and thrilling sequel.
In my review of The Immortal Rules, I complained rather loudly about the lack of backstory and the incomplete wo...moreDawn of Eden by Julie Kagawa - 4 stars
In my review of The Immortal Rules, I complained rather loudly about the lack of backstory and the incomplete worldbuilding. With Dawn of Eden, Kagawa elegantly took care of that little problem and gave us a story that is informative (a foundation for this series, I’d say), at times terrifying, but also very human and warm.
Although it describes the apocalypse, Dawn of Eden has a strong underlying message of hope that cannot be ignored. Some of the horrors portrayed are difficult to stomach, and I don’t say this lightly. I’ve read my fair share of horror, but a scene or two in Dawn of Eden made me uncomfortable at the very least. On the other hand, love can be born in such awful circumstances, and that’s what Kagawa decided to show us.
I find it most interesting that this series puts Kanin front and center, even though he appears very briefly. I feel it’s reasonable to assume that he’ll be the one to find some solution in the future. Since he’s my favorite character, I’m very much looking forward to seeing more of him.
Thistle & Thorne by Ann Aguirre - 5 stars
It took no more than a few seconds for me to find myself completely immersed in this world. It’s amazing how Aguirre establishes her world building and her heroine’s voice in no more than two pages. Her world solidifies around you so quickly that you become captivated before you fully realize what’s going on. I’ve experienced this so many times now, but I never get tired of it.
Thistle and Thorne is begging to be a full-length novel. Now that I’ve caught a glimpse of this world, and especially the characters, there’s nothing I’d love more than to see it turned into a series. I’m quite willing to beg and bribe, if necessary.
The ending was perfect – it was both entirely satisfying and open enough to leave me hopeful and excited about things to come. The world Aguirre created has an enormous potential and I’m confident she’ll make the best of it. She always does.
Sun Storm by Karen Duvall - 3 stars
Sun Storm is a well-written and well-paced story, although it certainly isn’t without issues, especially in the romance department. I’m not a fan of couples that are drawn together by some supernatural force or that are get together in a situation where they have no other options because I feel it makes their love both unconvincing and less valuable. Some authors find a way to make it work regardless (Tahereh Mafi is an excellent example), but Karen Duvall is not among them, at least not in this case. Sarah and Ian were drawn to each other because of their abilities, they complemented each other perfectly. That left me wondering about the nature of their (rather sudden) attraction for each other. As hard as I tried, I just didn’t believe their feelings were genuine.
Sun Storm may be the weakest link in this anthology, but it’s still a decent enough tale. The worldbuilding alone is interesting and thought-provoking enough to make this story well worth your time.
Well, well. Color me impressed. If you would have told me, three months ago, that someone could still offer an original take on vampires, I’d probably...moreWell, well. Color me impressed. If you would have told me, three months ago, that someone could still offer an original take on vampires, I’d probably have laughed in your face. So far we’ve seen nightwalkers, daywalkers, vegetarian vampires, vampires with magical powers, sparkly vampires, bloodthirsty monsters, gorgeous vampires, hairless ugly vampires, and just about everything else you can possibly think of. But Ticks? Trust me, they’re new.
They’re not quite vampires, true, but genetically altered humans, even more frightening because of their mindlessness. They drink blood, but they take it straight from your heart after they rip it out with their bare hands. The one real vampire in this book is still a far scarier monster, true, but the very thing that makes him more dangerous, his ability to blend in, is the same thing that makes him easier to accept.
Their frames were too bulky and broad, their arms too long, but it was their faces that churned my stomach. The almost human quality to their features. Their eyes darting fervently under hair that was shaggy and unkempt. Their heavy jaws and bulging leonine teeth.
Ever since The Farm’s US release, I’ve been dutifully reading reviews and I’ve noticed that people tend to point one (or all) of three things: their surprise over the originality of Ticks, their love for all things Carter-related, and their disappointment with Lily’s character. I agree with the first, tentatively agree with the second, but I absolutely can’t agree with the third. As someone who is extremely socially awkward, but also fiercely protective of those few people I consider my own, I found it very easy to sympathize with Lily and her willingness to do anything to save her autistic sister. Yes, there were times when she seemed almost prejudiced, but there’s no way to know how any of us would react after six months on a Farm, being used as a cow. Lily understood herself very well and she was willing to change when circumstances required it, or when she realized she was being unfair. Some of my favorite heroines started out as mildly unlikeable only to become fascinating and admirable later on, and I have a feeling Lily will find her place among them soon enough.
Including a few short chapters from Mel’s point of view was a risky move, and one that didn’t pan out in my opinion. We can’t possibly know what goes on in an autistic mind, and while McKay approached it in an original way, there were still a few problems; the most important being that her narrative was barely understandable. Mel’s thoughts made very little sense, and while I appreciated both the original attempt and the fact that they were supposed to be messy, I still didn’t see the point of those chapters at all.
Another thing that stood out was a pretty big plot hole someone should have noticed and pointed out in time. Carter came on the Farm looking for Lily specifically, because he thought she was an abductura, a powerful individual able to influence the emotions of others. I didn’t like his reasons, and I thought the entire thing was incredibly insulting to Lily, but I understood him to a point. What I didn’t understand was how he was able to convince others with such a weak argument, especially a four thousand year old vampire who should have demanded more proof. Whether Carter was right or wrong isn’t really important, you’ll have to read the book to find out. All I’m trying to point out is that a lot of people followed him in a pretty wide search, risking their lives daily, all because he couldn’t believe his attraction to Lily was natural.
Despite a few problems, I’d recommend The Farm to all those who enjoy reading about vampires, but not the romanticized kind. I am very much looking forward to the next book.
4.5 stars When you wait for a book as long as I’ve waited to read Unbreakable, finally holding it in your hands seems like the most surreal experience....more4.5 stars When you wait for a book as long as I’ve waited to read Unbreakable, finally holding it in your hands seems like the most surreal experience. Needless to say, the expectations that come with it are sky high, and there is always fear of disappointment, no matter how much you trust an author. In this case at least, I shouldn’t have feared, not even a little bit. Elizabeth Norris ended her duology just like she started it – confidently and with a bang.
The first few chapters of Unbreakable slowly paint a picture of the aftermath. Janelle’s world is in ruins – her life, her house, her school, her mother… it’s all gone, buried under the rubble. Janelle herself is doing her best to rebuild her life in a small apartment with Jared and Struz. Try as she might, she’s having a hard time finding anything to look forward to, except maybe the time she gets to spend with her baby brother. She is out of high school and working for the FBI, her shifts are endless and her efforts hopeless. People are disappearing all the time, and no one has any idea why.
Enter Taylor Barclay, the IA agent Ben and Janelle have a love-hate relationship with. He knows something about the missing people, but even more importantly, he seems to know something about Ben. He wants Janelle to help him solve the human trafficking case and Janelle is certainly brave enough to try, but first she has to decide whether she can trust him at all.
When I first started Unraveling, I didn’t even dream it would end up being a story about human trafficking. It started as your run of the mill YA speculative fiction and even when it proved to be much more, I somehow pictured the ending as something smaller, quieter. Contrary to my expectations, Unbreakable is full of action, a real attention gripper that will keep you on the edge of your seat. But even as such, it retained two things I’ve come to associate with Elizabeth Norris: elegance and thoughtfulness.
Good pacing is so hard to achieve in books like Unbreakable, but Norris knows how to keep a tight hold on her reader’s attention. The short chapters just added to the overwhelming sense of urgency, as did the countdown we all remember from Unraveling. It was impossible for me to sit still and read – I paced anxiously the entire time instead. It breaks my heart to think that my time with Ben and Janelle is over.
And now we finally come to the part I’m sure you all want to know about: Ben and Janelle. Once again Norris found a way to seamlessly blend action and emotion. In Unraveling, they faced external challenges, but their feelings never came into question. By the time they found each other in Unbreakable, they both had to do things they weren’t proud of and while neither of them ever doubted their love for each other, they were both well aware that sometimes love just isn’t enough.
I strongly recommend reading Undone, a HarperTeen Impulse novella from Ben’s POV, before Unbreakable. It covers some of the most important events from Unraveling, which will help you remember the details, but even more importantly, you’ll find out what happened to Ben between the two books.
Consistently mediocre is not a bad thing for a series to be, not when there are so many bad ones constantly being sold (and praised). Fragments is a s...moreConsistently mediocre is not a bad thing for a series to be, not when there are so many bad ones constantly being sold (and praised). Fragments is a story neither better nor worse than Partials, but it is just a bit more ambitious, as it splits into two plotlines that will most assuredly come together in the end.
In Fragments, the narrative is split between Marcus and Kira, and I was very surprised to find myself enjoying Marcus’ point of view more. Far more interesting things were happening on his end, while Kira’s journey seemed endless and monotone after a while. While Marcus was trying to stay alive in the middle of a war and form treaties and alliances at the same time, Kira, Samm and Heron embarked on a journey across the country, through hundreds of miles of toxic wasteland in hopes of finding the cure for both the RM, and the Partials’ expiration date.
I freely admit that I don’t remember much of the first book, but I distinctly remember not liking Marcus much, and yet he was my favorite in Fragments. He was funny and resourceful and ready to take action when action was required. Samm, on the other hand, lost some of his appeal, not because he did something wrong, but because he was mostly passive throughout the book. He just silently followed Kira, and although his reasons were good, it wasn’t very impressive. I respected Heron more for having a a firm opinion and not hesitating to express it loudly, even though she opposed Kira every step of the way.
In Fragments, Dan Wells raised some interesting questions that are easily applicable today, and then did his best to answer them through Kira and Samm, and possibly even Marcus. There were no easy answers for any of them, and making some of the decisions they were forced to make, meant stepping out of morally gray area into complete darkness. Mostly it was Kira who had to make these impossible choices, and I’m still not sure she made the right ones. Neither is she, for that matter, probably because right choices simply didn’t exist.
How easy would it be for a civilization so amazing to reach just a little too far? To do something it shouldn’t? to make one sacrifice or one compromise or one rationalization too many? If you can build a city so great, what’s to stop you from building a person? If you can control a lake, what’s to stop you from controlling a population? If you can subjugate nature itself, why should a sickness ever get out of hand?
Despite all the action and excitement, at least on one end, Fragments was still about 200 pages too long. I’m not one to shy away from long books, but 560 pages (US edition) is far too long, at least when so little is actually going on. What made it even worse was the vicious cliffhanger we were left with. I wish I’d have known about it in advance, I probably would have decided to wait a while to read it.
During the Spore Wars, genocide spores killed every person between twenty and sixty years of age, thus reducing the population to Starters and Enders,...moreDuring the Spore Wars, genocide spores killed every person between twenty and sixty years of age, thus reducing the population to Starters and Enders, those who were once most vulnerable. Since Callie and her baby brother Tyler have no living grandparents or any other family older than sixty, they are now unclaimed and squatting in a ruined building, together with many others. The only way for an unclaimed teen to earn some money is to rent their body for a month or more to an Elder through a company named Prime Destinations. With a sick brother and no place to go, Callie is forced to do just that. But her renter isn’t just an old lady looking to have some fun in a young body. She is on a mission to destroy Prime Destinations and Callie has no choice but to get involved.
Based on the reviews I’ve read so far, most people had issues with Price’s worldbuilding. I didn’t. Wiping out the entire population between twenty and sixty is, admittedly, a bold move, but if an outbreak were to happen, something similar to the described Spore Wars, we probably would inoculate children and old people first. What I found harder to believe was that the society would so easily discard unclaimed minors (children with no grandparents or guardians). If all you had were old people and kids, you’d first ensure the survival of your species by taking care of those who can actually reproduce.
The process of renting out teenage bodies to old people reminded me a little of that horrible movie Surrogates with Bruce Willis and that blonde actress whose name I always forget. (It’s Radha Mitchell, I googled her. If you ask me in five minutes, I probably won’t be able to remember.) It took a while for me to think of the movie because, up until that point, I had been doing my damndest to forget I ever even saw it. It wasn’t until I remembered it that I realized that Price hasn’t given us enough information on what happens to Elders’ bodies while they’re renting a teen. I can believe that they would stay in a chair connected to tubes and wires and surrounded by nurses for a week, but how exactly would that work long term? When they started talking about a permanent arrangement, I got a mental image of an old, wrinkled body rotting and melting in a chair. I’ll probably need to wash my brain with soap… again.
However, I think Callie was the source of most of my problems with Starters. Everything she did, from going into Prime Destinations, renting her body for a limited time, to helping Helena fight the Old Man and the Senator, seemed entirely selfless. And yet I never believed her. It seemed awfully convenient that she would have a sick baby brother to take care of, thus making Prime Destinations her only viable option. Perhaps I’d have been more comfortable with that if Price chose to explore their relationship a little bit more. I simply wasn’t as emotionally invested as I should have been and I felt that first Michael, and later a complete stranger, were doing a much better job of taking care of Callie’s brother than Callie ever did.
Starters was focused more on the technical, and less on the emotional side of the story which rarely works for me. However, I have many friends who enjoyed this book. If you’re into dystopias with sci-fi elements, I say go for it. Despite the issues I’ve mentioned (which may not even be issues for some), Starters is a solidly written and action-packed novel that will surely have a lot of fans.
Pure was deliciously dark and twisted, but to me, it just wasn’t good enough.
Three women step out – all fused – a tangle of cloth hiding their engorg...morePure was deliciously dark and twisted, but to me, it just wasn’t good enough.
Three women step out – all fused – a tangle of cloth hiding their engorged middle. Parts of each face seem to be shiny and stiff as if fused with plastic. Groupies, that’s what they’re called. One of the women has sloped shoulders, a curved spine. There are many arms, some pale and freckled, the others dark.
It took me about 120 pages to really get into this book – much more than it should have, of course. I always struggle with dystopias at first, but it’s usually for two or three chapters, not more than that. The beginning was very slow, and although I understand the need to build the atmosphere, especially in a book whose main goal seems to be to shock and repulse, I felt that it should have been done gradually, or at least differently. As much as I appreciated (though not enjoyed) the descriptions of people fused with objects or other people, I couldn’t help but wonder if that’s all I would ever get. Fortunately, things started moving just a little faster after those 120 pages, but Baggott still kept pressing the “pause” button on her action scenes in order to describe every little thing her characters came across. Everyone who knows me at least a little bit knows that I’m a big fan of descriptive writing when it serves to evoke a wide palette of emotion. My problem with Pure was that it aimed to evoke only one - disgust. After a hundred pages or so, it became extremely tiresome.
The story is told from multiple points of view. Oddly enough, the one I preferred, the one I could easily identify with, was neither Pressia nor Partridge, it was Lyda, the girl Partridge sort of liked, but mostly just used to get out of the Dome. I eventually started liking Partridge too, even though that took a while, but Pressia never really came alive for me. I still have no idea who she really is and how I’m supposed to feel about her. I would have loved to know more about the creatures she made to trade them on the market, but the one thing I wanted described in detail was just mentioned once or twice in passing.
As far as I’m concerned, the most important thing in a dystopian/post-apocalyptic novel isn’t the romance, the action, or even the writing – it’s social structure. You can be the most skilled writer on the planet, but if your society isn’t convincing enough, you will lose my interest before you can say ‘write a better book’. For me, this is where Baggott failed the most- I wanted to know more – more about the government on both sides (but more outside the Dome), about how it all came to be, and especially about the day when the world went to hell in a handbasket. I want to know how Partridge’s father became the most important person in the world, the only real decision maker. Where were the old governments? Who exactly pulled the strings ever since Partridge’s parents were young? Instead of focusing on endless descriptions of Groupies and Dusts, I would have liked to see at least some of those questions answered. Unfortunately, the little information I was offered wasn’t nearly believable enough.
That doesn’t mean that Pure was all bad. There were things I liked a lot, especially the fact that it managed to surprise me a few times. In a genre where predictability is accepted and even expected, Baggott somehow included quite a few twists and turns that I never saw coming. I think I would have liked Pure more if it were about a hundred pages shorter. It had its moments and I believe I will read book 2 when it comes out, but unfortunately, this one left a lot to be desired.
Favorite quote: She glances back before stepping into the alley, and she catches her grandfather looking at her the way he does sometimes – as if she’s already gone, as if he’s practicing sorrow.
This will seem like an odd thing to say, but the Newsflesh world is my world. I would love to live there with George, Shaun, Buffy and the rest of the...moreThis will seem like an odd thing to say, but the Newsflesh world is my world. I would love to live there with George, Shaun, Buffy and the rest of the characters. Yes, yes, I’m well aware of the zombies, but I honestly don’t care. Given the choice, that’s where I’d want to be.
The point of my little confession is that I welcome every word Mira Grant decides to write. This is not a novella per se because it doesn't have a single storyline, it’s nothing like Apocalypse Scenario #683: The Box. Instead we get to go back to the year 2014. and see how everything started. Nobody can accuse Mira Grant of being superficial. She created a world that is as detailed and as palpable as the one I’m living in, if not more. Everything is thought out. Everything makes perfect sense. Everything is properly explained.
We finally meet Amanda Amberlee, cured of leukemia and getting ready for her prom. No matter how many times Georgia and Shaun mentioned Amanda in their blog entries, it was still nice to find out a little more about her and what she was like when she was alive. We also get to meet Dr. Kellis, the idiots who stole the untested cure for cold and the journalist who wrote the famous article about it. Step by step we find out about the first outbreak and all the events that led to it.
Countdown consists only of facts, Grant didn’t attempt to provoke emotions of any kind or create connections between her readers and the characters. Of course, in doing so, she succeeded in depicting the very nature of the Kellis-Amberlee virus.
I’m sure I don’t need to convince fans of the trilogy to read Countdown.
Mira Grant will NEVER get 4 stars from me. Seanan McGuire is something else entirely. (less)
Let me tell you guys, if a supervolcano ever erupts and world as we know it comes to an end, I want Darla by my side 24/7. That said, I postponed writ...moreLet me tell you guys, if a supervolcano ever erupts and world as we know it comes to an end, I want Darla by my side 24/7. That said, I postponed writing this review for as long as I could because it was hard to pin down exactly why Ashen Winter didn’t work for me as well as Ashfall did. It’s still hard, but I think I have some idea, at least.
With Ashfall, Mullin set pretty high standards for the rest of the series, and although he met them with Ashen Winter, he failed to bring anything new into it. To me, Ashen Winter didn’t feel like a new book, but rather an extension of its predecessor. It became just an endless string of action scenes and they all blended into one. This lack of oscillations in the pacing bothered me in the first book as well, although the problem wasn’t quite as pronounced.
In addition, I expected this one to be just a bit more emotional. In Ashfall, Alex was still learning to be something other than a protected and pampered boy. He was brave, but he still thought like a teenager, for the most part. By the end of book one, and especially in Ashen Winter, everything he went through gave him a level of maturity one doesn’t usually see in sixteen-year-old boys. Because of that maturity, I expected a better emotional connection between me and Alex, but unfortunately, I didn’t get it.
Alex is very serious by nature and, truth be told, he had very little to laugh about in Ashen Winter which made his occasional humorous remarks all the more entertaining. Mullin used this wisely to break the tension in all the right places and make the book a bit lighter where it would otherwise have been too horrible to handle.
"The men didn't help at all-just kept playing cards. That seemed awfully sexist to me, but I guessed they weren't the enlightened kind of canibals."
I’m not sure whether Mike Mullin always intended for Alex and Darla to have this steady, mature relationship or he’s just very good at listening to his readers, but reading about these two, their relationship dynamics and their appreciation for each other, is a rare and true pleasure. Alex often says that he already feels married to Darla, which would sound positively ridiculous coming from any other teenage boy, but his overall maturity allows for such statements. They both carry around so much responsibility it’s only natural that it reflects on their love life as well.
The third book already has a title – Sunrise, and should be released in 2013. I love that title, it gives me great hope for Alex and Darla’s future.
For the first time ever, I felt ashamed of my species. The volcano had taken our homes, our food, our automobiles, and our airplanes, but it hadn’t t...moreFor the first time ever, I felt ashamed of my species. The volcano had taken our homes, our food, our automobiles, and our airplanes, but it hadn’t taken our humanity. No, we’d given that up on our own.
Being a teenager in a world covered with ashes is not easy at all. Alex discovered that after the eruption of a volcano in Yellowstone National Park. His parents and his little sister had left town just before the earth started to shake and Alex was left all alone in a burning house with no one but himself and two friendly neighbors to rely on. Pretty soon he decided to go on a journey with the hope of finding his family. Since walking was obviously not an option, he found his father’s old skis and prayed that he’ll be able to travel a hundred miles to his uncle’s house on them.
Even if I’d somehow failed to notice the name of the author, it would be very clear to me that Ashfall was written by a man, and I mean that in the best possible way. Details of taekwondo moves, very realistic interpersonal relationships and descriptions of natural physical urges were just a few telling signs. The love between Alex and Darla was beautiful and refreshing, especially when compared to all the exaggerated and unconvincing romances we came to expect in postapocalyptic YA literature. I loved the way Mullin reversed their roles and removed them from all stereotypes. Darla is a mechanic and an innovator, she is interested in tools and she is, without a doubt, the tough one in their relationship. That’s not to say that Alex is weak or that there’s anything remotely epicene about him. He is resourceful, mature and strong. Sure, sometimes he lets his temper get the best of him, but mostly he is calm and more level-headed than any 15-year-old I’ve ever met.(view spoiler)[In fact, he was a little too perfect at times. A teenage boy refusing sex because there are no condoms around? *snorts* (hide spoiler)]
My biggest problem with Ashfall was the pacing. It was really fast at the beginning which was great and it helped me with getting into the story. However, it remained the same throughout the novel – it never slowed down or sped up and after a while, I got lulled into the rhythm and the initial excitement was gone. The pacing really needs to oscillate in order to keep things interesting. Unfortunately, this led to a highly anticlimactic ending. I understand there will be a second book next year, but I still needed to have some sense of closure to be happy, and I definitely did not get it. That’s why my rating is closer to 3.5 stars with high hopes for future installments. (less)
I hate having to review this book. I've spent the last 24 hours thinking about it, trying to figure out a way to point out the good and the bad, inste...moreI hate having to review this book. I've spent the last 24 hours thinking about it, trying to figure out a way to point out the good and the bad, instead of just listing all the things that annoyed me. Here’s my conclusion: the only remotely fair thing to do is to write two separate reviews: one of the first and one of the second half of the book.
First half: ***** (five stars) The first half of Ashes was one of the best things I’ve read recently, and that’s saying a lot! It was amazingly well written, fast paced, with interesting, layered characters and a compelling plot. Alex is a 17-year-old girl with a brain tumor. She’s lost her parents a few years back and is now living with her aunt, but she spends most of her time in the hospital. At the beginning of Ashes, she is out of the hospital and has just decided not to do any more treatments, seeing as they are not helping her in any way. Instead, she chooses to go hiking in the wilderness. There she meets an old man and his granddaughter Ellie and shares a meal with them. Shortly after that, an EMP wipes out every electronic device and kills the old man in the process. That leaves Alex with the 8-year-old girl to take care of and some new abilities she doesn’t fully understand. After only a short walk, the girls stumble upon two teenagers who are eating another human. It becomes pretty obvious that the EMP affected human brains as well as the electronic devices. But why then did Alex and Ellie remain unchanged?! Ok, so we have a great plot, interesting characters, a subtle love story AND zombies eating intestants and gouging out people’s eyes. It’s no wonder we were all so thrilled. But then the second half came…
Second half: ** (two stars) I can pinpoint the exact moment where it all went wrong. From the end of one chapter to the beginning of the next, everything changed. Ashes went from being amazing to being utterly unimaginative and even boring at times. I had to force myself to finish it. It picked up the pace again on the last 50 pages or so, but only to make the most horrible, cliffhanger ending possible.
Here are some of my problems with the book: - Alex is 17, but she is far too skilled and mature for that to be believable, even more so because she's been very sick for a very long time. People who spend years in the hospital usually don’t know that much about surviving in the wilderness. She could have been book smart, sure, but building fires?!? I don't think so. She kept saying that her father taught her, but he was dead by the time she entered her teen years. - I had the same problem with her knowledge of medicine. Apparently her mother was a doctor and they used to spend their time together stitching up chickens. Honestly, I don’t know a single teen or pre-teen that interested in his/her parent’s work. - I hate cliffhanger endings, and this was the mother of them all! I don’t understand why authors feel the need to do that! A cliffhanger ending will make me less likely to read the next book, not more! And this particular author likes cliffhangers so much, she even ended a few chapters with them. When you end a chapter with a cliffhanger and start the next one with the words Three days later, you can count on losing a few readers.
Maybe Ilsa J. Bick is a pseudonym for two people, much like Ilona Andrews, only these two people don’t get along as well?!? I will still read the next book when it comes out, but I can’t say I’m too happy about it.
Michelle R., Wendy Darling and Bonnie have made this experience much better than it would have been without them. Thanks, girls! (less)
There are three things in this world I truly believe in. That the truth will set us free; that lies a...moreWorry not, my dears, this review is spoiler-free.
There are three things in this world I truly believe in. That the truth will set us free; that lies are the prisons we build for ourselves; and that Shaun loves me. Everything else is just details. - Georgia Mason
There's not much I can say about the Newsflesh trilogy that I haven't said a million times before, nothing spoiler-free at least, and I refuse to spoil even the smallest detail for any of you. As a result, this will be more of an emotional outburst than an actual review, so feel free to abandon ship if you’re not a fan of my all-too-frequent displays of sentimentality. I apologize in advance.
How do you bring down a massive government conspiracy? You don’t. You do what the crew of After the End Times does: you run for your life, save a few people, bury more than a few, tell the truth, and make sure to get it all on camera. Oh, and you pay attention when the villain starts explaining his actions because there might me more to it than he’s ready to admit. And when you stop to think about it and realize that it’s not worth it at all, you keep doing it because there’s nothing else you can do, and you hope for the best.
I didn’t dream of funerals this time. Instead, I dreamed of me and Shaun, walking hand in hand through the empty hall where the Republican National Convention was held, and nothing was trying to kill us. Nothing was trying to kill us at all.
As the story progressed and the science in it became more and more wild, I kept expecting to reach the point where I’d stop believing it, where it would be too much, but I never did. Therein lies the talent of Seanan McGuire – she is able to make the craziest things sound entirely convincing. It helps that her sense of pacing is nothing short of extraordinary, not to mention her ability to emotionally manipulate her readers. It’s not easy to keep people engaged and utterly fascinated through more than 500 pages, and yet Seanan McGuire accomplished it no less than three times.
I could (and should) say that the Newsflesh trilogy has ended with Blackout, but it hasn’t for me, not really. After 1800 pages, so much laughter, countless tears and a few frustrated screams, I know I’ll be back to reread it often. In fact, I’d already reread both Feed and Deadline more than once. Why would Blackout deserve any less? In any case, I’ve gained more from this experience than just a book I can label as my all-time favorite. I’ve bonded with people over it, and today I have the privilege of calling some of them my friends. We are a diverse group, but we started with this one thing we had in common, and in time, we developed some more. Therefore, it seems vastly unfair to call this just another trilogy. For me, it was much more than that. It was a chapter of my life and a truly life-changing experience.
Aside from the already released Countdown, Mira Grant will write two more novellas in the Newslesh universe, San Diego 2014: The Last Stand of the California Browncoats, and How Green This Land, How Blue This Sea. Seanan McGuire will also launch another duology with Orbit: Parasitology and Symbiogenesis, as Mira Grant. The story will have nothing to do with the Masons, but I’m sure it will be amazing. I guess we still have something to look forward to after all.
We know that we were in the right (The coming dawn, the ending night). So here is when we stop the lies. The time is come. We have to Rise. -From Dandelion Mine, the blog of Magdalene Grace Garcia, August 7, 2041.
This was a big surprise, though not entirely a pleasant one.
Try imagining the most disgusting relationship in the history of mankind. Are you done yet...moreThis was a big surprise, though not entirely a pleasant one.
Try imagining the most disgusting relationship in the history of mankind. Are you done yet? Need some help?
Now multiply that feeling of disgust by ten. Or even better, by a hundred. Oookay. I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling pretty nauseous here.
If you’ve got it, try thinking of a way to make that feeling and that relationship adorable. You heard me! Adorable. I thought it was impossible too, but I was very wrong. Isaac Marion actually did it.
R is a zombie. He and many others of his kind live in an old airport. A small group goes out regularly to hunt the Living. None of them remember anything from their previous lives, not even their own names. They aren't supposed to have feelings and they don’t speak. Some of them are pretty intelligent and observant, they just can't articulate thoughts into words. Here’s how our R describes them:
Eating is not a pleasant business. I chew off a man’s arm, and I hate it. I hate his screams because I don’t like pain, I don’t like hurting people, but it’s the world now. This is what we do. Of course if I don’t eat all of him, if I spare his brain, he’ll rise up and follow me back to the airport, and that might make me feel better. I’ll introduce him to everyone, and maybe we’ll stand around and groan for a while. It’s hard to say what friends are any more, but that might be close.
I don’t know why we don’t speak. I can’t explain the suffocating silence that hangs over our world, cutting us from each other like prison-visit Plexiglas. Prepositions are painful, articles are arduous, adjectives are wild overachievements. Is this muteness a real physical handicap? One of the many symptoms of being Dead? Or do we just have nothing left to say?
A love story from a zombie’s POV really isn’t for everybody. Marion’s prose is beautiful and breathtaking at times, but he describes his world in gory details. It’s often bloody, smelly and disgusting. But, as it turns out, it’s also very sweet, gentle and simply adorable.
Through the memories of a guy whose brain he ate, R falls in love with a Living girl named Julie. He soon saves Julie from other zombies and hides her in an airplane to keep her safe. Step by step, Julie helps him remember what it was like to be alive.
If you think you can handle zombies carrying pieces of brain in their pockets and other zombies trying to have sex but not quite succeeding, you should really read this book. You won’t be sorry.
Favorite quote: She smiles. Her eyes are classic novels and poetry. (less)
I am breathless, speechless and whateverless (probably mindless) at the moment. The best I can do is quote my favorite, if sometimes cowardly Newsie,...moreI am breathless, speechless and whateverless (probably mindless) at the moment. The best I can do is quote my favorite, if sometimes cowardly Newsie, Alaric Kwong:
"Son of a chicken-fucking soy farmer and a diseased convention-center security guard."
This book broke my heart. Twice. Today I have a headache and puffy bags under my eyes. But it was worth it.
Kellis-Amberlee is a fact of existence. Yo...moreThis book broke my heart. Twice. Today I have a headache and puffy bags under my eyes. But it was worth it.
Kellis-Amberlee is a fact of existence. You live, you die, and then you come back to life, get up, and shamble around trying to eat your former friends and loved ones. That's the way it is for everyone.
Two of my favorite books this year both have zombies in them. One is The Reapers Are the Angels. The other is Feed. (view spoiler)[I wonder what that says about me. (hide spoiler)] But they are really very different books, because The Reapers Are the Angels is completely character based. Temple is the only constant – you live and you die with her. Reading the first half of Feed felt very much like watching a documentary. This is a book about politics, about the clash of generations, about a world that is terrified. It’s about standing up for your beliefs, choosing your priorities and knowing who to trust. It’s about friendship, convictions and brotherly love.
It is the year 2039. and the world after the Rising is a very different place. Siblings Georgia and Shaun Mason and their friend Georgette "Buffy" Meissonier are journalists. The three of them run their own news blog. They are the first bloggers ever to be allowed full access to a presidential candidate and they intend to make the most of it. They have George to lead and be as objective as possible, they have Shaun using his people skills to open the doors for them, and, thanks to Buffy and her technology, they have eyes and ears everywhere – which can be both good and very dangerous. Their ratings are suddenly going up and their credibility is as strong as ever (which is all George really cares about). But politics is a dirty business and before they know it, they find themselves in a world of trouble. If I would have to choose a single word to describe each of them, Georgia would be truth, Shaun would be adventure, and Buffy would be emotion. All three of them are weird in their own way, but they are also amazing persons.
It is with great joy that I report that the youth of America aren’t actually riddled with ennui and apathy; that the truth hasn’t been fully forsaken for the merely entertaining; that there’s a place in this world for reporting the facts as accurately and concisely as possible and allowing people to draw their own conclusions. I’ve never been more proud of finding a place where I can belong.
There is no romance in Feed. Georgia and Shaun don’t date. In fact, George doesn’t even touch people other than her brother. But there’s heart in every sentence and there are emotions too big for words. Seanan McGuire did extensive research for this book - it involved doctors, epidemiologists, technicians and people who were willing to try some of the stunts she described. That’s just one of the things that make this book amazing.
Feed has been nominated for the Hugo Award, and it's definitely a well deserved nomination. I'll keep my fingers crossed. Apparently, it already won the Goodreads Choice Award for Science Fiction in 2010. That too was well deserved.
The second book, Deadline, was released on May 31st 2011. The third book, Blackout is expected in May of 2012.
The harvest is the end of this world, and the reapers are the angels.
I've read countless books in my life and through them I've been introduced to lit...moreThe harvest is the end of this world, and the reapers are the angels.
I've read countless books in my life and through them I've been introduced to literally thousands of characters. Some of them I forgot almost instantly. Others I need to be reminded of and even then remember only faintly. Then there are some I remember clearly because a part of them was important to me. But there is also a very small number of characters that stay with me always, characters that follow me around like shadows... shadows that once taught me an important lesson I'll never forget. One of them is Stephen King's Dolores Claiborne. Alden Bell's Temple is another.
This woman, this young girl, this child, is sixteen characters folded into one, and yet on the surface she is as simple as a girl can be. She is a character that makes your heart ache and your head spin. She is someone you have no choice but to love... someone you'll do your best to understand... someone you'll always want to be.
At first I was expecting a paranormal YA novel... I didn't read any of the reviews and I guess I just made a stupid assumption. Temple IS fifteen years old and the book really HAS zombies, but that's where the similarities with all the novels we usually read end. The Reapers Are the Angels is NOT a YA novel! It's post-apocalyptic fiction at its best. Actually, it's not a novel that people under the age of 18 should read. It has violence, sex and more violence and it's scary and horrible at times. But it is also wonderful and deep and mature and not to be taken lightly at all. The psychological developement of Bell's characters is astonishing, almost incredible.
If you have a strong stomach and you want to take a break from all the predictable fiction that surrounds us, The Reapers Are the Angels might be the novel for you. It doesn't follow any rules, it will make you skip dinner, and it will definitely make you cry. But most of all, it will surprise you with its simplicity and its depth and it will probably teach you a thing or two about yourself... and about who you want to be when world as we know it comes to an end.
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Alden Bell's gorgeously written and bloody tale, which mutates from a zombie story into something of beauty and meaning. . . . Bell clearly owes great literary debt to Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" and the Southern Gothic school of Faulkner and O'Connor, but The Reapers Are the Angels shows the reader that they need not settle for mere blood 'n' guts when horror tales can, and should, go many extra miles. —Sarah Weinman, Summer Reading Pick, Salon.com(less)
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