The Red Queen Series

The Red Queen Series

Red Queen (book 1), Glass Sword (book 2), King's Cage (book 3)

by Victoria Aveyard

This series is FANTASTIC! One of the tricks that many author take a long time to master is the ability to surprise the reader. In teen novels, this is especially apparent in mysteries; you can usually see whoever "did it" before the author actually has the reveal. Victoria Aveyard has managed the unlikely... and not only does she surprise the reader, she does so many times in one novel. Victoria Aveyard also begins to experiment with changing points of view later in the series, which shows the benefits of using changing POV to show different sides to a story.

I picked up the first novel in this series, Red Queen, a while ago and postponed reading it until about a week before I would be at a signing event that Victoria Aveyard was attending. My goal was to read all three of the current books before I met the author. The first book was really good. It paints a dystopian society in which the government is run by silver bloods- people with silver blood who wield special powers. These people use the red bloods- people like you and me with no special powers- are disadvantaged in society, acting as slaves to the silvers or being forced to die in war against another society. The book really starts a few chapters in when the main character, Mare, finds out that she is not exactly a red blood- she is something new altogether. So marks the turning point in the novel and in society; how can a society stand when the oppressed begin to rebel, and when all they consider to be true is discovered to be incomplete? Without giving too many spoilers, all I can really say is that this series is really good and well worth the read; especially for fans of novels like The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and Cinder by Marissa Meyer.

The next two novels continue from this point; what is happening to society, what does Mare do to help the reds and the silvers, will she survive, and who might betray her? The novels work their way towards either the downfall of a nation or a change in how it is run... we still don't know what will happen!

To give this series a rating (for the three books that are out so far), I have to give the series a solid 4.5. The series is really good and keeps you involved in the action, however after a certain point the reader just starts to get mad at all of the plot twists. Another point of detraction is that the books suddenly switched points of view halfway through the series. Although I understand why the author decided to start using this device to show what was happening when characters were no longer in the same place as each other, I still felt that it was sudden and kind of annoying. Other than that, you have to love dystopian books- especially those with unforeseen plot twists!

I had a really hard time deciding what kind of food I was going to relate this book to- but, with the help of another Victoria Aveyard fan, we decided that the best food metaphor would be a box of assorted truffles from a really good brand, like Godiva. Every truffle you bite into is different and you don't know what kind of filling it will have; the one box of chocolates will just keep surprising you, like how this series keeps surprising the reader. The high quality of the book would put it on par with higher- but not really high - quality chocolates, because it is really good but not quite good enough that it has all-organic ingredients and came from another country. In general, it is the kind of gift that keeps on giving and can be truly enjoyable- just like a box of chocolates.

If you want to read this book series (trust me, you do!) then you can check out the author at https://www.victoriaaveyard.com/. This series is so good that I actually ended up driving through a rainstorm just to get the third book!!!

     ~Lucy

Empress of a Thousand Skies

Empress of a Thousand Skies
Written by Rhoda Belleza
Published by Razorbill

It had been a long time since I had found a decent book to read. There had been many new authors attempting to write amazing stories, but some ended up, in my opinion, with unrealistic romances, weak plot lines, and characters that just weren't believable. As someone who enjoys writing, I know that it is hard build the characters and plot into a complex, great story. Just when I had realized that I couldn't find I good book, I had stumbled across Empress of a Thousand Skies. I started it, not really expecting to like it, but soon, I couldn't stop reading the book.

Empress of a Thousand Skies was an interesting and enjoyable book. While the plot was not entirely unique, the story was not as predictable as one might expect. Yes, there were some obvious clichés and it seemed to have been written for a certain age group, rather than being universal. However, the characters were intriguing and the setting was impressive. The author was able to portray the characters in such a way that caused the reader to sympathize with them. I also enjoyed the diversity of the characters. They were all from different planets and were subjected to stereotypes. The plot was written around an captivating concept that not many authors choose to write about. While I usually don't enjoy books that go back and forth between two separate characters, Belleza made it work out okay in the end. I did not enjoy everything about this book, though. It was strange that the two main characters had never really crossed paths in the book, and were both extremely different. The transitions between characters were not very smooth, either. While the readers were able to sympathize with the characters, it is hard to relate to them as their situations are so difficult to compare with real-life situations. At the beginning of the book, it was easy to get lost in the foriegn words of different planets and the odd people of the government. Belleza could have expanded her book much more in order to fully develop the plot, characters, setting, and much more. I look forward to the sequel book she writing.

I would compare this book to a soup. Everything is blended well and the "flavors" mostly go together. There are garnishes that complement the finished product, and the use of "spices" enhances the base flavors. There may be a few parts that are not mixed in well, and a few ingredients that not everyone enjoys "eating" in their "soup". And some people just don't like soup. Some people need more "seasoning" in their soup, and some people need less. It all depends on what the preferences of the person who "eats" it are. Overall, I would guess that most people would "eat" it again. Personally, I would read this book again, and I would give it 3.5 out of 5 stars.
If you want to know more about Empress of a Thousand Skies or the author, visit her website at http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/2135166/rhoda-belleza

~Erin

Renegade (and Reckoning)

By Kerry Wilkinson

Despite the extreme popularity of the Hunger Games trilogy there were some serious flaws.  This book, Renegade, played into several of them.  One of my biggest problems wight his book was the extraordinary resemblance to Catching Fire, the second book in the Hunger Games trilogy.  In order to fully explain my problems with this book I will be giving away part of the ending.  So there will be SPOILERS. Ok, I'll start at the beginning.  Renegade is the second book in the trilogy.  I read the first one, Reckoning, probably over a year ago.  I found it extremely similar to the Hunger Games when I read it for these reasons.  There is something called the Reckoning where everyone takes basically an aptitude test that nobody really understands how it works.  They get a status as a result of this test: Elite, Member, Inter, or Trog.  That's not the important part though.  Then, there is the Choosing.  It is basically the reaping from the Hunger Games.  A certain number of people are chosen from the North, the South, the West, and the East based on the status they got as part of the Reckoning.  (Just a note, the reckoning is a test that everyone takes when they are 16).  Silver Blackthorne, the main character, gets Member, which is very good for where she's from.  She has a friend, Opie, who she goes out hunting with even though it's illegal.  I'd say that's pretty similar to the Katniss Gale situation. Silver gets chosen as part of the Choosing which means that she has to go as an offering to the King.  King Victor is the king as a result of the war 17 years earlier.  Silver has a little brother, I'll come back to him.  Silver is torn from her mom (her dad's dead, a little like Katniss's), her little brother, and  her friend Opie.  She is brought to the Castle Windsor and makes some friends on the way.  So this all happens in the first book.  She also discovers bad things happen in the castle.  Most offerings die.  She gets them all (as in most of the offerings still alive) to escape after befriending Imrin, a male offering.  Imrin is basically Silver's Peeta.  Imrin is essential to the escape plan.

Ok, onto the second book.  This book is essentially a linking book.  It is bringing together the first and third books.  It doesn't really have a plot of it's own and Silver really doesn't have any character development.  So the Gale/Peeta or Opie/Imrin romance thing happens, which was not done well.  It was more of an annoyance and was never really dealt with in this book.  Silver worries about it but never does anything about it.  If you've read Catching Fire, then you know there is a second Reaping.  Guess what! There is a second choosing in this book and it is made especially to get at Silver, the same way the Quarter Quell reaping was to get at Katniss.  The rules are changed so that Silver's brother is chosen.  And then some more stuff happens and Silver realizes she is being used.  All I have to say is that at least she notices because Katniss didn't catch on this quickly.  Then at the end Silver, Imrin, Opie, and one of the other offerings, Faith, return to Castle Windsor to do some stuff and on the way out Imrin gets caught.  He is still caught at the end of the book.  Basically, the same thing happened to Peeta.  As I said, Imrin is basically Silver's Peeta.  So my prediction is that when she chooses, Silver will choose Imrin because Katniss chose Peeta.  There were more similarities as far as plot and characters go, but those were the most glaring.

You probably assume I didn't like this book because my review isn't exactly praising the book.  But I do have to say that I enjoyed reading it and plan to read the third.  I don't think it was that interesting as a whole, but it held my attention until about the last 100 pages.  Something was almost always happening, which was why I could tolerate it.  Also, the writing was pretty good.  There were some stylistic things I didn't like, but that's just me.  I personally think she uses the word "as" too much but I don't think that's really something to complain about.  As a whole, the writing portrayed what it was supposed too in an interesting way.  There were some places where I would have preferred a little more description, but that was about it.  Overall, the tone and style matched the subject matter and age group the book was targeting.  In general, I also liked the characters and whatever was happening at the moment.  More happened than I explained and what actually happened was interesting enough. It was exciting, if a little predictable, but still enjoyable.

I'd say this book (Renegade, that's the book I'm actually reviewing) is like chicken.  It's a pretty generic flavor and a lot of people say "tastes like chicken" about other things.  That doesn't always means its bad, it's just nothing special.  This book is a 2.5.  Strong in some ways, weak in others.  Enjoyable to read but not super exciting either.

Hit

By Delilah s. Dawson

Patsy is an indentured servant of the United States government, which has turned into the Valor National government. Valor National was a bank that got the United States out of debt by adding a clause in a credit card application which allows them to demand all the money owed on the spot, have them be killed, or have them be turned into a hit man. Patsy's mother had taken out a huge loan and now Patsy has to either kill ten people in five days or her mother dies.

This book had a good idea, but the way it was executed was a little boring. The entire book focused on Patsy and Wyatt, the son a man she just killed, riding around in a van and killing people. Their relationship was very implausible, considering Patsy killed her father and they met when he was about to get revenge by killing her, and a chapter later they were making out. Overall their relationship was not very fleshed out, and the pretense the book was set in was a little implausible. On one hand, what is the chance that a bank can manage to set up a dictatorship that allows them to take people as assassins, and on the other hand the entire plot hinges on no one saying anything. I find it very hard to believe that people would be dying and getting shot and no one connects the dots and makes a conspiracy theory. Another thing I had a problem with was that there was supposedly a rival bank that was competing with Valor National and both were using the same tactics to get people to kill others, the rival bank was mentioned two or three times in the book, and I get that it's a series and the confusion might be to have the reader want to read the next book but honestly it confused me more than made me interested. One thing I really liked about the book was the dog, Matty, and the dog never dies so I'm very happy about that.

Overall I thought the book was ok, it had a good idea but certain parts took away from it. This book was like bread with butter and a little bit of cinnamon sugar. Good, but not so special that it could be its own meal and similar to other books. I'd give it a 3.25

Whisper

by Chris Stuyk-Bonn

     Whisper has lived in the woods ever since she was abandoned as an infant because of a disfigured mouth.  In her society, disfigurations are frowned upon, so she instead lives with a few others who were also abandoned and taken in by a man named Nathaniel.  The beginning is very expository because Whisper doesn’t talk much, and when she does, she whispers - hence her name - and the book takes a while for the book to get going.

     After Whisper is taken away by the father who abandoned her then moved again to the city and forced to work to give her father money, the story picks up.  Whisper meets other characters who also have disfigurations and learns how to live with her own and use the talents she has to make a living.  I enjoyed the middle when Whisper was growing as a character and learning new things and the story was developing.  However, partway through, a doctor offered to fix Whisper’s disfiguration, and while this was probably supposed to make Whisper struggle with her identity and how much her disfiguration felt a part of her, I felt as though it undermined the premise.  Their society was advanced enough to be able to identify her disfiguration - a cleft palate - and the doctor has fixed many of them before, but they still treat those with any sort of disfiguration as evil and abandon their infants in the woods.  When the book started, I thought that there was almost no technology and they all believed in magic, but that’s not the case.  They call Whisper a devil, but that’s the only time anyone seems to believe that there’s anything supernatural in the world.

     This is a 2.7.  The writing sometimes got really wordy and I didn’t like the world it was set in.  The world could have been fleshed out some more, but I did like the middle and the development that happened there.  This is like a cream puff with really good cream inside but with the outer dough somewhat lacking.

The Winner's Curse

Written by: Marie Rutkoski

This book is like a tootsie roll lolly pop. You have to get through the boring outside before the delicious center, but the wait is definitely worth it.

Fair haired Valorian Kestrel is the daughter of a famous general who’s expectation of her is to join the military or marry. Kestrel is not encouraged to play her beloved piano, so when she accidentally overhears the auctioning of a Herrani slave who is a fellow musician, she uncharacteristically buys him from the market. She soon finds that he is a proud and unbeaten man, and she asks him for his complete honesty in all things. Kestrel learns from Arin many things about herself and his past, and she realizes that the conquered Herrani are not the helpless people she may have thought them to be. From their conversations, Kestrel begins to see the true nature of her society, her family, and of course, herself.

To be completely honest, the minute I opened this book I was ready to write a completely sub-par review. Oh no, I thought, another book about a badass princess. By chapter two, I was prepared for the general mediocrity that would be sure to come.

If I have ever pitched a book to a potential reader with the promise that it would “pick up near the end,” this is the book I was talking about. The beginning was typical and uninteresting. The second half though, is fast paced and absorbing. The plot is not boring at all, and it constantly is developing and moving into new territory. The characters don’t sit there mulling over one little snag the entire time. So that was good. I stress again, just get to the second half.

But what is really the best aspect of this book is the romance. Yay for romance lovers like me! In my opinion, the relationship between Kestrel and Arin is captivating. They are from two different worlds, and they are separated by their race and class. Neither wants to be in the position they are in, but both realize that they just have to suck it up and figure out a way to make it work. Kestrel is trapped under the expectant gaze of her military father, and Arin is a slave cast from his previously noble position. But don’t worry, this isn’t another princess-falls-in-love-with-the-stable-hand kind of novel. I think we’ve all had enough of those. This is a story about two people who are equal in every respect, except in the way that society perceives them.

The book also explores the nature of love of country; how loyalty to one’s people and heritage may not always be what is right.

Okay, yes, there is a certain amount of cheese, and yes, the names of some of the characters are less than creative. And yes, there is of course the obligatory dress scene, where the protagonist in question describes the every detail of her debut gown. Basically, if you are unwilling to read through the tea parties and debutante balls then this book is not for you. But what I think matters most in judging a book, is how you feel when you turn the last page (warning! It’s a cliffhanger!). What I was feeling when I finally reached the end, was that I wished I had the second book next to me so I could start reading immediately!

All in all, I would steer you away from this novel if you aren’t into the whole royalty and dresses thing. And if you had any doubts about the genre, it is one hundred percent a romance. If you hate romances, don’t even bother. If however, you are okay with a little cheese now and then and love this kind of novel, then I absolutely recommend it.

4/5 stars!

Landry Park

Written by: Bethany Hagen 

This book is similar to a packet of oyster crackers: tasty but not quite the same as the whole clam chowder.

Set in futuristic America, this novel follows Madeline Landry; she is the heir to her family's vast fortune but she's not so sure she wants it yet. America is controlled by the gentry, and the people are broken up into classes. First, there is the Uprisen, a select group of wealthy gentry who control basically the entire country. The heirs are expected to marry early and produce children quickly; this task falls to Madeline, and she is reluctant until she meets the very suitable and handsome David Dana. The second class of citizens is the middle class, people allowed to work in trades and service to the gentry and upper class. Finally, there is the lowest of the low, the Rootless, who handle the radioactive materials that provide the gentry with their endless wealth and power. The Rootless are sick and poor, and they are constantly dying as a result of the massive amounts of radioactivity they receive each day. The gentry, however, give little thought to these dying people other than to ridicule and look down upon their insignificant existences. But when Cara Westoff, Madeline's childhood tormentor, says that she is attacked by the Rootless, Madeline doesn't immediately believe her, and she feels she must sort out the truth. She travels to the Rootless community with David Dana, where she witnesses countless injustices. Her view of her previously idyllic home is completely changed, and she must decide how to handle her newly found awareness of her society. She must ultimately choose between justice and comfort.

This novel is a pretty good read. The plot is interesting and the story is fairly original. If you like princess-y type books and futuristic novels, this book is certainly a blend of the two genres. There are several plot lines to consider while reading, which is always more interesting than just one, so that is certainly a plus. In general, the book was good.

There are a few qualms I had that I might point out for consideration, however. Generally, the characters are of the slow variety; they do not catch on to simple plot points until long after the reader has. Along the same lines, they do not address their seemingly most relevant and intriguing problems first, instead they ignore them until there is no avoiding them. This is frustrating, as the reader obviously doesn't want to wait while the protagonist floats around, unaware or uninterested in their most pressing problems. Finally, and most importantly, the book was a little boring in some parts. I was never seized with the urge stop everything and read until I was finished. It was in some places a little drab.

The book in the end was not bad though, just a little slow. I would consider it for a quick read if you have the time. By the final couple chapters, it was definitely more interesting, and the pace did pick up.

3/5 stars!

Hungry

By H. A. Swain. Published this month.

      

Thalia Apple lives in the not-too-distant future where all food is gone. Wars, famine, and plagues have eradicated all plants and animals save humans. It's only thanks to One World corporation that humans receive Synthamil and inoculations that provide nutrition while balancing hormones and suppressing hunger. Thalia's mother and father are renowned scientists and engineers within One World corp, so they live in relative luxury. However, Thalia thinks differently from the rest. She resists One World's vapid consumerism and likes to learn about the past where farmers grew and ate their own food and made things with their hands. Recently, she has been feeling something strange inside: she feels hungry. Soon she learns that the world is nothing like she knew, and some rumors have more truth than she thinks.

       I read this book on a recommendation and I believe it was well placed. This book is very commendable as a futuristic dystopian, providing insight into several niches of society: the ultra rich, the very poor, and several in-between. It goes past the simple overlord class/working class trope, which I appreciate. The only downfall in the worldbuilding is due to Thalia's ignorance about specific events in the past, which I find frustrating. I want to know more about how One World became so powerful. I guess I will have to wait for a sequel.
      
The plot is a bit slow to start. In fact, I was bored. However, I kept the recommendation in mind and stuck it through to the end; it gradually became more interesting. The ending swooped down in a bit of a rush and left plenty of room for more, so I am expecting a trilogy in the making.

       Overall I like the story. Looking back, events are a bit cookie cutter and happen conveniently, some characters are irrational, (they are only human, but dang are they annoying), and once or twice I could guess the plot before it happened. Despite all this, I see no real issues in the story or its telling and I pass on the recommendation for the sake of a good distopian.

       I rate this book a 3.5. It's definitely a worthy choice for a rainy day, but since I wasn't captured in the very beginning I won't go the full 4 stars. As a food, I compare this book to an artisan hamburger. It was crafted with forethought, but the bun is a bit too big so the first bite is just bread. After that, it's pretty good all the way to the end.

Chorus

By Emma Trevayne


This is the sequel to Coda, an intriguing futuristic story about a society that is controlled by addictive music until a boy named Anthem creates his own music and leads a revolution.  Chorus is the story of his younger sister, Alpha, who has moved to Los Angeles and is working hard in school so she can discover a cure to strange and powerful flashbacks that have been haunting her and her twin brother, Omega. There was a lot that bothered me about this book.  There was one of the most pointless deaths I have read (which I won’t expound on to avoid spoilers) as well as a character just being able to guess a super important password, which is something that always bothers me in books.  When setting a password on a top-security system, it’s not going to be something that someone can just guess. However, what bothered me most of all was that the author hid relevant information that the main character knew.  For the first few chapters of the book, Alpha is worried.  But does she say what she’s worried about?  No.  The worry is a primary driving force to Alpha’s character, and the reader is kept in the dark.  The back cover states that “it takes only one call to bring Alpha back to the brother that raised her ... and to the Web.”  And the call comes at the end of the third chapter.  So this is when the reader is finally told what’s bothering Alpha, right?  Wrong.  She and her friends are set into a frenzy, immediately packing up to go back to the Web.  They were clearly all prepared for this and they all know exactly what’s going on, but the reader doesn’t.  It isn’t until almost forty pages in that it’s finally revealed that Anthem is dying.  There were hints - a snippet of dialogue, for instance, but the connection between the call and Anthem’s illness are thin and I only found them when I went back to reread the beginning and was looking for them.  All it would take is one explicit thought of Alpha’s to flesh out her worry and save the reader a lot of confusion.  Maybe this was mentioned at the end of Coda, but I read that a long time ago (when it came out as a galley), and again, all it would have taken is a simple thought and everything would be clear. Because of things like this, the story was difficult to follow at times.  There was a lot of inferring left to the reader, which can be good at sometimes, but it happened way too much in this story.  It made me think in the wrong way - not a thought-provoking thinking, but more of trying to piece the plot together thinking.  The author took the “show don’t tell” a little too far.  It’s one thing to wonder about motivations, secrets, or plot twists, but another thing to wonder about what happened five pages ago.
This book is a 2.  There was nothing especially special about this book and there were too many things that bothered me peppered throughout.  There were some old characters and some new ones.  There were some cheap plot devices, but there were also a few interesting concepts, though nothing that wasn’t done better in Coda.  If Chorus were a food, it would be overly-processed chicken.  The chicken is dependent on packaging to sell itself, and you’re not really sure what you’re eating as you chew.

A Girl Called Fearless

Extra Points for a cool cover :)

Written by: Catherine Linka

Eat some granola bars on the go while you read about Avie's fast paced escape!

Avie Reveare lives in a Paternalist society, where her every move is controlled by the men that surround her. She must adhere to the strict rules that govern her and all the women, and she never has a moment of privacy (really, never). When Avie's father arranges her marriage to a vile Paternalist billionaire, Avie realizes that maybe it's time for her to run away to Canada, where women are free and treated equally. With the help of her long-time love interest Ronan, and a network of friends, she is spirited away in the night. On her way to freedom though, she slowly realizes just how oppressive the Paternalists are. She deals with romance, betrayal, and lots of action.

I liked this book! The plot/setting was really original and definitely was an interesting commentary on the society we live in today. A lot of books that I read these days just seem like a repeat of the same plot over and over again (vampires and werewolves anybody?), so I appreciate the originals! The book was written well, and the sequence of events was interesting. All the supporting characters are dynamic, and their personal stories really add to the book as a whole. I liked this especially because the story wasn't 100% focused on one single character.

Ok, now for the not so fun part. Unfortunately, I was disappointed with Avie herself. Several times I found myself thinking that she was unrealistically thick. It took her chapters for her to figure out what I already had, and she made mistakes that nobody in their right mind would think of doing. She was just a little unrealistically lacking in forward thinking.

On the whole, the book was a success, and there were a few moments where I was very impressed. I would give this book a thumbs up, but maybe not recommend for your first choice.

3/5 stars

Parched

Written by: Georgia Clark
Gulp down a tall glass of H2O and some water crackers for this one!

Yay for sci-fi/adventure/romance/dystopian original novels! Seriously, I really liked this book. Clark is a charismatic writer, and her characters are complex and fun to get to know.

Tessendra Rockwood is a spoiled rich girl who (for reasons initially unknown) leaves the protective dome of her city, Eden, to camp out in the Badlands. The contrast is horrifying; people in Eden live clean, happy lives and have an abundance of precious water, while in the Badlands children fight over the smallest sip of muddy liquid. Tessendra is eventually found by a member of the rebel group Kudzu, who are intent on ending the growing inequality. She returns home and lives with her uncle, who she thinks may be helping Eden keep the water in and the Badlanders out. She works undercover with the Kudzu, and eventually hatches a plan to help free the water, all while balancing her time studying at home with her Uncle's assistant, a handsome but odd boy who seems just a little off.

I can't say more without revealing too much, but I can say that this is a really good novel. To quote from the back of the book, "robots, renewable resources, and romance get tangled together in this thrilling futuristic adventure." It's true! The plot is just complicated enough to be interesting, and the setting is full of possibilities and a possible commentary on the current global situation. There is no stagnancy in this novel (in so many others I feel like I just want to get on with it already!), in fact the plot keeps twisting and turning so I was never bored. The villain is thoroughly evil, and the heroes are satisfyingly daring.

There are only two things that I wasn't quite happy with. First, I found it difficult to like the beginning of the book. It was a little confusing, and I wasn't sure what was going on. My advice is just to get through it, Chapter 3 is where it starts to pick up, and that's only page 26 so it's really not that hard. Second, occasionally Clark fell into the trap of making her main character a little too slow. I understood key plot points chapters before Tessendra did, which was fairly frustrating. This was my biggest qualm, and besides that, the book was awesome!

If you like futuristic adventure romances, I absolutely recommend this one.

4/5 stars!

Extraction

By: Stephanie Diaz

The set up for this book was very good.  The idea was excellent.  It was similar to a lot of dystopian novels with hints of science fiction and romance which made for a very interesting mix.  The setting was on a different planet, Kiel.  The main character, Clementine, is from the surface.  Everyone from the surface goes to school and until they are 16.  When they turn 16 they take a test to find out what their "promise score" is.  If they are in the top ten then they are "extracted" and get to live in the core.  If they are not selected they are either replaced or they are simply killed once they turn 20.  Everyone alive on the 20th

birthday dies.  The moon spews acid which can kill someone in 10 minutes.  The core set up a force field  to protect against the acid but sometimes it leaks.  As always in books, the main character is selected to live in the core.  Her only problem is that leaving the surface means leaving Logan, a 17 year old.  When she leaves Logan she plans to get an audience with the leader of the planet, Commander Charlie, and convince him to bring Logan to the core.  There are other sections of the earth, the mantel and lower among them.  Extractions come from those sectors as well and they are trained together.  It was a very interesting idea and was executed fairly well.

I didn't think all of the characters were explained well enough.  I think that all of the characters had potential to be very interesting but in the end, some lacked complexity.  I don't think this is true for all the characters but I think it is especially true Sam, Ariadne, and Logan.  Sam was a bully in the Core who had a high ranking.  Ariadne was another girl from the surface who was roommates with Clementine in the core. Logan wasn't in the book that much so it is understandable but I think a greater connection between Logan and Clementine could have been established before Clementine is selected.  Being in the moment when they are together would have been more powerful than just the thoughts that Clementine has in the Core.  Ariadne definitely wasn't explored enough.  She was kind to Clementine but was easily overcome in the core and could have been a very interesting character if she had had a bigger role.  After a certain point in the book we never hear about Ariadne again.  I think Sam was the most one dimensional character.  He didn't seem to have any emotion other than anger and lust.  I don't quite understand his fixation with Clementine.  Sam was very competitive and Clementine threatened his authority so it made sense that Sam hated her but it was odd how much he hated her and how much he pursued her even when she wasn't doing anything. 

Overall this book was pretty good.  I was just like, well, a clementine.  Juicy and sweet.  Although, sometimes peeling the clementine can be a little frustrating.  Overall this book was a 3.

Plus One

Written by: Elizabeth Fama

Crack these pages open while gobbling up a rich chocolate cake laced with spice. 

If you’re a solid romance buff like me, but also enjoy alternate reality adventures, this is the book for you. 

Sol Le Coeur is part time hot-headed sass master and part time devoted caretaker. She keeps her heart closed off to everyone but her Poppu, who she is fiercely devoted to, so much so that she is willing to risk her freedom so he may hold his great-grandchild in his arms before his dying day. When she accidentally swipes the wrong baby from the hospital, Sol is caught up in a whirlwind of intrigue and confusion that all lead back to her estranged brother, Ciel, and the fractured society they must live in. Sol must navigate her way through the mysteries while conforming to a rigid day-night schedule. She is only allowed out under the cover of darkness. And she manages to handle (we hope) this all while braving the emotional roller coaster of true love.

I really liked this book. It’s no Jane Austen, and there are a few hiccups in the plot, but it has a fun and faced paced style that is truly enticing. It’s the kind of book that reaches out to you and drags you in right there next to the characters. I ran along side Sol as she battled time and fate, and those lesser foes (or friends?) like the ferocious Noma rebels. I watched in delight as Sol fell madly in love with D’Arcy Benoit, and I felt the weight of Sol’s despair when she faced her dying Poppu. All this was written with the style of one who understands the short attention span of a busy high schooler with a packed schedule. In other words, despite my other duties calling to me from the outside world, I found it very difficult to put this book down. The action was too exciting! I had to read it in one sitting, or else I would have missed it too much as I went about my mundane, un-curfewed life.

I was a little wary at first with the story line, unsure why a girl would risk her life to give her grandfather 45 minutes with a baby, and also why Sol’s mysterious desk partner was intruding on Sol and D’Arcy’s budding relationship (that one was fairly simple to figure out). It all seemed a tad cheesy and unrealistic.

Not to fear! By the third chapter, I was hooked, and none of the weird plot points seemed implausible, because I knew exactly what Sol was thinking. I loved her by the end (hopefully not the very end!), and I loved the way she thought. I had a great time with Plus One. 

This book is interesting, packed with adventure, brimming with adorable romance, and seriously just fun to read.

3.75/5 stars!

Landry Park

By Bethany Hagen. Release date: February 4th 2014 (tomorrow!)
       Madeline Landry lives in the luxury of the antique Landry estate with her mother and father. They are among the few elite living in a post-war Jane Austen-romance-novel-styled society. Their opulent lifestyles are supported by a large common lower class. Below the lower class are the Rootless, the poorest of the poor stuck with the worst jobs: handling spent radioactive charges used for generating electricity. There's a lot of responsibility on Madeline's shoulders to step up to the role of the next of her line, the most powerful family in the United States. As Madeline receives more pressure from her father to follow family responsibility, she learns more about the Rootless than she ever knew before.

       The upper class in this book is literally modeled after a Jane Austen novel. Inexplicably, in post-war society, they reverted to the 1700's. They drink tea, go to parties, have balls, engage in courtship, and act like proper ladies and gentlemen. They even ride horse-drawn sleighs in winter. While this adds some flavor to the book, it does not work out very well. The gender imbalance is constantly at odds with the gender-equal society described in the prologue. Furthermore, there is not enough world-building to describe why they are stuck in the 1700's or explain the complicated economics of the country. While town-sized economics are explained, there is not enough description of state-wide or country-wide economics, leaving me wondering how there is a working feudalistic economy.

     Overall I am disappointed with Madeline's actions and just annoyed with her love issues (which are a main part of the book).  Perhaps what bothers me the most is that Madeline is a weak character. She is constantly torn between duty and what she desires, crushed under her father's controlling grip. At every turn others get the best of her, forcing her into things she doesn't want. She actually never does anything dramatic for the cause of good in her own volition, except when she must act to save a life. Even then, she nearly buckles under the shame of acting out of turn. She remains attached to her desires and fears, not really growing as a person. The end of the book precipitates a series of events (mostly without her help) that conveniently end most of her problems for her and solves her romantic love triangle for the better. Too perfect. That Madeline could make no progress in any of her tasks by herself frustrated me; that she was controlled; that she was ineffective; that she let opportunities slide; that half the plot was her pining after a forbidden love: Ugh.

      Is this book a Jane Austen romance or a futuristic sci-fi dystopian? It's both, but it shouldn't be. While this book is modeled to be sci-fi, it's more of a romance with a sci-fi background.There were chances to comment on societal issues that were missed. The sci-fi side lacked world-building and attention. The Jane Austen part clashes with the rest of the book. With all this, I think even the best writers would have difficulty. Overall I kinda enjoyed reading it, but all the issues annoyed me the whole way through. I rate this book a 2. You may end up liking the story, but there are better romances and better futuristic distopias out there.

The Testing

by Joelle Charbonneau

      I picked this book up with very high hopes. Most of my Galley amigos agreed that this was a textbook "Jelle" book, so to speak. The cover was intriguing, but not stunning--I even had an ARC with a different cover than the one to the left, a nicer, more edgy black design with a shiny silver incal. The cover fits the book neatly, actually. It's edgy at first, screaming to be picked up, and depressingly shallow, run-of-the-mill mundane after three minutes of scrutiny.
      My reading notes are full of comments like "stilted dialogue" and "plastic and one-dimensional". I guess I can start with the writing, which was banal and ill-fitting. Charbonneau has a very lucid style of writing; she's very good with broad strokes and blanket words that outline her world. But there it stops: at the outline. No room, for example, in the book is described in more detail than:

     1) The rough size of the room, given in such deliciously descriptive words as "large", "small", and "very large".
     2) If you're lucky, the room will have a colour. If you're very lucky, it will be something other than white. Take, for example, this charming little exchange:      "I know this room.
White walls.
White floors.
Black desks."
    3) The rooms are utterly one-dimensional. They sever the main character from her larger surroundings so that Charbonneau can get away with describing even less, but beyond colour and shape they might as well not exist. Part of this is the starkness Charbonneau has infused her world with and part of this is the starkness that is the result of Charbonneau's meager and flat writing style.

    The author uses an incredible host of words that might have meaning if they were used more skillfully, such as "unruly", "chastising", and "abandoned". These are weak words, words that need to be babysat carefully, fed with meaning and context until they are strong enough to stand for themselves. Instead Charbonneau flings them apathetically into her work, forgoing the beauty of writing for clichéd buzzwords like "handsome" and "tan". Words that seem solid on the surface can collapse utterly when a reader digs back, asking himself what even the main character looks like. There's the obligatory mirror scene on page one, but no reader is able to glean more from that than that she has light brown hair and is wearing a red dress, which leaves the reader with the knowledge that she has light brown hair, unless she would wear the dress for a second day, at which point the reader would know for another day that she has light brown hair and is wearing a red dress, but after the third day her wearing that same dress just tells the reader that she is rather a slob. Which characteristic, incidentally, would stand in my memory as the only characteristic Charbonneau had gifted her with. But she is forced to change into a jumpsuit a page or three later. As that red dress crumples on the ground, so does the reader's hope of learning more about her.
      Now, that's enough about the writing. It's perfunctory and curt, with nary a compound sentence in sight beyond at most twice a chapter.
     What bothers me most about The Testing is that Charbonneau makes the reader invest energy  into its reading. I resent that I am forced to provide my own descriptions and imagination for her; I do half the work in order to make the book the bare minimum of tolerable. I have to put my imagination in high gear to glean anything from her scraps of description, to recreate Charbonneau's world in my mind so I can live in it. Whereas Hogwarts and Veronica Roth's Chicago took root in my mind and are still clenched fast, Charbonneau's Chicago faded out bare minutes after I had dragged it in. Any time I put a lot of myself into a book means that there is too little of the original book in the first place.
    What I do like about the book is the bare bones of its plot and the characters' names. They have beautiful, eerily post-apocalyptic names like Hamin, Zandri, and Malachi. The main character is introduced as Malencia Vale, and her obligatory love interest is Tomas Endress. Hard to dislike the only part of the novel that transports me to Charbonneau's imagined dystopian future.
    The plot starts out promising. Malencia's world, previously ours, has fallen prey to terrorists, international warfare on a scale we can never imagine, and disease. Then, as a desperate and desolate peace seemed within reach, the earth itself struck back. Pushed to the edge and beyond by the ferocity of the Seven Stages War, as Charbonneau dryly styles it, entire continents tear and pull themselves to ruin. The soil dies and life, no longer sustainable, recedes to a bare dozen Colonies that make up the remnants of the world's civilization. They are led by the great and powerful from Tosu City, a glittering metropolis perched over the bones of old Chicago. University-educated scientists are dispersed artificially through the Colonies, leading the struggle for survival with genetic engineering as they slowly take back the lifeless earth. All this would be slightly more plausible if it were at all apparent that Charbonneau knew what genetic engineering is or is not capable of, because she clearly hasn't the foggiest, but the idea is cool. Malencia's brother pops out a potato that beats out her father's previous edition potato. Isn't bioengineering great? Well, it is, but nothing in this book approaches realistic bioengineering. Keep those taters coming.
    Anyway, the problem is that there is only one University (I don't know why. There is no plausible answer for this. At no point in the book is this addressed: if the world just had two more universities, it would have absolutely no problems and the book would have no plot. But that's the plot's problem, not logic's.) that can only take about twenty students. Now, if our modern world can support 151 million students (a fast-growing number), I don't know how an enormous university in the heart of the remaining rich and civilized world can only enroll 20 students. Of course, the point that Charbonneau keeps shoving at the reader is that the government wants strong, independent, ruthless leaders, but the world would be 110,000% better off if it enrolled a lot more of the intelligent students and just trained some as scientists and doctors without the leadership part, which none of the graduates in the book deign to show anyway. One, Malencia's father, is literally just a scientist. (A "bioengineer".)
    Summarizing this book is boring me to tears already. Imagining reading it.
    So because the book is about Malencia, she gets selected to go through the Testing, which will determine if she can go to the University, which is a huge honor. Of course she is selected; she's the main character of a dystopian lit book.
     Then comes the testing, after they zoom across a flat landscape for a day or so. Flat in writing and in topography, in case you were wondering. She gets to the capital, Tosu City, and pretty much immediately starts the Testing. I'll leave most of it out so I won't spoil anything, but mostly because I'm lazy and/or this is painful.
    The first part of the test involves written tests, four hours, twice a day, for a few days. How does Charbonneau make this exciting? She doesn't. Literally they just take their tests for houuuurs a day and the book kind of plugs along. There's a really shameless exposition bit on the history portion of the test (soooo sneaky, Charbonneau...) where the author basically lays out the entire history of the civilization in three easy questions and Malencia's answers. But other than that, this section of the book is literally breakfast, test, lunch, test, uneasy sleep with nightmares for no reason (the dreams are SO cliched...) and then the next day the same thing. Some people disappear. Cute.
    The next stage of the testing is manual puzzles and such stuff, which was maybe a tiny bit interesting but not very. Oh, except that her friends casually keel over and die and she's like "Oh. Bummer. The government's reeeeeeallly evil." and then she continues blithely on.
    The third portion is a disgustingly intricate little brain-twister of a Test which involves a lot of convoluted logic, red herrings, horrible writing to make it all more confusing, and an eventual really flat resolution. More friends kick the bucket, but how, no one knows, because Charbonneau got lost in her own intricacy. Which explains why she doesn't mess with it for the rest of the book at all ever.
     The fourth portion of the book is LITERALLY the Hunger Games. Oh, except spread over 700 miles. Yes, this is a large distance. But other than that, LITERALLY the Hunger Games.
    And then the book ends with some cute little plot twist that leaves the reader in suspense for all of two minutes and a page flip. I'm so done discussing it.
    I'd give this book a 1.5. Interesting names and a premise Veronica Roth might be able to salvage, but Charbonneau is not Veronica Roth yet. As for a food, this is the hard plastic ice cube tray. Clean, functional, but also shallow and NOT A FOOD.

Solstice

by P. J. Hoover

Piper lives in a world of extreme heat.  It's a cool day if the temperature dips below 100˚, and it often goes over the danger level of 122˚.  Piper's mom is overprotective to the extreme, and she has one friend, Chloe.  She claims to love her mother, but I found this a little hard to believe because she always complains about her.  Then come two new boys, Shayne and Reese, and both of them are extremely good-looking, and both of them have an interest in Piper.
Then Piper's mom suddenly leaves because her father is nearby, and he is not allowed anywhere near her.  Within the first few chapters, Piper hardly does anything that her mom would like.  She breaks about every rule she can.  She gets a tattoo.  She goes on a date.  But really, she wouldn't do anything to hurt her mom because she cares about her.
On one of her excursions, Chloe is killed (except not really).  Shayne, who is nearby, tries to comfort her, and he does so by bringing her down to where he lives - the Underworld.  Shayne is really Hades, the ancient Greek god.  In this aspect, Piper is also a bit patchy.  She recognizes Charon because she has studied Greek mythology in school.  However, she does not know that there is an assembly of gods, and she does not know about Cerberus.  Her knowledge, like her character, is inconsistent.
Ares also shows up, and he has some powers that I have never heard of him having before.  There were other strange myths in the story, but I am not a mythology expert, so I have no idea how true they are, and the author is allowed some creative liberty, which she uses.  Past the first hundred or so pages, the story gets better.  The beginning was terrible because too many things just happened conveniently, and it made the book look like a bad romance.  The events were generally explained, though I didn't like some of the things, and I still don't know how everyone managed to find Piper at once.
The book is a 2.5.  I enjoy these types of books, but it has been done much better.  Rick Riordan, for instance, manages to incorporate more of the well-known myths, and it was amusing, whereas this book took a while to get going, and even then it was a bit wobbly.  Once you figure out what's going on, you end up way ahead of Piper, and a lot of the book is her catching up to you.  Also, I could not get my head around Hades being a hot teenager.  The image just did not work for me.  This book is chicken noodle soup, except the chicken isn't the best in the world.  You eat it, and every once in a while, you reach a chunk of chicken or carrot and wish it tasted a little better.  The soup is familiar, and you know what to expect.

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Set in the future, Divergent is the story of Beatrice, though she begins to call herself Tris not far into the story. She lives in a city that is divided into five factions, and each faction values a different virtue. Abnegation is the one she is born into, and it values selflessness. Erudite values knowledge, Dauntless values bravery, Amity values friendship, and Candor values honesty. Every year, the 16-year-olds are given a choice: they can stay in their family's faction, or transfer to a different one. Beatrice felt as though she does not quite belong in Abnegation because she is not nearly as selfless as everyone else there, and she has always admired the daring of the Dauntless. However, switching factions would separate her from her family, and all the Abnegation members would see her as a traitor. The day before the choosing ceremony, everyone who will choose takes a test of sorts that tells them what faction fits them best. The test is a simulation that puts the person through a series of scenarios, then gives a result based on the choices they made. The test was interesting, but it was really obvious what the choices would indicate. For instance, in the first part of the test, Beatrice has to choose either a knife or some cheese. It is quite clear that taking the knife would indicate Dauntless and taking the cheese would indicate Amity. There were also some slight discrepancies. I was sure that Beatrice had figured something out, only for her to realize it with a shock later in the book.

It is a 3.7. It was very interesting, and it was a cool story, but nothing much happened; it never seemed to go anywhere. There could also have been more description. It was difficult how many people were around until the book presented a list of the other initiates in Beatrice's faction, and I had a hard time figuring out what the different places looked like. The book was like those honey straws. You suck on them, and they're really good until you finish, and you realize that there wasn't really anything in them. I kept expecting something a little more.

A Crack in the Sky by Mark Peter Hughes

Eli Papadopoulos is the grandson of The Grandfather, the man who founded InfiniCorp and invented the dome cities. InfiniCorp is the only company; it sells everything and runs everything. It is thanks to InfiniCorp and the dome cities that the human race still exists, now that the world is uninhabitable because of global warming. Eli had always assumed that his life was set, and while her wasn't sure he wanted it, it was always a given. He would be given a high position in the company and have a good life. However, Eli is not like everyone else in his family. He doesn't enjoy his studies, despite their necessity in his life, and would rather spend his time reading the old paper books. He is also obsessed with the fact that there is something wrong with the sky. He is sure that he has seen bits of it fall to the ground, and other times he sees images in it that should not be there. When he brings his family's attention to them, he is ignored; nobody else seems to care. Which is why Eli decides to meet with an undercover organization, the Foggers, devoted to destroying what his grandfather had created when they promise him answers. Then, naturally, his life spirals out of control and Eli is stuck in a situation he can't get out of. His family questions his loyalty and the Foggers won't leave him alone.

My favorite characters are Marilyn the incredible mongoose (of course) and Spider, Eli's eldest cousin, who will be the future CEO, but is currently in charge of the Department of Loyalty.

Overall, the book was a 3. It wasn't particularly exciting, and it didn't draw me in as really brilliant books do, but it was good and solid. And it had a cool mongoose. It was like chicken; it had that everything-tastes-like-this feel, in that there was nothing spectacular about it (except the mongoose, so maybe it can have a pinch of spice on it), but still enjoyable.

Across the Universe by Beth Revis

Amy's mother is a genetic scientist and her father is a high ranking military officer. They have been chosen to board Godspeed, a ship that is headed to a new planet, where they will be needed to set up the government and possibly terraform the planet. Amy is offered a spot on the ship as well, at her parents request, so they can stay as a family. The ship is scheduled to arrive in 300 years, so Amy, her family, and everyone else needed on the new planet will be deep frozen and awakened on the new planet.

Elder is the leader-to-be 250 years later. The current leader of the ship is Eldest, and Elder will take that title when he becomes leader. There is no one else on the ship who is Elder's age; every twenty years, the "season" arrives, and that's when people have babies. The descriptions in the book of the season are somewhat disturbing. Elder was born between the seasons, as every Eldest was, so that he is older than the people he leads. He does not know who his parents are.

The story of Amy and Elder come together when someone unplugs Amy so she wakes up 50 years early. Amy, naturally, is horrified because by the time her parents wake up, she'll be older than they are. Elder is fascinated by Amy; the ship has become monoethnic, so everyone has olive skin, dark eyes, and dark hair. Amy is pale, red haired, and green eyed. Things turn more sinister as, for some unknown reason, more people are unplugged. Some of them don't survive and drown in their little deep freezer chambers. Other are noticed in time, and they are returned to their frozen state before they wake up. Amy is the only one who gets out and lives. Amy and Elder grow closer as they work to figure out why people are getting unplugged, and as the story progresses, deep secrets are uncovered (cue dramatic music). The ending, however, was a disappointment. Amy and Ender achieve their goal and BAM! everything's better. Elder doesn't have to work at all to fix things, and people just accept his shocking truths. Given what the people had been through, I'm surprised they can think at all.

The book was a 3. I did not like the beginning when Amy first got into her chamber, and it wasn't very compelling. And I sat there wanting to bang my head against the wall while the characters remained blind to the obvious and kept suspecting the wrong people for a while. It was like bread. Bland and goodish, but leaves you wishing for something a little more.

Empty by Suzanne Weyn

Empty had great potential. It was a quick read, only 183 pages. It is set "ten years from now" according to the first page, and there is pretty much no oil left in the world. Everything in society quickly went downhill. People started using electricity as little as possible, gas went from $30 a gallon to $40 to $80. The U.S. went to war with Venezuela, the last place with oil. There isn't enough gas to ship supplies around, so the malls, pharmacies, and food stores are shutting down. It's told from the point of view of three high school students, Gwen, Tom, and Niki. Gwen's a goth girl who has lived alone with her brother in a rundown house ever since her mother ran away. Tom is a football player, though not the best, and works hard to keep his family together. Niki's a rich cheerleader, but her family ends up broke and she learns to deal with it. The book kind of reminded me of Life As We Knew It, in that end of the world type way. This book was kind of a message shouting out about how we are running out of fossil fuels. No one can drive, plastic is rare, everyone's fighting over what's left. And that bit was kind of interesting. What made it not so much fun to read was the love triangle. Tom, naturally goes for Niki, the cheerleader, but he also has an unexplained crush on Gwen. Gwen and Niki both like Tom. He asks Niki out, kisses her, then goes and kisses Gwen. It was all so shallow. Tom seemed to be a good person, not the type that would do that. And I always get frustrated with love triangles in books. I liked Gwen and her brother best; they were the only ones who seemed realistic.

Overall, I found the book to be like french fries. They never taste as good as I think they will. The book didn't draw me in, I just kind of read it. So it gets a 2.5.