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

Shutter

By Courtney Alameda

Micheline Helsing is a tetrachromat, she can see ghosts, and she uses her abilities to hunt ghosts with her friends Oliver, Jude, and Ryder. Micheline is the only heir to the Helsing corporation, a business that goes after the different kinds of ghosts and hunts them down before they can kill anyone. When a ghost hunt goes wrong, Micheline and her friends are infected with a soulchain, a ghostly disease that is slowly killing them from the inside. Now Micheline has to go against her father's wishes in order to save herself and her friends before they all die.

The way this book was written was not what I expected. There was a lot of detail and description and while it did show instead of tell the amount of descriptive words really threw me off of the actual plot that was going on. For instance: "I followed Damian out into the anemic, waning night. Spindly trees lined the wide avenue, shedding the gangrenous leaves of fall." (p 62). Read that sentence. Then read it again. Can someone please explain what that actually means? "anemic, waning night." Is it sick? Most of the book was written as if the author had written it, then edited it while going through a thesaurus and changing words to any synonyms she could find.

Another thing that bothered me about this book was the fact that Micheline's father, Leonard, was abusive. He hit her only once during the story, but it is showed that it was not the first time he had hit her. He also destroyed all of her cameras after a failed ghost hunt, locking her up in the bathroom while doing so. He then proceeded to get drunk and passed out, leaving her locked in the bathroom. While I understand that having an abusive parent can act as a plot point, the way it was written made it seem ok that her father hit her. Micheline managed to sneak out of her house and brushed off the incident as if it was nothing, and at the end of the book, she and her father make up as if nothing happened. While I can understand that having an abusive father is part of her character, I do not understand how the author has the two just make up and be all lovey-dovey at the end. Micheline would not have made it up to her father just like that with no second thoughts, he had abused her! And in the end they just go about like it was nothing.

The fact that Courtney Alameda made up her own mythology for this book was impressive and confusing. Every time there's something new coming in Micheline has to explain it and the amount of names for things and different kinds of hunters got me very confused. It was very impressive that she managed to create basically an entire mythology and incorporate it into a book.
The overall concept of the book was good, it was a good plot idea and there were many sections, especially dialogue-heavy sections, that were good. Some serious editing could really help this book and improve it by a hundred times.

I liked the fact that Alameda did not make a love triangle. With Micheline and Ryder having forbidden love and Jude being the one Micheline was supposed to marry there could have easily been a love triangle, but she did not put that in the book and I am grateful, too many YA novels have love triangles.
However, the other characters could have been more fleshed out. Ryder, Jude, and Oliver are her friends, but we never get an explanation for why they are friends, they don't seem to have much in common other than hunting ghosts. Oliver in particular is a very flat character, his entire character revolves around being the smart one that stays out of fights because he's hurt and everything. Jude is the stereotypical tough guy who can't show his feelings so he sleeps with a bunch of girls instead. And Ryder is the run-of-the-mill forbidden love interest, really strong and manly, the one Micheline really connects with and has feelings for, but she can never have him because she is destined to marry Jude instead. Do you see where I'm going with this? It's a pretty stereotypical friend group, the geek, the brooding one, the jock, and the quirky but lovable girl. It's like the Breakfast Club except the Princess and the Basket Case are melded into one character.

I think this book is like a slightly stale piece of plain bread with some raisins in it. It's not all that new of a concept and some of the tropes are overused, but there are some good aspects to it as well. I would rate it a 2.25.

Unforgotten

by Jessica Brody

     This is the second book in the Unremembered trilogy, although I have not read the first one.  I still felt like I knew what was going on, though, and Unforgotten stands pretty well on its own.  It started out strongly, with Seraphina and Zen living in 1609.  Due to a technological advancement in the nearish future, both Seraphina and Zen have a gene that allows them to travel through time.  Seraphina was created by a company called Diotech, so she has enhanced physical abilities.  In the previous book, she had escaped from Diotech, and they now desperately want her back, so she is careful not leave any trace of her identity that Diotech would be able to use to find her.
     The time travel aspect was done well, although I wish some parts of it had been explored a little more.  I also liked the main plot.  It was engaging, interesting, and gave you enough information without giving too much away.  The climax and resolve, however, were really unsatisfying.  It took away from a lot of the rest of the book and I felt cheated at the end.
    This is a 2.2.  The overall writing style is good, and Seraphina and Zen were likable enough, but it was like eating a good sandwich and most of the way through discovering that there’s a worm poking out (the book was not bad enough for you to have bitten the worm - just see it).  The whole experience is ruined because of that little worm, and the worm signifies the end of the experience.

I Become Shadow

by Joe Shine


     Ren Sharpe is living a normal life.  She just started high school and she’s working hard to fit in with the other kids.  Then she gets kidnapped in the middle of the night and taken to a secret facility owned by F.A.T.E. that trains bodyguards.  There’s a satellite that takes pictures fifty years in the future, and it took a picture of her gravestone, indicating she only lived to be fourteen, so they took her for their program.  They also know who is important in fifty years, and it’s their job to protect the world changers.  This is an interesting idea, but I didn’t understand why it was necessary.  If they know the future, wouldn’t they know the world changers aren’t going to be dead?
     After four years of intense training, Ren is assigned to Gareth Young, a student at the University of Texas.  She’s not allowed to actually contact him, but she does.  After all, she’s a student there too, as cover - and all her grades are fixed, so she doesn’t actually have to do any of the work.  They start falling in love, even though Ren still likes someone from her training and is keeping in touch with him.
     This is where things start going downhill.  People attack Gareth, and now Ren can use her training.  I just have no idea why people attacked him.  The explanations were so full of conspiracy theories that I have no idea what was going on for pretty much the second half of the book.  Ren runs around with Gareth, other people run after them, people from F.A.T.E. show up, and that’s about what I understood.  The underlying plot was lost on me.
     Ren’s internal dialogue was a bit different.  I didn’t find it particularly better or worse than the standard, just kind of different.  It worked well with her character, a carefree, think-of-me-what-you-will sort.
     This is a 2.7.  The premise, while interesting, did raise some questions that weren’t addressed at all.  If I were kidnapped and forced to be a bodyguard, I would at least wonder why they didn’t bother try to save me if they knew I was going to die.  I also didn’t really like Ren’s relationship with Gareth, and I didn’t like Gareth that much.  And there was that whole second half that was just confusing.  This is like chewing gum.  At first, there’s some flavor and enough to keep it interesting, but then the flavor goes away and you’re left wondering why you’re chewing a tasteless chewy thing and making your jaw tired.

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.