Lullaby from Pan's Labyrinth

Skylark
Skylark, Book 1

Author: Meagan Spooner
Pages: 344
Publisher: Carolrhoda Lab
Source: Meagan Spooner signing at BEA

Description from Goodreads:
Sixteen year-old Lark Ainsley has never seen the sky.

Her world ends at the edge of the vast domed barrier of energy enclosing all that’s left of humanity. For two hundred years the city has sustained this barrier by harvesting its children's innate magical energy when they reach adolescence. When it’s Lark’s turn to be harvested, she finds herself trapped in a nightmarish web of experiments and learns she is something out of legend itself: a Renewable, able to regenerate her own power after it’s been stripped.

Forced to flee the only home she knows to avoid life as a human battery, Lark must fight her way through the terrible wilderness beyond the edge of the world. With the city’s clockwork creations close on her heels and a strange wild boy stalking her in the countryside, she must move quickly if she is to have any hope of survival. She’s heard the stories that somewhere to the west are others like her, hidden in secret – but can she stay alive long enough to find them?

First Sentence: "The din of the clockwork dawn was loudest in the old sewers, a great whirring and clanking of gears as the artificial sun warmed up."

Review:
Meagan Spooner's debut novel Skylark creates a fantastical steampunk world where magic has a physical presence, and people are varying degrees of monster. While many dystopias focus on action and drama, Skylark moves along at a slower pace, a bit more contemplative. Thankfully, the personality-filled writing and gorgeous world building kept my interest level high.

Lark feels constant shame. She is the oldest person to not yet have been harvested. People years her juniors have been chosen before her. The other kids call her 'the dud,' 'the freak,' and she can't help but wonder if it's true. Nor can she find comfort at home. Her closest family member, Basil, a brother, left on a mission outside the wall and never returned, presumed dead. We never even see her parents. The only family member who seems to be around is her oldest brother Caesar, whose name is particularly apt, considering that he would do just about anything to advance his career.

Finally, though, Lark's name has been called and she is to be harvested. Excited does not even begin to describe how she feels, anticipating finally being normal and valuable. Despite having very little idea what her harvesting entails, she quickly comes to suspect that something weird may be going on. Why do they keep taking her to be harvested? Isn't that just supposed to happen once? Her answer, of course, lies in the secret room she discovered: she's a Renewable and they're going to plug her into the city until she becomes nothing but a husk.

The City, you see, runs on magic. Cool, right? In this world, magic exists in just about everything, including people. At the Harvest, they're using a machine to drain the magic (or, as they
call it, The Resource, from the children of the population. There used to be Renewables, people who could create more Resource, but there haven't been any born in a long time and the City's magic is depleting. They need Lark's Resource, but she refuses to be a pawn and escapes into the eerie woods.

What's especially neat about Skylark is how many different societies you can explore in this world. At the beginning, we're in the City with Lark, which is full of clockwork and magic. It's got a sort of industrial feel to it. Then, outside the wall, we get to see a bunch of different environments. Basically, the magic out there is all unbalanced, so some areas have to much and others none, which means that pretty much anything can happen. I just loved this world building, especially the changes that the magic bubbles wrought.

If you love reading about creepy monsters, Spooner cooked up some of those for you in her writer's cauldron too. The Dark Ones. I'm not entirely certain what happened to them, whether there was some sort of event or chemical, or if it was just a change out of necessity. Either way, they're cannibals, humans turned dark and twisted and hungry for other humans. This adds some fun spice to an otherwise fairly pleasant journey. I definitely would like to know how they came about, though!

Lark makes a great heroine. Her voice is clear and direct. Her narration kept me totally involved in the story. Despite being a complete newbie to pretty much everying, Lark tries really hard. She's not a complainer, and learns and grows from every experience. Otherwise, though, I would say characterization was probably the weakest point in the book. None of the other humans really manifested strongly to me. There are two possible love interests so far, but, thankfully, Spooner has so far resisted the urge to make this into a melodramatic love triangle.

My very favorite character, though, the one that totally stole the show in my opinion is not human. I freaking loved Nix. He's so adorable and cool and I don't even know. Basically, I want him to come hang out with me. Also, the way the scene where he learned things was just fantastic. He also raises some thought-provoking questions about sentience.

For stellar world building and some serious clockwork awesomeness, go get yourself a copy of Skylark. I really enjoyed it and will be keeping my eye out for the next book!

Favorite Quote: "'I don't want to be kept safe! I don't want to have someone constantly trying to keep me from tripping on my own incompetence. I want to live in a world where I know the rules, where people are just people. Not one where they keep trying to eat me. That's the reason I left the city in the first place. I don't want to be kept, not by anyone.'"

Remember: Every comment on a post during Dystopian August is an entry to win one of fourteen dystopian/post-apocalyptic novels IF you've filled out the form from this post.

The Cave - Mumford & Sons

Ashen Winter
Ashfall, Book 2

Author: Mike Mullin
Pages: 567
Publisher: Tanglewood Press
Publication Date: October 16, 2012
Source: Tanglewood at BEA

Description from Goodreads:
It’s been over six months since the eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano. Alex and Darla have been staying with Alex’s relatives, trying to cope with the new reality of the primitive world so vividly portrayed in Ashfall, the first book in this series. It’s also been six months of waiting for Alex’s parents to return from Iowa. Alex and Darla decide they can wait no longer and must retrace their journey into Iowa to find and bring back Alex’s parents to the tenuous safety of Illinois. But the landscape they cross is even more perilous than before, with life-and-death battles for food and power between the remaining communities. When the unthinkable happens, Alex must find new reserves of strength and determination to survive.

Prior Book: Ashfall (Goodreads|my review)

First Sentence: "Ten months had passed since I'd last seen the sun."

Review:
Ashen Winter is massive for a YA book, but don't let that put you off of reading this series. The 570 pages go by very quickly. I read most of this in just one evening. Mullin's book is jam-packed with action, explosions, cannibals, fighting and car chases. If you liked Ashfall, you will love Ashen Winter for its even colder vision of the future.

The thing that I love most about this series is Darla. She is straight up awesome. I also love that she was written by a male author. Alex is strong and does a lot of cool stunts in Ashen Winter, but he knows that his girlfriend is stronger and more capable than he is. And he loves it. You know I love a powerful heroine, and I love even more when people respect her for that strength.

Of course, this brings me to my second point: if I were Darla, I would have dropped Alex's ass so fast. The boy is like a magnet for destruction. He has all the worst plans. You can pretty much assume that anything that he has he will either give away or lose before he hardly gets to do anything with it. Except for his physical capabilities, the boy has no damn survival skills. Worse, he reacts entirely on instinct, without considering the inevitable consequences. People you don't know about to be attacked and you don't have weapons? Clearly you should step in. This could not possibly end poorly. Oh wait, yes it will, every single time. The journey is pretty much detour after detour as Alex continually makes the wrong choices.

One of the most monumental logic fails is the basic premise for Ashen Winter. In case you don't remember, at the end of Ashfall Darla and Alex finally made it to his Uncle's farm in Warren, only to discover that his parents' had set out to search for him. Bandits attack the farm and happen to have the gun Alex's dad was using. Thus, Alex decides that he simply must go hunt for his parents. This irritated me so much, because going to find people was what got us into this situation in the first place. Had his parents not gone searching for him, they would all be together now. The parents know where Warren is, and you don't know for sure where they are, so STAY PUT.

Despite my issue with Alex and his (lack of) reasoning, I really enjoyed reading Ashfall from beginning to end. Mullin's world building continues to be excellent and make me sincerely hope something like this doesn't happen (at least in my lifetime). Cannibalism has increased. Not only that, but as towns that were previously friendly run increasingly low on food, they begin to attack other towns. It's a person eat person world out there.

Adding some spice to Ashen Winter are a host of new characters. Although initially skeptical, I came to really appreciate Alyssa, who could have been a terrible stereotypical slut-shaming character. I hope to see her really develop in the next book. I also really enjoyed Ben, Alyssa's autistic and strategically brilliant brother. There are a couple of other folks that turn out to be surprisingly interesting, but I'll leave those for you to find and enjoy.

Readers that like their dystopias full of action will not want to miss out on Mullin's Ashfall Trilogy. I highly recommend this series to those who enjoy David MacInnis Gill's Black Hole Sun.

Favorite Quote:

"I obeyed. When Darla was that angry, doing anything else was insane.
   She started stripping my clothing, muttering all the while, 'Stupid, pigheaded, obstinate, obnoxious, oviparous, egg-sucking boy.' I both laid and sucked eggs? That didn't make sense. Whatever."

"The harvest left no food for you to eat
You cannibal, you meat-eater, you see
But I have seen the same
I know the shame in your defeat"

Remember: Every comment on a post during Dystopian August is an entry to win one of fourteen dystopian/post-apocalyptic novels IF you've filled out the form from this post.

Up on the Roof - The Drifters

The Deserter
The Bone World Trilogy, Book 2

Author: Peadar Ó Guilín
Pages: 441
ARC Acquired from: David Fickling Books via NetGalley

Warning: This is the second book in a series. This review will contain spoilers for book one.

Brief Summary:
Stopmouth is back, determined both to save the humans in his small tribe and to get Indrani back. His task is made more difficult by the fact that, even though he knows the methods of his old tribe did keep the race as a whole going, he doesn't want to resort to such harsh methods. When the digger threat rises to high levels again, Stopmouth decides he can wait no longer for Indrani; he must go to the Roof and bring her back, along with the promised weapons to fight the Diggers.

Review:
I didn't particularly like The Inferior; although it was well done, I just had trouble relating to or getting into something so wildly different. My experience with The Deserter was better, probably largely due to the fact that I knew what to expect. Now, when I say better, I don't mean that I loved it or even really liked it, but I did enjoy the experience more.

Ó Guilín deserves some serious praise, and I would like to start with that. Although I have not gotten into this series, his worldbuilding is simply amazing. A ton of work has gone into the Bone World Trilogy and it is really evident. This is much better thought out than a lot of the YA dystopias I've read. He keeps peeling back layers and revealing more sliminess and dystopian-ness at the core of this world. That is, simply put, astounding.

This book was a lot more interesting to me, largely because most of this book was spent in the Roof. The cannibals running around on the surface of the planet throughout book one were just too weird and creepy. The Roof, and its occasional parallels to our modern society's ills, was much more captivating.

Still, the real downfall of the books for me, I think, is character. I'm through two fairly long books now, and I still just don't especially care about anyone. Stopmouth and Indrani are okay; I do want them to win over the other people, but I am not hugely invested either way.

At this point, I'll probably finish out the trilogy when book three comes out, just to check out the worldbuilding. If you're fascinated by the feats of an author's imagination, Ó Guilín's books might be for you.

Rating: 2.5/5

P.S. How perfect is this song? I thought of it and couldn't resist.

"When this old world starts getting me down
And people are just too much for me to face
I climb way up to the top of the stairs
And all my cares just drift right into space
On the roof, it's peaceful as can be
And there the world below can't bother me"

Fine Young Cannibals - Wolf Parade

The Inferior
The Bone World Trilogy, Book 1

Author: Peadar Ó Guilín
Pages: 438 
Publisher: David Fickling Books
Brief Summary:
Stopmouth has always deeply admired and envied his older brother, Wallbreaker, for his hunting skills, his ability to speak without stuttering, and the love of Mossheart, one of the prettiest girls in the Human Tribe. Stopmouth's chances of a good match are low, because everyone assumes something's wrong with him because of his stutter. He didn't mind so much when he had the love of his mother and brother, but, after his mother Volunteers herself to be traded to rival creatures for food so that Stopmouth may live, and his brother becomes jealous of Stopmouth's friendship with Indrani, Wallbreaker's second wife, a mysterious woman who came from a Globe, Stopmouth's world begins to change.

Review:
Okay, I did my best to summarize this book, but, honestly, it's a really difficult book to explain, because it's so much not like anything else I've read. Basically, somehow the human race has descended to the level of cannibalistic monsters that live off of no food but flesh. Not only do they eat all of the creatures that live within hunting distance of them (Armourbacks, Hairbeasts, Hoppers, etc.), but they also eat other humans. To be eaten by one's family after death is seen as an honor.

Weirder still is the fact that none of these different kinds of creatures can understand the language of any other. Even more curious is the fact that, even if they try, they cannot learn to understand these other methods of communication. All of the different tribes of creatures live in the same ways the humans do, hunting and trading the species nearby.

On the plus side, this is very original. On the downside, I found it nigh impossible to relate to the characters, because they're just so incredibly different from anything I know as 'human.' The way their society functions is completely awful, with the death lottery and the role of females. Caring about Stopmouth and Rockface and Indrani was difficult at the best of times.

Up next on my tbr pile is the second book in the series, which is finally being published five years after book one (weird!). I'm not particularly excited about it, but I'm not giving up on it either. I would like to learn more about how the heck humanity became like this. There were some hints in The Inferior and I think a lot more should be learned in The Deserter about the Roof and the history of humans.

Rating: 2/5

"I'll be true
True to you
We may consume ourselves but I don't think twice
I'll be there soon, so..."

Will I? from RENT

Ashes
Ashes Trilogy, Book 1

Author: Ilsa J. Bick
Pages: 480
ARC Acquired from: Egmont USA via NetGalley

Brief Summary:
Alex has a monster in her head, a brain tumor that has stolen her senses of smell and taste, along with her memories. Desperate to get away from all of the pitying and relieved (that it's her and not them) glances, she decides that before she's dead, she needs to make the trip to spread her parents' ashes (yeah, her parents died just before the tumor was discovered...this girl just can't catch a break) on Lake Superior. While hiking through the mountains, she meets a grandfather and granddaughter (her parents are dead too). They share a repast and then share some serious pain, as some sort of "zap" attacks their brains. This kills the grandfather, injures Ellie and her dad's dog Mina, and seems to fix Alex's brain, along with giving her a super sense. Now, only really old technology works and Alex has to figure out how to keep herself and this snotty girl alive in the face of some mysterious calamity that seems to have turned most teenagers into cannibals...

Review:
Let me begin by pointing out that I have read only amazing reviews of Ashes. Pretty much every blogger I follow raved about its complete awesomeness. Unfortunately, I did not find myself so much in love with it. The story was interesting and, by the end, I was definitely interested in what was going to happen. I even plan on reading the sequel to Ashes, because I cannot just let the story end where it did. Warning: the ending is seriously abrupt. Can you say cliffhanger?

Although I feel really sad for Alex and was exceedingly happy to see her healed, I never really liked her or connected with her. This is really weird, because she definitely knows how to take care of herself and kick ass when she has to, meaning that she's just the kind of heroine I generally love. In some ways, she reminds me of Trella from Inside Out and Outside In, bruised and not trusting. Alex's coldness, though, stems from the fact that she could die at any moment. Why get close to someone when you're only going to leave them or be left by them because they can't stand to watch you die? While I totally get that and would probably be the exact same way, it still makes her hard to get close to even as a reader, for me at least.

Her romances, too, were rather tough for me to accept, what with her being so closed off. There was no guy that I shipped her with and no relationship that seemed like it would pan out in the end. In fact, they seemed borne of stress, fear and proximity. One romance even struck me as little short of Stockholm Syndrome.

Since I don't want to spoil anything, I'm going to be kind of vague about what happened to create the crazy post-apocalyptic world in Ashes. Let's just say that it was pretty stellar. The fact that the event, the "zap" affected people's brains in different ways definitely intrigues me as well. However, I had trouble dealing with teens turning into people eaters. It seemed to lessen the credibility and seriousness of the novel.

What creeped me out in a more believable way was the way that normal people reacted to this calamity, which killed off everyone in middle age and turned most youths into cannibals, leaving only the elderly, young children and a few teens like Alex to keep the world going. These aspects were close to being Witheresque, what with their only being a few women of reproductive age. Plus, with limited resources come unlimited conflicts with other folks only trying to survive just like you are. Mostly, I just feel like the cannibalistic adolescents were unnecessary.

Even though I didn't love this, I do want to know more. Maybe Bick can convince me in book two. Before writing this one off because of my opinion, definitely check out some other reviews, like this one over at Presenting Lenore.

"Will I lose my dignity?
Will someone care?
Will I wake tomorrow
From this nightmare?"