Review: When We Wake

When We Wake
When We Wake, Book 1

Author: Karen Healey
Pages: 304
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: March 5, 2013
Source: Publisher

Description from Goodreads:
My name is Tegan Oglietti, and on the last day of my first lifetime, I was so, so happy. Sixteen-year-old Tegan is just like every other girl living in 2027--she's happiest when playing the guitar, she's falling in love for the first time, and she's joining her friends to protest the wrongs of the world: environmental collapse, social discrimination, and political injustice.

But on what should have been the best day of Tegan's life, she dies--and wakes up a hundred years in the future, locked in a government facility with no idea what happened. Tegan is the first government guinea pig to be cryonically frozen and successfully revived, which makes her an instant celebrity--even though all she wants to do is try to rebuild some semblance of a normal life. But the future isn't all she hoped it would be, and when appalling secrets come to light, Tegan must make a choice: Does she keep her head down and survive, or fight for a better future?

Award-winning author Karen Healey has created a haunting, cautionary tale of an inspiring protagonist living in a not-so-distant future that could easily be our own.

First Sentence: "My name is Tegan Oglietti."

Review:

Just yesterday, series information was added to Goodreads for When We Wake. I'm so glad that happened before I wrote up this review, because, honestly, the open-ended ending might have left me rather unsatisfied if I didn't know there was going to be more. Plus, I'm just excited there will be more, because When We Wake was a delight all the way through, populated with lovable characters, science-fictiony goodness, and references to The Beatles.

Before I get into the serious plot stuff, I have to talk about all of The Beatles love in this book. My parents raised me on music from the 60s and 70s, so, though I'm not a child of that age, I sure do know most of the music, and The Beatles have always been amongst my favorites, even if my favorite album changes through the years. Every chapter title is a Beatles song, but the references go much deeper than that, and you better believe I adore every single one. The songs do even serve a plot point, providing a link to her old life and a way to connect with the people of 2128 through music.

Tegan makes a wonderful heroine. Awakened over a hundred years after her last memory and informed of her death and revival, she is, understandably, freaked. However, after some time to mourn over her old life, she makes the best out of her new situation. She is helpful, hopeful, loving, determined, and sarcastic. Her voice thoughout When We Wake is a delight, and I connected to her immediately, not just because of her love of The Beatles.

Reviving Tegan a century later enables Healey to impart information to the reader in a logical way. Tegan really does not know anything about the world she's in and can ask questions and receive answers without it feeling like an infodump. Healey uses the device to the fullest and spaces out Tegan's education well. Healey does not feel the need to drop everything on the reader all at once, taking breaks for character development or to talk about less serious things like slang or toilets (in this future, people poo into compost buckets).

What makes this novel stand out from many others is that the society in which Tegan awakes really does seem to verge on utopian for quite a while. Sure, it's not completely perfect, but it seems largely better than the past. The world has warmed due to the depletion of the ozone layer, but mankind is now living in such a way as to diminish the negative effects on the environment. Homosexual love is now valued just as highly as heterosexual love, something our society really needs to learn to accept. The more Tegan learns, the more negatives appear in this future world, including continued racial tensions.

When We Wake, though not focused on romance, does have a couple of very sweet relationships. Tegan develops a crush on a Abdi, a musically-gifted, clever boy from Djibouti. Watching them slowly overcome the difficulties their situations (he's a thirdie - from the third world - and she's the Living Dead Girl) place on a relationship is adorable. I also really love Joph and Bethari, and I hope those girls can work out their issues and get back together.

The only thing missing from the novel for me were high enough stakes. There's some action and they are in danger, but, for whatever reason, they never felt especially imperilled. Perhaps this is due to the lack of death toll in the novel, or the narrative device whereby the entirety of the book is a broadcast being issued live by Tegan, since that means she survives to the end. In the sequel, I hope to see more from the dystopian government, so that I can really feel scared for Tegan and her friends.

Karen Healey was unknown to me prior to When We Wake, but I will definitely be reading more of her books, including the sequel to this novel. When We Wake is a must-read for Beatles fans and for those who enjoy dystopian stories that don't focus entirely on romance.

Rating: 4/5

Favorite Quote:

"'And then what?' she demanded.
     'Classified.' My whole body was buzzing with the memory.
     'Teeg, I will kill you and sink the corpse in the river.'
     I snorted. 'What river?' The Yarra ran through the city, but you couldn't hide a body in that shallow brown flow.
     'I will dig a river and fill it with my tears, because I will be weeping from the betrayal of my best friend not giving me every damn detail!'"

Review: Prodigy

Prodigy
Legend, Book 2

Author: Marie Lu
Pages: 384
Publisher: Putnam Juvenile
Source: ARC from BEA

Description from Goodreads:
June and Day arrive in Vegas just as the unthinkable happens: the Elector Primo dies, and his son Anden takes his place. With the Republic edging closer to chaos, the two join a group of Patriot rebels eager to help Day rescue his brother and offer passage to the Colonies. They have only one request—June and Day must assassinate the new Elector.

It’s their chance to change the nation, to give voice to a people silenced for too long.

But as June realizes this Elector is nothing like his father, she’s haunted by the choice ahead. What if Anden is a new beginning? What if revolution must be more than loss and vengeance, anger and blood—what if the Patriots are wrong?

In this highly-anticipated sequel, Lu delivers a breathtaking thriller with high stakes and cinematic action.

Prior Book in Series:
1: Legend (Review|Goodreads)

First Sentence: "Day jolts awake beside me."

Review:

At BEA, I waited in line for about an hour to get an ARC Prodigy, which I also got signed by Marie Lu. Though I was excited for her series, mostly I just wanted an excuse to sit down for an hour so I wouldn't have to be a pack mule for tote bags full of books for a while. At that point, I hadn't yet read Legend so there really was only a certain amount of excitement that can be mustered, even with all the good reports. Well, finally having read the ARC, shortly after publication because I fail, I can report that, with Prodigy Marie Lu solidifies her good start in Legend. Her plotting and characterization both improve, and the action and dystopian elements are just as strong as in the debut.

The plotting of Legend follows a pretty standard dystopian outline, but, in Prodigy, Marie Lu really does something different. The first book set the pieces perfectly for her to branch out. Without spoilers, I really cannot tell you much specifically about what is awesome, but just believe me that it is. The ending leaves the plot poised to be completely epic in the next book, but I hope Lu is cutthroat enough to do what she needs to do, because that's where a lot of young adult authors miss the mark in dystopian novels.

Where June spent most of Legend being an annoyingly perfect, almost robotic, girl, completely devoted to her role in the Republic, she really develops in Prodigy. Torn between her childhood leanings and her new alliances, June has to learn how to evaluate the world on her own, no longer accepting what other people tell her to be true. Smart as she is, she has to learn about independent thinking. Readers will find June much more sympathetic and likable in Prodigy. Day, of course, we all loved from the beginning. In some ways, I don't think I like him as much now, but in others he's even better. Where Day is practically perfect in Legend, the reader now gets to see more of his flaws, giving him depth and perhaps ultimately making him more admirable.

The budding relationship between June and Day, thankfully, does not become a huge focus of the plot. Lu does capture both their strong feelings for one another (or how strong they think they are) and the insecurity of their relationship. She stresses how little they've known each other, and how their mutual trust suffers as a result. Lu does introduce a love triangle or two (love square?), and I hope she uses this wisely.

For those who like their dystopian novels full of explosions, I have good news for you. There are fist fights, chase scenes, bombings, jumps off of high objects, and even aerial battles. Lu does a really nice job with her action scenes, keeping them tense and exciting. Also, I never felt confused about what she was describing, which can be tricky to accomplish. And was that a reference to Joss Whedon there towards the end? I hope so.

The only real detractor for the Legend series remains the youth of the protagonists. I know I complained about this in my review for Legend, but it really does bear reiterating. Both Day and June are 15, but they are brilliant, gorgeous, strong, and respected by all. Now, a prodigy can certainly be clever than adults, but I really question both of them being incredibly gorgeous on top of that. Seriously, just take a moment and think back to your yearbook from freshman year of high school, or, even better, go look at it. Do any of those teens look model perfect at all times and anywhere near capable of taking on the Republic? Shouldn't at least one of them suffer from acne?

I also question their incredible physical abilities. At 15, odds are, they wouldn't even be done growing yet, and they're not at their physical peak. I mean, at one point, June jumps onto a door knob and from their onto the top of a door as it opens without anyone noticing. Unless she's secretly a member of the X-Men with cat powers, I just cannot buy that. As for the respect, well, even as a prodigy, I really do not see everyone in a country rallying behind 15 year old rebels. At most, they would be cute figureheads, not viewed as actual leaders. Katniss, for example, powerful though she is at 16, she doesn't lead the revolution; she just serves as a symbol of it. The story would make so much more sense with main characters in the range of 18 to 20, and every person I talked to said that they also kept forgetting that Day and June were so young. Obviously, that can't be changed now, but how about we make it more realistic by giving them some pimples or something?

Marie Lu's Legend series is an excellent choice for readers looking for an action-packed dystopian novel. After that ending, I am pretty much desperate to read the next book, which is poised to be even better!

Rating: 4/5

Favorite Quote: "I'm telling you, Day—all it takes is one generation to brainwash a population and convince them that reality doesn't exist."

Review: Whispers in Autumn

Whispers in Autumn
The Last Year, Book 1

Author: Trisha Leigh
Pages: 388
Publisher:CreateSpace
Source: For review via YA Books Central

Description from Goodreads:
In 2015, a race of alien Others conquered Earth. They enslaved humanity not by force, but through an aggressive mind control that turned people into contented, unquestioning robots.

Except sixteen-year-old Althea isn’t content at all, and she doesn’t need the mysterious note inside her locket to tell her she’s Something Else. It also warns her to trust no one, so she hides the pieces that make her different, even though it means being alone.

Then she meets Lucas, everything changes.

Althea and Lucas are immune to the alien mind control, and together they search for the reason why. What they uncover is a stunning truth the Others never anticipated, one with the potential to free the brainwashed human race.

It’s not who they are that makes them special, but what.

And what they are is a threat. One the Others are determined to eliminate for good.

First Sentence: "Before my eyelids crack open I know I've traveled again."

Review:

You know what? I don't read too many self-pubs, because there are so many that are poorly edited or have truly nightmare-inducing covers. I could never make it a policy to not read any, though, because there are self-published authors like Trisha Leigh who totally work it. She has amazing covers (the four covers for the series fit together to make a face) and her books have been edited. I had no issues reading this and didn't stumble across any glaring errors.

On top of being well-written and edited, Whispers in Autumn has one of the strangest, most unique premises I've encountered in dystopian fiction, which, believe me, is saying something. Perhaps most obviously, there are the aliens. Earth has been taken over by an alien race that keeps moving around, as it uses up home-world after home-world. These aliens, called simply Others, have strict control over human society, regulating marriages, the number of children couples can have, education, what people can eat, and anything else you can think of. Everyone thinks the Others are wonderful, never questioning their role, but Althea has begun to wonder.

Of course, Althea isn't like everyone else. She's not just one person, but three. She has three families and three identities. No, she's not living a secret triple life or anything, at least not the way you might be thinking. During the fall, she lives with the Morgans, and she spends winter and spring with other families. Althea cannot control when the change happens, nor does she no why. She just knows that she's different, Dissident, because of the note in her locket.

Though I cannot deny that this is a concept that's hard to wrap my mind around, I also appreciate the freshness, and definitely kept flipping pages to figure out what the heck is going on. Leigh doesn't have every answer for the reader yet, but it's clear that she's thought things through, and I have hopes that the world building will be logical unto itself. The season-changing elements are actually rather mythological almost in their origin, which is really cool.

What left me cold was Lucas. Sorry, I couldn't resist, because Lucas has cold skin. Actually, it's the characters as a whole, not that they left me cold exactly, but that I'm not really engaged with them. Perhaps because their lives are so alien (man, I am hilarious today!) or maybe it's that they engage in very few everyday, low stress activities to ground me in their reality. I like Lucas and Althea, but I'm not emotionally attached to them, and the other characters are pretty flat. Also, while I'm grateful Lucas and Althea are avoiding instalove, I'm not really feeling the connection between them at this point.

Trisha Leigh's Whispers in Autumn is a quality self-published novel with an original plot and a mystery that will leave the reader wanting to know more. I will definitely be moving on to the next installment, because Leigh still has my curiosity fully-engaged!

Rating: 3/5

Favorite Quote:

"Those feelings he sets off in me don't have a name. It's not love. Not yet.
     But maybe something like it."

Review: Legend

Legend
Legend, Book 1

Author: Marie Lu
Pages: 305
Publisher: Putnam Juvenile
Source: Own

Description from Goodreads:
What was once the western United States is now home to the Republic, a nation perpetually at war with its neighbors. Born into an elite family in one of the Republic’s wealthiest districts, fifteen-year-old June is a prodigy being groomed for success in the Republic’s highest military circles. Born into the slums, fifteen-year-old Day is the country’s most wanted criminal. But his motives may not be as malicious as they seem.

From very different worlds, June and Day have no reason to cross paths—until the day June’s brother, Metias, is murdered and Day becomes the prime suspect. Caught in the ultimate game of cat and mouse, Day is in a race for his family’s survival, while June seeks to avenge Metias’s death. But in a shocking turn of events, the two uncover the truth of what has really brought them together, and the sinister lengths their country will go to keep its secrets.

Full of nonstop action, suspense, and romance, this novel is sure to move readers as much as it thrills.

First Sentence: "My mother thinks I'm dead."

Review:

A year or so ago, I changed my book-buying policy and bought two debuts I'd never read based on the incredibly positive reviews: Divergent by Veronica Roth and Legend by Marie Lu. Well, the former turned out to be an immense disappointment, one I disliked to the degree I resent my past self for having wasted hard-earned money on it. Thankfully, I do not need to invent time travel and break the time-space continuum by going back in time and killing my impulsive, past self, because Legend actually turned out to be good.

Marie Lu's debut is jam-packed with action. Where the derring-do in Divergent comes across as over-the-top and done merely because of how cool it sounds, the action scenes in Legend belong. Both Day and June commit seemingly impossible acts all of the time, but they also have the experience and the injuries to show for it. They do not come by their skills easily; they work for everything they earn, despite being prodigies.

Everyone who reviews this book gushes about Day, and, much as I like to feel unique, I cannot help but do the same thing. Day's chapters were my favorites all the way through. He's just such a noble criminal, and he reads very much like a boy. My love for Day is also inextricably bound up in the beauty of the formatting for his chapters. Day's sections are printed in a golden font, which might prove difficult to some readers, but which I love wholeheartedly. Also, and this is a bit of an odd criticism, but I think it's cool how June's chapters have a practical black font, and Days' are more ornate and unique, to represent their upbringings.

June is a tougher character to like, as she's meant to be. Where Day is the rebel with a heart (and font) of gold, June works for the evil dystopian government, and is rising quickly through the ranks. June believes wholeheartedly in what she's doing, and is determined to prove herself by catching Day, the killer of her brother. June grows as a character throughout, becoming someone you continually root for to make good decisions.

With slews of books coming out marketed as dystopians that really are not, I will have you all know that Legend truly is. The dystopian elements work quite well, though they are not all that unique. Having read so many of them, I recognized the various twists from other works and was not caught off  guard by any of them. Many readers will likely not have so much knowledge of the genre, though. Nor did my knowledge of where the book was heading impact my enjoyment of the novel in the slightest.

I do agree with a criticism I've seen around and about that Day and June both read too old. According to the novel, they are both fifteen. They are prodigies and I get that, but they should still be in puberty, and I'm really supposed to buy that they're the most powerful people in all of the Republic? I get that they're prodigies, but how are there no adults that can even begin to give them a run for their money? Every time the text mentioned them being fifteen, it would throw me out of the story because it just seemed off. The novel might make a bit more sense with 17-18 year old main characters.

Legend has well-written action scenes, solid world building, and convincing dual perspectives. I am so glad I have a copy of Prodigy ready to start soon, because I do not want to wait to learn what will happen to the characters next!

Rating: 3.5/5

Favorite Quote: "'Each day means a new twenty-four hours. Each day means everything's possible again. You live in the moment, you die in the moment, you take it all one day at a time.'"

Review + Giveaway: Shards & Ashes

Shards & Ashes

Editors: Melissa Marr & Kelley Armstrong
Contributors: Veronica Roth, Kami Garcia, Margaret Stohl, Rachel Caine, Nancy Holder, Beth Revis, Carrie Ryan
Pages: 384
Publisher: HarperCollins
Publication Date: February 19, 2013
Source: For review from YA Books Central

Description from Goodreads:
Gripping original stories of dystopian worlds from nine New York Times bestselling authors, edited by Melissa Marr and Kelley Armstrong

The world is gone, destroyed by human, ecological, or supernatural causes. Survivors dodge chemical warfare and cruel gods; they travel the reaches of space and inhabit underground caverns. Their enemies are disease, corrupt corporations, and one another; their resources are few, and their courage is tested.

Powerful original dystopian tales from nine bestselling authors offer bleak insight, prophetic visions, and precious glimmers of light among the shards and ashes of a ruined world.

Review:
Basically every time I review an anthology, I do things differently. This time, since there aren't that many stories and they're a bit longer, I'm going to break it down with my thoughts about each story.

Story 1: "Hearken" by Veronica Roth
In all honesty, I was expecting to hate this story. I really was not impressed with Divergent and had no higher hopes for this short story. Well, it just goes to show that giving authors a second chance can be a good thing. I really did like this. The concept is fascinating, if not entirely sense-making. In this world, terrorism is rampant, and people are dying from bombings left and right. They've developed, for reasons that seem rather sketchy, the ability, with an implant, for certain highly musically-inclined individuals to hear a person's life music and death music. The story follows a half-Indian, half-white girl, Darya, through her decision about whether to choose to hear the life song or death song. I did laugh hysterically when Darya's life song turns out to have all of the instruments, rather than just some like most people; she's divergent, y'all! The world building opens up a lot of questions which it can't answer (How does this ability actually help anything? Does the death music actually predict when the death will occur?), but the idea itself is appealing enough that I was willing to mostly let that slide and really appreciate the story. While it does loosely fit in the post-apocalyptic category, it's REALLY loose. Darya has some depth to her, and the writing is better than it was in Divergent, if still not of particular note. 3.5/5

Story 2: "Branded" by Kelley Armstrong
Kelley Armstrong stays in familiar territory with her contribution to the anthology, in a tale about werewolves in hybrids. In her post-apocalyptic vision of the future, mankind's attempts to create super-soldiers have ultimately lessened odds of survival. The remaining humans hide behind well-guarded walls, swiftly persecuting anyone found to possess supernatural blood. Rayne's secret boyfriend has just been accused. The story is fun, and will appeal to Armstrong fans. 3/5

Story 3: "Necklace of Raindrops" by Margaret Stohl
Well, this story probably marks my final experience with Margaret Stohl. I hated Beautiful Creatures and, if anything, this is worse. In Stohl's contribution, in a dystopian future, people's lives are tied to their necklaces. If you run out of beads, you die. The other option is to drop, aka go sky diving to your death. At the beginning of the story, Jai's brother, Rama, drops. Jai is not actually bothered by this, instead embarking on a nauseatingly corny romance with Z. Even better than that nonsensical plot and the motivationless characters, Stohl writes almost solely in sentence fragments, and all three points of view read the same. 1/5

Story 4: "Dogsbody" by Rachel Caine
Caine's story follows along a classic dystopian line, with a despotic, ruthless government. Xavier, known as Zay, is recruited to work as a dogsbody, essentially a slave. This story will thrill action fans, as about half of it is an extended shoot-em-up scene. I found the characterization lacking and couldn't stop yawning, despite the action. Also, choosing to name one of the rebels Virtue is rather heavy-handed. 2.5/5

Story 5: "Pale Rider" by Nancy Holder
In Nancy Holder's contribution, another from an author whose previous work I hated, we have yet another world that makes absolutely no sense to me. Apparently, there was a collapse, consisting of explosions, earthquakes, and riots. In 8 years, the world fell apart entirely. I was already skeptical, but we've also got a hot German guy with powers and it turns into this weird paranormal thing. I wouldn't really call this a dystopia, and the writing is nauseating. 1/5

Story 6: "Corpse Eaters" by Melissa Marr
My main reaction to this story was "CHICKA-WHUT?" There's not nearly enough world building to sell this story of some Lizard King god arising from the deeps with his lizard followers. Then apparently some humans start worshiping him and they all eat people. The main characters, Harmony and Chris fight them. Yes, it's dark and creepy, but would probably work better either with a lot more background or as some sort of superhero comic. Also, the relationship between Chris and Harmony is creepy, since he previously had a relationship with her sister Chastity. In fact, he and Harmony first hook up when he thinks she is Chastity, during a drunken haze after Chastity's death. I didn't like the characters or the world, unfortunately. This was a major letdown, since I generally enjoy Marr's work. 2/5

Story 7: "Burn 3" by Kami Garcia
Well, another author has succeeded in surprising me and exceeding my expectations. Kami Garcia chooses a simple premise for her story: global warming leading to post-apocalyptic conditions. A society, within a dome, is managing to limp along, but, even beneath the glass, people suffer from burns. Garcia doesn't shoe-horn in any romance, or try to make the story overly hopeful. "Burn 3" follows classic lines, and does so without being melodramatic or boring. 4/5

Story 8:"Love Is a Choice" by Beth Revis
Yet again, Beth Revis' short story contribution is set in the AtU universe. Unlike some of the others, I actually really liked this one, which gives background on Orion. In this story, you can really see why he ended up losing his mind, and how he became so ruthless and crazy, despite his good intentions. 4/5

Story 9: "Miasma" by Carrie Ryan
Yet again, romance dominates any sort of actual world building. Carrie Ryan has some cool ideas. Something has happened to the environment, and now there's a deadly plague and creepy beaked doctors. Conceivably, this could be awesome, but it's all just there as a backdrop to an instalove sort of relationship. Pass. 2/5

Though most of these stories fell flat for me, the collection is very readable, with even the worst stories not boring me. This made it a nice easy read. I wouldn't recommend it to those who look primarily for world building, but, otherwise, it's a quick, fun read, and, unless you're OCD about such things, you can just skip the stories you don't like.

Rating: 3/5

Giveaway:
I have two copies of the ARC to offer up to my readers. Fill out the Rafflecopter to enter. US/CAN only.
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Joint Review Discussion: Shades of Earth by Beth Revis

As part of the always epic Dystopian February, Lenore Appelhans and I will be doing a couple of joint review discussions. We'll really dive into some of the main subjects. We endeavor to keep it at as non-spoilery as possible, but you might learn a few things. Lenore gave Shades of Earth the merit badge for Twists, and I rated it 4 stars.

Description from Goodreads:

Amy and Elder have finally left the oppressive walls of the spaceship Godspeed behind. They're ready to start life afresh--to build a home--on Centauri-Earth, the planet that Amy has traveled 25 trillion miles across the universe to experience.

But this new Earth isn't the paradise Amy had been hoping for. There are giant pterodactyl-like birds, purple flowers with mind-numbing toxins, and mysterious, unexplained ruins that hold more secrets than their stone walls first let on. The biggest secret of all? Godspeed's former passengers aren't alone on this planet. And if they're going to stay, they'll have to fight.

Amy and Elder must race to discover who--or what--else is out there if they are to have any hope of saving their struggling colony and building a future together. They will have to look inward to the very core of what makes them human on this, their most harrowing journey yet. Because if the colony collapses? Then everything they have sacrificed--friends, family, life on Earth--will have been for nothing.

FUELED BY LIES.
RULED BY CHAOS.
ALMOST HOME.

Lenore and I are discussing 4 topics: Plot, Elder, The other characters, and The ending. The first two are over at Presenting Lenore, so pop over there to check those out, if you haven't been there already. Just keep reading to hear our thoughts on all the characters aside from Elder and the ending of the trilogy.

The Other Characters

Christina:

Beth Revis introduces several new characters in SHADES OF EARTH, which can be daunting for readers, but I think she keeps them all quite distinct and clear. Amy’s parents and Chris are the most significant additions. After two books with the same fairly small set of characters, I think the introduction of these new ones made some delightful changes to relationship and power dynamics. Thinking about it now, though, I really don’t think I have a favorite character in this series. I’m entertained by them, but I don’t think I ever loved or bonded with a single one, which kept these books from being among my all-time favorites. Actually, I think I like Chris best of everyone. And the first Elder was the worst one for me.

Of course, I think we all know that Revis’ favorite things to do with characters are to kill them in nasty ways. Well, she does not disappoint in this installment. The deaths come at a nice, constant pace. One in particular is even seriously gruesome. Most readers will probably find that pretty satisfying, though, because the character definitely had it coming!

Lenore:
I’ve always really connected with Amy, but I know what you mean about the lack of bonding. I was never in danger of crying over anyone’s fate despite all the death. I mean, most of the shipborns were awful to both Amy and Elder, and with the exception of Kit and Bertie, I wouldn’t be able to identify them in a line-up (which is fine - there are a lot them and I have a bad memory for redshirts). We also never get much of a chance to know Amy’s parents or their fellow frozens on a personal level. They are mainly defined as a group by their antagonism toward the shipborns.

But Chris --- wowzers! He has such a fascinating backstory. I would welcome a Chris-centric story in this world in a heartbeat. Bring it on!

I thought there were two particularly gruesome deaths. The one you refer to, but also the one with the baby dino. LOOK AWAY!!

Christina:
Funny. I know a lot of readers were highly annoyed by Amy and liked Elder. You’re a weirdo, Lenore! Oh yeah, there was no one I wanted to cry for at all. In the scene full o’ deaths, I laughed maliciously. I like to imagine Beth Revis doing the same thing while typing furiously. The characters lack enough depth that I’m not emotionally tied to their life or death.

Maybe she’ll write a short story from Chris’ perspective! That would be fantastic.

Oh yeah, that one. The dinos were vicious.

Lenore:

I am a weirdo, I admit it! But Amy’s situation - being alone in the midst of foreign people - was kind of my life for awhile. You know I was a professional exchange student. I could relate to her in a way many readers probably couldn’t.

And even though she’s the sweetest person IRL, I can totally see Revis doing a little witch laugh of glee while she kills characters off.

The Ending

Christina:

 I will try to be non-spoilery as I can with this, but, if you’re concerned, best practice is probably not to read a discussion on a book’s ending. Use your own discretion.

From a plot perspective, I found the ending pretty satisfying. Revis does a nice job of wrapping up the plot threads. Throughout SOE, she reveals the underpinnings for everything that’s been happening throughout the series as a whole, and I thought she did a great job with that. This book, more than the others, really sells this series to me as dystopian, since we finally get a look at more than just life on the ship. Things do seem to wrap up a bit TOO neatly, and I would like to know more about what happens after, but, other than that, it’s solid.

From a character perspective, I am not thrilled with the ending. There’s one big spoilery reason for that, which I won’t reveal, but I think all of you who have read the book will know what I mean. For a moment there, I thought Revis had done something really daring and ended the series on a truly epic bang. But then she didn’t. I found that so incredibly disappointing, especially since I don’t think the explanation for the reversion to a stereotypical ending made any sense at all. It’s a damn shame in my opinion.

Lenore:
I personally would’ve LOVED it if the last chapter hadn’t happened, but I can understand why it’s there. It does wrap up the series arc nicely, and though it’s not the BADASS choice, it’s one that most people will like (or at least expect).

I was very satisfied with the way all the plotlines wrapped up, but I can totally picture a book 4: 10 YEARS LATER … dun dun dun.... that’ll be one epic battle.

Christina:

Oooh, I would read that book four. You cannot make me like that last chapter, though. You can’t. I want the badass ending! *pouts* BUT I still want that fourth book about what comes next.

Lenore:
Time for us to write some fanfiction, my friend!

Remember, there's more discussion at Presenting Lenore!

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Shades of Earth is out now, so you can go enjoy it now!

Review: Gamers

Gamers
Gamers, Book 1

Author: Thomas K. Carpenter
Pages: 324
Publisher: Createspace
Source: Author for review

Description from Goodreads:
Two points for brushing your teeth. Ten points for keeping your room tidy. Seventy-two points for the Bioeconomic Game Design pop quiz on the ride to school in your personal FunCar. Another thirty for making every hurdle in gym class.

Life is a game, unless you're not the one winning.

Gabby DeCorte, top student and reality-hacker extraordinaire, has been doing whatever it takes to keep her best friend, Zaela, from falling behind in LifeGame. Zaela has gifts of artistry that amaze Gabby, but none of those skills translate in LifeGame and with final exams coming up, they can't afford to waste a single minute. But when a mysterious group called the Frags contacts Gabby claiming to know what really happens to the losers of LifeGame, she must choose between winning and what she believes in.

First Sentence: "The green sky loomed over the high school track like a bowl of pea soup upended."

Review:

Gamers is one of two self-pubs I have on my list to read for Dystopian February. Though I'm generally skeptical of self-published books, Thomas K. Carpenter sent me a real review request, one where he'd looked up my name and read some of my work. I appreciate when the requesters have done their due diligence before contacting me, and his book actually fit within the broad swath of genres I enjoy, which happens surprisingly rarely.

Like a few other dystopian novels I've read, Gamers considers a society where life is like a video game, the average person a mere player moving about in an artificial reality. The construct is a fascinating one, which is no doubt the reason it's proved so popular with authors. What's cool about it, though, is that, even though I've read at least four books which used this basic premise, they all have been able to do unique things with it, because the landscape and functioning of the gaming world can vary so widely.

The gamers get points for everything they do, from taking tests to personal hygiene to leisure activities. These points add up to a Life Score, a number which determines your ranking and whether the person will be able to attend college. This is LifeGame, where people walk around collecting points like Mario collects little gold coins from his car in MarioKart.

What's really cool about Gamers are the layers of gaming. From within LifeGame, the players can enter another game. It makes me wonder where real life actually begins. There's a sort of Inception-like quality to it, in that there's no way to say where the game ends. Every aspect of your life can be peered into and affected by a hacker or coder. It's a really scary thought.

The first half of Gamers reads like a science fiction novel, setting up the world and establishing how LifeGame works. Once that's done, you learn the inevitable dark underbelly of the world. At about the midway point, there's a sort of genre change when, from within LifeGame, Gabby and the other students enter a game as their final test to determine whether they will get into college. The game has the feel of a high fantasy video game. I found both parts entertaining, and fast-paced.

The characters never really grabbed me, and do not develop all that much over the course of the novel. I do appreciate, though, the complex relationships between Zaela, Gabby, and Avony. They could have been a bit more deftly-handled, but I like that they're not black and white, and none of the girls is demonized or placed on a pedestal. No one in Gamers comes off as utterly perfect, which is a nice change from so many idealized YA heroines.

So far as the editing goes, I do think Gamers could benefit from a bit more editing. I noticed several errors, but they weren't on every page by any mean. The strangest errors were misspellings with double letters, like scrapping instead of scraping, chaffed instead of chafed, and gripped instead of griped.

Gamers is a quick, enjoyable, fast-paced dystopian read. I think it is best-suited perhaps for a younger teen, even middle grade, audience or for more reluctant readers. As of 2/12/13, the Kindle edition is free temporarily on Amazon, on sale from $5.99, so if you're curious there's no better time!

Rating: 3/5

Favorite Quote: "'Next time could you kill some errant chefs or something? I'm hungry and all, but this jerky is awful. I think I almost prefer a stick to it.'"

Review: Rootless

Rootless
Rootless, Book 1

Author: Chris Howard
Pages: 336
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Source: Purchased

Description from Goodreads:
17-year-old Banyan is a tree builder. Using scrap metal and salvaged junk, he creates forests for rich patrons who seek a reprieve from the desolate landscape. Although Banyan's never seen a real tree—they were destroyed more than a century ago—his father used to tell him stories about the Old World. But that was before his father was taken . . .

Everything changes when Banyan meets a woman with a strange tattoo—a clue to the whereabouts of the last living trees on earth, and he sets off across a wasteland from which few return. Those who make it past the pirates and poachers can't escape the locusts—the locusts that now feed on human flesh.

But Banyan isn't the only one looking for the trees, and he's running out of time. Unsure of whom to trust, he's forced to make an uneasy alliance with Alpha, an alluring, dangerous pirate with an agenda of her own. As they race towards a promised land that might only be a myth, Banyan makes shocking discoveries about his family, his past, and how far people will go to bring back the trees.

In this dazzling debut, Howard presents a disturbing world with uncanny similarities to our own. Like the forests Banyan seeks to rebuild, this visionary novel is both beautiful and haunting—full of images that will take permanent root in your mind . . . and forever change the way you think about nature.

First Sentence: "They figured me too young for a tree builder."

Review:

As happens from time to time, I've read a book that is wonderful, but that does not work perfectly for the kind of reader that I am. Rootless by Chris Howard is a true dystopian/post-apocalyptic novel set in a nightmare landscape. The writing is beautiful and the characters are unique. I definitely like Rootless and I'm very impressed by Howard's debut, but I'm too easily confused by science for it to be the perfect book for me.

First off, I want to praise Chris Howard's writing to the skies. The writing is beautiful, perfectly matched to Banyan and to the world itself. Howard manages to establish that Banyan speaks in dialect with the use of words like "reckon," but keeps it to a minimum. Thus, he clearly gets across the sound of the characters without making Rootless any less readable. Dialect done wrong is a miserable reading experience, and I think Howard takes a marvelous approach.

Howard builds from a pretty standard dystopian formula with the evil corporation GenTech, but the world itself is like nothing I've ever read before. The world has gone to seed in just about every way possible. Trees and animal life (except for humans and locusts) have died out. The only remaining food source is a genetically modified corn that the locusts cannot eat, which means the locusts have to settle for the only remaining dietary option: people. Man-eating bugs are pretty much my worst nightmare. There are also pirates, and a whole lot of other unscrupulous, cutthroat folks. In Rootless, characters really do suffer, and it's not all about the romance; people die in nasty ways, just as they should in a good post-apocalyptic.

Banyan works as a tree builder. What's a tree builder?, you might ask. Well, since the trees are gone, the landscape's a tad empty. Rich folks will pay to have trees built on their landscape. Banyan, as his father taught him, crafts trees out of metal. This is a very strange concept, but one that puts such a stark mental image of this world into my head. His cast of characters is just as memorably strange as the trees built out of metal.

As I mentioned previously, the world in Rootless is one in which countless things have gone wrong. Genetic modification of foodstuffs lead to stronger locusts, which lead to no trees. A lack of trees presents its own problems. The moon also came closer to the earth, which messed with the ocean. All of the non-human animals are gone. Everything that's left is controlled by a corporation, the only institution capable of making food without cannibalism. All of this was just way too much for me to process, and I spent a lot of time confused, trying to figure out why something happened and what repercussions it would have on society.

From interviews I've seen, I'm sure Howard has done his research and put tons of thought into everything, but he lost me. Actually, I had a similar problem with The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi, which is beloved of many people who understand science much better than I do. To tell you the hard truth, I was at best a mid-B range student in high school science. I know just enough to get things really wrong and muddled. Readers with more science background or less inclined to puzzle over things endlessly will likely not have this issue. Also, since Rootless is told from a first person perspective, the world building will likely become more clear as Banyan learns more.

Oh, one last thing, Howard is a HUGE Star Wars fan. It's all over his inspiration board on Pinterest, for example. His love of Star Wars really shines through. There are some very cleverly done references, which I, having been raised from a young age to be obsessed with the original trilogy (the only one that exists in my brain), loved. Watch out for those, Star Wars fans!

I highly recommend Rootless to readers who enjoy harder science fiction with a focus on world building and storytelling. Fans of Paolo Bacigalupi and Star Wars should especially take note.

Rating: 3.5/5

Favorite Quote:

"'Zion. Trees. You're talking about heaven, boy. We be heading to hell.'
     'I don't know,' I said. 'Could be one's really just the same as the other.'"

Review + ARC Giveaway: Breaking Point

Breaking Point
Article 5, Book 2

Author: Kristen Simmons
Pages: 384
Publisher: Tor Teen
Publication Date: February 5, 2013
Source: Publisher for Review

Description from Goodreads:
The second installment in Kristen Simmons's fast-paced, gripping YA dystopian series.

After faking their deaths to escape from prison, Ember Miller and Chase Jennings have only one goal: to lay low until the Federal Bureau of Reformation forgets they ever existed.

Near-celebrities now for the increasingly sensationalized tales of their struggles with the government, Ember and Chase are recognized and taken in by the Resistance—an underground organization working to systematically take down the government. At headquarters, all eyes are on the sniper, an anonymous assassin taking out FBR soldiers one by one. Rumors are flying about the sniper’s true identity, and Ember and Chase welcome the diversion….

Until the government posts its most-wanted list, and their number one suspect is Ember herself.

Orders are shoot to kill, and soldiers are cleared to fire on suspicion alone. Suddenly Ember can’t even step onto the street without fear of being recognized, and “laying low” is a joke. Even members of the Resistance are starting to look at her sideways.

With Chase urging her to run, Ember must decide: Go into hiding…or fight back?

Prior Books in Series:
1: Article 5 (Review|Goodreads)

First Sentence: "The Wayland Inn was behind the slums, on the west end of Knoxville."

Review:
I embarked on my reading of Breaking Point with some trepidation. I personally loved Article 5, but a lot of my good friends had major criticisms, and I wondered if I would see flaws I missed before. Thankfully, I needn't have feared, because Breaking Point lives up to its predecessor, and this is one of my favorite YA dystopian series.

For one thing, Simmons' series actually belongs under the heading of a dystopia. As long as the people follow the rules of the lawmakers, the society is perfect, but, for those who break the articles, the society is a hell. Unlike most YA dystopian series, the resistance is hardly a blip on the radar of the government. The resistance's attempts to overthrow the government feel largely futile, and hearken back to a more classic dystopian formula, especially since Simmons has no compunction about killing off characters.

Those who did not enjoy the first book cited Ember's voice as their biggest problem; they found her whiny and annoying. She does not strike me that way at all, though this is not to say that the other readers are wrong, because we all have our own unique lens on the world. If she is whiny, it's a proactive sort of complaining. Ember doesn't just sit on her ass waiting for Chase to help her. She takes action; in fact, her biggest weakness is her willingness to charge into situations without scouting out the best way to do so. She's emotional and fiercely protective of friends and family.

Actually, I'm really sold on Ember now. Her relationship with Chase does not change her behavior one bit, other than that sometimes she wants to make out with him. He does not control her one bit, and she's obviously more dominant in their relationship, even if he's stronger. I love, too, that when confronted with a terrible person from her past and forced to work with him, she continues not to trust him. This is so refreshing after all of the heroines in postapocalyptic and dystopian novels who befriend people who try to rape them or kill their families. Ember gives trust only where it's earned.

Honestly, I'm not sure how I feel about Chase and Ember as a couple. In book one, I was rooting for them, but I didn't feel as much of a connection between this time. However, I do approve of how their relationship is handled, and that it's largely kept to the back burner. While they do have problems, none of the issues in their relationship are because of the situation they're in. Their relationship  problems are internal, and secondary to dealing with survival.

My main concern at this point is a tentative one. As in so many dystopian societies, women are given inferior status to men. Thankfully, Simmons shows that women are still strong, with the primary example being Ember. Two, arguably three, other strong women appear in Breaking Point, which is great. Unfortunately, it concerns me that all of the powerful women but Ember are not looking good at the end of the book. If all women but Ember are either weak or destroyed physically, it's still sending a bad message. Authors do this, I believe, to make their heroine stand out more, but she can still shine while other women do too, I promise. Hopefully the next volume will bring in more female characters, and badass ones at that.

If you enjoyed Article 5, you're going to want to get your hands on Breaking Point pronto. There's plenty of action, death and uncertainty, exactly what is needed in a good dystopia.

Rating: 4/5

Favorite Quote:

"Even hardened, there were still moments like this. Soft spaces in time. Moments that made everything else matter.
     That was when I finally realized that thought I may have changed I wasn't broken at all."

Giveaway:
The wonderful folks at Tor Teen sent me both an ARC and a hardback, so I'm passing my ARC along to one of my readers. US/CAN unfortunately, but I have a couple international giveaways going, so check the sidebar.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Review: Ashes of Twilight

Ashes of Twilight
Ashes Trilogy, Book 1

Author: Kassy Tayler
Pages: 320
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Source: For review from YA Books Central

Description from Goodreads:
Wren MacAvoy works as a coal miner for a domed city that was constructed in the mid-nineteenth century to protect the royal blood line of England when astronomers spotted a comet on a collision course with Earth. Humanity would be saved by the most groundbreaking technology of the time. But after nearly 200 years of life beneath the dome, society has become complacent and the coal is running out. Plus there are those who wonder, is there life outside the dome or is the world still consumed by fire? When one of Wren's friends escapes the confines of the dome, he is burned alive and put on display as a warning to those seeking to disrupt the dome’s way of life. But Alex’s final words are haunting. “The sky is blue.” What happens next is a whirlwind of adventure, romance, conspiracy and the struggle to stay alive in a world where nothing is as it seems. Wren unwittingly becomes a catalyst for a revolution that destroys the dome and the only way to survive might be to embrace what the entire society has feared their entire existence.

First Sentence: "The Bible teaches us that the heavens and earth were made by the one true God."

Review:

Having seen a couple of uninspiring reviews for Ashes of Twilight, I did not have high hopes for my own enjoyment of the novel. However, when a review copy comes, you do what you have to do. Thankfully, I enjoyed this more than my compatriots did, finding it an easy, enjoyable read.

The best part of Ashes of Twilight is the writing. Tayler's style suited me well, with pretty sentences and just enough slang that I guessed the book was set in England. By the end of the book, I marked down several quotes I enjoyed. Tayler has a mature writing style, with no abuse of sentence fragments.

Wren MacAvoy wants more out of life. Born a shiner, she climbs out of the mines every day into the more dangerous reaches of her domed world to speculate on what's above. The rulers say that flames fill the world outside, making the dome a necessity, but she does not think she sees flames out there. Wren is a seeker, curious and unwilling to settle for anything, most especially a life she's been told to live and a boy she's been told to marry.

The characters that stole the show were the animals. I just love adorable animals with tons of personality in my fiction, and Tayler included bunches. Even better, none of them die, which there has been altogether to much of in my recent reads. Tayler kills people instead. Cat, a cleverly named cat, is my personal favorite. Pip, a canary, also warms my heart. So do the ponies with whom Wren works in the mines, who would not have survived without her aid. I love Wren and Pace for taking such good care of them, and I love Tayler for not putting animals in just to kill them off tragically.

While I did enjoy Ashes of Twilight, I really wish there had been more to it, something unique. None of the elements herein were unfamiliar to me: the dome, the class hierarchy punishing to those on the bottom-most rungs, the terrible air quality, the mining, the instalove, the abusive guy who wants to marry Wren, the twist regarding Wren's father, or the plot arc. All of this I have read in other dystopian novels, not all together like this, but I would still hope to see something solely of Tayler's creation. I have read a lot of dystopian novels, however, so this might not be an issue for readers without so much knowledge of the genre.

One element which should have been better handled is the inclusion of the biblical references. For whatever reason, the shiners only have one book, The Bible. As such, Wren references scripture a lot, as she does in the first sentence. I never really could see a point made with this. The references come thick and fast at the beginning of the novel, but drop off significantly towards the end, without seeming to impact the plot. These should either have served a plot purpose or be taken out entirely. They were not preachy particularly, just out of place.

The most worrying aspect of Ashes of Twilight is Wren's tendency to exhibit TSTL syndrome. As I mentioned, the guy she was supposed to marry, James is abusive. In one of the first scenes, he tries to force himself on her. She is, rightly, uncomfortable around him for the rest of the book. However, she also tells him multiple times that he is a great guy who will make some other girl very happy. No, Wren, he's actually not a great guy, and this makes me doubt your sanity. Can we please stop this trend of pretending that attempted rapists are the kinds of guys any girl should want? They're not. End of story.

Ashes of Twilight does have rather a slow pace, but, if you do not mind that, you might enjoy this book. Tayler's debut might work better for those without too much familiarity with the dystopian genre.

Rating: 2.5/5

Favorite Quote: "'I'd rather be burned after I'm gone. Because then at least maybe my ashes would have a chance to escape."

Review: Obernewtyn

Obernewtyn
The Obernewtyn Chronicles, Book 1

Author: Isobelle Carmody
Pages: 245
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Source: Own

Description from Goodreads:
In a world struggling back from the brink of apocalypse, life is harsh. And for Elspeth Gordie, it is also dangerous. That's because Elspeth has a secret: she is a Misfit, born with mysterious mental abilities that she must keep hidden under threat of death. And her worries only multiply when she is exiled to the mountain compound known as Obernewtyn, where—for all her talents—Elspeth may finally and truly be out of her depth. Then she learns she’s not the only one concealing secrets at Obernewtyn.

First Sentence: "In the days following the holocaust, which came to be known as the Great White, there was death and madness."

Review:

First published in 1987, Obernewtyn really just reads like a book from that era. I don't really know how to explain that, except that I've read dystopian/post-apocalyptic fiction from then and from now, and it very much reads like the former. Partly, this stems from the formatting, broken into a number of short books, because in the 80s and 90s publishers did not have the same faith in teenage attention spans that they do now.

Pulled in by the pretty cover with the intense looking girl, pretty mountains and a cat, I had no conception of what I was getting myself into. Apparently, as the infodumping all over the beginning of the novel told me, humanity made machines that destroyed the world, irradiating and polluting it. Many people died immediately, but some hardy farmers survived. These farmers established a new order, one opposed to technology and worshipful of Lud (their God). They also dictated a policy to kill any seditious people and those affected by radiation, Misfits.

Oddly, though, they don't kill ALL of the misfits. Some are kept alive as workers or sent to the mysterious estate of Obernewtyn, much feared, because, like with a roach motel, those who go there check in but don't check out. Elspeth, the heroine, has, of course, psychic powers, able to speak with animals in her mind and sometimes having prophetic dreams. She, as expected, gets discovered, though for the more minor misfit tendency of the dreams, and shipped off to Obernwtyn.

There, mysterious happenings are afoot. People disappear. There's a creepy doctor running tests. A weird machine that attempts to take over Elspeth's mind. The people running Obernewtyn appear to be evil. On the other hand, for once in her life, Elspeth has real friends who know her for who and what she is and accept her. She has more freedom than ever before, but her life is in great danger.

Obernewtyn failed to really shine, though the story does exhibit promise. For one thing, you never really learn anything about the characters particularly. While I liked Elspeth, Matthew and Dameon well enough, all I really know is that they're nice people with powers. The world building, too, is half-hearted. I enjoyed the idea of this book, but never got sucked into Carmody's world.

Personally, I would label the book more post-apocalyptic than dystopian, though many people on Goodreads would disagree with me. There are elements of both, however. On the plus side, there's no romance in here, so I suspect there will be eventually. For now, it's a nice respite from the modern, romance-focused dystopian and post-apocalyptic tales.

Despite how slow much of the book was for me, I am curious enough to keep going with this series, because, at the very least, the books are short. I suspect these might be more enjoyable for middle grade readers.

Rating: 3/5

Review: The Prey

The Prey
The Hunt, Book 2

Author: Andrew Fukuda
Pages: 304
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Source: YA Books Central

Description from Goodreads:
For Gene and the remaining humans—or hepers—death is just a heartbeat away. On the run and hunted by society, they must find a way to survive in The Vast... and avoid the hungry predators tracking them in the dark. But they’re not the only things following Gene. He’s haunted by the girl he left behind and his burgeoning feelings for Sissy, the human girl at his side.

When they discover a refuge of exiled humans living high in the mountains, Gene and his friends think they’re finally safe. Led by a group of intensely secretive elders, the civilisation begins to raise more questions than answers. A strict code of behaviour is the rule, harsh punishments are meted out, young men are nowhere to be found—and Gene begins to wonder if the world they’ve entered is just as evil as the one they left behind. As life at the refuge grows more perilous, he and Sissy only grow closer. In an increasingly violent world, all they have is each other... if they can only stay alive.

Prior Books in Series:
1: The Hunt (Review|Goodreads)

First Sentence: "We thought we were finally free of them but we were wrong."

Review:

**Be forewarned: this review will include major spoilers for The Hunt and some spoilers for The Prey.**

I always hope that, where I've enjoyed the first book in a series, the rest will prove to be at least as good. Andrew Fukuda's debut novel, The Hunt, while not a favorite was an enjoyable action read, a nice change of pace from my more contemplative reads. In reading The Prey, I really hoped to find more of the same, but instead it alternated between wtfery and completely predictable plot twists.

Since I like to give credit where credit is due, there are two things that I did like about The Prey. First, Fukuda writes well, doing a much better job with his syntax and diction than is typical in more action-based stories. Second, he does give the world an origin story in this installment. Where The Hunt suffered from a lack of world building, Fukuda attempts to explain how the creatures came to rule the earth. While I'm not exactly sold on the reasoning and it could have been better done than in a villain's infodumping speech, I appreciate that Fukuda did put thought into this, and I'd like to see more dystopian/post-apocalytpic novels that tackle this aspect.

As I mentioned previously, the most solid aspect of The Hunt, what kept me flipping pages despite the nonsensical world building, was the non-stop action. The Prey starts off slowly and continues to chug along at that slow pace most of the novel. The hepers (aka humans) have escaped down the river on a boat, searching for the promised land, The Land of Milk and Honey. (Insert eyeroll here.) There's a brief interlude of excitement with an attack by the creatures, duskers as they're called in this book, but otherwise the first half is to set up some new romantic tension, which I will get back to later.

Mostly, this slow portion gave me time to really focus on the little details, like the character names. These poor characters have some of the very worst names I have ever encountered. To be fair, there is a reason behind the names, though some of it is unfortunate and Epap (the most nonsensical name) never is explained. What really bothers me is that both female love interests, easily the strongest characters in the series, have been saddled with the most absurdly weak sounding names: Ashley June and Sissy. Why couldn't she just be Ashley or June? Why Ashley June, a name which makes her sound like a country western singer or a girl getting ready for her Super Sweet Sixteen? Of course, if she does start some sort of country western show, Sissy and the Hepers can open for her.

After sailing down the river, crashing down a waterfall, and climbing up a cave, they find a village of humans. Le shock! They're not the only ones still alive! (Insert my incredibly-surprised face right here.) They're immediately served up a feast of delicious food by beautiful girls, albeit ones with funny walks. Clearly this is is The Land of Milk and Honey! But, oh no! It turns out that all is not well in Creepytown! (Insert gasp here.)

Let's just talk about this town, shall we? This town consists of nubile young women, many of them pregnant, and middle-aged, obese men who call themselves elders. That's about it. The fact that it takes the characters any amount of time to determine that something's amiss boggles my mind. Anyway, not only is this town evil, because, hey, that's how things roll in dystopian novels, but it's freaking crazypants. For example, these young women all have such tiny, fucked up feet that they walk in a really weird gait. Yup, this town practices footbinding. Why, you might ask? Well, here are some quotes from the townspeople on women's feet:

"'See, that's the thing with girls with big man-sized feet,' Krugman says from behind us, his voice a slithering coo. 'When their feet haven't been beautified, when the foot glands haven't been broken. Left undestroyed, these glands secrete male hormones into a girl. Turn her from a princess into an opinionated ox. One who fails to understand her place in society, who mistakenly things she can walk like a male, talk like a male, have opinions like a male. Say no to a male. "Like a gold ring in a pig's snout is a girl with big feet."'" (165)

"'They made me a gopher. I'd go down two times a week with medicine, supplies. That's why they didn't bind my feet but let them grow into man feet—so I'd be able to walk the many miles, climb the cabled ladder. I hated it, in the beginning, mostly because of how my feet got so big and ugly. The other girls were merciless with their taunts. Man feet, man feet, man feet,' she grimaces from the memory." (224)

In case you're wondering, yes, that did just really happen. What really bothers me about this is that it seems to solely be a device to make the book more dramatic and terrifying. Having the women around as breeders for disgusting old fat men isn't enough? They have to have their feet bound too? REALLY?

It gets better, though. Not only do they get their feet bound and be impregnated by these men, but they also are issued either merits or rewards based on how obedient they are. A merit can be earned by doing good things, like birthing a baby. A demerit is earned any time a woman steps out of line, like by doing something alone. Each time a woman earns one or the other, the skin of her arm is marked: a branded X for a demerit and a smiley face tattoo for good behavior. I really, really wish I were joking. Apparently this society was created by a demented child.

Running through this absurd landscape of offensive horrors is a cast of flat characters. Gene has all the girls wanting him, and all of the guys jealous of him. The good guys are all obviously good, and the bad guys obviously bad. Women, with the exception of Sissy and Ashley June, are weak. Gene is the most important person, intended to be saved from harm, even at the loss of everyone else's life, which turns out to be incredibly laughable and illogical after you learn the final plot twist.

The romance, though thankfully kept to the backburner, is saccharine and unconvincing, perhaps because of the entire lack of development in the characters. Days after leaving Ashley June to a certain horrible fate with the duskers, Gene and Sissy are having special moments of staring, complete with added tension due to Epap's jealousy. Gene and Sissy have not a bit of sexual tension, nor do they have any sort of real bond. They're good at helping each other survive, so hanging together and hooking up is cool (not that they do), but that does not excuse all the syrupy language used for their every interaction.

The two of them pretty much made me want to throw up whenever they looked at one another, especially when he nearly drowns, she gives him mouth to mouth, and he thinks this: "Then velvet lips on mine, dewy and sweet. Soft on soft, the lips alive and encompassing. Then becoming fiercer, the grip ironclad" (249). Ugh, dude, this is not the freaking Sandlot. You have no oxygen in your lungs; you are dying. Now is not the time to rhapsodize about the softness of her lips. Now, I haven't ever experienced mouth to mouth resuscitation, but I'm pretty sure that the only thing I would be thinking about would be BREATHING. If you're feeling horny while your lungs are full of water, you really should sort out your damn priorities.

This book is nothing like The Hunger Games, though the first one had some elements thereof, so please do not get sucked into that marketing. What it comes down to is, if you're curious or think those things won't bother you, then read it. Other people have read The Prey and enjoyed it. All I can say is that I really, really did not, and that I will not be reading any more of this series.

Rating: 1.5/5

Favorite Quote: "'Don't we all have a death sentence! The very second we're born, aren't we all sentenced to death?'"

Review: Orleans

Orleans

Author: Sherri L. Smith
Pages: 336
Publisher: Putnam Juvenile
Publication Date: March 7, 2013
Source: Borrowed from Steph of Cuddlebuggery

Description from Goodreads:
First came the storms. Then came the Fever. And the Wall.

After a string of devastating hurricanes and a severe outbreak of Delta Fever, the Gulf Coast has been quarantined. Years later, residents of the Outer States are under the assumption that life in the Delta is all but extinct… but in reality, a new primitive society has been born.

Fen de la Guerre is living with the O-Positive blood tribe in the Delta when they are ambushed. Left with her tribe leader’s newborn, Fen is determined to get the baby to a better life over the wall before her blood becomes tainted. Fen meets Daniel, a scientist from the Outer States who has snuck into the Delta illegally. Brought together by chance, kept together by danger, Fen and Daniel navigate the wasteland of Orleans. In the end, they are each other’s last hope for survival.

Sherri L. Smith delivers an expertly crafted story about a fierce heroine whose powerful voice and firm determination will stay with you long after you’ve turned the last page.

First Sentence: "After the storm deaths came other casualties: deaths by debris, cuts, tetanus, or loss of blood; suicide; heart attacks caused by stress of loss, or stress of rebuilding, or just as often from the lack of medicines used to treat common ailments."

Review:

Given the onslaught of dystopian and post-apocalyptic fiction, knowing which authors have simply hopped the trend bandwagon heading to Fametown and which just had a story to tell that happened to fall into the genre can be incredibly difficult. They've all got, more or less, visually arresting covers and a whole lot of marketing to convince you that this one will be the real deal. Well, my friends, Sherri L. Smith has most definitely not written this book in a bid to earn more readers by writing for a popular genre. Where the most popular of this sub-genre these days focus more on romance, Orleans pays attention to world building above all else.

Obviously, I really, really love dystopian and post-apocalyptic fiction, otherwise I wouldn't read as much of it as I do. However, I go into this endeavor well-aware of the weaknesses of such novels. More often than not, the world building receives minor attention, taking a backseat to either mindless action or star-crossed romance. Sometimes, the author does not even offer the slightest hint of how the world evolved into its current state.

In Orleans, Smith starts the reader off with explanations, a detailing of how the Gulf coast went down the shitter, and got quarantined from the United States after a series of devastating hurricanes that resulted in an even more disastrous disease. The individuals still living in Orleans, having dropped the new as they're nothing new and shiny about this place anymore, live a very different life than the one we know. The bulk of the population lives in tribes, organized by blood type, as the disease affects the different blood types in varying strengths. Those with AB blood are most affected, but, as a result, they are most to be feared, since they will attack the other types to take their blood, which helps stave off the illness. From the very beginning, Smith starts building her world and she does not stop until the end, and, y'all, her world is creepy.

On top of the completely stellar world building, Orleans earns so much respect from me for being diverse. People of every race run around Orleans and, for the most part, skin color and heritage do not matter any more; now blood type does. The heroine, Fen de la Guerre, is dark-skinned, but, honestly, I'm not completely sure what her race is; what I do know is that she's non-white, and so are most of the people running around this book. Also, the cover matches this book perfectly, down to the way her hair's piled on top of her head.

Fen really does make a marvelous heroine, in that she looks out for herself and does whatever she needs to do to survive. In a lot of survival situations in novels, the heroine's always trying to save everyone and sacrifice herself, but that rarely strikes me as a realistic. Fen has one person she really cared about and would have died to protect, but that person dies in childbirth in the beginning, asking Fen to take care of her child. Even with this promise in place, Fen considers abandoning the baby at a couple of points to save herself. Later, when she meets a wandering scientist, Daniel, she only helps him to help herself. Her character arc does change a bit, but mostly she's a hardened warrior who has been through the worst and does not want to go back.

The downside for me was that I never felt any connection to the characters. While interesting, Fen closes herself off to everyone, including the reader. Despite her sections being told in first person, I really just didn't have a handle on who she was besides a survivor, which, while, utterly believable on the one hand, kept me from engaging completely. Though his sections were in third person, Daniel was still more approachable, but he's so useless in Orleans that I didn't feel much for him either. Also, I'm generally not a fan of multiple points of view when they're not all in either first or third person. The switches between first and third person narration, in general and here specifically, catch me off guard, especially once Daniel and Fen are in the same place.

Other factors worth noting are the writing style and the romance. For the former, be warned that Orleans is written with quite a bit of dialect, as Fen speaks and thinks that way. Her dialect, however is quite mild, mostly consisting of the use of 'be' in place of 'are.' Though I'm really not a fan of dialect, this did not bother me. To the latter point, there is no romance. None. If you like post-apocalyptics for romance, you'll want to be passing by this one. As for the rest of us, Orleans serves as a lovely break from the monotony of instalove.

Readers who have mostly given up on post-apocalyptics because you're sick of all of the sappy romances and pathetic attempts at world building, Orleans will restore just a little bit of your faith in the genre.

Rating: 4/5

Favorite Quote: "'And the people,' he say. 'Lord, the people. They was black, and white, and yellow, and brown, and pink as lobsters sometimes, too, but they was beautiful. Because they could dance like the city, and sing like the city, and love like the city was loved by the sky and the sea. It was the people who made the city of New Orleans.'"