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: Mind Games

Mind Games
Mind Games, Book 1

Author: Kiersten White
Pages: 256
Publisher: HarperTeen
Publication Date: February 19, 2013
Source: For review from YA Books Central

Description from Goodreads:
Fia was born with flawless instincts. Her first impulse, her gut feeling, is always exactly right. Her sister, Annie, is blind to the world around her—except when her mind is gripped by strange visions of the future.

Trapped in a school that uses girls with extraordinary powers as tools for corporate espionage, Annie and Fia are forced to choose over and over between using their abilities in twisted, unthinkable ways… or risking each other’s lives by refusing to obey.

In a stunning departure from her New York Times bestselling Paranormalcy trilogy, Kiersten White delivers a slick, edgy, heartstoppingly intense psychological thriller about two sisters determined to protect each other—no matter the cost.

First Sentence: "My dress is black and itchy and I hate it."

Review:
Ugh, you guys. I was so excited for this pretty much until I started reading it. I mean, that cover! Also, I enjoyed the first two Paranormalcy books, though in Endlessly Lend and Evie went way over my sap-tolerance. Here's the thing: the best part of Paranormalcy is the humor; it may not be good literature or amazing writing, but Evie is funny. Neither Fia nor Annie has a sense of humor, and, without it, the book relies heavily on White's writing and plotting, which turns out not to be a great thing.

Sometimes when a book disappoints me, I leave feeling angry. I am pissed off for days that the marketing tricked me into reading something so awful. In this case, I really do not have any bad feelings towards Mind Games at all. This may be, in fact, the most meh I have ever felt upon finishing a book. I can almost feel the novel draining out of my head as I type this, so I should probably type with alacrity. Basically, this book bored me, from beginning to end (with brief breaks to annoy me). Despite its brevity, it took three days for me to finish because any distraction would be more interesting.

Blame Bekka of Pretty Deadly Reviews for the random GIFs - she triple dog dared me.

On the plus side, Mind Games starts off with a bang. Fia is an assassin, sent to complete a mission. Unfortunately, her mission turns out to be a cute guy who likes puppies, so she cannot follow through. This would be cheesy, except that saving him writes a death warrant for herself and her blind sister, Annie, with her employers. Even worse, three goons are chasing her and the guy, Adam. The opening scene catches the readers attention and creates a lot of curiosity about what precisely is going on.

Honestly, I'm torn on the writing. Personally, I really do not like it, because repetition and simplistic sentences bother me. However, I do give Kiersten White full credit for writing two disparate, easily-distinguished two person narratives. What really irritates me about the writing, primarily Fia's narrative, is the repetition. This done stylistically, though, so, if this does not bother you, then I suspect you will enjoy the writing. Here are a couple of samples from the ARC, so you can see what I mean, though note that they could be changed before publication:

"He's still helping the puppy, untangling the leash from a tree its owner tied it to outside the bar. And he's not only setting it free, he's talking to it. I can't hear the words but I can see in the puppy's tail that, however he's talking, he's talking just right, all tender sweet cheerful comfort as his long fingers deftly untwist and unwind and undo my entire day, my entire life."

"Oh no. Oh no, oh no. I didn't do it. I didn't kill Adam. He's sitting next to me, driving (I let him drive? Why did I let him drive?) and very much alive."

The plotting and world building confound me at many points, which is not something I say often. Two main things I really do not get: the school and the seers. First off, we've got these people with powers (like seers and readers), and some evil dude is collecting them into this school so he can use them for his nefarious purposes. We learn nothing about how this school started or where the powers came from. Perhaps more frustrating, Fia has a unique power, perfect instincts, but we never learn if there are other rare powers or if she's just that special.

Throughout the novel, much is made of the seers and how Fia is the only one who can possibly do anything they cannot see in advance. She has this capability because she acts on her perfect instincts. Since she acts impulsively, they cannot ever see her future, since it is not set. That sort of makes sense, except that she makes longer-range plans all the time. Maybe one instinctual decision in the middle prevents the seers from picking up on her endgame? I mean, in the, admittedly surprising, conclusion, she had a plan and they would have seen it; that was not instinct. This whole thing reminds me a lot of Minority Report. All of this might not bother people who do not feel the need to focus so much on nitty gritty details. For me, nothing made any sense, though I may be trying to apply logic where it's not meant to be.

Mind Games would benefit from characterization. Fia is the only one I know too much about, and the only one to really receive any back story, despite the fact that the flashbacks should give a lot more of a view into Annie and James, too. Fia never coalesces into a distinct person. She does a lot of things and feels a lot of things that never really seem to add up the way one might expect. Her motivations are often unclear, such as why a certain incident made her start tap tap tapping. I do like Fia's love of dancing, and that no one ever shames her for loving that or wearing sexy clothes. However, I do not care for Fia's desire to belong to James, like a pair of headphones or something; this seems both out of character and really backward. Everyone else is one-note. James is sexy and dangerous. Annie is blind and helpless. Cole has stubble. Eden is awful. Adam is sweet and loves puppies.

The portrayal of Annie upsets me the most. For all that the book should be equally about her (the UK version is even titled Sister Assassins), she has no role in the novel but to be the albatross around Fia's neck. Every single horrible thing in Fia's life happens because she has to watch out for Annie. Both of them feel this. Annie never does anything; even when she makes up her mind to make a change, her role in that change is entirely passive. Her visions of the future, too, should give her some power, but she always messes up, never leverages them properly. Characters should not exist solely to be a burden. The portrayal of Annie's character depresses me.

Much as this book bores me, I have no doubt that other readers will squee all over it. If you like the writing samples above and will not be digging around looking for plot holes, you can probably sit back and be entertained. If you're more like me, read a sample before spending your hard-earned money.

Rating: 2/5

Favorite Quote: "'Ah, but that's the glory of not being Eden. She can feel bad all she wants and we never have to feel it!'"

Review: Dark Star

Dark Star

Author: Bethany Frenette
Pages: 354
Publisher: Hyperion Book CH
Publication Date: October 23, 2012
Source: Disney Hyperion via NetGalley

Description from Goodreads:
Audrey Whitticomb has nothing to fear. Her mother is the superhero Morning Star, the most deadly crime-fighter in the Twin Cities, so it's hard for Audrey not to feel safe. That is, until she's lured into the sweet night air by something human and not human--something with talons and teeth, and a wide, scarlet smile.

Now Audrey knows the truth: her mom doesn't fight crime at night. She fights Harrowers--livid, merciless beings who were trapped Beneath eons ago. Yet some have managed to escape. And they want Audrey dead, just because of who she is: one of the Kin.

To survive, Audrey will need to sharpen the powers she has always had. When she gets close to someone, dark corners of the person's memories become her own, and she sometimes even glimpses the future. If Audrey could only get close to Patrick Tigue, a powerful Harrower masquerading as human, she could use her Knowing to discover the Harrowers' next move. But Leon, her mother's bossy, infuriatingly attractive sidekick, has other ideas. Lately, he won't let Audrey out of his sight.

When an unthinkable betrayal puts Minneapolis in terrible danger, Audrey discovers a wild, untamed power within herself. It may be the key to saving her herself, her family, and her city. Or it may be the force that destroys everything--and everyone--she loves.

First Sentence: "You know when you have that dream?"

Review:
Even though I love this cover, my expectations going into this were pretty low. I haven't seen any reviews for it, but I've heard from people who read reviews that they've seen less than encouraging ones. As such, I adjusted my hopes down a bit and set off. Actually, I ended up really enjoying Dark Star. Is it perfect? No. Is it a fun? Heck yes!

The very best part of Dark Star is the characterization. Recently, though I've been on a really good reading streak, I feel like most of my star deductions have been for characters that didn't feel real to me or that I simply could not connect with, so I really needed this character-driven read. Audrey has a huge personality, funny and clever and a little bit rebellious. I loved her voice so much that the writing style, which leans a bit more to the choppy fragments style than I generally care for, didn't bother me much.

Not only is Audrey awesome, her friends are great too. She has two best friends, Gabriel and Tink. Gabriel is the only one who has been trusted with her mother's secret (that she's the superhero Morning Star, though she prefers to be called a Guardian, and fights bad guys with her younger partner Leon). Audrey trusts Gabriel implicitly, the only secrets she keeps from him being ones she's not allowed to tell. Tink, who I totally pictured as the character of the same name from The Guild, is outgoing and tiny and a little bit terrifying. They have a real bond and I love to see that in novels.

Perhaps even more rare, Audrey has a loving, protective, approachable, attentive mother. Can such a thing truly exist in YA? Apparently so! Audrey's mother, Lucy, does go out all night to fight crime, but she's in no way an absentee mom. She manages to spend a lot of time with her daughter. While definitely not an overprotective hardass, Lucy does keep informed of her daughter's whereabouts and try to keep Audrey safe, except for that one flashback where Lucy totally battles this demon preggers. Plus, they totally have the mother-daughter banter down. Of course, to fulfill the YA parental drama, her father's out of the picture, but I was still so glad to have a loving family dynamic in this book.

The romance, which does exist, satisfied, even if it was totally predictable. Of course, if a romance has to be predictable, I'm not going to complain too much when it's my favorite of the cliched romance patterns, which this happens to be. Also, the best part is that the romance totally isn't the focus. It's there and believable and has chemistry, but flirting is minimal and Audrey doesn't spend the whole book mooning over boys.

The first half of the book, had it continued in that vein, might even have gotten four stars from me for the sheer fun of it and the awesome characters. However, the book took a bit of a turn, and, though I didn't hate it, I would have preferred for the book not to have a paranormal twist. If you don't want to know what the twist is, skip to the last paragraph now.

In true YA fashion, it turns out that mom is not in fact a superhero; she fights demons. Basically, the book takes this whole twist to the paranormal when I really just wanted to read a fantasy novel where some people have a little bit of extra power for who cares why and do some vigilante justice, okay? Mom has super strength, Leon can teleport, and Audrey Knows things, or, in otherwords, is a little bit psychic. That was all awesome and I had accepted it and then it was all because of paranormal things, which wasn't bad, but I've had enough of that and was so excited for something a little different.

The bigger problem with the paranormal plotline was that it was weird and a little haphazard at the end. Like, the final confrontation was so abrupt. There's this small battle and it's dramatic, but then instead of the BIG crazy showdown, it just sort of ends. I want my epic battle of powers and superheroes, dang it! Also, the book didn't really feel wrapped up plot-wise at the end. I haven't heard rumors of a sequel, so, if this it, poorly done on that.

But, you know what? I still had so much fun reading this that I'm giving it a bonus .5 for keeping me engaged in the story. Of course, now I really want to reread After the Golden Age, which is about a woman who's the daughter of superheroes that are actually just superheroes and so, so good.

Rating: 3.5/5

Favorite Quote:

"'Remind me again why I put up with you?"
   ''Cause you sold me your soul for five bucks, and now you must submit to my will?' I still had the sheet of paper, written in his untidy fifth-grade scrawl. Gideon David Belmonte. One soul."

Before the Lobotomy - Green Day

Yesterday

Author: C. K. Kelly Martin
Pages: 352
Publisher: Random House
Publication Date: September 25, 2012
Source: Random House via NetGalley

Description from Goodreads:
THEN: The formation of the UNA, the high threat of eco-terrorism, the mammoth rates of unemployment and subsequent escape into a world of virtual reality are things any student can read about in their 21st century textbooks and part of the normal background noise to Freya Kallas’s life. Until that world starts to crumble.

NOW: It’s 1985. Freya Kallas has just moved across the world and into a new life. On the outside, she fits in at her new high school, but Freya feels nothing but removed. Her mother blames it on the grief over her father’s death, but how does that explain the headaches and why do her memories feel so foggy?

When Freya lays eyes on Garren Lowe, she can’t get him out of her head. She’s sure that she knows him, despite his insistence that they’ve never met. As Freya follows her instincts and pushes towards hidden truths, the two of them unveil a strange and dangerous world where their days may be numbered.

Unsure who to trust, Freya and Garren go on the run from powerful forces determined to tear them apart and keep them from discovering the truth about their shared pasts (and futures), her visions, and the time and place they really came from.

First Sentence: "When I've wailed for so long and so hard that my throat is in shreds and my fingernails ripped and fingertips bloody from clawing at the door, I collapse in front of it curled up like a dead cat I saw on an otherwise spotless sidewalk as a child once."

Review:
My second C. K. Kelly Martin book has me convinced that I need to write every single thing she writes. Martin has a very distinct style. Her writing is wonderful and her concepts, at least for the two books I've already read, are entirely original. Yesterday didn't remind me of any other dystopia, a very rare experience.

Yesterday is one of those stories where you'll spend most of the book confused, unsure what the heck is going on. However, rest easy with the knowledge that you WILL be given answers; Martin will explain everything. Her vision of the future is dark and complex, taking into account various ways that humans could destroy the world. Not only that, but, of course, the meddlesome government will take charge in a harsh way to try to control everything.

I really cannot say much of anything else about the world building aspect of Yesterday, because spoilers would be unavoidable. The only other things I need to point out in this regard are the reasons I rated it down a little bit. First, there was the clunky info dump when Freya realized what was going on. I'm not sure if there was a better way to do that, but that chapter read like a history text. I also felt like her memories came back too quickly and easily. Second, the time travel aspects were questionable, but, then again, I almost always have big suspension of disbelief issues with time travel.

Yesterday made a really nice change from most of my other reads, because of the unique setting. For one thing, the book is set in Canada, taking place largely in Toronto. Very few books I've read have had a Canadian setting, though I'm a bit surprised by that. Even more uncommon, Yesterday is set primarily in the 1980s. I loved all the mentions of music, like The Smiths, and other bits of pop culture from that time period. Also, picturing everyone in the horrific clothes greatly amused me.

Freya won my affections early on. She's gorgeous, in a way that could have made her completely obnoxious; literally, everyone stares at her. However, she is completely uncomfortable with that. She doesn't try to be popular; instead she befriends the goths, and even does a makeover on herself so people will pay less attention to her. I loved that, despite her beauty, she doesn't take advantage of it nor does she deny it.

Freya has premonitions, visions of the near future. These really could have felt out of place, and I am curious about them, but Martin made them work. They did not come off as an unnecessary paranormal addition to the plot, thank goodness. I love Freya for her intelligence, her forthrightness, her courage and her anger. She feels so real. It also entertained me that in this case, it wasn't a heroine falling for a vaguely creepy, gorgeous guy who stalked her; she does the stalking, although she does have her reasons.

Garren definitely was less dear to me, but I liked him because Freya did. I still question him a bit, because he had a girlfriend at the beginning. The switch of his feelings from Janette to Freya seemed rushed and unnatural. However, I can accept it, since, though they get close to one another VERY quickly, they don't instalove all over the place. In such a stressful situation, emotions developing is not a surprise, but I would have punched everything if they were declaring eternal love for one another. Thankfully, they did not. As an added bonus, Martin is a genius at writing steamy scenes, as evidenced here and in My Beating Teenage Heart.

Reading Yesterday was a pleasure from beginning to end, a refreshingly original addition to dystopian fiction. Now I need to go add her other books to my wishlist...

Favorite Quote: "'I can't stop saying it, Garren. It's the truth. I'm not going to pretend for you. The past doesn't disappear just because you don't want to hear it.'"

"Dreaming, I was only dreaming
Of another place and time
Where my family's from"

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.

Colors - Amos Lee

Life Eternal
Dead Beautiful, Book 2

Author: Yvonne Woon
Pages: 398
ARC Acquired from: Hyperion via NetGalley
Warning: This book is part of a series and will contain spoilers for the previous book.

Brief Summary:
Renée Winters survived her year at Gottfried Academy, but she's quite different ever since she gave her soul to Dante and he gave it back. She doesn't seem to feel as much anymore now that she's apart from him over the summer and she's having these incredibly intense dreams that may or may not be visions of the future. Because of the tragic events of the previous year, Gottfried Academy will now be the boarding school home only for the undead, so Renée is off to Lycée St. Clément in Canada, notorious and desperate to figure out how to be with Dante.

Review:
I definitely feel much the same about Life Eternal as I did Dead Beautiful. It's fun and quick to read, but also kind of ridiculous and melodramatic. However, overall, I think I did like this one a bit better.

First off, Renée is still weird. She just never reacts to things the way a normal person would. Maybe she's just not normal, but pretty much every time I read about how she responded to something, I'm like what the heck! For example, in the first chapter, you learn that her grandfather has been reading all her mail. And that she's okay with that, because she knows she can't stop him. If it were me, I would have the fight every time, because tampering with the mail's not cool, or I would come up with some other way to get my mail so it didn't have to go through psychogramps. Then again maybe the real reason she's okay with it is because she snoops through his stuff too.

One of the strangest things about this book is the fact that as much as Gottfried Academy controlled the students' every move Lycée St. Clément doesn't seem to care at all. Renée runs all around Montreal searching for Dante and never gets in trouble for just disappearing from campus. More than once, she falls asleep somewhere that's not her room and comes back in the morning...and no one notices. Partly because apparently at this super sweet boarding school everyone gets their own room, with bathrooms shared by only two people. At Gottfried, there was a communal bathroom in the girls' building and one in the boys'. Weird!

What I liked most about this book was that the disgusting soul mate thing was significantly reduced. It becomes apparent that even though she thought they were perfect for one another, because they share the same soul and everything, that it's possible she doesn't know him as well as she thought. There's an acknowledgment here that this is a high school relationship and that they really have not spent enough time together or talked about their pasts enough to have a healthy, trusting relationship.

Add to this a new possible love interest in Noah, a Monitor boy, and you've got the makings for Renée needing to reevaluate her life choices. I also love the questions raised in this love triangle. Should love be easy? Renée doesn't think so at first, but comes to question whether the difficulty of maintaining a relationship is a sign of its worth. I love that Woon brought this up, because with so many of the YA romances, especially in the paranormal genre, teens could get the idea that true love is beset by many difficulties, and that if it's too easy it can't be real.

The dramatic ending left a little bit to be desired, although it definitely achieved the dramatic. It just seems like people were not as prepared as they should have been, resulting in some unnecessary and awful things happening.

Anyway, despite the many things I could rant about in this series, it is really fun to read, and I know I'll be excited when book three comes out. I just can't help it. Recommended to people who like the Cassandra Clare books; I always have a similar response to those.

Rating: 3/5

"When you're gone all the colors fade"