Showing posts with label violence. Show all posts
Showing posts with label violence. Show all posts

Lockdown Review

Lockdown
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Lockdown ReviewLockdown, the newest release from Printz award-winning author Walter Dean Myers, couldn't have come at a better time. Burned out from a succession of novels that each read much like the one before it, lacking voice and pizazz, Lockdown provided a much needed - and much appreciated - change. This journey into the life of a boy who made a mistake and pays for it over and over again is both beautiful and sorrowful.
Reese is a boy you've known: someone who tries his best to stay out of trouble when the story of his life is trouble. A big brother in and out of prison, an addict mom, a microcosm society of hopelessness, this is what Reese grows up with and when that fateful day comes that he makes his own mistake and is sent to juvie, no one's going to let him forget where he comes from - and what little he has to look forward to.
Reese has all kinds of obstacles to navigate at the Progress Center: physical violence, authority figures who alternately beat him down and maintain unrealistic high expectations of him, a crusty old racist in the retirement home he volunteers at, uncertainty about his future when he gets out. But Reese, despite his mistake, is self-aware and concerned for others. But even that gets him into trouble. How do you rescue a smaller kid from getting jumped when one more fight cancels out your early-release?
I was struck and saddened by the way the disciplinary system in Lockdown worked to damage Reese's character rather than heal it because it was so truthfully portrayed. Even so, Reese shines in his interactions with his sister, Icy, and I found myself hoping against fate that good things would happen for him. His optimism under pressure was inspiring.
Walter Dean Myers has one of the most vivid and real voices I have come across in Young Adult literature. I'd like to repeat that sentence three or four times, but I won't. He doesn't rely on dialect or slang to illustrate his setting and characters; instead, there is a natural rhythm to the narration and the dialogue that compelled me into the story, into the time and place and understanding of Reese's world. And yet, it feels subtle, not at all forceful or in-your-face. Myers is a master storyteller and Reese's tale shines under his treatment.
~review by YA Highway, [...]Lockdown Overview

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Payback Time Review

Payback Time
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Payback Time ReviewThis book sounded really good from the write up on it. It has a little mystery and intrigue in the high school sport area. I really liked the start of the book and could relate to Mitch (danny). The story gets really good as Mitch and Kimi try to figure out just who Angel is and where he came from.
The story at the end just falls flat and ends very abruptly. It finishes so fast that you feel like you missed alot about what exactly happened and you want to read more about the characters and their lives.Payback Time Overview

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Afraid Review

Afraid
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Afraid ReviewIt may be the worst-kept secret in publishing that Jack Kilborn is the pseudonym of novelist J.A. Konrath. Fans of Konrath's Jack Daniel's serial killer novels know that he's not afraid to depict graphic violence. That knowledge is not going to prepare you for what you'll face in Afraid.
The plot is high concept, and simple enough to summarize in just a few sentences. Every major government, including our own, is experimenting in "Red-ops." Why turn soldiers into killers, when it's so much easier to turn killers into soldiers? And if you can use cutting-edge technology to enhance them, so much the better. One such Red-ops team of psycho killers accidentally crash lands in bucolic Safe Haven, Wisconsin. It's a terrible, terrible mistake, as the team launches into what they've been trained to do--kill and maim in the most terrifying (and may I add disgusting) way imaginable. Only the elderly town sheriff has begun to suspect that it may not be a mistake after all...
And it was that last bit, in the book's description, that got me. Not a mistake? What do they want? I was hooked. I mean HOOKED. I had important work to do, but once I had started it, I could not stop reading this book until I finished it. I read it in less than a day. The pacing of the novel was relentless, as was the subject matter. I had been told that this was a gory novel. In no way does that prepare you for the level of sickness you will encounter in this novel. I can not emphasize enough that Afraid is not for the faint of heart. If it were a film, I wouldn't have made it through the first five minutes. (Let's all hope they never make a movie.) Kilborn's creative, I'll give him that. I don't even know how a healthy mind goes to the places his went.
Ultimately, I give the novel four stars. When all was said and done, I was mildly disappointed in what all the furor was about. Was it enough to justify the events of the novel? And I wasn't sure, but I might have found a small plot hole. Mostly, I just can't give five stars to anything this revolting. On the plus side, there was actually some pretty fantastic storytelling. I'm a total sucker for characters like Stubin and Mathison. In addition to unremitting suspense, Kilborn threw in enough twists, reversals, and out-and-out surprises to keep me constantly on my toes. As much as I'd like to deny it, Afraid was damn entertaining.
If I sound conflicted, it's because I am. I'd like myself better if I liked this book less. This is sick, sick, sick stuff y'all. I'm going to recommend it to my mom--she loves psycho killers! Will I read Kilborn's next one? You betcha.Afraid Overview

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Wildwood: The Wildwood Chronicles, Book I Review

Wildwood: The Wildwood Chronicles, Book I
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Wildwood: The Wildwood Chronicles, Book I ReviewI had high expectations for Wildwood. I mean, it's Colin Meloy of the Decemberists: he writes erudite, unique songs that stay in your head forever. Wildwood is his first foray into fiction, a children's fantasy that has shades of Philip Pullman and CS Lewis. It's an enjoyable read and a fine adventure, but it's hard not to wish that Meloy had taken more risks with the story, strayed off the path every so often.
Our young heroine is Prue McKeel, a precocious preteen with an interest in botanical illustration and a baby brother who has been abducted by a murder of crows. And not just abducted, but taken into the Impassable Wilderness, a wooded area in Portland that no one goes into -- and no one has ever returned from. Of course that's not stopping Prue. Accompanied by her nerdy schoolmate Curtis, she plunges into a fantastic world where coyotes, birds, and dogs talk, postmen are armed with double-barreled rifles, and a terrible power struggle is taking place. The stakes: Prue's brother and the fate of all Wildwood.
The plot is pretty basic for a 500+ page book, but there are plenty of interesting characters (plus a memorable villain) and events to keep readers flipping the pages. Colin Meloy's writing is confident, intelligent, and accessible both to his middle reader audience as well as adult readers who know him from The Decemberists. So why not 5 stars? I was frustrated that the true extent of Meloy's imagination seemed confined to brief flashes -- the fate of the Governess's son, a handful of short but quirky character descriptions. And even in a genre known for its pathetic adults, Prue's parents take the cake for being whiny, ineffectual, and dense. Their bad choices are necessary to the plot, but seriously strain credulity.
In plot and tone, Wildwood feels a bit like a loving tribute to classic fantasy adventures by CS Lewis, Lewis Carroll and Lloyd Alexander. Although it contains a few references to Prue's modern day life (yoga, rice milk, computers), it has a distinctively vintage feel. Carson Ellis's many charming illustrations and silhouettes add to the effect.
I don't really think Wildwood is an instant classic, but it's a fast-paced and enjoyable fantasy adventure with a resourceful heroine. I'd come back for seconds.Wildwood: The Wildwood Chronicles, Book I Overview

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