Awaken Review

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Awaken ReviewAwaken by Katie Kacvinsky takes place in a world where most spend their entire lives inside their home. Interacting with others only through a computer screen. Because many years ago terrorism and violence made people unwilling to venture outside their homes and thrilled when digital school (DS) was implemented and required. Maddie whose father is the founder of digital school has been under lock and key since she helped an opposition group get the passwords to take down the digital school system and has reformed her ways if not her beliefs. She meets a boy online and plans to meet him face to face at a study group. He encourages her to get out and experience the world without the barrier of computers.
Your Mom called, she wants you to stop texting and read this book.
Awaken takes place in a world where being on the computer all day is encouraged and face to face interaction is rare. It's a great exaggeration of how many in the present live their lives, this dystopian world that the author created was believable and well crafted. Maddie was a nice heroine with a rebellious streak. Although, there were times when I wanted to smack her because she was unable to see that she was being used. There were several fantastic car chases which made for entertaining reading.
Appropriateness: Maddie is rebellious and has no problems selling out her family for her cause. She sneaks out, lies to her parents, breaks the law, runs from police and meets strange men in person that she met on the internet. There are a few club scenes with no drunkenness and the sexual content is limited to kissing. Maddie is almost 18 and her love interest is 20. While there is a lot of law breaking and bad behavior the message is fantastic encouraging kids to step away from the computer and talk to people face to face. I would place the interest level at 13+Awaken Overview

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Glow (Sky Chasers) Review

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Glow (Sky Chasers) ReviewGLOW was a book where the cover and synopsis had been hooked. I put other books aside to read it. They say don't judge a book on its cover, but I did anyway, and this was one of the few cases where I ended up being disappointed. This review has taken me several hours to write, something so unusual for me, because it alternated between being a great book for me and pissing me off.
Many YA books recently have tackled religion as a key plot point. GLOW's depiction of Christianity was what almost ruined this book for me. It was almost a fallacy, using Christianity as an excuse for evil actions. The antagonist of this story is the Pastor/leader of the other ship, the New Horizon. They come to the Empyrean, home of our protagonist Waverly, and kidnap all the girls to solve their fertility issues while sabotaging the ship, killing the adults, and leaving the boys to run the ship once the remaining adults sacrifice themselves to prevent a meltdown.
There is a love triangle in this book, but not so much instalove - it has been set up that Waverly and Kieran were a couple beforehand, more so out of expectation than true love. At the beginning their relationship is almost refreshing, showing Waverly's doubts about their relationship but setting up a scenario that is believable. However, Kieran becomes increasingly week and possibly a little unstable (crazy). The other love interest, Seth, is just purely insane. His methods are sadistic and his excuses are lies. He beats, tortures, imprisons, and almost kills people. Of course, it is expected that Waverly will pick one by the end, but I honestly think she shouldn't based on book one.
What saves this book? The writing. I am honestly not one for frilly, overwrought literature. I like some description and florid enhancement, but I had it beaten over my head by my lit professor that purple prose was Satan's work. This is my kind of writing - a little lyrical at times, but mostly straightforward, to the point, and eloquent. Ms. Ryan is my type of author for sure. It's just the plot that falters. Waverly is also a strong protagonist that I enjoyed. She was smart, she was a strong leader, and she knew what she was doing. She risked herself for others and had a mission. I loved her as a character while I quite hated her potential suitors.
This book needed to tone down the religion a great deal. I am not sure if I will read book two based on the fact it implies that religion will be a strong point in the second book. Also, Waverly's love interests were unlikable.
I could go on about this, but overall, this book was likable, but nowhere near as good as it could have been.
VERDICT: The overuse of religion in this book overran the interesting plot and the good writing from Ms. Ryan. If you are not big on religious bashing and/or preachiness, steer clear of this bookGlow (Sky Chasers) Overview

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The Eleventh Plague Review

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The Eleventh Plague ReviewIt was the front cover blurb from Suzanne Collins that caught my eye. I've read the Hunger Games three times and if Suzanne says this book is 'excellent' then it at least deserved a second look.
I grabbed it along with a copy of Touch of Frost by Jennifer Estep (which is super duper, btw) and found a place to sit down (which is a rare thing at Barnes and Noble nowadays) and started to read the first chapter.
From the first page I was drawn in. I don't like to make comparisons to other books, it's hard to do it well and people always squawk about it if the book compared is one they either love or hate, but Stephen, the main character reminds me a lot of Katniss from the Hunger Games. There's also a bit of Rose (from Vampire Academy), Marcus (from Little Brother and Nailer (from Shipbreaker). Like the characters from these other books, Stephen is a young person forced to deal with terrifyingly mature situations that could lead to dire situations for himself and others. How he rises to the challenge is what kept me reading through lunch then dinner without stopping.
Stephen's world is far different than the one we know now. His family are scavengers, think of the dead and rotting world in movies like Mad Max or Logan's Run and you wouldn't be far off. There was a war with China, then a plague and what's left of America lives in small settlements scattered throughout the country.
His small family are scavengers. His father, his brutish grandfather and Stephen roam what's left of the cities for tradeable items, something like a can of pears could allow them to have food and shelter for a week. But scavengers are not the only ones wandering the cities.
There are ex-military bandits, chinese troops and slavers and a whole part of the country is off limits, though his father sometimes talks about finding a place to settle down, raise crops, etc. But that would mean striking out into undiscovered country and leaving the trail with it's semblance of safety.
It is within this hopeless situation that everything turns from bad to worse, pretty much from the first page with a funeral. I wont tell you who dies, but the funeral seems to be the beginning of a chain of decisions, some good and some so completely bad, you'll wish you could step into the book to advise Stephen.
There's a lot of room for heroics, but Stephen is a reluctant hero, which is pretty much my favorite kind, kicking butt and taking names is for movies, Stephen seemed real to me, he didn't want to get involved in bad situations but sometimes you can't help it. Best of all, Stephen is an aware character, what I mean is, he knows he's making decisions that could be dreadful and he does it anyways. I guess I like that too, his decisiveness is refreshing.
My only complaint with the book is that it was kinda fast, before I knew it and was ready the book was done. I'm a fan of quick reads, but I can't help thinking there could have been a little more, more description, more worldbuilding, more story.
Oh well, guess I could read it again.The Eleventh Plague Overview

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Enclave Review

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Enclave ReviewTake every possible terrible scenario you've ever considered for the future and throw it out the window, this book will blow you away.
I'm a huge fan of dystopian fiction, I loved Hunger Games, Shipbreaker, Z for Zachariah, World War Z, The Passage, 1984 and The Handmaid's Tale, but with Enclave, Ann Aguirre proves that there is still plenty of creative and terrifying stories to tell about society and how it will end (not with a bang, but with a growl of hunger in this case).
Girl15, that's her name, until the naming ceremony where she will learn whether the rest of her life (a very short life, the oldest person she knows is 25) will be spent as a Breeder, a Builder or a Hunter. She wants to be a Hunter and Girl15 gets her wish, her name is changed to Deuce and she is paired with Fade, a strange and mysterious figure who no one else wants to work with. I'll get back to Fade later.
Her dearest friends, Thimble (a builder) and Stone (a breeder because he's so handsome) are happy for her but worried. Hunters have the dangerous job of providing food for the College Enclave (that's the name of the enclave, College). Most hunters don't live very long, in fact, Fade's last partner died shortly after they started working together.
But Deuce is determined, as far as she's concerned, being a Hunter is one of the most important functions a person can have and she's proud to put her life in danger everyday to provide food and safety for the rest of the Enclave.
Fade, her new partner, is a strange combination of lethal skills and smartass defiance. He isn't from the enclave, he was born topside (above the tunnels where the land is dead and burning rain falls or so the elders say), but no one really believes him. They think he must be from a far away enclave and became lost in the tunnels (which is a miracle in and of itself because of the Freaks who roam around). Wherever he comes from, he is a great fighter and Deuce gradually begins to trust him and is glad he is her partner after they encounter increasingly dangerous stuff.
Now on to the scariest part of the story (as if the whole living in tunnels, eating rats and garbage weren't enough!) the Freaks. Scarred with lesions, their teeth long and animal like and their nails thick and claw'ish, the Freaks roam the tunnels looking for meat. Any kind of meat including human. After generations of fighting the mindless creatures, Fade and Deuce find that they are starting to work together, exhibiting sort of a pack mentality in their hunting of humans. The Freaks are getting smarter.
Now this is bad, super duper bad, like on a level with the end of all life as they know it and time is running out to make changes to the Enclave that will help it survive. Deuce and Fade will have to convince the elders of what is going on and that could turn out to be impossible.
Toss in a scary secret about the next nearest enclave, a scheming elder named Silk and Deuce's growing feelings for her partner, Fade and I don't know how I'm going to wait for book two.
Whoo, I feel strangely out of breath just typing all this, the book is a real adrenaline rush, I was flipping through the pages like a person who lives on Red Bull and smarties. Seriously, when the book was done I sat, frozen in place, my heart pounding, wondering how it could have gone by so fast, (I got the book last night!).
Now what will I do? It will probably be another year before Ann Aguirre finishes book two. Oh well, I guess I could read it again.
Oh
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Shatter Me Review

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Shatter Me Review4.5 Stars. I knew from the first page that this book was going to be different, and not just because Ms. Mafi's distinctive style made an immediate impression, but also because the story, and Juliette, had me from the first sentence. Juliette's been in solitary confinement for 264 days, and this girl is in rough shape. She's got the stream-of-consciousness, half-mad thing going on, and it's a raw, gritty, heartbreaking portrayal of what a lifetime of loneliness can do to a person. Juliette is jarred back into reality by the arrival of a cellmate, Adam. A boy. A boy who wants to talk to her, who wants to touch her. But she can never let him, and she can never let him know why. If he knew she killed a boy just by touching him, he would turn away from her like all the others, and she can't bear to lose the only human contact she's had in 264 days.
But someone's been looking for Juliette. Warner, a maniacal leader of the Reestablishment, has been following the trail of rumors about a girl who could kill with a touch. A girl he could use as the ultimate weapon in his bid for power. She is freed from her prison only to be encased in another, as the showpiece of Warner's plans to smash the resistance forces gathering against the Reestablishment. After spending a lifetime shunned, feared, and unwanted, Juliette is thrust into the spotlight, forced into a life of luxurious servitude, alternately pampered and terrified by Warner. She is forced to confront her secret fear that she may grow to like using her devastating power, and to reconcile her growing feelings for Adam. As Warner's obsession grows out of control and his tests of her power grow more twisted and sadistic, Juliette and Adam find themselves in a struggle to survive, and must find the courage and the means to run for their lives and seek out the resistance. And if the rumors are true, Juliette may not be as alone as she thinks she is, and she may yet find a way to harness her power for a better purpose.
I just loved the way this was written. I think it takes a lot of guts to try something different, and a lot of talent to make it work. The words fall like poetry on the pages. I think it's brilliant, but it won't be everybody's cup of tea. And not only are the words mesmerizing, but the story is, too--emotional, unpredictable, suspenseful, and sexy! Juliette, Adam, and Warner are fascinating characters, and the love story is to die for. I can't quite call this perfect because I did find some of the emotional byplay to be a bit overdone. But it's still a great read, and I could not turn the pages fast enough as the story neared its conclusion. This is the first in a series, but it ends in just the right place with a satisfying combination of revelation and intrigue. It's poised perfectly for the next book in the series. I won't go into detail and give too much away, but I will say that I was a big Super Friends fan as a kid, and I get really excited when I think of the potential this series could have moving forward. The teen superhero league/war-torn dystopian combination is deliciously promising :)Shatter Me Overview

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