Allegiant by Veronica Roth (Divergent #3)

Now that the message is out that the Divergent are meant to go out and save the rest of the world, Tris' city is in turmoil. Evelyn has effectively replaced the factions with her own dictatorship and it does not sit well with many of the citizens. So when a revolutionary group called the Allegiant want to explore the world outside of the fence, Tris and Four agreed to go as well. What they discover changes how they view their city, the world, and even their own selves.

I haven't read any other reviews of this book but I do know from some Twitter comments that it was not well received by some readers. And I can see why. It's just like Mockingjay. Some people will like it and some won't. I fall into the liking category. I think it ended in the right place. Is it the place that I wanted to see? No. Was it appropriate? Yes. We can talk more about that in the spoiler section.

Mild Spoilers
It seems so appropriate the world they find outside is just as damaged but willing to blame it on genetics and unwilling to admit to human nature. I don't even know if they were capable of realizing that people are the way they are and that there is a lot more than just genes that account for behavior. There's a lot of moral behavior explored with the Bureau between how they treat the "genetically damaged" and their ruthlessness in trying to make the experiments behave, so to speak. It was almost more of the same between the city and the Bureau. It's not surprising at how society rearranged itself into the have and the have-nots. It's interesting that they did it  along a genetic line though.


SPOILERS (highlight)
*So Tris dying. I wasn't surprised though I did have a few moments of waiting for her to be saved at the last minute but really it seemed right. I think I went in thinking that Four was going to die and so when it was Tris instead, it was like of course. It had to be one of them. The things they have survived and seen and done, I just didn't see one of them surviving the series. I was sad that it was Tris but then it explains the use of alternating voices. I can see how people would be upset. They wanted a happy ending for Tris and Four. I did too. But life does not always come with a happy ending and the author probably wanted to tell the story that felt right to her and not one to just please an audience. 

I was a bit disappointed at the seemingly simplistic way the experiments were dissolved and the society began to fix itself. It seems like it would be harder and maybe it was but that all was glossed over pretty quickly. It's probably a whole other series anyway. *

I realized that I hadn't reviewed the first two books but then I read them on maternity leave while I was on hiatus. I might have to do a reread one day.

The Selection by Kiera Cass (The Selection #1) (audio)

In a country where everyone is ranked by numbered caste, America Singer is in love with a boy in a caste lower than her own.  But she is chosen to compete to become the wife of the prince. How can she handle the competition when her heart is elsewhere? And what will she do when she comes to care for the prince after all?

I read a description of The Selection that it was The Hunger Games crossed with The Bachelor. That's not really accurate. It's more like a pseudo Katniss competing in The Bachelor. So I don't know. I loved Katniss but found America annoying. Why is that? America is so very giving and feisty and just all around good or at least that is how she is written. And her one character flaw is that she is in love with two boys. So she's the Bella of this book. Katniss at least had more depth. Of course she is in the fight of her life. America is in a competition to be the wife of the prince. But she is so confused because she loved the boy in the caste beneath her and he broke her heart. Can she ever love the prince? Really, there was nothing new here. The plot twists were predictable. So were the characters. I'm not sure about the whole rebels subplot. Nothing really exciting actually happens with that anyway and I assume it is going to be developed more in the rest of the series. I honestly don't know why this is a trilogy other than everything seems to be a trilogy. This could have been a decent one-off with a little more development and a lot less angst. The whole rebels plot could have been dropped and the competition which should be the main focus developed more. I would have read that and probably been happy. As it is I am debating on following through on this series. It didn't make me hate it. It just turned out to be kind of blah.

The narrator is Amy Rubinate and while I enjoyed her voice I wished she'd read a little faster. Even at the exciting parts she still read so slow. And put almost no emphasis or excitement in her voice. Basically she read it and didn't act it out. She wasn't unpleasant to listen to, she just didn't add anything to the story.

8 hours, 7 minutes

Crossed by Ally Condie

Cassia has made it to the Borderlands in her quest to find Ky. Meanwhile, Ky is also on a mission to get back to Cassia. Told through alternating chapters set in the outer reaches of the Society, Ky and Cassia learn more about the Society and the resistance movement known as the Rising and more about each other as they come to terms with their relationship and the rebellion.

Middle books of trilogy can have the tendency to have less development than first or third books. Sometimes they are treated as filler or to set up the climatic third book. So the money is really in the beginning and the end. Crossed was good don't get me wrong but when I thought about it after I finally finished (it took a while) not much really happened. Some information was learned and the characters of Cassia and Ky were explored more and I suppose this will have more bearing in the last book. But for a series I was already on the fence about this wasn't a strong sequel. I will be reading Reached sooner or later and I am interested in seeing how it is all wrapped up. Hoping this bulls*&t barely existent "love triangle" mess is put away. Condie tries awfully hard to make us think that Cassia is torn between Ky and Zander but I just don't see it and if there is a problem it is more between Cassia and Ky and whatever is happening in their heads.

Sequel to Matched

Prized by Caragh M. O'Brien

The sequel to Birthmarked finds Gaia struggling to save her baby sister as she tries to reach her grandmother.  But when she is rescued by a stranger and taken to the town her grandmother use to run, Gaia finds the rules of that society are also constricting.  The number of men far outweigh the number of women and so the women hold all the power.  But power can be corrupting and the men are getting tired of being the underdogs.  Gaia finds unfairness at each turn along with someone from her past who provides another source of conflict for her.

While there is no such thing as a perfect society, it seems that all Gaia can find is dysfunctional ones.  This time she moves to one where the rules seems unfair to her and, frankly, chaffed me as well.  The Matrarc of the town immediately takes away her baby sister and her freedom. And it left me angry at how quickly Gaia or any stranger is treated like a criminal simply for being from somewhere else.  The action moved pretty quickly even as Gaia is kept locked up.  But the romance angle felt like it was too much and it was a little unnecessary.  I am curious to see what happens next with Gaia and her tendency to overthrow dystopias.  This series is turning out to be a real page turner.

From NetGalley

Matched (Matched #1) by Ally Condie

Cassia lives in the Society where everything is perfectly controlled from leisure time to food to who people marry and how many kids they have.  Cassia is excited to finally be Matched but when the screen flashes a face different than the boy she is Matched to, Cassia begins to wonder about the choices people in the Society don't have. 

I was kind of  hoping to be blown away.  I've heard such good things and I waited so long to read it.  And while I liked it a lot, in the end, it felt like a cross between The Giver and the Uglies series.  The writing was good and it flowed smoothly for me.  It was a quick read despite being a little lengthy.  I didn't really connect with the characters much and I never really felt a connection between Cassia and Xander.  I know that they are best friends for years, etc. but she really spends so little time with him and when she does, all she can think about is Ky.  So I didn't get a sense of her love for Xander at all.  Condie did a nice job setting up the love story for Ky and Cassia, but I feel like she neglected the relationship between Xander and Cassia for it.  Thus the love triangle didn't really work for me. 

Conceptually it is definitely part of the new YA trend for dystopians.  Society controls every aspect of the lives of its citizens who are, in turn, willing to be controlled in order to maintain a safe life.  There were a few aspects that stood out to me, like the pills that everyone carries around and the artifacts they are allowed to have from the before times (or whatever they call them). And I will probably read the next in the series (due out in November) because I am curious by the events at the end of the book.  

Won from Library Thing

Alphabet Challenge
Take a Chance
350 Page
Off the Shelf

Bumped (e-book) by Megan McCafferty

In a world where adults lose fertility around the age of 20 due to a virus, Melody is one of the first girls in her class to go pro, as in professional surrogate.  Offered a highly lucrative contact to preg for a well-to-do couple, all she has to do is wait for them to find the perfect match for her.  Then her long-lost, "Godfreaky" twin sister, Harmony, shows up wanting her to give up pregging for money and move to Goodside, the religious compound, with her.  However, when the surrogate parents finally find the perfect donor, things begin to change for the twins in an unexpected way.

I feel like this book was saying a whole lot of things.  I also feel like most of things went over my head as I was distracted by the onslaught of pregnancy related slang.  The sheer amount of it almost overwhelmed me.  Since society has now become focused on encouraging teenage girls to become pregnant, of course the slang would move along with it.  It made me laugh but it also made me scratch my head occasionally.  And if I had a nickel for every time the word "bump" was used, well, then I'd have a lot of nickels.

Still this is a very clever book.  In fact, everything about this book screamed clever.  It is a biting look at society's tendencies to go overboard with an idea and also to commercialize it.  From the FunBump available for the "pre-bumped" to the use of "man brands" (sperm donors), everything about this society is focused on surrogates and child birthing.  And I mean everything.  I had a hard time grasping the timeline of when all the adults went sterile but everything in the books seemed a bit frantic like babies had to be had now or the world would end.  And, by making teenage pregnancy not only palatable but extremely desirable, the message of why they were doing it becomes lost in the marketing.

As for the characters, I can't say I liked either one of the twins that much.  They represent two extremes and it's hard to relate to an extreme.  In fact, the only likable character is Zen, the friend of Melody, who acts like the only voice of reason in the whole book.  Everyone is a caricature from both Melody and Harmony down to every adult and teenager in the book with the exception of Zen.  Nothing in the whole book felt real and I was emotionally separated from the characters' plights, much like the pregnant teenagers from their bumps. 

It is a quirky and interesting book though.  I found myself racing through it, curious to see what happens next.  Was I surprised by the turn of events near the end of the book?  No, not really.  Am I curious to see what happens next?  Yes, actually I am.  There were things that could possibly develop into something interesting for the characters and I'd like to see if they are addressed and how so.  A lot of people really like this book and I'm still trying to decide how I feel about it.  It was worth reading and I guess that's the best thing I can say.

Provided by NetGalley
Publisher: HarperCollins
Publish date: April 26, 2011
Hogwarts: Charms

The Adoration of Jenna Fox (audio) by Mary E. Pearson

Jenna Fox spent 18 months in a coma.  When she wakes she finds everything is different.  She's in a new house in a new town and she can't remember most of her life.  But as she begins to explore her new life, she starts to remember her old one and it is very plain that her parents are keeping secrets from her.

I finally got around to Jenna Fox.  I wasn't surprised by what I found frankly.  And I really wanted this book to surprise me.  The first half found me yelling SPOILER She's a freaking AI or something similar because I've read a book before.  But despite my disappointment in the lack of surprise, I actually enjoyed this book.  I like the exploration of the two main questions this book raises: "How far would a parent go to save their child?" and "What makes us human?"  Interesting questions that are often raised in dystopian novels.  It was good that this was written in first person so I got to feel how Jenna felt and understand her thought process.  It's hard to get that in third person so I was glad for the perspective.  I'm actually okay with not being surprised by this book.  And it turned out to be fascinating enough despite being a riff on an old concept.  I'm excited for the next book, The Fox Inheritance, because I think that one might have just as interesting ideas.

7 hours 30 minutes

Sometimes I associated certain voices with certain series and when I hear them somewhere else it throws me off.  I know Jenna Lamia's voice from the Wolves of Mercy Falls series (Shiver, Linger) so I was surprised to find her here.  At first I was not too happy with her voice for this book.  It is too slow and languorous.  But in the end I found myself agreeing (with myself) that her voice worked perfectly fine for Jenna, though I still wouldn't have mind if she had speed it up a bit.  Even in the urgent parts of the book, she still reads too slow.  But she has a nice clear voice and she does a great job of making the characters sound distinct.

Hogwarts: Transfiguration
Whisper in my Ear

Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Love is a disease and in Lena's society it is curable. After your eighteenth birthday each person has the surgery that destroys the emotion of love, of caring.   Lena has never questioned the necessity of the surgery nor ever contemplated falling in love, that is, until she meets Alex.

Instead people back then named other diseases - stress, heart disease, anxiety, depression, hypertension, insomnia, bipolar disorder - never realizing that there were, in fact, only symptoms that in the majority of cases could be traced back to the effects of amor deliria nervosa.  p.10 e-book ARC

A society where love is outlawed and thought of as a disease?  Well, that got my attention.  That is a concept that would be very difficult to pull off.  Love is such an integral part of who we are and how we interact with others.  Children need love and if their parents were incapable of it, how would that affect them?  Love is what gets most people by.  Delirium doesn't really seek to answer all the questions or explore the repercussions directly.  Instead it shows what a society where the adults are apathetic looks like, how people think.  And it shows how all of that can change in one person through the protagonist, Lena.  Lena is desperate to have the surgery thinking it will end all her problems.  But, of course, she meets a boy who changes all of that.

A surgery at a certain milestone, 18 in this book, to make the person conform to societal standards is so reminiscent of Uglies.  There were actually quite a few elements that reminded me of Uglies.  I also got a Romeo and Juliet type vibe, probably purposely as the play is mentioned quite a few times.  And while I enjoyed Delirium and found it to be a quick read I wasn't really emotionally invested in the characters.  I think that is just a by-product of having a character live in an emotionally closed off society.  Despite the romantic that actually felt realistic and took place at a normal pace, unlike some YA books, I didn't really feel attached.  But I enjoyed the book overall   I just think this is either going to be a love it or a meh type of book. 

ARC Provided by NetGalley
Publish date: February 1, 2011
Hogwarts: Charms

Mockingjay (The Hunger Games #3) (e-book) by Suzanne Collins

From Goodreads:
Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has survived the Hunger Games twice. But now that she’s made it out of the bloody arena alive, she’s still not safe. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge. Who do they think should pay for the unrest? Katniss. And what’s worse, President Snow has made it clear that no one else is safe either. Not Katniss’s family, not her friends, not the people of District 12.

But I don't know what to tell him about the aftermath of killing a person.  About how they never leave you.  p.55 e-book

My mind is blown.  This was every bit as good as The Hunger Games, better even than Catching Fire.  I am amazed.  This is how to write a series with a killer ending and sell the whole damn thing.  Honestly, it was an amazing journey that Katniss went through and I am pleased at how it all turned out for her.  It is a good and appropriate ending.

For a while, I was thinking that wow, this isn't nearly as bloody or gory as the other two, but then I hit about the middle and I took it back.  I like how Collins explores the psychological damage that the Games have taken on everyone especially the victors.  How they can't escape what happened to them.  It was a good choice not to gloss that over.

SPOILER SECTION (Highlight)
**I was always Team Katniss.  I figured that she wouldn't end up with either Peeta or Gale because she is so strong and independent.  I thought I would be disappointed if she actually choose either one.  I was wrong.  I liked Peeta more than Gale anyway so that made me happy.  I guess because it really happened so gradually and Katniss and Peeta really earned their time together.  They are both damaged in the same way and can relate to each other in a way that Gale never could.  And the fact that Gale had become synonymous with the death of Prim really didn't help matters anyway.  But it was a good and natural ending.

I liked too how the problem of President Snow was addressed and applauded Katniss' decision to end the cycle as it began again with President Coin.  I wasn't shocked that Coin had it in for Katniss but I was surprised at the idea of doing the Hunger Games again with Capital children.  It's like they didn't learn any lessons.  I'm glad that Katniss took manners into her own hand and solved that problem because I have a feeling it would have moved from one dictatorship to another.

"That what I need to survive is not Gale's fire, kindled with rage and hatred.  I have plenty of fire myself.  What I need is the dandelion in the spring...That it can be good again.  And only Peeta can give me that."  p.280-281 e-book

I even liked the epilogue.  It was nice to see that Peeta and Katniss had grown and that their psychological scars had healed.  I wasn't bothered by her having children because what people say or want at 17 doesn't always apply when they are 27.
**

Hogwarts: Defence Against the Dark Arts

Sapphique (Incarceron #2) by Catherine Fisher

SPOILERS FOR FIRST BOOK
In the stunning sequel to Incarceron, Claudia and Finn are on the outside trying to get Keiro and Attia Out.  Meanwhile, on the Inside, that same pair have stumbled onto the Glove of Sapphique, the only man to have ever Escaped.  But the Prison wants the Glove too as it provides a means for It to Escaped Itself.  And on the Outside, Claudia and Finn play their own dangerous game with the Queen who will stop at nothing to preserve the Era and stop the Prison.

The library of the Academy was a vast and hushed collection of room.  Great oak cabinets of books, some of them chained, stood in ranks down the galleried halls.  p.221 ARC

I must admit that I was surprised to find out that Incarceron was only two books.  I mean everything else in the book world seems to be a trilogy.  So it was refreshing to find that the author wasn't going to drag out this story over an unnecessary three books.  Consequently there is tons of action and a satisfying conclusion.  I approve.  Sapphique moved the characters along, never keeping them anywhere long enough to get comfortable and kept me on my toes.  I also approve.

Really I would say that the Prison is the most interesting character.  All the characters have something to add to the story though a few (Claudia and Finn) are a little annoying about it.  But the Prison.  Wow.  A sentient Prison bent on escaping itself and seeing the Outside, all because of *SPOILER* the dreams of one man who the Prison actually loved and who shared his dreams with it.*END*  I was intrigued.  The people characters provided the action, the background, but Incarceron really provided the emotion.

My only complaint is that the point of view shifted much too often, in the middle of a scene most of the time.  It threw me off a bit.  I preferred how the first book was written in a more chapter oriented alternation, rather than in the middle of a paragraph.  And I almost wished for a POV directly from Incarceron though that might have been too dark a place to go. **And you almost get that in the end anyway**

Provided by Traveling ARC Tours
Hogwarts: Defence Against the Dark Arts
Dystopian

Incarceron (#1) by Catherine Fisher

Finn is trapped in Incarceron, a sentient prison designed to be a perfect place but that has disintegrated into a hell.  Claudia is on the Outside but trapped in her own prison as her impending marriage to the Prince moves her closer to the fake trappings of palace life and all its political intrigues.  Each finds a key to Incarceron and each finds obstacles as both the Outside world and the Prison seeks to stop them from opening Incarceron.

Only her stubbornness would keep a knife out of her father's heart.  She knew he was her enemy, her subtle foe, her cold opponent over the chessboard.  But he was still her father.  p.302

I'm actually really sorry I didn't read this sooner because I really liked it.  It moved at a great pace that kept me reading along and I had to resist the urge to stay up all night long to read it.  I even put the audio version on my Zune so I didn't have to stop with it when I couldn't read.  It was amazing how creepy both sides of the world were.  Incarceron is a hellhole of a prison where the actual prison is alive and thinking and watching, always watching.  It throws up obstacles and messes with the prisoners and generally screws with their lives for it's own amusement.  And on the Outside, the world has been put into a self-imposed stasis, hearkening back to a sort of Victorian Gothic Era, in order to belay violence and disorder in the world.  So the two words are vastly different and yet very similar in a way.

The two main characters of Finn and Claudia were very strong, very interesting characters.  They were both very clever and wily in their own ways and I liked how they each solved the puzzle of the prison.  There was more action on the side of Finn, but then he is stuck in a prison.  Claudia was much more clever and had to deal with more political maneuverings than anything. 

Conceptually, this was a great one and I really think that Fisher pulled it off.  I can only hope that the sequel is a good as this one.

Hogwarts: Charms
Dystopian
Library
YA

The Maze Runner (audio)

Thomas wakes up in a box carrying to the Glade where a community of boys have been sent, but no one knows why.  As he struggles with his lack of memory and tries to acclimate to his new surroundings, things begin to change in the Glade beginning with the arrival of a mysterious girl and Thomas' need to become a maze runner. 

The action starts off a little slow and I was getting a little tired of no one answering questions (but then I'm a Lost fan so I've been almost desensitized to that) but once Thomas hits the maze, it's on like Donkey Kong.  The Maze Runner kept me guessing and I kept thinking that I knew what was coming up and I had like three different ideas about the ending, none of which happened.  I liked that.  I don't like guessing the ending before it happens.  I was hoping that the second book was out so I could start on it right away but it doesn't come out til the end of the year.  I won't say I was completely blown away  but I wished I had gotten around to it sooner.  It was a good read.  The relationship between Thomas and the girl was very cool and I wonder more about his relationships between him and some of the other Gladers.  I can't wait to find out more.

Hogwarts: Ancient Runes
Dystopian
Library
YA

This World We Live In (The Last Survivors 3)

Miranda and her family are making it through the climate changes and other changes that the Earth is going through after an asteroid hits the moon, knocking it closer to the Earth.  After surviving a harsh winter, they are still managing.  But her father arrives with his wife and new baby and three other strangers in tow, things get a little harder.  And harder still as Miranda and Alex begin to fall in love.

It was filthy.  I don't know why that surprised me, since we scrub frantically to keep the soot manageable and there was no one at the library to do that.  But there was something about the library being so cold, dark, and dirty that broke my heart.  p.198

Nothing like these books to make you want to take stock of the pantry and buy some more water.  Because Life As Knew It and The Dead and the Gone were brutal.  This World We Live In was less so and that was almost a relief.  This was a good ending for this series though I didn't find it as affecting as the first or even the second one.  The maturity that Miranda seemed to have gained in the first book is taken back a little as she still whines and fights a lot though not to the degree she did before.  I started to question the ability of Miranda and Alex and her brothers to fall in love so quickly but then I realized that in extreme circumstances that this would have happened.  Alex was never my favorite character but it was interesting to see him on the outside of the situation rather than close up like in The Dead and the Gone.  He was still not my favorite character though the two of them are a good match.  I was surprised at the new characters and I wanted to hit Matt for being foolish and a jackass.  Miranda's mom seemed to be less of an influence and I think that was done on purpose.  Overall it wasn't as powerful a book but it was an appropriate and right ending for the series.

Hogwarts: Astronomy
Dystopian
YA
Library

Birthmarked

Gaia has just delivered her first baby as a midwife and has advanced to to the Enclave.  The first three babies born every month to every midwife are advanced to a better life in the wealthy Enclave from outside the wall where Gaia lives.  But when her parents are arrested for an unknown crime against the Enclave, Gaia's perceptions of the world are challenged and she decides she must save them.

 

     She consumed the last bite of her bread.  His shoulders were broad, and she could smell the clean fabric of his black coat, as if sunshine still clung to him.
     Somehow that, too, confused and troubled her.  She wanted sunshine of her own.  p.198 ARC

I knew when I picked up this book I wasn't going to be able to put it down.  It captured my attention from the first line when we meet Gaia delivering her first baby and then taking it away from its mother to the Enclave for advancement.  Conceptually, this was a great book.  It had all the elements to make for a chilling dystopian novel.  And it worked on most levels.  Maybe because I just finished The Knife of Never Letting Go that features a truly brutal dystopian society or I compared it a bit to The Giver which features a chillingly horrific dystopian society with a shocking secret, but the big reveal of the dysfunction of Gaia's world didn't have quite the impact it was suppose to on me.


But it worked on all the other levels.  The action picks up quickly and then moves right along, only stalling in a few scenes.  The characters are very real in their words and actions.  Gaia was a good girl, but she was also abrasive due to the scar on her face.  I liked her but sometimes she needed to learn to hold her tongue.  Leon was an enigma and I couldn't decide what his game was, but he was a very interesting counter for Gaia.  It was a good book and I liked it enough to read the sequel when it comes out.

ARC from Traveling ARC Tours
Hogwarts: Charms
YA
Dystopian

The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking #1)

Todd can hear every thought of every man in his town.  They all can.  All the males broadcast their thoughts and feelings to everyone all the time so that it all becomes Noise.  But as Todd approaches manhood, the dark secret of his town begins to make its way towards him.

"You know what my father always says, Todd Hewitt?" he leers up at me.   "He says a knife is only as good as the one who wields it."  p.258

This was definitely an adventure book as well as a dystopian with some science fiction and war added in.  It was a sad book and sometimes a funny book.  It was a long book and I got a little tired of waiting for the secret of Prentisstown.  That dragged on a little too long and I was getting impatient.  I had half guessed it before it was told, but the other half was surprising.  I liked Todd.  He was such a boy and so very confused and nice and he tried so hard.  And I liked Viola.  She was very cool and smart.  I liked how they stood up for each other. The villains were definitely designed to get me angry and I can't understand their motives except they are insane.

The ending was such a crazy cliffhanger.  That usually makes me angry, but this one had me ordering the next book from the library.  I have to find out what happens next.  I have an idea of where the series is going so I can't wait to see if I'm right.

(highlight) SPOILER* I cried so much when Manchee the dog died.  That was so sad with his Todd?  Aw.  Break my heart.  And when Viola kills Aaron.  That was sad too.  There was so much sadness in this book
And how about Prentisstown men killing all the women. What a stupid thing to do. I guess it was out of spite and jealousy and fear, but it doesn't excuse them. No wonder they were exiled from the rest of the world. I really wonder now about the ending with Mayor Prentiss. I hope (I'm sure) Viola is alright. . *

Hogwarts: Defence Against the Dark Arts
YA
Library
Dystopian
Another Chance

The Year of the Flood (audio)

Told in alternating voices, The Year of the Flood is the story of Wren, Toby, and the Gardeners before and after the "waterless flood" strikes down most of humanity.  We learn how they survived lived their lives and how they survived.  A sequel/companion to Oryx and Crake, we learn the backstory for some side characters and what happens after the flood.

I didn't read Oryx and Crake first.  I meant to, then didn't, then got The Year of the Flood not realizing it was the second one.  I don't think it matters.  This book fills in information not given in the Oryx and Crake and gives a different perspective of the end of humanity as we know it.  I don't know if it would have made a difference or not.  I am intensely curious though about it and it's next on my list of audio books.

I am extremely impressed with Flood.  The individual stories of Wren and Toby are so intriguing and I became deeply invested in their stories.  The story of their lives with the Gardeners, an eco-vegetarian group, and then how they each survived the flood was brought out at just the right measure.  Both women were sympathetic characters who each survive some disturbing things.  The world they live in has desexualized sex and sex is sold as if it were nothing along with drugs and other commodities.  They are the corps who control all the goods and services and the privileged people who work for them and live in their compounds.  And then there is everyone else who live in the pleeblands, the commoners.  It doesn't really get into how the virus that kills off most of the people is made (I think that is mostly in Oryx), but it tells how some people survived.

The audio was narrated by three people, Bernadette Dunne, Katie MacNichol, Mark Bramhall, and they did an excellent job providing voices to Wren, Toby, and Adam One.  I really like their voices and how they were so solemn.  There was even recorded versions of the hymns they sing in the book so that was neat.  It was a very well done audio version of an excellent book.

Hogwarts: Defence
Dystopian
Library

Bones of Faerie

Dystopian fairy fiction.  How often do I get to write those words?  Never up till now. So the concept was surprising because I don't think I realized what Bones of Faerie was actually about until I started reading.

Even after the War ended and the faerie folk left this world, the magic they'd set loose lingered, killing still. p.5

Liza lives in a world after the war with the Faerie folk has ended.  In her unhappy town, the rule is to Cast out the magic born among you.  So when her sister is born with pale hair and silver eyes, her cruel father sets her on hilltop to either be collected by the Faerie or die.  Liza cannot save her sister, but she discovers that magic is growing in herself, she makes the choice to run away.

This world that Simner crated is very interested.  In the War, the faeries fought with magic, making the trees come alive to kill, creating magical burning rocks and turning the earth against the humans.  Now the trees and plants crave blood and the corn refuses to be harvested, resulting in a battle that often leaves bruises.  Liza's father has the whole town scared of magic and the magic born that they are willingly to do anything to get rid of it.  But she runs away when her own magic abilities become apparent and discovers a different way of life.

If I had to pick any problem with this book, it would be that it was too short.  I wanted to know more about the War and why it had started.  I wanted to know more about Liza's mother and the other town.  But it was written in first person and so I can't know more than Liza and that is a little frustrating.

But it was an intriguing book and I loved the idea of it.  I thought it was well executed and very interesting, just too short.  It was a very quick read in any case.

Hogwarts: Care of Magical Creatures
Dystopian
Library
YA

The Dead-Tossed Waves

Living in a lighthouse with her mother, Gabrielle (Gabry), has always felt safe from the Mudo, the zombies who live outside her town.  She's been warned about the dangers outside and so she is afraid.  Until one night tempted by her friends and a boy she likes, Gabry crosses the fences for a night of fun that ends up changing her life and those around her forever.

Mudo is supposed to mean "mute, speechless," a word passed down from the traders and pirates who used to fill the harbor.  But the creatures trailing me, the people-who-once-were, are anything but mute.  They're nothing but noise - moans of hunger.  p.81

The Dead-Tossed Waves is the sequel to The Forest of Hands and Teeth, but told from a new perspective about 11 years after the first book.  The protagonist feels the same though.  I found Mary in the first book to be a whining annoying child and I found Gabry to be the same.  So much whining, so much time spent wishing. I guess she gets it from her mother.  But if you can move past that, the story is pretty good.  It's the same world as before, zombies everywhere hungry for human flesh; people living in small towns behind fences.  In this book, though you get to see more of the outside world and how it works.  Mary's village was isolated and she was brought up to believe that they were the only ones so it was nice to see more of the larger world and the government that was set up to protect the people.  I wish they had been more of that though.  There was a whole of description about the Mudo and the hunger for flesh and a whole lot of discussion about what they really are, but not enough about how the world actually functions.  Maybe in the next book?  I hope so.  It seems like Carrie Ryan is pushing farther out into this world that she has created in each book.  The first book was action packed and felt very closed, a little claustrophobic.  This was more open but still had that enclosed feel to it.

Hogwarts: Transfiguration
What's In a Name Challenge
Young Adult Challenge
Dystopian Challenge

Shades of Grey: The Road to High Saffron

From Good Reads:
In a society where the ability to see the higher end of the color spectrum denotes a better social standing, Eddie Russet belongs to the low-level House of Red and can see his own color—but no other. The sky, the grass, and everything in between are all just shades of grey, and must be colorized by artificial means.

Eddie's world wasn't always like this. There's evidence of a never-discussed disaster and now, many years later, technology is poor, news sporadic, the notion of change abhorrent, and nighttime is terrifying: no one can see in the dark. Everyone abides by a bizarre regime of rules and regulations, a system of merits and demerits, where punishment can result in permanent expulsion.

Mrs. Gamboge replied that this was just the sort of "fanciful nonsense" that librarians are apt to speak, and professed her opinion that if it weren't for the Rules, she would long ago have relocated Lapis Lazuli's band of librarians to "somewhere they might benefit the community," an opinion that caused Mrs. Lapis Lazuli to go so red with anger that I think even the Ochres noticed.

Eddie's world runs very much like a boarding school with demerits and merits and prefects.  There is shaming instead of punishment and everyone is expected to be nice and polite and the Rules are infallible leaving the residents with no choice and no thought of misbehaving.  It just doesn't seem to occur to Eddie to do something wrong.  And then he moves to the Outer Fringes where they think a little differently and all the moral training he's received conflicts with their actions.  But as he moves around in East Carmine, his natural curiosity takes over and he begins to see how the world is really run until the shocking truth comes out.

I've been contemplating how to describe this book. I've been thinking about what I even think about this book. I must say that out of all the Jasper Fforde books I've read, this one is the quirkiest and the most serious and the most unbelievable and the most fantastic. There are so many elements that I could talk about because Fforde builds a world that is real in this book. It is intricate and sound and alive. The thing I love about a Jasper Fforde book is that he shows and doesn't tell. This concept, in the hands of a less author, would have fallen flat. He doesn't set up a great deal of exposition, but rather allows the reader to find out how this world works on their own. Not to say that there is no explanation, but it only comes when it is natural. There is no forced description or dialogue. It made for a confusing book til I got the hang of the slang and the language and what was going on.

There is so much mystery involving the Something that Happened and where the Previous went and why there are roads that are alive and metal that floats and lightning balls that travel around looking for targets.  The government does its best to keep everyone in ignorance, but no one questions why since they are ignorant and believe in the Rules.   There are also lots of funny jokes and some great moments over all.  This is first in a series so I'm sure the answers will come in time.  If you've never read a Jasper Fforde, then this is a great place to start.  And if you have, then let me know what you think.

Dystopian Challenge @ Parajunkee's View - COMPLETE

Parajunkee's View is hosting the Dystopian Challenge and I've decided to sign up.  Shut up.  I know.  I've joined too many.  But it's almost March and I'm moving right along on my other challenges.  Check out her blog for the complete rules.  I'm joining at Level 1 - Experimental - 5 books.  It runs from January 24 - August 24, 2010.
ETA: I'm upgrading to Level 2 - Addict - 10 books
Anyway, I'll list here.


1.   Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde
2.   The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan
3.   Bones of Faerie by Jannie Lee Simner
4.   The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood
5.   The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
6.   Birthmarked Caragh O'Brien
7.   This World We Live In Susan Beth Pfeffer
8.   The Maze Runner James Dashner
9.   Incarceron Catherine Fisher
10. Sapphique Catherine Fisher

COMPLETED 8/13/2010

From this list:

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
Incarceron by Catherine Fisher
The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan
This World We Live in by Susan Beth Pfeffer
The Maze Runner by James Dashner
The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson
Candor by Pam Bachorz
Epitaph Road by David Petneaude
Birthmarked by Caragh O’Brien