Book Review: Gunslinger Girl

TITLE: Gunslinger Girl
AUTHOR: Lyndsay Ely
CATEGORY: YA
PUBLISHED: January 2nd, 2018
GENRE: Dystopian
PREMISE: A girl escapes her home life and goes on a journey to a town where she becomes a sharp shooter for entertainment...
MY REVIEW: These James Patterson imprint books have been a real mixed bag for me. Much like how James Patterson's books are, now that I think about it. This latest book is no exception. I do give the author many points for creativity factor and readability factor. But story-wise...it was just okay all across the board.
The world-building is really interesting and where I see most of the creativity. She also writes nicely and cleanly and manages to spin a fast-paced tale. But other then those things...nothing much about this stood out for me. The characters were all the usual types that you see in YA these days. The story was okay...but not what I'd call a must read. Even the writing, which I mentioned was nice...is just okay. Everything is just...okay. Nothing, aside from some creative world-building, really stands out in this book.
So I don't know how I feel about this one to be honest. I enjoyed it as I read it. There's nothing particularly bad about it or anything. It's just...very average. I basically finished it, shrugged, and then promptly moved on to the next book in my pile. But I've seen some people love this. So...I don't know. I say check it out from the library, and see if it's for you, before buying it.
WHO SHOULD READ: James Patterson fans, dystopian fans, Hunger Games fans
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five shrugs

Book Review: The Stone Sky

TITLE: The Stone Sky
Book 3 in the Broken Earth Trilogy
AUTHOR: N. K. Jemisin
PUBLISHED: August 2017
CATEGORY: Adult
GENRE: Sci-Fi/Dystopia
PREMISE: Essun and Nassun finally meet to decide the fate of the world...
MY REVIEW: If you are into sci-fi/fantasy at all, chances are you already know what this one is about, so I'll spare you going into that. If you've made it to book 3, chances are you already know if you're going to read this or not. So I probably don't need to convince you to read this.
Broken Earth is one of those very different trilogies. It's dystopian...but it's also a very character based SFF book. It's Jemisin, so it's beautifully written. There are so many great lines in this that are relevant. The ending is very powerful and give all sorts of feelings.
This is not a typical dystopian series. It's not action based. It's mostly character focused and it's a SFF book you have to pay attention too or you will miss important details. There's a good chance it won't be everyone's cup of tea. But it is mine and I have loved every minute of this trilogy. Once again, I'm reminded that I need to go back and read through Jemisin's other stuff.
WHO SHOULD READ: N.K. Jemisin fans, those that have read the first two books
MY RATING: Four out of Five tissue boxes for the ending
RATING FOR TRILOGY: Four and a half out of Five solid trilogies

Quotable writing from the book: "It doesn't matter what we do. The problem is them." pg 110

Gif summary of feelings:

Book Review: Scythe

TITLE: Scythe
Book 1 in the Arc of Scythe series
AUTHOR: Neal Shusterman
PUBLISHED: November 2016
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Dystopian
PREMISE: In a dystopian future, people have found a way to not die. Two kids become an apprentice to a Scythe: a being who is the only person in the world who can kill people to keep the population down.
MY REVIEW: Neal Shusterman is one of those authors who I have been meaning to read for awhile now. There's no reason I haven't picked up his books yet. It just didn't happen until now. Now that I've read Scythe...I get why he's a thing.
I'll be honest, his writing style isn't much to write home about. I also don't think much of the forced romance in here. But everything else from the plot, to the characters, to the interesting premise that was used effectively to talk about humanity and the way we deal with things....that was great. It was also very twisty and kept you guessing until the end.
Is it a tad over-the-top in places? Maybe. But I say it's better to be over the top. Better to be over the top then just plain boring. This book was definitely not boring. The end was a good place to leave off and I can't wait to read the sequel which came out a few months ago.
WHO SHOULD READ: Dystopian fans, Neal Shusterman fans, those who like action books
MY RATING: Four out of Five reapers

Gif summary of feelings:

Book Review: The Boy on the Bridge

TITLE: The Boy on the Bridge
Book 2 in the Hungry Plague series
AUTHOR: M. R. Carey
CATEGORY: Adult
GENRE: Dystopian, Zombies
PREMISE: Set in the same world as The Girl With All the Gifts, this book gives us a different look at things....
MY REVIEW: Some of you may remember The Girl With All the Gifts from awhile back. It was a personal favorite of mine and surprised me because I usually find zombie things rather boring. Yes, even Walking Dead is boring to me. That show becomes less entertaining when you realize basically everyone is going to die eventually. Unless they come up with a miracle cure for zombies, that's pretty much the only way it can end.
Now this one was a bit interesting, but I sadly found it more along the lines of most zombie things: boring. At least for me. It is helped by Carey's great prose and character studies. But I was just not as invested in this one as I was with Girl With All the Gifts. I do think it was still good and a solid sequel/companion book. This is mostly just a me thing.
If you liked Girl with All the Gifts, you should like this one. As I said, me not getting into it was mostly just my thing. The book is solid. It's not you, Boy on the Bridge, it's me.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of Girl With All the Gifts, zombie fans, Walking Dead fans
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five solid sequels

Reading Through the Classics: 1984

TITLE: 1984
AUTHOR: George Orwell
PUBLISHED: 1949
CATEGORY: Adult
GENRE: Dystopian
PREMISE: In a future imagined by Orwell in the forties, a man starts to question his government and the way things are...
MY THOUGHTS: 1984 is one of those books that has been making the rounds this year (along with The Handmaid's Tale). After finally sitting down and reading it I definitely see why. There is stuff in here that is sadly, incredibly relevant to what is going on in the US government right now. BTW, guys? Our government resembling Big Brother is....really not a good thing. We should all be seriously worried about that.
As with all classics, there is stuff in here that is dated. Orwell's take on women is...more then a little questionable (I'm also kind of getting the feeling that he hated kids. Or possibly people in general. This book is not kind to humanity). I find it interesting how people go after YA dystopia for poor world-building, but when you read this...well...it's not exactly terribly detailed either. Also the romance in this is ten times worse then anything I've read in YA. Just saying. One thing I found interesting was in this one...there's no hopeful rebellion or anything like that. In fact....the ending is rather bleak. Which is a far cry from today's dystopians that try to at least have a rebellion of some sort going on to give hope for the next generation.
Like Fahrenheit 451 I get the sense that a lot of people read this and deliberately misinterpreted things to suit their world view. This happens a lot in classics and entertainment in general. Hell, I admit, I've probably been guilty of it. But I get the sense a lot people think they're Winston in the beginning of this story. Rebelling against authority, sticking it to Big Brother and all of that. The truth of the matter is....most of us are the sheep willingly going along with society because it's the easy path. At worst, we're O'Brien, helping Big Brother stay in power. Or we're the neighbor's bratty kids, gleefully turning on anyone who doesn't follow society's rules.
This book offers a lot of food for thought. I definitely see why people have been reading it again and why it tends to be on everyone's must-read list. I don't think it's a perfect book (the treatment of women leaves a lot be desired for me), but it is interesting and is one of those books that tends to stay with you for awhile.
WHO SHOULD READ: Dystopian fans, George Orwell fans

Book Review: They Both Die At the End

TITLE: They Both Die At the End
AUTHOR: Adam Silvera
CATEGORY: Young Adult
PUBLISHED: September 5th, 2017
GENRE: Dystopianish, Romance
PREMISE: In a world where you get called a day before you die, Mateo and Rufus both receive calls and meet on an app designed give comfort to those about to die.
MY REVIEW: I'm a little late to the Adam Silvera bandwagon. I just read History is All You Left Me earlier this year and it was a favorite, now I have another favorite. So expect a review of More Happy Than Not in the future. If you are familiar with Silvera, you probably already know: this one will make you cry.
Surprisingly, this one reminded me a bit of The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon. It has that people meeting randomly thing, you knowing ahead of time it's going to end sadly but wanting them together anyway, them getting together beautifully and then you being sad when the sad ending comes. It's all very seize the dayish and great characters and yeah, I liked this one a lot. Sad as it was (and it is so sad guys. The title is not a lie).
So Silvera gets me again with another great book. Looks like we're getting another one from him next year (that he co-wrote with Becky Albertalli!!!!!!) and apparently a fantasy book of some sort is in the works (here for that). I am officially on the Silvera train. Sign me up for all his books in the future.
WHO SHOULD READ: Adam Silvera fans, The Sun is Also a Star fans, those who like books that rip your heart out
MY RATING: Four out of Five tissue warnings

Book Review: Proxy

TITLE: Proxy
Book 1 in a series
AUTHOR: Alex London
PUBLISHED: 2013
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Dystopian
PREMISE: Two boys from different sides get caught up in a rebellion in a dystopian future.
MY REVIEW: This is one of those books that has been on my radar for awhile, it just has taken me awhile to get to it. Look, there are a lot of books I want to read okay? My TBR list would make you weep from the sheer size of it.
For the most part, this is pretty typical dystopian stuff. Once again, I notice it talks about class issues and privilege better then Sandcastle Empire did. I know, I know, one day I will stop ranting about that book. But today will not be that day. One thing that really sets it apart from other dystopians is the dynamic between Knox and Syd. There are definite inspirations drawn from The Whipping Boy here and it works rather well.
This is not a unique book by any means, but it is interesting, has a solid plot and issues that it brings up and talks about fairly well. Looks like the author has another book coming next year that looks interesting and there is a sequel to this book. I look forward to eventually reading both.
WHO SHOULD READ: those looking for LGBT dystopian books, fans of The Whipping Boy and Feed, Dystopian fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five interesting dystopian societies

Book Review: American War

TITLE: American War
AUTHOR: Omar El Akkad
CATEGORY: Adult
PUBLISHED: April 4rth, 2017
GENRE: Dystopian
PREMISE: A person recalls their life as the second American Civil War breaks out...
MY REVIEW: If you've been itching for some good dystopian after reading 1984 (yes, I know at least someone who reads this blog, read that book), might I suggest this one? This is yet another example of how the dystopian genre isn't dead.
This set up is if the more conservative states decided to succeed from the US again. Considering all the things happening nowadays...I honestly am not entirely sure this won't happen again in the future. The author cleverly lays out how it happened in between the main character's story with interviews, news articles etc. It's well written, it's not a chosen one fixes everything type of dystopian either, which was nice.
This is more of a character focused dystopian so there's not much action, but despite that it goes by fairly quickly. I'm impressed that this is the author's first book as well. He's apparently a reporter by trade (which explains the article angle of the book) and that definitely seems to have helped a lot. This was a damn good dystopian. I hope we see more books from this author in the future.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of Exit West, dystopian fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five well developed dystopian worlds

Your Syllabus for: Dystopians

Trying to get back in the swing of doing these again. This week, I'm tackling dystopians. Dystopian can cover a wide range of ideas. I'm sticking to future (in our world) type of settings. So like steampunks that are sort of dystopians or alternate histories such as The Great Library series by Rachel Caine will not be on here (but seriously go read that series, it's awesome). I also won't be including those dystopians that tend to crossover into more sci--fi/fantasy territory such as Endor's Game. Mostly because I'll probably have a syllabus set up for those specific kind of books in the future. I'll be covering classics, YA, and adult dystopians.

First up: Dystopian classics. As I've mentioned, I consider classics to be anything published before 1985. If your book is over 30 years old, still talked about today and still relevant...I consider you a classic. So this covers quite a few books.

We by Yevgeny Zamyatin (1924)

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (1932)

1984 by George Orwell (1949)

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (1953)

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess (1962)

Blade Runner 1: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick (1968)

The Handmaid's Tale by Margeret Atwood (1985)

YA/MG Dystopian (note, I'm not including all YA dystopians. Not all YA dystopians are created equal and frankly this list would get out of control if I did that). Stuff like Shatter Me or Gone where people get powers or whatnot are not going to be included here. That's more into sci-fi/fantasy territory in my opinion.

The Giver series by Lois Lowry (1993)

Feed by M. T. Anderson (2002)

How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff (2004)

Uglies series by Scott Westerfield (2005)

Last Survivors series by Susan Beth Pfeffer (2006)

Unwind series by Neal Shusterman (2007)

The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins (2008)

Maze Runner Trilogy (probably more series now) by James Dashner (2009)

Ship Breaker series by Paolo Bacigalupi

Insiders series by Maria V. Snyder (2010)

Legend Trilogy by Marie Lu (2011)

Delirium Trilogy by Lauren Oliver (2011)

Divergent Trilogy by Veronica Roth (2011)

Dustlands Trilogy by Moira Young (2011)

All These Things I've Done trilogy by Gabrielle Zevin (2011)

Article 5 Trilogy by Kristen Simmons (2012)

Vivian Apple Duology by Katie Coyle (2013)

Adult Dystopian

The Children of Men by P. D. James (1992)

Earthseed series by Octavia Butler (1993)

MaddAddam Trilogy by Margeret Atwood (2003)

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (2005)

The Road by Cormac McCarthy (2006)

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (2011)

The Circle by Dave Eggers (2013)

The Girl With All the Gifts by M. R. Carey (2014)

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel (2014)

Book Review: The Sandcastle Empire

TITLE: The Sandcastle Empire
AUTHOR: Kayla Olson
PUBLISHED: June 6th, 2017
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Dystopian
PREMISE: A group of girls from different backgrounds escape their hellish prison to a mysterious island that is supposed to be a safe haven...
MY REVIEW: Oh this book...I have so many issues with this book I honestly don't know where to begin. I'm sad about it too, because if I could base my score on the author's writing style: four stars. The prose here are great. Unfortunately everything else from the plot, to the characters, to the pacing, and honestly just to what even the author was trying to say with this dystopian....needed a LOT of work.
This started out very promising. The first hundred or so pages are wild ride and we get to see four girls grouping together and being badass. Then it all just falls apart when the author brings in the world-building, brings in the main plot and just ugh. First she felt the need to do what I call the Disney Channel thing: have as many guys for as many girls and pair all of them up regardless of if there's actually any chemistry there (there isn't chemistry, FYI). The characters are all stock characters who are never go beyond their main purpose in the plot. Oh and diversity in this book is pretty much non-existent. Everyone is apparently straight in the future. There is one token Asian character who is treated like crap by the narrative.
But the real kicker for me is the dystopian set up. Essentially, this is a world where poor people decided to take over and throw all rich people into prison. That's right: it's a "stop being mean to rich people!" pearl-clutch.  The author basically tries to use this book as a cautionary tale to talk about privilege politics, but she very clearly has done no research on even what privilege is.
She seems to think privilege just refers to rich people. It doesn't. Everyone has some sort of privilege. I'm poor as dirt, but I still have privilege of some sort because I'm white. She also seems to do that thing that a lot of privileged people do, which is assume calling out privilege means we hate privileged people. WE DO NOT. I cannot emphasize this enough. No one hates you, okay? Seriously, get over yourselves. All people are doing when they point out your privilege, is saying you have an advantage over someone. Therefore, your experiences are more then a little skewed. So maybe stop trying to tell poor people that they're just being lazy or whatever and maybe just LISTEN to them when they tell you there's an issue with the system. I do not care if you grew up with a silver spoon in your mouth. I DO care if you use that silver spoon to deny that there are serious issues in the world right now.
This book....it just bugs me so much. It had so much potential, but the author wasted it with poor research and poor world-building/characters/pacing/and many other things. It was just a disappointment all over. It's a shame, because Olson again has great prose. She just needs to work on...pretty much everything else.
WHO SHOULD READ: Eh...those who don't mind bland and poorly thought out dystopians?
MY RATING: Two out of Five sad sighs

Book Review: Project Nemesis

TITLE: Nemesis
Book 1 in the Project Nemesis series
AUTHOR: Brendan Reichs
PUBLISHED: March 2017
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Er...Mystery and Dystopian...I guess?
PREMISE: Ever since Min was a kid, she's been killed over and over again, and then...just wakes up. As she finally starts to dig into why, conspiracies involving her town start popping up all over the place...
MY REVIEW: This book....is just weird. First, I feel like the author had two plots that he just decided to mesh together. One was the thing with the main character getting killed over and over again. The other was the big conspiracy stuff that came at the end. I suppose the author made it work...if I don't look too hard at all the plot holes.
Personally, I feel like this book was kind of an entertaining mess. It is fast-paced, it gets the job done. But if you sit and think hard...it doesn't make sense and you're also going "how did a mystery turn into a wacky dystopian Gone series scenario?" Because that's basically what happened. Personally...this was too gritty violent for my taste. I felt like the author was trying too hard to be edgy like Frank Miller. It didn't help that very little time was spent fleshing out characters so that when all the stuff designed to shock happened...I felt nothing.
So yeah...it's a decent effort. I just wish more time had been spent fine-tuning it so character motivations made more sense and things were better explained/handled. Also authors, quit using "it's a small town!" as an excuse for having no diversity in your books. I've lived in small towns in the US. Even here in my really white suburban Midwest town, we have a pretty sizable non-white population. So I'm sorry, your excuse is just that: an excuse. One that doesn't really fly in 2017.
WHO SHOULD READ: James Patterson fans, Gone series fans
MY RATING: Three out of Five meh shrugs

Book Review: Wolf by Wolf

TITLE: Wolf by Wolf
Book 1 in the Wolf by Wolf Duology
AUTHOR: Ryan Graudin
PUBLISHED: 2015
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Dystopian/Alternate History
PREMISE: In a world where Hitler won WWII, a girl joins a dangerous race so she can dance with Hitler...and then kill him.
MY REVIEW: I can't believe I took this long to get to this book. It's one of those series I've been meaning to read for awhile because the premise just sounds amazing. But things happen, you know? But I'm getting to it now and I'm happy to say: it did not disappoint.
Graudin's writing is as fabulous as I remember it being in The Walled City. There is more then a bit of a Hunger Games-esque set-up, but the author makes it her own. I do wish we hadn't had the forced romance bit, but it's YA, what can you do? The ending is also a bit of a random cliff-hanger but it's a fitting sort of cliff-hanger if that makes sense...it probably doesn't. Sorry.
I personally, really loved this one. There are some issues, as there always are in YA, but for the most part, this book is a very strong and solid action-packed book. Will definitely be reading book 2 sometime in the future.
WHO SHOULD READ: Hunger Games fans, fans of The Walled City, fans of alternate history
MY RATING: Four out of Five motorcycles

Book Review: Paper and Fire

TITLE: Paper and Fire
Book 2 in The Great Library series (yes series, it's apparently now going to be five books instead of 3. I'm cool with that)
AUTHOR: Rachel Caine
PUBLISHED: July 2016
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Dystopian/Alternate History
PREMISE: Jess and his friends continue their lives at the Library with the danger growing every day...
MY REVIEW: I am a late-comer to this awesome series. I should not have doubted Caine though, because the first book of this series was fantastic and this second book is just as good.
For those that have not picked it up yet: the series is basically about a world where the Library of Alexandria never burned but instead grew to be a global super power that controls everything. It has Caine's usual different cast of characters and fast paced plots and the result is an entertaining as hell series that should be getting way more attention then it is.
Apparently I'm the minority that loved the sequel. I will admit this one dragged a bit. But it did what it needed to do and gave you lots of plot development. So I'm personally very satisfied. And need the new book immediately, because that was a mean cliffhanger.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of the first book, Rachel Caine fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five fangirl squees because damn I love this series

Book Review: Ink and Bone

TITLE: Ink and Bone
Book 1 in The Great Library series
AUTHOR: Rachel Caine
PUBLISHED: July 2015
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Alternate history, Dystopianish
PREMISE: In a world where the Library of Alexandria never burned but lived on to become a world dominating power, a boy is sent to the library for training...
MY REVIEW: I've been meaning to read this series forever because the premise sounds so amazing and Caine is one of those authors who has great premises, even if her plots are usually average. This one though...I actually think this one might be her best series yet. It not only lived up to its awesome premise, but it exceeded my expectations.
This has a lot of what made Morganville Vampires so entertaining: interesting variety of characters, different premise that you don't see everyday, fast pace with lots of things going on, and snappy dialogue. But it's also much better in that there's not lots of focus on love drama. There's romance but that is secondary to this big plot with the library.
Honestly, I'm hard-pressed to find anything really bad about it. About all I can say is the writing is average. But the quality of the story is very very high. I really wish I'd gotten to this one much sooner. But now that means I don't have to wait long to get to the end so, best laid plans.
WHO SHOULD READ: Rachel Caine fans, those who like alternate histories/dystopians
MY RATING: Four and a half out of Five scary librarians

Book Review: The Last Star

TITLE: The Last Star
Book 3 in the Fifth Wave Trilogy
AUTHOR: Rick Yancey
PUBLISHED: May 2016
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Sci-Fi/Dystopian
PREMISE: The final days of the alien invasion are here...
MY REVIEW: Oh Fifth Wave trilogy, you started out so well. I really liked the first book. It wasn't mind-blowing but it was one of the few alien invasion stories out there that I actually found plausible. Then...like sadly most trilogies...the second book happened. Too many multiple PoVs got introduced, the world-building turned into a giant mess and basically it felt as if someone completely different had written the second book.
I honestly was so disappointed with the second book, I almost didn't really bother with this third one. But I saw it at the library and figured I might as well just get the trilogy done. Unfortunately...I don't think this trilogy quite recovered from the mess of the second book. I found I didn't particularly care about any of the characters anymore. The ending didn't have quite the impact I think the author was going for as a result. It was a realistic ending, I'll give the author that. But...ultimately...I just didn't care anymore so I basically yawned my way through it.
This is one of those books that I suspect maybe should have been just a standalone. Because if I had just stuck to the first, I probably would have been happy with it. But, we got two more books and those two books kind of turned everything into a mess. So...I can't really give this any better then an average rating.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of the first two books
MY RATING: Three out of Five sad endings that didn't have quite the impact that they should have
RATING FOR TRILOGY: Three and a half out of Five good starts but bad endings.

Book Review: Raging Sea

TITLE: Raging Sea
Book 2 in the Undertow series
AUTHOR: Michael Buckley
PUBLISHED: February 2nd, 2016
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Sci-Fi/Dystopian
PREMISE: Lyric and her friends go on the run from the aliens who invaded Earth...
MY REVIEW: Here's the thing about the Undertow series: it's readable. It's just...very generic. In fact, I actually forgot most of the first book. Luckily the author recaps a lot of it in the sequel so that jogged my memory. I do remember liking it...I think? It just doesn't compare to my love of Buckley's other series, Sister's Grimm.
This book...honestly continues the genericness of the first book. It's very much business as usual as far as sequels go. The author does try to twist it a bit. Though it's almost as if he knows he's twisting it because sometimes it felt like he was commenting on common tropes. Sometimes this can work, sometimes not. This time...it's okay but sometimes felt like the author was going "look how clever I'm being!"
As a sequel this does its job. It's perfectly competent. It's just not what I call a knock it out of the park book. Or even a knock it out of the park series. It's good enough that I'll probably continue to the end.
WHO SHOULD READ: Fans of the first book, fans of alien invasion books, Fifth Wave fans
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five alien invasions

Book Review: All the Birds in the Sky

TITLE: All the Birds in the Sky
AUTHOR: Charlie Jane Anders
CATEGORY: Adult
PUBLISHED: January 2016
GENRE: er....I honestly have no idea. Dystopianish, Urban Fantasyish, Magical Realismish? Also maybe sci-fi?
PREMISE: A magical girl and a tech genius become friends in middle-school, only to be separated due to circumstance. Years later, they meet as adults when the world is in trouble.
MY REVIEW: You ever have one of those books where you finish it and go..."what the heck did I just read?" That's kind of me with this book. It's not a bad kind of wondering. This book is good. I actually wound up liking it quite a bit. But damn, if I can't begin to tell you what genre it is. Personally, I feel this book would have been better geared towards the literary crowd then the genre crowd which was who it was largely marketed too. If you love the weird quirky magical realism books, this is definitely for you.
The writing style in this book takes some getting used too, but once you do get used to it, it goes by very quickly. After I got used to it, I wound up enjoying it very much. If you start to read it and are like "what?" I strongly urge you to give it time. It will grow on you. Or it won't. Honestly, I suspect this is one of those books that will either appeal to someone, or it won't. Hence the mixed reviews on Goodreads.
Ultimately I wound up really enjoying this book. I'm glad I gave it more of a chance then I usually do. But as I said, this is a book that might not be for everyone. I definitely recommend checking it out from the library before buying it to see if it's for you, first.
WHO SHOULD READ: Lit fans, those that don't mind alternating POVs, magical realism fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five birds

Book Review: On the Edge of Gone

TITLE: On the Edge of Gone
AUTHOR: Corinne Duyvis
PUBLISHED: March 8th, 2016
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Dystopian
PREMISE: A comet heads towards Earth and everyone is fighting to get on ships in order to be saved. Denise and her family struggle to secure their place on one of the ships.
MY REVIEW: Otherbound was one of my favorite books awhile back, so I was pleased to hear that Duyvis had another book coming. This is very different from Otherbound. That was fantasy/parallel worlds, this was dystopian. Yet again, an author proves that this genre is not as dead as people are claiming. It is totally possible to do unique dystopians still. The only thing this and Otherbound have in common is the diversity. Once again, Duyvis shows that it is incredibly easy to have diversity in books. I hope more authors take notes. I will say that this one is slower then most dystopians. There's not a revolution or anything happening like that. It's mostly survival and a character study. There's also some pointed commentary as with most dystopians. This is more character study focused. A lot of it actually reminded me a bit of Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer. Which is good as I liked that series quite a bit.
If you're looking for a slower paced dystopian, this one is definitely a book to pick up. Once again, I loved what Duyvis did here. I hope we see another book from her soon.
WHO SHOULD READ: Corinne Duyvis fans, dystopian fans, Life As We Knew It fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five comets

Book Review: Illuminae

TITLE: Illuminae
Book 1 in the Illuminae Files
AUTHOR: Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
PUBLISHED: October 2015
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Sci-Fi/Dystopian, Romance
PREMISE: Told entirely through documents, this is the story of two teens in the future who deal with a war.
MY REVIEW: This book has been all over the place. It just recently got optioned for a movie by Brad Pitt's company so you'll likely be seeing even more of it soon. First, if you've been putting this off because of the huge page count, you really don't have too. It's told in documents of all kinds so really, those six hundred pages fly by really fast. I actually finished this in two days, and that was with lots of breaks in between.
Story wise...I personally feel this is average dystopian stuff. Sorry, but it is. Honestly, the only really clever thing going on in it is the way the story is told. It's a good story, don't get me wrong. I love the whole rebels going against the system vibe of it. The characters are also interesting. The romance...is honestly the least interesting thing about it. The rest of it is pretty entertaining though.
It's a very clever idea and I have to say I love how authors are finding new ways to tell stories nowadays. Is it a gimmick? Maybe. But it's a gimmick that works well for this story. I'm not sure how well this will translate onto film. Honestly, I suspect it will make a generic film. But book wise, it works very well.
WHO SHOULD READ: Dystopian fans, Across the Universe Trilogy fans, sci-fi romance fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five very thorough files

Book Review: Willful Machines

TITLE: Willful Machines
AUTHOR: Tim Floreen
PUBLISHED: October 2016
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Dystopian, LGBT
PREMISE: The closeted son of the President deals with conspiracies going on in his school in a troubled future where robots are becoming more human by the day.
MY REVIEW: Like Coyle's Vivian Apple series, this book proves that there can be originality in the dystopian genre. It is not dead, no matter what naysayers (namely, people who don't actually read it all that much) would have people believe.
This was new. There's no rebellion, no love triangle, none of the usual trappings I've come to expect from dystopians. The world is similar to most dystopians and bless the writer, he remembers that the US is not the only country and talks a bit about how other countries are dealing with the same issue (hint: much better then the US handles it). There's not much action in this one. It's a very character driven sort of dystopian. But I like the way it's handled and it doesn't end in a neat and tidy manner. It's actually a little bittersweet, which is probably why there are so many mixed reviews about it.
It's maybe not the best I've ever read, but for a debut, this was actually pretty good. A nice bit of fresh air in the crowded dystopian genre.
WHO SHOULD READ: those looking for new LGBT reads, dystopian fans, robot fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five robots gaining intelligence