YA Book Review: Blood Red Road by Moira Young

Release Date: 7 June 2011

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Format: Hardcover
Source: Purchased

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Goodreads description:

Saba has spent her whole life in Silverlake, a dried-up wasteland ravaged by constant sandstorms. The Wrecker civilization has long been destroyed, leaving only landfills for Saba and her family to scavenge from. That’s fine by her, as long as her beloved twin brother, Lugh, is around. But when a monster sandstorm arrives bearing four cloaked horsemen, Saba’s world is shattered. Lugh is captured, and Saba embarks on a quest to get him back. Suddenly thrown into the lawless, ugly reality of the world outside of desolate Silverlake, Saba discovers she is a fierce fighter, an unbeatable survivor, and a cunning opponent—and she has the power to take down a corrupt society from the inside. Teamed up with a handsome daredevil named Jack and a gang of girl revolutionaries called the Free Hawks, Saba stages a showdown that will change the course of her own civilization.

My Thoughts...

(ARC) YA Book Review: Partials by Dan Wells

Release Date: 28 February 2012

Publisher: HarperTeen

Format: eARC

Source: Publisher via NetGalley

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Goodreads description:

The human race is all but extinct after a war with Partials—engineered organic beings identical to humans—has decimated the population. Reduced to tens of thousands by RM, a weaponized virus to which only a fraction of humanity is immune, the survivors in North America have huddled together on Long Island while the Partials have mysteriously retreated. The threat of the Partials is still imminent, but worse, no baby has been born immune to RM in more than a decade. Our time is running out.

Kira, a sixteen-year-old medic in training, is on the front lines of this battle, seeing RM ravage the community while mandatory pregnancy laws threaten to launch what’s left of humanity into civil war, and she’s not content to stand by and watch. But as she makes a desperate decision to save the last of her race, she will discover that the survival of humans and Partials alike rests in her attempts to uncover the connections between them—connections that humanity has forgotten, or perhaps never even knew were there.

My Thoughts...

While Partials started out a bit on the slow side (for me), I became addicted to the world and the characters and flew through the second two-thirds of the book.  Dan Wells has crafted a wonderfully descriptive novel that throws the reader into a futuristic society that will both scare and awe.

Each life has a different purpose, and some peopel can find their purpose more easily than others. The key, ...the most important thing you can eve know, is that whatever your purpose is, that's not your only choice. ... No matter why you're here, you're never tied down to fate. You're never locked in. You make your own choices, Kira, and you can't let anyone ever take that away from you.

-p66, eARC

I have to start with our main character, Kira, because I developed a pretty deep bond with her throughout the novel.  She's the type of heroine that I love to see.  She's willing to stick her neck out for the things that she believes in and she's not willing to cave to outside pressures.  She's very much her own person.  And yet she has a deep connection with the people around her that I totally appreciated.  She's willing to stick her neck out for them when she needs to, but she's not willing to let the stop her from reaching for her ultimate goals/dreams. Her hope and perseverance made her somewhat of an enigma in her society and really made her stand out.

Happiness is the most natural thing in the world when you have it, and the slowest, strangest, most impossible thing when you don't. ... It's like learning a foreign language: You can think about the words all you want, but you'll never be able to speak it until you suck up your courage and say them out loud.

-p66, eARC

The storyline itself, as I said, starts a bit slow, but when it really starts to get going, you won't be able to put the book down.  Wells has written a book that explodes with tension and action.  There are some moments where potentially I felt there was a tad too much "discussing what we're going to do and then here is how we did it" (does that makes sense?), but overall, I found that once the world was established at the beginning, the process of discovery smoothed out and the story started flowing. I appreciated as well that Wells seems to give his audience's intelligence some credit in his use of military and medical jargon.  He doesn't shy away from complicated terminology and descriptions.

War, see, is when two sides fight, maybe not evenly, but at least they both get a few swings in.  What we call the Partial War was manking gettin' mugged in an alley.

-p47, eARC

Overall, Partials is a true dystopia for the science fiction fan who loves detailed description and strong scientific investigations. Wells' world will really suck you in and if you're anything like me, you'll be begging for the sequel as soon as you turn the last page.  There's a little romance in the story, but it always takes a back seat to the stories bigger struggles and issues.

(ARC) YA Book Review: The Weepers: The Other Life by Susanne Winnacker

Release Date: 1 May 2012 (1 Feb 2012 UK)

Publisher: Marshall Cavendish
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

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Goodreads description:

3 years, 1 month, 1 week and 6 days since I’d seen daylight. One-fifth of my life.

Sherry and her family have lived sealed in a bunker in the garden since things went wrong up above...and two minutes ago they ran out of food. Sherry and her father leave the safety of the bunker and find a devastated and empty LA, smashed to pieces by bombs and haunted by ‘Weepers’ - rabid humans infected with a weaponized rabies virus.

While searching for food in a supermarket, Sherry’s father disappears and Sherry is saved by Joshua, a boy-hunter. He takes her to Safe-haven, a tumble-down vineyard in the hills outside LA, where a handful of other survivors are picking up the pieces of their ‘other lives’. As she falls in love for the first time, Sherry must save her father, stay alive and keep Joshua safe when his desire for vengeance threatens them all.

My Thoughts...

YA Book Review: Dark Inside by Jeyn Roberts

Release Date: 1 November 2011
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Source: Borrowed from Library

Goodreads description:

Since mankind began, civilizations have always fallen: the Romans, the Greeks, the Aztecs…Now it’s our turn. Huge earthquakes rock the world. Cities are destroyed. But something even more awful is happening. An ancient evil has been unleashed, turning everday people into hunters, killers, crazies.

Mason's mother is dying after a terrible car accident. As he endures a last vigil at her hospital bed, his school is bombed and razed to the ground, and everyone he knows is killed. Aries survives an earthquake aftershock on a bus, and thinks the worst is over when a mysterious stranger pulls her out of the wreckage, but she’s about to discover a world changed forever. Clementine, the only survivor of an emergency town hall meeting that descends into murderous chaos, is on the run from savage strangers who used to be her friends and neighbors. And Michael witnesses a brutal road rage incident that is made much worse by the arrival of the police--who gun down the guilty party and then turn on the bystanding crowd.

Where do you go for justice when even the lawmakers have turned bad? These four teens are on the same road in a world gone mad. Struggling to survive, clinging on to love and meaning wherever it can be found, this is a journey into the heart of darkness – but also a journey to find each other and a place of safety.

My Thoughts...

While this book started off a bit slow for me, it eventually sunk its teeth into me and wouldn't let go.  This book brings to life the fall of a society--the moment when the civilization that we know collapses like so many before it.   Four teenagers must cope with the terrible evils that permeate society and bring survivors to the brink of extinction.  Where will the world end up? Who will win? What are they fighting for?

Humans are the most violet species on the planet. We have a brilliant history of all the ugly deeds we've done. We're rotted straight to the core. The disease finally won the battle. We've never had the cure, and the symptoms are out of control. We're finally doing something right by wiping ourselves off the face of this planet.

- p.135

From the beginning, Ms. Roberts doesn't shy away from the dirty realities of her post-apocalyptic world.  The four main characters face death and destruction on a scale that the majority of us can't relate to or even truly begin to imagine.  Each character must face the death of a loved one or close friend.  Each character must fight to survive on a daily basis.  The world that they are now living in is a stark place.

When I first started this novel, the multiple POVs threw me for a loop.  The story seemed a bit disjointed, and it took a long time for the connections to form between the characters.  You knew (or assumed) from the beginning that somehow these four teenagers were going to end up together, but the process of getting them there was a be arduous at times. I jumped for joy when two characters finally met just over 200 pages into the story.  The idea that two of them were finally working together gave their part of the story some cohesion.

There are different types of people in this world. There are people who accpet what's in front of them unquestioningly. They live in the dark. In defeat. Ignoring what the future might bring or how they might help to make things happen. Then there are people like me. Optimists. They too live in the dark, in times like these, but dream of light. i trust in the possibilities of betterness. I believe there is more to life than this. I have to. There's no other choice for me.

- p.219

Each minor character contributes to this story.  While we may be following Aries, Michael, Mason, and Clementine directly, the story is really driven by the people they meet along the way.  Each of these secondary characters has something to teach a main character, whether it's patience, love, trust, or acceptance.  There are not throwaway parts in this story. I felt like each person had a special role in the story that would have left a hole if they were removed.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading this novel.  There were a few things that were a bit "off" for me.  First, I'm not sure what role the "Nothing" was meant to play in the narrative.  I didn't feel that the sections of the novel narrated by "Nothing" added a lot for me because the voice didn't make a lot of sense.  I couldn't connect with it.  Second, this novel has a lot of action and character development, but in the end, it feels very much like the beginning of the story.  Since it took the entire book to establish our band of characters as a group, it ends feeling like a beginning.  I'm fairly used to cliffhangers so that's not really the issue.  I simply felt that not a lot really happened in terms of plot development in this book.  However, my connection with the characters and enjoyment of the writing style definitely has me looking forward to reading more in this series!

2012 (P)Review: Pure by Julianna Baggott

Release Date: 8 February 2012
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Source: Around the World ARC Tours

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Goodreads description:

We know you are here, our brothers and sisters . . .
Pressia barely remembers the Detonations or much about life during the Before. In her sleeping cabinet behind the rubble of an old barbershop where she lives with her grandfather, she thinks about what is lost-how the world went from amusement parks, movie theaters, birthday parties, fathers and mothers . . . to ash and dust, scars, permanent burns, and fused, damaged bodies. And now, at an age when everyone is required to turn themselves over to the militia to either be trained as a soldier or, if they are too damaged and weak, to be used as live targets, Pressia can no longer pretend to be small. Pressia is on the run.

Burn a Pure and Breathe the Ash . . .
There are those who escaped the apocalypse unmarked. Pures. They are tucked safely inside the Dome that protects their healthy, superior bodies. Yet Partridge, whose father is one of the most influential men in the Dome, feels isolated and lonely. Different. He thinks about loss-maybe just because his family is broken; his father is emotionally distant; his brother killed himself; and his mother never made it inside their shelter. Or maybe it's his claustrophobia: his feeling that this Dome has become a swaddling of intensely rigid order. So when a slipped phrase suggests his mother might still be alive, Partridge risks his life to leave the Dome to find her.

When Pressia meets Partridge, their worlds shatter all over again.

My thoughts...


The startling world that Julianna Baggott presents in her gripping post-apocalyptic novel pulled me in and refused to let go.  It's the kind of world that truly makes you think about what today's world is capable of because the stark and startling reality is that we are capable of bringing about this type of alternate reality with the push of a button.

This potential for fiction to become reality is really what makes Ms. Baggott's world so mesmerizing--like a wreck that you can't look away from. For me, the best post-apocalyptic novels bring to light the potential for disaster that already exists in our world and this novel did just that.  The potential for us to virtually destroy ourselves is an ever-present reality that we may forget on a daily basis.  Pure reminds us that it could happen and this world could be the disastrous result.  Ms. Baggott's world-building is truly excellent. It will pull you in and allow you to walk around in this fantasy world of Pures and wretches--to see the destruction of nuclear explosions and the world created in their wake.

Baggott's dual narrative threw me for a loop at first. I had trouble finding a rhythm with the switching POVs, but eventually I was so pulled into their stories that I couldn't put the book down. Watching their stories intersect and overlap made the initial disjoint completely worth it because I knew the characters as individuals before their lives intersected. I had a better understanding of the very different lives that each one led and that definitely contributed to my overall sympathy with the characters.

Now you may be wondering, who are these characters? First off we have Pressia--a "wretch" with a doll's head fused to one of her hands who lives outside the Dome with her grandfather.  The best way to describe her is this: SURVIVOR.  This girl is tough as nails. The connection that I felt with her character was instantaneous. I'm not sure why, but she truly pulled me into the story. Something in her character was simply irresistible. I found myself inside her head  and fighting her battles. Partridge was a different story and it took me awhile to truly connect with him--to really figure out what his part was in the bigger scheme of things.  His role became quickly apparent and as he developed I found him to be much more sympathetic that at first glance. He definitely revealed himself as a multi-faceted character later on in the novel.

I'm not sure what else to say about Pure at this point. It is a fabulously written YA/adult crossover novel that will appeal to a wide audience. Those accustomed to reading YA post-apocalyptic and dystopian novels should easily fall into Ms. Baggott's world and characters. This book left me breathless and waiting on pins and needles to follow my characters on their continuing journey. I know I will be first in line to buy this book and its sequel when they are released on the world.

(ARC) YA Book Review: Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick

Release Date: 6 September 2011
Publisher: EgmontUSA
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

Pre-Order It! Amazon | B&N

Goodreads description:

A cataclysmic event. An army of "The Changed."
Can one teen really survive on her own?

An electromagnetic pulse sweeps through the sky, destroying every electronic device and killing billions. For those spared, it's a question of who can be trusted and who is no longer human...

Desperate to find out what happened and to avoid the Changed, Alex meets up with Tom---a young army veteran---and Ellie, a young girl whose grandfather was killed by the electromagnetic pulse.

This improvised family will have to use every ounce of courage they have just to survive.

My Thoughts...

This novel blew me away.  With the proliferation of post-apocalyptic and dystopian fiction, I always start a novel like this is the slightest bit of apprehension because surely this one can't be as good as "X." As is the case so often, there was absolutely nothing to be worried about with this book--it was probably one of the most riveting novels that I have read this year.

When the novel opens, we are introduced to Alex, who has set off on a hiking/camping journey to Lake Superior.  Although we're not privy to her reasons for the trip, there is the distinct feeling of running away from something and an attitude of finality and closure to her journey (which makes more and more sense as you learn about her history and reasons for the trip later). Alex is immediately an intriguing character who captures your imagination with her slightly brash personality. She has a slight air of self-pitying at the beginning but that is quickly overshadowed by her fiercely independent nature coupled with her deeply caring spirit.  There's no denying that she's been through a lot and that may have caused her to be slightly wary of and abrasive toward people, but as you see her interact with the other characters, you quickly learn that she has a compassionate side that can't be shut away or overlooked.

The characters are a major factor in what made me fall in love with this book.  Alex was obviously well-developed and incredibly realistic in her strengths and flaws.  However, each and every character that we meet has a complex, fascinating nature. First, there is Ellie.  Ellie has all the signs of being a bratty, spoiled child unaccustomed to not getting her way, but she is slowly revealed as simply a truly scared child with a rough past and also as a fiercely loyal child as we watch her become attached to Alex.  Tom is just as mysterious with his uncertain past in Afghanistan and guarded personality.  As Alex becomes attached to Tom and we slowly learn more about him, he becomes more complex and appealing. Even the character we don't get to know quite as well later in the novel, including Jess, Chris, and the Reverend, are all engaging characters that you easily find yourself drawn to.  I definitely look forward to the second book so that I can learn more about these characters.

Now, the characters are fabulous, but no story could truly be as spellbinding as this one without fabulous storytelling and writing. Ms. Bick's writing is so fantastically realistic that it is absolutely terrifying at times to be reading this novel. The ideas that she brings forth about mutually assured destruction and the true weapon capabilities that we have in our world are terrifying, and that makes the story that much more engaging. The ending to this novel will leaving you gasping for breath and begging for more! I seriously kept attempting to turn to the next page on my Nook because I could NOT believe that was the end of the book.  I will definitely be waiting on pins and needles for the next book in 2012.

Guest Review: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Hello my dear blogger friends! Today I bring you a guest review from...my hubby! I finally convinced him to read The Hunger Games and I thought it would be fun for him to do a review of the book since (a) I haven't reviewed it on this blog and (b) he's a really good writer. So, without further ado, introducing my hubby!! Enjoy. :-) (He is a bit long-winded so bear with him on this one--he just had a lot to say!)

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
© September 2008 by Scholastic, Inc.


Goodreads Description:

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before—and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that will weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

Dan's Thoughts...

Jess and I have now been married for just under two years and, lately, have been trying to make an attempt to 'get into' each other's hobbies a bit.  I'm an avid homebrewer and 10th-level beer nerd, and so she's been slowly trying to get more interested in the endless variety of beers I bring home, brew, and talk about non-stop.  For my part, I thought it might be nice to make a genuine attempt to get into her main hobby which, as you all know, is reading.  We decided that it would be cool to have a sort of 'book club': just the two of us.  We would each take turns picking a book to read, read it together over the course of a week or two, and then make a special dinner/tea/hors d'oeuvres/drinks, etc and talk about the book a bit. 

At first, I wasn't too excited about the idea; I'll be honest.  I have to read so much for school (just started my PhD in medieval history) that the last thing I want to do before nodding off is pick up another bleedin' book.    However, as soon as I got a bit into this book, it became genuinely exciting for me.   Other than Lovely Bones (which Jess made me read a few years ago), Harry Potter (yes, I love Harry Potter) is about the closest I've gotten to popular fiction.  The only other thing I've read for fun in the past few years is George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series (via audiobooks) which is BRILLIANT.  But, moving on...

First off, I must say, I was not prepared to really like this book.  It's not that I was actively planning not to like it; really I was just fairly convinced that it wasn't likely to catch and/or hold my interest.  After all, my favorite books at this time are Martin's; they're dark, gritty, violent, and (at times) disturbing.  Not really 'kid's' books, as I assumed The Hunger Games was.  The Hunger Games, as any of you who have read it will know, is not a children's book.  I know that it's classified as young adult fiction, but it's (in my opinion) a good deal more than that.  While it's easily accessible and will certainly prove engaging for 13-14s on up, there's a lot in here to appeal to adults as well.  Collins jumps right into the story with some pretty heavy stuff.  There are clear and brutally-drawn lines of social stratification and it's clear that class conflict is very present in Katniss' 'district', the Seam.  I'm not sure why, but I was not really expecting to find these sorts of issues addressed in teen literature, especially so early on in the book.


Katniss is easy to like.  She tells the story in the first person, and is brutally honest, fairly confident, but never cocky.  She's a heroine who seems real enough and is portrayed with a certain amount of depth.  It's easy to see why she would appeal to young adult readers.  When her mother's emotional breakdown leaves the family facing starvation, it's Katniss who picks up the pieces and, for several years, it's her (illegal) hunting and foraging that keeps food on the table.  Collins treats her young teen heroine with respect and, in doing so, seems to suggest the very real influence (and responsiblities) that young people can have.  Yet, while Katniss is a young adult, the issues that she struggles with throughout the book (trust, loyalty, love, etc) are universal, and will certainly appeal to much older readers as well.


Collins does a good job in keeping this book appropriate for her target age level (no sex, the barest hint of crude language, etc) but does a phenomenal job in building a real sense of urgency and, at times, terror throughout the book.  She's good at portraying emotions: fear, loss, confusion, doubt, and loyalty in ways that seem both urgent and real.  There is real fear out in the woods, as Katniss is being hunted, and there's genuine sadness when a friend dies.  The book is certainly a page-turner, and is nicely paced.  It's exciting enough that you never want to put it down, yet it's not done to the extreme where the reader is emotionally exhausted just from reading (I have a love/hate relationship with books like that).  Collins does a very nice job in giving you just enough information about the world of the Hunger Games; you can picture it in your mind, but (unlike, say, Martin) every rock is not described to you in detail.


Were there negatives? Yes, but they were few and far between.  The Hunger Games is written in the first-person voice of a 16-year-old girl and, as such, it's fairly casual, though at times eloquent.  Nevertheless, Collins plays fast and loose with sentence structure at a few point.  Ok, now you're just nitpicking, you say.  And you're right, I am.  Yet, as someone who is constantly having to critique student papers, there were a couple of passages where it genuinely annoyed me.  Other than that, I was unsure how I felt about the 'rule change' near the middle of the book.  Was it really interesting? Yes.  Could the Capitol do it for viewing ratings?  Absolutely.  Does it still feel juuuust a bit too convenient?  I can't make up my mind.


Overall, I would give this book a solid B+ on a scale of A (this book is seriously life-changing) to F (good for kindling, but nothing else).  It's fun, exciting, and post-apocalyptic (always love that) and deals with themes (love, betrayal, fear, loyalty) with which we're all familiar.  Moreover, more serious issues such as economic innequality (and the accompanying hardships for those on the bottom), loyalty, courage, loss, depression, etc are addressed as well.  Even if you're not a teen, it's easy to care about Katniss Everdeen; as she deals with a lot of the same issues we all do.  And yes, I will be reading the second and third installments of this trilogy.

Birthmarked by Caragh O'Brien

When I glanced at this cover on GoodReads, I instantly felt compelled to read it.  I know, I know--don't judge a book by its cover.  But, seriously, how many people can honestly say that they've never picked up a book because it had an awesome cover? No one? That's what I thought.  A lovely professor of mine was kind enough to loan me her copy of this book so I didn't have to place my name on the lengthening list of holds at the local public library.


My judgement: Go find a copy of this book and read it. NOW. No, you don't need to read my review first.  First, you need to go see if your public library has a copy and put your name on the hold list (because I'm sure that all of their copies are check out).  Now, on to the review, which you can read after you have a hold on this book.


From the cover:
IN THE ENCLAVE, YOUR SCARS SET YOU APART, and the newly born will change the future.

Sixteen-year-old Gaia Stone and her mother faithfully deliver their quota of three infants every month. But when Gaia’s mother is brutally taken away by the very people she serves, Gaia must question whether the Enclave deserves such loyalty. A stunning adventure brought to life by a memorable heroine, this dystopian debut will have readers racing all the way to the dramatic finish.

This is a novel that you will start and not put down until you have read the last page.  The main character, Gaia, is a sympathetic character from the beginning.  The scar on her face sets her apart, even in the world outside of the Enclave.  She's a strong-willed character with quite the determination when it comes to her family.  When her parents are arrested by the Enclave, Gaia, scorning the advice of those around her, insists upon find a way into the Enclave to rescue her parents.  Her determination, quick-thinking, and (ultimately) love drive her to impossible lengths to save those she loves.  The cast of characters that she meets along the way will surprise the reader.  I don't want to spoil any plot points here, so I'll suffice it to say that O'Brien's debut novel is well-written, suspenseful, and moving.  The world and characters that she has created will leave your mind reeling.  Don't despair: the second book in a three book deal is slated to appear later this fall.

The People of Sparks by Jean DuPrau

In this sequel to the juvenile fiction book The City of Ember, Jean Duprau explores the post-apocalyptic world that is Earth after multiple wars and plagues have struck.  The "Emberites," having discovered a way out of their underground, dying city, must now find their way in a bright, hot world that they know nothing about. The former citizens of Ember stumble into the village of Sparks, a small town that has finally managed to begin flourishing on its own after the great disasters of the past.  The villagers graciously agree to take the Emberites into their village and help them learn how to build and farm for six months.  Tensions grow between the two groups sparking conflict and accusations on both sides.  As tension mounts, violence escalates until disaster strikes.

This series follows a very straightforward, post-apocalyptic world storyline.  The author does, I believe, a fantastic job in presenting such a topic in a way that young readers can grasp.  The main characters and heros are pre-teens who make tough decisions; it is easy to identify with their struggles for acceptance among peers and to make difficult decisions. I enjoyed this novel as an audiobook.  The narrator was very pleasing to listen to on my daily commute.  The recording company has included small sound effects in the background here and there, which are a pleasant addition that don't deter from the reading/listening experience.  The only problem I had was the the copy I borrowed from the public library had a lot of scratches and skipped frequently. Not a single disk was left unscathed! I suppose this is an expected occurrence when borrowing children's audiobooks, but I would recommend either reading the book or obtaining the audio from elsewhere (DBRL also offers the downloadable audio version of this--I suppose that would have been a better choice.)