Review: Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

Pages: 375
Author: Lauren Oliver
Add It: Goodreads
Series: Delirium (#2)
Publisher: Harper Teen

I have grown into somewhat of a diehard Lauren Oliver fan. I just like everything she does. That is basically my entire review for the novella Hana: I just like everything Lauren Oliver does. Guess what? That was a lie. I didn’t like this that much.

Okay, I liked it. That’s what a three star rating means to me: I liked it but there was something missing or something wrong. I expected better of this book. I spent a great deal of the book bored. It took me awhile to finish this. I felt completely detached from Lena’s story for most of the book. I really didn’t like the choice to split the book into Then and Now. I can see why she chose to tell the story that way, but it was like reading two completely different books, and I just kept finding myself annoyed that when I would finally get into what was happening in one section I had to read about the other.

I enjoyed all of the side characters in the Then story. I enjoyed reading about Lena’s interactions with them and the struggle of living among the Invalids. Oliver certainly knows how to make the feeling of grief tackle you from the pages of her story, dragging you down until you feel it right alongside her heroine. Much of Before was rife with emotion. Raven’s story in particular was especially harrowing and beautiful.

I enjoyed Now’s story much less. It felt too plain to me. It didn’t do anything to stand out from the many other dystopian novels on the shelves. There was just something about it that felt like I’d read it all before, and not even Lauren’s gorgeous prose could save it for me. I also didn’t buy the romance between Lena and Julian. I liked it only because Oliver seemed to be allowing Lena to move on instead of the usual in YA in which One True Love is all our heroine gets, but the relationship between them seemed to only be formed by proximity and chaos, and it didn’t feel entirely genuine to me. It seemed like Lena was falling for him when she wasn’t completely over Alex, instead of giving herself time to properly grieve and move on.

The book ended in a cliffhanger that I found predictable and very disappointing. I also have begun to grow a specific hatred for books that so obviously end in a cliffhanger this way, and it did nothing to improve my feelings toward the book. I really hope that the conclusion to this series is satisfying. If anyone can get it back on track it’s Lauren Oliver.

Review: The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

Pages: 409 (Hardcover)
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Add It: Goodreads
Publisher: Scholastic

The Scorpio Races is a very slow and subtle story. Maggie Stiefvater has said that she will sacrifice many things in her story to make readers feel something and it shows. Contrary to what the title may imply this is not an action packed racing story, and I feel like that may be why so many of the reviews are all over the place, because readers came into the story expecting something different. It’s not that the negative reviews citing lack of action are wrong, that’s all a matter of personal preference and this book is not something I’d recommend to someone who prefers a lot of action, but I would hate to see people turned away from this story because they think it might be boring. It’s certainly not as action packed as the title implies, true. If a book with very little action that spends most of its time detailing every sight, smell, and minor character is not for you then definitely look elsewhere, because I can see how the pacing would not appeal to every reader. The actual race is a very small part of this book but I wasn’t at all bored by all of the rich character development and world building.

What Maggie excels at here is transporting you to this little Island town. You can feel the tension on the beach, easily picture the beautiful and dangerous water horses, and almost hear the waves as Puck and Sean sit atop the cliffs. Even the minor characters on the island easily come to life; from tough Peg to Finn and his struggles with OCD, to the three quirky Maud sisters who own a shop in town. I think that Maggie is one of the more poetic and evocative YA writers that I’ve come across. While I easily prefer this to the Wolves of Mercy Falls series, both works showcase Maggie’s obvious ability to write a lovely phrase, and pull her readers into a story headfirst. I think that The Scorpio Races rises above the Wolves of Mercy Falls due to the originality of the story and the subtlety of the romance.

Romance actually plays a very, very tiny part in this story so those who need a lot of romance in their books beware. The romance here is barely there and yet it is probably my favorite pairing in the entire YA genre. It is slow to develop and only beginning once we reach the conclusion of the story. I think a quote from Puck’s (Kate’s) perspective really explains what I love so much about the couple in this story.

“I think every now and then about Sean’s thumb pressed against my wrist and daydream about him touching me again. But mostly I think about the way he looks at me – with respect – and I think that’s probably worth more than anything.”

The friendship and budding romance here is built upon a mutual love of horses and respect. That’s worth much more to me than any overly grand love story of the Romeo and Juliet variety. The main love story here was between horses and their masters. Sean and Corr and Puck and Dove were the true shining pairings of this novel.

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Review: Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

Pages: 480 (Kindle Edition)
Author: Rachel Hartman
Add It: Goodreads
Series: Untitled? (#1)
Publisher: Random House
Rating: 4/5

I remember being born, in fact, I remember a time before that. There was no light, but there was music: joints creaking, blood rushing, the heart’s staccato lullaby, a rich symphony of indigestion. Sound enfolded me, and I was safe. Then my world split open, and I was thrust into a cold and silent brightness. I tried to fill the emptiness with my screams, but the space was too vast. I raged, but there was no going back.” [ARC]

Rachel Hartman has come into the fantasy genre with a beautiful debut, a book filled with lovely paragraphs such as the one above, and intricate but enjoyable world building. She takes a different approach to dragons; the dragons shift into human form but mostly remain emotionally detached and incredibly intellectual. This idea pays off and creates a very interesting dynamic between humans and dragons that I really enjoyed reading about.

One of the most heartwarming relationships between dragon and someone with human emotions in the novel is between Seraphina and Orma. I really loved watching how they navigated their bond to each other, as Orma struggled with acting more like a human companion, and Seraphina attempted to learn how to accept loving someone who didn’t know how to love her back in ways she could understand. A struggle for Seraphina was to learn to accept that she loved and was bonded to someone who could not legally show affection for her without the threat of having his memories erased.

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Review: The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin

Pages: 427
Author: N.K. Jemisin
Add It: Goodreads
Series: The Inheritance Trilogy (#1)
Publisher: Orbit
Rating: 4/5

N.K. Jemisin is definitely a force to be reckoned with in the fantasy genre. Her ability to craft an exciting and imaginative fantasy world is evident from the very first. The story of the gods is both unique and unpredictable. I would venture to say it is the most original use of gods in a story that I have ever seen. Jemisin’s gods are everything you would imagine a god to be. They do not get weighed down by humanity because they are not human. I think this is one of the book’s greatest strengths.

Another credit to Jemisin, and perhaps the biggest one, is her ability to write. This woman can write the pants off of many fantasy writers and many writers in general. Her phrases are lyrical and raw and inspiring. I immediately wanted to write them down and share them with others. The stream of consciousness style of writing was the novel’s greatest strength and its greatest weakness. I thought it was strongest when Yeine’s narrative was being overtaken by Enefa.

“I gather her body to mine and will all of creation to make her live again. We are not built for death. But nothing changes, nothing changes, there was a hell that I built long ago and it was a place where everything remained the same forever because I could imagine nothing more horrific, and now I am there
Then others come, our children, and all react with equal horror
in a child’s eyes, a mother is god
but I can see nothing of their grief through the black mist of my own. I lay her body down but my hands are covered in her blood, our blood, sister lover pupil teacher friend otherself, and when I lift my head to scream out my fury, a million stars turn black and die. No one can see them, but they are my tears.”

I also found the stream of consciousness style to be frustrating and melodramatic at times. Yeine would often begin a story only to swear she’d come back to it later and start telling another one. While it certainly was a unique way to tell the story, it was also very distracting, and confusing for me as a reader.

While I think that this novel was beautifully crafted, and such an original addition to the fantasy genre, I didn’t absolutely love it. In fact, I found myself uncaring about the outcome and the fates of the characters and the plot. I think this is because the characters never felt relatable to me, and I couldn’t say that I truly liked any of them. Sieh seems to be a favorite among readers but I thought he was actually a little creepy and unpredictable. I suppose that’s as it should be, since he is a god, and they live their lives in shades of gray. I think that it was just hard for me to get outside of my own head and view the gods as non-human creatures who clearly don’t play by our rules. If I had been able to do so his behavior would not have seemed so odd to me.

Yeine was my favorite but there was something about her that always kept the reader at a distance and didn’t allow for intimacy. Perhaps it was because she was slipping away? Characters seem to make or break novels for me. If you can make me care deeply for at least one character then you’ve got me, but if you can’t, then it’s going to be hard to grab my attention much at all.

I’d definitely recommend this to fans of the fantasy genre looking for something worthwhile and unique.

Review: A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

Finished: November 11, 2011

Synopsis: This is an extraordinarily moving novel about coming to terms with loss. The monster showed up just after midnight. As they do. But it isn’t the monster Conor’s been expecting. He’s been expecting the one from his nightmare, the nightmare he’s had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments, the one with the darkness and the wind and the screaming…

Quote: “Stories are wild creatures, the monster said. When you let them loose, who knows what havoc they might wreak?”

Thoughts: The story behind the making of A Monster Calls is just as sad as the story itself. Patrick Ness has taken the final idea of the late author Siobhan Dowd and turned it into a reality, fit to honor the author herself. Siobhan Dowd died of cancer before she could finish the story, and Patrick takes it into capable hands and creates a story he hopes Siobhan would have been proud of. The story itself is a tale of Monsters. Monsters that form themselves from large Yew trees, the Monsters hidden deeply in our own hearts, and the Monsters of diseases that take away loved ones far too soon.

The illustrations in this novel are haunting. They fit so perfectly inside the story itself that the novel would not have been complete without them.

The writing flows beautifully. It never comes across as melodramatic, or as if it’s taking the subject of grief and making a joke out of it. This novel reaches to the core of some of our most private moments as human beings, the ones we feel are so ugly, we’d rather not allow anyone to see.

“There is not always a good guy. Nor is there always a bad one. Most people are somewhere in between.”

I feel that this novel might appeal to anyone who has lost a loved one to this terrible disease. For some though, perhaps it would hit a little too close to home. This novel is very hard to take in, so I feel that I should leave here having given that warning. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go hug everyone I’ve ever met.

Rating:

4.5/5 Coffees

Review: Enclave by Ann Aguirre

Finished: November 10, 2011

Synopsis: In Deuce’s world, people earn the right to a name only if they survive their first fifteen years. By that point, each unnamed ‘brat’ has trained into one of three groups–Breeders, Builders, or Hunters, identifiable by the number of scars they bear on their arms. Deuce has wanted to be a Huntress for as long as she can remember. As a Huntress, her purpose is clear—to brave the dangerous tunnels outside the enclave and bring back meat to feed the group while evading ferocious monsters known as Freaks. She’s worked toward this goal her whole life, and nothing’s going to stop her, not even a beautiful, brooding Hunter named Fade. When the mysterious boy becomes her partner, Deuce’s troubles are just beginning…

Quote: “There were different kinds of strength. I knew that now. It didn’t always come from a knife or a willingness to fight. Sometimes it came from endurance. Where the well ran deep and quiet. Sometimes it came from compassion and forgiveness.”

Thoughts: Zombies! Enclave is just one offering of many in the YA Dystopia genre these days, but the difference between Enclave and a lot of these books, is that Enclave actually has something that feels original to offer. On the surface Enclave is much like a lot of the other Dystopia offerings out there. It’s the end of the world as we know it and we’ve got a heroine who intends to fight the system, the oppressive one put in place by those left behind, who only feels beautiful when she’s fighting.

“I never felt beautiful unless I was fighting, and even then it was something that went beyond skin and bone into the kinetic joy of successive movements.”

One difference here is that Deuce does not start out as a rebel. This is a large part of her struggle throughout the novel, and adds a nice depth to her character. Despite the kindness in her heart, Deuce agrees with the leaders and believes in the necessity of making hard decisions for the better of the people, even if it may mean hurting one person.

Another thing worth mentioning is the writing itself. I found myself writing down various sentences because they were just so lovely. Aguirre succeeds here, not only with her characters and story, but also with her distinctive writing style.

An enthralling thriller that kept me in its grip until the very end, the only issue found within Enclave for me was it’s use of the dreaded Love Triangle™. Second only to Instalove™ in the “Biggest Romance Cliche An Author Can Ruin Their Novel With” list (a list I just made up perhaps) the Love Triangle™ has ruined many an original novel with its ability to ruin characters in an instant and detract from any originality found within the rest of the story. While I will concede that the Love Triangle™ made a little more sense here than in other books, given the fact that it represented Deuce’s inner struggle of Kindness vs. Survival Instinct, it still pulled me away from characters I was otherwise coming to care about.

I hope that the sequel to Enclave packs the same punch and can deliver to us more depth to the story that Aguirre has started here. I would recommend this to anyone who devours Dystopia novels with the same fervor as I do.

Rating:

4.5/5 Coffees