Review | 'The Forsaken'

The Forsaken by Lisa M. Stasse
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The Forsaken is a completely misleading book. Going into it, I thought I would be flying through action and adventure and coming-of-age, but none of those were really experienced. I did, however, like the fast-pacing and storytelling. I would have liked to actually explore the psychological concept of 'violent tendencies.' The characterization was a bit poor, save for a few characters. The ending was anticlimactic. The writing, however, is what saved the book (in some manner) for me; it was interesting and kept me flipping the pages, despite some poor world-building and character development. Hopefully the sequel is much more of a satisfaction than this one.

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Review | 'What's Left of Me'

What's Left of Me by Kat Zhang
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Holy crap, this book was fantastic.

I went into What's Left of Me thinking it would be the stereotypical YA novel with poorly-constructed plot and characters, but Kat Zhang and her fully dysfunctional America proved me wrong.

What's Left of Me is set in a not-too-distant future version of America in which each person is born with two souls, and about halfway through childhood, the souls settle into dominant and recessive roles. The trouble with Eva Tamsyn, though, is that she--being the recessive soul of her body--never settled, haunting the life of Addie, the dominant soul, without being an enemy of sorts to her "soul-sister," yet being her own personal roadblock. But before you go off comparing it to The Host, by Stephenie Meyer, let me just tell you that this book is 10x better than that POS, and it is everything The Host should have been, and more.

First off, What's Left of Me spends 97% of its length never once touching on romance, and the romance that is touched upon is only lingered over a little bit in the end of the book. There are no theatrical firework shows when the heroine brushes the fingernail of her love interest, and that's where this book is set apart from its other YA counterparts. Eva, instead, provides the reader with a heartbreaking, yet quite fascinating, look at what life as the recessive soul is like, and Zhang is able to sneak in bits of world-building along the way. Eva and Addie were so distinctly-developed, and the other characters were fantastic as well. I ended up loving characters I never thought I would love, and I had moments where I talked to myself as a form of reaction to certain scenes, which is something I rarely do when it comes to YA fiction anymore, so I loved how attached I got to the characters and the situations they were in.

I tip my hat to Kat Zhang, for her writing style was so beautiful and new and intricate and, simply put, great. I was just hooked on every word, and I never found myself wanting to skim certain parts of the book, because I didn't want to miss the way Zhang described certain feelings, settings, or plot points. It's so great to see such delicate, yet forceful, writing in the world of YA fiction.

What's Left of Me is a fast-paced, heavy-loaded phenomenon of a story that will draw readers in and make them ask questions they can't ask with any other book. Truly an original masterpiece.

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Review | 'For Darkness Shows the Stars'

For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

FOR DARKNESS SHOWS THE STARS is the post-apocalyptic (of sorts) dystopian story of Elliot North, a Luddite, and her relationship with Kai Wentworth, a Post. Luddites and Posts compose the population in this society; a split that occurred after The Reduction, an occurrence resulting from technological revolution reaching an unpreventable state. The book is a tale of choice and temptation, developed at a disappointingly lukewarm pace.

Just a reminder, this review WILL contain spoilers pertaining to this novel, and although they are mild, I would not recommend reading this review to anyone who has not read FOR DARKNESS SHOWS THE STARS.

Let's analyze the pros and cons of Diana Peterfreund's novel, shall we?

CONS:
>There were points in the story where I thought "Oh, we're getting somewhere here!" and were just ultimately left alone. This story could have gone so many places, but it...didn't.

>There were so many unnecessary scenes of pointless dialogue and plot exposition placed haphazardly, to the point where it got a bit annoying.

>There's a lot of confusion and ambiguity surrounding The Reduction. I'm not sure whether or not that confusion was intended, but it definitely didn't work well with the plot.

>The motivations of some characters were so misguided and messed up. I think Elliot's constant attraction to Kai grew to be annoying, and I honestly began to ship Elliot/Horatio, and hoped they would end up together. Kai was never, and never would be, a good fit for Elliot, but she just fell back in love with him all over again multiple times. I could see where her reactions to Kai/Olivia's relationship came from, but there was not a lot of realism to the concept further than her initial, petty reactions.

PROS:
>The essence of Elliot's choice was very realistic, and it was supported with the letters that provided intermission to the story. In most YA novels, romance is centered solely around mystery or physical attraction, but this book has a much more understandable internal conflict; deriving from Elliot's early friendship with Kai, their separation as friends, and his return to her life. Elliot is then faced with the conflict of choosing whether or not to rebuild her relationship with Kai.

>Character development was mediocre in the book, but I wouldn't file that under my con list, so I suppose it belongs here. There were many characters to keep track of in this book--Elliot, Kai, Ro, Dee, Horatio, Olivia, Tatiana, among others--and they all seemed to get there own little spotlight, which was nice. There weren't any characters who played no significance whatsoever, so I'm glad Peterfreund paid attention to all of them.

>I touched on this a bit earlier, but I really loved the use of Elliot and Kai's letters. It help build the story, which was good.

>Peterfreund has a very fresh, open writing style. I feel like she has a lot of untapped potential.

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Review | 'Starters'

Starters
Lissa Price
352 pg., U.S. hardcover
Delacorte
4 stars | B+



From Goodreads:

HER WORLD IS CHANGED FOREVER

Callie lost her parents when the Spore Wars wiped out everyone between the ages of twenty and sixty. She and her little brother, Tyler, go on the run, living as squatters with their friend Michael and fighting off renegades who would kill them for a cookie. Callie's only hope is Prime Destinations, a disturbing place in Beverly Hills run by a mysterious figure known as the Old Man.

He hires teens to rent their bodies to Enders—seniors who want to be young again. Callie, desperate for the money that will keep her, Tyler, and Michael alive, agrees to be a donor. But the neurochip they place in Callie's head malfunctions and she wakes up in the life of her renter, living in her mansion, driving her cars, and going out with a senator's grandson. It feels almost like a fairy tale, until Callie discovers that her renter intends to do more than party—and that Prime Destinations' plans are more evil than Callie could ever have imagined. . . .


To start off, this is definitely a book that people will either incredibly love or kind-of-like. I doubt that anyone would really hate the book, but I have yet to be proved wrong. You can bet this review will be spoiler-filled, so if you haven't read Starters, I strongly recommend doing something else that's as equally as entertaining as this review, or you know, actually reading the book. Kthnxbai.
WRITING: 

• PACING -- Lissa Price debuts with a quick-paced, strongly appealing story with a plot that works with the pacing. Very rarely is quick-pacing valued with a plot as fresh and needing-complexity as this one, but Lissa Price pulled it off very nicely. Pacing can, at times, become a distraction in some books, and while Starters isn't entirely an exception, it definitely avoids that stereotypes in many cases. The only issue I have with the fast-pacing is the infrequency of it. While the book is entirely-fast-paced, the speed does change a bit, meaning it goes from a mild level of quick, to this extreme-Sonic-speed that leaves the reader wondering how a writer can tell a 350-page story very strongly with such quick-pacing. I felt that she was dishing the exposition out so quickly that I wondered if there would be anything else. The ending did end up being 30-pages of recuperation, which was kind of annoying and unnecessary, but unsurprising. The final 100 pages were interesting, though, and well worth the wait, what with the whole Blake-being-the-Old Man, Sara being killed, etc.
• DIALOGUE -- The dialogue in this book definitely was not a stand-out to me; not even in the slightest. I don't really have a lot to say about it, for it wasn't a big thing in this book, for the story was more dependent on actions rather than words, which was totally fine, in my opinion. That's not to say I was disappointed in the dialogue, sure I wish there was more, but I was okay with what I was given.
• ORIGINALITY -- It's always difficult to analyze the originality of an author's originality when it comes to writing. Obviously you're going to draw similarities to other authors, and Lissa Price is no different. I don't really think I can pinpoint which specific authors I could draw connections to, but I definitely experienced flashes of 'Whoa, I've...I've seen this writing, RIGHT?' throughout the story.

STORY:

The story of this book is sort of difficult to grasp without reading the summary, so I'll try to play it out from what I understood/liked from it. Okay? Alright. So it takes place in this post-war America where teenagers sell their bodies (in a non-sexual way; sexual contact would cross into illegality) to elderly people who want to re-experience the fun that teenagers really can. I'm not saying that elderly people can't have fun, but they aren't physically able to do some things that younger, more fit, people can. Callie does so, and her body winds up in that of an assassin, which is where the story really picks up and gets interesting. The assassin is meant to kill the senator to get a point across to the body bank (if you're not following along, they're the people who are in charge of renting bodies; i.e., who gets the body, when, how, who the body is, etc.), and Callie starts to uncover, via very The Host-like internal conversations with her renter, that the Prime Destinations (body bank--run by the Old Man) is up to no good. She finds out that they plan to sell the bodies of attractive people, and this causes a whole ruckus for various reasons. She discovers that her sort-of-kind-of-maybe lover, Blake, is being rented for the Old Man, which is BLERSHKGFH. So, that's kind of it, in a nutshell. The plot and story are very, very original, except for those little glimpses of The Host, which were kind of annoying, yet very helpful to the main character. My favorite scenes and ideas from the plot were the ideas of revisiting a teenage body, and Callie's willingness to rent her body out. Just her luck, her renter is trying to assassinate the government. Had this not happened, and Callie was just living as another woman, the story would have been 5x more boring. The plot arc isn't very clear, actually. I didn't think that resolution of the book had anything to do with the reason Callie initially rented her body out, and obviously Callie did find another reason to keep the body around (whether she had a choice or not), but I feel like she lost sight of her initial motivation, and whether that's Lissa Price's fault or not, I'm not sure.


CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT:
Callie develops a ton in this story, mostly with the help of her renter, whose name escapes me, although I'm fairly sure it was Helena. We'll just say it's Helena. Sorry if it isn't, I don't actually own the book, so I'm just trying to remember. She starts out as a bold, protective friend and sister, and ends up still protective and bold, but more learned in the government doings and that truly affects her personality and character a bit throughout the story. Callie becomes a more heroic, love-hate character, which makes her all the more realistic in a rather unrealistic setting. Her brother and friend, who we only really see a few times, do not experience much development, and it's hard to know who else did, seeing as most characters were rented out, so we never knew their true personality, which is why it's such a blow to Callie when she first found out Blake was the Old Man's rentee. I quite liked Blake, but he certainly didn't develop, even with another person inside him. I liked the Enders, though, they were pretty interesting. So, I suppose that's all I've really got to say in the development wing of this review, sadly. At least the protagonist developed, though, which is the main desire.


Starters is the first in a duo, and the sequel, Enders, is set to be released December 11, 2012. 

Review | 'The Selection'

The Selection
Kiera Cass
327 pg., U.S. hardcover
HarperTeen
4 stars | B+



From Goodreads:

For thirty-five girls, the Selection is the chance of a lifetime. The opportunity to escape the life laid out for them since birth. To be swept up in a world of glittering gowns and priceless jewels. To live in the palace and compete for the heart of the gorgeous Prince Maxon.

But for America Singer, being Selected is a nightmare. It means turning her back on her secret love with Aspen, who is a caste below her. Leaving her home to enter a fierce competition for a crown she doesn't want. Living in a palace that is constantly threatened by violent rebel attacks.

Then America meets Prince Maxon. Gradually, she starts to question all the plans she's made for herself- and realizes that the life she's always dreamed of may not compare to a future she never imagined.


My, my, Miss America...okay, so there's no pie in this book at all. But the main character's name is America, and I, as any other reviewer, am pretty much making fun of the fact that her name is America Singer, and she--well--sings. What a freaking surprise. Okay, so all stupid names aside (Tuesdsay...I mean, I liked it, but it's still stupid), let's segue into the writing of Kiera Cass's second novel, and the first in this trilogy. I've been watching Kiera Cass's YouTube videos since before the release of the second Twilight film,  and she's such an appealing person, so I was, of course, excited to read The Selection, and I wasn't let down, as many other reviewers seemed to be. I went into the book with my expectations set on low due to that dreaded Goodreads review, but I was still hoping to support Kiera Cass's work no matter what. So I was pleasantly surprised to find quick-pacing, an interesting style, and more inside. With the note on pacing, the scene-to-scene without hesitation worked 90% of the time. There were definitely moments that I wish the reader was allowed to dwell on, and that would have increased the emotional appeal of the book, and made different events seem so impacting. For more on those specific events, you can watch my video review (which is chock-full of spoilers) after reading this, right? Right. The style of the book was very youthful-without-trying, and fluffy and light. I actually appreciated this, because I wasn't really expecting some intricate form of writing for the book, so while I do think that Cass could have tightened things up a bit more, the writing sat pretty well with me.
The plot of the book is very interesting. I wouldn't say that it's entirely creative, since--if you've seen my video review, you'd know--it's very similar to The Hunger Games, and it's also identical to The Bachelor, and those two franchises were what the book was marketed as being like. So while the plot was unoriginal, it was executed nicely, with a near-perfect arc. All of the happenings in the book made sense to motivations and character choices, and everything was woven together very nicely. I commend Cass on adding her own flavor to a predetermined plot, and I think that adding new terms, most notably the castes, made things more original and intriguing. I liked the weekly reports, the castes, and--although it was exposed poorly--the World War that led to the created of Illea. It's a very short and sweet book, so there isn't much to say about the plot, but I definitely think it's the highlight.
Characterization, here we go. America Singer's character definitely grows and changes, but it's very blatant. I like a good challenge with characters and their development; I want to have to dig around for little glistening shards of growth, and not have it spelled out for me, like it is in the inside cover. America spends way too much time with Maxon to the point where things become predictable and less-suspenseful. Maxon should have been this enigmatic mystery, but instead he's basically her new best-friend, which is not beneficial for the story or the reader.We don't see the other girls much--a bad thing, in my opinion--so there's no development there, and Maxon doesn't really change at all either, which is a disappointment. We barely see Aspen, and he's really a douchebag in my opinion (mind my terminology), and that fact never changes. I was so irked that America didn't communicate and interact with the other Selected, and that they weren't built up with their own distinctive personalities, because that really could have been a defining aspect for the book!


The sequel to The Selection, The Elite, is set to be released in 2013.

Review | 'Black City'

Black City
Elizabeth Richards
373 pg., ARC
Putnam
4 stars | B+



From Goodreads:

A dark and tender post-apocalyptic love story set in the aftermath of a bloody war. In a city where humans and Darklings are now separated by a high wall and tensions between the two races still simmer after a terrible war, sixteen-year-olds Ash Fisher, a half-blood Darkling, and Natalie Buchanan, a human and the daughter of the Emissary, meet and do the unthinkable--they fall in love. Bonded by a mysterious connection that causes Ash's long-dormant heart to beat, Ash and Natalie first deny and then struggle to fight their forbidden feelings for each other, knowing if they're caught, they'll be executed--but their feelings are too strong. When Ash and Natalie then find themselves at the center of a deadly conspiracy that threatens to pull the humans and Darklings back into war, they must make hard choices that could result in both their deaths.


First and foremost, this review of Black City will be completely spoiler-free, for the book is not released until November 13, 2012. This review is of an uncorrected galley, so no specific quotes will be taken from the book. 
That being said, let's dive right in, shall we?
So, as per usual, I'll start off this review with a little analysis of the writing style in Black City. One vital aspect of this book is that it is split into two different perspectives, those of Natalie, the story's heroine, and Ash, the story's hero. Here's where things get a bit tricky with dual perspectives, for they can either go successfully correct, or terribly wrong. I, unfortunately, think the latter of those two, and the writing style as a whole is the reason the book lacked a fifth star. It isn't that the style was bad, but it wasn't clarified and crisp enough to solidify who was telling the story at a certain moment in time, and there were definitely moments where one character's perspective would be valued more than the other, but the reader could accidentally think that one character is narrating when, actually, the other is. Elizabeth Richards didn't make a clear voice for Natalie and Ash, so there were times that I was slipping up on who was telling the story. Some books establish a pattern with the whole dual perspectives idea, and the book started off that way (every other chapter, Ash would narrate; same for Natalie), but then got all jumbled up and difficult to discern from whom the events were being perceived. As far as actual dialogue goes for the story, there was a sense of realism, but I do not think at all that the dialogue had this massive spotlight shining on it, for it really didn't stick out to me. I'd like there to be these intense, important conversations happening between characters, and I feel like we didn't get those in this book, and it was a disappointment.
The second division of my review is the plot. The story revolves around a post-war city that has been split up  by a World War-esque wall that separates the humans from the Darklings. What the Darklings are, I'm not entirely sure, even after reading the book. They're basically vampires and werewolves mixed together, and that definitely lowered the appeal of the book to me. From the first chapter, I thought the book was going to be some Fifty Shades of Grey for Teens, but I was proven wrong by page 50. I was glad that the plot wasn't so reliable on the sex appeal of Ash, who is obviously the object of Natalie's affection. However, it would be false to say that the plot was not dependent on romance. Going into the story, the plot and the world had so much potential. I mean, I don't read a lot of strongly-written stories of segregation and towns that are walking on eggshells based on their citizens' isolation from one another. There's this looming feeling that if the wall crumbles, all hell will break loose, for the humans hold strong prejudices against Darklings, and will go to extremes to avoid them. I was really hoping for more information on the war. If anything with a post-war story, readers NEVER get details about the war. For example, Legend by Marie Lu, and Cinder by Marissa Meyer, are two of my very favorite books, but they are both post-war stories, and the wars are never developed. If you're going to have a story so centered around the aftermath of a war, please evaluate on the war, its catalysts, its goings-on, etc. Why even have the war if you aren't going to mention it, aside from passing comments and tiny bits of exposition. For all I care, have the book take place after all of Wal-Mart closes down across the country, but keep the outcome; a city split by hatred and disgust. Really, at this point, they're both of equal significance to me. There are specific moments where the wall has extreme importance (and it really does matter in the whole of the story), and those moments gave me literal chills and bursts of excitement, but I just wish that it was highlighted more. Touching briefly on the arc of the plot, the novel had a clear, defined arc, and things made sense in the order that they did. Fast-pacing was good in this book, and while the conflict of the book is definitely not what I expected (the book relies a lot more on the interaction between characters), I still think it worked.
Rounding out the review will be character development. I'd first like to say that the romance in this book started out very undeveloped. I mean I didn't feel anything at all when Ash's big reveal came about a third of the way into the book, pertaining to their romance. For once, I'd just like to read a book where romance doesn't come into play until later in the story, or even the series for that matter. I definitely loved that about Harry Potter. The first bit of actual infatuation coming to fruition is in Order of the Phoenix, when Harry is dating Cho, and even a bit when Ginny is dating Michael Corner. We spend four books not having, and not needing, romance, and it entered the story at the right time. For books like this, I would have liked more interaction between the characters, and not just this sudden love for each other because they felt like two halves of the same person. I just thought it was pathetic, and it developed over the course of the story, but definitely meant nothing to me at its initial creation. Like I said, the characters did not have a set voice, and that took a toll on their internal characterization, yet I think that the only characters that had big changes were Natalie's mother, a government official, and Ash. You may be thinking, Omg Natalie doesn't change AT ALL? Wtf, this book's gonna suck. You'd be wrong. Natalie doesn't change, true, but I think that's a good thing. Natalie starts out as this patient, sympathetic, compassionate girl, and those features are not changed by the end of the story. I think that her attitude impacts others, though, and that's very rare in YA fiction, so I value that. I'm glad that she didn't become this action heroine or a bratty, rebellious bitch to her mother, for it wouldn't have made sense. So while the characterization did wind up all over the board in some cases, it redeemed itself in some aspects.
Black City is the first in a trilogy, and is set to be released on November 13, 2012.

Veronica Roth speculates the release date of 'Divergent' book three

Divergent author, Veronica Roth, semi-formally announced via her blog that the third book in the Divergent trilogy will be released in the Autumn of 2013, as opposed to the expected Spring of 2013. Veronica Roth states her reasoning as being able to "polish" the book, which does heighten our hopes for Detergent's outcome!

You guys DO know Detergent isn't the book's ACTUAL title, right?

The full post.

Review | 'Under the Never Sky'

Under the Never Sky
Veronica Rossi
374 pg., U.S. Hardcover
HarperCollins
4 stars | A-



From Goodreads:

 Since she'd been on the outside, she'd survived an Aether storm, she'd had a knife held to her throat, and she'd seen men murdered. This was worse.

Exiled from her home, the enclosed city of Reverie, Aria knows her chances of surviving in the outer wasteland - known as The Death Shop - are slim. If the cannibals don't get her, the violent, electrified energy storms will. She's been taught that the very air she breathes can kill her. Then Aria meets an Outsider named Perry. He's wild - a savage - and her only hope of staying alive.

A hunter for his tribe in a merciless landscape, Perry views Aria as sheltered and fragile - everything he would expect from a Dweller. But he needs Aria's help too; she alone holds the key to his redemption. Opposites in nearly every way, Aria and Perry must accept each other to survive. Their unlikely alliance forges a bond that will determine the fate of all who live under the never sky.


This book was totally different than I expected it would be. It was a very intense, unique, but sometimes dull novel. I was expecting a lot more darkness coming from Aria, since she was banished from Reverie. Sure, there was some darkness surrounding her, but I feel like she moved on a bit too quickly. I didn't understand hardly any of her motivations, and thought that the development of the story's MAIN character could definitely have been improved upon.
The pacing of this book was incredibly slow, it really bugged me. I was so annoyed by the way things were just so intricately described, it became so unrealistic and unnecessary. It was redundant and unneeded, and I was disappointed by that aspect.
Certain characters in this book wear electronic eyepatches (Smarteyes), and they reminded me of the Eye-drives from Doctor Who. So, really, I was picturing members of the Silence/Madame Kovarian herself walking around. Yeah. It was pretty creepy.
So basically the story is just about Aria looking for a way to return to Reverie, and a way to reach contact with her mother. Peregrine's plot revolves around looking for his nephew. I just thought there could have been a lot more insight on Aria's life in Reverie, and a lot more scenes that developed the relationship between the protagonists, if there was going to be one. Why would Veronica Rossi make a relationship and then just render it underdeveloped? 
Veronica Rossi's writing style was very nice, though. I liked the way that everything was nicely placed and structured finely, but, like I said, the pacing really needed to have been quickened.


This book's sequel, Through the Ever Night, is due out early next year.