Mini Reviews: YA Catch Up

Here are some YA novels I need to play catch up on.  I thought I'd do some short mini reviews in an effort to share what I've been reading.

Insurgent by Veronica Roth--In book two of the Divergent series, we find the fall out from the simulation and Tris trying to deal with her initiation into Dauntless.  Book two picked right up where the first left off and there is a lot of back and forth in this one.  We learn more about the role of the other factions and find that there is still a lot of intrigue confusing Tris about who is good and who is bad, who could be right and who could be wrong.  I really liked this installment, but will say that at times I was exhausted by what was not shared between Tris and Four.  I found myself yelling at Tris to just trust Four and tell him what was really going on!  Since I have just started Allegiant, I happen to know that will come up again, so I will be hearing more about that later on...  Still, an amazing read.  The last 75 pages or so really locked this one in for me.

Everbound by Brodi Ashton--Yet another second book in a series, this is the next in the Everneath series.  Book one, based on the Persephone story continues here with Nikki grieving her boyfriend Jack and his sacrifice for her into the Everneath.  How can she explain his disappearance and how can she get him back?  In this installment, Nikki has to enter the Everneath and figure out how to stay connected to Jack.  While I sometimes got confused with the layout of the Everneath at times, by the end, I was shocked and flipping pages like crazy to find out what was going to happen!  This is an exciting follow up to book one and not a disappointing sophomore follow up at all.  In fact, I'm eagerly waiting for the third book.

Out of Line by Jen McLaughlin--Technically considered "New Adult" more than Young Adult, this was a book I had seen discussed a bit online, so I decided to read it and give it a try.  I'm not sure I should have done that though, as my reading experience was a bit painful.  The story was about Carrie, the daughter of a Senator being tailed by Finn, the Marine.  However, Carrie thought she was away at college and free, not realizing that she was being tailed by secret protection.  Finn and Carrie became friends and then more than friends, but then how could Finn tell Carrie that he was being paid to protect her? Honestly, I really should have stopped reading this book around page 50.  The story became pretty predictable and I found it irritating that the lies and sexual tension were the main crux of the story.  I understand that the heightened tension, adult situations, and age of the characters all put it in the category of New Adult, but I can't shake the predictability of the story or the non-stop lies that kept the story rolling. 

Review: Variant by Robison Wells

I can't believe it's taken me so long to post this review.  For me, this was the silent surprise novel of the year.  We read Variant for a district book club I've been in this year, and it took me awhile to get through it.  All I can say is, why did it take me so long?  I didn't have expectations at all, but really found that I loved this book.  I've since handed it off to my "reluctant reader" students and had 100% of them come back loving it.  Without a grade, book report, or anything forcing them to read it, they just came back enthralled and wanted to read more.  That has to be the best thing a book can do for a reader--make them want to read more!

Synopsis:  From Goodreads, "Benson Fisher thought that a scholarship to Maxfield Academy would be the ticket out of his dead-end life.

He was wrong.

Now he's trapped in a school that's surrounded by a razor-wire fence. A school where video cameras monitor his every move. Where there are no adults. Where the kids have split into groups in order to survive.

Where breaking the rules equals death.

But when Benson stumbles upon the school's real secret, he realizes that playing by the rules could spell a fate worse than death, and that escape--his only real hope for survival--may be impossible."

Review:  Let me just cut to the chase and say that I really enjoyed Variant.  I didn't expect to like it, but I did, and that's awesome!  Why did I like it?  It was unpredictable, shocking, and engaging.  Benson isn't the character you cheer on no matter what, but you do kind of feel like you're putting yourself in his spot and wondering how you would react.  This school is just crazy.  What in the world do you do in a school where it's run by the kids?  Yikes!

I didn't find anything juvenile about this novel.  In fact, there is some violence and serious emotional twists that made me feel like these kids needed an adult or two around to help them through everything.  The real clincher is that there are some pretty surprising twists in the novel that you don't see coming.  I think I literally said, "What the heck?" and then smiled.  I like to be surprised sometimes, when I can see that the author led us there and managed to keep me from guessing everything.  This is a dystopian-style novel with some seriously crazy twists.  I thoroughly enjoyed it and am happy to recommend it to other readers who need something new to read.

*FTC Disclosure:  This review is based on a personal copy of the novel.

Review: Divergent by Veronica Roth

Synopsis:  From Goodreads, "In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue--Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is--she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles to determine who her friends really are--and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes infuriating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers a growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her."

Review:  I know.  Everyone has read it already, so what took me so long?!?  Although I find myself growing tired of dystopian reads at about the rate I've grown tired of superhero flicks (which is pretty quick), this book really grabbed me and wouldn't let me go.  Beatrice, or Tris--as she's called, is a character with some serious guts.  In a society where you are to choose the faction that you will a part of for the rest of your life, Tris realizes that she don't necessarily fall into one as easily as she's been led to believe.  Sadly, Tris is not safe to reveal herself or her struggles to fit into a faction, that is until she meets another boy named Six who has equally disturbing secrets he must keep.

I'm not necessarily an action reader, but the action in this novel really kept the novel constantly moving and helped develop the relationships in the story.  In other words, it's not just action for action sake, which is good in my opinion.  There are some seriously interesting details to this world that Veronica Roth created, including a foray into your "fears" through induced dream sequences that force you to face things that frighten you, such as ways to die.  This really caused me to think about what scared me the most (hello...spiders, drowning), which then made me relate to Tris's feelings and reactions in the story.  

Since I actually read this novel and then immediately taught it in my Popular Literature course, I'd be negligent if I didn't mention the relationship with Six.  My students absolutely went nuts over it, while this I somehow just saw as another friendship/crush that's in many other books.  To my teen students it was the ultimate!  I already enjoyed the novel, but their reaction made me take another look at the "relationship" side of the story and had to smile.  Listen, who doesn't need their perspective changed even just a little?  Yes.  They helped me see more in the story than I would have originally.

Overall, I have to say that I loved Divergent and would recommend it to any of my students or friends.  The action sequences were really gut-wrenching and leave more questions in your mind than they answer.  You would think that would be annoying, but I found it made me want to keep reading.  All I can say to that is that I'm so happy that the next book, Insurgent, is already out so I can get reading!  If you haven't yet read this one, please try it now!

*FTC Disclosure:  This review was based on a personal copy of the book.

Review: Possession by Elana Johnson

I think I've entered the phase known as "catch up" time where it comes to reviews.  Thanks to our recent readathon and a bit of a reading jag from being sick so much, I really have read quite a bit and pulled ahead in my Goodreads challenge for myself.  Finally!  As part of this catch up, I needed to get my review posted for Elana Johnson's novel Possession.

Synopsis:  From Goodreads, "Vi knows the Rule: Girls don't walk with boys, and they never even think about kissing them. But no one makes Vi want to break the Rules more than Zenn...and since the Thinkers have chosen him as Vi's future match, how much trouble can one kiss cause? The Thinkers may have brainwashed the rest of the population, but Vi is determined to think for herself.

But the Thinkers are unusually persuasive, and they're set on convincing Vi to become one of them...starting by brainwashing Zenn. Vi can't leave Zenn in the Thinkers' hands, but she's wary of joining the rebellion, especially since that means teaming up with Jag. Jag is egotistical, charismatic, and dangerous--everything Zenn's not. Vi can't quite trust Jag and can't quite resist him, but she also can't give up on Zenn.

This is a game of control or be controlled. And Vi has no choice but to play."

Review:  Admittedly I try to give books an honest approach where I find positives and negatives, but I think I just wasn't the right audience for this dystopian, futuristic young adult novel.  Vi is a girl that is both supposed to be strong and vulnerable, to maker her a well-rounded character.  She is strong in the sense that she goes against mindless control of her society and those around her, yet on the flip side, she is pretty driven by teenage angst.  Most of that angst is centered around Zenn and Jag, the two boys who make her head spin and her heart flutter.  On both counts, I struggled a bit.  I didn't always get it and wondered what I was missing.

There is a lot of story going on in Possession that I think teen readers might really like.  I'm not sure that I was the right audience though, especially when it came to the teen romance, which I'm usually fine with.  In this case, some of the interactions between the characters felt creepy and like the couple that you see all over one another and wonder if they even really like one another or are just going with what's available.  It just all felt off to me, with all the constant touching and romantic lingo.   

Beyond my own adult response (which isn't normally so jaded-sounding), I do think there is a lot of great action and suspense to grab readers.  Some of the action is thrown at us a bit quickly, without explaining it all, but if you enjoy dystopian novels and understand these story lines, this really might fit the bill.  Follow up novels are out and hopefully answer the cliffhanger that this book ended on.

*FTC Disclosure:  This review was based on a personal copy of the novel.  

Review: Crossed by Ally Condie

During our most recent Book Blogger get together, I won one of a stack of copies of Crossed by Ally Condie.  Having read Condie's first novel Matched earlier this year, and then having selected it for a book circle read in my Popular Fiction class, I really wanted to get my hands on a copy!  Besides, I had students who mentioned it all the time, asking me when it was going to come out, etc.  Thanks to Suey at It's All About Books, we had a wonderful chance to win a copy, so I wanted to thank her for arranging to bring a bunch of them to give out as prizes.  I read and really enjoyed this second book, and now several students in my classes are passing it around already.  (I love when they are that excited about a book!)

Synopsis:  From Goodreads, "In search of a future that may not exist and faced with the decision of who to share it with, Cassia journeys to the Outer Provinces in pursuit of Ky - taken by the Society to his certain death - only to find that he has escaped, leaving a series of clues in his wake.

Cassia's quest leads her to question much of what she holds dear, even as she finds glimmers of a different life across the border. But as Cassia nears resolve and certainty about her future with Ky, an invitation for rebellion, an unexpected betrayal, and a surprise visit from Xander - who may hold the key to the uprising and, still, to Cassia's heart - change the game once again. Nothing is as expected on the edge of Society, where crosses and double crosses make the path more twisted than ever."

Review:  Following on the heels of Matched, we know that Ky has been sent to the Outer Provinces and Cassia has watched her friend, teacher, and love be taken away from her.  For any reader of the first book, we have been anxiously waiting to find out what Cassia was going to do and where exactly Ky went.  Beyond that, what in the world is going on in this controlling society and what were we not being told?  In essence, it was all such a mystery that this follow up novel was highly anticipated for the answers it held.

Without giving away much-anticipated information, I can say that Cassia sets off to find Ky.  The opening of the book was actually a little slow as it set up what had and was happening to both Cassia and Ky.  The narrative is split into chapters that tell each of their stories, so we are allowed to hear what they are both thinking and what they are witnessing.  Honestly, these opening "journey chapters," as I like to call them, give us a bit more information about the society that we just have to have.  Sadly, it's still not enough information!  With what little we know, it gives the novel this foreboding, ominous tone.  There is this sadness and anxiety that hangs over the story as our two main characters narrate their journies and travel along different, but hopefully converging paths.

Although the opening chapters have a lot of story to cover and build up, I felt that it was all necessary to the story and helped me wrap my head around what this society was trying to achieve.  It still feels odd and needs A LOT of explaining, but we're finding out little bit more in this installment.  The final 1/3 of the novel is where the real crux of the action takes place, and many questions are answered, while even more questions are born.  I love that these characters are thinkers, that are complex and emotional.  At times I felt they were unreal, but so is this entire society, so it allowed me to give them their reactions.  With a new list of characters, a most surprising direction to the plot, and an ending that leaves me thinking and wanting answers now, I felt that this second novel in the series was a really surprising addition.  I can see that some readers might not like the slow pacing, and might even be upset by some of the twists revealed, but I thought they added a complex layer to the story that will have me eagerly waiting book three.  Now, when does that book come out?!?

*FTC Disclosure:  This review is based on an ARC of the novel obtained by another reader.

Watch for Crossed in stores on November 1st! 

Review: Matched by Ally Condie

Synopsis:  From Goodreads, "Cassia has always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her: what to read, what to watch, what to believe. So when Xander's face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is her ideal mate . . . until she sees Ky Markham's face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black.

The Society tells her it's a glitch, a rare malfunction, and that she should focus on the happy life she's destined to lead with Xander. But Cassia can't stop thinking about Ky, and as they slowly fall in love, Cassia begins to doubt the Society's infallibility and is faced with an impossible choice: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she's known and a path that no one else has dared to follow."

Review:   Although I'm not a dystopian fiction fan, I enjoyed Ally Condie's Matched.  There is a delicacy and precision in the writing that makes the read feel careful in its storytelling.  Strangely, the story itself is not careful, which then lends it an eerie tone that warns of looming danger. 

Cassia is a likable character, and although I will admit that I rolled my eyes a bit at the beginning theme that unfolded of people being: matched (designated a partner), singleton (sad lonely folks), and aberrations (who would want these folks anyway).  The basic premise here is that to be happy, one must fit in and be "matched" up with someone else.  (This seems to reiterate and play on people's fears of being alone.  Valid, yes.  Necessary, I don't think so.)  Even getting someone you don't know or yet love is better than having no one or being an aberration like Ky, which is where the tension in Cassia's curiosity about him after seeing him flash on her screen comes from.

Crossed comes out November 1st

The social repression of this dystopian society almost feels subtle if you don't think about it too much.  For the common good of all, they arrange your marriages, determine your calorie intake, provide you pills to alleviate all stresses, and even designate your death date.  Strangely, however, no one is taught to write, so they are dependent on computers and machines.

Ky is a rule breaker.  He silently resists their society by learning to write, and by determining his own path.  Part of that path involves Cassia, and the two become drawn to one another.  The problem here is that choice is not part of the plan.  This I found intriguing, along with the society Condie created.  Honestly, I can see where teens would love to see played out this all-important idea of choosing who you love and what you want to do with your life.  The storytelling was well done, the writing style clear and precise, and the creativity of the plot intriguing.  Overall, I really did enjoy Matched, and with a cliffhanger like this book had, I'm ready to read Crossed.

Review: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Yes, I'm one of the last to finish this last book in the Hunger Games trilogy.  I started it soon after it came out, but just didn't quite get into much of a groove to finish it in a timely manner.  I could make excuses of busy work schedules and stacks of papers that needed grading, but that really wasn't the deal.  Is there an easy way of saying that I didn't like it?

Synopsis:  From Goodreads, "Young Katniss Everdeen has survived the dreaded Hunger Games not once, but twice, but even now she can find no relief. In fact, the dangers seem to be escalating: President Snow has declared an all-out war on Katniss, her family, her friends, and all the oppressed people of District 12. The thrill-packed final installment of Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games trilogy will keep young hearts pounding."

Review:  Because of the mass reviews already posted, I'll make my own rather short.  I wasn't a fan of the concluding story in the trilogy.  The writing was well done in Mockingjay, and kept with the tone and themes of the previous books in the series, so I couldn't fault the story too much.  My eventual feelings about the book were based on my own dislike of drawn-out fight scenes, frustrations over the build up in the action, and annoyance with the conclusion.  While there were hints of what came about, I felt frustrated and a little manipulated.  Was that the point, that maybe Katniss also felt manipulated?  Yes, I'm sure.  For me, I felt that taking that road diminished my reading, but that's just my opinion.  

Although I didn't end up liking the conclusion to the series, I know that many readers consider it the culmination of one of their all-time favorite series.  I definitely liked these books and really enjoyed Catching Fire, but just wasn't over the moon with the ending.

*FTC Disclosure:  This review was based on a personal copy of the novel.