Book Review: Love, Aubrey by Suzanne LaFleur @ Pretty Books
Rating: ★★★★
Love, Aubrey is a heartbreakingly realistic tale of an 11-year-old who suddenly loses her father and younger sister Savannah in a devastating car crash. Aubrey wakes up not long after the tragic accident and discovers that her mother is not at home, and it looks like she’s never coming back. Aubrey’s determined to survive on her own with TV, cheese and crackers, and her new pet fish Sammy, because if she faces the truth too quickly, she won’t be able to bear it. Continue to the (spoiler-free) review.
Book Revew: Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins @ Pretty Books
Rating: ★★★★★
Anna Oliphant is enraged after her father demands that she goes to live and study abroad at the School of America in Paris for her senior year. Anna can’t speak a word of French, misses her best friend Bridget and little brother Sean, and just wants to go home. But then she bumps into Étienne St. Clair. Can this boy (‘French name, English accent, American school. Anna confused’) be just what’s needed to change her mind? Continue to the (spoiler-free) review.
Book Review: And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie (Classic #5) @ Pretty Books
Rating: ★★★★★
And Then There Were None is the story of ten individuals who are invited to an isolated house on Soldier Island, Devon. During their first dinner together, a recorded message accuses each of them of a terrible crime. One by one, they begin to die. One of guests must be the killer, but who is it? Continue to the (spoiler-free) review.
Book Review: Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews @ Pretty Books
Rating: ★★★★½
Seventeen-year-old Greg has managed to become part of every social group at his Pittsburgh high school without having any friends, but his life changes when his mother forces him to befriend Rachel, a girl he once knew in Hebrew school who has leukemia. Continue to the (spoiler-free) review.
Book Review: Starters by Lissa Price @ Pretty Books
Rating: ★★★★
Sixteen-year-old Callie had to suffer through her parents’ death during the Spore Wars, only a few years ago. She is now a squatter, living with her little brother Tyler and friend Michael, struggling to survive. In an attempt to make her life better she turns to Prime Destinations, a company that ‘rents’ out the bodies of teenagers to over 60s who want to be young again. But a glitch occurs and Callie discovers what her renter really wants to use her body for… Continue to the (spoiler-free) review.
Book Review: Insurgent by Veronica Roth @ Pretty Books
Rating: ★★★★
War looms in sixteen-year-old Tris’s dark dystopian world as disputes between the factions grow. Tris must now fight against all odds to discover the truth that can save her and the people she loves. Sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge – and the choices she makes will have devastating and unexpected consequences. Continue to the (spoiler-free) review.
Book Review: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (Classic #4) @ Pretty Books
Rating: ★★★★
Seconds before the Earth is demolished to make way for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is plucked off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect. Together, this dynamic pair begin a journey through space aided by quotes from The Hitchhiker’s Guide and a galaxy-full of fellow travelers. Continue to the review.
Book Review: An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
An Abundance of Katherines, what can I say? It’s written by John Green, the beloved and downright famous young adult contemporary writer, but it also seems to be his least liked novel. I haven’t seen many negative reactions to it per se, but it doesn’t seem elicit the sort of “enthusiastically tell everyone to read it and then proceed to quote it to death” reaction that his other novels have received.
So, what did I think? I have to follow the trend and say that it isn’t my favourite, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it. I think it’s more subtle in what it has to offer. I most admire John Green for never once underestimating and underappreciating teenagers. It’s quite a risk (as sad as that may be) to assume that teenagers will find enjoyment in complicated maths equations, anagramming, Arabic translations, and esoteric facts. One of the reasons why I sometimes cannot relate to contemporary fiction is because I feel many authors purely focus on a simple boy-girl relationship, not going beyond superficial attraction. John Green’s novels never feel like that to me; they are always thoughtful and intelligent.
I felt a little disconnected at first between the present story and the backstory regarding the abundance of Katherines. I really couldn’t work out the relevance except that it inserted more humour into, and give a reason for, the story. However, I soon realised that the story was just unveiling in an unexpected and usual way. By the time I was a little over halfway through, I loved the novel. How can anyone not love Colin, Hassan, and Lindsey, and wish they were with them in Tennessee, livin’ up the American road trip dream? I empathised with Colin and found it almost painful witnessing his inner turmoil.
An Abundance of Katherines is my fifth John Green novel (if you count Let It Snow). Five down, one to go. I love John Green’s books for being highlights in contemporary fiction, and this novel was no different. Even though it didn’t resonate with me as much as his other work, it still deserves immense praise and recognition. If you’ve not yet read John Green, seriously, what are you waiting for, you sitzpinkler?
Rating: ★★★★
Book Review: Partials by Dan Wells
Partials is a wondrous science fiction adventure fighting to reach an end goal as immense as it can be: to save humanity.
The human race is all but extinct, wiped out by a killer virus released by genetically engineered soldiers – Partials. Sixteen-year-old Kira is trapped on Long Island. Her community clings to survival, but what hope can they have when no baby survives for more than three days. Kira is determined to make a difference, to find a cure. Her best friend is pregnant and Kira cannot let the baby die. Time is running out, and finding the cure means capturing a Partial…
I revelled in the fictional scientific theories and evidence at the root of this novel. Dan Wells clearly put a lot of thought into the creation of Partials, the destructive virus – RM – that’s causing every baby born to die, and Kira’s attempt at discovering a cure. Although, the fact that it a teenager at the forefront of curing RM brought me back to reality, because, even though it is common for the teenager to be the hero in young adult novels, I couldn’t help but think that these educated, intelligent adults wouldn’t be as useless and obstinate as they appear to be. The politics, however, felt extremely real, and this is where the story becomes slightly dystopic.
Unexpectedly, I found myself most wanting to find out more about the enigmatic and complex Partial – Samm – who has been captured by Kira and friends. I delved into the book thinking that the relationship would be clear: humans will be the victims, and Partials are just artificially-created robots turned evil. However, like in I, Robot, it is much more complicated than that.
Partials is certainly a journey to behold. It’s full of action and adventure, perhaps a little too much for me, but it also offers fascinating insight into what it is to be human. Are we the only species worth saving?
Go here to view Partials’ impressive cinematic book trailer.
Rating: ★★★
Book Review: This Is Not a Test by Courtney Summers
In young adult zombie books, the reader is usually worried about what the crazy, rogue, virus-infected zombies are going to do to the teenagers. In This Is Not a Test, I was more worried about what the teenagers were going to do to each other.
“It’s the end of the world. Six students have taken cover in Cortege High but shelter is little comfort when the dead outside won’t stop pounding on the doors. One bite is all it takes to kill a person and bring them back as a monstrous version of their former self.”
This Is Not a Test is not your ordinary zombie book. It’s written more like a contemporary novel that happens to be set during a zombie apocalypse. It focuses on the inner turmoil of Sloane Price, a young girl mourning her sister’s abandonment and unknown whereabouts, and pondering the tough relationship she has with her father. It gets to the point where Sloane is wishing for the barricades keeping the zombies out of the school to fall down. But it’s not just about Sloane. She’s confined in the school with five other students who are doing everything they can to keep the zombies out; they want to live.
“As the days crawl by, the motivations for survival change in startling ways and soon the group’s fate is determined less and less by what’s happening outside and more and more by the unpredictable and violent bids for life—and death—inside.”
This second part of the synopsis also held my attention. It was refreshing to find a novel that explores how relationships between people can change when it’s a matter of survival. It’s an extreme situation and not everyone will band together to fight a single cause. There’s tension, blame, guilt, and indifference. Each character in This Is Not a Test is complicated and suffering inside. I would have probably liked a bit more zombie-action and hints as to how the rest of the world were faring, but it’s simply not that sort of book. Instead, we find ourselves in the troubled mind of Sloan Prince, watching attentively as the equilibrium between her fellow students starts to topple, combined with the unexpected addition of another person – is it enough to tip one character over the edge?
This is Not a Test is probably unlike anything you’ve ever read. It’s apocalyptic but focusing more on individual characters rather than the world outside. It’s a mix of Dark Inside and Ashfall, but less survival story and more a guide on How to Trust Your Friends During a Zombie Apocalypse.
This is Not a Test will be published 19th June 2012.
This book was obtained as an eGalley from St Martin’s Griffin.
Rating: ★★★½
Book Review: Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (Classic #3)
I chose Brave New World to be my third classic of the year for one simple reason: How can I possibly say that one of my favourite genres is dystopia without having read Brave New World or Fahrenheit 451?
Brave New World begins in the Central London Hatching and Conditioning Centre where the Bokanovsky Process is taking place. It’s a scientifically and technologically advanced process that develops embryos in bottles and produces thousands of twins. Embryos are put into one of five castes before they’re fully developed, with Alphas at the top and Epsilons at the bottom. Each embryo within a caste is conditioned - physical ability and intelligence are altered - to make sure each person will be as useful to society as possible.
I loved reading one of the novels that inspired so many of the dystopian books I enjoyed over the past year. I loved delving deeper into, and learning more about, this strange yet eerily familiar society, and I loved it for being a satire - something I didn’t realise I was enjoying back when I read Shades of Grey. It was originally considered to be a view of a utopian society and it’s easy to see why - all members of society are happy regardless of their social position: “people are genetically designed to be passive, consistently useful to the ruling class”. Brave New World never felt dated to me - it reads like a critique of today’s society. I felt a little disconnected when the attention turned to John, but I think that’s because the meaning behind the ‘Savage’ character and what he represents is more explicit. I instead enjoyed thinking about the morality behind the scientific and technological developments that were a result of (or a cause of?) this immense shift in social attitudes and culture. It’s definitely a book that will have a lot to offer even when read two or three more times.
Brave New World offers a horrifying but fascinating view of how society can be - and, unintentionally, how society already is. It’s, again, a novel that I can see being analysed to death in a literature class, but one I hope is still incredibly exciting and thrilling even when you do have to write an essay on it.
Someone! Quick! Get me Fahrenheit 451!
Rating: ★★★★
Book Review: Slide by Jill Hathaway
Vee has a unbelievable secret: she has been officially diagnosed as suffering from narcolepsy, but instead of falling asleep during her episodes, she slides into another person’s mind and watches their experiences through their own eyes. Vee has gotten used to having these episodes, but she gets the shock of her life when she slides into an unknown person’s mind, and watches them hover over the body of Sophie, her sister’s best friend – silent, bloody, dead. The cause of death is judged to be suicide, but Vee is tenacious and is desperate to reveal the truth.
Slide is an extremely fast-paced and enjoyable thriller. After only 50 pages I had been exposed to so much and I was reading it intensely. It’s one of those reading experiences that makes me sigh at that thought of getting off the bus and going to work – I wanted to keep on reading. At only 250 pages, it’s not a highly detailed thriller full of multiple layers, but it isn’t meant to be. Jill Hathaway does not purely focus on the murder – although it is, of course, the main plot – but also on human relationships. I loved reading about Vee’s emotional conflicts, about the strained relationship she has with her younger sister and her mostly-absent father. We learn that her mother is deceased and that Vee deeply misses her. We learn that her schoolmates have some terrible secrets of their own. Slide encourages the reader to feel empathy for the most surprising of characters.
Slide is an extremely entertaining yet poignant novel. I had expected something else entirely from the ending, and so I was disappointed a little, but it’s worth reading for the exciting murder mystery, and for Vee, who I thought was an excellent main character. It also can be read as a standalone even though it’s part of a series, which is refreshing.
Thank you HarperCollins Children’s Books for providing this book for review!
Rating: ★★★½
Book Review: The Snow by Adam Roberts
The Snow was loaned to me by a science fiction enthusiast, a friend of mine whose favourite author is Adam Roberts. I began this book not knowing anything about it – not even what my friend thought of it because she wouldn’t tell me! – and so I revelled in reading a book where anything could happen.
The Snow is set in a truly post-apocalyptic world: “..the snow doesn’t stop. It falls and falls and falls. Until it lies three miles thick across the whole of the earth. Six billion people have died. Perhaps 150,000 survive.” We’re acquainted with Tira, our main character, shortly after the snow starts to fall. It continues and we see her attempt to survive. She keeps contact with family until the phone line goes dead, she obtains tinned food from her deceased neighbour, and abandons her house to acquire shelter and human interaction elsewhere. It seemed to me as if The Snow would follow a typical apocalyptic storyline of human survival and adventure, but it provided a level of depth that I enjoyed and appreciated immensely.
The story is told in a scrapbook sort of way, made up of illegal, censored official government documents - mainly Tira’s account of life during the snow, interviews, and government explanations. This added an element of realism to the storyline. It made it feel as if I wasn’t just reading a fictional account but authentic evidence of a cataclysmic event. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about government conspiracies, philosophically and sociologically-referenced rebellions, and even reading about Tira’s personal relationships. The Snow allows the reader to wholly understand how North America reacts to the snowfall, how it affects the nation as a whole as well as its individual citizens. The ending was, to put it bluntly, not to my taste at all, but it didn’t affect my overall enjoyment of the book.
The Snow is a wonderfully constructed and developed apocalyptic story; a deceivingly tiny book that has a lot to offer. I’d eagerly suggest it to anyone who loves post-apocalyptic fiction but wants to read outside of what is currently popular.
Rating: ★★★★
Book Review: All These Things I’ve Done by Gabrielle Zevin
All These Things I’ve Done is set in futuristic New York City. It’s 2082 and, as the US cover says, chocolate is contraband, caffeine is a illegal, the city is riddled with crime, and Anya is torn between accepting her birthright and following her heart. Anya Balenchine was born into a Mafia family. Both her parents were murdered; her father, a notorious crime boss, was shot and killed in front of her. For Anya, trouble ensues after her ex-boyfriend Gable nearly dies from consuming a bar of poisoned chocolate produced by the Balenchine chocolate factories. The aftermath of events force Anya to choose between acknowledging her family ties or deciding to follow her own path.
All These Things I’ve Done is difficult for me to categorise; it’s part-dystopia, part-thriller, and most definitely part-romance, but it also doesn’t fit properly into any of these genres. The book is described as a ‘Godfather-esque thriller with a dystopian twist’, and I could definitely understand the comparison. The Mafia-type family drama was thoroughly entertaining and I enjoyed seeing how it played out in a society where alcohol was legal, but chocolate and caffeine were prohibited. How plausible it is, I’m not sure, but I felt it worked. I particularly enjoyed the first half of the book, where the reader is introduced to this futuristic society, its characters, and their dramatic lives.
I loved Anya as well as the rest of the main characters. Anya constantly strives to protect her family and doesn’t let anyone stereotype her. I admired her personality, attitude, and bravery. A seemingly future Anya retells the story and addressed the reader directly, which was something I really enjoyed and thought was refreshing.
As my blog is called Pretty Books, I’d also like to acknowledge that the US cover is awesome. It’s deceptively simple. I paid no attention to it at first because I thought it just had a silly heart on the cover, but then I realised it was dripping with chocolate made to look like blood. I then noticed the faint text, mentioned at the beginning of this review, in the background. I think it’s a fantastic cover.
All These Things I’ve Done is a fun, entertaining story involving smuggling contraband, Russian American mobsters, and a starcrossed lovers romance.
Thank you Macmillan Children’s Books for providing this book for review!
Rating: ★★★½
