Insurgent by Veronica Roth- Review

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

One choice can transform you--or it can destroy you. But every choice has consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves--and herself-while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.

Tris's initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable--and even more powerful. Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical new discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so. (blurb from Goodreads)

****

I think this book should come with a sticker at the front saying: WARNING: this book contains intense surprises and mind- blowing suspense and may cause extreme cases of tears, laughter and severe heart-beat rates. Because for me it SO did.



Which is to say that I loved this book. Maybe more than Divergent, actually. It totally exceeded all expectations I had and ended that reputation of the second book in trilogies being the worst.

One of the things I would like to applaud Veronica Roth for was how she wrote Tris and Tobias's relationship. After that absolutely gorgeous way the two of them got together, I was worried about how Roth would continue their relationship. The obvious easy thing to do would just pop pointless make-out sessions in there that would suggest that they were still going strong, but, like in the first book, I was glad that their relationship remained real. In this book, the Tris and Tobias's trust and loyalty of each other are tested. Secrets are kept, lies are told, and yet, the two still somehow keeps it together with their faith and belief of one another. I love the way Tobias believes so much of Tris that it pains me that he is only a fictional character. It really does.



Roth's characters remain as one of my favourites. They were fantastic, and full of personality and definitely believable. The only thing I disliked about the characters was the fact that, yes, Roth introduced many great characters, but she killed them off in half a second when I would've liked to get to know them more. You know when you are successful at character writing when your readers mourn your characters deaths.



I know that in the first book, most of us had problems of believing the world that Roth created; how would a world with only five virtues work? Well, most of the questions were answered for me in this book. Obviously not all of them. If that were the case there would be no need for a third book. :) In Insurgent we get to visit all of the factions (which was great; I was always curious about how the Amity headquarters looked like) and more and more was revealed about how, exactly, Tris's world became the way it is. Which means that there was a whole lot of action, suspense and drama, and I know how much you all love this sort of stuff. :)

So. The things I liked: Tris and Tobias's romance, the other characters (and their relationships with each other *shh, Uriah and Marlene*), more information about this world, the action, the drama, the suspense and the surprises. The things I didn't like: the sudden deaths of my (beloved) characters and the fact that I did not buy this book.

But the latter can be easily fixed. Off to the bookshop I go...

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins- Review

Blurb
/Sparks are igniting, flames are spreading and the Capitol wants revenge. Against all odds, Katniss has won the Hunger Games. She and fellow District 12 tribute Peeta Mellark are miraculously still alive. Katniss should be relieved, happy even. After all, she has returned to her family and longtime friend, Gale. Yet nothing is the way Katniss wishes it to be. Gale holds her at an icy distance. Peeta has turned his back on her completely. And there are whispers of a rebellion against the Capitol-- a rebellion that Katniss and Peeta may have helped create.Much to her shock, Katniss has fueled an unrest she's afraid she cannot stop. And what scares her even more is that she's not entirely convinced she should try. As time draws near for Katniss and Peeta to visit the districts on the Capitol's cruel Victory Tour, the stakes are higher than ever. If they can't prove, without a shadow of a doubt, that they are lost in their love for each other, the consequences will be horrifying.In Catching Fire, the second novel of the Hunger Games trilogy, Suzanne Collins continues the story of Katniss Everdeen, testing her more than ever before... and surprising readers at every turn./

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

My first impression on Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins...

*sigh* Oh, Finnick Odair 



Oh yes. I was completely awestruck!



There is no doubt that Catching Fire is a captivating novel. Making you question friends, allies and the enemy all in one moment. The non-stop surprises from Peeta always rouse my attention and the unknowing acts from Katniss know how to keep me reading. 

Before I started reading Catching Fire I was filled with questions like, "What are they even going to do now the games are over?" and "Will it meet or top the standards of the first book?"
Well, Suzanne Collins sure knew how to fool me.



So when I finally made time to read Catching Fire, I was just like. Oh. Yup. *psst* I knew that!

The plot and the way the story built overtime sure helped with all the tension. When I was near to the finishing page I felt everything happen all at once and was like, "NO, why is this ending all so soon", when the book itself isn't even that short. But with the (view spoiler) starting at around the last 3rd of the book it all seemed like it came to an end pretty fast. But as I said, there is no underestimating Suzanne's timing of situation.

The last 8 1/2 pages had me wishing for more! Knowing the fateful truth that again I will be left with numerous unanswered questions...



So I guess I will just have to get stuck into Mockingjay as soon as I finish this review...

Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver- Review

So as promised, I took some time (or rather, the flu got to me and forced me to take a day off school) to go and write a review after Celine's and my long break. Here you go:

***


Rating:4 out of 5 stars

I'm pushing aside the memory of my nightmare,
pushing aside thoughts of Alex,
pushing aside thoughts of Hana and my old school,
push,
push,
push,
like Raven taught me to do.
The old life is dead.
But the old Lena is dead too.
I buried her.
I left her beyond a fence,
behind a wall of smoke and flame. 
(blurb from Goodreads

***

My God. That ending. That had to be the most awkward "awkward moment" I've ever read in a book. EVER.









But then a bit later on, it hits me how hilarious the situation Lena's gotten herself in and the laughter starts.







Oh, Lena. You poor, poor girl.

But what a hell of a book. Where is the next one when I need it the most?

***

Before reading Pandemonium, I really doubted that this book could follow up to [book:Delirium|7686667] and its (tragic) ending. There had just been too many shitty sequels that could make me enthusiastic about reading them. But I really should've known better than to doubt Lauren Oliver.



In Pandemonium, Lena is having to survive in the Wilds with her new friends, is having to prove herself worthy to be in the resistance, and is having to forget the boy who made her rebel in the first place, infected her, Alex.

I know that in Delirium, a number of people didn't find Lena that "kick-ass" heroine that we all love (in her defense, all those rules would scare me too, into rebelling). But in Pandemonium, I feel that she definitely redeemed herself. Now without all those regulations and boundaries, Lena was able to unleash her inner survivalist, which wasn't a very easy thing to do, after all that she's been through. She even is deemed strong enough by her fellow rebels to be part of the resistance. I definitely saw more of Lena in action scenes (and winning) in this book than in the previous. So I definitely think of her as part of the "kick-ass heroine" club now.



I also know that a lot of you didn't really like the fact that Lena is "allegedly" going to fall in love with someone other than Alex, and I'm sorry to tell you guys, but that fact is true. If that is enough for you to run away screaming from this book, by all means, do, but let me just tell you now, you are missing out on a hell of a lot of goodies if you do that. I have to admit though, I did kind of dislike Lena's new love interest. It might be because he, for me, was a little naive or it could be plainly just because he wasn't Alex. Also, at times, I felt that their relationship was a little forced. The love interest, Julian, would say weird things like, "your hair smells like roses" or "your waist is so small" (yes), that not only creeped Lena out, but creeped me out too. I don't know if it was just lack of being around females that made him act this way (and trust me; I go to an all girls school and whenever a person of the opposite walks by, my beloved classmates throw themselves at him) or what, but I was pretty skeptical of him at first. After a while, though, and getting to know his character more, he grew on me, but of course, before it got more than that, the ending got in the way of everything (as expressed in the mini review above).



An aspect of the book I really enjoyed was Lena's life in the Wilds. In Delirium we didn't really get to experience the Wilds too much and that was something I was really looking forward to in this book. As cool as I thought it would be, living in the Wilds, it ended up not being the "paradise" that I was expecting. It was actually pretty brutal out there, and with the addition of Scavengers (Invalids that attack just for kicks) it became even harder to survive out there. I quite liked all the new characters too, Raven, Tack, Hunter. Loved them, and the fact that they gave birth to Lena in the woods, as Lena said about Raven in the book.



Other than creepy Julian and the random add of Scavengers (and the possible future love triangle as hinted in the ending of Pandemonium), I very, very much enjoyed this book, and you have no idea how much I'm craving for the next and final book. But I guess after that killer cliff-hanger, who wouldn't?

Delirium by Lauren Oliver- Review

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

I have to admit, I'm a curious person. So when I heard that people were saying this book was very similar to Matched (which I loved), I just had to find out. Because I was absolutely, absolutely sure that no dystopian book would top Matched.



After finishing, I could see the similarity between the two books, as both books focus on the aspect of love as a forbidden thing. But each of the two authors had very different takes on it.

Basically, in Lena's world, love is thought of as a disease. So when she falls in love with a boy called Alex, she has to hide it from her family and her society, who would ultimately imprison her like her mother.

This plot, love as a disease, I think is a very hard topic to pull off and make believable because love is very much welcomed in our world. But Lauren Oliver did a fantastic job at it. Each idea was backed up by information, such as The Book of Shh. Her writing had a "pretty" prose and was engaging, something that I always look for in a book.

I loved all the characters, all were very fitting as relevant to tell the story. Though, I have to say, I didn't like Lena in the beginning of the book. She wasn't that strong confident, "I don't give a damn about you, I'm gonna fall in love and deal with it" type of person but when the book hit the middle, I could see her transitioning into just that. I can tell she'll be lick- ass in the next book (especially after what the poor girl had to endure at the end).



The romance isn't what I would call Instalove. Okay, so there was the instant attraction as soon as they met (which is normal, I think, as a teenager myself), but the rest was fine. No indescribable pull. No "I can't live without you" cliches (though the next book would finalise that for me). Nope. It was cute, in that cute "first love" type of way.

I am very, very much looking forward to the next book, as I think it would give us a better view on Lena's character, whether she weaken or strengthen despite her circumstances. But, Alex. I will miss those amber eyes of yours.

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi- Review

Juliette can't touch anyone. She won't. Because when she does, bad things happens. Dead things. The Reestablishment has her locked up, away from anyone she can harm. But when they think Juliette may be what they need now, what they need in a dying world, Juliette has to make a decision. To be a weapon, or to be her own person.
___________________________________________________

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Mixed feelings for this one, I must say. The plot itself was promising; the writing mostly executed well, but then there was the problem of the main character: Juliette.

In the beginning, I really didn’t understand why people bagged on her so much, or why they said she was a whinner, or why they said she didn’t make any sense. I mean, cut her some slack, she’s been in this prison for what- nearly a year? Without anyone to talk to? I’d be pretty messed up by then too, if I were her (especially for my poor impatient, talkative self). I’d thought that the writing just added further to show that she was, going crazy (even though Juliette denied it, time and time again).

But then there came the escape. I’ve read a lot of books where, at this point of the book, at the point of possible freedom, the main character would unleash their inner heroine and rule the world (well, not really, but you know what I mean) and I really thought Juliette would step it up.

Then it got to the part where she really, really pissed me off. It was when her and Adam were basically running for their lives with about a hundred soldiers with guns behind them, and then Juliette basically goes and says, "I can't run because I'm a broken girl, Adam!". Puh-lease. You can't go around saying that when just a few hours ago you broke a concrete wall with your bare, I repeat, bare hands. No, you just cannot.

But with that said, I remembered what Mrs. Evans told us in English about seeing whether the main character has changed in the beginning of your story and at the end, and if it did, then you have a story (I am, actually, quite appalled that I remembered all this; by the end of fifty minutes worth of English with Evans, you'd be a zombie. She's THAT boring). And I guess Juliette did change by the end, saying that she was "ready", though ready for what, I have no idea.

I liked Adam enough, but I still do not understand why he likes Juliette so much. Sure, she's "good" and "still gives a damn about the world", but she doubts his love for her all the time. I swear she asked him about ten times why he cared about her so much, doubtingly, only to have Adam reply back a sweet answer that should set any girl's mind at ease. But apparently not Juliette. And then there was the fact that, until they got to Omega, there were no female characters apart from Juliette. Do I need to say more? I don't think so.

I really don't know how to move on without going on about Juliette again (that should say something about my feelings about her), so I'll just conclude now.

Well I liked the plot; I don't think I've read anything like it before, and the writing had the "pretty" prose that I love but Juliette was just a massive downer for me. But I will be reading the sequel. Hopefully that will change my mind about Juliette.

Divergent by Veronica Roth- Review

In Tris Prior's world, every person is sorted into one of the following faction: Candor, for the honest, Erudite, for the intelligent, Abnegation, for the selfless, Amity, for the peaceful and Dauntless, for the brave. Tris is currently in Abnegation, a place where she feels like she'd never really belonged and with her sixteenth birthday nearing, she will finally be able to switch factions. But with the pressure of looking after her parents and her brother making an unexpected decision, Tris isn't sure if her choice should benefit her family- or herself.
___________________________________________________

Rating: 5 out of 5

It was one of those times of the year I was having, when it was summer and everybody was off on vacation except for me, when all of the good T.V shows have ended and the movies out at the cinemas were either too kiddie, or needed an I.D (which I didn't have), and when I didn't have anything good to read (stupid library).



Divergent was a book I'd wanted to read for a long time but I didn't have enough money (it's not my fault the malls have "End of Spring" sales) and the library kept on cancelling my request (I guess they didn't have enough money either). But my mother, thankfully noticing my pouty face, gave me Divergent as a late birthday present. And then I did a little happy dance because it meant not spending the rest of my summer like a zombie. You know, if the book was as good as everyone's been saying.



And it was. To me, Divergent was my cure to my post- Hunger Games hangover. Yes, it was really that good. It had all the things I crave for in a book: kick- ass characters, an easy to follow but elaborate plot, non- cliche romance, and humor, of course.

Why yes, there is a romance, and no, it is not Instalove (I can just hear your sighs of relief). It's a nice cute type of romance, not rushed, and it didn't include those rapey, stalker types of guys (not naming names *coughs*). Nope, just Four/Tobias, whom I like very much. So, I approve!



I loved all the characters; they were all relevant to the story and all had a legit relationship with each other, not just dangling uselessly in the novel (I refuse to name names *ahem*). Tris wasn't annoying to me at all, she was definitely "Dauntless" . Better than the whinny "heroines" we get now... And I liked Will. No, me liking him doesn't relate to the fact that he has the name of one of my top YA crushes (yes, I'm talking to you, Mr. Herondale). No, he's funny, okay? Humor's a good enough reason to like someone, you know. Sheesh. ;)

Roth's writing was very descriptive, which made Tris's world become very real. There was an actual story behind this world unlike in some other books (still not naming names....).

So, yeah. I loved Divergent. I am very much looking forward to the sequel, because after that killer of a cliff- hanger in the end, who wouldn't?

Blood Red Road Review

  Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

 

What we thought when we read the first line of Blood Red Road was, "woah, what the hell?!"
The sentence, "Lugh got born first", surprised us. But we read on, thinking it was just some random typo (everyone makes mistakes, right?) Then we started to notice other mistakes like 'an' instead of 'and' and 'jest' instead of 'just'. That's when we realised that these mistakes were intentional. Then both of us did the whole hand smacking on the forehead thing 'cause we freaking went on for a whole fifty pages or so thinking Moira Young had a really messed up editor.

When we got to the end though, the different language became one of the things we loved about the book. Both of us thought it added further to Saba’s personality and added further information to Saba’s world. Young’s style of writing is simple, which wasn’t a bad thing in this case; it made most of the scenes- especially the action ones- fast paced and all the more exciting. We was so used to this style of writing that we went around saying that Blood Red Road "warn't as bad as I wus sayin it wus" and that it was really "innerestin", accent and all.

The characters were awesome, each one unique, funny and relevant to the story. We would also like to say that we loved Tommo. He was so cute especially when him and Emmi were doing some bonding. Maybe a romance will develop? Hope so :D

We found the romance between Jack and Saba... cute, although sometimes their remarks and so called "hatred" for each other felt forced. And the way he just left in the end?! We can tell this won't end well.

The world- building was very well done- oh, God, we sound like we're talking about meat here, "would you like your steak well done, medium rare, or rare?". Scratch that then. The world building was really good (better, now?), very vivid and very... deserty, if we can say that.

In short, Blood Red Road was a fun intense read that both of us enjoyed very much. Five Stars!!

An Excerpt from Lauren DeStefano's Fever

An excerpt from the second installment of the Chemical Garden Trilogy. Enjoy!

***

 A breeze rolls up from the water, and I realize at once how numb the cold air and wet clothes have made me. We should find someplace to stay, but where? I sit up and take in our surroundings. There’s sand and rocks for several more yards, but beyond that I can see the shadows of buildings. A lone freight truck lumbers down  a faraway road, and I think soon it’ll be dark enough for Gatherer vans to start patrolling the area with their lights off. This would be the perfect place for them to hunt; there don’t appear to be any streetlights, and the alleyways between those buildings could be full of scarlet district girls.
Gabriel, of course, is more concerned about the blood. He’s trying to wrap my palm with a piece of seaweed, and the salt is burning the wound. I just need a minute to take this all in, and then I’ll worry about the cut. This time yesterday, I was a House Governor’s bride. I had sister wives. At the end of my life, my body would end up with the wives who died before me, on a rolling cart in my father-in-law’s basement, for him to do only he knows what.
But now there’s the smell of salt, sound of the ocean. There’s a hermit crab making its way up a sand dune. And something else, too. My brother, Rowan, is somewhere out here. And there’s nothing stopping me from getting home to him.


Anybody else excited?? Why can't 2012 come any sooner??