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The Disappeared
9.0
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Winner of a Northern Writers’ Award Longlisted in The Bath Novel Award * What if reading...
Merissa (12055 KP) rated The Destroyer (A Broken World #2) in Books
Apr 18, 2023
If you are looking for a Sci-Fi/Dystopian book that is chock-full of action, then look no further. The amount of action in this book will leave you breathless as you travel with Skye as she tries to save the people she has grown to care for.
There isn't much of Skye and Brennan in this part, but trust me, there is so much else going on that you don't really miss it. Skye is such a strong character, I love her. She is prepared to put her neck on the line for what she believes in, even though it goes against everything she has been told her whole life. I love how she can already see the cracks in her society but just needs the back story for her to commit.
Exceptionally well-written, fast-paced and action-packed, this is a story to read, savour, and then go back and read again, just to make sure you didn't miss anything! Absolutely fantastic and highly recommended.
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book; the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Oct 3, 2015
There isn't much of Skye and Brennan in this part, but trust me, there is so much else going on that you don't really miss it. Skye is such a strong character, I love her. She is prepared to put her neck on the line for what she believes in, even though it goes against everything she has been told her whole life. I love how she can already see the cracks in her society but just needs the back story for her to commit.
Exceptionally well-written, fast-paced and action-packed, this is a story to read, savour, and then go back and read again, just to make sure you didn't miss anything! Absolutely fantastic and highly recommended.
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book; the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Oct 3, 2015
Shift (The Caelian Cycle #3)
9.0
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Chaos is what rules Sadie’s life. Separation, lies, and an overpowering Talent have pushed her...
Young Adult Dystopian Science Fiction Romance
Merissa (12055 KP) rated The V Girl: A Coming Of Age Story in Books
May 8, 2023
This book is disturbing - it's as simple as that. However, it is also absolutely fantastically mind-blowing! The whole book is about a dystopian future where 'recruitment' happens once a year. Recruitment is basically another name for the forced enlistment of people, to be used as 'entertainment' for the troops. In a world where virgin is something that is said as an insult, and rapes of both male and female occur on an almost daily basis, you would not think that this book would be any good at all.
Wrong!
This book is exceptional. It is dark and fear-filled, it is horrific and stomach-churning, and yet it is also a book about hope, about a light that can shine in the darkness, about the comfort the human touch can bring, about love.
The V Girl is simply astounding. I am so glad that I have read it. I really can't recommend it highly enough - but please, take note of the trigger warnings. They are there for a reason as this book is full of unicorns and rainbows!
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book; the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Dec 21, 2015
Wrong!
This book is exceptional. It is dark and fear-filled, it is horrific and stomach-churning, and yet it is also a book about hope, about a light that can shine in the darkness, about the comfort the human touch can bring, about love.
The V Girl is simply astounding. I am so glad that I have read it. I really can't recommend it highly enough - but please, take note of the trigger warnings. They are there for a reason as this book is full of unicorns and rainbows!
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book; the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Dec 21, 2015
ClareR (5726 KP) rated The Colours of Death in Books
Apr 18, 2022
The Colours of Death is a detective novel set in a present day, alternative Lisbon. A minority of the population are Gifted with either telepathy or telekinesis, and they are heavily regulated. When it comes to light that a death on a train might have some Gifted involvement, Inspector Isabel Reis is put on the case with her team. She is a telepath, and her own problems with that gift soon make themselves known.
They’re a fantastic cast of characters, and they work well together )literally, in the case of the police team). It’s another angle on discrimination: instead of religion or skin colour, the Gifted are discriminated against because of their gifts - something they have no choice or control over.
This novel feels a little dystopian in places: when people go ‘missing’ if they lose control of their gifts, for example. And all Gifted are kept on a register where they’re regularly assessed. If they exceed a certain level, they’re removed from society for everyone else’s safety.
I really enjoyed this - the storyline was interesting, gripping, in fact, and exciting when it needed to be. The main character was flawed and very likeable, and the food constantly made me feel hungry!
I will be looking out for the next book in the series.
They’re a fantastic cast of characters, and they work well together )literally, in the case of the police team). It’s another angle on discrimination: instead of religion or skin colour, the Gifted are discriminated against because of their gifts - something they have no choice or control over.
This novel feels a little dystopian in places: when people go ‘missing’ if they lose control of their gifts, for example. And all Gifted are kept on a register where they’re regularly assessed. If they exceed a certain level, they’re removed from society for everyone else’s safety.
I really enjoyed this - the storyline was interesting, gripping, in fact, and exciting when it needed to be. The main character was flawed and very likeable, and the food constantly made me feel hungry!
I will be looking out for the next book in the series.
Metronome is a bleak, dark, gripping dystopian novel - and it gave me some serious Waiting For Godot vibes. Aina and Whitney are waiting for someone (the Warden) who I strongly suspected would never come.
Even though Aina and Whitney are on an island, surrounded by the sea, there was such a claustrophobic atmosphere. They have only had one another’s company for 12 years, with past times linked solely with their survival, what has been left in the croft by previous inhabitants, or what has washed up on the beach.
I don’t know how they have managed to stay sane, and indeed there did seem to be an underlying madness to them both. How could there not be?
And their crime? To have had a baby without permission. Aina is sterilised, their 9 year old son is taken from them, and she and Whitney are sent to the island. Punishment upon punishment.
I loved the ending to this - whilst I do like a nice rounded off ending to a novel, somehow I think the ambiguity to the end of Metronome suits it so well. I would have been disappointed with anything else.
Many thanks to The Pigeonhole for serialising this - another great read!
Even though Aina and Whitney are on an island, surrounded by the sea, there was such a claustrophobic atmosphere. They have only had one another’s company for 12 years, with past times linked solely with their survival, what has been left in the croft by previous inhabitants, or what has washed up on the beach.
I don’t know how they have managed to stay sane, and indeed there did seem to be an underlying madness to them both. How could there not be?
And their crime? To have had a baby without permission. Aina is sterilised, their 9 year old son is taken from them, and she and Whitney are sent to the island. Punishment upon punishment.
I loved the ending to this - whilst I do like a nice rounded off ending to a novel, somehow I think the ambiguity to the end of Metronome suits it so well. I would have been disappointed with anything else.
Many thanks to The Pigeonhole for serialising this - another great read!
Taryn K (441 KP) rated ReSet: Be Good, Your Life Depends On It in Books
Dec 22, 2022
Good plot (1 more)
Well developed characters
A one-night read
I picked up ReSet at the request of a friend as the story sounded rather like the YA dystopian novels of my teens. I started reading it before I went to bed and finished it before I went to sleep. It's a pretty quick read, and a pretty good story.
The plot's interesting, though it's a little surprising how easily the unsuitable people are eliminated. I think I only actually liked a couple of the characters; however I don't think we were necessarily meant to as these are fairly normal people (for the most part) dealing with an extreme and abnormal situation. The fellow in charge, Greyson Jeffers, who made this situation happen, keeps a close eye on the people he allows to form towns with the help of microchips implanted in them. Each town is allowed so many "bad" actions before it is "reset" aka destroyed. Absolute power corrupts absolutely, but doing something about it is hard with the close surveillance. The end of the book felt a bit like a cliff-hanger to me, but I am hoping the author is able to publish book 2 soon.
The plot's interesting, though it's a little surprising how easily the unsuitable people are eliminated. I think I only actually liked a couple of the characters; however I don't think we were necessarily meant to as these are fairly normal people (for the most part) dealing with an extreme and abnormal situation. The fellow in charge, Greyson Jeffers, who made this situation happen, keeps a close eye on the people he allows to form towns with the help of microchips implanted in them. Each town is allowed so many "bad" actions before it is "reset" aka destroyed. Absolute power corrupts absolutely, but doing something about it is hard with the close surveillance. The end of the book felt a bit like a cliff-hanger to me, but I am hoping the author is able to publish book 2 soon.
<a href="http://fuzzysparrow.tumblr.com/post/96277346177">This was my Book of the Month for August 2014.</a>
<i>This eBook was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review</i>
The recently televised novel <i>The 100</i> by Kass Morgan is the first in a unique dystopian series set centuries into the future. Cataclysmic nuclear and biological wars rendered Earth uninhabitable forcing humans to create a new life in space on a very large ship. Three hundred years later scientists judge that the harmful radiation that destroyed Earth may have reduced or even completely disappeared meaning that the planet would finally be safe for humans. To test this theory the Colony sends one hundred adolescent lawbreakers with the mission to begin to recolonize Earth.
The novel is told from the point of view of four characters: Clarke, Wells, Bellamy and Glass. The first three are on the drop ship to Earth, however Glass escapes at the very last second and remains behind. Although there may be a hundred people on this mission, none of them have any idea what to expect or how to live on a planet. It does not help matters when the drop ship crash lands leaving them, particularly Clarke, the only one with medical knowledge, with an even more difficult situation than they were anticipating. Meanwhile, back on ship Glass is discovering that human life may be in as much danger there as they would be on Earth.
Each character also has flashbacks to their life on the ship, which gradually reveals the events that led up to them being convicted as criminals and thus sent to their new lives, or even possible deaths. Due to this there was less action set on Earth than there could have been – there was not enough time for a <i>Lord of the Flies</i> situation to arise. However it was fascinating to imagine their reaction to the first time they saw the sun set or felt the rain; being mesmerized by bird song and enjoying their first ever piece of meat.
As with most young adult novels there is the inevitable romance theme consisting of conflicting feelings and love triangles. The overall situation the main characters found themselves in was, in part, due to actions they committed in the name of love. Sometimes this theme could get a little annoying and hinder the dystopian side of the story, however it would not have been able to function without these elements.
Kass Morgan concludes <i>The 100</i> at the peak of the climax leaving us desperately wanting to find out what happens next. This is a highly recommended book for young adult readers with a love for science fiction.
<i>This eBook was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review</i>
The recently televised novel <i>The 100</i> by Kass Morgan is the first in a unique dystopian series set centuries into the future. Cataclysmic nuclear and biological wars rendered Earth uninhabitable forcing humans to create a new life in space on a very large ship. Three hundred years later scientists judge that the harmful radiation that destroyed Earth may have reduced or even completely disappeared meaning that the planet would finally be safe for humans. To test this theory the Colony sends one hundred adolescent lawbreakers with the mission to begin to recolonize Earth.
The novel is told from the point of view of four characters: Clarke, Wells, Bellamy and Glass. The first three are on the drop ship to Earth, however Glass escapes at the very last second and remains behind. Although there may be a hundred people on this mission, none of them have any idea what to expect or how to live on a planet. It does not help matters when the drop ship crash lands leaving them, particularly Clarke, the only one with medical knowledge, with an even more difficult situation than they were anticipating. Meanwhile, back on ship Glass is discovering that human life may be in as much danger there as they would be on Earth.
Each character also has flashbacks to their life on the ship, which gradually reveals the events that led up to them being convicted as criminals and thus sent to their new lives, or even possible deaths. Due to this there was less action set on Earth than there could have been – there was not enough time for a <i>Lord of the Flies</i> situation to arise. However it was fascinating to imagine their reaction to the first time they saw the sun set or felt the rain; being mesmerized by bird song and enjoying their first ever piece of meat.
As with most young adult novels there is the inevitable romance theme consisting of conflicting feelings and love triangles. The overall situation the main characters found themselves in was, in part, due to actions they committed in the name of love. Sometimes this theme could get a little annoying and hinder the dystopian side of the story, however it would not have been able to function without these elements.
Kass Morgan concludes <i>The 100</i> at the peak of the climax leaving us desperately wanting to find out what happens next. This is a highly recommended book for young adult readers with a love for science fiction.
Sophia (Bookwyrming Thoughts) (530 KP) rated The Polaris Uprising (Polaris, #1) in Books
Jan 23, 2020
Another bystander review yet again. T_T But throughout the story, I was making connections – yet again – to movies and books:
Corsets – Incarceron. Mercifully no prisons.
Probe Bots – *that seriously cute voice from that one movie* Wall-E! Of course, those robots had inflection and it's not Wall-E's voice I'm calling cute.
Arranged Marriages – At the time I started The Polaris Uprising, I completed Delirium not too long ago and it turned out to be a TERRIBLE experience. Fortunately, this book fared better off and it's not similar to Delirium. *phew* In fact... this quote got me quite worried:
<blockquote>When you’re president, this will all be a distant memory.</blockquote>
Is this similar to "When you're cured, this will all be a distant memory" or what? I could have sworn I saw that exact same sentence in Delirium a million times maybe. O_O (Obviously I didn't let that stop me from continuing).
Truth Serum – Welcome to the Candor faction. Need I say more?
That one sentence before this: And then all hell broke loose – Similar to The Hunger Games, but different. And no, that's no spoiler. Close, but no.
<blockquote>Alanna! Alanna!</blockquote>
e_e 1984's B! B! B! That book was quite dreadful, so I'm surprised I still remember the letter B! (that was not me in exclamation).
Now that I've gone through my dreadful (and some positive) experiences with some dystopians, let's get on with some positive notes and why I gave The Polaris Uprising a high rating:
~ The message comes across clearly throughout the book. Maybe confusing at first (switching views from the prologue and first chapter), but everything fits in nicely later.
~ Here's the big plus: it's different from other dystopians. As in really different. How? It's like many years later, a dystopian AFTER another dystopian failed. At least, that's what I assume. The signs were there, which brings me to my next point.
~ Dare to be different. I would've had to choose a faction back in September if I were in Divergent (Movie's out in 28 DAYS). Here, you're an adult at 25. That gives me what? 7-8 years to be a semi-kid? Yippee.
~ This might actually take a different end from other dystopians. Of course, there's no guarantee, so don't take that word for granted.
But overall, an impressive debut novel for Jennifer Ibarra.
-----------------------
Review copy provided by the author for review on the blog tour
Formatting is lost due to copy and paste
This review and more can be found at <a href="http://bookwyrming-thoughts.blogspot.com/2014/02/blog-tour-the-polaris-uprising-by-jennifer-ibarra-review-and-giveaway.html">Bookwyrming Thoughts</a>
<a href="http://bookwyrming-thoughts.blogspot.com/"><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Gi5Rk5yLloA/UtliaUbdL3I/AAAAAAAACbE/J27z92_qrYU/s1600/Official+Banner.png"; /></a>
Corsets – Incarceron. Mercifully no prisons.
Probe Bots – *that seriously cute voice from that one movie* Wall-E! Of course, those robots had inflection and it's not Wall-E's voice I'm calling cute.
Arranged Marriages – At the time I started The Polaris Uprising, I completed Delirium not too long ago and it turned out to be a TERRIBLE experience. Fortunately, this book fared better off and it's not similar to Delirium. *phew* In fact... this quote got me quite worried:
<blockquote>When you’re president, this will all be a distant memory.</blockquote>
Is this similar to "When you're cured, this will all be a distant memory" or what? I could have sworn I saw that exact same sentence in Delirium a million times maybe. O_O (Obviously I didn't let that stop me from continuing).
Truth Serum – Welcome to the Candor faction. Need I say more?
That one sentence before this: And then all hell broke loose – Similar to The Hunger Games, but different. And no, that's no spoiler. Close, but no.
<blockquote>Alanna! Alanna!</blockquote>
e_e 1984's B! B! B! That book was quite dreadful, so I'm surprised I still remember the letter B! (that was not me in exclamation).
Now that I've gone through my dreadful (and some positive) experiences with some dystopians, let's get on with some positive notes and why I gave The Polaris Uprising a high rating:
~ The message comes across clearly throughout the book. Maybe confusing at first (switching views from the prologue and first chapter), but everything fits in nicely later.
~ Here's the big plus: it's different from other dystopians. As in really different. How? It's like many years later, a dystopian AFTER another dystopian failed. At least, that's what I assume. The signs were there, which brings me to my next point.
~ Dare to be different. I would've had to choose a faction back in September if I were in Divergent (Movie's out in 28 DAYS). Here, you're an adult at 25. That gives me what? 7-8 years to be a semi-kid? Yippee.
~ This might actually take a different end from other dystopians. Of course, there's no guarantee, so don't take that word for granted.
But overall, an impressive debut novel for Jennifer Ibarra.
-----------------------
Review copy provided by the author for review on the blog tour
Formatting is lost due to copy and paste
This review and more can be found at <a href="http://bookwyrming-thoughts.blogspot.com/2014/02/blog-tour-the-polaris-uprising-by-jennifer-ibarra-review-and-giveaway.html">Bookwyrming Thoughts</a>
<a href="http://bookwyrming-thoughts.blogspot.com/"><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Gi5Rk5yLloA/UtliaUbdL3I/AAAAAAAACbE/J27z92_qrYU/s1600/Official+Banner.png"; /></a>
From the Fatherland with Love
Ryu Murakami, Charles De Wolf, Ralph McCarthy and Ginny Takemori
Book
An ambitious, epic dystopian novel - part political thriller and part satire. From the Fatherland,...