Book Review: Cress by Marissa Meyer

Cress (The Lunar Chronicles #3)

Marissa Meyer

Review of Scarlet (The Lunar Chronicles #2)
Review of Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles #1)

Publication Date: February 4th 2014

Publisher: Feiwel and Friends

Pages: 550

Genre:  Fairytale, Scifi, Adventure, Young Adult

In this third book in the Lunar Chronicles, Cinder and Captain Thorne are fugitives on the run, now with Scarlet and Wolf in tow. Together, they’re plotting to overthrow Queen Levana and her army. 

Their best hope lies with Cress, a girl imprisoned on a satellite since childhood who's only ever had her netscreens as company. All that screen time has made Cress an excellent hacker. Unfortunately, she’s just received orders from Levana to track down Cinder and her handsome accomplice. 

When a daring rescue of Cress goes awry, the group is separated. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes at a high price. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing prevent her marriage to Emperor Kai. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only hope the world has

Finishing Cress left me with a similar sensation to the first time I read Scarlet, that I liked it, but not as much as I hoped I would. I think for me, the Lunar Chronicles are a series I have to reread, because for some reason I enjoy them better the second time around. Honestly this makes them more valuable as books than those that I read once, enjoy immensely and never pick up again. These books have a lasting power.

Cress sees the continuation of the overreaching plotline from Cinder with the addition of the characters from Scarlet, plus the new plotline taken from the fairy tale "Rapunzel". "Rapunzel" happens to be one of my favourite fairy tales, though I still don't know why. I remembered watching closely when I heard Disney were going to get their hands into it (long before the general public knew), the pain when it got shelved again and the joy when it was brought back and designs were released. I went to see it opening night. I also wrote my own interpretation of the story in the story telling medium of Visual Novels.

One interesting thing that I have taken from these different versions is that Rapunzel ends up being characterized the same way: naive and awkward. But really, realistically how else is a girl supposed to be when trapped in a tower for so long? Cress is certainly my favourite version I have read. The way she is written and presented as a character once again solidifies what I stated in my review of Scarlet, that Meyer does characters strong and well. The relationship is also my favourite of the three presented so far in the series, it's adorable, quirky and tentative. Both of them are out of their depths and it's wonderful.

Though the characters are the stars of the books, the plot also continues to hold my attention, which after three books of it is not an easy task.

The biggest issue I had while reading the book can only get worse, unfortunately with the final installment. With each book, there is an increase of characters and plotlines. Last book, the balance was perfect. This time around, with Cress I started to feel a little overwhelmed. The story of Rapunzel got shafted a bit in the end, having to bow to getting the characters to where they're supposed to do so the main plot doesn't fall apart. Unlike in the first two books, this time I can see obviously where bits from the fairy tale were forced it. It was less natural.

I do think that this is something that will improve upon rereading and honestly I'm being a bit strict, perhaps, but I feel as though Cinder and Scarlet have set a bar.

All of that said, I am incredibly intrugued by the charactera of Winter and her probably beau and cannot wait to read them.

The bit that is the most awkward for me in the book was Cress's kidnapping just having her end up in a safe place. I get we needed to get them back with the group, but I felt like so much that could have been was cut out, because of all the other stuff that needed to be put in the book. Meyer had to make decisions involving pacing and length, and although I'm sure most would read an 800-page book by her at this point, her publishers probably wouldn't have been so keen on it. And I don't know how that would have affected the pacing of the rest of the book. There was already a slight feeling of the book being put on pause so that desert time could be squished in.

On a plus note, I love that Iko has a body now! And I love that it's so realistic. I want Iko to have a story! I want her to have lovey dovey time. I'm also really interested in how she has gotten so much personality. What in her programming has allowed her to create such a realistic AI.

Ah! The kiss. The kiss was so cute and I loved that he remembered her desert fever babblings. I love how Cress in general kept making Thorne control himself, and through controlling himself he realizes when he starts to become fond of her that he wants to be careful and learn how to do things right and not just spurt words of meaningless love. Cress realizing he is more than a "hero" like she thought is also really nice to see.

I wish I had been surprised when I'd learned that Cress was the doctor's daughter, but I had been spoiled for that by a review on Goodreads.

Are you not reading this series yet? Seriously? Get on it! Even if you're not a fairy tale person, it's a great YA Scifi story. Though of course loving fairy tales increases it's enjoyability. I'm also starting to believe that very few authors do characters as well as she does. Pretty much I recommend this to everyone. Read it!

4 Bookmarks

Blog Review: Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

Scarlet (The Lunar Chronicles #2)

Marissa Meyer

Review of Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles #1)

Publication Date: February 5th 2013

Publisher: Feiwel and Friends

Pages: 452

Genre:  Fairy Tale, Scifi, Romance, Young Adult

Cinder, the cyborg mechanic, returns in the second thrilling installment of the bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She's trying to break out of prison--even though if she succeeds, she'll be the Commonwealth's most wanted fugitive. Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit's grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn't know about her grandmother or the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother's whereabouts, she is loath to trust this stranger, but is inexplicably drawn to him, and he to her. As Scarlet and Wolf unravel one mystery, they encounter another when they meet Cinder. Now, all of them must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen Levana, who will do anything for the handsome Prince Kai to become her husband, her king, her prisoner.

Scarlet is a much more dramatic and darker tale than its prequel, Cinder, but considering that story it comes from (Little Red Riding Hood) I feel like that's harder to avoid. There's something about this specific fairy tale that inspires darkness. The book follows two storylines for the most part (with bits from Kai's point of view). We have the continuation of the last book's plot with Cinder's escape, and then we have the introduction of our new heroine, Scarlet.

What I absolutely love about Meyer's writing style, is how strong her characters are. They have very distinct personalities, they are not flaky things that we can imprint our own selves on to, instead they have such personalities that if we met them in real life we could recognize them.

Focusing in on Scarlet's story, we have a girl whose grandmother has disappeared, yet no one will take the disappearance seriously (everyone considered her crazy and thinks she just ran off). When she gets a hint to where her grandmother may have gone/been taken, she starts off, ending up getting help from a stranger named Wolf. However she doesn't know if she can trust him or not.

Do you notice something about this summary? I certainly noticed it while I was reading the book. Meyer has not just taken the basic story of a girl in a red hood and a wolf, this is the fairy tale, with every bit Meyer could fit in from the original tale stuck in somewhere. I was duly impressed. I think Meyer has a gift for interpretation that I have not seen done better by many other writer of fairy tales. The ideas she comes up with are incredibly unique, yet they perfectly represent what they're supposed to in the original story (I mean Cinder's foot falling off instead of a shoe? Brilliant.) And, it's all done naturally.

Now all my gushing praise aside, it is true that I didn't enjoy this book as much as Cinder, however I think that is less Meyer's fault and more a personal preference. Scarlet has a slightly different feel to it. The main character is slightly older, the situations a bit more, and Wolf is much more... dramatic that Prince Kai.

The beginning also didn't catch my interest and it was slow reading for a while. If I didn't have the parts with Cinder to follow, I don't know if I'd ever gotten past that point where suddenly I was hooked.

Okay, so I love that Scarlet is the one who initiates the first kiss Wolf (not even for sure if he likes her or not, but because she wants to). I love that she just takes does it. So rarely in Young Adult or New Adult fiction is the female protagonist shown as taking the lead in the romance, as making the first move. I myself don't have the confidence or natural inclination to make a move, but I have friends who do and it was nice reading something that didn't conform to what the world tries to make us think is the norm.

I think my favourite interpreted bit in this book is hands down the Lunar twisting Scarlet's mind to see the Omega as her Grandmother, thus representing the wolf in the grandmother's clothing. It's so smooth and natural that I didn't even realize that it was a bit from the fairy tale until I was going through it again!

The Lunar Chronicles stick out among fairy tales. I think it's obvious what a success they are, when a new book comes out all the blogs are reviewing it. But, there is a reason for the hype, they are written well, they are written creatively, and they are unique takes..

4.5 Bookmarks

Book Review: Alternity by Mari Mancusi

Alternity

Mari Mancusi

Publication Date: October 19th 2012

Publisher: NLA Digital Lia\ison Platform LLC

Pages: 236

Genre:  Scifi, Dystopia, Young Adult

Imagine waking up in a post-apocalyptic, nightmare world--and being told your whole life is but a dream. Skye Brown thought she was your typical teen--good grades, hot boyfriend, and an afterschool job that pays her to play videogames. But then she started having the dreams.

In her dreams, there is no Earth. Only Terra, a bleak, underground wasteland where people live in squalor and oppression. In her dreams, there is no Skye--only Mariah, a rebel leader fighting against a vile, dystopian regime. And then there's Dawn, a handsome, but haunted solider who sees her as but an empty shell of the girl he once love--a betrayer he vows to hate forever, despite what she sees deep in his eyes.

Now, ripped between Dark Siders and club kids, the mundane and the mystic, Skye finds herself in a fight against time--to learn who she really is, where she belongs..and why. The shocking truth will have her questioning her own reality...and her heart.

What is real? What is a dream? And what in the world is going on? These are the questions going through our main character, Skye's head when she finds herself in the strange underground world from her dreams where everyone seems to think she is someone else named "Mariah".

Alternity is a Matrix-esque dystopian novel that is full of surprises. The story itself is satisfying enough and the mystery is well done. The characters aren't terrible, though they're not anything special, either. Due to her situation, however, Skye and the way people treated her still ends up being interesting to read about.

I felt like the romance may have happened too fast, but due to the whole situation surrounding the two of them, I can't really say for sure, it's hard to tell.

There are a few parts that I felt were a bit indulgent of the author, rather than natural to the storyline (such as the randomness of Mariah being trained in Japanese swordplay by a teacher of Japanese descent).

I can't go into too much detail with the review without spoiling it, due to the many twists and turns. For the most part it was far from bad, and ended up being an average read for me. One of the best things going for it is the unique way it puts classic and overdone tropes together.

My favourite part of the book is hands down the discovery of Earth being an elaborate game. I felt like much of the book was spent carefully foreshadowing this (the "quest" moment from Skye's cousin, and the whole game development that Skye is apart of for example) and disguising it (just the fact that the game is called Earth is enough to throw everyone off it's tracks in a very Matrix fashion).

And though I had started to suspect this fact, the next revelation was completely unexpected. Skye spends most of the book fighting with the fact that she's not Mariah, and when she is finally starting to accept that she really was once this person, it turns out she never was Mariah at all and that blew me away. It was a brilliant play by Mancusi.

The ending was carefully navigated by her as well. I felt like that was about to fall apart at any second (I kept looking at how many minutes left of reading time my Kindle predicted wondering how in the world things could wrap up nicely in time), but other than some rather over the top dramatic romatic utterings, it went perfectly fine with no pacing issues for me.

In conclusion, I recommend this book to anyone who wants to read a sci-fi or dystopian book that will surprise you. I recommend it to people who like epic romances. I found the world to be original in a saturated genre and setting (underground/sealed off dystopia type).

4 Bookmarks

ARC Book Review: Take Back the Skies by Lucy Saxon

Take Back the Skies

Lucy Saxon

ARC Disclaimer: I was not paid in any way by the publishers to review this book favourably. The review is my own honest opinion (Whether or not it is agreed with).

Publication Date: June 3rd 2014

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens

Pages: 384

Genre: Sci-Fi, Adventure, Young Adult

Catherine Hunter is the daughter of a senior government official on the island of Anglya. She’s one of the privileged – she has luxurious clothes, plenty to eat, and is protected from the Collections which have ravaged families throughout the land. But Catherine longs to escape the confines of her life, before her dad can marry her off to a government brat and trap her forever.

So Catherine becomes Cat, pretends to be a kid escaping the Collections, and stows away on the skyship Stormdancer. As they leave Anglya behind and brave the storms that fill the skies around the islands of Tellus, Cat’s world becomes more turbulent than she could ever have imagined, and dangerous secrets unravel her old life once and for all . . .

Take Back the Skies was written for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) when the author was sixteen. That bit of information is enough to make some people want to stay as far away from it as possible and others it causes them to pick it up immediately. As for me, I hadn't found out till I was about halfway through the book, but I personally had no trouble judging this without needing to involve her age in it.

The book has an intriguing world, a mixture of Disney's Treasure Planet and fantasy. It's got a pretty unique base. I can see bits of adventure, bits of contemporary, bits of fantasy, bits of historical and bits of science fiction. However, when it all comes to down to it, for me this book screams ADVENTURE.

And I have to say that's what Saxon did best in the book, the adventure. Even when things didn't make sense, or seemed rushed, or not exactly realistic (which did happen a few times) I found myself unable to get annoyed, because I was dragged right along the adventure of the story. I found myself rooting for them, holding me breath and wishing everything ended up okay.

The characters were a bit of a mixed bag. I didn't dislike any of them, and none felt terribly written or anything like that, but only some of them did I truly connect with, like they were missing something. It's hard to explain. At times it feels like this book is somewhere between professional and amateur. There are some parts to the writing that are absolutely brilliant, and other parts that feel unnatural or forced. The ending especially felt that way.

I guess if I judged it on the level of the author being young and thus lowering the bar then it's absoultely amazing. As it stands, I'd be very surprised if Saxon doesn't continue to improve. She is hands down an author to watch and I will certainly be picking up her future writing. There is just something about it that ensnared me.

Fox's death felt entirely way too anticlimatic and contrived. As soon as they "woke up" the mechanical boy I knew he was going to shoot Fox, and then I didn't even feel all that upset about it because it just felt so cliched. This is what brought down this book from four stars. The epilogue also felt unnecessary, I'd just rather read a sequel with her dealing with being a hero and James trying to win her over. I'd love to see her growing up and realizing a first love is a first love and sometimes isn't forever.

Also... ... I could be wrong about this, but wasn't it mentioned in the beginning of the book that Cat hadn't had her first period yet? Something about her not being a woman yet, and her being slow on the puberty thing? Whatever happened to that? I kept expecting her period starting and that giving her away (I don't care if that would have been cliched, it would have been a great scene, darnit).

I recommend this book to anyone who wants to read an Adventure story in the YA voice. There are definitely Treasure Island vibes during parts of the first half of the book. And, while this book might not be for everyone, I did enjoy the read quite a lot.

3.5 Bookmarks

Book Review: WWW: Wonder by Robert J. Sawyer

WWW: Wonder (WWW #3)

Robert J. Sawyer

Review of WWW: Watch (WWW #2)

Publication Date: April 5th 2011

Publisher: Ace Hardcover

Pages: 338

Genre:  Scifi, Young Adult

Webmind-the vast consciousness that spontaneously emerged from the infrastructure of the World Wide Web-has proven its worth to humanity by aiding in everything from curing cancer to easing international tensions. But the brass at the Pentagon see Webmind as a threat that needs to be eliminated.
Caitlin Decter-the once-blind sixteen-year-old math genius who discovered, and bonded with, Webmind-wants desperately to protect her friend. And if she doesn't act, everything-Webmind included-may come crashing down.

Out of all the 'W' words that Sawyer could use to describe this final book, Wonder is by far the best, it sums up how I felt about this book as I finished it up. Just thinking about the tiny little beginning of a consciousness that turns into something so big and great warms my heart. It's almost like watching a child grow into an adult that you are proud of.

Honestly, however, the best part about this book is the fact that it is a positive take on Artificial Intelligence. As the series addresses over and over again, humans and media are obsessed with the thought that if AI comes into being it will try and destroy humanity, if anything that isn't human becomes as smart as human they will hate us. It brings up so much philosophical thought while reading the books. Even if you disagree that such a positive instance could happen, you are still thinking about it.

I also really enjoyed how every single thread cast out in the very beginning of the series are tied nicely together in the end. From China and Japan to Canada and the US, from Hobo the Bonobo/Chimp to a teenaged girl to an emergent AI, everything is tied together. I come from this series feeling a tad smarter than when I started and a thinking a bit more about the future, about how things are changing, emergent AI aside. The scene where the kids ban together to stop the bullying by showing that they see, and because Caitlin's eye sends information through the internet, so could everyone else made me really think and wonder. Everything is becoming more out there, the internet is becoming less anonymous than it was even just five years ago, and people tend to behave better when everyone can see them and judge them. Will we as a human race become less anonymous, will our sense of moral truly improve? Will we improve as a race?

There are so many more things I can talk about, but honestly I'd rather everyone read the series. It makes you think, it entertains, it teaches, it makes you fight for the underdog, become attached to a normal girl who is just growing up in a world that everyone in my generation is growing up in.

Give this series a chance.

5 Bookmarks

Book Review: Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Cinder

Marissa Meyer

Publication Date: January 3rd 2012

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

Pages: 400

Genre: Scifi, Fairytale, Young Adult

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, the ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . . 

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

I read a lot of fairytale adaptations (it's one of my favourite things to read in YA, obviously from the amount of them I review), but out of all I've read so far, Cinders is hands down the most original and unique, standing out from the rest by a mile. It is a scifi rendition of the tale, not a Dystopian Scifi, but pure, beautiful Scifi. It is the future and when someone faces a very gruesome injury they can have their lives saved by fixing themselves up with robotic parts, and Cinder is one such person who has "benefited" from one of these surgeries from when she was young.

Of course, "normal humans" are fairly prejudiced against people with robotic parts, and since Cinder has a lot of robotic parts (including a leg and arm) she is a bit of a social pariah, and is especially so with her Step-Mother and older Step-Sister.

The world building in this novel is awe inspiring, I had not trouble understanding the world and getting sucked into it, and though many of the main milestones of the fairytale are reached, the tale was so well done that I actually forgot that it was based off Cinderella from time to time, because it was such a great story aside from that.

The characters are very well done as well. I loved how the younger of the two step-sisters was actually quite fond of Cinder, thus giving Cinder quite the drive later in the book. I feel like there is also a depth to many of the characters which is easy to forget about in scifi or fantasy novels as the world building takes up so much thought.

There seems to be four more books in the series (according to the page in the front) and I have no doubt that this world can handle more books to explore it more. I also wonder if the author will borrow from other fairytales for it, but if she doesn’t, I'd still be excited to read them.

First off, I LOVE that she lost her foot instead of her shoe, best adaptation of that scene ever. Ever since the beginning where Meyer foreshadowed Cinder losing her foot while the Prince was present, I'd been hoping that's how that scene would play out.

I also really liked that Cinder is the lost Lunar Princess, as soon as I learned that the princess had "died" in a fire and they had only found some of her flesh DNA I couldn't help but wonder if Cinder was secretly her, and then when the Doctor revealed that she was of the Lunar race there was no doubt in my mind. It'll be really interesting when Kai realizes exactly which Lunar Cinder is, considering how betrayed he feels now, yet Cinder is the one he's been looking for all this time.

I also have to mention that I love the added layer of the plague as it gives reason for Cinder to be the places she is and gives her a drive to help throughout the book, because of her sister. I have to admit I did cry when she died, I really thought she was going to make it. I also teared up with the Step-Mother took apart Iko. I adored that android, it just wasn't fair! Yet the fact that Cinder started carrying her sister's ID chip and Iko's personality chip gave me heart. They are still with her and it's beautiful.

If you like Science Fiction and you like Fairytales you need to pick up and read this book right this second. In my opinion, Cinder is a beautiful marriage of the two. If you also want a very unique adaptation of Cinderella to read this is it. The time I waited to read this book was well worth it.

EDIT: On a re-read of this, I felt more blown away than the first time, so I upped the score up by .5 for a full 5 Bookmarks. Usually I like a book less when I re-read it, so that's saying something. Upon my re-read I was once again floored by this world. I liked the romance more this time around. I even cried again. This is hands down the most creative and one of the best fairytale adaptations that has come out of the fairytale boom.

5 Bookmarks

Book Review: Lies by Michael Grant

Lies (Gone #3)

Michael Grant

Review of Hunger (Gone #2)


Publication Date: May 4th 2010

Publisher: HarperTeen

Pages: 447

Genre: SciFi, Young Adult, Dystopia

It's been seven months since all the adults disappeared. Gone.

It happens in one night. A girl who died now walks among the living; Zil and the Human Crew set fire to Perdido Beach; and amid the flames and smoke, Sam sees the figure of the boy he fears the most: Drake. But Drake is dead. Sam and Caine defeated him along with the Darkness--or so they thought.

As Perdido Beach burns, battles rage: Astrid against the Town Council; the Human Crew versus the mutants; and Sam against Drake, who is back from the dead and ready to finish where he and Sam left off. And all the while deadly rumors are raging like the fire itself, spread by the prophetess Orsay and her companion, Nerezza. They say that death is a way to escape the FAYZ. Conditions are worse than ever and kids are desperate to get out. But are they desperate enough to believe that death will set them free?

Lies marks book number three in the Gone Series and I swear it just keeps getting more and more intriguing. Once again aptly named, Lies deals with the fact that you can't just expect a perfect political system to appear overnight, especially considering they are just kids, the Human Crew is making problems, and hints that the Gaiaphage may not be as dead as they all think it is.

For the most part, this book was almost like a boundary book between the last book and the next. There was a ton of foreshadowing for the next book considering it's called Plague, there is an introduction of more characters, which I'll be interested in seeing how they meld in with the society being put together in Perdido Beach.

One of my favourite parts of this series, that came out prominently in this book was the puzzle piece feeling to the writing. From each perspective we learn different things and slowly we see them coming together and realizing things that other characters aren't able to realize till much later. This is something that features in Robert J. Sawyer's WWW series as well, and I love how it makes your brain work without making it overwork. The feeling of things clicking is pretty awesome.

I am so god darn proud of myself for guessing that Nerezza was the Gaiaphage. I knew I didn't trust her at all, and I felt like she must be influencing Orsay's dreams, but as soon as Mary mentioned never seeing her before, in a place where by now everyone must know everyone by now, I started wondering if Nerezza was real at all.

This book was also such a tease about what in the world could be happening outside of the FAYZ. I really knew I couldn't trust Orsay's dreams, it couldn't be that easy, and I don't know if I can trust the brief view that Pete caused, but I can't say for sure that that isn't happening. Even if it's true however, I feel like if they poofed out the FAYZ the Gaiaphage would end up being able to attack the rest of the world as time persists.

I felt so betrayed by Mary's jump, but at the same time I couldn't be all that surprised by it, she was losing it since the beginning and the poor girl was tired and stressed, which certainly wasn't helping one bit. I am worried for the Littles now, John can't do it by himself, who is going to help?

I really want to see this series as a TV series, though I guess it would be hard to cast considering the lack of adult actors and the need for A LOT of child actors. If it could be pulled off though, I feel like it would be beautiful in a visual medium. This one starts out a bit slower than the others, but as things start losing control it goes so fast, and as soon as you realize what the countdown's for you're hooked in my opinion. I recommend this series to book lovers in general, go pick up Gone and read on, there's a reason that these books are talked so much about.

4.5 Bookmarks