dystopia

The Selection by Kiera Cass

by Stefani

The Selection by Kiera Cass

Published April 24th, 2012 by HarperTeen

Author’s Website: http://www.kieracass.com/books/

You can buy this book at: B&N and Amazon

Synopsis and picture from the Goodreads book page

Synopsis:

For thirty-five girls, the Selection is the chance of a lifetime. The opportunity to escape the life laid out for them since birth. To be swept up in a world of glittering gowns and priceless jewels. To live in the palace and compete for the heart of the gorgeous Prince Maxon.

But for America Singer, being Selected is a nightmare. It means turning her back on her secret love with Aspen, who is a caste below her. Leaving her home to enter a fierce competition for a crown she doesn’t want. Living in a palace that is constantly threatened by violent rebel attacks.

Then America meets Prince Maxon. Gradually, she starts to question all the plans she’s made for herself- and realizes that the life she’s always dreamed of may not compare to a future she never imagined.

Rating (out of 5):

Review:

This one is closer to a 1.5 than a 2, and I agonized over that a LOT.  I didn’t enjoy the book or like any aspect of it.  But it was not as bad as others I have read and rated 1 star before.  So a 1.5 seems the most logical choice.  This initially was a book that I fell for the cover for and bought it and took it home.  It was only after that I learned about all the drama and issues surrounding the author and her agent.  This disappointed me and I put the book away.  But I figured that since I have it already, I might as well read it with no prejudice about the earlier events.  To be quite frank, if I hadn’t already bought a copy, the author’s behavior would have been enough for me to never read it…but that ship had already sailed.

I had several huge problems with this book.  First was the writing itself.  I was under the impression that these were characters in their late teens, but the dialogue sounded like I’d run across a group of 12 year old girls gossiping in the school hallway.  The writing and dialogue was very immature, even for a YA book.  Of course I probably should have feared this when the dedication was “Hi Dad! *waves*”  No, I did not make that up, a grown adult actually wrote that in a published book.  It got worse when she uses “for reals” and “realzies” in the acknowledgements at the end.  The writing started to make a bit more sense after that.

My second big problem was with the premise of this book.  The government depicted here is a total monarchy, but if that were the case then there is no chance in hell that a common girl who was not of royal blood would EVER be married into that family.  That is how total monarchies work.  Now, if this was similar to the current British monarchy where the royal family is mostly a figurehead and has no political power then it would make sense.  But it did not.  The plot was also SO painfully predictable.  Of course America was going to be one of the Selected, of course there was going to be a love triangle, of course the ex would show up again, of course she’d end up actually having feelings for Maxon.  Naturally America would be the ONLY logical option for Maxon. I could have guessed all that from the blurb on the cover, which is a bad sign for the book.

The history in the book also annoyed me.  What was the point of telling me the history of the country’s birth if there was going to be zero other world building?  Yes, there was a caste system but it was so vague that I’m still not sure I get the logistics of it.  There is a monarchy and rebels, but its not explained what they are rebelling about so it’s hard to care.

One more point I want to address, what is wrong with some of the people in this book?  America’s mother basically pimps out her daughter, urging her to enter herself in the Selection because if she’s chosen then the family will get money and a better social standing.  Really?  You’re pimping your daughter to the prince for money and social status? But it got worse.  The girls in the book are required by law to remain virgins until they are married.  They have to sign a form that they are, in fact, virgins and if proof is found otherwise they will be executed for treason.  Then they make it a point that, even though that’s the law if the prince asks you for something, ANYTHING, you don’t tell him no.  So, if he wants to have sex with you, even if you do not want to you are still required to tell him yes.  Yes, that is exactly what it sounds like.  Rape is perfectly cool as long as it’s the prince.  And yes, I know, it turned out to be a misunderstanding and blah blah.  I don’t care.  It was still put out there and it made me sick to my stomach to see such a thing being touted in a book for teenagers.

Short ranty bit here, why am I supposed to care about any of these characters.  America is a whiner.  She whines about being poor when her family has chicken, pasta, tea with lemon, and popcorn for dessert while they watch tv.  You ain’t poor honey, get over yourself.  Aspen is an idiot who didn’t even belong in the book.  All we know about him is that he has a machismo complex that’s out of control and he likes making out with America before he convinces her to pimp herself out to the prince too…for his peace of mind and all.  We don’t get to know any of the girls in the Selection hardly at all.  We are told to hate Celeste and told to like Marlynn (or whatever her name was), but no one else is discussed in any kind of detail that you give a damn about them at all.  Maxon acts like a girl most of the time so I can’t really like him either.  And ultimately I wish this book had been written more like an actual episode of The Bachelor, then it would at least have been interesting.

Lastly, I have no idea why this needed more than one book.  Another few hundred pages and the story would be done, so what is the point?  I don’t care enough about this story to like one book, I certainly am not going to like two or three books.  And a final ranty bit, why the hell do we keep peddling weak assed women to teenagers?!  All America cares about is that she’s with Aspen and gets married.  That is just about her sole focus in the entire book.  Though I will say she handles breakups better than most YA characters, meaning she doesn’t get suicidally depressed and stalk him.  But instead she’s just weak and the first second the ass shows back up goes right back to sucking face with him as though nothing happened.  Most normal people don’t have these co-dependent, unhealthy relationships!  Why do we in YA!

Review: Insurgent by Veronica Roth

by Stefani

Insurgent by Veronica Roth (book 2 of the Divergent Trilogy)

Published May 1st, 2012 by Harper Collins

Picture and Synopsis from Goodreads

Purchase this book at: B&N and Amazon

Synopsis:

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.

Rating (out of 5):

Review:

Don’t let a 3 star rating fool you, I really liked this book!  There was nothing essentially wrong with it, but it certainly was not a home run like Divergent was.  I enjoyed the plot overall but also didn’t feel that a whole lot happened.  We begin the book moments after the first book began, so we should be filled with action from the very first chapter.  And it wasn’t, not really.  The surviving group is headed for Amity, hoping that the faction will provide them shelter while they decide what to do next.  I liked this, it was a logical step in the plot.  Let’s go through this point by point….

Too much teenage angst and drama!  The first book was so enthralling from the very start, Tris is a strong female lead character, and there was minimal teenage angst.  Since it is YA, the angst is to be expected to an extent so I was so pleased when there was not much of it the first time around.  This time we couldn’t seem to get away from it.  Tris and Tobias (Four) are bickering at every turn it seemed and spent most of the book not really talking to each other.  NO!  This is not where we left that relationship!  It was just starting to bloom and form and it was awesome, a love forged in fire and war!  But they are at each other’s throats ALL THE TIME and it bugged me.  So as a consequence we spend a lot of time in Tris’ head as she goes over the drama and how to avoid it or fix it.

The plot just moved too slow and waited too long to get good.  Most of the time was spent plotting what to do instead of actually doing it.  However, once things actually got moving it was fantastic!  I loved the different side to Amity that we haven’t seen before and we gained a lot more insight into their faction and other factions as a result.  Then we have the teaser from Marcus, of information that Jeanine wants to keep secret when everyone else should know.  That was interesting since we don’t know what it is, just that it seems really important.  During this time we also get more views into Tobias’ relationships with his parents.  This gives us a view of his character that was very needed and I lapped it up.   Overall I would say that I enjoyed the progression of all the plot points and characters in the book, except Tris.  I dunno what happened to her, she went from smart, witty, inventive, and strong to being stupidly self-sacrificing for no reason other than guilt.  I can understand where it came from, but it started to get annoying with her constantly running off to get herself killed and forcing the others to focus on saving her from herself.

I loved the glimpses and progression we saw of Jeanine.  She was such a great villain.  You wanted to hate her so much and with such good reason, that other insidious (though less blatantly so) characters flew beneath your notice.  I pride myself on seeing things coming, Jeanine clouded my view of the plot and I was blindsided by several things.  Jeanine holding Tris captive to experiment on her was really interesting and I couldn’t put the book down during that part at all.  The mission to raid Erudite headquarters and get the information was also fantastic.

The ending of this book left me slack-jawed and thinking “What the hell just happened?”.  I also liked the fact that it wasn’t really even a cliffhanger.  If this were the end of the series, I would be content with how it ended.  But knowing that there is another book coming makes me anxious to find out what’s next RIGHT NOW.  I look forward to reading the last book, hopefully with less angsty moments.

Seed By Rob Ziegler

by Stefani

Published on November 8th, 2011 by Night Shade Books

Author’s Website: http://zieglerstories.com/

Synopsis from Goodreads website:

It’s the dawn of the 22nd century, and the world has fallen apart. Decades of war and resource depletion have toppled governments. The ecosystem has collapsed. A new dust bowl sweeps the American West. The United States has become a nation of migrants—starving masses of nomads roaming across wastelands and encamped outside government seed distribution warehouses.

In this new world, there is a new power: Satori. More than just a corporation, Satori is an intelligent, living city risen from the ruins of the heartland. She manufactures climate-resistant seed to feed humanity, and bio-engineers her own perfected castes of post-humans Designers, Advocates and Laborers. What remains of the United States government now exists solely to distribute Satori product; a defeated American military doles out bar-coded, single-use seed to the nation’s hungry citizens.

Secret Service Agent Sienna Doss has watched her world collapse. Once an Army Ranger fighting wars across the globe, she now spends her days protecting glorified warlords and gangsters. As her country slides further into chaos, Doss feels her own life slipping into ruin.

When a Satori Designer goes rogue, Doss is tasked with hunting down the scientist-savant—a chance to break Satori’s stranglehold on seed production and undo its dominance. In a race against Satori’s genetically honed assassins, Doss’s best chance at success lies in an unlikely alliance with Brood—orphan, scavenger and small-time thief—scraping by on the fringes of the wasteland, whose young brother may possess the key to unlocking Satori’s power.

As events spin out of control, Sienna Doss and Brood find themselves at the heart of Satori, where an explosive finale promises to reshape the future of the world.

Review:

I don’t know quite how to put this best so I’ll just come right out and say it, full disclosure, I could not stand this book.  I prayed that it would be over practically from the beginning.  Okay, maybe not the beginning but definitely page fifty for sure.  I have had good success with Night Shade publications in the past and the cover and synopsis of this drew me in and made me want to see what it was all about.  Being a huge fan of sci-fi and dystopian fiction I thought this would be a slam dunk.  Oh, how I was wrong.

Let us start with the good things.  Mr. Ziegler is very imaginative.  I found myself struck several times at the level of creativity shown in the characters and some of the action scenes.  I also really loved Sienna Doss.  She is a kick ass woman and I loved her in every scene even when she seemed to be doing nothing more important than picking her nose. I also really enjoyed her cohorts Jake and Casanova.  They provided some real laughs and probably were some of the most memorable moments in the book.

My first issue with this book was the complexity of the plot.  I don’t mind complex plots as long as everything makes sense and I can keep track of it all.  Now, I don’t consider myself a stupid person (though I know one author for certain who may disagree, but it’s not Mr. Ziegler), and I can track a lot of information that might leave other readers scratching their head.  But this book flipped between different stories and different characters so fast I had a hard time keeping up.  In addition, none of the narrations really seemed to be going anywhere so I had zero comprehension of what the actual plot was.  I probably read the synopsis of this book twenty times over the course of this book because I honestly couldn’t remember what the point was supposed to be.  I’d read the synopsis and think, “Oh yeah, that’s who that Doss woman is and why she’s important.  Well when is she going to do that?!”  I wanted to like this plot and the characters but I just couldn’t.

Issue number two is the fact that half the book seems to be written in Spanish.  Now, I do not speak Spanish but this book was supposed to be in English.  Half the characters seem fluent in Spanish and use that to my disadvantage.  I wouldn’t have cared if the Spanish being used is the typical Spanish phrases and words that most people are familiar with and so they are easily comprehended.  I couldn’t follow what several of the characters were even talking about without getting a Spanish-English dictionary or becoming fluent in Spanish before reading.  Neither of those things was I willing to do just for this book.  So instead I spent my time wondering just what the hell these people were talking about and just tuning it out and deciding it wasn’t important enough to find out.

Issue number three was the world building.  I had no idea how the world got this way, just that it did.  I had no idea how Satori came into existence or why, just that it did.  It was never revealed what exactly the Fathers were planning or trying to do or anything regarding their motivations.  Basically you are just thrown into this world without being given any details about it at all.  I didn’t need to know everything down to a hour by hour breakdown, but at least give me the broad strokes!

Next was the big problem I had with the descriptions of Satori.  I don’t consider myself squeamish by any means, but these parts just grossed me out. Satori is a semi-sentient city that produces the seed that the rest of the world lives on and its Designers care for her and the Fathers who created her.  So basically we have a whole city of flesh and muscle and bone.  If someone wanted to sit, a lump of flesh appeared.  If they needed a door then an orifice appeared for you to walk through.  Sex was presented between these Designers in quite possibly the most unsexy way possible.  “The Designer decided he wanted to connect with her and stuck it in her.”  That isn’t an exact quote but it’s pretty close!  Not sexy or enticing at all, just more discomfort on top of the city’s orifices.

My last problem with this book was the lack of emotion I had for any of it.  I couldn’t feel empathy for the characters because I couldn’t understand them most of the time.  I couldn’t have feelings about the plot because I kept forgetting what it was.  The only real emotion I had toward the book was, “When will this be over!”.  It is a worthy attempt at a first novel, but falls woefully short of being audience ready.

Rating: 1.5 of 5 stars.

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

by Stefani

Published by Harper Collins on November 15th, 2011

Author’s Website: http://taherehmafi.com/

Synopsis from Goodreads website:

Juliette hasn’t touched anyone in exactly 264 days.

The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette’s touch is fatal. As long as she doesn’t hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don’t fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color.

The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war– and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she’s exactly what they need right now.

Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior.

In this electrifying debut, Tahereh Mafi presents a world as riveting as The Hunger Games and a superhero story as thrilling as The X-Men. Full of pulse-pounding romance, intoxicating villainy, and high-stakes choices, Shatter Me is a fresh and original dystopian novel—with a paranormal twist—that will leave readers anxiously awaiting its sequel.

Review:

I have had a really hard time figuring out how to rate and review this book.   Mostly because I am so conflicted about it in general.  I think the synopsis is entirely accurate with its X-Men reference, but not in the way they are suggesting.  This was an interesting concept.  This girl has been locked away in an asylum after touching a young child (in an attempt to protect him) and he ended up dying because Juliette’s touch is lethal.  She gets a roommate in the asylum with Adam and the two are then promptly removed from the asylum because the overlord of the world wants her to be his head torturer. So far this was all excellent.  I loved the character of Warner and Adam was mildly interesting as well.  I read the first 130 pages or so without stopping and read well into the middle of the night without realizing it.

The writing was unique with the author putting in strikeouts over certain thoughts or feelings that the main character didn’t like.  It was interesting and made the book feel like reading the journal of a very troubled young woman.  But some of the writing made the story seem abrupt and choppy and it didn’t flow very well in places.  I can’t really put my finger on what made it feel that way but it took away from the story a little.

When this story really hit the brakes was with Juliette being Warner’s prisoner.  The plot really came to a screeching halt and never even started to recover.  At points it seemed like we were about to get answers to the questions of the book only to have it just drop and never get answered.  I also started to really tire of Juliette being the ultimate Mary Sue character.  She’s pretty, she’s sweet, she’s gentle, even when she did something awful like killing a boy it was only with good intentions, and every single male character in the book fell all over themselves drooling while she sat back in complete ignorance of what the big deal was.  This made me want to scream!  You would think that being able to kill people just by touching them would be a great flaw, except it isn’t because Juliette is basically Mother Teresa!

There isn’t even another significant female character in the entire book, just a bunch of males alternately drooling or being afraid of Juliette.  I believe “Benny” may have been female but we don’t actually meet her, only hear about her in a few sentences.  And there are female twins at the very end, but again they only make an appearance for about three sentences.  I really hated the X-Men thing too.  The resistance is rounding up people with “abilities” and turning them into superheroes who are going to save the world.  I saw that a few times, at the movie theater, and it was done a lot more completely.

The world building was also lacking by a great deal in this book.  We only get glimpses of the world as Juliette remembers it and a few brief glimpses of life in one city.  That’s it, there was no more world building and it made me feel disconnected from the story.  The closest we got to explaining this world was a rant about how we humans did this to ourselves.  We sprayed all these icky pesticides on food and made it inedible, we caged animals in inhumane conditions and so they died, we regulated food for profit and made others go hungry, we manipulated the climate with our man-made junk and polluted the world.  Okay!  We get it!  Now, go away treehugger and leave the condemning of modern life to someone not writing a work of fiction.  I don’t mind an author having an explanation for the end of the world that involves these kinds of things, but stop preaching to me about it already.  I read this book to enjoy it not get a lecture on all the bad things we’re doing to the earth.

After Adam and Juliette escape Warner the plot never really restarted and by the time I got to the last page I felt like I had gotten half of a story, not a complete story with a sequel coming out soon.  There were some interesting moments that made me ask some questions, but those questions never got resolved and neither did the story.  Even in a series each novel needs to be a complete story with a beginning, middle, and an end.  We got the beginning and we got the middle, but there was no decent ending.  While I was completely enthralled with the beginning of the book the ending left me with no interest in reading about this world any further.

To put an ending to my review, I will rate this 2.5 stars out of 5.