The Dead Tossed Waves and The Dark and Hollow Places by Carrie Ryan

4

The Dead Tossed Waves and The Dark and Hollow Places

(Read 2013)

These are the next instalments in the Forest of Hands and Teeth series. This is going to be a simultaneous review simply because I read both in such a short space of time that they aren’t really separate books in my head. (So if I say ‘this book’ I don’t distinguish between the two, although I know they are respective books!)

Firstly, wow.

A lot happens in these books. The Forest of Hands and Teeth is but a prequel to the events that go down. In many ways, it is that book that lets you see what the world is like before Carrie Ryan takes you on this amazing journey.

In general, the story and world are amazing. This is post-apocalyptic and it is completely understandable what is done even if we must disagree and not approve of everything. It makes it fascinating because you face moral dilemmas (from the safety of your armchair or bed!) that are almost worrying that you might think. I question who I agree with...and concluding that I agree with the idealist and the pragmatist/survivalist I don’t know where I stand. The plot nicely moves along and it never feels too centralised and dull- even without great movement (sometimes) there is always fantastic pace and Carrie Ryan uses her environment and world to great effect. Zombies are ever-present and this is taken full advantage of which makes both books engrossing and “unputdownable”.

The characters in both books are the same in terms of our main protagonists although obviously the cast of side characters differs between the two as befits the setting and progression of the story. But the characters...oh lord! There are circles within circles, triangles within triangles. It like trying to endless half a number...it just goes into the infinity of numbers and it won’t end. Now imagine each of those halves is a part of the characters personality and they are built of these endless inconsistencies. Well now consider there are four main characters. Add in one or two important side characters who are similarly halved. You just have this huge amazing mess that creates this powerful, human characters. Now, I ain’t saying they’re perfect, but they are darn good...and they make for excellent reading.

So in general, I am very fond of these books. They were a huge improvement on the first and much more nitty-gritty. I’m taken along in this journey...I read these books over a two day period whilst on holiday and I was thrown into a rut after finishing (and after the first of the two books, the beach we were staying became infinitely eerie!). These come highly recommended.

Insurgent by Veronica Roth

5

Tris is back after the trauma she faced in Divergent. Since her youth in Abnegation, her life has turned upside down and the world seems to be following the same track. Yet it isn’t over, and as Tris comes to terms with her own demons, she has to deal with the next stage in the plot, leading to the unexpected.

I’m having the same problem many reviewers have with book. I want to sit here and talk your ear off about almost everything that happened in the novel, but in doing so I’d ruin the entire thing for you and anyone else. And then the double-sided blade scenario comes into play because I don’t want to spoil Divergent for you either: it is just as gripping and awesome.

So the best I can do is a bit of relativity of Insurgent in comparison to Divergent.

Anticipation

There was huge anticipation for this book and sometimes all that hype can ruin a book. It was somewhat similar with Divergent. Last time, for Divergent, I really got caught up in all that and frankly it lived up to that gargantuan expectation. The thing was, I tried to not get mixed up with the stuff prior to Insurgent for two reasons. One was purely personal, and if you follow me on twitter you probably have a general idea of that. The other was that I’ve been disappointed about hype a few times since I started blogging and the method I’m slowly developing is to not get involved in it and so I can’t be disappointed. The only reason I say all this is that I genuinely think this book deserved what hype I was exposed to and I genuinely think it was a great book.

Action

I think this book was about as action-packed as Divergent- they are dauntless after all! In some ways this was something I was expecting, since I rarely find myself so involved in fighting sequences in books. But these tended to draw me in, though they lacked some of the lustre of Divergent- but I think that was Tris’ influence. She loves her faction, but she’s still recovering psychologically and the almost manic loss-of-self in the action is less pronounced.

Characters

Four/Tobias was really great. In Divergent, my memory was that he went from International Man of Mystery to…well, Tobias. Without getting into it too much, it’s almost as though Four and Tobias are actually different people, which then links back to the Divergent things. Holy… I think pontificating actually rendered something vaguely sensible.

Tris got on my wick a little bit though. I don’t begrudge her being depressed, nor do I dislike the occasionally spontaneity of her, but I find part of me just wants to grab her and shake her. As Tobias puts it, she’s so frustrating. Not wrong, not hateable, she just makes me grind my teeth sometimes. I think the problem is that I can see, understand and even emphasise a bit with her, but I think she seems narrow-minded sometimes or inconsiderate of other things. It’s more of a niggle but meh.

Plot

I thought the plot was like a train journey before a huge crash. Strangely, this is a good thing. It started off fairly slowly, which made sense, and then when it got into the actually meat of the story it stayed fairly interesting. I think Divergent was more involving as a story for the middle section and I would stand by the belief that though the plot was good, it wasn’t perfect. It seemed sometimes too straight-forward or bit repetitive, but like an action movie. You sort of know what will happen, but you can still enjoy it. For me, the whole ending sequence was just brilliant. This is why I use the train crash analogy: you’d notice when you start to move, and you’d notice when you were on the main section of the journey, but you simply can’t ignore it when you crash. I don’t want to give away a thing about the ending though- I just want to say I thought it was utterly brilliant.

Conclusion (!)

A great book, and definitely a commendable sequel. It might not have been special in a particular way, but that might only be because it followed Divergent which was so fantastic. It’s a solid 5 for what it is and I’m oh-so-grateful to Karen for getting this for me! If anyone liked Divergent, they should definitely look into this.

We by Yevgeny Zamyatin

3
A Classic dystopian that follows an unnamed man, a man who is but a number. In a world ruled by OneState under the Benefactor, humanity is seen as more of a huge machine of which every number (person) is cog in the whole system. Being a novel written by a Russian author in the 1920s (just before communism spread through it). As such, this is a predominant influence in the book; one which the author disagrees with quite clearly.

I think the main issue I had with the book was something I don't blame the author for. The way book is written is from the perspective of D-503, our protagonist, from the early days of his true belief in OneState and the benefits of its ideology to one who is challenged and overcomes that challenge as he sees fit. The problem was that I was very often confused as to what was occurring. It being a Russian novel, the way it is written is bound to be different and often confusing. I've never managed to finish one of the longer Russian novels and- when I see the plays- I always have sections where I completely zone out. So much is going on and physically can't deal with so my brain goes into lockdown. The bits I am conscious of (and able to understand) are great, but the ones which aren't cause me a great deal of confusion.

So in some ways, this book might be a good way to see how you would react to a Russian novel since it is a fraction of the length, but still what I have come to expect from Russian writing. And I know I am somewhat prejudiced since I've only tried...what, 3? But that is how I feel, and in knowing that you know my opinion and the (perhaps) flimsy evidence I base it on.

There was also a maths element in the book that I really rather loved. Not everyone is as geeky about Maths as I am, so I wonder if others would perhaps be more confused than I. Statements about irrational or imaginary numbers that make sense to me might make many other people scratch their heads, bewildered. One of my favourite quotes was about how one avoids and irrational (it might have said imaginary) number creeping into an equation as an analogy for unforeseen circumstances arising in life. I understand that effort to avoid the irrational (imaginary) number and just this extra element made the book interesting in that sense.

The overall plot was predictable, in my opinion, but I shan't share it all the same. It acceptable, but it acted as a way to demonstrate an idea or situation. It felt less like a story more like a device...a tool. As though the author wanted to make a point about something and manipulated the plot to allow for that. Some people might say that is the core of a book, but the lack of distinctive plot irked me somewhat. There is the other side of it though in that it was one of the earliest dystopias so perhaps it is THE original. I don't know.

Character-wise...again acceptable, but somewhat irksome. I felt as each character was meant to represent an ideology or a reaction to an ideology, a way of living with it. Now, there's nothing really wrong with this, but it makes characters too clear-cut and predictable in my eyes. In a strange way the entire book was like a grand equation where each element- setting, character, plot- where merely the variables that were altered to show what the equation equals; what the result of the chosen variables is.

So, as an overall idea, I appreciate the book for what it portrays intellectually and ideologically, but as a story or a novel I think it is somewhat poor. I don't mind a book with a message, but it needs to be that. A book WITH a message, not just a message.

***

Also, my favourite quote (underlined is my favourite bit):

The highest thing in Man is his reason, and what the work of reason comes down to is the continual limitation of infinity, dividing infinity up into convenient, easily digestible proportions: differentiation.

Spire by Aaron Safronoff

3.5
This Science-Fiction/Dystopian novel is set in a place ruled by the Collective- an omnipotent, authoritarian but mostly invisible force. In a world consumed with improving humanity via Genetic Enhancement, a drug- an extreme performance enhancer- is introduced whose effect is impossible to predict, but whose potential seems limitless. The story centres on Joshua, an unsuspecting test subject, but also moves between stories involving the drug's creator; a Collective Defector and a Collective Leader Himself.

For me, I think the first thing to point out is that the parallel stories didn't always seem to work. As I sometimes find with this way of writing, I only like one particular storyline and the others should all be supplementary to that storyline and take mostly a back-seat. I never actually lost interest in the other stories, but I often felt detached from them; reading them mostly because I would return to the story I liked (Joshua's). So I tip my hat at Safronoff for not losing my attention, but I want to say that it worked in way that could have easily failed.

The plot of the story isn't a bad one, though it was occasionally clichéd. The start was kind of difficult for me because I really hate being thrown head first into a story and having absolutely no idea what was going on. It starts with Joshua- a drug user- talking about coming down from a high and how he felt about it. I get that, at least theoretically. It makes sense as a way to say how he thinks, a bit about his life and it's mildly interesting. But then I started to get lost about what was going on. I think he bought drugs, and I think he is somewhat of an expert in the field in terms of identifying them, but that is the bare minimum of what I should know. Nothing else sticks out from the start except those plot points.

It wasn't until the intrigue was introduced that I was, for lack of better word, intrigued by the story. The enhancements people had (particularly Eve) were incredible to see and weren't so far-fetched that you couldn't accept them. I'm not a huge Sci-Fi reader, but this felt more like Urban Fantasy to me which I really enjoyed considering it was still in the realms of believability. The chemical enhancement was much more fantastical, but I loved it for that. It was the kind of thing that a film would get wrong every time because your imagination plays such a huge and incredibly powerful part in making the moment as powerful and awe-inspiring as it was. In some ways I would say the book was worth reading for the times when the enhancer was used and when the higher end GEaRs (the genetic enhancers...sorry, I can't remember and I didn't mark the actual phrase!) was put on show. Technology and the advances we have made, are making and could make astound me and interest me to equal degrees.

There were things that weren't great in the book: two of which I've mentioned. Other things are just niggles i.e. things that don't really matter in the grand scheme of things, but annoyed me anyway. Sometimes it seemed the tone was off for what was happening, or that the writing was making me more confused and the story less understandable. There was also that cliché issue, and the feeling that not everything felt entirely new. I don't want to say he's a plagiarist: he isn't! I've been emotionally up and down this and it probably made me more temperamental whilst reading.

So it was good book, and I definitely wouldn't overlook it. But, in my mind, it's a Science Fiction more than a dystopia and one should approach with that in mind; as well as with the expectation to feel a bit lost on a number of occasions. And if you're the kind of reader who hates that, you have been warned.

A Million Suns by Beth Revis

4
The sequel to Across the Universe, this is a dystopian novel set in space. Once again, it follows Amy and Elder in their separate lives aboard Godspeed, and delves into their growing infatuation for one another as it continues to grow in a realistic, albeit quick manner.

As a general overview of what I thought, I would say this book is much better than the first (though this review is harder to write without spoilers or abandoning good English). I didn't know what to expect from book two because, in many ways, the ending of book one was very final and suggested a very linear series with the same kind of goal each time. But Beth completely blew me away by turning the book on its head- turning it into a mystery novel, without losing its strong YA elements. I really mean that, since I could never predicted that this or that would happen. About half way through, I felt some of the foreshadowing was a bit too obvious and that the protagonists were being a bit unobservant, but it quickly passed and the book became enjoyable and wonderful once more.

The romance is better here than book one, but I was startled by the fact that Amy seemed to completely forget Jason though, in book one, I remember him being mentioned often. Amy and Elder do seem to have chemistry, and you can tell that it was  one of those "I want to love him, but can I or should I?" romances which can get tiresome as our protagonist goes home and spends a few pages agonising over little details and their numerous loyalties. Not so here, I felt. Instead it's more of a thought that passes through Amy's head (Amy's the reluctant one and Elder the hopeful, but never pushy other) when they flirt with something more romantic. One thing I that I really liked was how Beth portrayed how they were flitting about the subject of their relationship, without having to mention it every time. It was lingering there and I loved that it didn't need to be perpetually repeated.

The plot of the story isn't actually all that different to book one: an unknown someone is causing trouble and they have to find out who. That sounds worse than it is, since the ship is full of discord and their are other issues to contend with i.e. Amy's peculiar appearance (to the ship's residents) and Elder's duties as a leader. I can't say too much about that without giving away spoilers for book one or two, but I assure they are interesting and perfectly apt for the tone and setting of the book. The conclusion of the mystery side of the story was really well done because I kept doubting myself and I was of the opinion that it could have feasibly been any of three people. The other side of the story concerned Godspeed's mission- that is, it's mission to find a new planet to inhabit. This starts with a bang in the book, so to speak. The point reached in book one is rendered unimportant in comparison to what we learn in the first few chapters of the book, but once again it is faultlessly blended with the story and doesn't seem like a straight-forward plot device.

Things I didn't like about the book are almost so minor that they aren't worth mentioning, but they are the reason A Million Suns gets a 4 and not a 5. There are frequently scenes were Amy goes to see her frozen parents, and though I could accept her reasons and couldn't defend a complaint, they annoyed me. I kind of felt that she was going there so that some point about her adjusting to life on board Godspeed could be made, and not that it achieved a great deal. Another thing was that Victria seemed bent on hating Amy, despite all the selfless, supportive things she did. I couldn't understand why would she hate Amy that much, even if she did blame her for... well, something bad in Victria's eyes.

A Millions Suns succeeds in being something I could never do. It is a riveting story wrapped in messages of loyalty, trust and change. Elder and Amy seem to realise that after everything is done, the only person they know they can trust is one another- and even when it seems a shaky idea, it's rooted firmly and will not change. The use of Orion is also amazing; constantly leading us to the grey area of whether we can trust him or not. This is a YA book that I can actually feel safe in calling mature for not dodging around issues. In some ways, you could say there is too much being confronted in the book: ostracization and sexual exploitation being the two worst and most prominent. But I would fire back that our society has this and more: just because a protagonist is younger doesn't mean they won't face these issues.

Seriously, just don't miss this book. It's (to use a word I notice Beth using on her blog frequently) awesome.

Magical March Challenge

A reading challenge, hosted by Adam from RoofBeamReader.net, is one that seems perfect for me. The aim is to read books that fall under any kind of fantasy label, be they Urban, Young Adult or Epic Fantasy; Science Fiction, so Dystopians or Steampunk are also good; as well as Magical Realism... which I'm not sure as to the meaning. These must be read throughout March. The rules, direct from the source, are:

1. You must register with the Mister Linky below prior to March 5^th in order to be eligible to participate.
2. You must read only “new” books – meaning, no re-reads are allowed.  Books for other challenges can be cross-used for this one, but you must read the book and review it in the month of March (previously completed books for other challenges do not qualify).
3. You must link up each book review to a separate Mister Linky, which will be available on March 5^th (once registrations close).
4. Challengers must post on their blog an “Announcement” post, indicating they are participating in this challenge and which level they hope to attain. One completer from each “Class” will be randomly selected to win the corresponding prize for that level. 
   1. You do not need to meet your level in order to win a prize.  If you aim for “Grand Merlin Class” but only achieve “Magician’s Class,” you will still be entered into the Magician’s Prize Pool!
   2. You do not need to list your books in advance, but I plan on doing so (to keep me motivated and to help me stay organized). 
5. Any Fantasy, Science Fiction, or Magical Realism books will qualify.  This means you can read Young Adult, Dystopian, Steampunk, or Alternative Histories.

There are levels of participation, based upon how much you think you'll read for the hop. They are:

Magician’s Class:               1-2 Books Read & Reviewed        1 Book $10 or Less

Sorcerer’s Class:                3-5 Books Read & Reviewed        1 Book $12 or Less

Wizard’s Class:                  6-7 Books Read & Reviewed         1 Book $15 or Less

Grand Merlin Class:            8+ Books Read & Reviewed          1+  Book(s) $20 or Less

I'd like love to go for the Grand Merlin class because I have more than 8 books that fall into those categories. Besides my classics, I think most of my to-read novels fall into that category. This is fantastic for me so I'm really going to try. But, I'm only going to aim for the Sorcerer's Class since it is the one I know I can achieve notwithstanding a sudden death. 

However, I'm going to try for Grand Merlin as much as possible!

I won't plan my books, since I won't enjoy them as much, but I'm hoping to read a few of my series (i.e. Lord of the Rings, Song of Ice and Fire and Chronicles of the Necromancer) and possibly get the Eleventh Plague (by Jeff Hirsch), Runemarks (by Joanne Harris) and The Girl of Fire and Thorns (by Rae Carson) in there between the others. 

Legend by Marie Lu

4
A dystopian novel following June, an extremely intelligent girl of the highest class, and Day, an equally intelligent terrorist. What begins as a murder investigation of June looking for Day soon transforms into an investigation into the Republic itself; whether it is really as altruistic as it seems.

The story begins quite promisingly. There are an alternating narrators and we start off with Day, the reported terrorist. Through him, we learn about the society they live in and get the basic background and insight into the world we'll be spending the rest of our time with. By the end, I was hooked since I wanted to know what exactly had just happened in the chapter and what it meant. The next chapter, June's, is equally as good. She's in the School Dean's office and we get an idea for her rebelliousness  which helps in the grand scheme of things in terms of how events may go. Both set up the story quite well and give us a taste of what's to come. I found that while reading, most details end up being important in some way. This may be because both protagonists are highly observant which means that they are bound to notice more than others, but it leads to some heavy foreshadowing.

Which brings me to the main pitfall. I found this book incredibly predictable. Generally, this isn't all bad. Sometimes I can predict what happens, but find myself engrossed in how it happens. Other times though, it just happens uneventfully and I feel let down. Details are good, and I adore foreshadowing because it gives me a chance to guess at how things will play out. The problem here was that there was too much. I felt that after a few chapters, I had the next few mapped out in terms of what will happen; which I continued doing. There was a lack of spontaneity after a while, which may be the reason that I liked the first two chapters so much. I had nothing to go on yet and everything was new and interesting. Later on things were predicted and of varying interest.

But back to the good.

I really liked the world that was created. I got the feeling that everything seemed so perfect...until you saw the actions of the military and the people in charge. It started to feel more like an illusion pulled over June's eyes and, though it took a while, I enjoyed reading about her gradual discovery and reaction. So many dystopians seem to begin with our protagonist knowing or feeling it is wrong. Okay, Day falls into this category, but June doesn't. I found her change of heart mostly believable, helped greatly by the fact her ability to process new information quickly was evident. I would have been annoyed if she had just changed because it fitted the story. Admittedly some of this was a bit clichéd, but I wasn't too bothered by it. I figure that how better to hide something than in the most obvious way possible- that way they check less.

I also really liked the Trial element. It's this society trying to be supreme by having the most agile, intelligent and loyal people it can find in positions of authority and being well treated.  Perhaps the fact that tests are such a big part of my life at the moment make this interesting, but I think most people would find the idea interesting. Its supposed to be that the genetically superior (in brains or brawn) are the ones who are celebrated. The Government wants the most powerful and perfect society it can and so it sorts people based upon their abilities. A happy little meritocracy, right? Obviously, this isn't the case. It becomes apparent that it is the loyalty element that is most important- and who are the most loyal? The rich and powerful because they receive the most from the Republic; do not bite the hand that feeds you and all that. So it becomes an aristocracy, of a kind, where the rich stay rich and the poor struggle on. Though still important, the Trial has become more of an excuse to test loyalties and to suggest that they are still fair.

I'm actually blushing to say this, but I seem to think I enjoyed the romance in the book (I'm writing this a week after reading). It was clichéd, yes, but I found myself smiling guiltily at it which I don't do too often. I found myself smiling a lot in this book since I think I'm kind of taken by people from different classes falling in love (the proof is in the Jane Austen obsession) so this appealed to me. Also, both of the people in the relationship are smart. I love smart people because I think their humour can be simultaneously more twisted, abstract and absurdly funny. Some people may argue their was a bit of a love triangle, but I found June quite clear in her rejection.

So this is a book I really liked. I've tried to avoid some of my negativity because though it has faults, it really is a great book. I loved Divergent and when I saw people saying this was similar, I think how good this book would be grew in my mind; so I wasn't reading it entirely fairly. If I was to be as negative as I felt, I would be giving a dishonest review which I couldn't abide. I want to give every book its fair chance, and having Divergent in my head diverted (forgive the pun) me from thinking completely clearly about what is a good, recommendable novel.

Friday Hope Treize

Q: Many readers/bloggers are also big music fans. Tell us about a few of your favorite bands/singers that we should listen to in 2012.

Just as my reading is eclectic, so is my music. I'm a fan of music from some select musicals (my favourite is The Sound of Music), yet I am just as comfortable with Paolo Nutini, Gaga, Florence and the Machine, Adele, Mumford and Sons and many others. I don't pigeon hold myself as liking only one genre; provided I like the music, I will get it. And if an artist I like makes something I don't like, I won't get it. Just how people try to read books they want and avoid depression after a bad book, I try not to let stereotypes or expectations dictate my music.

I also tend to have phases. I'm in what I think of as 'My Dad's Music' phase at the moment. He's as eclectic as me, and used to listen to TLC, Black Eyed Peas and others. Growing up with them, they're subliminally ingrained in me!

Also, friends of friends played this song at New Years and I've fallen in love with it. I just can't stop singing or listening to it! I actually listened again as I posted this.

2012 Must Reads: Which books are at the top of your list to be read this year (new or old releases)?

NEW: I really want to read the sequels to many of last year's great debuts, such as Insurgent (Divergent), Outpost (Enclave) and A Million Suns (Across the Universe). There are other sequels I'm excited for such as The Rise of Nine (Lorien Legacies/I am Number Four) and there are bound to be things I'll hear about as they come out and think "Of course! How could I forget?!" 


OLD: (I'm classing this as anything that has already been published) I've decided that Nicholas Nickleby is going to be my next Dickens read so I've got that ready for when I decide to read it, but I'm also excited about the prospect of my next Austen novel. I was thinking Sense and Sensibility.

I'd also like to read George R. R. Martin's series since I now have all the books. The same for the Lord of the Rings. Legend, Anna Dressed in Blood, Girl of Fire and Thorns are among those which are only really a month or so old but they are also something I'm hoping and looking forward to reading when I finally sit down with them.

I also have ends of series to read. throughout Autumn and December, I feel like I started the first books of many series, and now I have all the sequels to read. I have the few I've mentioned above, as well Chronicles of the Necromancer, Runelight, The Dead Tossed Waves and others I can't be bothered trying to find on my (recently tidied) shelf. I feel like I have too much.

It was a good hop, but I feel overwhelmed with how much I'm going to have to read this year! I'll leave you with this thought, which occurred to me when I read TGIF question.

Surely all so-called old books remain new books until you've read them? Just like all old news is new until you've heard it. (Courtesy of David Eddings)