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Showing posts from August, 2011

Review of POD by Stephen Wallenfels

POD's - strange alien spheres hover menacingly in the sky, zapping anyone who ventures outside.

Josh is 15 and stuck in his house with his OCD dad. They're running out of food... Megs is 12, alone and trapped in a multi-storey carpark. The hotel next door is under the control of dangerous security staff, but Megs has something they want, and they'll do anything to get it...

When the aliens invade, the real enemy becomes humanity itself.

What would you do to survive?


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From the start the story really hooked me in and I couldn't stop reading!  It follows the stories of two kids who are trapped in very different situations after an Alien invasion, although the things that happen to them mirror each other. 

After the Aliens have invaded no-one can go outside without getting 'deleted' by the PODs (Pearls of Death) which makes for some pretty interesting and slightly claustrophobic reading! Josh is 15 and he's stuck in his home with his Father in Washington and Megs is 12 and is stuck in a car parking lot in Los Angeles. Josh is having to deal with his Father's OCD on top of everything else, and that puts him in some very stressful situations. On top of that, he has no idea if his Mother is alive - the same as Megs. Her Mother left her in their car just before the Invasion, for a 'Job Interview', promising to come back soon. Of course, because of the invasion she doesn't come back and Megs has to learn to fend for herself - and not let herself be seen by a gang of thugs that have taken over the Hotel that the Parking Lot is attached to. She's pretty resourceful, finding both food and water in various different places, including 'Bloaters' - dead bodies.

The story flows really well throughout, switching fromA Josh to Megs each chapter. Josh's Dad slowly gets weirder and weirder and Megs' hiding places become smaller and smaller until three quarters of the way through both are forced to take drastic action. There's some pretty heavy subjects later on, so this is definitely not a fluffy read! The ending worked very well but I was rather disappointed that we didn't get concrete answers. There were a few too many unanswered questions, so I'm hoping that a sequel  will be released!


4/5


Received free from Templar in exchange for an honest review

Review of Worldshaker by Richard Harland

Col is a wealthy child of privilege. Raised to succeed his grandfather as the Supreme Commander of the juggernaut Worldshaker, he has lived a pampered life on the Upper Decks. He has never questioned his place in the world or his bright and illustrious future. But when a Filthy girl stows away in his cabin, suddenly nothing is clear anymore. Quick and clever, Riff is nothing like the Filthies that Col always learned about—the dumb, slow, less-than-human folk who toil away Below, keeping Worldshaker moving. Filthies are supposed to be animal-like, without the power of speech or the ability to think for themselves—but Riff is clever and quick and outspoken, and Col is drawn to her despite himself.

As Col begins to secretly spend more time with Riff, he begins to question everything he was raised to believe was true, and realizes that if Riff is right, then everything he was raised to believe is a lie. And Col himself may be the only person in a position to do something about it—even if it means risking his future.


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Worldshaker is a Dystopian Steampunk (ish) story of an upper-class boy who falls in love with a girl from the Lower Classes, and the consequences of his actions. Worldshaker is the name of the massive ship that Col lives on, and it's powered by the 'Filthies' below, who the Upper-Classes just assume are little more than animals. Col discovers Riff around the same time that he learns the truth of his World, and together they start a war that will change the lives of everyone onboard.

Col is a character that I didn't really like too much at first, same as Riff, but I liked them more and more as the book progressed. The main problem I had with Col was when he realised he loved Riff, and had many different childish daydreams about her, which didn't really reflect on his personality. I think with Riff was that she comes and goes very quickly, so it would have been good to read a chapter or so on her thoughts to connect with her better.
The other characters are very colourful and my particular favourites were Col's crazy teacher, Mr Gibber and a girl who we get to know better later in the book, Sephaltina. They were completely crazy! Mr Gibber in particular, who was constantly ranting and raving about immoral angles and various other bad things, when he wasn't whacking desks or himself with his canes. Sephaltina seemed to want to be the perfect partner, wondering if she should turn her head one way or the other and fainting on cue. Some of the other crazy characters were less funny and more horrifying though. Ebinolia, Col's Grandmother, was probably the most mentally disturbed. I think I'll have nightmares of her!

The book is quite a slow read though, and I did have to drag myself through some parts. There's a large section dedicated to Col's schooling, which was boring at times, although Mr Gibber kept me entertained! After that section, things do pick up a lot and I really enjoyed the rest of it. The sequel, Liberator, sounds promising so I'm looking forward to reading that!


4/5

Received free from Templar in exchange for an honest review

Review of Solid by Shelley Workinger

Teens who discover they were secretly genetically altered before birth are brought together at a classified site where they forge new friendships, find love, develop "super-abilities," and even unearth a conspiracy.

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Solid is a brilliant, fast paced book that I found very easy to get into and loved nearly every part of! I read the eBook version, for review and I was really pleased with the quality of the eBook. It had a little border around the numbered pages and the writing was easy to read, not so small that I had to squint all the time. Along with the fantastic writing, the whole thing gave off an air of professionalism, which I think all eBooks should be like.

The story itself was quite unique, although it reminded me off a book I read a long time ago that I can't remember the name of! I loved the idea of having a group of friends, as lately the YA Heroines seem to be loners! I loved all the main characters, especially Miranda, despite her faults! She's strangely loveable and very funny, constantly worrying about her skin - and everyone else's! 
Onto the love interest. Jack was perfect - funny but thoughtful and the kissing scenes were written perfectly for him and Calliope. Hopefully there will be more in the next book...

I did find the ending rather cheesy however, very cheesy in fact. I was hoping for something with a bigger punch but what I got was kinda disappointing as I guessed everything before it had happened. The bad guy idea was straight out a Point Horror book too. Despite this, the ending did strangely fit well with the story and I can't wait to find out what will happen next!


4/5

Received free from the Author in exchange for an honest review

Review of Game Runner by B.R. Collins

Rick is a Gamerunner. His job is to test there are no glitches or bugs in The Maze - the computer game that is much more than just a computer game. In The Maze you physically become your avatar. You fight, run and loot, all the time avoiding the deadly slicing traps - whirling blades that appear from nowhere. Rick has known nothing outside The Maze and his life at the headquarters of Crater, the company that created The Maze. When Rick's father falls out of favour and Rick is faced with being thrown out of Crater HQ into the outside world - a world of flesh-dissolving acid rain and ferocious, feral roving gangs - Rick has some life-changing decisions to make ... 

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It seems like lately I've been reading bad book after bad book and Gamerunner is no exception. It starts off by throwing you straight into the action, showing you the maze. Then after Rick leaves the maze his Guardian, Daed, asks him to re-enter and stop someone from completing it. Rick does this but does what Daed ordered him not to - he completes the maze himself. His actions causes a lot of problems in his world and he finds himself caught up in a lot of politics.

I found myself with more questions than answers in this. I wanted to know who exactly the Government is. I wanted to know what the world outside of the building was like. Mainly, I wanted to know why everyone kept saying 'Gods' when there seemed to be no religion. Mostly, I was just bored. 

I'm not sure why Ganerunner failed to entertain. I think it was due to a number of things: the two main characters, Daed and Rick, seem to have spilt personalities - Rick is childlike at times and a moody teenager the next and Daed is a loving Father-figure one minute and a complete psychopath the next - so it was hard to understand them. The world itself was rather grey, I never got a glimpse of the world outside the building which bothered me, with Dystopians I like to have a good look at the whole world. I spent most of the book waiting for plot twists and action but the story failed to deliver - there was plenty of action at the end but it was dulled by an annoying cliff-hanger and if there were any plot twists I fell asleep through them. It's a shame, as the cover is amazing!


2/5

Review of Betrayal by Lee Nichols

Haunting Emma Book 2

Emma Vaile is the most powerful ghostkeeper in centuries. Which is great for battling the wraith-master Neos and horrible for her social life. Emma knows fellow ghostkeeper Bennett Stern is her soul mate, but when ghostkeepers fall in love, the weaker one loses all power. And until Neos is defeated, Bennett and Emma can't risk it.

When the temptation of being with Emma gets to be too much, Bennett disappears, pursuing a dangerous path to increase his powers. Heartbroken and alone, Emma tries to lose herself in school. But when the Knell, a secret ghostkeeping society, sends two new ghostkeepers to Echo Point—one a snarky teen guy, the other a British scholar—Emma throws herself into training to battle Neos. But as the team grows stronger, so do the ghosts. And worse, one of their own will betray them. One Emma never suspected. . . .


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As with Deception, the title of Betrayal fits perfectly with the story, which I think is a brilliant idea. The plot is just as strong and made me giggle a lot throughout! My favourite moments are when the characters talk in a different language to each other - and the translations are in the footnotes! 

The story introduces two new characters, Simon and Lukas, and they're great additions. Simon is the strict father-figure, who has them up late training and eating rather bland food and Lukas is your typical teenage boy, he reminds me of a less-uptight version of Harry. The obvious attraction between Natalie and Lukas made for even more hilarious moments. Harry, and Sara are in this too - but they blame Emma for Coby's death, and want nothing to with her.
Emma herself is just as awesome as she was in Deception, but you do have to put up with her thinking about Bennett all the time! Personally, I'd tell him where to go if he chose his Ghostkeeping abilities over me. Bennett has more substance in this but I'm not sure I like him as much as I did in the last book. He's less of a protective, sexy-older-guy figure and more of an asshole, to be honest!

There's some great twists and turns too, that kept me guessing right until the very end and the sneak peek of Surrender just made me want the third book even more! Is it December yet?


5/5

Received free from Bloomsbury in exchange for an honest review

Review of Shimmer by Alyson Noel

Riley Bloom Book 2

Having solved the matter of the Radiant Boy, Riley, Buttercup, and Bodhi are enjoying a well-deserved vacation. When Riley comes across a vicious black dog, against Bodhi’s advice, she decides to cross him over. While following the dog, she runs into a young ghost named Rebecca. Despite Rebecca’s sweet appearance, Riley soon learns she’s not at all what she seems. As the daughter of a former plantation owner, she is furious about being murdered during a slave revolt in 1733. Mired in her own anger, Rebecca is lashing out by keeping the ghosts who died along with her trapped in their worst memories. Can Riley help Rebecca forgive and forget without losing herself to her own nightmarish memories?

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I originally wasn't going to read Shimmer - I didn't enjoy Radiance much - I found a few plot holes and thought that it was a bit too childish altogether. However I received a copy for review of Shimmer, and decided it would be worth the read - after all, it's pretty short!
I'm pleased to say that I made the right decision as the plot, once it gets going, is pretty unique and much stronger than the one in Radiance. Riley's character isn't as irritating and a found myself liking her much more. She reminded me very strongly of a younger Ever.

This one follows a tougher subject - the slave trade. I would advise some caution with really young readers as there's a few moments that aren't pretty but I believe the author handles them and the whole subject very well and it seemed very believable.

We also get a glimpse of Bodhi's past but he doesn't feature too heavily. I found this particular section rather intriguing and I'd love to know more of his past. As well as that we also see the past of a new character, Rebecca, who's been blinded my rage after her death, trapping people in her bubble. Riley's unassigned task this time is to get to the root of the problem and rescue Buttercup and Bodhi in the process. Thankfully she has help in the shape of Prince Kanta, one of the slaves. If he hadn't have been there the book would centre of Riley banging her fists against a bubble for the entire book and I don't think that would sell nearly as well! Needless to say, I hope this isn't Prince Kanta's last appearance.


4/5

Received free from Macmillan in exchange for an honest review

Review of Prisoner of the Inquisition by Theresa Breslin

Zarita is used to basking in the pampered lifestyle being the only daughter of the town magistrate affords; she is free to roam the town as she likes, consort with the son of a nobleman and spend her days studying the arts. Saulo's family have fallen on hard times, and when his father is hanged for an assault on Zarita he did not commit and Saulo is hauled off to be a slave at sea, Saulo swears revenge. But when Zarita's mother dies in childbirth, and the formidable and frightening Inquisition arrives in the area, a curtain of suspicion and brutality comes down on her old life for good. Saulo may believe that Zarita is his sworn enemy, but in a time when the whole of Spain is in turmoil, are him and Zarita each other's only hope of survival?

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This historical novel, set mostly in Spain in the 15th century, follows the journey of two very different characters, whose lives are strangely connected. Zarita is a very spoilt girl who unwittingly causes the execution of Saulo's father. Saulo himself is sent away on a ship, and as he grows up he plots his revenge against Zarita's family. The story is told from both points of view, Zarita tells of the horrors of the Inquisition and Saulo's of his life at sea.

With this, the idea of the two different stories should have been really interesting to read about but I found Saulo's half rather boring, and just dragged myself through it. No offense to Saulo but I didn't really want to know about life on a ship when the other tale was of the Inquisition and public punishment, every day more terror! I think this could have quite easily been just one story - Zarita's. I definitely would have enjoyed it more if it had.

Zarita's half involves a wicked Step-Mother, the loss of her mother and of course, what it's like to questioned by the Inquisition. Zarita, although spoilt, is a very likeable character for me because she does her best to help others, just like her Mother. When Saulo is sent away after his Father dies she goes out of her way to find his Mother and look after her in her final days. Her character just gets stronger throughout the book. Saulo, on the other hand, I can't really say much about. He's sold for some wine and then spends his next few years on a ship. It seemed like he kept forgetting that he was supposed to be blinded by revenge until it suited the author.

The last 150 pages just seemed to get get sillier with some rather ridiculous plot twists and an ending that made me groan aloud, it was so cheesy and sloppily written. I felt like I'd won a 500 mile race to be rewarded with a cheese sandwich. A mouldy one.


2/5

Review of Deception by Lee Nichols

When Emma Vaile’s parents go missing while away on a mysterious business trip, she’s left all alone in her creepy old house. But her brother’s very cute best friend, Bennett Stern—Emma’s knight in J. Crew armor—arrives unexpectedly to whisk her away to New England. There, Emma settles into his family’s museum-like mansion and enrolls at an old-fashioned private school. She quickly finds friends in the popular legacy crowd at Thatcher and spends her free time crushing on Bennett.

But the eerie visions she’s been hiding from everyone have gotten worse. Emma has memories of Thatcher that she can’t explain—it’s as if she’s returning home to a place she’s never been. Finally, Emma confides in Bennett and learns she is a ghostkeeper, a person who can communicate with ghosts. Bennett brought Emma to Thatcher to protect her, but now he needs her help tracking an other-worldly murderer.


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I received a copy of this from Bloomsbury and as I hadn't heard if it before, it was pretty intrigued! After seeing other bloggers positive comments I decided to read it as soon as possible, and I'm really glad I did. I couldn't stop reading! I read 100 odd pages before I went to bed and then read the rest of it the next afternoon.

You do have some stereotypical elements - main character has stronger powers than everyone else, forbidden love, etc - but I enjoyed them just as much as the rest of the book as they were well written and fit in really well with the story.

I enjoyed the potential romance between Bennett and Emma a lot and found myself enjoyably frustrated every time there was a potential kiss and then something else happened! Bennett is a great love interest, all moody but with a sweet side too. The addition of ghosts with actual personalities was really appreciated as there doesn't seem to be many YA ghost books with a real presence of ghosts these days. I loved the little boy with the Tetris obsession the best, he was really sweet. Second favourite had to be the Rake, Although I found it a shame he couldn't be a potential love interest too as I found him rather appealing!

Emma herself is one of my favourite main characters, she's really goofy and hilarious when drunk. A particular conversation about catapults had me showing my OH the paragraph!

This book does remind me a lot of Hourglass by Myra McEntire, which I think is great as I loved that one too. I'm really looking forward to reading the next book so I can find out what will happen with Emma and Bennett next, and see if her parents turn up, as there were some interesting events that happened at the end of the book...

5/5

Received free from Bloomsbury in exchange for an honest review

Review of At the Sign of the Sugared Plum by Mary Hooper

It is 1665 and Hannah is full of excitement at the prospect of her first trip to London. She is going to help her sister, Sarah, in her candy shop, 'The Sugared Plum'. But Hannah does not get the welcoming reception she expected from her sister, because the Plague is taking hold of London. However, Hannah is determined to stay and together the two young women face the worst-with the possibility of their own demise, growing ever closer. But through it all they persevere with the support of their neighbors and each other. And at last, they find hope in a daring attempt to escape the city.

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At the Sign of the Sugared Plum is a very quick read about a young girl's experiences in London, during the Plague. It's told in the usual Mary Hooper fashion, a lot of attention to detail with a very rich, vivid storyline and a very likeable heroine.

Hannah did annoy me at first because she was a very stereotypical, 'fresh from the country' girl, she's very naive and the only things on her mind are getting rid of her freckles and the latest fashions. However, after seeing all the horrors of the Plague - Plague pits, dead and dying lying in the street and being trapped in London - only people with signed papers stating they're healthy can leave, and they aren't cheap - Hannah starts to see how the world really is and she starts to be more like her sister, despite still having a weakness for the latest fashions!

The cover is an eye-catching one too - if you look closely at Hannah's eye you can see a skull in it, which I find pretty creepy! There's also a newspaper style background with larger words like 'Plague' and 'Prayers' really standing out. It's a brilliant cover.

As I said, the storytelling is magical. There's enough gruesome detail to really get a picture of what it was like there (I swear I smelt a house full of rotting bodies at one point) but not so much that you'd want to hide it from your 13 year old sister. A perfect balance really!

I would have liked the book to have been longer so we could have found out what happened afterwards with some of the characters and I'm not sure why this wasn't done, after all, the book is only 163 pages long so another chapter shouldn't have hurt?

Review Update: Since writing this review I've learnt that there is a sequel, Petals in the Ashes, which I'll be reviewing somewhere...

5/5

Review of XVI by Julia Karr

Every girl gets one.
An XVI tattoo on the wrist--sixteen.


Some girls can't wait to be sixteen, to be legal. Nina is not one of them. Even though she has no choice in the matter, she knows that so long as her life continues as normal, everything will be okay.

Then, with one brutal strike, Nina's normal is shattered; and she discovers that nothing that she believed about her life is true. But there's one boy who can help--and he just may hold the key to her past.

But with the line between attraction and danger as thin as a whisper, one thing is for sure...

For Nina, turning sixteen promises to be anything but sweet.


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The idea behind this book is quite a clever one, with your typical Dystopian themes - different classes of people, called 'Tiers', a controlling Government, a Resistance rebelling against the Government and right in the middle of it all is the main character, getting caught up in the politics of her World whilst falling in love and dealing with that.

This story should be perfect for me, I am a Dystopian junkie after all. But I just couldn't connect with the story at all. The writing was okay but I couldn't bring myself to care about any of the characters exept for Wei and I couldn't picture the world at all.

The back of the book is quite misleading, the XVI tattoo and all that it means is pushed to one side (at the same time as being brought up often) in favour of playing Fathers For Justice. Indeed, most of the book is about Nina keeping her little sister, Dee, away from her Mother's crazy ex, Ed. Which bored me to death. I thought the book was slow going when I started it but once it stuck itself in the rut of Nina narrowly escaping Ed, it really stuck itself there.

Sex was also covered. Nina is terrified of becoming sixteen because she expects that as soon as she does she'll get gang raped. She decides she never wants sex due to watching Ed's Sex-Teen tapes when she was younger, the details of which aren't really mentioned. Actually, for a book so heavily centered on sex, the Author does a great job not mentioning it. Anyway, as soon as Nina meets Sal for around the third time she immediately notices how hot he is and spends a lot of time wanting to hump him. But she can't hump him, she's too traumatised! But she wants him! Oh dear.

Characters wise, I have no idea why Nina and Sal are together, I have no idea what Sal looks like or what his personalities like, I couldn't care less about him. Wei was the only character I cared about as she actually had a personality. Strangely enough, the thing that annoyed me the most was the constant reminder that Nina takes the 33 bus. I think it must have been mentioned at least 10 times.

2/5

Review of Jessie ❤'s NYC by Keris Stainton

Jessie's just arrived in New York, hoping to forget about her awful ex.

New Yorker Finn is in love with his best friend's girlfriend.

They might be perfect together, but in a city of eight million people, will they ever find each other?


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After being stuck in a rut of three really disappointing books, Jessie Hearts NYC was the perfect next read for me. It was sweet, funny and fluffy in all the right places and I nearly cried when I finished it. Nearly!

The idea of Jessie and Finn nearly bumping into each was inspired - and rather frustrating at times! Both have their own problems to solve before they finally meet though - Jessie needs to reconcile with her mother and Finn needs to get over his obsession with Sam - his best friend's girlfriend. It was a lot of fun reading about all the places Jessie and Finn visit on their emotional journeys, knowing they were in the same places! Plus the added excitement that I discovered today that I'll be visiting New York myself next year!

Relationships is the main thing in this - Finn and Sam's relationship is in danger if Finn's obsession causes him to do something stupid, Jessie's mum, Natalie and Jessie tend to avoid each other instead of dealing with their problems, Finn is worried about yelling his Dad he doesn't want to work in insurance, Emma, Jessie's best friend, is helping Jessie get over a difficult relationship, you get the idea. I loved Emma best in this, she's the ultimate best friend! Really supportive and she's alway giving Jessie a push in the right direction.

Although I've never visited New York, I really did feel as if I was there too and I can tell the Author loves New York and must have visited a lot of places there! My favourite scene was in the revolving restaurant, which is my favourite restaurant in the world. Unfortunately I've never had the opportunity to visit.

I would have loved to have read more about Jessie and Finn, I think that's my only complaint! A 1000 page book would be more than fine by me! I think a sequel would be nice but I don't think there will be one. *sob*

5/5