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Review: Matched by Ally Condie

Rated: 8 out of 10
Matched by Ally Condie
Published November 2010
(Author Website)  (Book Website)
Summary from book website:

In the Society, Officials decide. Who you love. Where you work. When you die.

Cassia has always trusted their choices. It’s hardly any price to pay for a long life, the perfect job, the ideal mate. So when her best friend appears on the Matching screen, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is the one… until she sees another face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black. Now Cassia is faced with impossible choices: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she’s known and a path no one else has ever dared follow — between perfection and passion.

When we meet Cassia it is the night of her Match banquet. The night that  she will learn who she will spend the rest of her life with, who she will have children with, who will be her constant companion. When she stands to see her Match she learns that it is none other then her childhood friend, Xander, handsome, funny, and home. Cassia is extremely pleased with her Match. It couldn't have gone better. She doesn't even plan on looking at her micro card to read more about Xander; she knows him so well after all.  But the night she truly decides to pick up and see what is on her card about Xander it isn't Xander that looks back at her through the Port. It's another boy, a different boy, but a boy she already knows.  This shakes Cassia to her core. The Society doesn't make mistakes. Why, then, would Ky's picture show up where Xander's should have been?

Matched was marketed as being similar to The Giver in it's seemingly perfect society that truly isn't all that perfect. I have read The Giver, and I've read and Matched. (Sadly I quit working at the library and had to give The Giver back before finishing it. I haven't had the chance or remembered to buy it the few times I've made it to the bookstore in the past few weeks. If Jannsen, of Everyday Reading, joined The Giver party late when she read it at nineteen I joined it almost ten years later. What does that say about me? But, lets move on.) Both are beautiful, and both say so much about life without being overbearing. Ally Condie, the author of Matched, is a wonder writer. Her world and characters felt so small and intertwined that I felt like I could have been one of them. I could have befriended Cassia. I could have fallen in love with her Match Xander. I could completely understand Cassia's inner struggle when it came to coming to terms with the Society she has always known and believed in.

Yes, this is dystopian fiction, and yes it is pretty routine where dystopians are set. A society that is seemingly perfect, a young adult who learns otherwise, who feels betrayed, and is forever changed when she/he learns about the lies they've been feed their whole lives. And, yes, dystopians are being published like crazy, but this book I readily gave away to be read. I felt like I had to share the book. It was beautifully written. It made you think, and honestly I think it falls more along the lines of a mystery that is slowly being unravelled all the while making you think and ponder about of life's most amazing phenomenons, love.

I can't wait to read what happens to Cassia, Xander, and Ky next. I hope everyone gives Matched a try, even if dystopians aren't your thing.

Review: Misguided Angel by Melissa De La Cuz

Misguided Angel, A Blue Bloods Novel (Book 5) 

Author: Melissa De La Cruz

Published: October 2010 

Past posts: The  Van Alen Legacy (Book 4), The Blue Blood Series

Summary: Book five picks up where book four, The Van Alen Legacy, left off. Schuyler finds Jack who has left Mimi for her. Mimi has vowed to kill Jack for his betrayal, and De La Cruz introduces a new character in the series, Deming.

I have to say that I was really disappointed in where this series is going. The fifth installment of a projected thirteen book series was very much lacking in where it is going. It was a complete filler in a series that is shaping up to fall short of my expectations. Whole plot points, like Bliss and Charles, where  placed on the back burner while I wasted 300 pages and hours of my time waiting for the point of this book. Other than to add in Deming to the mix and tell you that Mimi is going to kill Jack for his betrayal not much happened, and I was seriously disappointed in how Jack and Schulyer were presented as a couple. If I had to read them call each other "love" one more time I was ready to throw the book at the wall. It felt like a complete waste of my time.

Perhaps other readers will gobble up filler books while waiting for the actual plot to continue but I won't. I'm not at all happy with wasting my money on a filler novel that made little to no head-way into the actual plot of the series. I don't plan on wasting any more money to find out how the series ends as well. Thanks but no thanks Melissa De La Cruz. I really enjoyed this series up to this point. I know that others reading this review will want me to point out other reasons for disliking this book, but honestly that was it. The writing was the same as it ever was, the characters haven't really changed, and not much happened. That was all it took for me to drop this series. 

Sapphique by Catherine Fisher

Overall: 3 out of 10 stars


Sapphique by Catherine Fisher
Received from Around the World Tours

Finn has escaped from the terrible living Prison of Incarceron, but its memory torments him, because his brother Keiro is still inside. Outside, Claudia insists he must be king, but Finn doubts even his own identity. Is he the lost prince Giles? Or are his memories no more than another construct of his imprisonment? And can you be free if your friends are still captive? Can you be free if your world is frozen in time? Can you be free if you don't even know who you are? Inside Incarceron, has the crazy sorcerer Rix really found the Glove of Sapphique, the only man the Prison ever loved. Sapphique, whose image fires Incarceron with the desire to escape its own nature. If Keiro steals the glove, will he bring destruction to the world? Inside. Outside. All seeking freedom. Like Sapphique. 

Sadly I just didn't like Sapphique. I marginally liked Incarceron, and that was because I really loved the writing. Fisher's skills with the written word aside I just couldn't get behind the time wasting circles she constantly put the reader and her characters into. I had hoped that in the sequel there would be some romance, some growth in the characters in the beginning, but Finn's pity me attitude throughout the beginning was frustrating to say the least. Claudia's calculating how Finn's behavior would effect her...well, I just couldn't go all the way with this book. It felt way too much like Incarceron, and I didn't like Incarceron enough to want to read in circles and take forever to get anywhere. Although Fisher's writing is good I just always feel like I'm getting yanked around, and like she's taking too long to get to the point. 


Sorry guys. As always go to the tour page and see what everyone else thought. Quite a few people liked Sapphique and Incarceron more then I did. You never know! You might like it too. 

Incarceron by Catherine Fisher

For the first time since starting this blog I'm putting a score on a review. Sometimes I just feel like it would help a lot to put a score on a review. So here I am doing something I didn't think I would do. Go figure. 

Incarceron by Catherine Fisher

Overall Score: 4 out of 10

Incarceron- a futuristic prison, sealed from view, where the descendants of the original prisoners live in a dark world torn by rivalry and savagery. It is a terrifying mix of high technology-a living building which pervades the novel as an ever-watchful, ever-vengeful character, and a typical medieval torture chamber-chains great halls, dungeons. A young prisoner, Finn, has haunting visions of an earlier life, and cannot believe he was born here and has always been here. 

In the outer world, Claudia, daughter of the Warden of Incarceron, is trapped in her own form prison--a futuristic world constructed beautifully to look like a past era, an imminent marriage he dreads. She knows nothing of Incarceron, except that it exists. But there comes a moment when Finn, inside Incarceron, and Claudia, outside simultaneously find a device--a crystal key, through which they can talk to each other. And so the plan for Finn's escape is born. 

From the moment I read the plot to Incarceron I knew I wanted to read it. The very idea held so much potential. I hadn't read any other reviews before I signed up to read the sequel, Sapphique, on an ARC tour. Unfortunately I didn't like Incarceron as much as I thought I would. The backstory was rarely explained throughout the novel (a 400 page novel mind you) and you simply followed along as Claudia and Finn tried to find a way out of their respective prisons.

Why Incarceron exists, outside of creating a so-called paradise, isn't well explained within the confines of the story. Yes, there are notes, bits of letters, and pieces of history in the header of each chapter--which is very creative--but I felt like a lot of those small quotes were used in place of telling an actual history. I kept waiting for someone to give me a backstory on the Era, why the powers that be would decide on a such a drastic change in everyone's lives to halt time as it were. To chose to send thousands of people into a prison that no one would return from. Also, did sending all prisoners to Incarceron instantly stop crime from occurring. Do they chose to send new prisoners from people who break the law Outside, and these people are really the cell-borns? It would make some kind of sense, wouldn't it?

I was left with so many questions that I felt weren't really answered. Instead we were left with a story about a girl who didn't want to get married and a boy that might be the heir to a country he knows nothing about. The book ended and yet I still felt like I just didn't understand the world that Fisher was trying to build. I got the idea, I understood the Era they were trying to recreate, and sort of why it happened, but I wanted to know more.

Finn is your tortured teen who knows, believes, feels that he doesn't belong in a Prison full of thieves and killers. Claudia is a girl who feels the same way, but has no idea how she could Escape. She is trapped just as much as Finn except with prettier dresses and better hygiene. I found so much of this book to be interesting and fun to read, but I also felt like so many words were wasted on not telling us what and why this world existed. Perhaps leaving us with so many questions at the end of Incarceron was Fisher's way of making us want the sequel to answer them. Unfortunately I was left with a half-finished feeling. I liked the story well enough, but if I wasn't receiving Sapphique as an ARC I don't know if I would of bought it on my own.

The writing was beautiful, but I felt all too often that I was being dragged along on a trip that was taking too long. I could have done with a story that was 50 pages less. Like I said it wasn't a bad book, but it wasn't as good as I'd hoped it would be. So far the sequel is proving to be just as intriguing as Incarceron, but we'll just need to see how the story goes.

Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly

Received from Around the World Tours.

BROOKLYN: Andi Alpers is on the edge. She’s angry at her father for leaving, angry at her mother for not being able to cope, and heartbroken by the loss of her younger brother, Truman. Rage and grief are destroying her. And she’s about to be expelled from Brooklyn Heights’ most prestigious private school when her father intervenes. Now Andi must accompany him to Paris for winter break.

PARIS: Alexandrine Paradis lived over two centuries ago. She dreamed of making her mark on the Paris stage, but a fateful encounter with a doomed prince of France cast her in a tragic role she didn’t want—and couldn’t escape.

Two girls, two centuries apart. One never knowing the other. But when Andi finds Alexandrine’s diary, she recognizes something in her words and is moved to the point of obsession. There’s comfort and distraction for Andi in the journal’s antique pages—until, on a midnight journey through the catacombs of Paris, Alexandrine’s words transcend paper and time, and the past becomes suddenly, terrifyingly present.

Jennifer Donnelly, author of the award-winning novel A Northern Light, artfully weaves two girls’ stories into one unforgettable account of life, loss, and enduring love. Revolution spans centuries and vividly depicts the eternal struggles of the human heart.

I've heard of A Northern Light but never read it. This was my first Jennifer Donnelly novel. To be honest I was not in the mood for a girl that was so depressed and distraught from her brother's death. I wasn't looking for such a sad premise. The thing is when I sign up for a book it's often months in advance, and what seemed so interesting then can hit me at a bad time.

So reading such a sad story about a girl wanted to kill herself because her brother's death tore her family apart so badly was hard to get through. Actually going through such a thing, of course, can't be easy either. In this case Donnelly was doing her job. Andi was a snarky, distraught, and angry teenager. When her father finally comes around to put her mother into a hospital and take her to France I was really to drop the book. 

Then the French history came into play. The way that Donnelly wrote about the history, the time, the political turmoil was so vastly interesting. Her characters were so passionate about it that they really made you want to learn about that time. It was, for me, when the story turned around. (Although Andi's statement that even Pre-Kers know about the revolution is a little far-fetched. She's probably being just a little snot, but still.) 

Needless to say that the story took a turn for the better. I loved what I read, and knew from the moment that Andi saw her little brother in that painting that it would be amazing. I will definitely be buying this book and re-reading it. It brought a time in history to life as well as interweaving Andi's progress from a broken, suicidal young women into healing. All of it happening because of her interactions with a girl from the French Revolution. 

Long story short I ended up loving this story. If you're like me and you enjoy historical fiction you'll really enjoy this book. 

Mockingjay by Susan Collins

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

The final installment of The Hunger Games.

Previous review on Catching Fire (Book 2)

Katniss has survived her second round in the Hunger Games. The Quarter Quell has ended with her separated from Peeta, and District 12 blown off the map. Katniss now has to acknowledge that District 13 does exist. Now she will have to decide if she can be the symbol of hope to all those who are fighting on the rebel side as well as a symbol of rebelliousness to the Capital.

In the beginning of Mockingjay Katniss has yet to really regain her bearings from the Quarter Quell. She is lost, and wonders about District 13. She uses a therapeutic method of keeping herself grounded by repeating known truths about herself. She doesn't know if Peeta is dead or alive or what it is that the Capital is doing to him. All she knows is that she is relatively safe while he is suffering pains that could be worse then death.

Then Coin, the leader of the Rebellion, tells her that she needs Katniss to be the face of the rebellion. The Mockingjay. When Katniss finally agrees to do what Coin wants she is unsure, again, if her actions will be of any help to anyone outside of the rebellion. Peeta is the one she most often thinks about. His welfare and whether or not the Capital is torturing him at that very moment. Her mother and sister, along with Gales family, are safe. So why would she worry about them? The only person really that Katniss has to worry about is Peeta...and Johanna.

I actually completed Mockingjay almost a week ago, and when i finished the book I knew, just knew, I'd have to read it again in order to really get everything I'd read. I was in such a hurry to just read the pages and learn what happens next. I'd wondered for a year what, and how, Collins would do next. She'd done such a marvelous job of pulling us in and surprising us over and over again. I wanted to know.

SPOILERS

MAJOR SPOILERS

I WARNED YOU.

In the end we all knew it would be Peeta. I was rooting for Gale in Book 1until you really got to know Peeta. Then I had no idea who to like. In Book 3 you get to see Katniss without Peeta, and then at a time when she, like almost everyone else, has found Peeta to be a shadow of his former self. He is no longer the sweet, kind, and intense person who has always loved Katniss from afar. He is instead a Mutt born from the Capital with the express purpose of killing her. It's Gale's chance to step in, take over, and win Katniss over. But he, and Collins, don't play it that way. Instead, as he tells Peeta, he understands that Katniss will choose the person she can't survive without. Gale understands something that even Katniss does not. That Katniss needs someone to balance her out. Someone to be the calm to her fire. I love how that ended. So heartbreakingly lovely and true to their characters.

Okay, now that I've said my piece on that. War is said, and so many lost their lives so easily in this book that it made me not want to turn that next page. To pretend that they are still alive and happy. Collins said she wanted to make her books reflect war. It's scars that are left behind on everyone, and I have to say she did so magnificently. I don't feel she pulled punches when it came to getting her message across. I could hardly get through Cato's death in Book 1, and expected much of the same to happen with Book 3. Although it didn't have quite the same effect seeing how Peeta and Johanna came back from the Capital was hard. Peeta, the always kind and loving boy, reduced to an animal.

I can't really write more on the book, because I really believe it deserves a second read to really get what Collins was trying to convey. I loved it, I cried, and I can't wait to see what Collins comes out with next.