Tag: dystopian

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The Maze Runner: James Dashner

I’m not really sure why it took me so long to read this book. I’ve been reading really great reviews on it for some time now, but I just never found the time.

But then I’ve been sick with some sort of mild flu or cold or whatever so I’ve been in bed and I was scanning through my Kindle Reading List and figured, ah, why not?

I started it and it was immediately pretty interesting. I finished it and LOVED it. I immediately downloaded book 2 and read the whole thing that day.

I totally recommend this book. Especially if you liked the Hunger Games trilogy, I think you’ll really like this book. Totally recommend with 5 stars.

Amazon Summary:
When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his first name. His memory is blank. But he’s not alone. When the lift’s doors open, Thomas finds himself surrounded by kids who welcome him to the Glade—a large, open expanse surrounded by stone walls.

Just like Thomas, the Gladers don’t know why or how they got to the Glade. All they know is that every morning the stone doors to the maze that surrounds them have opened. Every night they’ve closed tight. And every 30 days a new boy has been delivered in the lift.

Thomas was expected. But the next day, a girl is sent up—the first girl to ever arrive in the Glade. And more surprising yet is the message she delivers.

Thomas might be more important than he could ever guess. If only he could unlock the dark secrets buried within his mind.

  • Paperback: 400 pages
  • Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers; Reprint edition (August 24, 2010)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0385737955
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Matched: Ally Condie

I have been eagerly anticipating this book for about 6 months.

It didn’t disappoint and I recommend!

Amazon Summary:
For Cassia, nothing is left to chance–not what she will eat, the job she will have, or the man she will marry. In Matched, the Society Officials have determined optimal outcomes for all aspects of daily life, thereby removing the “burden” of choice. When Cassia’s best friend is identified as her ideal marriage Match it confirms her belief that Society knows best, until she plugs in her Match microchip and a different boy’s face flashes on the screen. This improbable mistake sets Cassia on a dangerous path to the unthinkable–rebelling against the predetermined life Society has in store for her. As author Ally Condie’s unique dystopian Society takes chilling measures to maintain the status quo, Matched reminds readers that freedom of choice is precious, and not without sacrifice

  • Hardcover: 384 pages
  • Publisher: Dutton Juvenile (November 30, 2010)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0525423648
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Mockingjay: Suzanne Collins

Now this was a fantastic conclusion to this trilogy!

It wraps everything up and has everything that you would be looking for for in Book Three.

I am not really going to write a lot about it, but to say that I loved it.

If you have read Hunger Games and Catching Fire then you will love this book!

5 stars and definitely recommend it!

So go read it!

  • Reading level: Young Adult
  • Hardcover: 400 pages
  • Publisher: Scholastic Press; 1 edition (August 24, 2010)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0439023513
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Dead Tossed Waves: Carrie Ryan

This is a the 2nd book to The Forest of Hands and Teeth which is one of the best books I’ve read in a long time!
It doesn’t so much pick up where the last one left off, so I wouldn’t call it a sequal, it just sort of progresses the stories a few decades later.
But just like Forest of Hands and Teeth, it grips you and sucks you in. You connect with the characters and the love and the fear and the tragedy on such a deep level.
I TOTALLY recommend this book with 5 stars! Like seriously, go out and read both of them… like now. This instant!

Summary:
Gabry has grown up safely in the city of Vista. She lives in a lighthouse with her mother, Mary, the daring heroine of The Forest of Hands and Teeth (Delacorte, 2009), whose job it is to kill Mudo—zombies—as they wash ashore. Then one night, Cira, Gabry’s best friend, and Catcher, Cira’s brother, convince her to sneak outside Vista’s walls. With the attack of one Breaker—a fast zombie—everything changes: a friend is killed, Catcher is infected, and Cira is imprisoned and destined for the Recruiters, the army that protects the loose federation of cities left after the Return. Feeling both guilty for having escaped punishment and self-destructive after the revelation that Mary in fact adopted her, Gabry pushes herself to cross the city’s Barrier again. Some pieces of the narrative are well constructed: the constant, looming threat of the Mudo, Gabry’s quiet determination and daring in the face of fear, and villainous soldier Daniel’s palpably frightening power-grabbing sexual advances. Other details are less believable, like Mary’s suddenly abandoning her daughter and her duties to seek her past in the Forest. Though flawed, this volume has enough action, romance, and depth of character to satisfy, and the cliff-hanger ending will leave fans hungry for the third book.

  • Hardcover: 416 pages
  • Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers (March 9, 2010)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0385736843
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The Handmaid’s Tale: Margaret Atwood

Now this was an interesting book.

It’s all about what would happen if the extreme, religious right took over the country and for the “woman’s own good” began to strip away her rights to where within 10 years or so we were basically back in the Puritan era.
But then mix it up with the fact that because of all the pesticides, nuclear power plant explosions, etc the majority of Americans can’t conceive and 3 out of 4 babies are born with abnormalities, it’s just does not bode well for women.

This is a story, sort of like an oral diary, of a “Handmaid” which is just a nice way of saying birthing slave.
Also her personal tragedy is just heart breaking. I totally mourned for the loss of her life and her loves.

I enjoyed the book, although it has some mature content in it.

It was the kind of book that really got you thinking.

recommend it.

Summary:
In a startling departure from her previous novels ( Lady Oracle , Surfacing ), respected Canadian poet and novelist Atwood presents here a fable of the near future. In the Republic of Gilead, formerly the United States, far-right Schlafly/Falwell-type ideals have been carried to extremes in the monotheocratic government. The resulting society is a feminist’s nightmare: women are strictly controlled, unable to have jobs or money and assigned to various classes: the chaste, childless Wives; the housekeeping Marthas; and the reproductive Handmaids, who turn their offspring over to the “morally fit” Wives. The tale is told by Offred (read: “of Fred”), a Handmaid who recalls the past and tells how the chilling society came to be.

  • Hardcover: 392 pages
  • Publisher: Everyman’s Library (October 17, 2006)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0307264602