Tag: YA

Posted on

Review of Incarceron: Catherine Fisher

So it’s no big shock that I love books that involve the world we live in destroying itself and the survivors creating a new world.

I just like the premise and enjoy reading people’s theories through fiction on what that new world could look like.

This is a really great book and I read they are making a movie of it and Taylor Lautner (Jacob from the Twilight movies) is going to play Finn. Hmmm….

Anyways, totally enjoyed this book and the follow up one Sapphique.

4 stars and recommend it!

Amazon Summary:
Catherine Fisher’s intelligent, genre-bending tale (Dial, 2010) will fascinate teens looking for something new and different. Finn is a 17-year old prisoner of Incarceron. His memories begin and end there. He knows nothing about his heritage except for vague memories that tease at his mind. The teen is determined to escape the prison fashioned centuries ago as a solution to the chaos created by man. Now Incarceron is self-sustaining and self-perpetuating—prisoners are born there and they die there. Legend claims only one man has ever escaped, Sapphique, and Finn is determined to follow in his steps. Claudia, the warden’s daughter, lives sequestered in a castle surrounded by servants. But she, too, longs for escape—from a father who frightens her and from betrothal to an insipid prince. Finn and Claudia each discover a crystal key and are amazed to find that they can communicate with each other. As their trust in one another builds, each pledges to help the other. The two stories emerge, intertwine and, by the end, unwind in startling twists that will astonish listeners. Kim Mai Guest delivers an amazing, fully-voiced performance that vividly paints each character.

  • Hardcover: 448 pages
  • Publisher: Dial; 1 edition (January 26, 2010)
  • Language: English
Posted on

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
Posted on

Clockwork Angel (The Infernal Devices Book 1): Cassandra Clare

So I was a big fan of the Mortal Instruments series so I was happy to hear that she was continuing the whole series with a new set of characters, set in an earlier time.
I really enjoyed the book, although I must say I liked the first one better. But this was just the first book. I think I just liked the lead male better in the Mortal Instruments series than this book, but I’m open 🙂

I would give it 4 stars and recommend it, especially if you liked the Mortal Instruments.

  • Reading level: Young Adult
  • Hardcover: 496 pages
  • Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry (August 31, 2010)
  • Language: English
Posted on

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
Posted on

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