I hate it when an author is writing for a YA audience and they dumb it down, make it obvious, predictable and cliché. It underestimates the intelligenI hate it when an author is writing for a YA audience and they dumb it down, make it obvious, predictable and cliché. It underestimates the intelligence of the reader and is quite frankly patronising.
I picked The Declaration up as Amazon's Deal Of The Day because the idea looked quite interesting - a society where people can live forever with the help of longevity drugs, but children are not allowed, and if they are born they have to live a life of servitude as a "surplus". Yes, on the face of it this could have been an exciting Orwellian-esq adventure, pity it didn't turn out that way.
There's nothing much to say about The Declaration except it was predictable. There were a few twists at the end, but all were very obvious ones you could see from a mile away.
Okay, there's character development, at the start of the novel Anna is an obedient surplus who "knows her place" and through her relations with Peter she changes her view on the world to realise she has as much right to exist as anyone else. But lets face it, we ALL saw that coming right?
This is the first of a series. I don't think i'll be bothering with the rest. ...more
Well, lets just say you have to be a tad open minded if you want to enjoy this book, but suspend your disbelief for long enough and you might find youWell, lets just say you have to be a tad open minded if you want to enjoy this book, but suspend your disbelief for long enough and you might find yourself pleasantly surprised by 172 Hours On The Moon.
I didn't enjoy the first 50 pages or so that much, the whole idea just seemed so silly. I mean if I can see that sending three teenagers to an abandoned moon base is a bad idea, why can't the heads of NASA?
Even worse, the three chosen teens didn't seem fit for a job at McDonalds, let alone the rigours of a space mission. Harstad explains the names are picked out randomly by a lottery, but honestly, would NASA really let a rebellious punk, a lovesick stalker and a harajuku girl go to the moon? Of course not.
It's at about this point I decided that I wouldn't enjoy this book if I looked at it too critically. After all I'm a 27 year old space nut, this book isn't written for someone like me.
The turning point came about halfway, when the lunar module had landed and things start to take a turn for the worse. I realised I wasn't reading a sci-fi book anymore, the focus had shifted to that of a dark, unsettling horror.
Harstad ramps up the tension as the mood of mission quickly descends from hopeful scientific exploration to a fight for survival. I became enthralled in a race against time where deceit and conspiracy threaten the lives of not only the crew, but the whole of mankind.
Verdict: 172 Hours On The Moon flops as a sci-fi, but it's a pretty good horror. The plot is original, the main character develops with the story and most of all it does what a horror is supposed to do - freak me out! I could imagine this as a Micheal Bay movie, fast paced with lots of action, but a bit lacking on the intellectual side. It's still a lot of fun though.
Hollywood are making a movie of Perks which is out in October, and after seeing the trailer looking quite promising I decided to read the book.
This isHollywood are making a movie of Perks which is out in October, and after seeing the trailer looking quite promising I decided to read the book.
This is one of those books that stays in your head long after you've finished reading. It really grew on me as the story went along. I went from pretty much disliking Perks to reflecting days after how much I want to re-read it.
Perks follows Charlie's first year of high school. He isn't a normal kid, he isn't even a normal "outsider", in a lot of ways he's just plain weird! This is a 15 year old boy that cries about everything and doesn't even know what masturbation is. He spends his spare time generally over-thinking things but comes up with some pretty remarkable insights that really made the book for me. This is a book that makes you think about the bad things, the good things and what really matters in life. Above all things Charlie is honest, and as the story unfolds you begin to realise why Charlie is so odd and it starts to fit into place.
Perks has been criticised for being too much like The Catcher In The Rye, and I can certainly see the similarity between Charlie and Holden Caulfield, both characters being at the same time extremely simple and complex. However if you read it as a book in its own right and not just a Salinger tribute I think you can take away a lot from Perks, certainly a worthwhile way to turn 200 or so pages.
Pandemonium is the follow up to Delirium, it follows the story of Lena who lives in an Orwellian-esq contemporary American society where love is viewePandemonium is the follow up to Delirium, it follows the story of Lena who lives in an Orwellian-esq contemporary American society where love is viewed as a disease. At the age of 18 teenagers are given what is essentially, a lobotomy, so they are incapable of feeling love, and then they are matched with a partner of the opposite sex.
Delirium begins in the summer before Lena and her best friend Hana are due to have their procedure. Over the course of the summer Lena falls in love with Alex who eventually reveals to her that he is an "invalid" (someone who has not had the procedure) and is part of a resistance movement, which mainly exists in the "wilds" (rural areas) surrounding the city boundaries. Alex convinces Lena to run away with him to make a life together in the wilds. However, quite by chance Lena's friend Hana discovers Lena and Alex's relationship and in a fit of jealousy alerts the authorities (this is revealed in Hana). The result is that during the attempt to flee Alex is caught by the authorities and Lena finds herself alone in the wilds. Cue cliff hanger ending where no-one knows if Alex is dead or alive.
Pandemonium picks up where Delirium left off and alternates between "then" (when Lena first arrives in the wilds) and "now" (6 months later). I won't reveal much about the story so I don't spoil it for anyone but essentially it involves Lena toughing up,learning to survive and become part of the resistance.
I'm so divided when it comes to this book. On the one hand I love the concept, but there are some parts that I just don't find realistic. Both books completely lack back story as to how society came to view love as a sickness! I mean the concept is pretty far fetched in itself so I feel we at least deserve a plausible explanation.
Also, how the heck did Lena move on from Alex so quickly? I know she presumes he's dead, but there is no evidence for this. She knows that prisoners are often kept for years in the crypts and it even mentions that they have been bombed leading to the escape of many prisoners.
I guess the whole romance with Julian feels predictable, and that's a feeling I got again and again throughout the book. As soon as Julian mentioned where the key was for his Dad's secret room, I knew Lena would end up there. When the colour coded bird shit warning system (yes, really!!) was explained to Lena, I knew one day that she would find it "red". When she was presented with an umbrella by Tuck, a man who never does anything without a reason, I knew what was about to be happened next was pre-planned. And don't even get me started on the ridiculous security codes which have clues next to the pads that need to be deciphered. It's far too simple and unrealistic.
Despite this, and a testament to Oliver's imagination and flowery writing style, I still enjoyed Pandemonium and i'm looking forward to the next one in 2013. At the root of it the Delirium series is fun, a guilty pleasure that kept me hooked from first paragraph to the finish....more
For me this was a real love/hate book. I love the concept of it - the idea that in a dystopian world love is a disease which needs to be eradicated - For me this was a real love/hate book. I love the concept of it - the idea that in a dystopian world love is a disease which needs to be eradicated - but I found the execution quite sloppy and childlike in places. On the whole though this was a fun read and I look forward to getting my hands on the sequel.
Okay so I'll give it to you straight, Jennifer E. Smith isn't going to be winning any literary prizes with this novel. But then again, I didn3.5 stars
Okay so I'll give it to you straight, Jennifer E. Smith isn't going to be winning any literary prizes with this novel. But then again, I didn't pick this up in the hope of finding the next Rebecca. I just wanted a light, romantic summer read, something to cheer me up after being stuck in the house with a stubborn case of glandular fever.
Some books are great for escapism and this is one of them. I instantly empathised with the plight of 17 year old Hadley, who is crossing the Atlantic to watch her Dad get married to a woman she's never even met. Although Hadley is a reasonably well adjusted teenager her parents divorce hit her hard and she's still reeling from the hole left by her Dad left in her life. Smith develops this aspect of the storyline well and it's encouraging to see how the father-daughter relationship develops and transcends the bitterness and betrayal Hadley feels at the start of the novel.
So, to the love story. I won't pretend the romance between Hadley and Oliver is anything original, it isn't. But it's the kind of fairytale everyone dreams of. In reality Oliver would have invoked a restraining order when Hadley ran around half of London to find him, thankfully though this isn't reality. Of course it isn't a simple straightforward case of boy meets girl, there are twists and turns, the will-they, wont-they moments that keep you turning the pages and crossing your fingers.
Despite being quite predictable and formulaic I was swept along with the story line and found the familiarity of it quite comforting. Sometimes we just want to read something with a happy ending that reaffirms our hopes in all that is good in the world. This is that story....more
If I was stranded on a desert island and could only read one book for the rest of my days, this would be the one! I absolutely adored it, the characteIf I was stranded on a desert island and could only read one book for the rest of my days, this would be the one! I absolutely adored it, the characters are so well formed and realistic that by the end of the book I almost felt a genuine bond with them.
This is one of those rare books that touches your heart and soul. I wish there were 6 stars because finally I have found a book worthy of them....more
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