Renegade - J.A. Souders

Since the age of three, sixteen-year-old Evelyn Winters has been trained to be Daughter of the People in the underwater utopia known as Elysium. Selected from hundreds of children for her ideal genes, all her life she’s thought that everything was perfect; her world. Her people. The Law.

But when Gavin Hunter, a Surface Dweller, accidentally stumbles into their secluded little world, she’s forced to come to a startling realization: everything she knows is a lie. 

Her memories have been altered. 

Her mind and body aren’t under her own control. 

And the person she knows as Mother is a monster.

Together with Gavin she plans her escape, only to learn that her own mind is a ticking time bomb... and Mother has one last secret that will destroy them all.

---

Renegade by J.A. Souders is basically another dystopian novel that doesn't quite hit its mark. The premise itself is very interesting, and definitely had potential to be a fascinating, possibly disturbing story, but unfortunately I just wasn't able to connect with it.

I have to admit, I only read about the first 1/3 of it, before losing interest and putting it down. So there's definitely a possibility that it got better after I stopped, so who knows! But from what I read, it just wasn't my cup of tea.

The main character, Evelyn (Evie) starts off likable enough, if somewhat bland. She's been conditioned since birth to be the "Daughter of the People", which means she essentially has to be perfect. And to ensure that she is, she's pretty much been brainwashed and had her memory wiped numerous times by the leader of the underwater community of Elysium, Mother. My biggest problem with Evie was that she was supposed to be this very damaged, fragile girl who lives in a world where women still wear long dresses because modesty is #1, and you have to be ladylike, etc etc. Except literally like three chapters into the book when the love interest is introduced, she's all of a sudden abandoning everything and taking off after this random dude who broke into the city?? No gradual character arc, just BAM! now she's a badass, for reasons unknown.

As for the love interest, Gavin, I don't really have much to say about him just because I didn't really get to know him very well. He had potential to be an interesting character, but to me he seemed a little too cookie-cutter for my taste. Still, who knows because I didn't read very far!

All in all, I think there will definitely be a lot of people who might enjoy this book, but for me the writing felt a bit amateurish, and I couldn't really connect with the contrived plot and characters.

Pages: 364
Publisher: Tor Teen
Date Published: November 13, 2012
Rating: DNF

Shadow and Bone (The Grisha #1) - Leigh Bardugo

The Shadow Fold, a swathe of impenetrable darkness, crawling with monsters that feast on human flesh, is slowly destroying the once-great nation of Ravka.

Alina, a pale, lonely orphan, discovers a unique power that thrusts her into the lavish world of the kingdom’s magical elite—the Grisha. Could she be the key to unravelling the dark fabric of the Shadow Fold and setting Ravka free?

The Darkling, a creature of seductive charm and terrifying power, leader of the Grisha. If Alina is to fulfill her destiny, she must discover how to unlock her gift and face up to her dangerous attraction to him.

But what of Mal, Alina’s childhood best friend? As Alina contemplates her dazzling new future, why can’t she ever quite forget him?

---

I've heard a lot about Shadow and Bone recently, so I decided to pick it up and give it a try. Plus, the cover is absolutely gorgeous and dark and exactly my style. It's a bit difficult to give a brief overview of the book, but essentially it's about an orphan named Alina who ends up discovering a magic power that sets her apart from the rest of the Grisha (the magical order of people who live in Ravka and beyond). She meets the leader of the Grisha, the Darkling, who is fascinated by her and claims she can set all of Ravka free from the strange darkness of the Shadow Fold. And then, of course, there's Mal, a fellow orphan and her best friend.

It all sounds pretty standard fantasy fare, but let me assure you that Shadow and Bone is unlike anything I've read! The whole story is basically set in Russian folklore, and it's absolutely beautiful (and terrifying) to read about. The intricate hierarchy that Ms. Bardugo creates within Ravka is well-thought out, the descriptions of the palaces and the country are gorgeously written, and the bad guys literally gave me the chills. The Shadow Fold especially is just...ugh. So creepy. And the creatures that the darkness hides are even worse (in the best way)!

As for the characters, I really enjoyed most of them, even the supporting ones! Alina was weak, fragile, and unable to fight for herself, but about halfway through the book she starts to come into her own and blooms into an incredibly strong heroine that was easy to root for. Her best friend Mal is definitely a likable love interest, and I loved reading about the relationship between the two of them, best friends from childhood. The slowly developing romance between the two of them was sweet and honest. The Darkling....ohhh, the Darkling. He was probably my favorite character. He was dark, he was mysterious, he was hauntingly powerful. And yet for such an inhuman creature, he was surprisingly human at times, which I loved.

The secondary characters were well fleshed out as well, with their own desires and stories. Alina's friend that she meets at the palace, Greya, was one of my favorites. She was incredibly beautiful, and unlike most characters she didn't flaunt it, nor did she deny it. She embraced it, and I adored that about her.

All in all, I really enjoyed this book! For some reason I didn't connect with Alina as much as I should've, which is why it only gets four stars, but I'm sure that most people with fall madly in love with the beautiful, dark story that Ms. Bardugo has woven. Gorgeous book, definitely go check it out!

Pages: 358
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
Date Published: June 5, 2012
Rating: 

Waiting on Wednesday #2

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating!

The Fiery Heart  by Richelle Mead

Publisher: Razorbill

Release Date: November 19, 2013

In The Indigo Spell, Sydney was torn between the Alchemist way of life and what her heart and gut were telling her to do. And in one breathtaking moment that Richelle Mead fans will never forget, she made a decision that shocked even her. . . .

But the struggle isn't over for Sydney. As she navigates the aftermath of her life-changing decision, she still finds herself pulled in too many directions at once. Her sister Zoe has arrived, and while Sydney longs to grow closer to her, there's still so much she must keep secret. Working with Marcus has changed the way she views the Alchemists, and Sydney must tread a careful path as she harnesses her profound magical ability to undermine the way of life she was raised to defend. Consumed by passion and vengeance, Sydney struggles to keep her secret life under wraps as the threat of exposure—and re-education—looms larger than ever.

The Dream Thieves (The Raven Cycle #2) - Maggie Stiefvater

Now that the ley lines around Cabeswater have been woken, nothing for Ronan, Gansey, Blue, and Adam will be the same. 

Ronan, for one, is falling more and more deeply into his dreams, and his dreams are intruding more and more into waking life. 

Meanwhile, some very sinister people are looking for some of the same pieces of the Cabeswater puzzle that Gansey is after...

---

This series, man. This series.

If you haven't heard of it yet, then you have now and you don't have an excuse to not buy the first two books immediately. If you HAVE heard of it...then I have no freaking clue what you're waiting for.

The Dream Thieves picks up basically where The Raven Boys leaves off. Gansey and Co. are still desperately searching for Glendower, and dealing with the aftermath of what happened with the ley line in the previous book. Blue is still trying to convince herself that she's in love with Adam, and Gansey is still obliviously unaware of his eventual fate. The plot confused me (again), but I don't even care. There were so many things going on...the usual complications with Glendower and Cabeswater, as well as the addition of several fascinating new characters, the deepening and twisting of familiar characters' backstories, some startling discoveries made by Ronan, plus about thousands more. And I loved every twisted, exciting second.

The thing that I can't get over about the Raven Cycle series is the absolutely insane way that Ms. Stiefvater somehow manages to create this entirely implausible world so far disconnected from our own, and yet interwoven with characters so achingly and hauntingly real that you can actually feel their presence coming off the page. It's beautiful. Every word, every page, everything. It's lyrical and flowing and powerful and terrifying and a thousand things all at once, and it just captivates you. I honestly do not think I've ever been so taken in by anything in my life.

The Dream Thieves shifts its focus slightly from Gansey/Blue, and instead to Ronan. We don't know much about him at the start of the book, but by the end he'll be ripping your heart out along with the rest of them. His ability is incredible, and watching him discover it and learn to use its (sometimes terrifying) power is fascinating. Not to mention we learn a few key things about him as a whole, as well as some pretty sizable plot twists regarding his family life.

Adam continues to make me so uncomfortable in this book, in the sense that he is a ticking time bomb. He's so unstable, and reading about him and being inside his head makes me incredibly anxious. That's the thing about Adam -- it's the unpredictability. It's really hard to say what he's capable of, and that scares me. I'm worried for Adam in the third book, I really am.

Blue is fabulous as ever, full of grit and plenty of spunk. I love that she refuses to be left behind and overlooked not only in the group of boys, but also in our eyes as readers. She's got plenty to say, and she demands to be heard, and I adore that about her. She's probably one of my favorite heroines that I've ever had the pleasure to read about, and I love her more than life itself. Her various romantic relationships are difficult to watch however, because it becomes clear that someone's going to get hurt (and he does). Which is a difficult thing to read about when you're so invested in each and every character, and you want to wrap them up in a blanket and keep them safe forever.

And lastly, Gansey. My beautiful, diplomatic, witty Gansey. I think that everyone has that one character that you connect to on such a raw, personal level. And for me, that character is Gansey. I don't even know what to say about him. I can't even put it into words. Plus, his very subtly blooming relationship with Blue is just so beautiful to watch. There's so little physical romance, and yet the tension between them is just unbelievable. I cannot WAIT to read more about them in the third book.

The ONLY thing that saddened me about this book was the lack of Gansey. There wasn't quite enough of him for my taste, which I understand because we needed to learn more about Ronan. But I missed his presence.

All in all though, this book was incredibly beautiful and wonderful and amazing. I loved the mysterious nature of the Grey Man, I loved reading about Ronan's brothers (particularly sweet, precious Matthew), I loved Blue and Gansey's relationship, I loved everything. Please, everyone, go read this series immediately, and watch your life be changed forever.

Pages: 439
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Date Published: September 17, 2013
Rating:

Requiem (Delirium #3) - Lauren Oliver

They have tried to squeeze us out, to stamp us into the past.

But we are still here.

And there are more of us every day.

Now an active member of the resistance, Lena has been transformed. The nascent rebellion that was under way in Pandemonium has ignited into an all-out revolution in Requiem, and Lena is at the center of the fight.

After rescuing Julian from a death sentence, Lena and her friends fled to the Wilds. But the Wilds are no longer a safe haven—pockets of rebellion have opened throughout the country, and the government cannot deny the existence of Invalids. Regulators now infiltrate the borderlands to stamp out the rebels, and as Lena navigates the increasingly dangerous terrain, her best friend, Hana, lives a safe, loveless life in Portland as the fiancée of the young mayor.

Maybe we are driven crazy by our feelings.

Maybe love is a disease, and we would be better off without it.

But we have chosen a different road.

And in the end, that is the point of escaping the cure: We are free to choose.

We are even free to choose the wrong thing.

---

Firstly, I want to say that while I'm not a huge fan of the Delirium series, I have enjoyed all three books and will be putting up my reviews for the first two later. But I've just recently finished reading the third (and final) book, so here it is.

Unfortunately for us, Requiem begins not exactly where Pandemonium ended. Lena and the rest of the resistance group are on the move, traveling north. The reunion between Alex and Lena isn't exactly a happy one, and she's stuck in an awkward limbo between Alex and Julian, not quite on stable ground with either of them. We don't get to see the initial exchange between Alex and Lena, which is kind of a disappointment, especially since it was such a HUGE cliffhanger at the end of the previous book.

Requiem, on paper, is more action packed than the past two books combined, with tons of secret missions and attacks and running from the regulators. And yet for me, it moved kind of slowly, which was a bummer. A lot of the book felt very political to me...lots of planning the best way to undermine the government, planning attacks, planning the next course of action. I mean, don't get me wrong, the action scenes were wonderfully written and quite exciting! But in between that, I found myself quickly reading through the boring bits to get to the next action part.


SPOILERS AHEAD, DON'T READ ON IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE SPOILED!



As for the characters, my views on them are a bit unconventional, but I will say that I was satisfied with the ending. In the first book, I think I was one of the few people who didn't fall head over heels for Alex. Of course, I wasn't a huge fan of the book as a whole, but something about their connection didn't feel right to me and I never really connected with him (or Delirium). But I read on, and ended up being really glad I did. I absolutely loved Julian, as well as the entirety of the second book. However, this isn't my first rodeo with YA literature, so of course Alex and Lena would end up together at the end, and true to my prediction, they do. Alex's character grew on me a bit more in this book, and I found myself rooting for them, even through all of the obstacles that were thrown their way (Alex's new love interest, their emotional baggage, as well as the various external resistance conflicts). So yes, even though I was a Julian fan, I was happy with the way things ended between the two of them, though it was all a bit too vague for my taste.

I'm kind of conflicted on my feelings toward Lena in this book. There were several parts where I wanted to smack her upside the head, and tell her to quit crying! BUT, in her defense, she has been through hell and back. Since the first book, she's come a long way, and ultimately I was happy with the changed person she becomes. She's stronger (both physically and mentally), and it was wonderful to watch that change take place over the last three books.

I also found myself liking Hana a lot more in this book as well. It was fascinating watching her cured shell crack bit by bit, and to get to see the very damaged girl inside. I almost found myself connecting more with Hana than I did with Lena. I was so, so happy with the way things ended between the two girls, despite the jealousy and the betrayal. It was a realistic ending for the two of them...obviously their reunion isn't going to be one with hugs and tears and declarations of being friends forever, so the way things finished with them was refreshing.

All in all, I did enjoy Requiem and I thought it was a decent (though somewhat vague) ending to what was an enjoyable series. I can't say I enjoyed it nearly as much as I did Pandemonium but it was a good run, and I thank Ms. Oliver for the journey!

Pages: 391
Publisher: HarperCollin's Children's Books
Date of Publication: March 5, 2013
Rating: