Review of Evernight by Claudia Gray

Warning: This review contains spoilers

Evernight by Claudia Gray

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


In Evernight by Claudia Gray, Bianca's parents have decided to move from the small town where she has lived all her life to teach at a boarding school called Evernight. Once there Bianca meets Lucas and falls instantly in love with him. But all is not what it seems at this Gothic boarding school.

My main problem with Evernight is that the author broke the cardinal rule of writing… that the protagonist does not lie or hold things back from the reader. As the reader you assume that what the protagonist tells you is the truth as they know it. I have read a few books where the protagonist could not be trusted but those all involved a mentally ill protagonist or one with memory problems. Neither was the case in this book. So when you find out that the protagonist is a vampire, has always been a vampire (and has always known it) you feel completely betrayed, and in my case pissed off. There were absolutely no hints before that moment that Bianca was a vampire. One of my pet peeves in books is when I feel like a plot twist was thrown in with no lead up just so the author can feel clever for shocking the reader and as a gimmick to get the reader to keep reading. It is like throwing a surprise birthday party for someone nowhere near their birthday and then patting yourself on the back that they were shocked. OF COURSE THEY WERE SHOCKED, THERE WAS NO CONTEXT FOR YOUR SURPRISE. This isn’t clever… it is lazy writing. The really frustrating part is that this could have been good. I liked the idea that born vampires were rare and had to grow into being a vampire. If it hadn’t been treated like a twist and had been known by the reader the entire book it could have been really interesting. OR if she had chosen to write it in the third person point of view even the twist could have been cool. The author completely lost with this revelation and even if the book had been flawless afterwards (it wasn’t) she probably couldn’t have gotten me back.

Other problems that I had with the book:
1) Why are there even humans at this school at all? That never made any sense to me. There was no point vampire development wise to have them there and it just seemed like a whoops-I-sucked-your-blood accident waiting to happen. Maybe this gets cleared up in other books… I don’t care enough to find out.
2) I know that romances are pretty much a requirement in paranormal YA books but I HATE when the romance isn’t developed at all. I know the idea of “from the first moment I saw him I just knew” is really romantic and appealing to teenage girls but it is really lazy writing. Instead of actually having to describe love and the development of a real relationship, the author gets to lean on “they just knew” as a crutch. Basically, I wish the love story had been written better.
3) I personally found Bianca to be annoying. She refused to accept any world view but her own, which made her appear selfish at times and really stupid at others. Even though Lucas was clearly not okay with the idea of becoming a vampire Bianca refused to accept this and kept thinking that he would eventually come around. She refused to believe that the vampires would actually kill anyone, as if they had brought knifes and crossbows just for fun.

Overall, I clearly did not enjoy Evernight and will not be reading any additional books in the series. I do feel the need to admit that as a 20 something I am not in this books target demographic and so it’s possible I could have liked it as a tween or teenager.




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Review of Angelfall by Susan Ee

Angelfall by Susan Ee

My rating: 5 of 5 stars





In Angelfall the apocalypse has begun with angels destroying society. When seventeen year old Penryn's sister is carried off by an angel she has no choice but to team up with a badly wounded angel named Raffe to try to get her back.


This book has been completely haunting me since I finished it. Of all of the paranormal themes that have become popular (vampires, werewolves, etc) angels have been my least favorite. Since most authors seem to stick with the "angels are good" narrative the stories just seem predictable and boring. This book, however, completely amazed me. I thought the imagery was haunting... from the beginning of the book with one angel feather drifting down to the last scene, the author crafted pictures in my head that are not going to leave me anytime soon.


Like most Young Adult books this book involves a love story but I thought that it progressed more naturally and believably than most. While the book never explains why the angels have caused the destruction of the world, I don't know that the why matters. I was so completely invested in the excitement and horror of the post apocalypse world that it ceased to be important how the world got that way.


The first thing I did once I finished this book was look up whether a sequel had been released and I was shocked to read that this book was self published. I read a lot of published books that are absolutely horrible so I am floored that a book this well written and engrossing did not have a publisher. Books like this make me grateful for how easy it is for writers to self publish these days.


I do feel the need to provide a warning about the graphic nature of some scenes in this book. While it is classified as young adult (probably due to the narrators age) there are several extremely violent and grotesque scenes involving children that might be too graphic for readers of a certain age.



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Review of Gemma Malley's The Resistance

The Resistance by Gemma Malley

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


I really enjoyed the first book in this series (The Declaration)and think that Gemma Malley's concept is incredibly thought provoking, but I found myself unable to really get into The Resistance. The series tells the story of a future where Longevity drugs have wiped out disease and death, resulting in a population that lives forever. To prevent the population from growing too large, you have to sign a declaration promising not to have children. Any children that do occur are illegal, referred to as surpluses, and are basically trained to be slaves.

In The Resistance, Peter and Anna have become legal and have began settling into their new lives away from the surplus hall. Both are determined to aid the resistance movement and to opt-out of signing the Declaration. Peter begins working at Pincent Pharma (his grandfather's company) where Longevity drugs are created in order to help the resistance.

Gemma Malley's concept is magnificent and really made me think. Why do we have children? Is it just a biological need to pass on our DNA or would we still want to have children in a world where we could never die? In a world where no one had children how long would it take for kids to become the "other" and demonized as such? This concept was truly one that I couldn't get out of my head. I did not, however, really like Malley's execution of the concept.

Here were my main problems with the book:

1) I really wish she had made Anna and Peter older. Even knowing the kind of world that they live in I found it hard to not be disturbed by a 16 year old (I'm assuming she was 16 since she received her declaration) caring for a one year old and pregnant with her first baby.
2) This book switched the main narrator from Anna to Peter (probably because Peter's role in this book was far more exciting than Anna's role of babysitter) and I found Peter's voice to be less fresh than Anna's brainwashed point of view in book 1.
3) Almost every character in the book was either 100% good or 100% bad. The characters almost seemed like caricatures instead of fully developed, realistic individuals. There was really no way to relate to the other side in this book.
4) This book was so action packed that it just didn't seem very realistic. The previous book had seemed much more subtle.

I finished reading this book, and finished reading it quickly, but I found myself constantly looking ahead to see how many pages I had left and then hoping to finish quickly. I just wasn't really in to this book, which is a shame because I loved the premise and really enjoyed the first book.



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Review of Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

My rating: 4 of 5 stars





The Plot:

Evie is a teenage girl who has been working for the International Paranormal Containment Agency since she was eight years old. Her job is to "tag" and bring in vampires, werewolfs, and all sorts of other paranormal creatures. Evie has the unique ability of being able to see through the glamour that supernatural creatures use to look normal. Then supernaturals start turning up dead and Evie fears that their deaths might be related to her in some way. With the help of a shape shifter that she is falling for, Evie sets out to find the killer.

Review:

I really enjoyed Paranormalcy and had a huge smile on my face the entire time. The book does read much younger than many other young adult books. Despite dealing with life and death the book just felt really fun and light. It sort of seemed like the beach read of paranormal books. This isn't necessarily a bad thing (and I was relieved to read something a bit less heavy after reading a few serious books) but it is something to be aware of if you decide to read this book. If you are looking for a really deep book that will stay with you then this book is probably not for you. If you are looking for a quick read with an original plot then this could be a good choice.

The main character of the book, Evie, is a serious girly girl who loves all things pink (including her weapons), names her taser "Tasey", and is addicted to a teenage soap opera that sounds similar to Gossip Girl. She seems very young, and somewhat shallow, which could bother some readers and is probably why the book seemed like it was geared at a younger demographic than other books. I, however, found Evie to be a refreshing character. She acts like she is the age that she is supposed to be. I enjoyed reading a book where the teenager actually seemed like a teenager. Her enthusiasm over the little things was one of the things that kept me smiling throughout the book. I definitely enjoyed a lighter, less edgy, but still kick-butt heroine. She actually sort of reminded me of Season one Buffy the Vampire Slayer but with more pink.

This book could definitely be read and enjoyed as a stand alone book. The author doesn't rely on cliff hangers to get you to read the next book. And in my case she certainly didn't need to. I can't wait to read the next book in the series. This book is definitely not for everyone, but overall I found it really refreshing.




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Pure by Julianna Baggott Review

Pure by Julianna Baggott

My rating: 2 of 5 stars





The Plot:

A series of detonations have wiped out most of the population. The survivors (called Wretches) are all horribly disfigured since the detonations caused them to fuse to whatever was around them (dolls, animals, other people, etc). Pressia is a teenage girl trying to survive in this new world. Some of the population was inside a protective dome when the detonations hit and remained untouched by the devastation (called pures). Partridge was raised in the restrictive world of the dome, but when his father accidentally hints that Partridge's mother might still be alive outside the dome he decides to escape and try to find his mother.

The Review:

This will probably be the nicest two star review that I'll ever write. As someone who worked as a disaster coordinator I tend to get really into books that are about what happens after a disaster strikes (whether it be man made or natural) and I tend to adore books about dystopian futures, so this book seemed right up my alley. I had heard great things about this book. I expected to love this book. So imagine my surprise when I just couldn't seem to care about it. I found the book extremely easy to put down and was always a bit reluctant to pick it back up. I just didn't care. I didn't care about any of the characters or what happened plot wise. I forced myself to finish the book but my boredom with it never really faded. The funny thing is that I shouldn't have been bored. Julianna Baggott's world building is extremely original(and considering how oversaturated the YA dystopian future market is right now it is remarkable to find anything original) and she held nothing back in creating a really brutal and horrific world. Additionally, she is a good writer. The language was really good... even beautiful at times. And yet I still just couldn't get into it. Ultimately, I think it is a good book but just not a good book for me. I would still encourage others to read it since I think there is a lot to like, but I would encourage reading a few pages before buying to see if you find the book gripping enough to get into.

The Good:

Julianna Baggott is a great descriptive author. She describes the new world with such detail that you can really see it in your mind. Her plot is pretty unique. I certainly didn't feel like I had read anything similar in the past. Finally, some of the characters are pretty cool (a doll's head for a hand, bird fused into a back, etc).

The Bad:

Baggott spends so much time describing stuff that there really isn't much of a plot. I feel like she had a really tough job since she had to teach the reader about pre-detonation society (which was different than our world is now), and post-detonation society, as well as make the reader understand the fusings and the deformities that resulted from the detonations. Unfortunately, to do all of these well it felt like plot was sacrificed. It takes at least half of the book for things to start happening, and that is really too late to start advancing the plot. Additionally, some of the plot points just really did not make sense to me. I got the feeling that Baggott had spend a lot of time planning the world but not enough time figuring out the plot.

In spots her descriptive powers also work against the reading experience. A few people had fusings that were so weird that I found myself jerked out of the story to try to figure out how that would even work. One man has a dog fused to him where his lower leg would be. I probably spent 10 minutes trying to figure out how this man would walk instead of being sucked into the story. I find that the books I enjoy most are the ones where I get lost in the narrative and these moments really prevented me from ever getting sucked into the story.

Note: This is the first of three books and so it is possible that this books job was just to set the scene so the next two books can tell the story.



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Blood Red Road

Blood Red Road by Moira Young

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Blood Red Road tells the story of Saba, a girl growing up in a desert wasteland with her father, sister and twin brother, Lugh. One day four horsemen arrive and kidnap Lugh. Feeling as if a part of her is dead without her twin, Saba heads out into a brutal world in a quest to get her brother back, discovering along the way how strong she actually is.

I had heard really good things about Blood Red Road and so I was excited to read it. I picked it up, read three pages and promptly put it down and read three other books instead. Initially, I found it really hard to get engrossed in the book due to the writing style. The book is written as if it was actually being told from the point of view of the protagonist, Saba. Since Saba isn't well educated the book is written with words spelled wrong, missing punctuation, no quotation marks, etc. For the first few chapters I found this to be really jarring and I struggled to figure out who was talking, when someone was talking vs just Saba thinking, etc. I spent so much time trying to get through the language that I was preventing myself from really sinking into, and enjoying the story.

After a few chapters I was completely sucked into the story and didn't even notice the writing style anymore (but to be honest, getting to this point was a struggle). From this point on I couldn't put the book down. The plot flew along and there were no points where I felt like the story was dragging. I really began to enjoy the risks the writer took by using such an unusual writing style and I found that I felt like I knew Saba better since it really seemed to be written in her voice.

I really appreciated that the hero of the story is a flawed character. Too many books have a hero that is so perfect that it is really hard as a reader to identify with them. I was glad to see that it is the first book in a series because while it doesn't end on a cliffhanger I really wanted more of the characters at the end. I am getting fairly fatigued with trilogys lately and would love to see someone develop a strong, YA, dystopian future book that is truly a stand alone novel. Having said that, I will definitely continue to read books in this series.

Ultimately what I started out hating (the writing style) was what really made the book for me and is what will keep me thinking about Blood Red Road for days to come.



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