Dystopian

Review of The Fate’s Divide by Veronica Roth

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Synopsis:
The lives of Cyra Noavek and Akos Kereseth are ruled by their fates, spoken by the oracles at their births. The fates, once determined, are inescapable.

Akos is in love with Cyra, in spite of his fate: He will die in service to Cyra’s family. And when Cyra’s father, Lazmet Noavek—a soulless tyrant, thought to be dead—reclaims the Shotet throne, Akos believes his end is closer than ever.

As Lazmet ignites a barbaric war, Cyra and Akos are desperate to stop him at any cost. For Cyra, that could mean taking the life of the man who may—or may not—be her father. For Akos, it could mean giving his own. In a stunning twist, the two will discover how fate defines their lives in ways most unexpected.

Review:
This book is the second in a series that I found quite interesting–very steampunk/sci-fi, and not usually what I gravitate towards. It has been quite a while since I read the first book in the series so it took a little bit to reorientate myself to the characters, but I found myself understanding all of them in different ways. There was so much going on, but there was never a point where I didn’t want to be in one character’s point of view. Everything flowed very well, and while I definitely had my favourites, I am glad for an ending that seemed fitting for what everyone fought to do.

This is my second paper book of the month, and I would highly recommend this book series to anyone who loves sci-fi/YA/dystopian literature.

Star rating: ✯✯✯✯

*Read in March, and it just turned April when posting.

Review of Matched by Ally Condie

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Synopsis:
In the Society, Officials decide. Who you love. Where you work. When you die.

Cassia has always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her: what to read, what to watch, what to believe. So when Xander’s face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is her ideal mate . . . until she sees Ky Markham’s face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black.

The Society tells her it’s a glitch, a rare malfunction, and that she should focus on the happy life she’s destined to lead with Xander. But Cassia can’t stop thinking about Ky, and as they slowly fall in love, Cassia begins to doubt the Society’s infallibility and is faced with an impossible choice: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she’s known and a path that no one else has dared to follow.

Review:
This book was alright for what it was. Though originally heavily marketed as “the next Hunger Games”, the only true similarities are that they are book dystopian fiction. It was quite interesting how the people were sectioned off as either good, abominations or abnormals, and how one could end up with such a tag. It was an intriguing way of looking at life; everyone is scientifically tested to find their optimal match, and everything else is scientific tracked and done for optimal results as well. It seemed very much a simpler version of Brave New World, and if you are looking for a similar story, I would highly recommend that. I did quite enjoy how lifespans were explained and dealt with, for it made both life more predictable, and more frustrating. All in all, the story itself was rather predictable, but that didn’t detract from the overall enjoyment.

Thus continues the two paper books a month trend I will continue to this year as I attempt to not hold on to books to merely ferment if I haven’t read them. All in all, this book was alright, but not gripping enough that I intend to buy the next book or keep the physical book (original bought for my classroom library, what feels like a lifetime ago) on the shelf.

Star rating: ✯✯✯

Review of The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau

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Synopsis:
The city of Ember was built as a last refuge for the human race. Two hundred years later, the great lamps that light the city are beginning to flicker. When Lina finds part of an ancient message, she’s sure it holds a secret that will save the city. She and her friend Doon must race to figure out the clues before the lights go out on Ember forever!

Review:
This book was a nice, quick, light read that still brings the reader deep into another world underground. The City of Ember continues with the ever popular middle school dystopian series that have been gaining in popularity/been required reading since before I was in middle school. This book is both meant for a younger audience and also very easy to empathize and get into. Amazon recommendations are for 5th to 7th graders, but given that this doesn’t use a lot of higher level vocabulary and the concepts are rather simple, I’d likely say 9 years and up. While this book was rather fast paced and had a great variety of depth, it very much ends on a cliffhanger of uncertainty.

For the age it was intended for, I’d give this book a 5/5. For me personally, I’d give it a probably a 4/5. A book for the same age group as this would be The Giver by Lois Lowry, with an older and more obvious dystopian series being The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. A really neat standalone Dystopian style futuristic novel for teenagers I would recommend would be Feed by M. T. Anderson.

Star rating: ✯✯✯✯

Review of A Truth in Ruby by Jessica Florence

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A Truth In Ruby (Onyx Trilogy Book 2) by [Jessica Florence]

Synopsis:
Life was supposed to be easy after I rescued the princess from the onyx tomb. She would save the world, while I contently stood on the sidelines after completing Destiny’s task.

But Destiny wasn’t done with me. Everything I went through was for one sole purpose—to save myself.

Now, as the princess of Crysia, I must travel across the continent again to the great city of Crystoria, to find the truth of our origins. I must undo the poison King Verin has cast into our lands.

The journey will be difficult since the Dramens want war and Verin will do everything in his power to stop me. With my friends and a rage-filled mate by my side, I can face the truths and save the world.

Right?

Review:
Honestly, this book was easy to fall into and read, and while there were some surprises, the major plot point was somewhat foreseen and in my opinion, quite overdone in many series. While I did love seeing more of the characters and watching their relationships further and develop, I am somewhat annoyed in what becomes the driving factor at the end, because clearly wanting to save all of your people isn’t enough.

Star Rating: ✯✯✯

Review of A Secret in Onyx by Jessica Florence

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A Secret In Onyx (Onyx Trilogy Book 1) by [Jessica Florence]

Synopsis:
EVERYTHING I knew died when the end of the world came. People dropped dead, and electricity vanished. Those who remained alive were never the same again.

While on the run with my boyfriend Tor across the desolate continent, the worst humanity had left attacked. Torn from the one I love, I boldly raced for help at the last human safe zone.

Only it’s not humans I found, but the Fae.

Now I have one month to rescue my boyfriend and release a savior princess from an onyx tomb or lose them both forever. A seemingly impossible task when Rune, a cursed, pain in the ass Fae warrior is assigned to train me. He’s hellbent on freeing his beloved princess and I’m desperate to save Tor. But no matter how hard we snarl during training; we can’t stay away from each other.

I thought the worst thing that could happen to me was the apocalypse.

I was wrong.

Review:
Holy crap, this was not at all what I expected it to be. This was said to be like Sarah J Maas and I can truly say I did not find that to be the case one bit. I didn’t really get into the book until around chapter 15, and had actually started this quite a while before and started reading other things (It had already been partway through chapter 2 or 3 when I picked it up again, and I did go back and reread those chapters to make sure I didn’t miss anything important.) It did pick up in the end, which is why I did finish it.

In some ways some parts of the plot were very foreseeable, though it did take a bit to catch on for me of the overall. One thing that I found very interesting was how the fae have powers, innate, in their cores. I hadn’t seen that before, and I found it neat that she used the properties gems were known for having as the strength/power the people with the cores would have. I also found it interesting that one could also have an animal core, and usually only one or the other, but some could have both. And of course I love that there are part owl fae because we all know I love owls!

Edit- added in after thoughts from after the before review was originally posted:
There were a few references to other distinct bodies of literature that I had quite enjoyed, paraphrased statements that still left one remembering the source material of The Princess Bride and Alice in Wonderland.

It also occurred to me that only have of the job that Sapphira is supposed to do was actually necessary. Hmm.

Star Rating: ✯✯✯