Review: One for Sorrow by Mary Downing Hahn

One for Sorrow
By Mary Downing Hahn
Publisher: Clarion Books
Format: Hardcover
Source: YALLFest

To Sum It Up: The year is 1918, and Annie Browne is twelve years old. Having just moved to a new school, Annie is worried about making new friends. But on her first day, Elsie claims Annie as her best friend. In no time at all, Elsie has Annie isolated from and disliked by all their classmates. Annie struggles to extricate herself from Elsie’s clutches and joins her fellow classmates in alienating Elsie. However, as the Spanish Influenza takes hold of the country, Annie and her new friends must face the consequences of their cruelty.

Review: I love my historical fiction! One for Sorrow not only successfully captures the feeling of the setting, but it supplies the reader with a delightful ghost story. Mary Downing Hahn creates an almost Gothic tone within her story, but she also keeps the book from becoming too far removed from younger readers. It is clear that Hahn is a well-seasoned writer. One for Sorrow is well written without becoming unrelatable. That being said, Hahn is well aware of her audience (younger readers), so while I found this book enjoyable, a younger reader would probably take more away from this story.

I thought the pacing was excellent, making this a very quick read. I did, however, find it somewhat predictable. Taking into consideration the intended audience, this wasn’t really a problem, and I found it did not detract from the overall success of the story or my enjoyment of it.

I found all of the characters to be very realistic. Hahn’s knowledge of her intended audience is clearly shown in the portrayal of her characters. The children in the story truly act their age. Therefore, her characters were relatable, but not always likable. I thought Annie and Elsie were particularly selfish and self-centered, but sometimes kids their age can be. As a reader, I think keeping this in mind helps to prevent you from judging the characters too harshly.

All in all: One for Sorrow was an enjoyable read and I think Hahn is a remarkable writer. However, I do think this book is best suited to readers of similar age to the characters (about twelve years old).

ARC Review: The Apprentice Witch by James Nicol

The Apprentice Witch
By James Nicol
Publisher: Chicken House
Format: Print ARC
Source: Publisher
Publication Date: July 25, 2017

To Sum It Up: After failing her evaluation to become a full-fledged witch, Arianwyn Gribble remains an apprentice. She is assigned to the town of Lull to assist the residents there with any magical needs. Lull isn’t as quiet as its name implies, though, as something dark seems to be lurking in the surrounding Great Wood. Not only does it appear more and more likely that Arianwyn will ultimately have to face whatever is out there, even as an apprentice, but she’s also troubled by a mysterious glyph that makes her spells go awry.

Review: It’s quite difficult for me not to compare every middle grade magic book I read to a certain series that turned 20 this year about a certain boy wizard, especially when it comes to its appeal to readers of all ages. I try to keep my mind as open as possible, otherwise I probably wouldn’t be able to pick up books about witches, wizards, and the like again, and there’s just something irresistible about the possibility that magic exists.

Poor Arianwyn Gribble flunks her evaluation exam to be recognized as a fully qualified witch and is stuck at the apprentice level. Although she receives an assignment to help the town of Lull with tasks like dealing with unfriendly magical creatures, it’s not much of a consolation to Arianwyn, especially since her grandmother is a very prominent witch. Arianwyn is a very relatable heroine; she tries so hard to prove that she’s ready for the next step up in rank, but fate just keeps seeming to throw a wrench in her efforts. Readers will quickly find themselves cheering her on to succeed.

One of my favorite aspects of The Apprentice Witch was its magical creatures, even the pesky ones like snotlings. The vivid descriptions of the creatures were also one of the novel’s strong points; they were what truly made me feel like I’d been whisked away to another world.

Unfortunately, another area of the world-building was not quite on the same level. There’s mention of a war going on and Arianwyn’s father is off fighting in it, but the book doesn’t go into further detail about it. Lull is the novel’s focal point, and that’s fine, but I couldn’t help being curious about what was happening outside of the town.

Something else that became a bit distracting was the book’s quite liberal use of exclamation points in the dialogue. After a while, they lost some of their effectiveness because they kept popping up.

The book’s plot is fairly straightforward and doesn’t deviate much from its projected path. There is a certain charm, however, in watching Arianwyn gradually settle into her new life in Lull and into her new duties as its apprentice witch. Anyone who’s ever searched for a sense of belonging is sure to find a kindred spirit here in Arianwyn.

All in All: Younger readers will likely find Arianwyn’s adventures thrilling, but for me as an adult reader, they were missing a little something to make them as compelling as some other middle grade books have been.

Review: The Careful Undressing of Love by Corey Ann Haydu

The Careful Undressing of Love
By Corey Ann Haydu
Publisher: Dutton Books
Format: eARC
Source: First to Read

To Sum It Up: Lorna and her friends Charlotte, Delilah, and Isla are Devonairre Street Girls, seemingly cursed, causing any boy they fall in love with to die. Even after a sudden, shocking tragedy appears to be further evidence that the Curse is real, Lorna still can’t entirely push her skepticism away. She longs to experience true love, and to be able to do so freely without fearing for the life of the boy she’s in love with.

Review: My heart will always belong to Brooklyn, New York, the borough where I grew up, and any time I come across a book set there, that book pretty much guarantees itself a spot on my TBR. Such was the case with The Careful Undressing of Love, which mainly focuses on a single street in Brooklyn. The girls who live on Devonairre Street are said to be cursed; any boy they fall in love with will die.

The story is much, much more intricate than that, however; to outsiders, the Devonairre Street girls, with their long hair and the keys they wear around their necks, appear to be some kind of cult. The hair and the keys are just two of the rules the girls’ elderly neighbor and foremost believer in the Curse, Angelika, has to keep the Curse from claiming more lives. Narrated from the perspective of one of the girls, Lorna, The Careful Undressing of Love is set in an alternate New York City in which unknown attackers bombed Times Square a few years before the novel takes place. Lorna lost her father in the bombing, and the sadness she still feels is as much a part of the story as her search for the meaning of love. Corey Ann Haydu writes very eloquently, even poetically at times, both about Lorna’s grief and her yearning to feel actual love, which Lorna is unsure she has in her heart for her boyfriend, Owen.

Haydu is also brilliant at creating a microcosm out of Devonairre Street. Growing up, my own street in Brooklyn truly did feel like the whole world. There were a few times when Haydu’s descriptions of life on Devonairre, even with the Curse and Angelika’s bizarre rituals to keep the Curse at bay, brought back some very fond memories of hanging out on the stoop in front of my house and knowing everyone on the block. I became quite sentimental while reading this, even though it’s not a straightforward contemporary. The novel sometimes reads like one, until you’re reminded of the alternate reality. Events in the book also make the Curse seem plausible, so there’s a hint of the otherworldly as well. While the genre mashup produces a very unique reading experience, I would have liked more details about how this version of New York came to be. Those responsible for the Times Square bombing are unknown, and while I realize that we’re looking at the city in the aftermath, my brain could not stop asking questions about the who and the why.

I also thought that the ending felt a bit rushed, with developments that definitely needed additional exploration popping up as the book neared its close. I usually don’t mind open endings, but this one seemed too much so, even for a book that is rather unconventional overall. The ending and the somewhat murky history of the world didn’t, however, completely overshadow the lovely writing and the depiction of life on a single Brooklyn street, both of which were definitely the highlights of the novel for me.

All in All: This book is kind of out there in terms of . . . just about everything: the story, the setting, the mix of genres. It’s probably for the more adventurous reader who’s very willing to suspend disbelief and just roll with what happens. The prose is beautiful throughout and I loved the portrayal of a close-knit group of neighborhood friends, and I factored both of these things in when coming up with my rating.

Review: Wink Poppy Midnight by April Genevieve Tucholke

Wink Poppy Midnight
By April Genevieve Tucholke
Publisher: Dial Books
Format: Print ARC
Source: YALLFest

To Sum It Up: Wink Poppy Midnight follows the intertwined stories of three very different characters. Midnight, a sensitive and unusual young boy finds himself caught in between two very different girls. Poppy, the beautiful and very mean girl refuses to relinquish her claim on Midnight, but the strange and fairytale obsessed Wink seems to be winning him over. A haunted house in the woods will force the characters to reveal who they really are.

Review: I am somewhat ashamed to admit that I got this ARC while at YALLFest, but the important thing is that I finally got to read it! I have been in a severe book hangover since reading The Raven King, but Wink Poppy Midnight was the perfect book to help me out of the dark depths of depression. It was a quick and enjoyable read with short chapters and fluid transitions that kept the pace moving. That being said, I was able to finish it in a matter of hours. Although the book was nothing like I expected (I thought it was going to be paranormal for some strange reason) it successfully accomplished capturing the extraordinary in the ordinary. The complex characters, the fairytale-esque setting, and the shocking end worked well together to pull the reader into the world of the novel.

I love a good book with a haunted house, and Wink Poppy Midnight truly delivered. Throw in a charming farm and a wooded area and you have the perfect recipe for a place where anything can (and does) happen. While the characters are somewhat ordinary high school students, this setting is an excellent opportunity to do more extraordinary things while away from the routine normality of school.

Another thing I enjoyed about this story was the complexity of the characters. No one is truly what they seem, and I love when characters defy the expectations of the reader. I thought Wink, Poppy, and Midnight were somewhat gray characters, and I think that complexity brought the story to another level. Watching them reveal themselves to each other threw me for quite a loop. Although I did not particularly like any of the characters, I still had a lot of fun reading about them. Yes, I know how very little sense that makes, but it’s true!

Surprise endings can be a hit or miss with me. My golden rule is that above all else, the ending must fit the characters, and I was very pleased to find that this one did just that! The pace of the novel kept the reader moving quickly, so the end is even more of a jolt (but in a very good way!).

All in All: Wink Poppy Midnight was a quick and enjoyable read. It is definitely not what it appears to be, but I thought that was what made it appealing. I didn’t find anything wrong with this book, but for whatever reason this book was not able to work its way into my heart. That being said, you should really give this one a try!

Review: Knight Assassin by Rima Jean

Knight Assassin
By Rima Jean
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Format: eBook
Source: Received for review for a blog tour

To Sum It Up: Zayn’s world falls apart after she watches her mother burn at the stake for allegedly being a witch. Zayn believes she has nothing left to live for when a mysterious stranger offers her a fresh start—with a secret organization of assassins. With training, she can finally hone the special abilities that have always set her apart and stirred rumors that she’s the daughter of a demon. Proving herself to the assassins won’t be easy, but Zayn is determined to get revenge against the Templar knight responsible for her mother’s death.

Review: The Middle Ages hold an endless fascination for me, probably more than any other time period in history. What’s not to love about knights and chivalry and all that good stuff? Well, I happen to love all that good stuff, and when you add assassins to the mix, I’m doubly intrigued.

Knight Assassin features a heroine with quite an interesting backstory. Seventeen-year-old Zayn hails from a village in medieval Syria whose inhabitants are serfs to the Franks. Over the course of the novel, she crosses paths with historical figures like the Knights Templar, Saladin, and King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem. Real-life history is weaved into the narrative extremely well; it’s obvious that a great deal of effort was put into researching the period and recreating it. You truly feel like you’ve stepped back to a time of swords and crossbows and chain mail. I loved the meticulous attention to medieval detail and relished every single one. Because I’m geeky like that.

Two things kept the book from breaking out of the three star range, though. First, Zayn’s powers are given rather vague descriptions. She appears to possess enhanced strength and agility, which are handy when you’re trying to become an assassin. But I didn’t find Zayn’s abilities particularly extraordinary, and that’s where I think the fantasy element of the book fell a little short. I also wanted to see Zayn do more assassinating. Most of the novel focuses on her training and then settling into her cover so she can prepare to take out her target, a Templar named Guy de Molay. That’s the issue right there—lots of build-up to the big confrontation with not enough action in between, at least for me.

Although the setting was fantastic and Zayn made a pretty compelling protagonist (and I think she still would have been one even without her superhuman talents), there were times when I wished the story would pick up the pace. Overall, this was an okay read; it just needed a tad more polish in a few areas to really make it shine.

All in All: If you’re a Middle Ages maniac like I am, Knight Assassin might appeal to you. It’s definitely refreshing to read a YA novel set in the Middle Ages during the Crusades. I did find the book a little too light on the “assassin” part of the title, though.

ARC Review: Don't Even Think About It by Sarah Mlynowski

Don’t Even Think About It
By Sarah Mlynowski
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Format: eBook
Source: NetGalley
Publication Date: March 11, 2014

To Sum It Up: The students of Bloomberg High School’s Homeroom 10B pay little mind to the flu shots they’ve just received until they suddenly begin hearing each other’s thoughts. For some, this newfound ability is a boon; for those who have secrets they’re to desperate to hide, it’s a disaster. Even friends are shocked to learn what they’ve been withholding from one another as keeping anything private anymore becomes nearly impossible.

Review: I’ve always wondered what it would be like to be able to read minds, and that’s what immediately drew me to Don’t Even Think About It. The premise that a bad batch of flu vaccines causes the students in one high school homeroom to develop telepathy makes for iffy science, but that’ s not really the focus of the book. The heart of the novel is all of the drama that erupts from everyone unwillingly broadcasting his/her thoughts.

While some humorous moments result from the students’ situation, the novel also illustrates the downside of the mind reading. The prime example of this is Mackenzie, who is desperate to prevent her boyfriend, Cooper, from discovering a crushing secret. I appreciated the book’s efforts to add some gravity to the tone, but I thought it could have used some middle ground to close the gap between the more serious story lines and its lighter ones. Quite a few of the characters’ thoughts are devoted to wondering if another character likes them or not, and my over 30 self wasn’t too keen on the high school relationship melodramatics.

The book takes a rather unique approach to the narration, with all of the characters collectively telling the story under a unified “we.” Something that I didn’t care for narrative-wise was how clipped the rhythm of the writing sounded to me. There are a lot of short sentences, and maybe this was intentional to emphasize a rapid-fire stream of consciousness. I couldn’t quite get used to it, though, but then I’m always catching myself writing run-on sentences; this review is probably rife with them.

I absolutely loved the fact that Cooper was a diehard Yankee fan. The novel is very good at keeping its fairly large cast of characters distinct from one another, especially since they share a single narrative voice. This was a quick read that kept me hooked, but I did feel I needed a bit more from the story than couples getting together/breaking up.

All in All: Don’t Even Think About It has the overall feel of a contemporary YA novel with a sprinkle of paranormal. It’s not an especially life-altering read, but it is pretty entertaining.

Game Plan Blog Tour: Review

Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for Natalie Corbett Sampson's Game Plan! I have a review of the book for you today, but first here's a little more information about this Young Adult contemporary novel:

Game Plan
By Natalie Corbett Sampson
Publisher: Fierce Ink Press

* A copy was provided for review for the blog tour.

Synopsis: Just because the play goes wrong, doesn't mean you quit the game.

Ella Parker seems to have everything: great friends, an awesome family and a star position on her high school basketball team. The only thing missing from her life is a boyfriend. That changes once she catches the eye of Sam Cleveland. With Sam by her side Ella has it all. When a drunken night results in an unwanted pregnancy, her perfect life is turned upside down and she’s faced with an impossible decision.

Katherine Frayne has always wanted to be a mother. But with the last results of her in vitro fertilization pointing to no chance of a baby, her hopes are dashed. Then her husband Danny suggests they adopt. At first Kat is resistant, but she soon warms to the idea.

Ella and Katherine must navigate their lives amidst tough decisions, the consequences of which not only affect them but those they love the most.

Review: If you’ve happened to read reviews for some of my less than successful attempts at reading realistic fiction, you might recall that the contemporary genre has to work rather hard to command my reading attention. Game Plan caught my eye because of the opportunity to view its narrative from two perspectives—that of Ella, a pregnant teenager, and Katherine and Danny, a childless couple hoping to adopt. I thought it would be interesting to see how their lives converged, and I wasn’t disappointed with that aspect of the novel. There’s certainly a touching story here, and in a book packed with so much emotion, I think it’s careful not to come off as cloying. I did have a few minor issues with the book, but they weren’t enough to lessen the story’s impact.

The novel’s pacing is something I struggled with occasionally. Game Plan chronicles almost a year in the lives of its three main characters, and there were times when I felt that the month-by-month format was a bit too much. It takes Ella quite a while to realize she’s pregnant, and then it’s an even longer wait page-wise until she gives birth. While the book maintained my interest throughout, there were spots where its momentum seemed to stall. The later chapters moved at a steadier speed, and they were the most absorbing to read.

It also took me some time to warm up to Ella. In the beginning, I was frustrated with her because she couldn’t see that Sam, the father of her baby, wasn’t exactly decent boyfriend material from the get-go. There was something about him that made me dislike him instantly, and with every subsequent chapter, his actions only sank my opinion of him lower and lower. I was also bothered by Ella’s inability to see how fake and shallow her “friend” Karen was until Karen blatantly turned on her. I do have to say that Ella matures significantly over the course of the novel and is a much wiser character by the end of it.

For me, the emotional center of the book was Katherine and Danny’s story. Their struggle to become parents is just heartbreaking. They go through an anguishing cycle of being considered as adoptive parents only to receive the call that they were not the couple chosen. Each disappointment edges them closer to their breaking point, which is gut-wrenching to see. Whereas I felt that Ella’s side of the narrative sometimes became sidetracked in subplots, such as her developing romantic relationship with Charlie, her brother’s longtime best friend, I thought Katherine and Danny’s tale was more tightly focused and flowed smoother.

Overall, Game Plan was a satisfying read that explored some heavy topics without turning into one big cliché. Including the view of prospective adoptive parents in a novel about teen pregnancy was a definite asset and what I liked most about the book.

All in All: If you enjoy contemporary fiction that both breaks and warms your heart, you might want to give this a try.

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Review: This Dark Endeavor by Kenneth Oppel

This Dark Endeavor (The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein #1)
By Kenneth Oppel
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

To Sum It Up: Twins Victor and Konrad Frankenstein live in the magnificent Frankenstein mansion along with their ultra liberal parents, their two younger brothers, and their distant cousin, Elizabeth. The Frankenstein manor is filled with hidden passages and rooms. Konrad, Victor, Elizabeth, and their best friend, Henry, have found many of its secrets but not all of them. One day, the four adventurers stumble upon a secret library within their own library. The Dark Library is filled with books on magic and alchemy. Victor and Konrad's father finds out and forbids them from returning to the Dark Library, claiming it is all foolishness, but when Konrad falls ill and the doctors cannot help, Victor, Elizabeth, and Henry turn to the Dark Library in order to save Konrad's life.

Review: First off, the Frankenstein mansion is amazing (I want to live there!). Secrets galore! Now to business. The book had a very dark feel to it, and that was something that really appealed to me. My favorite part of the book was, hands down, the story line. The plot was inventive and creative, and that is something I value heavily in a book. And yes, I say it alllll the time, but it’s only because it is absolutely true! There was so much intricate complexity, the book felt like an antique desk with hundreds of secret compartments. It was easy to see how much forethought went into the story. That being said, the story wasn't at all confusing. That also being said, it wasn't at all boring.

I wasn't crazy about the characters. I found that I could not connect with them because I felt some of them lacked a lot personality-wise. I did not hate them, and I felt like they had the potential to be lovable characters. Victor for instance was not a perfect guy, but he did love his brother. I felt like I could have understood Victor a lot better if he hadn't seemed to completely forget about his brother every other chapter. I mean, the things he went through for his brother really were admirable, but it seemed like he was only fully devoted to his brother at irregular intervals. I could identify with the sibling rivalry, but sometimes it felt like he was talking about an acquaintance and not his brother, Konrad. I also felt Elizabeth was rather irregular. At times she was very likable, kind of a tomboy, and very determined. Other times she was practically a completely different character! The inconsistency of these characters is what kept me from becoming attached to them. Konrad and Henry were far more likable, but they were only minor characters.

The end was disappointing to say the least. It vaguely reminded me of how absolutely enraged I was with the ending of The Alchemist. (Note to self: write rant about The Alchemist.) All I can say is, it fit, but it didn't. I have very mixed feelings about it. I wish I could dive into a whole analysis of it, but that would give away everything. So I'll shut up for now, and if I feel especially motivated about it, I may write a rant.

All in All: This was a very clever book. The biggest issue was that the characters were only so-so. Otherwise, I really enjoyed it.

Review: Onyx by Jennifer L. Armentrout

* This review may contain spoilers for the previous book, Obsidian. *

Onyx (Lux #2)
By Jennifer L. Armentrout
Publisher: Entangled Teen

To Sum It Up:

After being healed by Daemon, Katy starts exhibiting some strange powers of her own. She’s unable to control them until the mysterious new guy at school, who understands the situation, offers to help her. This obviously doesn’t sit well with Daemon, who doesn’t trust this newcomer at all, but it’s either that or let the Department of Defense find out what Katy can do. Daemon and the rest of the Luxen are already wary of the DoD when Katy spots one of the last people she ever thought she’d see with them. Something doesn’t add up, and Katy and Daemon are determined to discover what the DoD is up to.

Review:

With its cool, incandescent aliens and government cover-ups, Obsidian was a surprisingly fun read. Although I wouldn’t say I loved it, I was still excited to read Onyx. I liked that Daemon and Katy were still hurling verbal barbs at each other in this one, because that was a huge part of Obsidian’s entertainment factor, but overall the sequel didn’t quite win me over like the first book did.

My biggest problem with Onyx can be summed up in one word, or rather, one name: Blake. There’s only enough room for one smug guy in this series, and sorry, Blake, but that role has already been more than adequately filled by Daemon. From the moment Blake showed up at school screaming “new kid!” I just didn’t like him. You know when someone keeps turning up unwanted and can’t take a hint? That’s Blake in a nutshell. The sole upside of his presence in the book was Daemon constantly calling him the wrong name, much to my amusement.

What really bothered me was how Katy trusted Blake, this person she just met, so implicitly. Based on the Katy from Obsidian, I thought she was smarter than that. I also couldn’t help being slightly annoyed with her for questioning Daemon’s feelings for her. She worries that he only wants to be with her because of the connection that was created between them after he healed her following the fight with the Arum in Obsidian. I found myself a little impatient with Katy’s line of thinking and some of her decisions this time around, but it’s not as though they were so bad they made me wince or anything like that.

As for Daemon, he’s still pretty much the Daemon you know and love and occasionally want to punch in the throat. Personally, I’m still not madly in love with him, but he does crack me up, and he truly does care about Katy. Plus, anybody who hates Blake is fine by me. I wasn’t sure if the Daemon in Onyx was going to be a nicer, sweeter version of the Daemon from Obsidian. It bugs me when a dreamy alpha male is introduced in the first book of a series and is then progressively watered down in the sequels. Luckily, Daemon’s jerk factor was so high in Obsidian that he could afford some tamping down without turning into a wimp. An overwhelming amount of his appeal in the first book was his gargantuan ego and smartass-ness, so though Daemon does display more of a sensitive side in Onyx, his other charming personality traits are still very much intact.

I was disappointed to see Dee with a much smaller role here, along with Katy’s human friends, Lesa and Carissa. To think that their page time probably went to Blake. Boo. Overall, Onyx felt a little uneven compared to Obsidian, though once again, anything to do with uncovering the Department of Defense’s secrets was gripping, and the ending packed a wallop.

All in All:

Blake was kind of a blight on this, but even when he wasn’t around, Onyx still didn’t quite measure up to Obsidian. Onyx wasn’t without its moments, but it wasn’t a knockout, either.

Review: The Iron Daughter by Julie Kagawa

The Iron Daughter (The Iron Fey #2)
By Julie Kagawa
Publisher: Harlequin Teen

To Sum It Up:

Meghan has rescued her kidnapped younger brother from the land of Faery, but now it is time for her to repay the debt she owes to the Winter prince, Ash. She has to accompany him back to the Winter Court, where, as a daughter of the Summer King, Oberon, she is surrounded by faeries who despise her. Summer and Winter are inching ever closer to war, but it’s a new threat from the Iron fey that poses the greatest danger. Meghan must rely on allies with questionable loyalties as she tries to convince the Courts to stop fighting with each other and instead unite against their common enemy.

Review:

The Iron King was one of the first books that I reviewed, and looking back on it, I think I tried a little too hard to love it as much as so many other readers do. I still really like the world and how incredibly imaginative it is, but the characters came up short for me this time in The Iron Daughter, especially Meghan. She seemed like a stranger compared to the determined young woman who set out to save her brother in The Iron King. I found myself willing her to pull herself together for a good deal of The Iron Daughter, and it didn’t quite work.

I had pretty high expectations going into this book, with Meghan having to uphold her end of the contract she made with Ash when she was trying to find her brother. Meghan has to go to the Winter Court, where she can expect nonstop withering glares from its queen, Mab. I was intrigued to see what else awaited Meghan in such a hostile environment but was disappointed that 1) she didn’t spend as much time as I’d thought she would there, and 2) most of that time, and most of the book, was spent moping over/pining for Ash. Ash won’t look at her. Ash is avoiding her. Ash doesn’t love her. As I said before, the girl who faced the Iron King has gone missing; in her place is this whiny Meghan who’s completely dependent on a guy whom I feel I still barely know, even after two books. I admit that I found Ash’s broody demeanor kind of cool (no Winter prince pun intended) in the first book, but at this point, I’d like to see that there’s more to his character than intense stares and brandishing a sword every once in a while.

The pacing of the book also felt a little off to me. There’s the main story line revolving around the Iron fey’s latest scheme, but to me, it sometimes got lost amid the multiple subplots. The story really dragged once Meghan and crew found themselves in the Between, the realm in the middle of the mortal and faery worlds and the domain of Leanansidhe, the self-styled queen of the faery exiles. I didn’t think that Meghan and her companions were ever going to leave this place, and I was very happy when they finally hit the road.

The talking cat, Grimalkin, has become my favorite character because he’s truly the voice of reason. He doesn’t mince words and points out all of the other characters’ blunders, often voicing my own opinions of their actions. I find Grim very entertaining, and his wry observations were definitely the highlight of this book.

The Iron Daughter has some solid elements to it, the strongest by far being its whimsical world where anything is possible, but they just didn’t combine into a story that gripped my interest. With this being the second book in the series, I also needed to see the characters continue to develop, but they were pretty much the same ones I met in the first book, except for Meghan, whose character takes some steps backwards here. Still, there’s a charm to this series that appeals to me, and I do enjoy Grim’s sarcasm.

All in All:

I didn’t find this as enchanting as The Iron King, primarily because of how Meghan goes to pieces over Ash. Definitely not what I like to see in a heroine.

Review: Requiem by Lauren Oliver

Requiem (Delirium #3)
By Lauren Oliver
Publisher: HarperCollins

To Sum It Up:

With the government determined to wipe out the clusters of resistance that have cropped up across the country, the Wilds have become a dangerous place for Lena and her companions. They are constantly on the move, trying to avoid the government patrols that now regularly sweep the rugged terrain in search of rebels. Meanwhile back in Portland, Lena’s former best friend, Hana, now cured of amor deliria nervosa, prepares for her wedding. Her fiancé will soon be mayor, and it seems that Hana is about to embark on a fairytale life. The reality of her situation couldn’t be farther from that, though. It’s freedom from exactly that kind of life that Lena is fighting for, no matter what the cost.

Review:

Requiem ranters, I feeleth thy pain. The conclusion to the Delirium series eerily reminds me of how I felt after reading the final book in Ally Condie’s Matched trilogy. The middle books of both dystopian series had thrilling build-ups that made you expect, and even look forward to, a ton of action in the finales. Both Reached and Requiem failed to deliver on their promises, though. I’ve always liked the Delirium series more than Matched, which made Requiem all the more disappointing.

Requiem felt very meandering to me, in a “Hey, let’s just see where the story takes us!” kind of way. Maybe that’s because Lena and her compatriots in the resistance spend so much time roaming about in the woods arguing about where they should head next. They eventually settle on a destination, but not after I’d already been bored reading about their daily routine of setting up their tents, starting a fire, collecting food and water, blah, blah, a routine that I had to continue reading about throughout the novel.

I thought Lauren Oliver’s technique of dividing the previous book, Pandemonium, into “Then” and “Now” chapters chronicling Lena’s arrival in the Wilds and her present day mission for the resistance movement and converging the two timelines was just brilliantly done. I do not, however, have the same enthusiasm for the alternating points of view in Requiem. This time, Lena shares narrating duties with her former best friend, Hana, last seen in Delirium. Hana has been cured and is set to marry the soon-to-be mayor, Fred Hargrove. While the idea of reading from the perspective of someone who has undergone the procedure was novel and I give Oliver credit for continuing to be ambitious with her writing style, I just didn’t find Hana’s chapters interesting. Her fiancé was cartoonishly evil; there was no depth to him whatsoever. I didn’t find Hana all that likable, either, especially once her big secret was revealed. Then I kind of hated her. I remember reading the stilted dinner conversations between Lena’s aunt and uncle in Delirium and even between Lena and her cured sister. The lack of emotion was chilling. Although Hana isn’t a lifeless narrator, it’s still not easy reading from her cured POV, either. I get that Oliver wanted to juxtapose rebel Lena and cured Hana’s stories, but it just didn’t work for me.

For a series built around the freedom to love, there wasn’t much revolting, resisting, or rebelling going on until almost the end of the book. And there was one word beginning with “R” that was conspicuously lacking in the novel: romance! Lena’s little love triangle conundrum was referenced a few times, but it certainly wasn’t the focal point that I’d expected it to be. Speaking of Lena, I was disappointed with her character in this one. Where is the Lena from Pandemonium who helped Julian Fineman escape the New York City subway tunnels and who beat the crap out of anyone who messed with her? Well, she’s not the Lena who’s in Requiem, that’s for sure. This Lena is sort of mopey, freezes up during a tense situation more than once, and just doesn’t have Pandemonium Lena’s fire.

I feel like I skimmed most of Requiem because it never really engaged my attention. Because the previous books had ended so memorably, I’d hoped that an unforgettable conclusion would salvage Requiem for me. Nope. I’m not one for rah-rah inspirational messages, especially as a final impression. The strength of this book, as it always has been throughout the series, is Oliver’s writing, and so I’m giving this three stars. If I were basing the rating on how much I enjoyed the book and the amount of closure it gave, two and a half stars would be more accurate.

All in All:

Although I’ve never been a diehard fan of this series, I was invested enough to find Requiem a rather large letdown, particularly Lena’s character regression. Everything that I loved about the second book, Pandemonium, was missing here, from the action to the romance to the kick-ass version of Lena. This wasn’t the finale that I’d envisioned, but that’s just me.

Review: Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Beautiful Creatures (Caster Chronicles #1)
By Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

To Sum It Up:

Ethan Wate has been having strange dreams lately, but he doesn’t suspect how real they’re about to become with the arrival of Lena Duchannes to the small town of Gatlin, South Carolina. Lena comes from a family of powerful magic users, a family that also carries a dark curse with it. Despite how quickly Lena becomes the target of gossip among the Gatlin locals, both for her appearance and her family connections, Ethan finds himself intrigued by her. As Ethan and Lena are about to discover together, Gatlin is a town steeped in magic and secrets, and their two families have been forever linked by both.

Review:

Whenever I set my eyes on books that are of considerable girth like Beautiful Creatures is, the question that springs to my mind is, are all those pages justified? If I’m about to invest my time in a nearly 600 page tome, I expect to be entertained from start to finish. The verdict on Beautiful Creatures? It was worth a read, but there were quite a few lulls that made me wish the book were shorter by several chapters.

I liked the book’s take on magic. Its users are called Casters here, and Lena is one of them. On her sixteenth birthday, she’ll either be Claimed for the Light or for the Dark. Thanks to a curse placed on her family during the Civil War, Lena fears that she’ll be Claimed for the Dark. Lena got on my nerves quite often. I mean, I did feel sorry for her because all she wanted was to be able to attend school and be a normal teenager, but the citizens of Gatlin were determined to make life hell for her. I did, however, think that she spent way too much time brooding over her impending birthday. She could have made better use of her time trying to find a way to avoid turning Dark. Instead, Lena mopes a lot while Ethan does all of the work, poring over books from the Caster Library (which sounds like an amazing place) in search of a solution.

Ethan, our narrator, was an all-around good guy, though perhaps a tad too perfect a hero for my tastes. I prefer protagonists who show some flaws, and Ethan is more of the knight in shining armor type. Really, his only flaw is allowing Miss Mopey to carry on with her pity party instead of telling her to snap out of it and lend a hand in saving herself. I’m sorry, but Lena’s attitude seriously annoyed me.

I found some of the secondary characters better drawn than the main ones. Ethan’s great aunts, collectively called the Sisters, were a riot. I also liked Amma, the Wate family’s housekeeper, who’s pretty much become a parent to Ethan since his mother died and his grief-stricken father sank into a deep depression. But my favorite character in the novel by far was Lena’s uncle, Macon Ravenwood. He’s just incredibly cool and mysterious and has this presence that commands your attention. Nobody crashes a school board meeting like Uncle Macon does.

The novel has a wonderfully eerie vibe to it. You know that something sinister is lurking under the idyllic portrait of small town life that Gatlin goes to painstaking lengths to display. The book’s tone reeled me in from the start, but the same emphasis on how a small town can hide big secrets also hindered the book. It’s very firmly established in the beginning of the novel that Gatlin is the kind of place where everyone knows each other’s business and outsiders aren’t exactly welcome. Small town with small-minded citizens—got it. No need to reinforce this idea over and over and over again. This repetition, combined with the seemingly interminable countdown to Lena’s birthday and the book’s length, caused me to lose some of my interest in the story about halfway through the novel.

I feel like I’ve been rather critical here, and Beautiful Creatures really isn’t a bad read at all. It definitely has its moments and some intriguing characters. The catch is, though, you have to wade through pages and pages to reach the next interesting bit. That was my experience, at least. Every time I gathered some reading momentum, I’d hit a slow stretch in the story, which I think could have benefitted from some reining in.

All in All:

Although I wouldn’t call Beautiful Creatures a page turner, it didn’t bore me to the point where I wanted to abandon reading it, either. I’m not always the most patient reader, and I do believe you need to be reasonably patient with this book, so that was probably a contributing factor in my overall enjoyment of the novel.

• Ally's Review of Beautiful Creatures

Review: Reached by Ally Condie

Reached (Matched #3)
By Ally Condie
Publisher: Dutton Books

To Sum It Up:

The rebel movement, the Rising, is ready to make its move against the oppressive Society, and so, too, are Cassia and Ky. Ky is assigned as a pilot for the Rising, while Cassia’s covert role finds her placed back in the Society. Xander, now a Medic, also has a part to play in all of this. Despite all of its preparations, though, the Rising’s plans do not go as expected, leaving Cassia, Ky, and Xander to face a future even more uncertain than it was under the Society’s rule.

Review:

I’ll summarize my feelings toward the Matched trilogy like this. Matched: meh. Crosssed: very good. Reached: meh. While Matched didn’t do much to distinguish itself in my mind from the other dystopian novels I’d read, it held my interest enough to warrant continuing the series. I really enjoyed the second book, Crossed; I found it much more action-oriented, and I liked the character growth exhibited by the protagonist, Cassia. Crossed left off with the promise of rebellion against the Society by the Rising. So I was all set to read about the Rising storming into the Society’s territory and cleaning house, or something to that effect. That’s not quite how things went down in Reached, though. Not even close.

Ally Condie’s prose is very pretty and the primary reason why I’m not giving this book a lower rating. The writing style of these books has always had this gentle, kind of poetic feel to it that perfectly suits passive resistance. I wouldn’t have minded a lack of epic battle scenes in Reached at all if the build-up in Crossed hadn’t implied that there was, in fact, going to be a lot of thrilling action in Reached. Instead, Reached falls back on a dystopian trope to drive the plot. I don’t want to spoil the novel for anyone considering reading it, but suffice it to say that many a dystopian novel has gone down this path before and with greater success than Reached does. This turn of events was a letdown. The rebellion that I’d been anticipating since the end of Crossed never materializes, at least not on a scale that the word “rebellion” brings to my mind.

With each successive installment, a new narrator has been added. Matched began with just Cassia, Crossed brought in Ky's perspective, and for Reached, we now also have Xander’s point of view. I was quite curious to read from Xander’s POV because his character was still such a mystery to me. Unfortunately, I didn’t feel as though I gained any insight even after having firsthand access to his thoughts and emotions. Cassia, Ky, and Xander’s narrative voices all blended together and weren’t very distinct from one another. Not only that, but they sounded detached from what was happening around them, like they were just observing but not actually interacting. This was the main problem that I had with Cassia in Matched; I never got a sense of depth from her feelings. To me, she was a much more engaging character in Crossed. For the final book, I thought that she reverted to the inscrutable Cassia from Matched, which was frustrating to see. My favorite character from the entire series was Indie because she always spoke her mind and had a spark to her personality that none of the main characters came close to demonstrating. I always felt like I had to work at guessing what was going on with them, despite the first person POVs, and even then, I only managed to scrape together outlines of who they were as characters.

I think the amount of closure and satisfaction you derive from Reached depends on how invested you’ve become in the series. For someone like me, who only had a casual interest from the start, this was disappointing. Over five hundred pages of what was to me mostly dispassionate narration really tried my patience. The hope of seeing some dramatic action take place is what kept me reading, but I hoped in vain. I wanted more rebellion, a romance that was more than lukewarm, and to feel more involved in the story. Crossed was definitely my favorite book in the series; I loved reading about Cassia’s harrowing journey through the mountains in search of Ky. Sadly, I didn’t find any of the story lines in Reached nearly as compelling.

All in All:

My expectations for Reached turned out to be very different from reality, so in a way, I feel I set myself up for disappointment. In the end, I think this series and I were just not meant to be.

Review: The Hunt by Andrew Fukuda

The Hunt (The Hunt #1)
By Andrew Fukuda
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin

To Sum It Up:

Most teenagers don’t have to worry about things like whitening their fake fangs or keeping their facial expressions perfectly neutral while out in public, but Gene isn’t the average teenager. He’s a human, or heper, living among vampires who would devour him in an instant if they knew what he really was. Until now, Gene has managed to pass for a vampire, dutifully attending school at night and pretending to be delighted at the sight of a plate of raw meat. But his cover is about to be threatened by the announcement of the Hunt, a momentous event in which the greatest prizes imaginable, hepers, await the strongest hunters. Gene believes his odds of being selected as a contestant are slim to none, but then the unthinkable happens. He’s chosen to compete in the Hunt, and if he isn’t careful, his fate will be the same as that of the other hepers.

Review:

The Hunt was a mixed bag for me. Although I found the premise, in which human teenager Gene struggles to hide what he is in a world ruled by voracious vampires, interesting, I had a hard time getting into the book. I felt like there was an aloofness to it that prevented me from becoming invested in it until I was about halfway through the novel. Once the action got going, The Hunt was more enjoyable, but I wish that I hadn’t had to wait so long for something riveting to happen.

The protagonist, Gene, is one of the few humans, or hepers, as they’re called in the novel, left in existence. He’s been on his own since his father was bitten by a vampire. It was Gene’s father who instilled in his son rules for surviving among the vampires. Gene has to make sure that he never gives off body odor or has facial hair; he also has to wear fake fangs and keep absolute control over his facial expressions. This means no sneezing, laughing, coughing, etc. I had some trouble believing that this kid could remain undetected by the vampires for as long as he had. That’s not to say that he doesn’t have some close calls with revealing his true nature, but for being around these keenly observant predators for hours a night at school, I would have expected him to get found out a lot sooner. I know that I would have been a tasty vampire snack within a nanosecond of setting foot in that school.

I’m still not sure what to think of Gene, either. I was mostly indifferent to him until he came into contact with the humans who were going to be the targets of the Hunt. Not only does Gene stay mum about the details of the Hunt, but he actually looks down on these poor people. He’s surprised to discover that they can hold a conversation and are literate. His attitude irked me quite a lot, and even though he somewhat redeems himself later on in the book, I couldn’t shake his first impression of his fellow humans from my mind.

Where the story became the most engaging for me was when the focus shifted to the humans. They’ve spent their entire lives in captivity and have been raised at the Heper Institute just so they can be hunted down like animals. Reading about what their lives were like and the horrible purpose that they were intended to serve packed the most emotional punch in a book that otherwise felt clinical in tone to me. Sissy, the leader of the group and the only female, is an awesome character. Her courage makes it obvious why she’s in charge, not to mention the fact that she’s lethal with a dagger. I thought that the humans’ plight was much more compelling than Gene’s attempts to blend in as a vampire, and I kept hoping that they’d find a way to escape their situation.

Around the halfway point of The Hunt, I was pretty sure that I wasn’t going to read the sequel; I wasn’t a big fan of Gene and the world-building. Second thoughts began swirling, though, when pandemonium broke out in the book, and I started turning the pages with eagerness. The thrilling way in which the actual Hunt played out left me looking for more to read. I’m still undecided about reading The Prey. On the one hand, the ending of The Hunt made me curious to know what happens next; on the other, if the pacing in The Prey is anything like that of its predecessor, I don’t think I have the patience to read 150 pages or so before the real action commences. I might continue with the series, but it’s not a priority.

All in All:

I think your success with this book hinges on how you find the world-building. I couldn’t totally wrap my head around Gene avoiding detection for so long, especially once he was taken to the Heper Institute to prep for the Hunt and for a while had no access to water, neither for drinking nor for bathing. I did, however, like getting to know the humans as more than mere game for the vampire hunters, as well as the gripping finale. The strength of these two things bumped the book up to a three star rating.

Review: This Is Not a Test by Courtney Summers

This Is Not a Test
By Courtney Summers
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin

To Sum It Up:

Sloane Price’s last sliver of hope disappeared the day that her older sister, Lily, took off and broke her promise that they would leave their abusive father’s house together. Sloane is prepared to escape from her pain permanently when the world erupts into chaos. Zombies are everywhere, and she ends up taking refuge in Cortege High School with some of her fellow students. As the group fights, sometimes among themselves, to see another day, Sloane continues to struggle with her despair. Finding something to live for before the zombies was difficult enough, and now, with no end to the mayhem in sight, Sloane faces an even tougher battle to summon the will to survive.

Review:

I think the best way to sum up how I feel about this book is with: it’s not you, it’s me. There’s nothing overtly wrong with This Is Not a Test; it just wasn’t my kind of read. I couldn’t get into the story or connect with any of the characters. As I read, it seemed as though there was a distance between the book and me, and that distance was never bridged.

I found the characters in particular difficult to form any kind of attachment to. They all garnered my sympathy for the situation they were in and for the losses they suffered, but my investment in them failed to go beyond that. No one stood out to me and commanded my attention. I also had a hard time processing Sloane’s mind-set once the zombie apocalypse began. Granted, she had a horrific home life before, and the fact that she wanted to end her life because of it was heartbreaking. But once she’s barricaded inside the school, she continues to dwell on her sister leaving and to feel that she has no reason to go on. I think my brain couldn’t reconcile Sloane making it to shelter in the first place only to plan on walking out and letting the zombies infect her. I expected a different reaction, for her to be as consumed with fear of the undead as her classmates were and for her survival instinct to kick into high gear. It’s interesting that Courtney Summers chose to have Sloane act this way, sort of opposite to what might have been anticipated. For me, though, it created an incongruity in my head that I couldn’t move past. The world has been altered forever, but that isn’t enough to break Sloane out of her pre-apocalypse thought pattern.

If you’ve read other reviews of This Is Not a Test, then you probably know that the zombies are rather secondary to the story. Instead, the novel focuses on the dynamics within this group of teenagers who’ve been thrown together under extreme circumstances. Summers builds some great tension-filled scenes that make you wonder whether the survivors are going to turn on each other before help arrives or the zombies manage to breach their makeshift sanctuary. To me, the unpredictability of the plot is the strongest aspect of the novel. Summers keeps you guessing as to whether the zombies outside the doors are the biggest threat, or if the frayed nerves of the weary, frightened teenagers are going to prove to be their undoing in the end.

I know this review is all over the place, but so were my thoughts when I finished reading this book. It simply didn’t work out for me, but that shouldn’t discourage anyone from giving it a try.

All in All:

If you’re looking for an all-out zombie fright-fest, then you should probably look elsewhere. If, instead, you’re in the mood for a dark, intense read that examines how people are driven to survive in the face of catastrophe, then this might be worth checking out.

Review: Immortal City by Scott Speer

Immortal City (Immortal City #1)
By Scott Speer
Publisher: Razorbill

To Sum It Up: Los Angeles literally embodies its nickname, City of Angels. It is the capital of the Angel world, where Angels are idolized like celebrities, and humans who can afford it can pay for a Guardian Angel’s protection. Jackson Godspeed is about to become the youngest Angel ever to join the ranks of the Guardians. His face is all over the media, but Jackson’s fame and Angel-mania in general fail to impress Maddy Montgomery, even after meeting him in person. Whether she wants to or not, though, Maddy is about to find herself enmeshed in the Angels’ world, which at this moment is being rocked by a killer who is targeting them.

Review: I don’t know what it is with angel books, but I seem to have no luck with them. Hush, Hush, Embrace, and Illuminate all fell flat for me. Sometimes I wonder if I’m just meant to stay away from books about angels and instead stick to reading about vampires, demons, and other unholy creatures. I’m determined to find some good YA angel reads, though, because I’m sure that they do exist; I just haven’t found them yet.

While not perfect, Immortal City was definitely a step-up from the other angel books that I’ve read. I really liked the concept of angels as celebrities; the “A” in “angel” is even capitalized in the book. Speer creates a glitzy, immersive world in which television networks like ANN (Angel News Network) bring viewers the latest Angel-related updates, and SaveTube features thrilling Guardian Angel rescues caught on camera. It’s very easy to buy into this vision of Los Angeles; the only real difference is that its most famous citizens happen to have wings.

I found Maddy’s aloofness toward all of the Angel hype refreshing. Unlike her friend, Gwen, who lives and breathes everything Angel, Maddy can’t be bothered with any of it. Maddy is a pretty grounded heroine, but I wish that she’d been a little less generic. My main problem with both her and Jackson was that they seemed to be cut straight out of a YA character template with minimal customization. He’s a rich, ultra-famous superhuman being whose every move is scrutinized by the media, and she’s the humble mortal girl who can’t imagine ever catching the attention of someone like him. With such an original setting, I’d hoped that the two lead characters would be just as unique, but in the end, I thought that they were rather conventional.

For me, the most intriguing part of this book was the mystery surrounding the murdered Angels. I really enjoyed reading about David Sylvester, the detective investigating the killings. I can picture him with his own spin-off mystery/crime series. Whenever the story shifted to Detective Sylvester, the book took on a dark, gritty quality, adding an interesting aspect to what is mostly an urban fantasy novel.

The pay-for-protection system that enables those humans with the cash to spare to hire their very own Guardian Angels poses quite a thought-provoking ethical question. Is it right to only save the lives of those who can afford what is essentially a luxury service? Any Guardian who rescues a human without a protection policy is punished severely. This issue plays a pivotal role throughout the novel and leads to a few surprising revelations.

Although Immortal City wasn’t a complete cure for my angel book blues, I loved how innovative the world was. It’s very easy to become absorbed in the details of the Angels’ glamorous lifestyles. This book is definitely worth a read if you’ve tried other angel books and are looking for a completely different take on them.

All in All: While I didn’t really connect with either of the main characters, overall, Immortal City was an entertaining read. I certainly enjoyed it a lot more than some of the previous angel titles that I’ve read.

Review: Partials by Dan Wells

Partials (Partials #1)
By Dan Wells
Publisher: Balzer + Bray

To Sum It Up: War with genetically engineered beings called Partials and a virus released by them to target humans have left humanity on the brink of extinction. No new babies are being born with immunity to the RM virus, and they die shortly after birth. Sixteen-year-old Kira Walker is training to be a medic and witnesses the dying newborns firsthand. She believes that the Partials, who are immune to the virus, hold the key to finding a cure. Kira devises a dangerous plan to enter Partial territory and bring one back to the lab to be studied. Her search for answers turns out to be more than Kira bargained for, though, when she discovers some shocking information not only about the Partials but about humans, too.

Review: I hadn’t read any reviews of Partials before borrowing it from the library, so I was a little surprised to find out that it was more of a pure science fiction novel than a dystopian one (though it also easily falls under the dystopian category). Science and I were never really pals in school; it never interested me as much as, say, English and history. Unfortunately, my lack of enthusiasm for all things scientific affected my enjoyment of Partials, which is an otherwise thrilling, intelligent story of humanity’s fight for survival.

I’m used to having to suspend my disbelief while reading fiction, but I thought that Partials asked me to accept a lot of things at face value. The Partials were created to fight for humans in the Isolation War with China, but the genetically engineered soldiers turned on their human makers, setting off the Partial War. An engineered virus called RM, attributed to the Partials, was released, killing most of the human population. The North American survivors are now clustered together on Long Island. Although the characters in the book discuss the Isolation War from time to time, I’m still in the dark about exactly what went on. The book plops you in the middle of a disaster scenario but doesn’t dwell on the details of how you arrived there. In this case, some additional background information on how this world came to exist would have been helpful, at least to me.

There’s even more going on in this story. The government has enacted a law called the Hope Act, which requires females eighteen years and older to be pregnant as often as possible in the hope that a baby with RM immunity will finally be born. A rebel group called the Voice vehemently opposes the Hope Act and creates all sorts of chaos to make its position known. The action in Partials is nonstop and very exciting, but sometimes I felt like I was experiencing information overload trying to keep up with the various plotlines, which apparently, I’m not very skilled at doing.

While I’m all for brainy, take-charge heroines in YA novels, which Kira completely is in Partials, I thought that she also suffered from a bit of a superhero complex. Her determination to save the human race is admirable, but there are times when she pursues her goal so doggedly that she loses sight of everything else, like how much she’s asking from her friends when she requests their help with her mission to find a Partial. On the one hand, I liked Kira’s fearless, can-do attitude, but on the other, her occasional tunnel vision irked me.

Along with the multiple plotlines, there is a host of supporting characters to keep track of. I was really intrigued by the Partial, Samm. The motives behind his actions are quite murky; I’d love to know what he’s thinking. I also liked Jayden and Xochi, two of Kira’s friends, but the rest of the characters sort of blurred together after a while, especially the government officials.

Getting past all of the science talk in Partials was a big hurdle for me, and I just couldn’t do it [hanging head in shame]. Readers who do love this type of thing should revel in the detailed descriptions of Kira’s RM studies. I also felt that the book had a lot of great ideas, but this abundance was also part of its problem. It tried to incorporate all of them, leaving some underdeveloped. Although Partials fell a little short for me, it’s sure to find plenty of fans among science fiction enthusiasts.

All in All: Anyone who likes dystopians which lean more towards sci-fi will probably enjoy this. I might read the sequel one day because I really liked Samm and would like to know what happens to him, but it’s one of those “I’ll get to it when I get to it” type of books.