Enclave (Razorland #1) by Ann Aguirre

This is my second time reading Enclave by Ann Aguirre and I have to say that I didn’t enjoy it as much the second time through as I did the first. I read it for the first time over two years ago, so I had not been exposed to as many books as I have now. That being said, I still really enjoyed it, just not as much as the first time.

            Deuce lives in an underground society and the tunnels of the New York City subway are all that she has ever known. The world above them is fraught with danger where the rain burns your skin clean off your body. Or at least that’s what she’s always been told by her enclave’s elders. Deuce has spent her entire life preparing to become a Huntress, one who hunts for food and fights Freaks, mindless monsters that ramble through the tunnels. But then, she gets stuck with Fade as her partner, a boy with a mysterious origin that appeared at the enclave out of the blue. As the two grow closer, Fade shows Deuce all of the corruption that exists in the enclave’s governing body. When they are wrongly accused and exiled for a crime that they did not commit, Deuce and Fade must escape to the surface. There, they find that it is livable, but gangs and Freaks run rampant through the streets. The two then attempt to find the safe haven that Fade’s father always talked about and they are joined by more “friends” on their journey. Will the pair successfully make it to the place of their dreams? Or will they get overrun by Freaks and gangbangers before they can glimpse their paradise?

            Deuce is a hard, determined person. She’s a strong female protagonist, there’s no doubt about that. In the beginning of the story, I thought she was just a little too obsessed with becoming a Huntress. I think the word “Huntress” may appear over 100 times in the first two chapters, I kid you not. Also, Deuce has this “Huntress voice” in her head that tells her what to do to survive, but it only ever tells her to do awful things, like killing her best friend or leaving a poor, defenseless child alone in the Freak-infested tunnels. Sometimes, I just wanted to smack the Huntress voice and tell it to just shut up because there is really no need to kill your best friend, okay? Even though I just spent that whole time bashing Deuce, I didn’t really think she was that bad of a character. She was strong and independent. She cared about others, but didn’t know how to express it. Overall, a good character with some annoying qualities, but not so annoying that I disliked her.

            Fade, on the other hand, is amazing. He may be a Hunter, but he doesn’t only do what he needs to survive. He cares about other people and puts others before himself. He’s one of those people that are hard to warm up to, but then are amazing friends once they like you and his compassion and strength are apparent in every action he performs. If you can’t tell, I think Fade is wonderful. Enough said. J

            The story line was interesting and it kept me engaged from beginning to end. It was an interesting idea to have people living below the ground and people living above the ground, yet they know nothing about each other. The writing was an interesting style. Because Deuce was not exactly a scholar, I can understand why the narration is a bit choppy and most of the times it made sense, but then there were other times when it just… didn’t. Good thing they were few and far between! The writing was not too flowery, which matched the action-packed story line perfectly. Overall, Enclave was a good read, but it didn’t exactly blow me out of the water. Next I shall read the sequel, Outpost, so look out for that review in the next couple of days!

This book was really entertaining! 4 Smileys!

Prodigy (Legend #2) by Marie Lu

Let me start off by saying that the Legend series is one of my favorite series of all time. I love it so much and it’s so amazingly awesome. The first book in the series, Legend, was, of course, spectacular, and Lu did not disappoint AT ALL with her second book, Prodigy!

            After June and Day escape from the military center of Los Angeles and narrowly avoid Day’s execution at the expense of his brother’s life, the two flee to Las Vegas in the hopes of meeting up with the Patriots, the rebel group opposing the Republic, and Tess, Day’s childhood friend. Meanwhile, the Elector Primo dies from his long-term illness and his son, Anden, assumes the position of Elector. When they arrive, the Patriots want June and Day to aid in a plot to assassinate the new Elector. June goes undercover and gets close with the new, young Elector and she discovers that he may not be the bad guy that the Patriots make him out to be. Will June and Day be able to kill what may be the Republic’s only hope for change? Or will they stop the plot before it’s too late and find out who the real enemy of the State is? Find out by reading it! Seriously, do it NOW. You won’t regret it, I assure you!

            Once again, Lu has astonished me with her amazing characters. Both June and Day have such depth and there was a lot of character development in this book, considering that it was a sequel. June is still as fierce and determined as ever. Day is kind-hearted and enthusiastic. I love both June and Day because they are so amazing and I wish that I could do half of the stuff that they can do. They can scale buildings like it’s nobody’s business. I want to be able to do that so bad! I mean, they have an otherwise rough life, but the physical feats they are capable is astounding and I wish I cold be as cool of them. Oh, jealousy. (See my Legend review for more reasons why I love June and Day)  As a last note on the characters, let me just mention that Kaede is really awesome. Okay, that is all.

            The story Lu wrote was full of twists and turns and there were a lot of things that happened that I could not guess beforehand. I didn’t even know who the actual evil person was until June figured it out. It’s awesome when the reader figures things out at the same time as the character does because then you get so caught up in the story, and that is how Prodigy was. It was SO AMAZING. Lu also once again did a phenomenal job with the multiple points of view. As it switched back and forth from June to Day, I could tell which character was talking because the two narrations were written so differently. It’s not often that I like books with multiple points of view, but I love this one! The only criticism that I have of the plot is that there was one unnecessary death, but that could just be my grief talking because I’m still not over it. People who have read the book, you know who I mean. So many tears! Also, the ending? The people who haven’t read this book yet, prepare yourselves for that because preparing definitely needs to be done before reading this ending. My heart broke a little and only the next book will be able to heal it. Write quickly, Marie Lu!

With amazing characters, an awesome storyline, and dynamic narrations, Prodigy was probably one of the best sequels I have ever read. I am so looking forward to reading the next book in the series, Champion, but I have to wait until November to read it! The wait shall be painful, but I shall carry on!

I LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH!! 5 Smileys!

The Dead and Buried by Kim Harrington

I was sick today, so I got the whole day to just relax and read. My choice of book for the day was The Dead and Buried by Kim Harrington. This is the first book I’ve even been able to read for pleasure since the beginning of the New Year. I know what you’re thinking: How have I lived? Well, it’s been tough, but The Dead and Buried was a good book to start me off on my exciting (albeit belated) year of reading!

            Jade Kelley’s dream has always been to move out of Nowhereville, Massachusetts and into a larger city, like Woodridge. Her dreams are finally realized as she enters her senior year of high school, but there is a dark storm cloud hovering over her paradise: She has moved into a house that was once inhabited by a girl who would have been in the same grade at the same school as Jade, but she was murdered at the end of her junior year… and she’s still there. Kayla was the on top of the world in her life, so who would have killed her? She refuses to leave the house until Jade can find out her killer and threatens to kill her brother if she does not comply. And there’s also the matter of Kayla’s cute ex-boyfriend, the boy with the black hair and crystalline eyes. Will Jade discover Kayla’s killer before Kayla goes on a rampage and kills Jade’s brother?

            There was one character I especially liked in this story and that was Jade. She was a slightly awkward 17-year-old girl who spoke before she thought and didn’t really care what other people thought of her and she was really funny…. In other words, me. I guess the right term wouldn’t be that I “liked” her because then that would be saying that I like myself, so… I could connect to her really well. I could see myself reacting to situations in the same ways that she did, so if you’re like me (or the description above), you’ll really like/connect with Jade.

            Donovan, the aforementioned ex-boyfriend, was alright, I guess. He was sweet, caring, considerate, and in the beginning, broken. He didn’t really have any flaws to speak of, so if you like the dreamy, perfect-type boy, then you’ll love Donovan! I thought that the plethora of other characters were also well done because each one was distinctively different.

            I was completely unable to guess who the killer was. I couldn’t guess AT ALL. Though I’m not sure if that’s because my flu-fogged brain was unable to comprehend it or it was actually a mystery, because it could honestly be either one. However, I did like the story because I like pretty much any story where the main character is introduced into a new environment, surrounded by all new people. For some reason that just really interests me, probably because it has never happened to me, but I always secretly hoped it would…

            In summation, this was a book with an awesome main character, a good plot, and a good mystery, though it didn’t COMPLETELY blow me out of the water.

This was a really good book! 4 Smileys!

Room by Emma Donoghue

I read Room by Emma Donoghue for school. While you may be thinking, “Hey, at least you got to read a book that’s not 100 years old,” I think that I would have much preferred reading a book from 100 years ago.

            Jack has just turned five, but nothing has changed. He’s still in the same 11’ x 11’ room that he was born in. But he doesn’t know that he is stuck in a room. He thinks that Room makes up the entire world. He does not know that there are people outside of Room or that another world exists other than the one that he lives in. His mother was kidnapped at the age of nineteen and forced to live in the room so Old Nick (her captor) could come in for “nightly visits” (if you know what I mean...). He then got her pregnant with Jack and he provides Ma and Jack with minimal food and clothing. Then, Ma and Jack escape through some complex plan involving a fake death, a rug, and a truck. Will the two be able to integrate into society after being completely isolated for seven years (well, five for Jack, but that makes it his whole life!)?

            I know, I know, it sounds like a good book, right? Well, it was actually really frustrating. It was told from the point of view of Jack (who is FIVE) and, if you know what a five-year-old is like, you should know that being inside the mind of one is very scary. I don’t really like kids in general, but I particularly didn’t like Jack. I know that he had really harsh conditions, but he could be such a brat sometimes. He was kind of bipolar because one second he would be screaming and being a horrible child and the next he would be a little angel. I don’t know if that’s what five-year-olds are supposed to be like, but whatever, I didn’t like it.

            Another reason that it was not a good book for school was because there wasn’t really any substance to the book. When we were trying to look at symbolism or syntax or whatever English term you want to put in there, it was impossible. It was like trying to scuba dive in a stream. Impossible.

            And now for the thing that bothered me the most: the grammar. Because he was five, Donoghue wrote as a five year old would talk: with horrible grammar and misspelled words (at least I think I remember there being some in there…). He also called things by names and gave them genders. For example, Lamp was a girl and Wardrobe was a boy and Rug was a girl. Like he would say, “I’m laying on Rug. She is warm.” It was really annoying. I felt like I was getting stupider as I read it and I really just didn’t like it. With that being said, I think that Donoghue is a good writer. She was able to put herself in the shoes of a five-year-old boy when she is a grown woman, and I think she did it well. I just didn’t like the whole concept of a five-year-old narrating it.

            And the last thing: the ending. It was so anticlimactic and it wasn’t satisfying at all, though I think that it was meant to be. Actually, the last half of the book (after they got out of Room) was pretty boring and very repetitive. He did the same things every day and his new experiences and his reactions to them weren’t as profound as I expected them to be. It didn’t hold my attention well at all.

            However, don’t let my opinion dissuade you if you want to read this book. There were plenty of people in my class that liked it, but I was not one of them.

This book was really not for me. 2 Smileys!

Midnight City by J. Barton Mitchell

I fell in love with Midnight City by J. Barton Mitchell when I read the very first page. And I stayed in love with it to the very end.

            When the world was taken over by aliens, all of the people over 18 succumbed to the Tone and were abducted by the aliens…

Holt Hawkins hunts people. He’s a bounty hunter and one person has a surprisingly large sum of money on her head: Mira Toombs. In a world where aliens rule and people get possessed by the Tone, the call the aliens use to lure in human beings, people can be guilty of anything. But Holt doesn’t care about the why of the price on her head; he just wants the money. After capturing Mira, Holt encounters Zoey, a little girl he rescues from a crashed alien ship. There’s something different about her, but Holt can’t decide exactly what that is. As the trio battles though endless obstacles to return Mira to her city, which also happens to be one of the last human strongholds in North America, they become comrades rather than prisoners and warden. When they finally make it to Midnight City, Holt discovers why Mira was so wanted and that things are a lot more complicated than he ever expected. Will Holt and Mira survive being attacked by the aliens? More importantly, will they be able to survive through the human attacks?

           

            My favorite part, by far, was the characters. They were perfect. Absolutely perfect. First, let’s talk about Holt. Holt is Heedless, so he is immune to the Tone. He was my favorite character, no doubt. First of all, he loves his dog, Max, so much that he risks his life several times to save him. I would do the same thing for my dog. I SERIOUSLY LOVE MY DOG AND SO DOES HE! Plus, he is a GENIUS! He is probably the smartest person that I have ever read about. Actually, I guess he’s more clever than smart, but still he was really smart/clever. I don’t even know how Mitchell came up with some of these things, but they amazed me! Holt is adorable with Zoey. For example, in one scene he teaches her to waltz and it’s seriously the cutest thing ever. Well, besides my dog. J Other than that, he’s always prepared, a little OCD, and totally amazing….

           

            Mira is pretty much just as amazing as Holt, except in girl form. They are evenly matched in everything: wits, strength, cleverness, and intelligence. But they aren’t the same person, really. You can tell that the reason for this is NOT that Mitchell can only write one kind of character; it’s because they’re perfect for each other, so they share some similar qualities. There is no macho man out to save the little damsel in distress; Mira saves Holt plenty of times, too. Holt doesn’t treat Mira like something delicate to be coddled, and he views her as a complete equal. Oh, and by the way, Mira is months away from being taken over by the Tone and being abducted by aliens…

            This plot line was so intense! I couldn’t stop reading it! I had o know what happened next! There were moments when I literally could not stop smiling, even after I stopped reading and I’m pretty sure my mom thought I was slightly crazy. Some parts of this book were so cleverly crafted I couldn’t help but be impressed, and sometimes astounded, by it. I couldn’t find any plot holes and the whole thing was really realistic. When the characters were in a situation, it tackled all of the problems presented; it didn’t just conveniently ignore a problem to make the plot simpler. Every event in the book meshed really well together and it turned out to be a fabulous read in the end!

            Mitchell did really well at creating a strong female heroine and he also did a good job making a strong male hero. All of the characters were so in depth and lovable that I couldn’t help but be totally immersed in the story from line one!

This book was AMAZING!! 5 Smileys!