YA

Book Review: Never Fade

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Never Fade
The Darkest Minds #2
by Alexandra Bracken

My rating: 4.5 / 5
Genre: YA dystopian

Spoiler notice: The following review will contain some spoilers for the previous book in the series, The Darkest Minds.

Ruby isn’t happy to be a tool of the Children’s League, though she has to admit that the training they’ve given her has been useful. When she learns about some vital information that needs to be recovered, she embarks on a mission for the League with ulterior motives. Her quest will take her across dangerous lands, into the paths of villains of all different flavors, and, ultimately, back home again.

Given the way the previous book ended, I wasn’t sure how this one was going to go or how much I would enjoy it. But I was just as engaged as I was with the first book, maybe even more so. Through 500 pages, I was caught up, surprised by revelations or small surprises, and hard-pressed to put the book down, especially in the last 1/4 or so. There are some new characters introduced here that I ended up loving, some returning characters that had new and different roles in this book, and then there’s Ruby herself. She could easily have become a character that annoyed me, continually beating herself up for the way she’s evolving, but it never got to a point of bothering me.

This is the kind of book where I find myself uncertain about who to trust, and I’m not even sure if it’s intentional or if I just wasn’t following certain aspects of the story. I also found a particular plot point (which would be a spoiler to mention) pretty unbelievable, as it relates to the previous book in the series. Overall, though, none of this was enough to make me want to lower the star rating by more than half, and I’m really looking forward to reading the final book in the trilogy.

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Book Review: Scythe

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Scythe
Arc of a Scythe #1
by Neal Shusterman

My rating: 5 / 5
Genre: YA dystopian

When mankind discovers the secret to immortality, it might seem like utopia—no more disease, war, or corruption. Most of the world is now governed by a neutral AI cloud called the Thunderhead, and peace reigns. Though natural death may be a thing of the past, a global group of people called scythes are tasked with keeping the population from growing to an unsustainable level. Two teens, Citra and Rowan, are tapped to be scythe apprentices and learn the craft of killing. This is a task that neither of them wants, which is what makes them the perfect candidates.

Even though I’m giving this book a 5-star rating, I want to start this review with a couple of things that I didn’t like about it. I am not a big fan of violence and killing, especially when it is presented as a good thing, as it is here. Yes, it’s way more complicated than “killing is good/necessary,” but some of the people that we are rooting for become completely desensitized to the horror of murder, and I feel that consuming a lot of fiction like this can potentially do the same to the reader. The second thing is the way the author so cavalierly disregards God. Of course a book where immortality is the basis of the worldbuilding is going to eschew the reality of the Creator God, but it felt a little more intentional and biased in this book, which rubbed me the wrong way. None of the things I said here affected my rating, though, or kept me from enjoying the book.

And I did enjoy it, as much as you can enjoy a book like this. I think it was Scythe Faraday, even before I had any idea who he would become to the story, that drew me in right away. Rowan and Citra as co-apprentices are good foils for each other, which makes the dynamic between the three the heart of the story. There are a couple of other characters that I really liked as well, one of which surprised me and would be a spoiler to name.

The book kept me guessing—just when I think I’ve settled into a routine with Scythe Faraday, Citra, and Rowan, everything changes. And then changes again. When I think I know what is going to happen with someone, that person surprises me. And one of my favorite things about the story is that, even though it’s dystopian and there are terrible things happening, there’s a lot of hope, too. At the end of the book, I was excited to read more and hopeful for what’s to come. This book was recommended to me by my 16-year-old daughter, and I feel comfortable recommending it to teens and adults alike.

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Book Review: Thornbird

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Thornbird
by E. Kennedy

My rating: 2 / 5
Genre: YA thriller, romance

Gabrielle Thorn’s father confessed to murdering 6 women, but for 10 years, he refused to reveal where their bodies were. As both the 10th anniversary of his conviction and the date set for his execution approach, Gabrielle returns to the town where the murders took place with a new name and new story. Now she’s Ryan Shipley and even the cousins she’s living with don’t know who she really is. Ryan just wants to live as normal a life as she can before she graduates and leaves town for good, but as the search for the victims’ bodies heats up, she starts to get texts from an unknown sender threatening to reveal her true identity.

I don’t think I’d call this book a thriller, and it’s not much of a mystery either. For one thing, the murders have been solved. The only mystery here is where the bodies are, and Ryan does not spend any remotely significant amount of time in the story trying to figure that out—in fact, she actively avoids it as much as possible. For me, there was some suspense in the book, but that was really mostly due to me thinking there was going to be more going on than met the eye. There really wasn’t. A lot of the book is spent with Ryan feeling guilty, nauseous, etc. over what her dad did, the lasting effect he still has on his victims’ families, and keeping her secret from people she’s getting close to. She constantly does things she thinks are a bad idea, mostly chalked up to hormones, and basically is just carried along by the actions of those around her.

Romance is here in full force, though, albeit a worldly, YA version of romance. Ryan is pursued by the football quarterback, which then turns into a predictable-yet-ridiculous love triangle. In fact, around the 75% mark, when a thriller should be heating up, instead the serial killer side of the story slows way down as the romance heats up, and for a few chapters it seems the only focus is the physical side of this new relationship (which, by the way, is the only side to the relationship). After that, there are some reveals, at least one that could probably be seen as a twist, but I still kept expecting something else exciting or unexpected to happen, but the story played out fairly blandly to the end. So much of what happens in the last several chapters is illogical or just really stupid decisions on Ryan’s part.

So, I don’t really recommend this book to anyone. Younger readers might not be as bothered by the plot holes, terrible characterization, or other things that made me roll my eyes. However, the graphic nature of at least one of the physical interactions between Ryan and her triangle guy is inappropriate for teens. And for once, after reading other reviews, I’m not the only one that felt that it went too far, even amongst reviewers that are less conservative than I am. So let that be a warning to anyone considering reading this, of any age, really.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Children’s Books for providing me a copy of this book to review.

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Book Review: Night Terror

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Night Terror
Bleak Haven #2
by Vincent Ralph

My rating: 2 / 5
Genre: YA paranormal horror

The town of Bleak Haven has had more than its share of serial killers, almost as if it’s under a curse. Though it’s been around 18 years since the last murders, the town still hosts remembrance ceremonies every 3 months. Some of the citizens think it’s time to move on, so they seek out the fabled Burning Book to try to convince everyone that this particular urban legend is nothing more than a fairy tale. But what will they do if it turns out that the book has powers they can’t imagine?

After enjoying the previous book in this series, which is a straight-up slasher story, I was not expecting the follow-up (which is set in the 80s, 40+ years before the first book) to involve supernatural elements. The official synopsis does hint at that, but I wasn’t sure what to expect exactly and simply wanted to read more about this town that has such a bloody history. I’m not a big fan of the zombie genre, and that’s all this basically is. There’s very little in the way of a plot, at least a plot that has any kind of cohesion, and the book is mostly just teenagers running from undead monsters and gruesome death scenes. By the end of the book, I still didn’t really understand much about the origins of the Burning Book or the legend surrounding it, if the book had anything to do with serial killers that came after the first ones in Bleak Haven, or any explanation for other supernatural elements. I’m left saying the same thing that I said in my review of the previous book—hopefully more explanation will come in later books in the series.

The main character was really hard to get a read on—his motivation for fighting, or at least not running away, seems to change randomly. Maybe that just means he’s confused, lying to himself, or even keeping things from the reader, but it mostly just left me feeling completely disconnected from him. Other characters weren’t much better in that regard. Also, I’ve read other reviews that talk about the 80s vibe in this book, even to the degree that the book relies too much on that vibe and not enough on the story itself, but I didn’t really get much nostalgia from this book at all. Other than Blockbuster and cassette tapes being mentioned, I don’t know where the 80s references really were. Not that I need them, but I actually did forget now and then that this book took place around 40 years ago.

There’s no mystery here, no big reveal. It’s really just violence and survival. There is a little bit of language, including the f-word several times, but not nearly as much as I’ve read in other books in the same genre. And there is no sexual content. But there is a lot of pus, bile, and blood. People who enjoy zombie stories and gory death scenes (in the teen/YA age range), and don’t mind there not being much plot might enjoy this book. At this point, I can’t really say whether this book is important to the rest of the series or not, so I can’t even say if it’s necessary to read it if you read the rest. I do plan to read the last 2 books, though, so maybe I’ll come back and edit this review later with more info about that.

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Book Review: Winter

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Winter
The Lunar Chronicles #4
by Marissa Meyer
read by Rebecca Soler

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: YA sci-fi

Spoiler notice: The following review will contain some spoilers for the previous books in the series, starting with Cinder.

Winter may be a princess, but she is still very much under the thumb of her stepmother, Queen Levana of Luna. Cinder and her friends from Earth are on a mission to stop Levana from marrying Emperor Kaito of the Eastern Commonwealth and gaining a foothold on Earth. Winter may be able to be of help to them, if only she can keep a handle on her hallucinations.

This book is both Winter’s fairy-tale retelling of Snow White and the conclusion to the story that started all the way back with Cinder. That makes it a sort of culmination of the Cinderella retelling in the first book as well. And because each book introduces a female protagonist and a male romantic counterpart, everything coming together in this book felt a little too repetitive to me. Their overall stories were different, but 4 romances resolving not too far apart was a bit much for me. Though to be fair, a couple of these romances were at least partially resolved before the end of this book, so it could have been worse. And I don’t mean to say that I didn’t enjoy the book. I really liked the way the main plots played out, the threads from previous books that Meyer weaved together in this final installment. After several books talking about the moon colony, getting to go there in this book added a new, exciting dimension. I like that Meyer explored so many different facets of that world.

At times, it seemed as though so many characters/pairs of characters got to be a bit too much for the author, too difficult to make sure they all had their own distinct personalities. For example, when Thorne (my favorite character since book 2) had cause to be concerned for Cress, I wish he had reacted more Thorne-like, as opposed to doing this best impression of Wolf’s broodiness. Thankfully, Thorne was more himself by the end of the book. Most of the time, though, I could see distinct differences in how Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter acted, thought, and talked. Part of that last one might have been due to the audiobook narrator putting on a slightly different voice for some of the characters, but since that’s how I consumed this series, the narration was definitely a plus for me in that area.

Overall, this was a solid YA sci-fi series for me, and I am sure I’ll revisit it again in the future. Fans of futuristic sci-fi and/or fairy tale retellings, maybe around age 15 and up, should definitely consider checking out this series, starting with the first book (you really don’t want to dive in here on the final book).

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Book Review: The Darkest Minds

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The Darkest Minds
Book #1
by Alexandra Bracken

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: YA dystopian

When the small percentage of survivors of a plague that affects children and teens begin to exhibit special powers, they are feared, hunted, and locked up. But some avoid capture or manage to escape the camps. Ruby spent six years in a camp, and when she manages to leave, she has to figure out who on the outside can be trusted. Both adults and other children present unknown risks she might not be prepared to deal with.

The set-up for this book is scary, but it’s all too believable that adults would lock up kids if they turned out to be dangerous. Ruby’s time in the camp is summed up at the beginning and is a sad and poignant backdrop to the rest of the story going forward, exploring the emotional and psychological toll of such treatment on young individuals. I like the dynamic of Liam, Chubs, and Zu and the way they incorporate Ruby into their group, fostering a sense of camaraderie and mutual understanding amid their shared struggles. The romance didn’t really stand out to me, but at least it didn’t make me cringe, serving as a subtle undercurrent rather than the main focus of the narrative. To be honest, I felt like Ruby connected with and had more chemistry with Chubs than Liam. The plot overall is engaging; yes, a lot of the middle involves these four kids driving toward an unlikely dream, but I really don’t remember being bored, as their journey is filled with moments of tension, growth, and unexpected turns.

My biggest issue with the book is that Ruby mostly doesn’t act like someone who was locked up from age 10 to age 16. Her emotional development, her knowledge of the world, social skills, etc. should basically be at a 10-year-old level. This crops up in very minor ways, but not nearly what I think would be realistic. There are times when she answers questions about life or, even more narrowly, her home state of Virginia that would just make me shake my head and think, “There’s no way I would have known that at 10 years old.” I also wish there could have been some adults that weren’t just bad. A kind guard at the camp, a legend about a group that actually is trying to help kids, etc. That part of the set up maybe wasn’t so realistic, but maybe that will be explored more in a future book. Overall, I enjoyed this story a lot, even with those issues. I’ve already recommended it to my 16-year-old daughter and think other fans of YA sci-fi, especially dystopian worlds, should give it a try.

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Book Review: Cress

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Cress
The Lunar Chronicles #3
by Marissa Meyer
read by Rebecca Soler

My rating: 5 / 5
Genre: YA sci-fi

Spoiler notice: The following review will contain some spoilers for the previous books in the series, starting with Cinder.

Living alone on a satellite for 7 years, Cress is tasked with working for Queen Levana but works against her any way she can. When Cinder, Scarlet, and the rest of their band of outlaws contact Cress looking for help, her life will never be the same.

This book brought back my full enjoyment for the series (not that I didn’t like Scarlet; I just didn’t like it quite as much as Cinder). Scarlet and Wolf taking more of a back seat this time helped a lot, and Cress really was a nice addition to the team. For as much as I enjoyed Thorne in the previous book, he really comes into his own here and has become one of my favorite characters in the series. I was really glad to see some advancement in the main storyline, and there’s a lot of humor throughout. 

Rebecca Soler continues to do a great job with the narration. I’m really enjoying the world Meyer has created here and the overall plot and characters, so I’m looking forward to seeing how the series ends in the next book. Fans of futuristic sci-fi and/or fairy tale retellings, maybe around age 15 and up, should definitely consider checking out this series, starting with the first book (these are not stand-alones).

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Book Review: This Book Kills

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This Book Kills
by Ravena Guron

My rating: 2 / 5
Genre: YA murder mystery

When a murderer copies details from a short story that Jess Choudhary wrote for school, it puts her smack in the middle of the investigation of the murder of one of her fellow classmates. When she starts getting death threats of her own, then police don’t inspire confidence, so she knows it’s up to her to solve the murder.

I am at a bit of a loss with this book. I don’t understand the title, don’t agree with the “perfect murder” claim on the front of the book, and am baffled by a major component of the mystery. The story is 1st-person as if written by the MC to help her cope with what happened, so maybe the title is referring to what she’s writing down, but there’s nothing inherently dangerous about it. The short story she used inspired a killer, but that’s it…no reference to books of any kind killing. The tag line on the front of the book says, “She wrote the perfect murder. One of her classmates carried it out… Now she’s next.” There was literally no mention in the book of the short mystery story she wrote for class being a perfect murder. It was just a murder. And she’s not even the only one who is ostensibly targeted to be another victim, so the tagline is pretty clearly sensationalism that isn’t delivered on.

The murder the MC wrote for her short story had 2 specific elements that were copied (well, 3, if you count the murder happening in the woods, but that’s not super specific): the victim was killed with a trophy and the murderer spelled out “help me” with twigs next to the body. That least one is what baffles me. I kept waiting for an explanation or at least some theories about the “help me,” but nothing ever came. So I can’t help but wonder…why did she have the murderer in the short story do that? To pretend it was the victim who did it (to what end, though, I have no idea)? Was it a cry for help from the murderer, either real or faked? Was it a taunt, saying that the victim needed help even though they were already dead? None of these jumps out as an obvious reason for the twigs, because to me there isn’t an obvious reason, and it’s literally never questioned by anyone in the book. Supposedly the MC put it into her story to show off her creativity, but to me, it’s not creative so much as…pointless? The murderer copied it, and truth be told, I don’t think I ever even understood why the murderer bothered to copy the short story details. Then, at least to me, the author was trying so hard to keep the reader from guessing the murderer (which I didn’t, but I rarely do) that she threw in too many sub plots and red herrings. In the end, it was underwhelming, confusing, and just not enjoyable. Around halfway through, my 15-year-old daughter (who was interested in the book when I started reading it) asked me what I thought so far, and all I could say was, “Meh.” It was just kind of boring. It was clearly not for me, but if the book interests you, please do check out other reviews at the link below.

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Book Review: Sadie (re-read)

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Sadie
by Courtney Summers
read by Rebecca Soler, Dan Bittner, Fred Berman, & Gabra Zackman

My rating: 4.5 / 5
Genre: YA suspense, drama

See original review here.

I don’t normally write a new review when I read a book I already reviewed on my blog. But this is a special case. The first time I read this book, 5 1/2 years ago, I still gave it 4 stars, but I had some issues with the audiobook. I couldn’t handle listening to Sadie’s parts for 2 main reasons. The first is that there was a lot of language, and though it doesn’t generally stop me from reading books, it bothered me more to keep hearing it out loud. But I also struggled with feeling like the narrator made Sadie sound angry all the time, even when giving the description of a room she’d entered or something. So I switched to a format where I read Sadie’s portions myself and listened to the “podcast” parts. Recently, I listened to a couple of audiobooks by the same narrator, and I quite liked her. So when I realized it was the same narrator, I wanted to give it another try.

I can honestly say that I don’t know what my issue with the “angry” narrator was those 5+ years ago. I think that the fact that I had barely listened to any audiobooks back then, but now I have extensive experience with them probably has a lot to do with it (I still cringed when there was a lot of cussing though, especially dialog with many f-words). The story is still dark and gritty with subject matter that means I couldn’t really recommend this YA book for anyone younger than 16 (see content warnings in my original review at the link above), but it’s compelling and engaging.

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Book Review: Scarlet

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Scarlet
The Lunar Chronicles #2
by Marissa Meyer
read by Rebecca Soler

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: YA sci-fi

Spoiler notice: The following review will contain some spoilers for the previous book in the series, Cinder.

Scarlet’s grandmother is missing, but the police don’t seem to care. She starts following clues to track her down on her own, somewhat reluctantly accepting the aid of a mysterious street fighter called Wolf. Meanwhile, Cinder has to escape from prison and figure out where to go next on her quest to understand her identity.

I didn’t love this book as much as the previous, but I did still enjoy it a lot. I think the main difference here is that there was a lot of focus on the building relationship between Scarlet and Wolf, and I just wasn’t really feeling it. On the plus side, though, since we have a new main character in this book, I was glad that Scarlet is different enough in her personality compared to Cinder that I didn’t feel like it was a repeat of Cinder and I didn’t have a hard time keeping the two characters separate in my mind when Cinder had her own POV scenes throughout this book. Scarlet is quick-tempered and stubborn, though maybe her personality is part of why I had a difficult time buying her growing relationship with Wolf.

Scarlet’s search for her grandmother was broken up by Cinder’s continuing story and, less often, Emperor Kai trying to prevent war with Queen Levana. My favorite thing about this book came in the form of a new side character—Thorne. Though he’s quite inappropriate at times, he’s a great comic relief. The overall advancement of plot in this book kept me invested, and I’m looking forward to seeing where it goes from here.

I listened to the audiobook, and the narrator did a great job with the different characters, though she seemed to drop Scarlet’s slight accent now and then. I still recommend this book (though definitely start with Cinder; these are not stand-alone books) to fans of futuristic sci-fi and/or fairy tale retellings, maybe around age 15 and up (there was more in the way of physical interaction in this book than the previous, though it was still pretty clean overall).

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