Crossed

What I’m listening to right now: Wide Awake, Katy Perry

What mood I’m in today: Reading

 

 

Crossed, by Ally Condie, is the second in the Matched series. I have to start by saying that I loved Matched, a great dystopian-futuristic-rebellion sort of story that revolves around Cassia Reyes. While many were disappointed by the second book, I really liked it. I love poetry and a struggle for love. Cut Condie some slack, because though many of us require a pumped up action filled middle-of-the-trilogy, that second book is the absolute hardest to write. It’s completely true. Most authors will tell you the middle of the story is the hardest.

What the book is about: (Caution! Spoilers if you’ve not read the first book!) Cassia has chosen to go to a camp where other Aberrations work (see first book for explanation of Aberrations). She leaves her family behind, sneaks on board an air ship with a girl named Indie, and flies to the Outer Provinces to find Ky. I love Ky, and I will tell you I’m partial because I’m married to an artist with a sensitive, darker side. Ky is dark and mysterious and can write and paint (important note: nobody in the society can write).

Before she leaves camp though, Xander makes a surprise visit, something he can do because he’s her Match, and because of another giant secret he has kept from her (note: Xander is Cassia’s best friend). In fact, everybody seems to be in on this giant secret except Cassia.

Half of the book is from Ky’s point of view. You learn right away that Cassia is just steps behind him most of the time. The Outer Provinces are under attack, and the only reason the Society sticks people there is to have them killed. Ky escapes with a couple friends in tow, and Cassia follows as soon as she reaches the Provinces. They are both going to something called the Carving, a place reminiscent of the amazing red-rock canyons and features in Southern Utah and Arizona. The farmers live(d) here, which is who they are trying to find. They have information about the Rising, an order formed to eventually overthrow the Society. (Just FYI, I think the Society is very communistic)

What I liked about this book: The little things that both of them do to help them remember who has died, who has sacrificed everything for their cause. I also like that Ky doesn’t necessarily want to join the Rising, that he has apprehensions about it because deep down inside he knows that Cassia will not be with him once they find it.  Ky’s doubt in the Rising is natural, and mirrors my own. They don’t know anything about it, except that it is run by people who once lived in the Society. Not real encouraging.

I also really liked the new characters: Indie, Vick, and Eli. Indie, because she’s just who she’s meant to be, Vick because he just wants to go home to his girl, and Eli because he reminds me of my son.

What I didn’t like about this book: It was a little long and slow. But I think I was in the mood for it. More literary than action packed. I liked hearing Ky’s POV, but it jumped too much in spots.

Overall I give it 4 out of 5. I think this book will be an important link between the first and third book, and once Reached hits shelves I believe this book will become more popular. I recommend it!

Link to Ally’s site: http://www.allysoncondie.com/

The Book of Three

What I'm listening to right now: For The First Time, The Script
What mood I'm in today: Listening

I'll start by pointing out that when I started reading this book I immediately thought my ten-year-old son would love it. You can find it in the children's and young adult's sections at the library, so I thought, why not? Especially after a friend recommended it.

Taran, our protagonist, is an eager hero wannabe and moves faster than his brain can think. Just a boy, he quickly finds out how difficult it is and how much is required of a hero. He is named Assistant Pig Keeper, but quicly loses her when she is scared away by the horned king, and goes on a journey to find her and bring her home.

Along the way he runs into Gwydion, a prince who was actually coming to see the oracle pig to find out what evil was stirring in Annuvin. They set out together to find Hen Wen (this is the pigs name) and are captured by the servants of Achren, an evil queen. Taran is thrown into a dungeon where he meets Eilonwy, a girl who can't stop talking but has a keen knack for digging tunnels in and out of the dungeon. Together they escape, but the castle falls behind them and Taran feels his friend Gwydion is lost forever. Now he has two missions; two rescue the pig and to tell Gwydion's people that Arawn is gathering evil forces and that the Horned King is at his doorway.

This story reeks of Lord of the Rings type stuff, but it really is a great story. I give it four out of five stars for several reasons. I love Taran's character, how brave he is and wants to be, and how he learns from his mistakes. He becomes more humble in his journey and more aware of life and what has to be sacrificed to overcome evil. I won't say much about the story here, only that it is the beginning of the Chronicles of Prydain, and the next book is The Black Cauldron, which I can't wait to read.

I don't know that there was much I didn't like about this book, except that it was very much from a guy's prespective. IIt's not like I hated that, I just felt slightly disconnected from it because of it. Maybe that was a good thing, not to get too emotionally involved, like I do with other books...

But I would definitely recomment this. Goodreads averages it 4 out of 5 stars, which you know must mean good things. And even though you will be fiercely reminded of LOTR, it really has its own story and its own characters that make it an entirely different story, one to be shared.

Shameless Self Promotion

This is not a book review.
Don't be upset, I'll have another review soon, as I'm ending The Book Of Three and am just starting Matched (which I've heard so much about).
This will be short, just to post a link to Scarlett Rains Poetry Blog, where I'm featured this week as the guest poet. Stop by, tell me what you think!
And go write some of your own.
Or, as always, read a good book.
-Mandy

The Immortal Rules

What I’m listening to right now: My fan blowing hot air around
What mood I’m in today: I’m Not Sure

Eeeeeeeeeee! I know, it’s not a word, but it’s what I said when I found out about this book. Of course, there was a big part of me that sighed and went, “Another vampire book? Really?” So although I was super excited for the new novel from one of my favorite authors, I was hesitant to find myself in another vampire story.

Vampires Suck (parody movie)

What the book is about:

Allison Sekemoto lives in an altered futuristic universe (I guess you could take out “altered.” Who knows? Vampires may someday rule the world). She’s a survivor, mixed up with a gang of other teenagers who are also parentless because they’ve all been killed, either by vampires or rabids (a subspecies of vampire, as you’ll find out in this book).

While making a daring attempt to gather food one night, most of Allison’s gang is killed by rabids. Even she is ready to die when Kanin, a vampire master (or something like that), asks her if she wants to live. The bad news, she’ll be a vampire forever. Her survival instincts kick in, and she’ll take being a bloodsucker over death, so she agrees.

Kanin Turns her, then trains her on how to live as a vampire. He tells her that she can only survive on human blood, and that one day, she’ll kill another human being. He assures her that she’s a monster, just like him, but that she has a choice of what kind of monster she’ll become. Though she doesn’t know what this means at first, she begins to figure it out.

After Kanin is captured by vampires, Allison runs for it. She’s on her own until she runs into a band of humans making their way toward a place called Eden, which may or may not exist. She meets Jeb, a hardened man who will do anything to get to this place, and Zeke, a seventeen year old boy who takes an interest in her. What the rest of the band doesn’t know is that something is trying to kill them.

What I liked about this book:

Great story line! A fantastic break from lovesick vampires and general smushiness, this book was a little more gritty and true to life. People are selfish, rotten and unpredictable, but it’s the fight Allison makes to prove she’s better than a blood-thirsty vampire that makes the story. Aren’t we all fighting our own little (or big) demons? I want to be good! I hope to be good, and to fight the natural demons that want to get out of me.

I love the connection between Zeke and Allison. It’s realistic, and it gives people a sense of hope throughout the book. I read a review that said the middle of the story was slow, but I didn’t think so because the middle of the book is where Zeke and Allie become acquainted. Yes, much of it is a back story, but a needed back story, kind of like the first Harry Potter.

What I didn’t like about this book:

Again, it’s too much foul language for me. That being said, it’s not like there was a lot of it. I’ve read books with much more. And Kagawa refrains from using the “eff” word in most of her books. It does appear in the beginning of The Iron King, to show the seriousness of the situation I think.

It was also a little lengthy for me. Not that I’m complaining; it was like reading two books. But it did take me an extra-long time to finish. I’m not a fast reader, and I’m a mother of three and a part-time business woman, so it leaves me with not a lot of free time.

Worth it though? Definitely.

Until next time, grab a good spooky book on this fabulously cloudy day (if it’s cloudy where you are), maybe one about vampires.

The Immortal Rules Official Website 
Thanks to Goodreads for the Cover pic
Thanks to http://2or3thingsiknowaboutfilm.blogspot.com/2011_11_01_archive.html for the Vampires Suck pic
Thanks to http://kristina-worldofbooks.blogspot.com/2012/04/immortal-rules-review.html for the wicked pic of Allie and her Katana blade (where you will also find another review of this book :)

Holes

What I’m listening to right now: Hallelujah, Rufus Wainwright

What mood I’m in today: Reading 

I can’t believe it took me so long to read this book. I saw the movie first, and loved it. And I loved the book too. The movie hardly strays from the book at all, with two differences I noticed: Stanley Yelnats starts out overweight in the book, and there is one scene from the book (lady in slippers) that wasn’t in the movie.

The first thing I loved about this book is the main character, Stanley. His first name is just his last name spelled backward. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and getting mixed up in a crime he didn’t commit, was sent to Camp Greenlake, a juvenile detention center for boys.

Here we meet Armpit, Squid, X-Ray, and most importantly, Zero. Every day they have to dig holes, five feet wide and five feet tall, all to build character, or at least that’s what they’re told. It doesn’t take long for Stanley to realize the warden is looking for something.

Louis Sachar does an excellent job with his flashbacks. They are timed right, and you begin to understand how all the stories are connected. It might take a couple of reads, and a little bit of movie watching, to really understand and get everything that’s going on. From the onions to the yellow-spotted lizards, the story keeps you intrigued to the end.

One of my favorite lines – from the book and the movie – is “I can fix that.” Sam is such a great character, and good man who falls in love with Katherine Barlow, the school teacher. This is a long time ago, of course. Back when Greenlake was actually a lake, and not a dessert. When Sam kisses Katherine, it’s such a beautiful moment, ruined by the peeking townspeople, who kill Sam for what he did. Why? Because he’s black, and Katherine’s white.

If you haven’t read this, or seen it, do it! It is a can’t miss opportunity to work your brain and enjoy at the same time. Clean and fun for the whole family. The “Aha!” moments never end, up until the very last lines.

Until next time! Enjoy your summer, and keep reading!