Analyzing Books

Tag: dystopia

  • A Time to Rise

    A Time to Rise

    What more can you sacrifice than your life? – A Time to Rise

     Parvin Blackwater is dead.

    At least…that’s what the Council—and the world—thinks. But her sacrifice tore down part of the Wall long enough to stir up hope and rebellion in the people. Now she will rise again. Strong, free, and fearless.

    Parvin and Solomon must uncover the mysterious clues that Jude left behind in order to destroy the projected Wall once and for all. Meanwhile, the Council schemes to new levels of technology in its attempts to keep the people contained. Can a one-handed Radical and a scarred ex-Enforcer really bring shalom to the world?” -summary from Goodreads

    I can’t believe it’s over, friends. This is it. The last book in the Out of Time trilogy. And to be honest, it was rather a lackluster finale. This is going to be a tough review to write, since I LOVED the first two books so much, and this one leaves me only with a sort of half-hearted like.

    A few of my favorite highlights of the book were

    1. Parvin not being dead. (Obviously.)
    2. Russia. I love Russia, and it was really cool to see Parvin & Co. visit this land.
    3. Solomon. Need I say more?

    However, I feel like the cons outweigh the pros in this one. The pacing was very rushed (you can tell she had a deadline coming up fast!). The plot itself wasn’t very strong it seemed to rely heavily on plot devices, and at times glossed over significant events. I noticed a few continuity errors as well.

    I think the worst part of A Time to Rise was Parvin herself. She wasn’t the same Parvin from the first two books. Every now and again something would ring true and I could see the original Parvin in her, but overall it wasn’t the same. Parvin’s voice seemed slightly off, and she seems even more impulsive than she was in the first book. At times, she even comes off as immature.

    Though most of the loose ends were wrapped up, and we got answers to several important questions, I still felt like it didn’t end satisfactorily. A Time to Rise just doesn’t quite fit with its predecessors, giving me the impression of hammering a square peg into a round hole. Not sure what happened whether Brandes has lost her touch, or it needed a couple more rounds of editing, but one thing is for sure: library read, not a buy-it read.

    Content guide (parenthesis may contain minor spoilers):

    Violence/Graphic: 10/10(attacks by wild animals, serious injuries, rioting, etc.)

    Sexual: 2/10(brief kisses, thoughts about kissing, mention of pregnancy, etc.)

    Language: 0/10

    Views: 4

  • Scarlet

    Scarlet

     

    Rating: 5 stars

    Age Recommendation: Young Adult +

    Warnings: Violence, Character Death, Potential Trigger Warnings (character torture, explained below)

    Genre: Fantasy, Science-Fiction, Fairytale Retelling

    “What’s stupid is not that I’m going to try and protect you,” Wolf said, pulling his focus back down to her. “What’s stupid is that I almost believe it will make a difference.”

     

    Scarlet continues the story that Marissa Meyer began when she wrote Cinder, this time telling a version of Little Red Riding Hood that I most certainly did not expect. Scarlet Benoit is a girl of about sixteen, who is living on her own in France, trying to run the family farm. Sure, she has help from farm hands, and the androids running about. But her grandmother has been missing for several weeks, and Scarlet is starting to panic. No one believes that her grand-mère could have been kidnapped, especially after her father left them. There are a lot of things that Scarlet doesn’t know about her family, though, and they are all about to come crashing down in front of her.

    Without mentioning any spoilers, I am going to let you guys in on the secret as to why I liked this book. Yes, it’s true that I very much enjoyed reading the first installment in the Lunar Chronicles. But this book has three new characters, all of whom I loved, and none of whom did what I expected them to do. That’s the thing. I would think I knew what would happen, and then Wolf or Scarlet or Captain Thorne would take it in a completely unexpected direction. Even Cinder and Kai, our main characters from the previous novel, have returned to make things interesting.

    As Cinder and her new friend, Thorne, go looking for answers, Scarlet does the same. She needs a bit of help, though, and finds it in a fairly mercurial street-fighter named Wolf. Sometimes he acts much like his name suggests, going from angry to looking like a scolded puppy. But the rest of the time, he seems very genuine in wanting to help her, seems like he knows some of the answers to Scarlet’s problems. But boy, did she get something quite different than she bargained for.

    Scarlet is a very strong lead character in my opinion, as she is willing to do anything in order to save her grandmother and find out the truth that has been hidden from her throughout her life. Meyer’s plot choices are bold and actually quite brave for someone writing to a Young Adult audience. As I mentioned in the warnings section above, there is a fair amount of violence, but the way it’s written leaves no question in the reader’s mind as to what has happened. Everything is described incredibly well, and it’s almost as though I was watching it happen in front of me, or a little film was playing in my head throughout.

    The other thing that surprised me about Meyer’s plot was the mention of character torture. None of it is presented within the pages of the book, but it is referenced and the consequences are explained and shown to another character, which may be uncomfortable for some readers. I do feel that it is a brave choice to make on the author’s part, though, and I was actually quite impressed when I came across that part of the plot.

    It was not surprising to me that the romance aspect of this novel was at the forefront a lot of the time. But, and I say this with the knowledge that it might sound strange to those who have not read it, I think that it needed to be a main focus. Yes, this book has action and science-fiction and magic that I don’t want to spoil for anyone. But the relationship driving this novel is incredibly important, and I actually think that a great deal can be learned from it if one wishes to find the lessons there. It lacks the typical YA romance dynamic of a weak female character and an over-protective male character. Sure, the two I’m thinking of have their moments, but it isn’t half as trope-filled as the other romances I’ve seen recently. If it sounds like I’m excited about it, I am. Because we get at two more books of this as far as I know.

    Am I looking forward to reading Cress and Winter, you ask? Oh, absolutely.

    Views: 6

  • Glass Sword

    Glass Sword

    Glass Sword was an amazing sequel to an equally amazing book called Red Queen. I found Red Queen at a local bookstore and decided to give it a try. I don’t have a copy of Glass Sword, but my fellow book-lover and friend lent me her (signed) copy to read. Needless to say, It was superb. Not only fast-paced from the first chapter, Glass Sword also introduced more character development (yay!) and the end was a plot twist that made me ready for the next book! All of the characters were uniquely written, and the author had me cringing, gasping, laughing, sighing, blushing, and grabbing for the next few words all throughout the book.

    Though Mare was definitely not my favorite character for the vast majority of the book because she was cruel and ruthless, I do appreciate flawed characters (Dumbledore and Snape, anyone?) and think that characters without flaws are flat and rather stock. Cal was, as usual, amazing (kind, intelligent, and, well, attractive) and definitely a new fictional boyfriend for me. Farley was amazing; a truly brave, strong young girl that today’s normalized society lacks in. I think all of the characters have matured greatly from Red Queen, especially Mare, who went from a little girl afraid and angry at the world to a mature young woman who understands the world (but is still afraid and angry).

    The only aspect of Glass Sword that I feel could be improved is rather small, but still worth mentioning. I personally think that some of the action in the opening chapter could have been held back until a little later in the book. There should be a balance between the first few chapters of a book filled with rather boring plot and jumping straight into the action, and I feel like Mare, Cal, and the Red Guard should have been given more time to adjust from the events concluding Red Queen before running into battle.  However, the rest of the book was brilliantly written, and I give kudos to Victoria Aveyard. Looking forward to the next book!

    Rating: 4.75 out of 5 stars.

    Views: 6

  • Cinder

    Cinder

     

    Rating: 5 Stars

    Age Recommendation: Young Adult +

    Genre: Science Fiction, Fairytale Retelling

     

    The Bottom of the screen was labeled:

    RATIO: 36.28%

    She was 36.28 percent not human.

     

    Cinder, by Marissa Meyer, is a science fiction, futuristic retelling of the classic Cinderella story. In this world, Cinder is a cyborg due to an accident that occurred when she was 11, when she had to have her hand and leg replaced. Now she’s dealing with all manner of wires and mechanical parts, but there are some benefits. She can download information to fill in the blanks when she doesn’t know something, which gives her an uncanny ability to fix machines. In a world full of androids, cyborgs, and advanced technology, being a mechanic means that she has a lot of work to do.

    One day, she is working at her booth in the marketplace when Prince Kai, in line to be the next emperor of the Eastern Commonwealth, comes along in disguise and asks her to fix his android, claiming that it’s nothing but sentimentality that has caused him to ask her to fix such an old model. Now, the Eastern Commonwealth was created after the fourth World War, because a treaty was met in which combinations of countries have a leader each, and they all work together to protect themselves from their enemies: The Lunars. And they’re basically what they sound like the people living on the moon. But these Lunars are more than they seem, though I don’t want to give too much away.

    In essence, Cinder is the typical Cinderella character, who wants to go to the ball, falls for the prince, so on and so forth. Except being a cyborg means she’s “unusual” and “scary” and just leads to a whole lot of trouble. And with a disease wiping out the population, everything in the Eastern Commonwealth seems more threatening than usual. Whether that stops Cinder or not… You’ll have to see. And remember that it’s a series, so the ending you expect likely isn’t the one you’ll get. [In the best way possible.]

    I did have a bit of an issue with the sort of “chosen one” aspect of one of the characters in this story, but because of the backstory of that character, it actually isn’t as irritating as that trope usually is. In fact, I loved it. I figured out their backstory by about the 40th page, but I didn’t even mind it because the writing was so easy to get into and the flow was so beautiful.

    I actually read this book in less than a day, staying up until eight in the morning, then waking up and immediately picking it up again to finish it. Granted, I read this more slowly than I likely would have if I had not been in a reading slump before picking it up. This book reminded me why I love reading, beyond just loving the stories, and I have a strong feeling that this series might be my new favorite Young Adult series.

    Cinder is relatable and creative and incredibly funny, and it’s difficult not to feel bad for most of the characters, even if they’re considered “bad guys” within the plot. My favorite part, however, was that there were not paragraphs of explanation to introduce the world. Instead, it’s all brought in casually, because Cinder learns things or thinks about things that the reader would need to know. But it doesn’t feel forced or drawn out.

    Even if you aren’t a fan of fairytale retellings, please pick this one up. Everyone needs to read this, even if it’s just so that I can have more of a chance of running into someone I can talk to about it.

    Views: 4