Graceling (Graceling Realm #1) by Kristin Cashore

BookTalk

“This is a man’s world…but it ain’t nothing without a woman or a girl…”

Katsa was born with two different colored eyes. Eyes that would be especially beautiful if they didn’t tell the world that Katsa was graced. Eyes that could potentially still be an asset if Katsa’s grace didn’t instill fear in all who recognize her.

Katsa is a Killer. Her grace of fighting leaves her practically invincible battle.

That her guardian, her Uncle the king, has used her as a henchman and a tool of power since Katsa’s first accidental kill as a young girl leaves her feared across the Seven Kingdoms without friend and with very few natural foes.

Until she stumbles upon a man who can take her down. An attractive, perceptive man who can take her in a fight. A man who wants to care for her as a woman as well.

But this tale is not a love story. It is a tale of survival, of political intrigue, and of finding yourself. If learning what your true grace is grants you the ability to love as well…then life may just be worth living…

Review

Before I began this beloved book I did a little poking around the internet. I knew people always mention this book and I wanted to gather a sense of why (without too much spoiler-ific plot giveaways). What I noticed from the start was this fairly heated discussion of the feminist view of the book.

People generally fall into two camps when looking at the character of Katsa:

Man-Hater or Feminist

And I’m here to say that I’m not sure the character of Katsa is either. True, she doesn’t trust men much…but she’s been ostracized by men because she’s been graced with a traditionally ‘male’ grace. She also doesn’t care for women…but again, she’s been treated more like a man and shunned by polite society because of her grace. Why would she find enjoyment in a societal stereotype that so greatly works against her?

No wonder Katsa has retreated into her own world – she’s been mistreated, misunderstood, and shunned by almost everyone.

One thing we need to remember before saluting certain characters for being feminists is the difference between an Author’s point of view and the Character’s point of view. Often times (like with Katsa) we call the character a feminist because she upholds certain ideals –

I.E. being a strong woman, deciding what is right for her and her body when it comes to sex even if her choices fall out of society dictates, saving the day and exceeding men in manly talents and starting a school for women.

While all of these examples fall into a traditional feminist theme. The biggest issue is that Katsa herself has no conscious intentions to better the role of women in her society. None. She hates the women as much as she hates the men. While in the end Katsa does start a training school for women – it is the only point where she actively does something proactive for female society. And, quite frankly, if there was a woman who preferred needlepoint to a round-kick Katsa wouldn’t give her a second thought.

If she’s a feminist in any way it’s an accident, or confusion on the reader’s part mixing up the Author’s and the Character’s intentions. If anything it’s Katsa’s complete lack of social awareness and perspective that makes her seem like a mean feminist/man-hater. It’s really all an accident. Cashore, however, seems to be very concerned with the role of women. Each of her books is teeming with unique situations that ask her female characters to interact with a society not welcoming to their particular gifts. It’s thought-provoking to watch these women change and make decisions based on their own preferences rather than societies’.

I’ll admit that after my internal discussion concerning Katsa’s feminism (or lack there of) I found I didn’t always like her. I respected her. I enjoyed her story – especially the second half – but I had trouble liking her. I think why I truly didn’t connect was because she was so incredibly imperceptive of her own feelings! I mean really, obviously she was attracted to Po sexually. And not everyone was so repressed in this society. Po himself is more than perceptive. Even without his grace Po is one smart cookie, there were times when I wondered how he wasn’t becoming frustrated with Katsa.

And that whole husband vs. lover argument…Seriously? Are we forgetting that in any relationship freedom taken is freedom given by the other party. The man doesn’t hold all the cards in either situation. True, without the legal committment in this world there are certain freedoms women automatically get to keep (like their land and money) but what matters most is emotional investment – Katsa is only fooling herself if she thinks it’s easier one way versus the other when it comes to feelings.

Rating: 4/5 How I love the ending of this book! Everything after part 1 – their love, their growth, their acceptance…well done!

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Silence (Queen of the Dead #1) by Michelle Sagara

BookTalk

Emma was the chick who liked to hang out in the graveyard. Not, like, a goth chick…more like a girl who’d lost too many people she loved. First her father, followed by the boy she loved. Emma goes to the graveyard to seek the comfortable silence that those she loved provided in life and now in death.

She’ll ignore the fact that she needs to keep these nightly ghost walks with her pet rottweiler a secret. No one would really understand…

What Emma didn’t see coming was stumbling upon the cute new kid, Eric, in the graveyard. Eric having a conversation with an old woman in rags. The old woman offering Emma a gift that doesn’t appear to be real…Until the headaches start, until Emma starts to see ghosts, until Emma becomes a Necromancer…until Eric divulges that he’s bound to kill her…

Review

First things first, why oh why does Silence not pop up when you search for it on GoodReads? So not cool because this was a great start to a supernatural series. I loved that Emma was allowed to be smart and caring, and that while she admits Eric is cute…there’s no insta-love in sight. Emma is still dealing with the death of the boyfriend, as well as the general drama of a teenage life.

I liked that Sagara had different supporting characters. We have the smart but shy bff, the teen queen, and an autistic boy named Michael. What’s so cool about this mix of people is what brings them together…not Emma, but Michael. The girls decided early on in school to band together and help Michael navigate the torturous world High School can be for a person who is autistic.

And Michael was such a smart addition to the story. As Emma and her band of misfits get deeper and deeper into the world of necromancers Michael’s ability to see and intercede in situations that freeze other characters (literally) is an obvious plus. Because Michael only understands logic (and not the gray area most of our reasoning occurs in) he becomes this walking truth indicator for the group. If Michael sees it, believes it, accepts it…it must be true. Helps to bring a lot of the characters into the paranormal loop fast.

But, supernatural aspects aside, why I enjoyed this book so much was because it reminded me of  Deadly Cool in its feel. Romance was not the central focus of the story. A girl learning who she is, what she is capable of is the point of the tale. Emma is allowed to be cool and smart, and not necessarily a sex symbol. It was a breath of fresh air in the YA division. I’ll definitely be sticking around for the rest of the series because this first installment leaves you with questions!…

• Why is Emma a Necromancer?
• Why is she so powerful?
• How the heck could she open that door?!
• Who is the scary lady?/The old man?
• What the heck was ____ going to tell her?!

So not fair I have to wait months to get my answers!!

Rating: 4/5 For a smart, normal girl mixed up in a ghost ridden paranormal series. 

*Book received via the publisher (DAW Books, Inc.) I was not compensated in any way other than the offer of a free read. Any comments and opinions are my own and were unsolicited. Thanks!*

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The Scorpio Races…Quotes and *Spoilers*

Because the writing was so good.

Because the story begs a little discussion.

It’s time to share some Quotes and *Spoilers*

Quotes:

After Gabe announces he’s moving to the mainland – alone – and Puck announces her intent to run in the Scorpio Races…Puck returns to her room to deal with the emotional fallout:

“Then I walk into my room, close the door, and put my pillow over my head so no one will hear.

“Selfish bastard,” I whisper, the words close under the pillowcase” (Puck, 26, 1st ed.)

I just liked the following quote. Sometimes authors phrase something in a way that hits you…explains something in the perfect phrase.

“Tommy shouts, “I didn’t hear you right.”

But I know he did. He just doesn’t believe what he heard. Dad once said people’s brains are hard of hearing” (Puck, 46, 1st ed.)

I loved the wording of the following quote. Love that it becomes layered when you compare a Capaill Usice to a regular horse; Corr to regular Capaill Usice…

“At the moment, he [Corr] can tell that he’s being watched by a stranger, so he picks his feet up and tosses his mane a little more than usual. I allow him his show. There are worse flaws than vanity in a horse.” (Sean, 84, 1st ed.)

*Spoilers*

– – – Watch Out Below! – – –

The Race

OMG.

Was everyone else on the edges of their seat too? I swear I read the whole thing tensed, as if I could jump into the pages and save someone…knock another horse out of the way. It was like being in the mires with them.

I don’t know how I felt about the ending of the race though. My emotions were so mixed. I do think it was the best way to end the race now that I have a little bit of space between myself and the end of the book. I guess I had these dreams of a simultaneous finish…like Puck and Sean crossing at the exact same time…maybe holding hands – I don’t know -. Which obviously doesn’t fit for either character, but a girl can dream right?

It’s definitely right that Puck finished first. I think it completed the feminism thought Stiefvater had running through the book. As did the fact that Puck herself didn’t overly care about the ‘fame’ that came with winning…only the fact that it saved both her family and gave her some power to help Sean with his own goal of owning Corr. I was surprised that Stiefvater chose to completely ignore the ceremony of winning. I thought it was a smart move. It said more about Puck and the place the races held for her than anything else.

And I just have to end by saying *Tear* when Corr starts hobbling back to Sean! OMG was anyone else bawling? That single scene could have made the book for me had I not already loved so much. In the end the payoff of the novel is the love between Sean and Puck and also the connection between Sean and Corr. Loved. That.

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The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

BookTalk

Every November the brave men of Thisby participate in a bloody rush of an ocean-side horse race called: The Scorpio Races. Legendary Capaill Uisce – water horses – begin to rise from the waves off the Island of Thisby in the early fall. A Celtic legend in itself, Thisby is the only Island where the horses still appear; the only Island that still holds true to the superstition and magic that – at times – can control these wild animals.

Sean Kendrick has won the race for the past 4 years running. His father’s horse, Corr, has lead him to victory more times than the Island deems lucky. He’s amassed enough winnings to raise him up in social standing…but it’s not the position he wants. It’s the desire to own Corr, a horse that is as much a part of Sean as his own heart.

Puck Connolly is a girl on the verge of womanhood. Newly orphaned she’s facing losing her eldest brother, the bread-winner, to the call of the mainland and losing her home to the wealthiest man on the Island. Armed with strength of spirit, fear of suffering yet more loss, and her mother’s pony, Puck makes the rash decision to become the first woman ever to enter the Scorpio Races.

Both Sean and Puck desperately need to win the Race. They both believe that the winnings will provide them with the money to fund their deepest desires. And they may be right…but a deep and underlying attraction to each other and an Island on the verge of change may reveal to each that what they thought they wanted wasn’t what they desired after all…

Review

If you’re familiar with the Wolves of Mercy Falls series Stiefvater found YA fame with know that The Scorpio Races is going to be a different experience. For one it’s a standalone. Yes. Stand-A-Lone.

Everyone take a moment to breathe that *sigh* of relief for not having to wait for subsequent books to finish the story.

And while this tale does have supernatural elements (hello: horses born and then raised from the ocean) it’s told in the vein of legend rather than the paranormal. I loved the feel of a legend; I loved the superstitions that pervaded the text. As a gal who always throws spilled salt over her shoulder I very much appreciated the salt rings, rhythmic knot tying, and use of iron that controlled the Capaill Uisce. Because I’ll admit that my own salt throwing is based as much in habit as it is in superstition. It was a truly beautiful experience to see Stiefvater imagine a world in which such cautions provide actual results.

Watching Puck and Sean grow up was interesting. They grew in such a unique way. Not your usual “become mature” YA style. They didn’t run into an issue and “grow up”. In a lot of ways both Sean and Puck were traditionally adult already. Caring for their respective families, holding down jobs, orphans…they seem to have run the gamut of situations that authors use to mature their teenage characters.

The small, almost back-woods island has kept not only traditions alive, but a slightly antiquated view of life. An earnestness, almost repressive, but ultimately a genuine feeling. It’s a place still haunted by legends of yore – a rough place to live in general – disconnected from modernity. You can see how such serious children grow there. The character George Holly (who stands as a modern counterpoint to the people of Thisby) captures the feel of Puck and Sean succintly:

“You do fancy him, don’t you? What a strange, wonderful, repressed place this is.” (324, 1st ed.)

Because that’s what this story is about. Puck and Sean finishing the process of growing up.

Puck is beginning to see herself as a woman. No suffrage movement to be found. For Puck, finding her femininity was more shocking than actually being a woman in a man’s world. There seemed to be no higher theological/societal aspiration for furthering feminist theory…at least none that originated from the character’s own choices. What the author was trying to promote was up for grabs; I’d like to think that Stiefvater was demonstrating a post modernist point of view: that women should have choice, free of the trappings of theory. In the end Puck was pledging herself to her island. What started as a foot-stomp became a realization of her womanhood and a strong connection to the land she loves.

For Sean the experience of this particular Scorpio Race provided a different outlook. From a young age Sean was running a HUGE horse operation. To have found and cultured your purpose in life at such a young age is disconcerting. For Sean these races are more about realizing he needed to work his gifts of his own accord rather than under the shadow of someone else.

And back to what I loved most about this book. It’s probably one of the best examples of magical realism/practical magic I’ve ever read. The working superstitions feel so real, you forget these rituals hold no power…at least none that a modern world seems to recognize. Stiefvater did this by giving the superstitions/rituals/charms weight. She gave them physical consequence.

Rating: 4/5 Beautiful writing, Graceful story

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Hana (Delirium #1.5) *Spoilers* by Lauren Oliver

BookTalk

“I dream about sledding. That’s what it’s like to barrel forward toward September, to speed toward the day when I will no longer be troubled by amor deliria nervosa. It is like being on a sled in the middle of a cutting wind. I am breathless and terrified; I will soon be engulfed by whiteness and suctioned into another world.

Good-bye, Hana.” (7, Scribd ed.)

In Delirium Hana was the wild child, the best friend…a girl who, in her last summer of Love, began to fall away from Lena. We knew Hana was a party girl. She’d become addicted to the thrill of the underground parties, the beat of forbidden music, and the kisses of a man. Hana was striving for the love she knew would be forcibly removed from her in September.

What we didn’t see through Lena’s eyes was the destruction Hana’s new life was causing. That like so many sufferers of amor deliria nervosa Hana may have placed her faith and her kisses with a boy who wasn’t worthy. And if a broken heart isn’t bad enough…she’s now staring at love’s perfection, in the form of her best friend’s new relationship. It’s easy to see through Hana’s eyes how someone would want to rip the ability to love from another. If only to make them hurt as much as you…

Review

Geeze! If you weren’t pumped for Oliver’s second installment: Pandemonium (coming to a bookstore near you in just 1 week!) the novella “Hana” is sure to get you salivating.

I just want to take a second right now and remind you all that the novella is Free Online right now. If you don’t mind reading from your computer. Though from personal experience I can tell you it makes it a lot easier to read at work *wink*

But back to the story. This novella gives insight into Delirium. I thought I had Hana pegged. I thought she was a wild child who didn’t really have the guts to go wild or, err, into ‘the wilds’. I thought she was a little rich girl playing with the idea of revolution before heading back into the ranks of good society in September.

Who knew Hana was really off having her heart-broken and her ideologies of love beaten up. Seeing the story through her eyes busts apart what you thought was going on in Hana’s world. And it leads to a cliffhanger I didn’t see coming. I can’t go any further without revealing some spoilers. If you’re now dying to go out and read this one. The Link is Here.

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Honestly, what Hana goes through in this book is so very normal; downright average for our society. It’s all about Hana flirting and going to second base with a guy. Steve to be exact. Hana is dreaming of rainbows, unicorns, and escaping to the wilds to live on love. Steve just wants in her panties.

Ouch – For Hana’s heart and her panties as Steve is not the smoothest maker-outer

But Steve remains a sketchy dude, in part because that’s exactly what he is, but also because he never becomes a fully formed character in our eyes. We see that Hana is pinning her heart on a man who really isn’t in this for the long haul with her. We’ve all watched a girlfriends go through this same process…Wondering why she can’t see a booty-call for what it is…

But in a society where your shot at love is so brief, mistakenly choosing the wrong guy is akin to love-suicide. There will be no second chance.

“Suddenly all I can think about is a line from the book of Lamentations: What glitters may not be gold; and even wolves may smile; and fools will be led by promises to their deaths.” (26, Scribd ed.)

This is about the point that Hana hits her wall. You can see it all fall apart. Her view of the party raid is terrifying. Followed by learning that Lena is secretly in love…The loss of her romantic hope and her best friend is too much. Ending in that cliffhanger! Why Hana? Did you really? WTF?

Dying for Pandemonium next Tuesday!

Rating: 5/5 A little novella that rips what you thought you knew wide open. 

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Temptest (Tempest #1) by Julie Cross

BookTalk

When Jackson Meyer hit his late teens he discovered he had the ability to travel through time…With a few restrictions:

• When he travels his body stays in the present time.

• When Jackson’s shadow body spends time in the past…no one will remember him, and any change he makes won’t stick when he returns to the present.

• A trip that lasts hours in the past means only seconds of a catatonic state in present time.

Until now Jackson has been playing with time travel. He performs silly experiments days in the past with his genius BFF, Adam. It’s really all fun and games, not much of a useful ability, until the day the love of his life is shot.

Now Jackson is forced to expand his time-travel abilities, and fast. Because when he lost Holly something changed. The world of time-travelers is bigger than he thought, and those closest to him are not what they seem. In addition to being part of a global conspiracy Jackson is also stuck in the past. His senior year of high school to be specific. Holly is still very much alive, and while he’d love to change the future he can’t keep himself from dabbling in the past…

Review

I liked this book the same way I liked I Am Number Four. Once the action started I was hooked on seeing “what happens next”. Which means I spent the first half the book wading through some pretty poor writing before the mystery/action scenes distracted me from the bad dialogue.

My biggest issue was that Jackson didn’t sound like a teenage boy. I think it’s why he’s so hard to connect with. There’s no reality in his thoughts or actions. They really do sound like a woman attempting to talk/think like a young man. And it’s really not working. And when the main protagonist of the story doesn’t ring true…it’s hard to accept the world building in the rest of the plot.

The main female lead, Holly, is better conceived. Her dialogue seems realistic, as do her choices during the plot. But Holly obviously goes through a major change in the few years between High School Holly and College Holly because they’re practically two different people. And while I like to think that as I age I mature and change as well. I’ve never switched from spunky and outgoing to reserved in a matter of two years. Not without a major life changing event. Though, Cross could be building up to that in her future installments.

For me, the only though provoking statement in, almost, the whole book is when Adam questions why Jackson thinks he’s even in love with Holly. When Adam says it I thought “Finally, someone is going to mention the elephant in this room book.” This statement alone pauses our hero and causes him to redefine his relationship with her…look below the surface. I like that he took this criticism to heart. It was one of the best things Jackson did in the whole book. Because before he was so unconnected to his feelings. Very wooden in his actions. The character was claiming to feel things I didn’t really feel as a reader. Adam’s protective query redeemed, slightly, Cross’s writing. It made me think she might actually have a plan for this whole shebang.

Ultimately, what bothers me most is I don’t know why this is even a book. Most reviews say that this book would be better as a movie. Why not just write the movie?  Is it the desire for sales across both genres? Was the book just a foot in the door for a movie deal? This is just another case of a decent idea gone unfulfilled. Had Cross spent more time in the writing phase of her book we’d end up with better characters and a more substantial plot this could be an interesting tale. As it stands it just left me with a cliffhanger that will force me to read the next book…or just watch the movie…

Rating: 2/5 Wait for the silver screen. The plot will be enhanced with visuals and access to popcorn…

*Book received for review from The Midnight Garden Book Tours via St. Martin’s Griffin ARC, Thanks!*

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The Dark and Hollow Places (The Forest of Hands and Teeth #3) by Carrie Ryan

BookTalk

Annah has been left on her own in The Dark City. A place that was once the hub of government after The Return. A place where people strove to live…sacrificed all for its protection.

Now the city is a shell of its former self.

There’s been a military coup and the new regime is proving more masochistic than protective. Elias left years ago to join the Recruiters and Annah hasn’t seen him since. He’s been gone longer than necessary; In this world, longer than necessary usually means dead.

Annah is as much of a broken shell as her city. But the drudgery of her world is about to come to an end. Long lost people will enter her life. A new love in the form of an immune infected will begin to heal, what this city has torn apart. But nothing is smooth or easy in this new world…And the zombies are coming…

Review

Annah and Catcher vs. Elias and Gabry. I didn’t realize how shiny Elias and Gabry’s relationship was so clean. How fresh they seemed in the world full of broken people. I also didn’t realize how unique and idyllic life in Vista had been for Gabry and Catcher growing up. Just makes me think back to the night Gabry and Catcher jumped the fence. At the time you knew it wasn’t smart…but the further away from that night we get…the more of this world we see…the more your heart aches, as a reader, for what those teens left behind that night. For what they unleashed in their community; a place that was peaceful before they opened Pandora’s box.

I was happy that in this installment Elias and Gabry’s relationship was strong. Obviously they’re being trailed by their past relationships. And those past relationships are very broken people. Annah has spent her life wounded and left behind…as evidenced physically by her scars. Catcher is living in the inbetween; not yet unconsecrated and yet too scared of his infection to fully live. Ryan toes the line with this set of four. Elias and Gabry could have induced bitterness in both the reader and in Annah and Catcher with their display of happiness. In The Dark and Hollow Places we’ve very much left behind Gabry and Elias’s issues…so they seem pretty perfect in comparison to Catcher and Annah. But, luckily, Catcher and Annah are aware they’re broken. They know they need to fix something in themselves…and they know that they share a bond. Catcher and Annah can help each other grow and fully live life. *Sigh* I loved watching them fall in love.

This book has yet another zombie surge. Another city falls. Instead of feeling redundant I felt as though it seemed appropriate for the trajectory of society. That’s honestly my favorite thing about these novels. Ryan set her world on a path of apocalyptic nature and she never deviated. Instead she gave her characters strength and hope for the future…against catastrophic odds.

I thought I would be content to see the end of this series happen with Catcher and Annah…I’m not! lol. I’d love to see them survive on the ship…find other pockets of people in this world…watch the world finally end or sprout seeds for a new, stronger generation of humans.

I loved that these were zombie books without being zombie books. And the way you fleshed out the post-apocalyptic world was beautiful. It was scary, and logical, and wonderfully effective. It’s a world I don’t want to see end…

Rating: 4.5/5 Only because I’m not ready to accept that this is the end!

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The Dead-Tossed Waves (The Forest of Hands and Teeth #2) by Carrie Ryan

BookTalk

Gabry is standing at the line between childhood and the world of adults, the line of innocence and knowledge, the line of life and death. Gabry is standing at the wall that separates her seaside town from the land of the Unconsecrated. One bite from an infected means death either instantaneous or slowly after days and days. Gabry is a smart and cautious girl…there is no way she’d ever jump this wall.

But then there’s a boy…

A boy she wants to kiss…

A boy who is right now holding down a hand…beckoning her beyond the wall…

While that first kiss is magical, it opens up Pandora’s Box. This decision to jump the wall will unleash knowledge Gabry never wanted to have. She’ll lose friends, she’ll lose her home, and she’ll lose the boy she thinks she loves.

But another boy will appear…and one from her past will come back, scarred and changed. Gabry will have to find the fight that hides inside her. Gabry will have to learn to face her fears. Because once the wall is breached, there is no turning back.

Review

I’ll admit I was a little thrown at the start of this book. Mary’s story just didn’t seem finished to me at the end of the first book (The Forest of Hands and Teeth). We left her standing at the edge of the ocean…searching for meaning in all that she’d been striving for the whole book. When this book started, about 20 years in the future. I was a little out of whack

“Where did my story go?” “Why am I reading about whiny teens?” “Why the hell are they leaving the safety of the city?!” “Is nothing dangerous anymore?!”

It took me awhile to warm up to Gabry. I liked that Mary’s story was continued by her daughter. That I had a sense of Mary’s life, the one she chose to lead after finding the ocean. I understood the choice…as I understand choices Mary makes later in the book. But really the focus shifts to the daughter Gabrielle, Gabry for short. I didn’t love how she was so nervous for the first half of this. I felt that her indecision, for the most part, did actually lead to other character’s falls. She’s missing the survival instinct that Mary and her generation had.

The more I think about this lack of instinct the more I realized that it was simply Ryan correctly imagining her characters. Time has passed. Survivors have created systems, governments, and jobs to keep their people safer. The Unconsecrated are better controlled for the most part. Gabry didn’t grow up like Mary. Gabry was missing the genesis for Mary’s spunk and smarts.

Don’t worry…Gabry gets her own kick in the butt zombie style. It’s not too long before she too is making hard decisions and fighting off herds of Unconsecrated. Often times in the name of love. Yep, this one has a love triangle too. At one point Ryan wavered around the area of repetition from the first book, but then does a bait and switch mixing up our love trajectory.

As with the first, this second book in the series kept me rapt at attention. I couldn’t put it down! At the end I’m always amazed at how well she plays it all. How a YA zombie book becomes something oh, so much more.

Rating: 4/5 Mary’s daughter can hold her own

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The Forest of Hands and Teeth (The Forest of Hands and Teeth #1) by Carrie Ryan

Booktalk

Mary lives in a simple world. It is a village ruled and ordered by The Sisterhood. Women who, like Nuns, have devoted their lives to God. But in Mary’s world The Sisterhood are so much more…They are the law. The Sisterhood sanctions every marriage and every birth, they heal the sick and can send you out into the Forest of Hands and Teeth.

You see, Mary’s world is not small simply because she’s grown up isolated in the middle of the forest. Not small because she’s never left her home, because she’ll have to choose a husband from two brothers she loves in different ways. It’s a small world because it exists only within the boundaries of the chain-link fence. The fence being the only defense between herself and the Unconsecrated. The only thing standing between Mary and certain death.

Mary has already lost a father to the Forest, her mother gets closer and closer to its wild call every day. In a world surviving upon strict rules and locked gates Mary’s curiosity won’t just kill the cat…It’ll decimate everything she’s ever known. Because, it only takes one bite from an Unconsecrated to turn you into a zombie as well…

Review

One of the best apocalyptic books I’ve ever done. This is a book about zombies yes, but it’s not really a zombie book. It’s so much more about survival. This is a society that is clinging to religion as much as it is clinging to the chain link fences that keep the zombies or as they call them in this world the “Unconsecrated” out. It’s a study in a post apocalyptic world…generations after the zombie virus attacks. I think that’s the magic of this zombie book. It’s probably also why I wasn’t so scared. Zombie books usually freak me out. I Am Legend. Couldn’t even finish the movie. I would so die in the first generation of the zombie apocalypse…scratch that…I’d probably become a zombie myself.

I liked that this society was farther away from the original spread of infection. There were more rules, more logic. Though we don’t learn much about the start of the apocalypse in this book. The reader, and Mary sees bits and pieces of a society trying to ward off an overwhelming virus. Seeing each piece of the puzzle only makes you crave information more. Perhaps in the following two books we’ll receive more answers about the beginning.

Later in the book you can actually place a time to the people in this society…how far out they are from the world as we know it today. Mary finds a clipping from before the return (or before the zombies) from U.S.A. Today and while she can still read and see the picture the paper itself crumbles in her hands. This is a society that didn’t handle curiosity well. It’s almost as if you can’t help but want to dig for answers…but you also see that a girl like Mary could kill whole villages of people with her curious nature.

Which brings up the Sisterhood. The nuns that control Mary’s village. They have all the power, all the medicine, and all the religion that keeps the town intact and alive. You also have a sneaking suspicion that they know more than they let on… You’re dying to learn more about them by the end of this novel. And yet, at the same time you’ve realized how much bigger this situation is. How massive the extent of damage this virus has caused.

And a teaser: The scene with Travis and the rope *gasp*. Literally read it hand to mouth on the edge of my seat! As if I could do something about the ending to the story. The entire time in that town was the best part of the novel for me. Emotional, thrilling, simply amazing.

And now, because I couldn’t resist…

Spoilers (Highlight to See)

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God, Travis’s death!! To learn after the rope scene that he was infected the whole time. To see Mary kill him. You ache for all they lost. You ache that he wasn’t enough for her.

Also, the death of Jed…was it necessary for him to follow Mary? To have to save Mary’s life? In a way did it make Mary seem a little foolish. This was the one death not caused by an outside need to flee for their lives. This one falls squarely on Mary’s shoulders. I wonder if it makes her quest for the ocean seem more childish? More of a fancy than an actual strive for humanity…

But when she finally sees the ocean…the way that was handled. Just perfect that there was no joy. That there were Unconsecrated, but not in the way we were expecting. That this ocean could be Mary’s religion, her true goal and continue to direct her in life. Reaching the ocean was not an end. It was a sigh, a realization that it’s not even the beginning…The life Mary is leading is the only life to be found in this world. Amazing, and oh so tempting to start the next book right away.

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Spoiler’s End

Rating: 5/5 One of the best apocalyptic books I’ve ever done. 

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Deadly Cool (Deadly Cool #1) by Gemma Halliday

BookTalk

Hartley is having a bad day. First, she finds a condom in her boyfriends locker. While icky under any situation…Hartley isn’t going quite that far with Josh and she doesn’t want to think about the rumors involving the guy she loves and the current president of the Hoover High School Chastity Club.

Nope.

That condom must be part of a reproductive science project.

Yep. If Hartley repeats that enough she’ll believe it…

While this travesty would be enough to ruin anybody’s week, in a misguided attempt to confront her boyfriend – via breaking into his house through a window – Hartley and her best friend Sam instead stumbles upon the body of said Hoover High School Chastity Club President…freshly strangled with iPod ear-buds.

Hartley is convinced that Josh isn’t a murderer [a cheater, yes, cold-blooded killer, no] Plus, she’s obviously not one to let things go. Thus, Hartley embarks on a crime solving spree. Not that she’s really any good at it…the girl can’t lie to save her life. But with a little luck and a very cute high school journalist Hartley may get her man yet…

Review

First off, loved her name: Hartley. So fun, loved that she wasn’t a natural Nancy Drew. And that while possessing healthy confidence in her body she was still a little aware of her bigger butt. Totally bonded with her over that. So often girls in YA are either totally comfortable with their bodies or slightly neurotic. It was great to see one that was just…normal.

Loved the romantic interest! Chase was really cute and had Hartley all tied up in knots from the beginning. I’m really looking forward to seeing how they move on with the relationship in future books. But I must say…it’s more of a tease than a spoiler…that scene under the bed…take it off! lol I totally would have let him keep stripping. Yes, this is wrong of me, No, my teenage self would have stopped him too…but my adult self was distracted by the abs! Oh *sigh* the abs on the muscular literary guy with great hair…as much of a work of fiction as the ability to choke someone with iPod ear-buds.

Ahh, then we have the asshole-ish ex-boyfriend. Hartley, poor thing, didn’t see it coming. Josh ended up being not such a bad guy in the end. Just a high school relationship run its course…ending in a bit of major drama. Love that Hartley had natural reactions to it…but didn’t go too far into revenge or back into his arms. Lets move on to the tall, dark, and handsome newspaper guy 😉

What really got me was the Hoover High School Chastity Club. Those girls managed to be the perfect mean girls. Body obsessed, perfectly dressed, and obsessed with a good girl image. You know anyone who openly berates people for not taking a chastity pledge is headed for a pretty big fall from grace.

I’m not going any further with plot or spoilers. The whole thing was a mystery anyway I’ll just end by saying: Totally didn’t see the killer coming. And, dang, that person was crazy!

Rating: 4/5 a fun mystery with a really cute guy (who I swear is over 18 so it’s ok for me to say that!)

*Book received [by accident! whoo hoo!!] via Me, MyShelf and I Book Tours…Thanks!

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