Some strong reads in the last few weeks. I want to get Fates and Furies out of the way because I basically hate-read it. I just didn’t get what the big Story was. While I liked Mathilde’s backstory and some of her choices in the second half, I just couldn’t get over how fusty and edge-less it felt to me. Not enough rock ‘n’ roll for a story about young people in the West Village in the late 1990s… maybe because that’s where I lived…
I have read The Handmaid’s Tale maybe 4 times since college, so when my book club picked it for our December meeting, I thought I’d see if the audiobook version was any good. Oh my my, oh hell yes, time to put on that Handmaid’s Dress because Claire Danes simply kills it. As Offred, trapped in a bizarre patriarchal system where she has to bear children for wealthy men or else risk exile or worse, Danes finds a beautiful balance between the handmaid’s naiveté and…
Synopsis: After an economic disaster causes 50% unemployment, a married couple decides to take a chance on an unusual planned community rather than continue to live in their car and fight off roving bands of marauders. Review: I have not alwqys been a fan of Margaret Atwood’s dystopian science fiction, but with The Heart Goes Last she finally delivers a novel that’s one of her best ever, and that can hold its own with the best of the genre. The dystopian premise is so delightfully…
I had mad love for Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies trilogy back when I first read it. Imagine a dystopia where until age 16, you are “ugly.” Then you get a whole bunch of surgery to become beautiful, and then live in paradise until you die. All parties, no war. Everything is beautiful, and Tally Youngblood can’t wait until her birthday–until she meets Shay, who tells her about the world outside, and asks Tally to escape with her. Tally is a great character–I think she’s more awesome…
Synopsis: After being hidden away for 19 years, the lawful heiress to the throne of the Tearling emerges from hiding, only to find her kingdom tarnished by an ongoing atrocity perpetuated by someone she always admired, and her life in danger from many sides. Review: Queen of the Tearling is a bold, skillful beginning to a promising series. The twist here is that the feudalism typical of epic fantasy is actually the fallout after all technology has failed. It’s futuristic and medieval all at once,…
Synopsis: Offered the chance to infiltrate the training academy for the elite ruling class in a future where Mars has been colonized, a young miner who once believed in love transforms himself completely into a ruthless killer. Review: All comparisons between Red Rising and Ender’s Game and The Hunger Games are entirely and awesomely appropriate. I’m almost sad I got a review copy because I’ll just have to wait that much longer for the next installment in the story. The storytelling, worldbuilding, character development, and…
Synopsis: When Mae gets a job at The Circle, the greatest tech company in the history of the world, she tries to reserve a little bit of privacy for herself, but The Circle is an all-consuming fire of connectivity and transparency. Review: I’ll blog about The Circle, but please do not like, share, or tweet this post. I certainly do not want you taking a selfie with this blog post, applying a sepia filter, and posting it to your stream. Please just read this book…
Synopsis: In a world where love is cured by surgery, two former best friends find themselves on opposite sides of a brewing class war. Review: I really don’t even know what to say about Requiem. I thought Delirium was a better-than-average entry into the Hunger Games dystopian genre. And I loved Lauren Oliver’s standalone Before I Fall. But this trilogy fizzled out for me. I’m tired of love triangles, team this and team that, and free zones, and teenage girls involved in guerrilla tactics. Nothing…
Synopsis: Book two. Read Divergent first. Review: I give up trying to review the middle book in any trilogy. I read Insurgent, I am still hooked, need book three as fast as Veronica Roth can write it.
Synopsis: In a world divided into five factions ruled by a defining character trait, a young woman risks excommunication if anyone discovers that she is Divergent–showing tendencies to more than one character trait. Review: I initially dismissed Divergent as part of the post-Hunger Games dystopian frenzy and assumed it wouldn’t grip me and enthrall me in quite the same way. I was dead wrong–I actually think Divergent is a better story than HG–at least so far. I felt way more invested in Tris’s dilemma because…