Category: Spotlight
Spotlight: Other Side of Forever by Shannon Eckrich
Spotlight is my weekly feature in which I highlight a book I’m looking forward to or really enjoyed. This week I want to do the latter and talk to you about an amazing book: Other Side of Forever by Shannon Eckrich.
Seventeen-year-old Allie Anderson’s telekinetic powers are anything but useful–she can’t bring her father back, can’t stop her mother’s downward spiral into alcohol, and can’t keep her from falling in love with Ethan Bradley. Loving Ethan is easy, but it comes with a hefty price: Ethan is prohibited by his people from interacting with mortals–because he isn’t mortal himself. When Allie and Ethan’s love is discovered, there’s someone who will do anything to keep them apart. If Allie can’t learn to control her powers and fight to save Ethan, this dark entity will make every attempt to stop her beating heart. And if that happens, not even the energy of an immortal can bring her back.
I know, I was just gushing over this on Wednesday, but it warrants repeating: Other Side of Forever is that extremely rare YA book that avoids clichés like love triangles and completely happy endings. The heroine, Allie, was smart and resourceful but also had a vulnerable side when it came to Ethan. Ethan himself was a complete gentleman, not the total ‘hot jerk’ stereotype you see so often in YA. We need to see more male leads like him, that’s for sure!
Not only is the plot fast-paced, but unpredictable. Honestly, just when you think you know what’s going to happen, Shannon Eckrich sends another plot twist your way. Sometimes authors sacrifice character development in the name of pacing, but not in Other Side of Forever. Both Allie and Ethan were fully developed and had believable character arcs as well as a sweet, completely genuine romance. It didn’t feel forced at all, another rarity.
Seriously guys, you need to read this book right now.
Spotlight: The Song of Troy by Colleen McCullough
Spotlight is my Saturday feature in which I highlight a book I am either really looking forward to or really enjoyed. This time I’m highlighting a book I really enjoyed: The Song of Troy by Colleen McCullough.
In The Song of Troy, the bestselling author of The Thorn Birds recounts the tale of Helen and Paris, the immortal lovers who doomed two great nations to a terrible war. It is told through the eyes of its main characters: the sensuous and self-indulgent Helen; the subtle and brilliant Odysseus; the sad old man Priam, King of Troy; the tormented warrior prince, Achilles; and Agamemnon, King of Kings, who consents to the unspeakable in order to launch his thousand ships. This is an unputdownable tale of love, ambition, delusion, honour and consuming passion.
It’s hard to pick a favourite character out of the entire book because Colleen McCullough has made each unique and interesting. Not all portrayals are necessarily the most flattering (see: Helen herself), but the way the story is told they feel more realistic. There are no divine interventions, only people fighting a vicious, bloody war for reasons of their own.
Although newcomers to the legend of Troy would be able to understand things perfectly, The Song of Troy is more of a refreshing change for people who have read at least one different interpretation or even the original. Having read at least one other interpretation allows you to truly appreciate the monumental effort Colleen McCullough put into her novel to make legendary figures more human. Being human, they are wonderfully, fatally flawed as well.
Even if you don’t like historical fiction in general, I would definitely recommend The Song of Troy.
Spotlight: There Comes a Prophet by David Litwack
A world kept peaceful for a thousand years by the magic of the ruling vicars. But a threat lurks from a violent past. Wizards from the darkness have hidden their sorcery in a place called the keep and left a trail of clues that have never been solved.
Nathaniel has grown up longing for more but unwilling to challenge the vicars. Until his friend Thomas is taken for a teaching, the mysterious coming-of-age ritual. Thomas returns but with his dreams ripped away. When Orah is taken next, Nathaniel tries to rescue her and ends up in the prisons of Temple City. There he meets the first keeper of the ancient clues. But when he seeks the keep, what he finds is not magic at all.
If he reveals the truth, the words of the book of light might come to pass:
“If there comes among you a prophet saying ‘Let us return to the darkness,’ you shall stone him, because he has sought to thrust you away from the light.”
Q: Which is better: fantasy or science fiction? A: Why decide? Just have both genres rolled into one awesome book!
There Comes a Prophet by David Litwack is one such book. It takes place in a society that, long ago, was incredibly technologically advanced. But when the Temple of Light gradually took control, technology was forbidden because of the evils it caused in the world (nevermind that it did a lot of good too). Enter our three protagonists: Orah, Thomas and Nathaniel. They have been given the key to restoring long-lost knowledge to their world. But of course societies don’t change overnight and neither do people.
The ‘rebellion’ is not your typical YA novel rebellion. It doesn’t start suddenly because of the actions of a couple of teenagers. This, combined with the history of David Litwack’s world, is what makes There Comes a Prophet so believable. David Litwack obviously understands how people and societies work, therefore straying away from typical fantasy/science fiction clichés.
If you love fantasy or science fiction (or both!) you’ll love There Comes a Prophet.
Spotlight: Feed by Mira Grant
Spotlight is my weekly feature in which I highlight a book I’m eagerly awaiting or read and really enjoyed. This week, it’s another amazing zombie book: Feed by Mira Grant.
The year was 2014. We had cured cancer. We had beaten the common cold. But in doing so we had created something new, something terrible that no one could stop. The infection spread, virus blocks taking over bodies and minds with one, unstoppable command: FEED.
Now, twenty years after the Rising, Georgia and Shaun Mason are on the trail of the biggest story of their lives—the dark conspiracy behind the infected. The truth will out, even if it kills them.
Lots of books about a zombie apocalypse either take place during the apocalypse or after, when civilization as we know it has fallen completely. In Feed, Mira Grant presents a much, much different take, one that looks at what life would be like if we won. Blood tests, off-limits areas, the rise of blogging at the expense of traditional media, etc. The future Mira Grant imagines is terrifying in some aspects (the complete loss of personal privacy), but I suppose it’s better than total societal collapse.
Enter Shaun and Georgia (George) Mason, who are bloggers following the presidential campaign of Senator Ryman but uncover a conspiracy that involves the origins of the Kellis-Amberlee virus itself. Despite the fact it sounds like a dark book, Mira Grant has such a humorous writing style you can’t help but laugh out loud in some parts. It’s a whirlwind journey with an unpredictable ending. Feed also ends on such a cliffhanger that you’ll have no choice but to read the second book in the Newsflesh trilogy, Deadline.
Obviously, this is a zombie novel, so don’t read it if you’re sensitive to gore.
Spotlight: The Return Man by V. M. Zito
Spotlight is my Saturday feature in which I highlight a book I’m looking forward to or really enjoyed. This week, I want to highlight one of the best zombie books I’ve ever read: The Return Man by V. M. Zito.
The outbreak tore the U. S. in two. The east remains a safe haven. The west has become a ravaged wilderness. They call it the evacuated states.
It is here that Henry Marco makes his living. Hired by grieving relatives, he tracks down the dead and delivers peace.
Now Homeland Security wants Marco for a mission unlike any other. He must return to California, where the apocalypse began. Where a secret is hidden. And where his own tragic past waits to punish him again.
But in the wastelands of America, you never know who—or what—is watching you…
If you love AMC’s The Walking Dead, you will absolutely love The Return Man. Heck, if you love zombies, good characters, fast plots and conspiracies, you’ll love V. M. Zito’s debut novel. Basically: You’ll probably love this book.
Not only is Marco a great character you can sympathize with because he stayed back in the Evacuated States to return his zombified wife, but Wu is also amazing. Wu is kind of an ambiguous character because he’s not a villain, but he’s certainly not a hero in the traditional sense of the word. I can’t decide whether I like Marco or Wu better, so their journey together from both points of view was a satisfying thrill ride.
The plot is fast and dramatic (but believable) and the zombies are terrifying. No, they’re not ‘fast zombies’, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t scary. Believe me, with the descriptions Zito gives of the zombies and all the gore they cause, you may lose your appetite. The purpose of those graphic descriptions isn’t so much to gross out the reader as to bring home the point that in real life, a zombie apocalypse would be absolutely horrifying.
I wouldn’t recommend The Return Man for sensitive readers, but for everyone else: Go for it!