Category: Book Review
Runaway by Meg Cabot
Today is Wednesday, so that means today I’m guest posting over at We Heart Reading! Since I reviewed the first book in the Airhead trilogy, Airhead, and the second book, Being Nikki, this time I reviewed Runaway. Please go check them out and you may be surprised to find chick lit you’ll actually like. I promise it’s not preachy.
And of course, a recap of the posts this week:
Sunday: The Fourth Wall by Walter Jon Williams
Monday: Self-Publishing: An Author’s Perspective
Tuesday: The Giver by Lois Lowry
The Giver by Lois Lowry
(Cover picture courtesy of Whatcha Readin’, Books?)
Jonas’s world is perfect. Everything is under control. There is no war or fear or pain. There are no choices. Every person is assigned a role in the Community.
When Jonas turns twelve, he is singled out to receive special training from The Giver. The Giver alone holds the memories of the true pain and pleasure of life. Now it’s time for Jonas to receive the truth.
Okay, start writing your hate mail. I’m about to criticize what many laud as a literary masterpiece above questioning.
Here we have yet another popular novel that we have to ask ourselves about: Is it really worth all of the hype? In a word, no, but it’s not as simple as that. One of the main things that’s made this book popular is the fact that it’s studied by middle school students. In fact, I studied this book in grade 9 and having read it in grade 6, was incredibly bored. I remember telling my teacher that this wasn’t really a grade-appropriate novel, but it’s actually in the grade 9 curriculum in Saskatchewan, if you can believe it. Reading it years later, I thought I might get something new out of it, but I think I got the message the first time around.
My overall impression of The Giver is that it’s good, but it’s not the greatest thing since paper that educators seem to praise it as. It does have meaning and wonderful messages that make readers debate comfort versus freedom, but it feels as if Lois Lowry was trying too hard to make sure readers got this message. The phrase beat-you-over-the-head-with-a-stick-obvious comes to mind, which was even my impression when I first read the novel. The Giver was somewhat unique in its own time, but now with the explosion of YA dystopia, it is one novel among many that does not even stand out particularly well.
The main character Jonas is good, but he is not memorable. He rebels against the society and sees what’s wrong with it, but only after The Giver shows him quite a few memories of the freedom of the past. Before then, he’s hasn’t really questioned the society, which makes the novel start off fairly slow, but as Jonas acquires more memories, he does change for the better. He becomes angry and frustrated with his society, pining for freedoms he never knew he wanted. While Jonas has a lot of depth, but since emphasis is placed on controlling emotion, we don’t feel his emotions as well as we should.
The world of The Giver is well built, but it is nothing exceptional. What is interesting is the sheer amount of control the leaders have over the Community, which hammers home the “complete comfort at the price of freedom” message. One of the things that bugged me the most was that although this is classified as science fiction, we never really learn about how The Giver passes the memories of the past on to Jonas. There is no technology involved and it is only hinted at that The Giver and Jonas are special because they can See or Hear Beyond.
So in conclusion, The Giver actually is a good novel and a decent read, but it really felt like Lois Lowry was trying too hard to hammer the message home. Generations of kids have grown to dislike this book because teachers try to over-analyze the novel as well and I honestly can’t blame them.
I give this book 4/5 stars.
The Fourth Wall by Walter Jon Williams
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
Sean is a washed-up child actor reduced to the lowest dregs of reality television to keep himself afloat.
His life was a downward spiral of alcoholism, regret, and failure…until he met Dagmar Shaw.
The world of Dagmar Shaw, however, is rarely straightforward. People tend to die around her, and now she wants Sean for something. A movie, she says, but who’s to say what her real game is?
I was introduced to The Fourth Wall by reading Walter Jon Williams’ Big Idea essay over at Whatever. Intrigued by the idea behind the novel, I bought it on pure speculation, as I seem to do quite a bit when I read The Big Idea articles. After all, it’s how I found out about Feed, to name one of the best examples. And much like Feed, The Fourth Wall has a killer opening, which is not entirely appropriate for all readers.
“When you spot someone sitting at the beach wearing a headset for Augmented Reality, or wearing AR specs on the bus, or smiling quietly in the back pew of the church with his video glasses on, what do you think?
I’ll tell you what you think. You think he’s watching porn.“
This sets the tone for pretty much the whole novel: cynical, witty and a bit dark. It’s also hard to classify this novel because just when you think you know what’s going to happen, the plot takes a sharp turn and you’re left mystified once more. You really won’t be able to predict the ending either, which stays true to the dark, cynical atmosphere that Williams maintains throughout the novel.
Sean Makin is a washed-up child actor and even though The Fourth Wall is set in the future, he offers a lot of insight into the cutthroat world of Hollywood. You see both the glamorous side and the incredibly dark side that no one wants to talk about. Sean is the perfect character to tell a story like this because of his dark past and his highly cynical attitude towards life and acting. He has a very sad past that adds a lot of layers to his character, making him a wonderfully three dimensional character. There is no doubt in my mind he is a memorable character.
After enjoying The Fourth Wall so much, I have a feeling I’ll be reading and reviewing a lot more Walter Jon Williams novels in the future.
I give this book 5/5 stars.
Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception by Eoin Colfer
(Cover picture courtesy of Tower Books.)
After his last run-in with the fairies, Artemis Fowl had his mind wiped of his memories of the world belowground. Any goodness he had grudgingly learned is now gone, and the young genius has reverted to his criminal lifestyle.
Artemis is in Berlin preparing to steal a famously well-guarded painting from a German bank. Little does he know that his every move is being watched by his old rival, Opal Koboi. The evil pixie has spent the last year in a self-induced coma, plotting her revenge on all those who foiled her attempt to destroy the LEPrecon fairy police. And Artemis is at the top of her list.
Once again, it’s up to Artemis Fowl to stop the human and fairy worlds from colliding—only this time, Artemis faces an enemy who may have finally outsmarted him…
As I’ve mentioned before, I was a victim of moderate bullying for about five years and the memories of those incidents haunt me to this day. If you had offered to wipe all those painful memories from my mind only a year ago, I would have said yes without a second thought. Now, however, I’m not so sure because as a human, I am nothing more than the sum of my memories. Like it or not, those memories are a part of who I am today and I would be a much worse person without them. So with that in mind, consider what wiping all of Artemis’ fairy memories would do to him.
Well, in The Opal Deception, we find out and it isn’t pretty. Without even the scraps of goodness Holly Short and the other fairies taught him, Artemis has reverted to his default setting: evil criminal mastermind. Did this actually come as a surprise to anyone but the LEP? Probably not. And thanks to their brilliant idea to wipe Artemis’ memory, they are in even worse trouble when Opal Koboi escapes, bent on revenge.
Unfortunately, one of my favourite characters is killed off in this book in a very touching death scene. The plus side is that we get to see more of the eccentric centaur, Foaly, and the kleptomaniac dwarf, Mulch Diggums. Both Artemis and Holly go through significant character development as they join forces once again to stop Opal Koboi, becoming friends again along the way. With a well-paced plot and a satisfying end to the novel, fans will love this fourth installment of the Artemis Fowl series.
I give this book 4.5/5 stars.
Snakehead by Anthony Horowitz
(Cover picture courtesy of Harford County Public Library.)
They murdered his parents. They shot him and left him for dead. And yet Alex Rider thought he was finished with the terrorist organization known as Scorpia. He was wrong. Back, and more dangerous than ever, Scorpia is working with ruthless gangs operating across Southeast Asia. Known as snakeheads, the gangs smuggle drugs, weapons, and, worst of all, people. When the Australian Secret Service asks Alex to infiltrate one of the gangs, Alex accepts for one reason only: to work with the godfather he never knew existed in hopes of learning more about his parents. What he uncovers, though, is a secret that will make this his darkest and most dangerous mission to date.
What is the saddest thing of all?
Wasted talent, of course.
Perhaps I’m getting emotional because I’m watching the last act of Aida as I write this, but the Alex Rider series makes me kind of sad. Anthony Horowitz is an absolutely amazing writer—he can create breath-stopping suspense and throw in some truly unexpected plot twists, but he is wasting this talent on a cliché series. Sure, Alex has a bit more depth by now, but he is still a cardboard cutout. And yes, the plot of Snakehead is exciting, but the ending is predictable: Alex saves the world yet again. The only thing I truly love about this series is the fact that kids who have never read before are discovering the joy of reading, which is something that lasts a lifetime.
The plot of Snakehead is fairly predictable, but there are occasional plot twists, especially at the end. You know that Alex saves the world, but this is another case where the journey is more interesting than the destination. Of course Anthony Horowitz keeps things moving along with his perfect way of balancing dialogue and description. He also informs readers about how horrible smuggled refugees have it, especially when they travel by ship.
Alex isn’t a complete cardboard cutout by Snakehead, but neither is he an exemplary character. He is still far too perfect for a fourteen year old boy, even if his uncle did train him all his life to be a spy. Meeting Ash, his godfather, gives him a lot more depth, but he’s pretty much back to the same old Alex by the end of the novel.
I give this book 3/5 stars.