Category: Speculative Fiction
The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
In a future world, vampires reign. Humans are blood cattle. And one girl will search for the key to save humanity.Allison Sekemoto survives in the Fringe, the outermost circle of a vampire city. By day, she and her crew scavenge for food. By night, any one of them could be eaten.
Some days, all that drives Allie is her hatred of them. The vampires who keep humans as blood cattle. Until the night Allie herself is attacked—and given the ultimate choice. Die…or become one of the monsters.
Faced with her own mortality, Allie becomes what she despises most. To survive, she must learn the rules of being immortal, including the most important: go long enough without human blood, and you will go mad.
Then Allie is forced to flee into the unknown, outside her city walls. There she joins a ragged band of humans who are seeking a legend—a possible cure to the disease that killed off most of humankind and created the rabids, the mindless creatures who threaten humans and vampires alike.
But it isn’t easy to pass for human. Especially not around Zeke, who might see past the monster inside her. And Allie soon must decide what—and who—is worth dying for.
(Summary courtesy of Amazon.)
Finally, a real vampire story!
I can’t tell you how ridiculously happy Julie Kagawa’s version of vampires made me. Vampires are stone-cold killing machines; they’re designed to kill humans. They don’t sparkle in the sunlight and they certainly aren’t century-old virgins. And vampires are powerful, so they naturally end up ruling the world, rather than being in hiding like they are in so many modern books.
Allie is a great protagonist. She’s strong and accepts being a vampire relatively well, even though she got off to a pretty shaky start. Kanin is an awesome vampire and I suspect we’ll learn a lot more about his mysterious backstory in the next book. Or at least I hope we do because there’s a lot of hints about his past.
The plot is fast-paced, the characters are amazing and the world-building is nothing less than I would expect from an author like Julie Kagawa. Blood of Eden looks to be a promising series and I honestly can’t wait for the next book. Even if you don’t like vampires in general, you will love this book.
I give this book 5/5 stars.
Earth Abides by George R. Stewart
(Cover picture courtesy of Tertulia Moderna.)
An instant classic upon its original publication in 1949 and winner of the first International Fantasy Award, Earth Abides ranks with On the Beach and Riddley Walker as one of our most provocative and finely wrought post-apocalyptic works of literature. Its impact is still fresh, its lessons timeless.
When a plague of unprecedented virulence sweeps the globe, the human race is all bu wiped out. In the aftermath, as the great machine of civilization slowly, inexorably, breaks down, only a few shattered survivors remain to struggle against the slide into barbarism…or extinction.
This is the story of one such survivor, Isherwood “Ish” Williams, an intellectual loner who embraces the grim duty of bearing witness to what may be humanity’s final days. But then he finds Em, a wise and courageous woman who coaxes his stunned heart back to life and teaches him to hope again. Together, they will face unimaginable challenges as they sow the seeds of a new beginning.
Earth Abides is a novel I would describe as ‘haunting’ in that it forces you to think about the fact humanity may not always be around. It also clings to your memory, even years after you first read it. This passage about Captain Maclear’s rats haunts me even to this day.
Consider the case of Captain Maclear’s rat. This interesting rodent inhabited Christmas Island, a small bit of tropical verdure some two hundred miles south of Java…
Yet such was the luxuriance of the tropical growth that the rats had not attained such numbers as to provide competition among members of the species. The individual rats were extremely well-nourished, and even unduly fat.
In 1903 some new disease sprang up. Because of their crowding and also probably because of the softened condition of the individuals, the rats proved universally susceptible, and soon were dying by thousands. In spite of great numbers, in spite of an abundant supply of food, in spite of a very rapid breeding rate, the species is extinct.
Sound familiar to anyone? Yeah, I thought so and it’s pretty scary because the scenario described by George R. Stewart really could happen one day. And, like Maclear’s Rat, even our evolutionary advantages may not be enough to save us.
Enter Isherwood Williams, an intellectual who decides to stick around to see what happens to humanity when he discovers everyone he ever knew was dead. Ish has a way of remaining emotionally distant that keeps him from going mad or making stupid sentimental decisions that would be detrimental to him. Some people hate him for being so ruthless, but I found him to be empathetic (if not always sympathetic) and a very interesting character.
George R. Stewart has an amazing writing style and even though as Ish dies in the last part of the book things get a bit confusing, I had no trouble imagining the apocalyptic scenario he created. The decay of buildings, the cropping up of bizarre religious beliefs, the lack of intellectual pursuits because survival is more important…all of this rings true and makes it a more enjoyable read.
I would highly recommend Earth Abides. It’s one of the few classic novels that should be required reading in school.
I give this book 5/5 stars.
Marked by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast
(Cover picture courtesy of Hooked to Books.)
Enter the dark, magical world of the House of Night, a world very much like our own, except here vampyres have always existed. Sixteen-year-old Zoey Redbird has just been Marked as a fledgling vampyre and joins the House of Night, a school where she will train to become an adult vampyre. That is, if she makes it through the Change—and not all of those who are Marked do. It sucks to begin a new life, especially away from her friends and on top of that, Zoey is no average fledgling. She has been chosen as special by the vampyre Goddess Nyx. Zoey discovers she has amazing powers, but along with her powers come bloodlust and an unfortunate ability to Imprint her human ex-boyfriend. To add to her stress, she is not the only fledgling at the House of Night with special powers: When she discovers that the leader of the Dark Daughters, the school’s most elite group, is misusing her Goddess-given gifts, Zoey must look deep within herself for the courage to embrace her destiny—with a little help from her new vampyre friends.
Marked represents everything that’s wrong with the YA genre.
Okay, that’s a bit harsh and more than a little melodramatic, but it also has a grain of truth in it. Literary snobs point to the juvenile writing style, vapid characters and utterly predictable plot and say all YA books are like that. Let me show you two examples of the horrible writing:
“So I listened to the haunting Gaelic lyrics and pitch-forked up poopie.” (pg 133)
“I wished it was cold and Kayla would freeze her over-developed boobies right off.” (pg 175)
Writing style and voice are such important components of a novel that when they make it feel like a wish-fulfilling tween wrote it, it’s a good indicator of other problems. I don’t know about you, but pretty much all sixteen-year-olds I know would die rather than even think the word “poopie.” P.C. and Kristin Cast have deliberately dumbed down the writing so they think it will appeal to teens, but in truth they have underestimated their target audience and insulted my intelligence.
Pretty much all the of the characters, except Neferet, are stereotypes. Zoey is the chosen girl who’s super powerful, Damien is the smart and sensitive gay guy, Erik is the hot love interest, Stevie Rae is the cute little Southern girl and Aphrodite is the hot queen bee straight off Mean Girls. Neferet is really the only character with a little bit of depth and she barely features in the novel.
The plot is so predictable that it’s sickening. It almost felt as if P.C. and Kristin Cast made an effort to throw every cliché known to mankind in their novel. To be honest, if I didn’t know better I’d think this was a parody, yet it’s deadly serious. Scary, isn’t it?
I give this book 0.5/5 stars
Divergent by Veronica Roth
(Cover picture courtesy of Veronica Roth’s blog.)
In Beatrice Prior’s dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can’t have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.
During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she’s chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she’s kept hidden from everyone because she’s been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.
(Summary courtesy of Amazon.)
My feelings about Divergent are pretty mixed for two reasons: One of the themes hits close to home and Veronica Roth perpetuates a terrifyingly common stereotype that has been around for thousands of years. I don’t like bringing my personal life into reviews so I’ll discuss the latter point, which is not mutually exclusive.
I don’t like the portrayal of the Erudites, the group that is devoted to knowledge and learning. The Erudites are the bad guys who are logical to the point of being emotionless and extremely greedy for wanting more progress in society. Meanwhile, Dauntless (except for a few schemers) are portrayed as virtuous and self-sacrificing and Abnegation is humble and does all of the charity work in the city.
Tris is mad at her brother for being good at lying and hiding his intellectual tendencies, even though she should be happy for him. It’s funny how Erudites as a whole are portrayed as the only ruthless, greedy sect that has been corrupted by a thirst for knowledge. All this definitely falls in line with the smart=evil that popular culture seems to think. Apparently if you’re smart, you are an unfeeling robot, even though anyone who has met a truly intelligent person knows that isn’t true. This falls in line with the very religious tone of Divergent because, according to Christianity (to use just one example, although a lot of religions are guilty of this), it was mankind’s thirst for knowledge that led to our banishment from Eden.
The idea of five different factions is interesting, but also pushes at the boundaries of credibility. People don’t fit nearly into 5 (six if you count the factionless) factions, no matter what you do. I know the factions are supposed to be just about the virtue you value the highest, yet in practice they only push that one virtue. There would be a lot of Divergent people if such a society really existed. However, the rest of Veronica Roth’s world-building is basically sound and she does have a unique premise.
Tris is an okay character. She’s brave and when she falls in love it isn’t Insta-Love. Four is an interesting character as well with an intriguing backstory that I would really like to learn more about. The secondary characters are decent enough, but they’re nothing to brag about either. What redeems Divergent, however, is the fast pacing and Veronica Roth’s admittedly addicting writing style. It will be interesting to see where she steers the narrative in Insurgent.
I give this book 3/5 stars.
The Bar Code Tattoo by Suzanne Weyn
(Cover picture courtesy of Random Buzzers.)
The bar code tattoo. Everybody’s getting it. It will make your life easier, they say. It will hook you in. It will become your identity.
But what if you say no? What if you don’t want to become a code? For Kayla, this one choice changes everything. She becomes an outcast in her high school. Dangerous things happen to her family. There’s no option but to run…for her life.
I’ve heard a lot of great and terrible things about this book in the YA community. Again, this prompts the question: Is it worth the hype?
Well, not really.
Much like Matched, it is an average book, but nothing more. It’s not fantastic and it’s not terrible, but it falls somewhere in between. An interesting dystopian society, a decently paced plot and an okay cast of characters…yet there is nothing really exceptional about The Bar Code Tattoo. Some aspects of it are Orwellian, others remind me of that documentary Food Inc. and still others remind me of The Giver. Suzanne Weyn is a competent enough writer, but she doesn’t really stand out for me.
The Bar Code Tattoo is set in a dystopian future where the fears of right-wringers, left-wingers and centrists come to pass. For the right, it is the scary amount of government overreach and a complete lack of respect for the Constitution. For the left, it is the fact that the poor are pretty much left to fend for themselves while corporations take over America. As for the centrists, all this will scare the crap out of them. This is why I admire Suzanne Weyn’s dystopia in an odd sort of way: it combines the fears of all political spectrums into one decently built future.
Kayla is a decent enough protagonist, but is nothing really special. To me she’s pretty much your stock dystopian protagonist: she sees nothing wrong with the society until something happens (like falling in love or someone close to her dying) to make her into a rebel. Highly predictable. The plot is decently paced, but I could predict every plot ‘twist’.
Overall: meh.
I give this book 3/5 stars.