Tagged: masq1
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.
Nefertiti by Michelle Moran
(Cover picture courtesy of Michelle Moran’s website.)
Nefertiti and her younger sister, Mutnodjmet, have been raised in a powerful family that has provided wives to the rulers of Egypt for centuries. Ambitious, charismatic, and beautiful, Nefertiti is destined to marry Amunhotep, an unstable young pharaoh. It is hoped that her strong personality will temper the younger ruler’s heretical desire to forsake Egypt’s ancient gods.
From the moment of her arrival in Thebes, Nefertiti is beloved by the people, but she fails to see that powerful forces are plotting against her husband’s reign. The only person brave enough to warn the queen is her younger sister, yet remaining loyal to Nefertiti will force Mutnodjmet into a dangerous political game—one that could cost her everything she holds dear.
To put it bluntly, Nefertiti was disappointing.
I honestly don’t know what I was expecting, but I was hoping to at least have the story told from Nefertiti’s own point of view, not her half-sister’s. Mutnodjmet to me at least, had no backbone and remained woefully naïve about the political machinations of the court throughout most of the novel. When a conspiracy was uncovered, it was either her servant, mother, father or Queen Tiye who revealed it to her. She was not a very proactive narrator, instead reacting to events as they came her way.
Mutnodjmet was incredibly reluctant to be part of the royal family, which I can understand, but she still allowed herself to be pushed around. It was rather frustrating that she was so innocent that she had never told a lie (since she understood the laws of Ma’at) until she was thirteen. Nefertiti, who was supposed to be the subject of the novel, came off as shallow, petty, vain and…a bitch. There was really not one sympathetic bone in her body and although I loathe swearing, there is really no other word that can describe her. And maybe, you know, Nefertiti was like that in real life and was just as power-hungry as her husband, Akhenaten. However, she must have had at least some redeeming qualities, right?
The plot of Nefertiti is relatively slow-paced, but when you’re a regular reader of historical fiction, that’s usually not an issue. Michelle Moran stuck mostly to the facts, even though not as closely as she did in Cleopatra’s Daughter, and did include a historical note explaining why she changed things where she did. Perhaps it was just me who didn’t like the characters because I do tend to lean toward strong, rather cynical types. Or, perhaps, I will have to do what I’ve been threatening to do for a year now and write a novel from Nefertiti’s point of view.
Now that is most definitely wishful thinking.
I give this book 3/5 stars.
Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld
(Cover picture courtesy of Fat Girl Reading.)
The behemoth is the fiercest creature in the British navy. It cam swallow even battleships with one bite. The Darwnists will need it, now that they are at war with the Clanker powers.
Deryn is a girl posing as a boy in the British Air Service, and Alek is the heir to an empire posing as a commoner. Finally together aboard the airship Leviathan, they hope to bring the war to a halt. But when disaster strikes the Leviathan’s peacekeeping mission, they find themselves alone and hunted in enemy territory.
Alek and Deryn will need great skill, new allies, and brave hearts to face what’s ahead
I’m finding that I like Behemoth more than I like Leviathan. Now that I’m more used to Scott Westerfeld’s steampunk world, things make a lot more sense. And since Scott Westerfeld has already set up his universe, he can focus on the plot and characters.
This time I was actually able to connect with both Deryn and Alek. This is probably because I was more familiar with the world and could actually focus on the characters. Alek is much more sympathetic this time around because he isn’t as much of a spoiled brat prince as he was before. Deryn is also much easier to connect with as her secret is in jeopardy multiple times.
The world-building is excellent and I absolutely love Keith Thompson’s illustrations, which help bring the world alive. Scott Westerfeld masterfully intertwines the events of the real First World War with the fake scenarios he has created. The plot is faster paced than that of Leviathan and much more unpredictable. Overall, Behemoth is an excellent novel that makes me eager for the last book in the trilogy, Goliath.
I give this book 4/5 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