the age of miracles

Title: the age of miracles

Author: Karen Thompson Walker

Publisher: Random House

ISBN: 9780812982947

Length: 269 pages + "A Reader's Guide"

Obtained: Library book discussion copy

Comments:

This was a book discussion selection.  Unfortunately, I missed the discussion (one of the dogs was being tested for her CGC that night), so I don't know what the rest of the group thought.

Julia's life (as well as the life of everyone around her) is upturned when time begins to slow.  The day lengthens, the magnetic field (and gravity?) is altered.  Animals and plants respond poorly, and humans do not fare much better.  Response is varies, so people try to follow the standard 24 hour day, while others try to follow the daylight.  Sleep cycles, metal stability, physical balance and health are all at risk with these changes.  End of the world measures are taken by some while others try to live as normally as possible.

This is something of a dystopian, but it addresses the time of becoming and immediately after, rather than society after all changes are said and done.  It is also something of a coming-of-age story.  Julia recounts her life as an 11/12-year-old during the slowing - complete with puberty, a crush, changes in friendships and relationships, bullies, family drama, and death.  I mostly felt sad while reading this, and the deaths upset me, but I obviously didn't fully connect, or I would have been sobbing.

I finished it, it was okay, the premise was interesting... I just didn't love it.

Ready Player One

Title: Ready Player One

Author: Ernest Cline [Website][Facebook][Twitter]

Publisher: B/D/W/Y

ISBN: 9780307887443

Length: 372 pages

Obtained: Library book kit copy

Why this book?:

Chosen for one of the book clubs I'm participating in.

Comments:

Well.  It's another future that I would like to avoid... very depressing and sad.  To an extent, though, I can see something like this happening with the current environmental concerns and overpopulation.  The technology is a bit more difficult for me to imagine despite some aspects of virtual reality already being out there.  I guess I'd like to think that people wouldn't all go the way of burying their heads in the sand and immersing themselves in a nonexistent world, though I know some do already.  The people of this future live their lives in virtual reality constantly, whether by gaming, movies, TV, ebooks, school, work, etc., while their physical worlds crumble and remain in drudgery.

As for the game, or contest, or quest - whatever you choose to call it - it was obsessive and another reason to avoid reality, and yet I could see some positives in at least having some sort of goal forthe future and persistence.

Anyway, I read it.  It caught me up for a time, and now it's over.

Unwind

Title: Unwind

Author: Neal Shusterman [Website][Facebook][Twitter]

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Series: Unwind Dystology, Bk 1

ISBN: 9781416912040

Length: 335 pages

Obtained: Library copy

Why this book?:

It was January's book for a new book club I'm joining.

Comments:

I realized this book is dystopian and immediately thought oh, boy, here we go.  Then I began learning the history of this world and how things are done, and I was shocked.  Shocked and horrified.  I'm going to try to explain with a minimum of spoilers, but I'm not sure that is entirely possible.

The background for this story made no sense to me (still doesn't)... how a group of people (pro-choice and pro-life, both) could agree that "unwinding" a child could be a reasonable solution to the issue of whether abortion (or capital punishment, though that is not a focus) should be permitted.  And the reasons for why a child might be "unwound" in this world are just as abhorrent.

But this isn't the only incredible difference in this world.  Other craziness includes "clappers" and what they represent.  And aging, fanaticism, organ donation, adoption, inequality (social, racial, etc.), and in some way - big or small - any other number of issues that exist today but have transformed to fit this new world.

So I was trying to come to terms with how outrageous this world is while following Connor, Risa, Lev, and others as they cling to survival through a version of an underground railroad... and a literal railroad as the case may be.

I couldn't decide if I liked or disliked the book; I was caught up pretty quickly.  I hadn't heard of this series before being told it was the next book being discussed.  The lady who recommended it was telling us how she told someone they had to read it and then he was telling everyone how they had to read it, and so forth.  I'm not sure I would go that far, but I was certainly telling several people about the background.  And it's certainly a book that lingers in your thoughts for some time after finishing.  Anyway, I'm seriously contemplating reading more in the series.

Shusterman is also the author of Challenger Deep which has received such wonderful reviews in the professional journals.  And I have an ARC copy of Scythe, Shusterman's November 29 release that I plan to read.

Dualed

Title: Dualed

Author: Elsie Chapman [Website][Facebook][Twitter]

Publisher: Random House

Series: Dualed, Bk 1

ISBN: 9780307931542

Length: 291 Pages

Obtained: ARC from the staff lounge.

Why this book?:

Apparently the director and director's secretary have been going through ARCs they picked up and thought they would read but haven't gotten around to.  After offering them up to all the branch managers, they brought those left to the lounge.  So this had a 2013 release date (according to the spine), but I just picked it up a couple days ago.  And then I thought to myself, "Self, aren't you clearing through these?  Do you really need more?" And myself thought back, "But it looks good, and you need a print book to read right now so you don't drain your cell battery."  And I ended up not only snagging it, but also reading it.

Comments:

While this type of book (dystopian) is not my book of choice (usually), and while it had themes I did not like that reminded me greatly of Hunger Games (kids/teens killing each other for survival), this was actually a pretty interesting book.  It had a lot of the 'who am I?' and 'what makes me me?' and general detachment from society themes that YA books do so well.

There was an assassin spin that I would have appreciated more if only it hadn't been assassination of kids by a kid.  Which kinda sent me in a tailspin, cause it didn't fit my 'moral code of fictional assassin protagonists' mental grouping/ideas.  I'm not sure that makes sense in the writing the way it does in my head.

But there is a book 2, Divided.  And it's already published which means I already put it on hold...

The Testing

Title: The Testing

Author: Joelle Charbonneau [Website] [Facebook] [Twitter]

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin

Series: Testing, Bk 1

ISBN: 9780547959108

Length: 325 pages

Obtained: Library copy

Why this book?:

I might possibly go to an author event featuring Joelle Charbonneau, and since it would be for the book Independent Study, I felt I should read the first book in the series.

Comments:

Apparently, one will read dystopian novels whether one thinks one will or not.  But despite the genre, I enjoyed this.  I liked Cia Vale and was rooting for her (and her family) all the way.  I was interested in her passage from graduation through testing.  The other characters were interesting as well.

The testing itself was horrible.  Of course, what else could it be.  But I don't want to say too much and have spoilers.  I wasn't so sure about the ending.  I guess that's what keeps a person going, but it was kinda cliffhanger.  Not in actual danger suspense as much as how will Cia react to everything that has happened?

I did find parts similar to The Hunger Games.  But it was different in all the right ways.  That is, I will continue reading this series and I did not read past the first book in that one. 

Anyway, the free prequel can be found here.  I didn't know about it, so I haven' read it yet, but I will.  And I intent to read Independent Study soon, too.

Trailer:

 

The Bone Season

Title: The Bone Season

Author: Samantha Shannon [Website/Blog][Facebook][Twitter]

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Series: Bone Season, Bk 1

ISBN: 9781620401392

Length: ""The Seven Orders of Clairvoyance" + Map of "The Penal Colony of Sheol I" + 452 pages + "Glossary"

Obtained: Library copy

Why this book?:

It first came to my attention because I was instructed at work to "keep an eye on" Today's new Book Club.  This was their first read.  I didn't read it on time for their purposes (and I won't be reading all), but it did sound interesting.  So I added it to my holds-list.

Comments:

I read this pretty quickly considering how long it is.  A couple of days around work/etc.  There's some world-setting (other reviewer's call it info-dumping), but I was fine with that.  The clairvoyants are "unnatural" and tracked down.  Of course this doesn't stop them, only makes them operate underground.  Many end up in syndicates that basically amount to gangs.

I hadn't heard all the "new J.K. Rowling" hype, so I never thought to compare them.  Instead, I thought of it more in terms of genre - dystopian.  With consideration for the aliens tossed in.

As for the characters, I liked Paige.  I even (mostly) liked Warden.  (I saw reviews after the fact of those who did not).  The other characters were good or bad as it goes, but not outstanding enough to remember (That's not to say the bad guys weren't sickeningly so.  I just think of them as more collectively bad than individually bad.)...

Amazingly, despite my bias against dystopian books, I did enjoy this.  Or at least I found it intense enough to keep my interest.  I was reading it during my dinner break and found myself frustrated that I was so close to the end and had to go back to work.  Ah, well.  Such is life.  I did eventually finish it.  And I'm very curious as to what will happen next.  Though I was surprised to see this has been proposed as a 7-book series.  What is going to happen that takes 7 books?  I guess we'll see if it's a good (I want more!) thing or a bad (totally dragging) thing.