Gone

Gone (Wake trilogy, Bk 3) by Lisa McMann (personal copy - purchased at Borders closing sale) -

I didn't enjoy this one as much as the first two in the series, Wake and Fade, but I was happy to see how it all ended, so mixed feelings on this one.  Janie's negative attitude started bothering me, as well as her irritation with people who cared about her.  That's really saying something because I usually relate better with the pessimistic view and understand trying to distance oneself.  Anyway, the story wasn't great, but it was quick and I prefer not great to no proper ending.

This is pretty much the same trailer as the Wake's, except it flashes the covers for Fade and Gone at the end.  But I'm gonna take what I can get....



Lisa McMann also has a YA book called Cryer's Cross and has apparently started a Middle Grade level dystopian fantasy type book called The Unwanteds. I'm not sure if I'll be trying either of them. Guess we'll see... 

If you'd like to decide for yourself, here's an interview and reading.  I haven't actually watched this myself.

Fade

Title: Fade

Author: Lisa McMann

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Copyright Date: 2009

Print Date: February 2009

ISBN: 9781416953586

Pages: 248

Series: 2nd in the Dream Catcher trilogy about Janie Hannagan



Book Description (from dust jacket):

SOME NIGHTMARES NEVER END.

For Janie and Cabel, real life is getting tougher than the dreams. They're just trying to carve out a little (secret) time together, but no such luck.

Disturbing things are happening at Fieldridge High, yet nobody's talking. When Janie taps into a classmate's violent nightmares, the case finally breaks open — but nothing goes as planned. Not even close. Janie's in way over her head, and Cabe's shocking behavior has grave consequences for them both.

Worse yet, Janie learns the truth about herself and her ability — and it's bleak. Seriously, brutally bleak. Not only is her fate as a dream catcher sealed, but what's to come is way darker than she'd feared...

Comments:

This book was, like the first, in present tense. And, like with the first, would have prefered it in past tense. Despite that, I enjoyed reading the story.

Like Wake (again), this book definitely had its dark moments. Really intense dark moments... The story also brought forth some issues that needed to be worked through and or dealt with and/or accepted about Janie's relationship with Cabel, her powers, and her future regarding both.

I will be reading Gone, the final book in the trilogy, when I can. And I'll deal with the present tense... ::grumbles:: ...Which I have to admit, actually may have helped the intensity of certain scenes.

Wake

Title: Wake

Author: Lisa McMann

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Copyright Date: 2008

Date Available: March 2008

ISBN: 9781416595151

Pages: 104 (eBook)

Series: 1st in the Dream Catcher trilogy about Janie Hannagan

Book Description (from lisamcmann.com):

For seventeen-year-old Janie, getting sucked into other people's dreams is getting old. Especially the falling dreams, the naked-but-nobody-notices dreams, and the sex-crazed dreams. Janie's seen enough fantasy booty to last her a lifetime.

She can't tell anybody about what she does — they'd never believe her, or worse, they'd think she's a freak. So Janie lives on the fringe, cursed with an ability she doesn't want and can't control.

Then she falls into a gruesome nightmare, one that chills her to the bone. For the first time, Janie is more than a witness to someone else's twisted psyche. She is a participant....



Comments:

This is the first book I've read on my new Reader (!!!). I acquired it free (temporarily... they gave me like a month) from a five day promotional thing they were doing in prep of the third book in this series, Gone, coming out this February. My thanks to the person that tweeted about it, since I got it about 3 hours before the offer ended.

Anyway, before starting writing this post I checked out some other blog reviews and noticed some complaints about the writing being written in such choppy style. That's not what bothered me. Nor was it the episodic format (others called it flashbacks, though it's really one flashback followed by a series of flashes forward).

It took awhile (about half-way in) before eventually realizing what it was that nagged at me. The entire book is written in present tense. I can't think of any books I've read in present tense lately, but I'm pretty sure the few I've read were first person. It felt completely weird and rather uncomfortable to read a third-person present-tense book.

Other than that... I enjoyed the story. The dream thing was interesting and different/new. I liked Janie; I liked Cabel (though I still have trouble not reading that as Caleb). The other characters were pretty irrelevant.

There is a free download for Cabel's side if the story available here at Simon & Schuster. It's short and starts part-way into the Wake story.  As for the rest of the trilogy...I'm on hold at the local library for book two, Fade, and I'll see how it goes.