Book Review — Ready Player One

Title:  Ready Player One
Author:  Ernest Cline
Genre: Lit. RPG/Sci-Fi/Dystopia
Pages:  Paperback, 579
Publisher:  B/D/W/Y
ISBN:  978-1-5247-6328-2
Opening Lines:  "Everyone my age remembers where they were and what they were doing when they first heard about the contest."

Rating

"In the year 2044, reality is an ugly placce. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he's jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade's devoted his life to studying puzzles hidden within this world's digital confines—puzzles that are based on their creator's obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them.

"But when Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wade's going to survive, he'll have to win—and confront the real world he's always been so desperate to escape."

~ Jacket copy

When we were still dating, my husband told me about this "great book" that pulled on our childhood and mutual love of all things geeky.  His roommate just so happened to be reading it and raved about its epicness.  Needless to say, we raced to pick up a copy before the movie came out.  Yes, I am that person who tries to read the book before watching the movie.

In the year 2044, everyone lives their meager life plugged into the OASIS.  Business is conducted in online store fronts, children attended simulated schools, you work virtual jobs, etc.  Provided you have enough money, you never have to leave your trusted haptic rig.  However, all of that might change when the creator of the OASIS levels a challenge on his death—find the hidden Easter Egg to inherent his entire estate and controlling shares in Gregarious Simulation Systems.  Basically, to the winner goes the OASIS.  After years of searching, no one has been able to solve the puzzles.  When an unlikely teenager from the stacks in Ohio manages to master the first puzzle, he pits himself against a huge mega-corporation to find the Egg.  With only his knowledge of '70s, '80s, and '90s trivia to guide him, Wade must master all three gates in order to save the OASIS from corporate control.

As a preface to this review, I was born in the early '80s and grew up with a deep-rooted love and nostalgia for the decade.  I have fond memories of watching The Breakfast Club, Lady Hawk, Willow, Goonies, and other iconic '80s movies with my brother.  These movies colored my childhood and earliest memories.  In fact, I remember believing that I would marry Michael J. Fox and be swept away in The DeLorean.  I cut my gaming teeth on my grandfather's Commodore 64 and learned the fine art of platforming with the original Mario Bros.  My parents raised us to love Star Trek, be avid readers, and embrace the things that others thought weird.  To be blunt, I am a geek. (This is our current set-up minus the CRT and old-school consoles.)

After listening my husband's roommate praise Ready Player One, I was excited to delve into its uncharted depths.  Sadly, it broke my heart.

Where do I even start with this book?  It is nothing more than one big cluster-fuck of trivia and "Ooo, look at me, I'm the most epic geek of all time because I know so much stuff!"  Before I even address how Ernest Cline tried to single-handedly ruin my childhood, I will put on my English teacher/editor hat.

Let me begin with the story.  Aside from movies like Tron, The Matrix, Gamer, etc., this book has a very interesting premise.  Using '80s trivia and geeky-awesomeness as the vehicle for the plot made me geekgasm.  It is also interesting to note that this book seemingly gave rise to Lit. RPG as an actual genre.  Honestly, some amazing books have come out of it.  Unfortunately, that is where it ends . . . This book lacks originality at its core and borders on plagiarizing myriad '80s movies.  While it can be argued that there are no more original stories, Cline takes that to another level by hijacking everyone else's ideas, bastardizing them, and dumbing them down to spoon feed them to the masses.  This is evident in his characters.  Cline has never met a stock character that he didn't like.  Not only are his characters extremely one-dimensional and severely underdeveloped, Wade is no more than a badly written copy of Luke Skywalker.  As well as being an orphan raised by his aunt, he was the only one who could go against IOI (*couch* the Empire *cough*) to save the OASIS.  And, let me not forget, Wade—like Ernest himself—is the G.O.A.T.

At no point can he fail.  Even if he does not have the skills or necessary knowledge, Wade always has to succeed.

In addition to the stock characters, the whole story of Halliday and Morrow was a two-bit copy of the formation of modern day computers.  In fact, Halliday and Morrow mirror Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.  It was easy to figure out how the relationship would play out if you watched Pirates of Silicon Valley or know anything about that dynamic.

Moving on, Ernest either needs to invest in a good editor or fire the one he has.  The glaring inconsistencies in this book were outrageous.  For example, on page 161, Wade approaches the replica of Halliday's childhood home and notes, "Two late-'70s Ford sedans were parked in the driveway, one of them up on cider blocks."  However, as Wade makes his great escape from the house after cleared the first gate, he grabs "The keys to the Halliday family car were on the pegboard next to the refrigerator.  I grabbed them and rushed outside. The car (the one that wasn't up on the blocks) was a 1982 Ford Thunderbird." (p. 178). Um, a 1982 Ford Thunderbird is a not a late-'70s sedan.  To add insult to injury, the continual run-on sentences, fragments, and incorrect grammatical structure for a list series nearly made my eyes cross.  I am almost too terrified to ask what the original, unedited manuscript looked like.

Ready Player One is chock-full of frivolous details.  If the book was distilled down to the story, it would probably cap out around 100-200 pages.  Instead, Cline spends the majority of the book inundating the audience with pointless movie references, incorrect geeky trivia, and pages of detailed explanations of why Wade is the G.O.A.T.  Cline relies too heavily on several bad plot devices such as the dreaded deus ex machina, hidden knowledge, and the Mary Sue.  All of these elements are characteristics of immature writers. Unfortunately, these elements work together to create a book that is nothing more than a name-dropping info dump and testament to Cline's belief in his own "geek prowess".

The lengths to which Cline goes to incorporate all geekdom from the past several decades is laughable.  In his attempt to show his godlike knowledge of all things geeky, Cline—surprisingly—got many things wrong.  First of all, a Bag of Holding is a pocket dimension that is larger on the inside than the outside.  It does not get heavier as you put more objects into it.  Therefore, I am unsure why Wade could no longer fill the bag with gold or loot as he worked through the dungeon.  Second, he cannot study the map of the dungeon to know where every single monster is located.  In many of those old D&D books, wandering monsters were common and could not be predicted.  Aside from the bosses and larger battles, it was a roll of the dice and up to the DM to decide what players would encounter.  I don't even want to address what he did to the DeLorean or the Serenity . . . It made me weep and my husband homicidal.  (Ernest Cline, if you are reading this, you do not deserve to have your picture taken in front of the DeLorean nor do you deserve to be lauded at ComicCon.  Can the shit, you're not a geek or a nerd!)

Cline's desire to create the magnum opus of geekdom did nothing more than alienate true geeks and nerds by bastardizing what they love the most.

Even though I do not condone book burning, here is our final opinion of the book:

   
         

Book Review — Crossed

Title:  Crossed Author:  Ally Condie Genre:  YA Dystopia Pages:  Hardback, 367 Publisher:  Penguin Group ISBN:  978-0-525-42365-2 Opening Lines:  "I'm standing in a river.  It's blue.  Dark blue.  Reflecting the color of the evening sky."

Rating

"Chasing down an uncertain future, Cassia makes her way to the Outer Provinces in pursuit of Ky—taken by the Society to his sure death—only to find that he has escaped into the majestic, but treacherous, canyons. On this wild frontier are glimmers of a different life and the enthralling promise of rebellion. But even as Cassia sacrifices everything to reunite with Ky, ingenious surprises from Xander may change the game once again.

"Narrated from both Cassia's and Ky's points of view, this hotly anticipated sequel to Matched will take them both to the edge of Society, where nothing is as expected and crosses and double crosses make their path more twisted than ever."

~ Jacket copy

Matched has been sitting on the shelf in the classroom staring at me for quite some time.  It didn't help that the school librarian kept suggesting it.  However, it was a book I had already read and didn't remember particularly enjoying.  (A look back at my previous post shows that I was correct).  Despite my better judgment—while packing up endless boxes of books for my head teacher—I decided to give Matched another chance and then get further into the series.  It didn't help that Reached was on the book shelf in my mentor teacher's classroom.  It appeared as though I was . . . doomed!

At the conclusion of Matched, the readers see Ky sent to the Outer Provinces and Cassia on a train with her family as their being relocated for her mother's new job assignment—or so they've been told.  When Crossed starts, Ky is serving in what looks like the military and Cassia is in a work camp.  Through these limitations and no idea where the other is at, Cassia sets off on a trek to find Ky as he is trying to escape from certain death.

To be honest, the second time around, I actually enjoyed Matched more than I did the first time.  It might have been for the escapist value.  That being said, I cannot say the same for the second book.  The concept of the split narration gives an interesting spin on books and allows the reader a peak into the minds and rationale of the other main characters; however, it has been overdone.  In addition, it needs to be done well.  Granted, Ky had all the potential of being an interesting character in the first book, but narrating the story from his side did not add any depth.  Condie would have been better served by not splitting the narration.  As it stands, it detracting from the story.

Between the first and second book, something was lost.  I did not feel the same connection to the characters in this book.  They felt rather one dimensional and banal.  Cassia always was a tad bit vapid, but it felt as though this book turned her into a flat archetype of a heroine.  Not only that, there was little to no development and she fell into typical stereotypes.  The same can be said about Indie and Eli.

The book took too long building to the climax and then the "resolution".  Looking back at it, I wonder if there truly was a full climax in the book.  There was the possible threat of the Society swooping down and taking them away; however, it was never really followed.  The biggest problem they dealt with was the green pills and the chance of a flash flood.  Not only that, the end was rushed.  

All in all, this book was adequate as far as a sequel.  It left a lot to be desired.  Considering the previous book, I am not too surprised at how this one turned out.  I'm not sure whether I will take the time to pick up the third book.  After skipping large chunks of needless word vomit, I am happy that this was a library book.   

Book Review — Persistence of Vision

Title:  Persistence of Vision
Author:  Liesel K. Hill
Genre:  Sci-Fi/dystopian
Pages:  Oversize paperback, 386
Published:  January 29, 2013
Publisher:  Tate Publishing
Rating:

"A flash of purple light.  A rock formation.  Brown boots walking across a room at eye level.  Two large hands covering hers.  A woman standing in front of a broken lighthouse.  Blood on her hands.  A whisper of a voice.

"These are the images that haunt Maggie. One afternoon a year ago, Maggie blacked out inexplicably. now a man with a spider's web tattooed on his eye has attacked her in her home. Things only get more confusing when Marcus, a man she vaguely remembers from her black out, show sup to take her away.

"Marcus is from the future and is a member of the Brain Chemistry Optimists (BCO). And so is Maggie. Her black out was actually a year's worth of time she spent in the future, fighting against collectives—people who have linked their minds together and given up individuality. The collectives are working to bring down the few individuals left, and Maggie learns that she is supposed to play a crucial role in these efforts.

"The members of the BCO explain that in battle, her brain was attacked, and she lost all of her memories of her time in the future. All she has left are flashes, afterimages, Persistence of Vision. Now she must relearn everything about this different world, harness mental powers beyond anyone's imagining, and navigate what was once a romance with Marcus. On top of all of that, she begins unraveling the mystery of her lost memory. However, for every answer she finds, it seems that another, more complicated questions arises. Will she be able to remember enough to help the BCO?"

~ Jacket copy

Thoughts: During the process of reading this book, I was looking at reviews on Goodreads. All of them say that it is Earth shattering, mind blowing, life changing, and so on. For me, that really gave the book an air of authority. However, even from the start of the book, I found that I really had a hard time getting into it. While it was obvious that it was the author’s first book—she just lacked a maturity in her craft that authors get with time and experience—it felt like it just wasn’t my type of book. It wasn’t speaking to me, I found myself skipping over sections, and even going to the point of bargaining with myself to read it. At the get go, I told myself that, once Maggie started to figure things out, the book would pick up and things would become less hazy. Unfortunately, the further I went into the book, the more and more I found myself disliking it.

First of all, I never liked Maggie. I felt she was a pretty immature heroine, rather dimwitted, and completely unsympathetic. After losing a large amount of time and waking up in a hotel room with mysterious old wounds on her body, it seems to me that she would be distrustful of people. Granted, I understand that Marcus saved her from the man that broke into her house, but I don’t know if I would automatically rush off with him. And, even if I did, I might have been more insistent about answers. In addition, she seemed to trust the people at Interchron too easily. Even though I have no real area to point to, to me, she felt like the classic damsel in distress that needed a guy to save her.

The fact that Doc was so secretive really drove me nuts. Many times he claimed that he either had to do research or it wasn’t important to the team at the time; however, from his reaction, it was obvious that he was deceiving the team or making an excuse. Considering the people they were going up against, I couldn’t understand why he was so quick to keep things from everyone. Furthermore, I’m not sure why the team didn’t just sit him down and try to force the information out of him. Some of the stuff he kept from the team felt like life and death information. At various points, the characters even mentioned the fact that they didn’t appreciate how secretive he was. If that’s an issue, why didn’t they confront him?

The whole business on the island was rather unbelievable. When Marcus, Nat, and Maggie are completely at Colin’s mercy, her comment was so stupid, ludicrous, and asinine, I couldn’t believe the author actually wrote it. If you and your loved ones are held captive and one of them has a gun to their head, when the guy holding you hostage demands a kiss, will you say the following: “Really? Really? You have us at your mercy, and this is what you decide to do with that kind of power?” Yes, yes, Maggie, let’s taunt the lion. And, on top of that, I couldn’t understand why the team didn’t see that whole fiasco coming. From the minute David came to Interchron and told them about the island, I knew what was going to happen. For all the intelligence they profess to have, they certainly were pretty stupid or just lacked common sense.

To be fair, I think the author has an interesting idea and could develop it into something really, really neat. Even though I couldn’t help thinking of the Borg, attacking things like the hive mind can yield some amazing subject matter and cause in depth discussions. Unfortunately, the last third of the book I skimmed. Once the book ended, I felt as though I hadn’t missed anything. I admit, some of it had to do with the fact that it just wasn’t my type of book. That being said, I also felt that it wanted me to suspend my disbelief for too long. Yes, it is a world set in an alternate reality, but that doesn’t mean that people will act outside of their sense of self preservation.

*Note:  I received this book from the author in return for a fair and honest review.  I would like to thank Liesel for the opportunity to read the book and take part in her tour.  It was an honor to work with her!*

Current Pages: 2821
Current Progress:

Book Tour -- Children of Paranoia

Title: Children of Paranoia
Author: Trevor Shane
Genre: Dystopian fiction
Pages: Hardback, 371
Published: 2011
Opening Lines: "Dear Maria,
"I doubt you expected this journal to amount to much when you gave it to me, but here it is."

"Since the age of eighteen, Joseph has been assassinating people on behalf of a cause that he believes in but doesn't fully understand. The War is ageless, hidden in the shadows, governed by a rigid set of rules, and fought bt two distinct sides -- one good, one evil. The only unknown is which side is which. Soldiers in the War hide in plain sight, their deeds disguised as accidents or random acts of violence amid an unsuspecting population ignorant of the brutality that is always inches away.

"Killing people is the only life Joseph has ever known, and he's one of the best at it. But when a job goes wrong, and he's sent away to complete a punishingly dangerous assignment, Joseph meets a girl named Marie, and for the first time in his life, his single-minded, bloody purpose fades away.

"Before Maria, Joseph's only responsibility was dealing death to the anonymous targets fingered by his superiors. Now he must run from the people who have fought by his side to save what he loves the most in the world. As Children of Paranoia reaches its heart-in-throat climax, Joseph will learn that only one rule remains immutable: The only thing more dangerous than fighting the War . . . is leaving it."

~Jacket copy

Thoughts: I've read a lot of reviews about this book before I got it in the mail for the book tour, and I was extremely excited to read it. The premise really caught my attention, and I'm a sucker for dystopic novels. Once I started reading the book, however, everything just changed. I had an exceptionally hard time getting into it. Honestly, I dug my heels in and forced myself not to pick up another book because I had to read this for a book tour.

When I read the info about the book, I did not expect it to be a journal. In some ways, I was a little taken aback. It is an interesting concept. However, after several pages when the main character addresses the person he's writing it for, it really breaks the story. To me, even though it was hard to get into the story, it just brought everything to a shuddering halt. I felt as though I had hit a brick wall.

In books, it is nice to have a far amount of detail to set the stage for the reader. It allows the audience to fully immerse themselves into the world of the book and form a connection with the characters. While I felt that, in some cases, the author did a good job of doing this, overall I felt the huge blocks of text for pages on end was daunting. I found myself reading through it quickly just to get to sections where Joe was interacting with other people. If the author wanted the reader to feel isolated in an attempt to form some sort of sympathetic bond with Joe, then he did a good job. However, after awhile, I just felt bogged down and bored.

I loved the relationship with Maria. Near the beginning of the book, Joe is already starting to question what he truly believes, and I feel that Maria made him finally answer those questions for himself. While Jared's answers give a philosophical answer, they were still steering him in a desired direction. Maria forced Joe to start opening his eyes and really think about things. Also, his conversations with Dan helped as well.

I hated the ending of this book. Hated it. However, I completely understand why the book ended this way, considering that it is in a series. That being said, it should have ended on page 347. I'm not always the sappy-ending lover, but I really, really desired it in this book. To me, it was beautiful and well written. Plus, I'm not sure if I like Maria's voice.

After giving the book a day to stew in my mind, I still have mixed feelings. I'm not sure what I think about it. There are parts I loved and parts I hated. Parts of the book worked really, really well, but there were others that just fell flat. I still think the concept is interesting. At this point, I'm waiting to see what the other books are like. This is a first book in a number of ways -- for the author, in the series, etc.

Rating: ☆ ☆
Currently: Children of Paranoia by Trevor Shane
Current Pages: 21168
Current Progress:

59/50 books

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Note: I asked the author several questions concerning dysptoic fiction and the rise thereof for his guest post; however, the following post is how he chose to answer.

Sinnful Books Guest Post

There’s a scene in Children of Paranoia about homing pigeons. The main character is being chased from his home in New Jersey and is driving his car through the Delaware Water Gap. He feels safe for a few moments and starts to think back to when he was a little kid and he spent at the Delaware Water Gap with his grandfather. He and his grandfather used to drive down to the Water Gap to release his grandfhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifather’s homing pigeons. Then they’d drive home, stopping on the way for big breakfast of pancakes and scrambled eggs. During those five or so pages, Joseph, Children of Paranoia’s protagonist, is me. When I was a kid, my grandfather and I used to drive down to the Delaware Water Gap to release his homing pigeons before heading back to his house to track their return. As I watched those pigeons return to their wire coop, I always wondered why they came back.

When you publish a novel, especially one like Children of Paranoia that is centered around a big, unique idea (in Children of Paranoia’s case, a secret war that has been raging in the shadows of society for hundreds of years), people always ask you what inspired you. Readers want to know where you got this crazy idea. For Children of Paranoia, the first chapter, where the protagonist follows a woman he doesn’t know home from her job and strangles her in front of her house, really did hit me like a bolt of lightening as I was walking down the street. The idea of the secret war and the war’s rules (which have been a big part of the Children of Paranoia marketing campaign) shortly followed. As a writer, what I think is equally as interesting as the big inspiration for the books that I read, is what inspired the details.

When I was growing up, I always wanted to be a writer but I believed that I needed some life experience to write about first. So, I had a dream of becoming a carpenter (like Jesus or a pre-fame Harrison Ford) and, like Jesus or Harrison Ford, moving on to a different career once I absorbed what carpentry had to teach me. The summer after my freshman year of college, I got a job working for a builder, helping him to build a new house on top of an old foundation. It was grueling work, the hardest job I’ve ever had. I was always tired and my forearms were constantly sore from hammering. To the annoyance of my boss, I looked at everything that I learned in that job as some sort of grand metaphor. A good example is when I was taught to use the circular saw. My boss taught me that you always have to the width of the blade of the saw into account or you’ll cut the piece of wood too short. That’s because you lose the width of the saw blade whenever you saw a piece of wood. I always assumed this had some sort of grand metaphorical meaning (even if I’m not sure what it is). All of this made it into Children of Paranoia in one form or another.

I had lunch with a friend of mine today. He’s an attorney and a Buddhist and wanted to take me out to lunch because he had finished reading Children of Paranoia and had some questions. One of his questions was, “Are you Joe?” (Children of Paranoia’s protagonist). The answer I gave him was “sometimes” like when Joe is thinking about racing pigeons with his grandfather or working as a carpenter’s assistant “but not others.” The fact is that, as an author, you can never completely write yourself into your work because every character has to be a little bit of you or they will end up being totally flat characters. If you use up all of you on one character, there won’t be anything else to give to the other characters.

The goal I had when writing Children of Paranoia was to write a conceptual, thrilling novel which eschewed the idea of the self-acknowledging bad guy (did anybody in the old west actually where a black hat or were the all simply brown?) The secrecy of the war and the rules (Rule #1 - No killing innocent bystanders; Rule #2 - No killing anyone under the age of 18; etc.) grew out of this goal. The details, however, which come to all of us every single day, are what make the story come to life.

Author Links:
Website: http://www.childrenofparanoia.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/childofparanoia
Trevor Shane on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Trevor-Shane/150972244938983
Children of Paranoia on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=151640338211999
Read an Excerpt: http://www.childrenofparanoia.com/excerpt.html

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Children of Paranoia Book Tour

10/11/2011 - Kristin @ Kritters Ramblings - http://www.krittersramblings.com	10/12/2011 - Lauren @ Ravishing Reads - http://ravishingreads.blogspot.com
10/13/2011 - Maggie @ My Utopia - http://myutopia36.blogspot.com/	10/14/2011 - Laurie @ Reader Girls - http://readergirls.blogspot.com
10/16/2011 - Christa @ Mental Foodie - http://mentalfoodie.blogspot.com	10/17/2011 - Gwenyth Love @ Rants~N~Scribbles - http://rantsnscribbles.blogspot.com
10/18/2011 - Sinn @ Sinnful Books - http://sinnfulbooks.blogspot.com	10/19/2011 - Meg @ A Bookish Affair - http://abookishaffair.blogspot.com/
10/20/2011 - Louise @ Between the Covers - http://www.betweenthecoversblog.net/	10/21/2011 - Christie @ The Fiction Enthusiast - http://thefictionenthusiast.blogspot.com/
10/22/2011 - Heather @ Proud Book Nerd - http://proudbooknerd.com/	10/23/2011 - Julie @ Book Hooked - http://www.bookhookedblog.com
10/24/2011 - Stacy @ Girls in the Stacks - http://www.girlsinthestacks.com	10/25/2011 - Nicole @ All I Ever Read - http://books.nicoleabouttown.com

Book Review -- Graveminder

Title: Graveminder
Author: Melissa Marr
Genre: Fiction, possible urban fantasy
Pages: Hardback, 324
Published: 2011
Opening Lines: "Maylene put one hand atop the stone for support; pulling herself up from the soil got harder every year. Her knees had been problem enough, but of late the arthritis had started settling in her hips."

"Three sips to mind the dead . . . Rebekkah Barrow never forgot the attention her grandmother Maylene bestowed upon the dead of Claysville, the small town where Bek spent her adolescence. There wasn't a funeral that Maylene didn't attend, and at each one Rebekkah had watched as Maylene performed the same unusual ritual: She took three sips from a silver flask and spoke the words 'Sleep well, and stay where I put you.'

"Now Maylene is dead, and Bek must go back to the place she left a decade earlier. She soon discovers that Claysville is not just the sleepy town she remembers, and that Maylene had good reason for her odd traditions. It turns out that in Claysville the worlds of the living and the dead are dangerously connected; beneath the town lies a shadowy, lawless land ruled by the enigmatic Charles, a.k.a. Mr. D. If the dead are not properly cared for, they will come back to satiate themselves with food, drink, and stories from the land of the living. Only the Graveminder, by tradition a Barrow woman, and her Undertaker -- in this case Byron Montgomery, with whom Bek shares a complicated past -- can set things right once the dead being to walk.

"Although she is still grieving Maylene, Rebekkah will soon find that she has more than a funeral to attend to it Claysville, and that what awaits her may be far worse: dark secrets, a centuries-old bargain, a romance that still haunts her, and a frightening new responsibility -- to stop a monster and put the dead to rest where they belong."

~ Jacket copy

Thoughts: Admittedly, I was a little wary of this book. The concept was really, really intriguing, so I couldn't stop myself from picking it up. However, after reading the first two books in Marr's other series, I was really concerned that this book would end up just as poorly written, badly paced, etc. Surprisingly, I was wrong!

From the opening of this book, I was caught. But I'll start with the bad nonetheless. First, I am beginning to wonder where publishing companies are picking up their editors. I cannot even begin to explain my frustration when Rebekkah was spelled differently in the same paragraph! That shouldn't have skipped an editor's attention. Throughout the book, there were a number of editing mistakes. To me, it really distracts from the book. Also, she would mention several things that were quite interesting, but never really flesh them out or go into them in depth. I wonder if she is planning to use them in another book . . . Further, she did not spend enough time talking about the unwritten contract and everything surrounding that. It is such in integral part of the story, I felt something was missing. With Daisha, I wondered about her change in the last part of the book. I wish that was explained a little more. Plus, a little more resistance/conflict would have been nice.

Aside from that, I loved the book! Marr did a good job fleshing out Rebekkah and Byron, and gave the secondary characters enough depth to keep them from being flat. I really liked that she used drinking with Mr. D as a big deal. I was reminded of Persephone when she was brought to Hades. The existence of a long standing unwritten contract between Mr. D and the town founders created an awesome back story.

I like how the story ultimately ended, but I'm not sure how I feel about the culprit. It made a certain amount of sense; however, part of be didn't want to buy it. All in all, I still enjoyed the story!


Rating: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
Currently: Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
Current Pages: 14136
Current Progress:

39/50 books

Book Review -- Feed

Title: Feed
Author: Mira Grant
Genre: Fiction with zombies
Pages: Paperback, 571
Published: 2010
Opening Lines: "Our story opens where countless stories have ended in the last twenty-six years: with an idiot -- in this case, my brother Shaun -- deciding it would be a good idea to go out and poke a zombie with a stick to see what happens."

"'Alive or dead, the truth won't rest. My name is Georgia Mason, and I am begging you. Rise up While you can.'

"The year was 2014. We had cured cancer. We had beaten the common cold. But in doing so we had created something new, something terrible that no one could stop. The infection spread, virus blocks taking over bodies and minds with one unstoppable command: Feed.

"NOW, twenty years after the Rising, Georgia and Shaun Mason are on the trail of the biggest story of their lives -- the dark conspiracy behind the infection. The truth will out, even if it kills them."

~ Jacket copy

Thoughts: When I was finishing this book, I was struggling through horrible sinus headaches, eyes that refused to focus, and a constantly runny nose. I found myself almost wishing for Kellis-Amberlee and the cure for the common cold, sans the shambling undead! Needless to say, the last couple of days, the book really spoke to me! Ha-ha!

Feed follows Georgia Mason and her brother Shaun. Growing up post-Rising, they decided to enter the blogging world to report the news. After being accepted to follow the campaign of a presidential candidate, they will discover that the story they uncover will be the story of a lifetime.

I loved this book from the opening lines! It is hard to go wrong with zombies, but I found that Grant put an interesting twist on it. I didn't expect this book to use zombies more as a vehicle/plot devise than the central point. To me, it was more of a political heavy-hitter and a social commentary . . . with zombies!

The characters were amazing! I felt that Grant did a good job fleshing them out without being too overpowering with one character or the other. Granted, the book is mostly narrated by Georgia, so it follows her most of the time. I also loved the pop-culture references with Buffy, the tech-savvy Fictional.

My biggest problem was the relationship between George and Shaun. I liked that they had a very close relationship and trusted each other the way they did, but it felt a little too canned. At times, it often felt like love-in-the-wrong-way: bordering on romantic. I love my brother and trust him with my life, but I cannot imagine being that close. That being said, however, it did make an interesting dynamic.

I would say the biggest deterrent for some with this book will be the political intrigue. That was the main focus of the book; zombies where a plot devise. If you have a hard time getting into politics, the games played, etc., then I might consider reading another book.

On the whole, I really enjoyed this book. I'm not sure what I think of a sequel. With the ending, I'm not sure I liked the ending narrator as much as George, so the sequel kind of makes me nervous. But we'll see.

Rating: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
Currently: Fool Moon by Jim Butcher
Current Pages: 13092
Current Progress:

36/50 books

Book Review -- Matched

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Title: Matched
Author: Ally Condie
Genre: YA, romance
Pages: Hardback, 366
Published: 2010
Opening Lines: "Now that that I've found the way to fly, which direction should I go into the night? My wings aren't white or feathered; they're green, made of green silk, which shudders in the wind and bends when I move -- first in a circle, then in a line, finally in a shade of my own invention."

"In the Society, Officials decide. Who you love. Where you work. When you die.

"Cassia has always trust their choices. It's hardly any price to pay to a long life, the perfect job, the ideal mate. So when her best friend appears on the Matching screen, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is the one . . . until she sees another face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black. Now Cassia is faced with impossible choices: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she's known and a path no one else has ever dared follow -- between perfection and passion."

~ Jacket copy

Thoughts: I've read a lot of reviews that say this book is nothing but a poor copy of The Giver. Sadly, I have not read that book. However, that makes me already poor estimation of this book drop even more.

Cassia lives in a world where every decision is made for you. At the beginning of the book, she sees absolutely nothing wrong with this. It isn't until another picture shows up on her Match screen and then the death of her grandfather. This storyline has a lot of promise. I felt that Condie could have taken it a lot of different places and really fleshed it out. However, she just let the ball drop.

This book, in one word, was boring. The measly amount of action takes place within 10-20 pages from the end of the book. Granted, there are a few "tense" moments, but they are quickly overshadowed or glossed over. When Xander alludes to something BIG happening in their neighborhood, he just lets the ball drop and won't tell Cassia. There are many, many missed opportunities like this throughout the book. She never takes them, never fleshes them out. I feel that she really didn't care too much for the story.

I've read a lot of reviews that call this a dystopian novel. I have to disagree. This is purely romance. While it is set in a seemingly dystopian society, the book itself is not. Cassia laments the choices that are made for them, the threat of Infractions, the Aberration status, etc.; however, it lacks something to be truly dystopian.

I will read the next book, but I'm not holding my breath. This book got a lot of hype, but it just wasn't worth it. If people are looking for a dystopian novel that challenges societal constraints, try something like 1984 or The Giver. Those, at least, are well written.

Rating: ☆ ☆ ☆
Currently: Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey
Current Pages: 9970
Current Progress:

29/50 books