Counting The Ways To Where You Are

Published:  September 3rd, 2013

The 100 (The Hundred #1)

By: Kass Morgan

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

ISBN-13:  9780316234474

In the future, humans live in city-like spaceships orbiting far above Earth's toxic atmosphere. No one knows when, or even if, the long-abandoned planet will be habitable again. But faced with dwindling resources and a growing populace, government leaders know they must reclaim their homeland... before it's too late.

Now, one hundred juvenile delinquents are being sent on a high-stakes mission to recolonize Earth. After a brutal crash landing, the teens arrive on a savagely beautiful planet they've only seen from space. Confronting the dangers of this rugged new world, they struggle to form a tentative community. But they're haunted by their past and uncertain about the future. To survive, they must learn to trust - and even love - again.

Review

     Clarke, Wells, Glass and Bellamy all have something in common.  Soon they'll be sent to Earth to live, as an experiment to see whether or not it's truly habitable for people once again.  Two of them are going voluntarily, following the people they love.  One of them is going along with it to avoid certain death and the last is going to find a way to stay behind at any cost.  Bellamy's main concern is his sister Octavia, Clarke and Wells have a complicated love/hate relationship to work out, and Glass is in love with Luke who seems to have given up on them.  The air is breathable on Earth, but there are plenty of dangers to keep the teens on their toes.  And with the government keeping secrets up on the ship, Glass may be running out of time to save herself and Luke.  Will all of the teens be able to survive in the cutthroat worlds they're part of and the web of lies they've been dropped into?  What if Earth isn't quite as abandoned as they always thought?

     This is definitely perfect material for a CW television show.  I will say that can be both a good and bad thing, when talking about a book.  It has plenty of detailed descriptions, I could really picture the ship they were on and the wild, regressed back to primitive Earth they get sent to.  The characters all have interesting backstories and their relationships with each other are honest and full of a stark combination of pain, love and that strange self-centeredness that comes with being a teenager in any society.  I definitely believed in the reality of the characters.  It was the rest of it that could use some more work.

     The plot has major potential, but I shared the feelings of a lot of other readers that not much really happened when it comes down to the deconstruction of what I just read.  I liked the idea that the ships were running out of resources and were using the delinquents to test out the viability of moving back on to Earth.  It's a very interesting premise.  But the plot is mostly consisted of flashbacks and long conversations/angsty moments between the main characters.  The Lord of the Flies dynamic once they got to Earth wasn't explored as much as I would have liked.  I think Clarke forgave Wells for his stupidity a little too easily.  Octavia was a little to mysterious for me to draw a strong sibling connection between her and Bellamy.  She really uses him pretty badly in the present time the book's set in.  I did like the mystery concerning whether or not there were people still inhabiting Earth.  Overall it was an interesting science fiction read (if a little light on the true sci-fi elements).  In practice it reads a little too much like a TV show to make a phenomenal book though.  If you want your book to be something above and beyond, it needs to stand out.  It was a good setup and I hope the rest of the series has more meat and depth to it.  Otherwise the promise will be unfulfilled.

 

VERDICT:   3.5/5  Stars

 

*I received this book as part of Around the World ARC Tours, run by the lovely Princess Bookie.  No favors or money were exchanged for this review.  This book was published September 3rd, 2013.*

Josie Griffin Is More Kickass Than A Vampire...But Not By Much

Published:  September 13th, 2012
Josie Griffin Is Not A Vampire
By: Heather Swain
Speak
ISBN-13:  9780142421000

A hilarious take on the paranormal trend--Twilight meets The Breakfast Club!

When former good girl turned rebel Josie Griffin gets busted for what was in her mind perfectly acceptable revenge on her cheating dog of a boyfriend, she lands herself in anger management therapy. It could be worse: it could be juvvie, or she could be a zombie cheerleader like the rest of her former friends. But there's something strange about therapy--these are not normal kids. There's the wannabe ladies man with a weird accent, Johann; the blindingly gorgeous Helios; Avis with his wild dreads; and Tarren, the sprite of a girl with a wicked temper. And all of them keep talking about "powers." Josie knows that has to be impossible, but strange things start happening, and nothing weird ever happens in Indiana. After all, there're no such things as vampires, werewolves, Greek gods, or fairies . . . right?

Review

 

     Josie Griffin had the perfect boyfriend, great best friends and was living the teenage dream as a popular high school cheerleader.  Than she found her boyfriend kissing one of her BFFs - and found out the other supposed best friend knew and didn't say anything.  So you can't really blame a girl for busting out his windshield...right?  Except now she's court ordered to attend anger management therapy and do community service.  Not so bad, except when she lands in a group where everyone believes they're a mythological creature.  There's a vampire, a shapeshifter, a fairy, and what might be a Greek God.  Then girls from the shelter that Josie is working off her community service at begin to disappear.  It's up to Josie and her new friends to figure out what's going on, before it's too late for the girls that are still left.  But can Josie fit in with these kids, even though she's just a human?  This book started off very promising and I was laughing during the first few chapters, at Josie's fun personality and cheering for her continued strength.  It didn't last.  Josie stays consistently okay as a lead character, but is very shallow for the entirety of the book.  She never undergoes any real character development and neither do any of the others, especially her love interest Helios.  I felt like the more interesting characters in this were Tarren (the fairy) and Kayla (one of the girls from the shelter).  It was very predictable, in a Saturday night B-movie kind of way.  I smiled a few times, but overall I really did not connect with this one at all.  The resolution to the mystery was very obvious throughout the whole book and it made me groan at the cliche of it all.  A cute read, but nothing deeper below the surface. 

 

VERDICT:  2.75/5  Stars

 

*I received this book as part of Around the World ARC Tours, run by the lovely Princess Bookie. No favors or money were exchanged for this review.  It became available for purchase or at your local library on September 13th, 2012.*



3...2...1, I'm On My Way

Published: August 14th, 2012

Counting Backwards

By: Laura Lascarso

Atheneum Books for Young Readers

ISBN-13: 9781442406902

Three weeks ago I tried to run away from home. Now all I want is to go back.

When troubled Taylor Truwell is caught with a stolen car and lands in court for resisting arrest, her father convinces the judge of an alternative to punishment: treatment in a juvenile psychiatric correctional facility. Sunny Meadows is anything but the easy way out, and Taylor has to fight hard just to hold on to her sanity as she battles her parents, her therapist, and vicious fellow patients. But even as Taylor struggles to hold on to her stubborn former self, she finds herself relenting as she lets in two unlikely friends-Margo, a former child star and arsonist, and AJ, a mysterious boy who doesn’t speak. In this striking debut, Laura Lascarso weaves together a powerful story of anger and self-destruction, hope and love.

Review

   Taylor Truwell's home life sucked a lot.  With an alcoholic Mom who needs a parent to care for her (not the other way around like it should be), an absent and cold Father she has no reason to stick around.  So she steals a car and tries to run away.  But when she's caught the Judge throws her into Sunny Meadows, a juvenile psychiatric hospital, per her Dad's recommendation.  Angry, scared and seriously lost Taylor is now being forced to take a good long look at her life and why things are going so badly.  Is it really all her parents' fault or is Taylor somewhat to blame too?  Also, can she do things the right way this time and heal, even if it's easier to just run away?  I liked this book a lot.  I felt like I could really identify with Taylor, because even though my Dad wasn't as hardcore of an alcoholic as her Mom, it's still such a hard situation when you're growing up.  All of the broken promises, fighting and unpredictability really wear on your mental state after a while.  I appreciated how angry and seriously panicked she was, but sometimes her behavior made me want to shake some sense into her!  Seriously, stealing a car and running away was the only way to get out?  I think there were some other things she could have tried first!  My favorite character was probably Margo, who is a former child star and arsonist who is in Sunny Meadows due to a nervous breakdown.  But unlike Taylor we meet her when she's already almost completely healed and ready to re-enter the real world.  She is Taylor's mentor and really makes an effort to get her involved with life again and to take getting better seriously.  AJ intrigued me, at first because of his silence and then because of his absolute ability to do the right thing even when it hurt him to (like when Taylor tried to steal the car from Auto Shop and run away again).  The friendship that blooms between them is very realistic and is not easy, but definitely worth it.  I loved the ending for it's realism and it's burst of hope.  I would definitely recommend this book to fans of Laurie Halse Anderson and Ellen Hopkins (although it's A LOT cleaner than an Ellen Hopkins book, Yo!).  

VERDICT:  4/5  Stars

*I received this book as part of Around the World ARC Tours, run by the lovely Princess Bookie. No favors or money were exchanged for this review.  This book became available for purchase on August 14th, 2012.*