Synopsis: This morning, Kady thought breaking up with Ezra was the hardest thing she’d have to do. This afternoon, her planet was invaded. The year is 2575, and two rival megacorporations are at war over a planet that’s little more than an ice-covered speck at the edge of the universe. Too bad nobody thought to warn the people living on it. With enemy fire raining down on them, Kady and Ezra—who are barely even talking to each other—are forced to fight their way onto an evacuating fleet, with an enemy warship in hot pursuit. But their problems are just getting started. A deadly plague has broken out and is mutating, with terrifying results; the fleet's AI, which should be protecting them, may actually be their enemy; and nobody in charge will say what’s really going on. As Kady hacks into a tangled web of data to find the truth, it's clear only one person can help her bring it all to light: the ex-boyfriend she swore she'd never speak to again. Told through a fascinating dossier of hacked documents—including emails, schematics, military files, IMs, medical reports, interviews, and more--Illuminae is the first book in a heart-stopping, high-octane trilogy about lives interrupted, the price of truth, and the courage of everyday heroes. Review: The synopsis does not do this book justice... You have a break-up, a massacre, a broken fleeing fleet, a murderous super computer, a zombie/psycho virus, and an epic space battle....in that order. It was so much more than I could have hoped for - and I had high expectations to start with! I was apprehensive about the unique formatting of the narrative, but quickly fell in love with it. Every page holds an new and unexpected development AND crazy visuals (The Scream anyone?) I really can't praise this book enough. Plot twists on top of the romance on top of a child dragging around a human heart...convinced yet. Amazingly, Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff managed to make all of these elements work harmoniously and managed to create this beautiful in-depth world through crazy narrative formatting. Even though this book is 599 pages, you fly through it. It's fast-paced and most pages aren't flooded with words - i.e. the instant messaging or space battle pages. Even if you're not a fan of sci-fi or romance you will love this because you love awesome. The characters - on point. The "world" - perfect. The story - a crazy, wild ride with the best plot twists (the end OMG). EPIC. UNEXPECTED. INTRIGUING. BEAUTIFULLY CRAFTED.... p.s. please release the next book asap. Thanks. Rating:
5/5 Stars
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Synopsis: Forgve us, Father, for we have sinned Brooklyn Stevens sits in a pool of her own blood, tied up and gagged. No one outside of these dank basement walls knows she’s here. No one can hear her scream. Sofia Flores knows she shouldn’t have gotten involved. When she befriended Riley, Grace, and Alexis on her first day at school, she admired them, with their perfect hair and their good-girl ways. They said they wanted to save Brooklyn. They wanted to help her. Sofia didn’t realize they believed Brooklyn was possessed. Now, Riley and the girls are performing an exorcism on Brooklyn—but their idea of an exorcism is closer to torture than salvation. All Sofia wants is to get out of this house. But there is no way out. Sofia can’t go against the other girls . . . unless she wants to be next. . . . In this chilling debut, Danielle Vega delivers blood-curdling suspense and terror on every page. By the shockingly twisted end, readers will be faced with the most haunting question of all: Is there evil in all of us? Review: This is a great book to read when you're in between books. Its a fairly quick read, thrilling, and easy to follow. It's mindless (you don't have to think about it much) but really gives the feels. It's messed up, but I kind of liked it. Now, by no means does this have amazing writing or super complex characters. It's just not the type of book you look forward to reading all year long. There are very typed characters - the Jesus freak (reminds me of a more psychotic Marianne, from Easy A), her number one fan/wannabe best friend, the boldly stylish third, and the new girl. Very easy to grasp, right? That's the point. The characters and plot are so simple that it mainly relies on thrilling the reader into continuing on reading. This book may be a little hard to get into because the thrills don't really begin until Chapter 7 (page 86). From then on it's exorcism, torture, psychotic meltdowns and death. It's just so f***ing messed up and twisted that you can't help but read what happens next. this book was great for a fast read and a great thrill. You'll definitely finish the book saying "wtf did I just read" - in a time-killing, entertaining way. The only thing I was let down about was the insa-romance. It was there for a couple pages here and there, but it really didn't contribute much to the story and it never developed. It was there one second then it was...gone?...Put way way in the background? It just seemed out of place. If you can't handle blood, delusional psychopaths, bodily mutilation, and *cough* pealing off fingernails *cough*, or you scare easily, I would not recommend this. But, if you're in between books, have a busy schedule, or just need a gripping book to get you out of a slump, I would recommend this. Just make sure you do get past the first 80 or so pages - it gets 100x more exciting. Rating:
3.5/5 Stars Synopsis: Combined for the first time here are Maus I: A Survivor's Tale and Maus II - the complete story of Vladek Spiegelman and his wife, living and surviving in Hitler's Europe. By addressing the horror of the Holocaust through cartoons, the author captures the everyday reality of fear and is able to explore the guilt, relief and extraordinary sensation of survival - and how the children of survivors are in their own way affected by the trials of their parents. A contemporary classic of immeasurable significance. Review: In terms of overall enjoyment, it's not the most emotionally crippling holocaust narrative out there, but it does a wonderful job of framing the holocaust in an alternative form while making it an incredibly realistic feeling story. As a generalization, this is a holocaust story told through a graphic novel directed towards an adult audience. So, yes, my expectations were pretty low going into the first book. I was happily surprised. The story is narrated by Art Speigleman as a character in the story who has his elderly father tell him his Auschwitz survival story in order for "Artie" to write this graphic novel. Get it? It's super self-reflexive which makes it seem so real! Spiegleman seems to go above and beyond to portray this particular holocaust story in it's true light. He shows how the entire story is a series of recollected events, only ONE side of the story, and shows us examples of how his father can stretch the truth sometimes. It's a big warning saying "this is his story, but take the details with a big grain of salt". This is why it's so REAL. And this is why it's so intriguing. The story jumps from the present to the recollected story to Art's father going off on random tangents. You really feel the tension and frustration between father and son, yet the underlying love. I can see why Art Spiegelman was worried about his readers thinking that he's speaking ill of the dead (his father is dead by the time the book is published), but I can see that he is just telling things like they were and not romanticizing it - which I love and commend. As I said, overall, I liked the graphic novels well enough. I wasn't dying to read on nor was I dying to put it down. I have read lots of more heart-wrenching and dramatic novels which feed off of readers' emotions, and this is not one of those stories. It was more so just an interesting and alternative way of speaking about the holocaust. Not to mentions the drawings were just 'meh'. It took me a while to get used to the drawing style - black and white, rough, sometimes hard to tell characters apart.... but I ended up being alright with it. I just see the rough-style drawings as a reflection of the harshness of the holocaust. In that sense, the visuals are perfect, but in terms of overall enjoyment, they weren't super intriguing to look at. Overall 3/5 stars. I had to take away two stars based on my overall enjoyment and the visuals, but I'm keeping 3 stars again based on my overall enjoyment and the self-reflexive and symbolism found in the narrative. If your interested in holocaust literature, check this out! It's a great alternative way to look at the past, not to mention a huge time commitment - it's just two graphic novels. Rating:
3/5 Stars |
WelcomeHey everyone, my name is Amy and this is my reading and writing blog. Look out for book reviews, hauls, recommendations and original writing! xo Archives
October 2016
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