Passenger-- Reviewed by Sarah Roberts

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Everything you touch surely dies.” 

     One traumatic night changes everything for violin prodigy, Etta Spencer. She loses everything that she knows and loves in the world. Etta is thrown into a world that she never knew existed, by a dangerous stranger with a agenda. Etta knows one thing and that is that she hasn't just traveled miles from home, but years.


     Etta has inherited a legacy that has she never even knew about. She inherited this legacy from a family she never knew anything about. Enter Nicholas Carter.


     Nicholas Carter loves his life at sea, free from the Ironwood family- a family that is very powerful in the colonies- and the service of his own hands. But everything changes with the arrival of a mysterious passenger; Etta. Nicholas experiences the pull of a past that he much rather have forgotten about. He can't escape the family that won't let him go so easily. The Ironwoods won't stop until they get their hands on Etta. He must protect her and the secret object that Etta is supposed to give them


    Join Nicholas and Etta on a perilous journey across continents and centuries, as they piece together clues of a traveler who will do anything to keep the object out of the Ironwood's grasp.


      I thought this book was wonderful! I loved Nicholas as a character because he really embodied the want for freedom. The book gave me chills in some parts, and the characters really came to life in my head, and hopefully other people's heads when they read this book. I gave this book four and half stars because although the characters were well composed, I thought the book lagged a little in a part or two. Otherwise, I thought this book was brilliant and I would recommend it all my friends and family.


The Ask and The Answer - Reviewed by Maggie Devero

Chaos Walking Series; Book #2

The Ask and The Answer by Patrick Ness

Reviewed by Maggie Devero

What is one supposed to do when their safe Haven....doesn't end up being that safe after all?

In this continuation of Chaos Walking trilogy, Todd and Viola have made it to their destination; a city called Haven in which they are supposed to find safety from the impending army of Prentisstown, and welcome the next set of settlers from the Old World into their new life. But even before they manage a step into this place, it's already not what it's supposed to be: Mayor Prentiss has beat them there and removed the old leader from his position, declaring himself the Mayor of NEW Prentisstown, and even better yet the PRESIDENT of the entire New World. Todd and Viola are separated, and must face their own struggles separately. Viola learns the trade of being a healer, and also how Mistress Coyle the head healer, is plotting against Mayor Prentiss as her old position of leader of revolutionary group the Answer. Todd is forced to work for Mayor Prentiss alongside the Spackle, original inhabitants of the New World and slaves of the settlers, doing hard labor and realizing just how much they hate their masters. He eventually works his way to right-hand-man of Mayor Prentiss, just as Viola joins ranks with the Answer to take him down. The two believe they have joined opposite sides, and must act accordingly. But once reunited, everything changes, and takes another turn for the worse....

Aaaaaand I'm back with the review for the second amazing book in this trilogy.  As expected, this book was just as amazingly written as the first; none of that second book let down I have experienced a lot in the past. As before, the writing style just absorbs you into the New World, right into Haven/New Prentisstown and all the changes they're having to adapt to, due to horrible Mayor Prentiss. The POV of the story goes back and forth between Todd and Viola, accentuating the separation of the two and the different sides they've taken. I also really like the way Ness plays these two together; in need of one another, but hasn't brought it completely into the romantic spectrum yet. God forbid he's almost making me want a romance between the two, hinting at it like he does, but not making the whole story rely on the fact that they are romantically involved with each other. Love it. I also adore how completely different the setting is from the first book to this one. The first in the swamps, and then to an actual civilization in this book. The contrast between the two and how they affect the story is striking. I cannot explain how much I'm loving this series...I've already worked my way into the final book before even posting this review! If you've read the first book, and loved it continue on, my friend. A great adventure awaits you. Five stars without a doubt.

Uglies - reviewed by Maggie Devero

Uglies (1st in Series) - by Scott Westerfeld

Reviewed by - Maggie Devero

Would you betray your own friend, to choose for both of you, a life of parties, fun, and being physically transformed into a beautiful human being? 

Tally Youngblood had always yearned to become one of the Pretties. She watched them in the shadows during her late-night escapes from Uglytown, captivated by their soft pretty faces and crazy ongoing parties, all happening right across the bridge from her own home. Tally had waited almost sixteen years, and soon enough it would be her turn, same as all Uglies when they came of age, to get the operation that would turn them beautiful and allow them a life in Prettytown. On one of her escapades, she makes a new friend named Shay, and they have their own adventures together. There is only one big difference between Shay, and Tally herself...and that is that Shay has no intention of turning pretty. Tally cannot began to comprehend why Shay is so against the operation, because who wouldn't want to be perfect? But before she knows it, only a week before the scheduled operation, Shay is gone. She disappeared to some broken down, old-fashioned, empty city called Smoke, where rumor had it no one was pretty and it was just like the old society had been. The day Tally is supposed to turn pretty, though, she is called in and told to find her friend and all those others who have escaped the town and operation. So Tally begins a new journey, to find her friend and the others, and eventually become a pretty herself. Little does she know that the things she will learn on the outside, will change her perspective completely.

I gave Uglies three out of five stars. I know the series was (and still is) a hot series to read, and is well liked among the YA readers, but I don't think I caught the same hype as everyone else did about the book. The plot took some foreseeable turns, and I think I had just had too high of expectations for this book. It was still pretty good, an enjoyable read that I hope to get around to finishing the rest of the series.  The scifi idea of the book, that people turn pretty at a certain age and then are accepted into the "perfect society" is interesting, and the futuristic elements such as hoverboards and the software to make yourself look pretty fit in with the storyline well. I have just personally heard so much rave about this book, that I expected it to b e little bit better than it was. Then again, scifi/futuristic genres have just never been my thing, so that might just be it! If you do read this book and like it, I would suggest you finish the series, the other books are: Pretties, Specials, and Extras!

Girl Parts - a review by George Morejon

Girl Parts

by John M Cusick

*** stars

Girl Parts starts off with a girl killing herself on the internet. She broadcasts it on webcam with an audience of her schoolmates watching. After this happens, a new psychiatric comes in to help with the disassociation problem (being disconnected from the real world) the students are facing. The solution he recomends is to assign "companions" to these kids, including popular rich kid David Sun. David is a stuck-up brat who just wants to fool around with girls, but still a person chosen for the programme. When he gets his companion, whose name is Rose, he finds out he cares for her and wants to be with her more than any other girl he's been with before. David thinks he's found his dream girl, but things change at a party when he finds out that Rose isn't "fully functional", if you know what I mean.

When David finds this out, he abandons her at the party, and Rose wanders out into the forest lost and confused. She finds her way to an ocean ridge and is about to jump, which would destroy her link to the Sakora satellites helping her understand things and also probably deactivate her, but a kid named Charlie (who she'd only met one time before when David hit him with a car) tries to save her, dragging them both into the ocean. Charlie's kind of disconnected from society, so after Rose gets desynced from the satellite, they form a sort of bond. This bond strengthens as he hides her from the Sakora agents who are looking for her so they can deactivate her and helps her get over David basically throwing her away.

This book took about 4 hours to read and was way different than anything else I have read, so I wasn't that sure what to think of it. I hadn't seen the idea of robot companions like this in any novel, although I wasn't unfamiliar with the idea. I liked David up until he dumped Rose, which I thought was a jerk move to do. Rose was interesting and I liked being able to read how she was programmed to think, before and after her big change. Her want to be accepted by people and be real reminded me a lot of Pinocchio. Overall, I'd give this book a 3 out of 5.

The House of the Scorpion -- Review by Adam Bryant

The House of the Scorpion
By: Nancy Farmer
Rated: ****

When I picked up the book The House of the Scorpion in the library, I was a bit skeptical about reading it. Normally, I dive deep into the adult sections at library and don't even bother with the young adult. This time, I went to check out an adult book and for the first time, got rejected. So to my disappointment, I went to find one from the young adult section. Not really caring at this point, I grabbed The House of the Scorpion because it had an interesting cover. Immediately as soon as I opened it, I was hooked. The story is very addictive and I finished it easily within a few days.
The story takes place in an area between the United States and Aztlan. In this area, all of the drug farmers have created farms. The whole society revolves around artificial people. The Farm Patrol captures people and places microchips inside of them to create slaves that have no consciousness of their own. And clones are created and used for transplants of organs to the original. In this abusive society, Matt is born a clone. He is abused at first then gradually begins to become more important. Matt faces many struggles, mainly being a clone and being lower in society than anyone else. He makes friends with a little girl named Maria and they have many adventures. Matt also discovers and creates, in his mind, his new family of bodyguard Tam Lin, servant Celia, and his shared identity El Patron.
This book is an amazing book and I highly recommend it for anyone in search of a quick, but complicated, novel. This book is not part of a series and you don't have to worry about reading anything previous. That being said, anyone who enjoyed Fahrenheit 451 would definitely enjoy The House of the Scorpion.
The ending is also very well wrapped up, leaving me without questions. It easily earns four stars on my scale.

Incarceron -- Review by Amy Lyon

Incarceron

By Catherine Fisher

**** stars

Outside, the world is ruled by Protocol, a decree from a previous king that everyone and everything should look like the era of his choosing. Claudia is the daughter of the Warden of Incarceron, a mysterious prison that was sealed long before her father came to hold his power. Claudia wants nothing more than to find the gates of Incarceron, in the hopes of blackmailing her father into undoing his carefully laid plans to make her Queen.

Inside is riddled with thieves and murderers ready to plunder and enslave at a moment's notice. Although Finn has participated in many ambushes and raids, his heart was never in it. His main focus was his visions, which he believed were memories from his time Outside. On his last raid he kidnapped a woman, for she knew something about the so far unexplainable tattoo on his arm. Finn decided he must find out what this woman knows, she may hold the key to his past.

In seemingly separate worlds, Finn and Claudia discover identical keys to (and from) Incarceron. With these keys comes the ability to communicate, and neither Claudia nor Finn can resist. Soon they embark on a journey neither one is prepared for. And when dark secrets are revealed, will Finn and Claudia be able to claim their destinies or will they be swept away in the Era?

Incarceron is a thrilling combination of subtle fantasy and overwhelming sci fi futuristic elements. I truly enjoyed this book; there were so many twists and turns. Incarceron kept me guessing until the last page. Once I thought I had figured out what had happened, a new element was introduced. Having read other books by Catherine Fisher, I was not surprised to find myself engrossed in her newest trilogy. I would recommend Incarceron to fans of Cassandra Clare's Immortal Instruments trilogy.

PS: The sequel is coming out later this year.

Leviathan review by George Morejon

Leviathan

by Scott Westerfeld

**** stars

What can I say about Leviathan? A book set in the World War I era, it brings about a whole new story to tell. The story starts off with Alek, the prince of the Austro-Hungarian empire, quickly leaving his home in the middle of the night without being told why. He somehow has to escape from his kingdom in his Clanker stormwalker, a giant 2 legged war machine. The story then shifts to Deryn, a 15 year old girl who loves the air, flying, and all the Darwinist fabricated creatures, who just has to sign up for the service for the upcoming war looming overhead from a political murder in Serbia. Eventually, the path of these 2 characters meet, and Alek has to make a hard choice that could endanger everything him and his travel companions have worked for, which I thought was the thing to do.

I've read some books that try to tell multiple stories at once which weren't so good, but Leviathan managed to pull it off well the whole way through. The splitness makes it easier to choose which side you are for, but still encounter some surprises for whatever side you choose. The writing style was just right I thought, being not too descriptive but filling in the important details to make the book come alive and get absorbed in it, along with the black and white hand-drawn looking illustrations. This was a fast read after I sat down and started, taking me maybe 6 hours with distractions.