Review: Whispers in Autumn by Trisha Leigh

Whispers in Autumn by Trisha Leigh
My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars

Whispers in Autumn was a book I wanted to read ever since I heard about it. The synopsis sounds great, the book covers for this series is simply gorgeous, and the writing is top notch. And yet, Whispers in Autumn also took me two months to complete. I only had maybe 15 pages at one point, but I just didn’t want to read it.

Is it due to the writing? Absolutely not. I enjoyed Trisha Leigh’s writing and will probably read more books by her in the future. Was it the plot? Kind of, but not really. I did like how instead of a traditional dystopian world that we’ve all read and loved, maybe even hated, we had the added bonus of Aliens. You can never go wrong with aliens and I love reading them almost as much as I love reading about zombies. Was it the characters? Again, kind of, but not really. Althea is a pretty typical female lead and Lukas was pretty awesome. The side characters were great as well and did have some depth to them which I appreciated. Was it the romance? I’ve stopped caring about romance in YA, since I feel like it’s never done right and always feels unauthentic. Whispers of Autumn is no different.

So what was it? For me, the downfall of this book was the world that was created. I liked the idea of an alien race taking over. Everyone on the planet, or at least what’s left of it, is mind controlled. They’re always happy and don’t know anything. They don’t know what kissing is or what tears are. If anything happens, they just accept what the authorities say and continue on living their blissfully brain controlled lives. Althea is the only know who isn’t affected by this, which makes for a compelling story.

But here is my problem. Althea is stupid. She’s a nervous wreck. She fidgets, she not as talkative as the others, and she sticks out like a sore thumb. After so many years living under this dystopia, you’d think she’d learn to blend in, but that never happens. When everyone smiles, she frowns. She frowns! How is she able to get away with this knowing what we know about the aliens? Althea constantly mentions that if the aliens figured out that she’s not mind controlled, she would be killed.

I don’t know about you guys, but if I’m going to be killed due to my lack of brainwashing, I’d do my level best in trying to be like everyone else. I’d smile, smile, and smile. And Althea does try to do this. She does, I can’t dock her too many points in this department, but the amount of times she displays other emotions in public just doesn’t make sense.

Althea’s specialness, while interesting, was also another point of confusion for me. If this happens every season, how did the aliens not clue in on this until now?

The world is interesting, but if the aliens are so scary that they’ll kill you if you act out of the ordinary, how is it possible for them to completely overlook someone who looks as guilty as Althea? These are the same types of aliens who will kill you if you ask the wrong question or talk back to them. If they see you fidgeting all the time and sweating buckets when you’re near them, then how are you still alive? [And how are you able to travel to different cities without anyone noticing that this isn’t normal human behaviour? (hide spoiler)]

These questions were constantly in my head while reading this novel and it kind of took me out of the whole experience. I wanted to like Whispers of Autumn, but the world and the actions of Althea just doesn’t make sense or ring true.


2.5 stars out of 5

Review: Divergent by Veronica Roth

Divergent by Veronica Roth
My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars

This book was the book to read last year. I got emails talking about how great it was, bloggers everywhere were singing its praises, and whenever I went to the store I saw this book a lot.

My expectations were high and for good reason. Divergent is an action packed face paced novel that will keep you reading and reading and reading. Sunday is the only day when I can actually sleep a few extra hours, so after I prayed Fajr I decided that I was going to sleep. Somehow, the book came up and well I didn't end up sleeping much after.

So there are a lot of good things about the book, but it's also doesn't really make a lot of sense. Let me explain. Divergence takes place in a notreally dystopian city, where people are separated by their beliefs on how the end war. You see, a long time ago, people decided that religion, race, nationalism, and politics were not the causes of war. Humans were the cause. In order to change this, they created five factions to eradicate war. Abnegation believed that selfishness was the reason. Amity believed that aggression was the cause. Candor thought it was duplicity. Dauntless said it was cowardice, and Erudite blamed ignorance.

And thus, the five factions were created, despite the fact that getting into groups like this will probably mean you're in for some discrimination of some kind or another. But whatever, they wanted to end war and end it they did. Oh, and to make this even better, each group only has a specific job. Dauntless are guards, Abnegations are in the government, Amity are farmers, Candor are lawyers, and Erudite are reporters and researchers. Again, not sure what the old citizens of Chicago were thinking when they thought up these rules, because it seems like a recipe for disaster to me.

If you’re wondering about the other jobs, the factionless peeps do those. We meet one in the book and he seems like a crazy hobo who is dirty and smells bad. At this point, you might find yourself wondering, “Why was Old Chicago so desperate to separate them like this and have lower people work for them? Doesn’t this mean that eventually there will be a revolt or factions will start fighting against each other? Why try to eradicate war, by presenting a problem that can cause it?”

Don’t worry. That’s part of the fun that is Divergent. There is one interesting factor that isn’t ever developed in this novel. The city, for some reason or another, is barricaded. The Dauntless guard these doors. From what? From who? I have no idea, but I’m really hoping its explained in the following novels.

Anyways, let’s get back to the book. Divergent starts off with sixteen year old Beatrice, our heroine, who has to decide which of these five factions she belongs to, to help her decide; she has to take a test. There’s only one problem, Beatrice belongs to more than one faction. People who are like this are called Divergent.

After we learn this and then see the ceremony, I started to wonder what was so great about being a Divergent. According to the rules, the test tells you which faction you belong to, but then you can choose whatever faction you want at the end. I don’t really see the purpose of the test, other than finding Divergents. This could very well be the case, but it’s never really explained either.

So Beatrice decides to go to Dauntless. Dauntless are a brave people. Brave in the sense that they are kind of psychotic and incredibly stupid. They jump down buildings, jump into moving trains, beat each other up, and get tattoos.

Seriously, Old Chicago, you really should have thought these things through.

I mean really, there are some huge flaws with every group. Dauntless are stupid. Amity spends their days smiling, hugging, and playing the banjo. Abnegation think of others before they think of themselves, which sounds nice, but it’s caused them to bottle up everything. I’m surprised there are not a few crazies in the group. Erudite are arrogant. And Candor are loud, brash, and don’t really care what others think.

As a whole, this doesn’t really matter because the story is about Beatrice’s, now named Tris, journey in becoming a Dauntless member. If she fails, she becomes a factionless. If she succeeds, then she’ll discover a new world that she never had in Abnegation and get to experience some good ol’ fashion YA loving.

Divergent is well written, but the world that Roth created has a lot of holes. Not that this is necessarily a problem, but since it’s a dystopia, I’m left wondering how something like this could ever happen. People may be stupid, but not stupid enough to do something like this. I kind of wish the genre was different. If it was fantasy, it would have been fine.

Also, I didn’t really care for Beatrice. She’s told that being a Divergent is dangerous, but does she listen? No. She continues to do things that will get her into trouble.

The last few chapters were great though and the story started to finally make sense and the arc about Al was really well done. (view spoiler)[ I also liked that we learned that Beatrice’s mom was a Divergent also. After we find out she dies, which sucks since it would have been nice to hear more about her. (hide spoiler)]

There are some good things and some bad, so I gave this three stars.

ps. (view spoiler)[ Was I the only one who was kind of troubled to see Beatrice kill Will? She doesn’t do the same thing to Eric and Peter, but Will, her friend and ally, she kills. When I read this I had two feelings about the situation. 1. Beatrice is a jerk. She could have shot his leg and continued running. 2. The moment there was another couple, they had to separate. Edward and Myra left together after he got stabbed in the eye, and once Christina and Will become an item, he has to die. Kind of sucks for the guys in these relationships, eh? (hide spoiler)]


2.5 stars out of 5

Review: Matched by Ally Condie

Matched by Ally Condie
My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars

When I first heard about this book, I was immediately drawn to it because of its awesome cover. Then I heard all of the raving reviews for this and knew that I had to read it sooner or later. Then Reached came out and I realized that I needed to buckle down and finally start this series.

So I did.

And um, I'm kind of mixed about Matched. There were things I liked, but things that I didn't. It's hard to explain so I've been putting this review off, because I wasn't sure how to convey what I what I felt.

The Good:

I really like the world that Ally Condie created. The Society is a place where Officials governs and dictates everything from what you eat, where you work, who you’ll be married with, and when you’ll die. From the outside looking in, it seems restrictive and scary. To those who are in the place, it seems ideal. No one gets sick, you know when you’ll die, and for the most part, everyone is happy.

Only, it seems like there are people who are frustrated and annoyed with the Society, but they remain silent, because if you cross the Society then you put yourself and your family at risk.

From this, you know that the Society isn’t as great a place as it originally seemed. Plus this is a YA novel, a dystopian at that, so you know that the Society will be shady and that the main characters will try to take it down. In any case, I did like hearing about the Society.

I did like all the poetry that

The Okay

Remember how I said that I liked hearing about the Society? That’s still true, only we never really learn a lot about them. We do know a few things, but not enough to show how scary or wrong this way of live is. There were a lot of things that never made sense either. The poems and stories of the old are illegal, but you never really understand why. Is it because if you read them, you’ll stop wanting to follow the Society? If that’s the case, why does it seem so easy to find them? Also, I don’t understand the reason behind making sure no one writes anything. Since the Society allows people to read, how would this stop people from writing things?

I was a bit disappointed that we never really learned too much about the Society, but this isn’t the main story of Matched so I could forgive it.

The Bad:

The main plotline in this novel is the love story between Cassia and Ky. Cassia was matched with her best friend Xander, while Ky wasn’t matched due to his status with the Society. One day, while Cassia looks at her microchip to see Xander’s picture, she sees Ky’s picture instead. The Society tells her that this is a glitch and to ignore it, but it only makes Cassia want Ky now.

I get that their relationship is meant to be free, but it didn’t feel like it was. Cassia isn’t meant to be with Ky, but she’s drawn to him. True love and all that. The only problem is, the reason why Cassia wants Ky instead of Xander. It’s not free pure love, as it’s meant to be depicted, it’s the forbidden kind where you’re told not to touch something, but it only makes you want to touch it more. The fact that Ky was also told about the screw up, means that he pursued her after this as well.

There is a line near the end where Cassia says she chose to love Ky and that the Society didn’t make the choice for her, but I kept thinking that she wouldn’t even care about Ky if this whole thing didn’t happen. (view spoiler)[Plus, it’s later revealed that the Society knew that she was going to go after Ky anyways so they purposely told her things to mess with her. (hide spoiler)]

The whole thing didn’t make sense to me and it only made me feel horrible for Xander. He was in the friend-zone, got out of it, only to be placed back in it because Cassia found something better. Forever Alone.

Overall:

I wanted to like this book, but the love story is really contrived and depressing for the other guy. This book reminds me a lot of Delirium. In both stories, the main character is matched with someone that the society picks out for them, but they soon discover another kind of love which makes them question everything. The only difference between the two is that I felt like Delirium was executed a bit better.

There are good things in the novel, but there are a lot of annoying things as well.

2.5 stars out of 5

Review: Fever by Lauren DeStefano

Synopsis:

Running away brings Rhine and Gabriel right into a trap, in the form of a twisted carnival whose ringmistress keeps watch over a menagerie of girls. Just as Rhine uncovers what plans await her, her fortune turns again. With Gabriel at her side, Rhine travels through an environment as grim as the one she left a year ago - surroundings that mirror her own feelings of fear and hopelessness.

The two are determined to get to Manhattan, to relative safety with Rhine’s twin brother, Rowan. But the road there is long and perilous - and in a world where young women only live to age twenty and young men die at twenty-five, time is precious. Worse still, they can’t seem to elude Rhine’s father-in-law, Vaughn, who is determined to bring Rhine back to the mansion...by any means necessary.

Pages: 352 pages (Hardcover)
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers
Released: February 21, 2012

...not really sure what happened here.

After I finished Wither, I knew the first thing I needed to do was to read Fever...actually, the first thing I wanted to do was go to bed, since it was late at night. But once I woke up, I knew I would have to read Fever.

Fever takes place right after Wither ends and somehow, it just didn't do anything for me. My problems with Rhine were intensified in this novel and while I could forgive and overlook her behaviour before, I just couldn't do it here.

The main reason was, some of the stuff just didn't make sense at all.

Rhine wants to do something, but someone else ends up helping her. No, not really helping her. They actually do everything and Rhine just has to listen to them. This is fine with me though. What bothered me was the lack of sex. Hear me out.

In Wither, she never consummated her marriage with Linden, which I always had a problem with. He has sex with Cecily and Jenna, but not Rhine. Why? He respects her wishes, which was great. He's a good guy, but it still didn't make sense.

In Fever, Rhine is captured and placed in a prostitution ring. You think she's going to have sex, because her job is to have sex or be beaten, but it doesn't happen. Why? With Linden, I get that he's a good guy and wants to respect her. But Madame. She beats little kids, her girls, and drugs them. She doesn't seem like the type to just say, "It's okay Rhine. No sex pour vous."

I know you may be thinking something weird about me, but before I say anything more, let me just mention that I'm not a sex fiend or want to see Rhine get it on.

I don't.

But in both of those scenarios, Rhine having sex is something that is expected to happen, especially with how this world is. Instead, both Linden and Madame let her go. Linden has sex with his other wives, Madame gets the other girls to have sex with the paying customers, and Rhine thinks of ways to escape.

I dunno, it didn't make sense to me.

Anyways, let's talk about romance. Gabriel seems like the main guy, except he really doesn't do much in Fever. I feel bad, because even though I liked Linden more than him in the first novel, I excepted him to have a greater role in Fever. This sadly doesn't happen. Nothing happens to him and at the end of everything, he's not even in the picture anymore.

Overall:

I think by biggest problem with Fever is that it truly felt like a middle book. Wither was excellent and Fever, nothing happens. They run, get captured, get drugged up, run away, get sick, find a good place, get captured, cliffhanger......joy. Seeing the world and realizing that it wasn't as good as she remembered would have added some conflict between Rhine and Gabriel. Seeing how horrible the world is, would add more conflict in this book. Gabriel doing something would have added conflict in this book. Gatherers, who should be on the streets, looking for young girls and see the girls get captured, would add more conflict to this book.

I just wanted something more and sadly, I didn't get it. That being said, I do have high hopes for the next novel in this series. Once it comes out, I'm definitely picking it up and seeing how this trilogy ends. Can't wait!

Review: Harvesting the Heart by Jodi Picoult

Synopsis:

Paige has only a few vivid memories of her mother, who left when she was five. Now, having left her father behind in Chicago for dreams of art school and marriage to an ambitious young doctor, she finds herself with a child of her own. But her mother's absence, and shameful memories of her past, make her doubt both her maternal ability and her sense of self worth. Out of Paige's struggle to find wholeness, Jodi Picoult crafts an absorbing novel peopled by richly drawn characters and explores issues and emotions readers can relate to.

Pages: 464 pages (Paperback)
Publisher: Penguin
Released: April 1, 1995

I've read my fair share of Jodi Picoult books, so I usually know what to expect. There's an interesting plot with a twist that will affect the lives of everyone involved. There is a couple going through a hard time, but they will somehow make it work at the end. And of course, there will be many scenes that involve a court room. Depending on the novel, there will also be multiple narrators telling you what happened.

So imagine my shock when Harvesting the Heart didn't have the majority of the key features that I mentioned above. There's no court room, there's no twist, and the ending is vague so we don't know if the couple makes it or not. I was surprised. In fact, I was happy that I would finally get something different.

The only problem is that the characters are not that engaging or relatable. I felt like Jodi really wanted us to understand where Paige was coming from and I did, but it felt forced. I also didn't understand the purpose of letting us know that Paige can draw people's secrets, when this wasn't really used. It almost seemed like it was thrown in there to make her seem even more quirky, except it wasn't executed well enough for that to happen.

Nicholas was another narrator in the book and even though he's a major character in the novel, I didn't really get much out of him. Whereas Paige had some depth, Nicholas didn't. He was a miracle child to parents who were trying for many years. So he grew up spoiled. When he marries Paige, she spoils him. When she goes through her depression of their son is born, he isn't as spoiled so he gets angry at her. When she leaves him, he gets even angrier. Angry, because he's not getting spoiled and has to do more work around the house.

I think the main problem I had was how Paige and Nicholas almost assumed that the other person should know how they are feeling. Why they couldn't just talk it out, I dunno. We wouldn't have had a novel then, of course, but it was still annoying for me to read.

~-.-~

Overall:
This is a character driven novel and because of that, I couldn't get into it. The characters, at least to me, were not fleshed out enough for them to carry a novel. I don't have to like the character, or even relate to them in order for me to like a book, but I do need to find them engaging and fleshed out. Paige has some depth, but Nicholas is very one dimensional.

This is the second book that Jodi ever published, so that could be the reason. Her books do get better (albeit a bit predictable), but her writing has always been smooth and crisp.

2.5 stars