Tag: Dystopian (Page 10 of 31)

BOOK REVIEW – Angelfall (Penryn & the End of Days #1) by Susan Ee

June 23, 2016 / Jen / 7 Comments

Angelfall (Penryn & the End of Days #1)
by Susan Ee
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
It’s been six weeks since angels of the apocalypse descended to demolish the modern world. Street gangs rule the day while fear and superstition rule the night. When warrior angels fly away with a helpless little girl, her seventeen-year-old sister Penryn will do anything to get her back. Anything, including making a deal with Raffe, an injured enemy angel. Traveling through a dark and twisted Northern California, they journey toward the angels’ stronghold in San Francisco, where Penryn will risk everything to rescue her sister and Raffe will put himself at the mercy of his greatest enemies for the chance to be made whole again.

Review:

I was addicted to Angelfall by the first page. The story-line was vivid and always left me with that desperate feeling of having to know what was going to happen next! The characters were full of life, even the secondary ones, and I became deeply immersed in what happened to them. And the peril and slight moments of horror that were intricately laced throughout the story made my emotions flail into overdrive. How could I not fall for this book? Add in the fact that every single tiny detail in this story called for my absolute attention, especially that ending *clutches heart*, and I was a goner!

“Where are we?” Raffe asks from the shadows behind me.
“In Hell,” I say.

I loved Penryn from the moment that I met her! She is a teenage girl who lived with her mom and sister. In hopes of finding somewhere safer to live, they left their home at twilight since the angels wreaked havoc at night, and the gangs ruled the days. In those first few chapters, when they’re trying to get to safety, my heart was in my throat. And what unfolded was utter horror. While Penryn was fierce and brave, she ended up being left with an Angel who was injured. And he was her best bet for finding her little sister, who was taken by the other Angels.

When you’re small enough to have to look up at everyone around you, there’s no such thing as a dirty fight. That’s a new motto for me. I think I’ll keep it.

Penryn’s decision making twisted my gut at times, yet her decisions were sound and made me cheer for her. You’ll get what I mean within those first few chapters lol. I loved that I quickly connected to Penryn and felt every single thing she did. Especially her fear, her bravery, and her struggle over choices she made. She definitely soared right to the top of my list for favorite kick-butt heroines! Which made her interactions with Raffe, the injured Angel, that much better. He is a creature who could decimate her in a second, yet Penryn stood up to him. What she did, to try to convince him to take her to find her sister, wow, her loyalty and bravery were amazingly impressive.

“Sometimes, as we’re stumbling along in the dark, we hit something good.”

Raffe, awwwwww *flails around*. He would leave the craziest smiles on my face. With his ridiculous sense of humor, his bantering and no-nonsense ways, I adored him. But one of my favorite things about Raffe was the ability to find clues in his actions or words. Because while he tried to come off as indifferent, I just didn’t want to buy it. Because some of the things he did and said, while I may be reading way into them, had me jumping for joy. I have HUGE hopes for Raffe, and what is going to unfold!

I nearly stumble over a fallen branch. “You have got to be kidding me.”
“I never kid about my warrior demigod status.”
“Oh. My. God.” I lower my voice, having forgotten to whisper. “You are nothing but a bird with an attitude.Okay, so you have a few muscles, I’ll grant you that. But you know, a bird is nothing but a barely evolved lizard. That’s what you are.”
He chuckles. “Evolution.” He leans over as if telling me a secret. “I’ll have you know that I’ve been this perfect since the beginning of time.” He is so close that his breath caresses my ear.
“Oh, please. Your giant head is getting too big for this forest. Pretty soon, you’re going to get stuck trying to walk between two trees. And then, I’ll have to rescue you.” I give him a weary look. “Again.”

If you haven’t read this series yet, it’s a must! The story was ALL consuming! The pace had me flipping through the pages trying to see what was going to happen next. And I quickly connected to Penryn, fell madly in love for Raffe and loved the moments where her mom and other characters graced the pages. I honestly loved every single thing in this book and I hope you will too!

Reading Order & Links: Amazon (click on covers), iBooks (click on titles) & Book Depository (click on book #)
Angelfall #1 Reviews: Jen Chelsea Laura Anna	World After #2 Reviews: Jen Chelsea	End of Days #3 Reviews: Jen Chelsea

BOOK REVIEW – The 5th Wave (The 5th Wave #1) by Rick Yancey

June 12, 2016 / Anna

The 5th Wave (The 5th Wave #1)
by Rick Yancey
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
After the 1st wave, only darkness remains. After the 2nd, only the lucky escape. And after the 3rd, only the unlucky survive. After the 4th wave, only one rule applies: trust no one.

Now, it's the dawn of the 5th wave, and on a lonely stretch of highway, Cassie runs from Them. The beings who only look human, who roam the countryside killing anyone they see. Who have scattered Earth's last survivors. To stay alone is to stay alive, Cassie believes, until she meets Evan Walker. Beguiling and mysterious, Evan Walker may be Cassie's only hope for rescuing her brother-or even saving herself. But Cassie must choose: between trust and despair, between defiance and surrender, between life and death. To give up or to get up.

Pss! Pss! I have a theory.

Want to hear it? I’m starting to think that Rick Yancey is a genius. What does a genius do, you’re asking? He makes people think they are the genius, by creating a story so predictable that every reader will feel so fucking clever. No, no, this is not sarcasm (not entirely, anyway). See, I was here bitching about how I guessed everything – every fucking thing apart from the ear teddy bear rumpled (come on, I’m not that great) – when I realized that there was no way I wasn’t meant to. NO WAY. The clues are EVERYWHERE. All along. So what does it leave us? If the shock factor is close to none, what does it freaking leave us?

► That leaves us with characters that confused the hell out of me – not because of what they do (yet don’t think I forgot you, Evan. You became more interesting but you’re still a creeeeeeep) – but more because of my reactions to them. I can’t decide if I didn’t care about them or liked them or was annoyed by them. All of the above, probably. Except Nugget. I’ll always love you, Nugget. ~~I’ll even forgive you for not really sounding like a 5 years old~~. I’m Team Nugget. Woot! Anyway – what was I saying – oh, yes, my complete inability to know what I thought of the characters when I was reading. Here’s my little opinion, in the end :

✘ Cassie – Likeable and relatable. I don’t care about her flaws, her mistakes – I get her.
✘ Zombie – This is true what they say about first impression. Don’t trust them (or is it the opposite? I can never remember) – The fact is, I lost my interest in its parts pretty fast. One word : bland. And riffles. Way too much riffles. Okay, okay, I’m not fair. I just don’t like him. He bores me. Booh. Also, View Spoiler »
✘ Ringer – Who?
✘ Evan – Awww, here’s our little creeper! Everybody waves to Evan! Helloooooo Evan!! No, but really guy. This is not okay to lurk. This is not okay to kiss someone who tells no (even if *because it’s a book* she changes her mind in a heartbeat. I HATE THAT SHIT. PLEASE DON’T). You sure don’t blow the candle and kiss her anyway. Who does that?! Oh, yes. A fucking psycho. Yes, even if you’re in looooooove. By the way, don’t act all righteous about it. It’s called instalove and that’s pretty common over there. *waves to Edward* I’ll give you this, though, your last parts were pretty great. You still stay an obsessive psycho to me. Here’s me slapping you behind the head *ow! That shit hurts!*

► What was my biggest problem? Well, that would be the boredom. Looking back, I think that Rick Yancey‘s writing didn’t do it for me. Oh, yeah, some parts were amazing and I have tons of quotes because the guy is pretty quotable. There’s that. Yet I can’t count how many times I felt bored to death only to end thinking after, hey, that was pretty cool. That’s why I think I liked more the idea of the book than the book itself. I love how the story makes us think about what it really means to be human. Is that what we do? Is that how we look? Would we be able to decipher whether we’re right or wrong? I don’t think so. That woke up my interest. Too bad it was drowned into my boredom. I should point, though, that some parts engrossed me – mostly Nugget’s POV, but also Cassie-pre Evan POV.

What a rambling girl I am. Sigh. I’ll organize my review better. I PROMISE. (well except if aliens come and all, in that case I don’t promise. Sometimes we just can’t, remember?)

Oh, now that I think about it, I’m pretty sure that I’m safe in France. I mean, who the hell cares about France? Aliens always go to the US anyway. Sorry guys. I loved talking with you all. *blows kiss*

BOOK REVIEW: The Last Star (The 5th Wave #3) by Rick Yancey

June 2, 2016 / Chelsea / 0 Comments

The Last Star (The 5th Wave #3)
by Rick Yancey
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
The enemy is Other. The enemy is us.

They’re down here, they’re up there, they’re nowhere. They want the Earth, they want us to have it. They came to wipe us out, they came to save us.

But beneath these riddles lies one truth: Cassie has been betrayed. So has Ringer. Zombie. Nugget. And all 7.5 billion people who used to live on our planet. Betrayed first by the Others, and now by ourselves.

In these last days, Earth’s remaining survivors will need to decide what’s more important: saving themselves…or saving what makes us human.

Call me Zombie.
Everything hurts. Even blinking hurts. But I’m getting up. That’s what zombies do.
We rise.

Okay so…I’m not guna lie. I had a review that I LOVED written out, but my laptop is acting up again and it shut off before my USB saved it. I was going to recreate it, I was in the process of doing so, but it seems stupid. Those were REAL emotions and they flowed out of me so easily…but that’s what happens when you truly connect with a story. So, seeing as I loved this story, this series, these characters with all my heart, I made a connection so strong, so unyielding that I have a lot to say. Too much to say.

So there you go. You can love the good in us and hate the bad, but the bad is in us, too. Without it, we wouldn’t be us.

So, instead of trying to recreate those raw emotions, this amazing idea I had explaining how beautiful bookends could be (you’d have totally dug it, guyz-as it is, this makes no sense. Had you read my profound thoughts in said erased review, you’d have been all…wow, that makes sense. Obvi), I’m going to go a different direction. Write a wholly different review with another set of raw emotions…because that just proves to you how much this book and series meant to me. A whole review of epic, wonderful, well-thought out things I bared from my soul are gone forever with no ounce of documentation…and I’m barely upset.

I’ll kill until I lose count. I’ll kill until counting doesn’t matter.

Sure, I’m angry, I loved what I did. But, as it is, I could never say everything I’m thinking in one review, so another take on my thoughts couldn’t hurt. It’s just not the same. Anyway. My feels know no bounds. Sorry I rambled. Sorry I’ve been thinking about this since I finished 24 hours ago. Sorry I have re read my quotes over and over and over and over again…and I still break down every time.

It’s more than Zombie can handle. He falls against the side of the barricade, gulping air, his face lifted up to the sky. Lost, found, dead, alive, the cycle repeats; there’s no escape, there’s no reprieve. Zombie closes his eyes and waits for his breath to slow, his heart to steady. A small break before it begins again: the next loss, the next death.

It’s not often I love a whole series from beginning to end. It’s a rarity. Authors start out these series with promising ideas, wonderful, charismatic characters, and the question of what’s to come for everything involved. We wait and we wait and we wait…Because no matter how much we beg and plead and cry for the next book, it’s all a fruitless endeavor, isn’t it? They do what they want anyway, right? Especially those last books…they love to pull those final book extensions because ‘You want it to be what it’s meant to be right? You don’t want it messed up. We’re doing this to give you the best story possible. Don’t you want the perfect end to your beloved series??? You wouldn’t want to ruin that, would you?’ So they tweak and they twist and they turn and they add and delete and edit edit edit and they don’t release it until they are damn well ready to.

She was the mayfly, here for a day, then gone. She was the last star, burning bright in a sea of limitless black.

So…we sit again. We wait. And then it appears on our e-readers or on our doorstep and we immediately download it at midnight and read and read and read and then it’s like…that’s it? This is the end we waited for? Not everyone gets as disappointed, haughty, or judgmental as I, though, apparently, because there have been, like, seven releases this year for finales and I’ve hated 6 out of the 7 while others loved them. It’s been rather…devastating.

I supposed I could turn to Bear. It was always easy to talk to him. We had hours of conversation, good conversation, during those weeks when it was just me and him hiding in the woods. Bear’s an excellent listener. He never yawns or interrupts or walks away. Never disagrees, never plays games, never lies. I go where you go, always, that’s Bear’s jam.
Bear proves that true love doesn’t have to be complicated-or even reciprocated.

So when I saw this was close to finally being released (DAMN YOU, YOU STUPID 8 (or however many) month set back!) I was blasé about it. What did I even have to look forward to, ya know??? I have hated almost every series end this year and have been living in heartbreak hotel all by my lonesome as each bbf’s story crumbled to ashes. And then this little morsel appeared on my iPad. My hopes were low, I didn’t set the bar too high….but anyone that knows me knows this was a defense mechanism. I have loved this series since it was first released years ago. I have followed Cassie on her journey from the very beginning as she chased after Sammy, held that damnable teddy bear, found a deep bond with an otherworldly sniper, and her teenage crush. She has been through the ringer (HA! That bitch….) and only wants to make a world where her little brother can live and see it as she has gotten to. See the universe’s beauty, the stars, the sky. Birds and rivers and schools and friendship and love. Not devastation, war, battling to wake up each day alive, fighting for each breath earned. Not needing to hold up a gun at every stranger lest they rip you to shreds or shoot your head off before you get a chance to. A world with trust. A world with unity. A world with peace and kindness….a world with hope. A world like before.

And I run on. Through a primordial landscape unscarred by any human thing, the world as it was before trust and cooperation unleashed the beast of progress. The world is circling back now to what it was before we knew it. Paradise lost. Paradise returned.

This. Book. Was. Everything. It was rain clouds and sunshine and laughter and friendship and sacrifice and loyalty. It was every moment. It was every thought. It was your waking breath and your final memory before sleep. It was your dreams and your consciousness and it was….everything.

But the most wonderful thing of all, our highest achievement and the one thing for which I pray we will always be remembered, is stuffing wads of polyester into an anatomically incorrect, cartoonish ideal of one of nature’s most fearsome predators for no other reason than to soothe a child.

I was prepared for x. I was prepared for xx. I was even prepared for xxx….but what I didn’t expect, what I wasn’t ready for…I wasn’t prepared for this. How does an author…do this? I can’t explain it. In no way can it be described. It’s like…you know you’re hungry, but you aren’t sure what you feel like. So you kind of just…chill. Take it all in, decide to go for the ride and see what you feel like in a minute. And then all of a sudden someone hands you something or you see a meal come out in front of you and it just…clicks. That is what you want, and it is exactly what you needed-You just didn’t know it.

Reduce the human population to a sustainable number, then crush the humanity out of it, since trust and cooperation are the real threats to the delicate balance of nature, the unacceptable sins that drove the world to the edge of a cliff.

And that’s this story. This trilogy had integrity from the start. Whether you liked, hated, or loved, no one could say it lacked originality or that it didn’t pique your curiosity. I mean, everyone can agree on that, right? I’m real big on integrity, and I’ve been super upset this year that so many series have lost their…spark, their originality. They have lost the thing that makes them so special and what made them stand out among all the other series, in my mind. But this series…from book one on, I have been nothing but awed. Nothing but impressed. The second book got dark, therefore making me even more of a fan, even as some people dwindled off and lost their love for it. Hey, you can’t win with everyone.

Lying is like murder-after the first one, each one that follows is easier.

But then this was released….and I can’t even explain how perfectly perfect this was wrapped up. And here’s the most beautiful thing about it: It wasn’t wrapped up in a neat little bow. BOOM. I just…YES. Thank you!!! These dystopian authors think that their crumbling world has to be put back together in the end, that the world could so easily be re-made, rebooted, whatever. But no. Fuck that. Life is messy. The world is messy. We are messy. Humanity has been ripped from all these people and we expect it all to be fixed by a few action scenes? I don’t think so. And Yancey didn’t even try to pull that shit. Each scene was a building block and a new layer on an intricately pieced together puzzle, and until that final sentence, that final paragraph, that final moment…nothing fit. And that’s the most amazing, mesmerizing, breath-taking thing to me: It was perfectly imperfect….and therein lies the integrity. Loads and loads of integrity…and I am utterly speechless about it. (Well…)

Why must I always be the isle of crazy alone in an ocean of sensibility? The should to everybody else’s shouldn’t? The I-will to their better-nots?

I couldn’t breathe from beginning to end. My heart was beating faster and faster with each progressing page. My mind was racing at the speed of light, trying it’s fucking hardest to figure out what was going to happen, who would make it (would anyone make it?), how it would end, who was worth keeping and who was worth discarding. And…okay, I’ll fucking admit it, who the hell Cassie would be with, in the end. Sorry. Is what it is-but the best part??? THIS STORY. This story was larger than a girl and a boy and another boy and a slightly mean sniper girl-This series and this end made me proud of the dystopian genre, again. This is how you end a series. This is how it’s done.

Squad 53 is gone, broken apart, dead or missing or dying or running.
RIP, squad 53.

I don’t remember so much humor, this dark comic relief that Cassie Sullivan possessed, and Ben Parish’s humor and determination to keep things light in the face of certain death. And I know I shouldn’t say it, I know it sounds bleak, but I’d be shorting myself if I didn’t say it: This book has one of the most heartbreaking scenes I’ve ever read. And it’s not what you’d think…but it burns. It burns so good.

The others concluded that the only way to save the world was to annihilate civilization. Not from without, but from within. The only way to annihilate human civilization was to change human nature.

I find it important to note, also, that I literally snarled at my husband because of this book. That’s right. At precisely 12:41 AM on the 25th (or was it technically the 26th?) of May, my hubbs woke up and proceeded to try and be suave and play nice and flirt with me once he saw I was awake and I literally, and I do mean LITERALLY, looked over and bared my teeth at him with a very viscous, aggressive, and otherwise very unattractive snarl-scraggly as I was, this did not help. You know, that tangled hair and tears streaming down my face while battling my choking sobs. I might have even been giving a very valiant effort at pulling my hair out. Silly boy, don’t you know not to interrupt the reader while she’s fully submerged in another reality??

They wanted a mindless, stone-cold killer to let loose on the world. They wanted a zombie. Now they’ve got one.

All the feels. All the stars. I was crushed in a way I wasn’t prepared for. And it’s my own fault, really. Because seriously…I was too busy judging my love for all the characters and my emotional investment in them:

Cassie-Can’t remember how I felt before, but OBSESSED with her now
Evan-Still like but…just not like I used to
Ben Parish-AGHHHHHH more than I even remember possible!! I WILL LOVE YOU FOREVER, my Zombie!! Protect me! lol
Ringer-Begrudgingly like, how I’ve pretty much always felt
Nugget-Oh, Nugget, must you hurt your sister’s feelings, so?? But anyway, love his POV now, whereas I never did before

Anyway…my point. How could I forget? Humanity comes first, in the end. I HATE YOU, YOU STUPID BOOK. I lie. I love you so much. Come…come join your friends on the bookshelf…

More quotes I didn’t get to put in (if you wana read them :P):

I stood up. Then I sat back down. There was nowhere to go. Well, I could go to the kitchen and make a sandwich, except there was no bread or deli meat or cheese. I don’t know the particulars, but I’m pretty sure there’s a Subway on every corner in heaven. Also Godiva stores. On our second day here, I found Grace’s stash of forty-six boxes of Godiva chocolates. Not that I counted them.

After Sam hit me on the nose, I burst out of the bathroom, soaking wet, whereupon I smacked into Ben Parish’s chest. Ben was lurking in the hallway as if every little thing that has to do with Sam is his responsibility, the aforesaid little shit screaming obscenities at my back, the only dry part of my body after trying to wash his, and Ben Parish, the living reminder of my father’s favorite saying that it’s better to be lucky than smart, gave me that ridiculous what’s up? look, so stupidly cute that I was tempted to break his nose, thereby making him not so damn Ben Parish-y looking.

Stopping just short of the doorway, I pull out one of the stun grenades. I slip my finger into the pin. My hands are shaking. A dribble of sweat courses down the middle of my back. This is how they get you, this is how they crush the spirit right out of you. Out of the blue the past is rammed down your throat, a gut punch of memories of all the things you took for granted, the things that you lost in the blink of an eye, the stupid, trivial, forgettable things you didn’t know could crush you, things like an old woman’s quivery voice, high-pitched and far away, calling you inside for a plate of warm cookies and a glass of ice-cold milk.

*****************

Wow. I’m…actually speechless. My heart…is that my heart ripped to shreds on the floor?

I don’t know what to say. I don’t know how to process [all the epic].

I am a walking, talking ZOMBIE and I definitely didn’t sleep last night.

Zombie.

Finally. Finally an author who ends a trilogy the way it should be….and I was highly critical-you bet your ass on that. No free 5 star hand out here. Just….I am without words. Can’t complete full sentences. I am without emotion. Comatose.

Yeah. Just call me Zombie.

View all my reviews

BOOK REVIEW – The Ask and the Answer (Chaos Walking #2) by Patrick Ness

May 29, 2016 / Anna

The Ask and the Answer (Chaos Walking #2)
by Patrick Ness
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
"The Ask and the Answer" is a tense, shocking and deeply moving novel of resistance under the most extreme pressure. This is the second title in the "Chaos Walking" trilogy.

What would you choose if you had the faith of someone you love in your hands?

Would you betray your beliefs?

I must confess that the only honest answer I can give you is :

Of course I’d be so proud if I was able to say that I’d do the right thing whatever it takes, and I want to think I’d do it. Really. Of course there are situations where what to do is obvious because one of the possibilities is utterly bad. But sometimes – sometimes there’s no such thing as a right choice.

The Ask and the Answer is supposed to be a children’s book. Yes, for sure it is. I mean, that seems crystal clear, huh? The main characters are young, aren’t they?

Yes… But still. Is it enough to tell? Really?

Because this book?! It actually made me think more than most of those I’ve read for years. And I read a lot. The Ask and the Answer gives rise to ethical reflection and disturbs us.

What is it that makes you a good person? Is there a boundary line? Where is it, I’m asking, where is it? Is it what you do? What you think? What you allow others to do?

WHERE?

– Blur –

“And they seem to unnerstand. That’s the thing. They unnerstand way more than a sheep would.”

Make no mistakes, I hated Mayor Prentiss – President – Prentiss something fierce. I really did, from the beginning. Then, I never liked a lot this Mistress Coyle either. But these choices our characters must face? They’re difficult. Harsh.

*blush* Can I say it? I only wanted for Todd and Viola to be safe. To be together. To be happy. Yes, I can be idealist that way.

And maybe it makes me a coward, maybe it makes me weak, but –

There was a moment I was just thinking one damn thing : “Run!” Fuck ’em all, and run! (shut up) But of course it’d be selfish. Of course life isn’t so simple. And of course the story would be over, and way less interesting. I may be a romantic but not that dumb. I know that. But still. I’m just saying I thought about it. Fortunately for us, readers who want to be moved but oh my god that’s so harsh – Fortunately for us, Todd and Viola are amazing characters and oh so more stronger than me.

I’ll let you know something : This book is a gem, a real one, but that was painful.

“Cuz she’s out there somewhere. (please be out there somewhere) (please be okay) (please)”

I’ve said my heart ached for Todd in The Knife of Never Letting Go? Scratch that : It just broke in this one. All over again. I sure can’t say that I agreed with all the choices he made. It’d be far from the true – some of his actions are really unforgivable (view spoiler)[one word : 1017 (hide spoiler)]. But, you know, Patrick Ness is such a genius – yes, because I know that the talent (or the lack of) of a writer plays a large part in our feelings towards the characters – that even if I hated Todd sometimes, I couldn’t help but love him. Something fierce. Whatever it takes.

That’s the all point, huh?

(Viola?)

You could think that this sentence, “Love is stronger than anything” is a pious platitude. You’d be right. I mean, we all know how this sentence is often used in romance novels to, you know, try to hide the lack of plot?

And yet you’d be so wrong. This book is not a romance. So then? Where does it lead us?

To a wonderful book about choices. The choices we make and why we make them and how can we be sure that we’re right?

We just can’t.

Let it be known that I will forever be destroyed by this quote. FOREVER –

“And someone calls, “Murderer!” from across the square.
But of course it can’t be her –
But at least there’s someone. At least there’s someone.”

… Because what are we hoping but for someone to speak up? I want to be that person, and even if I’m not gonna lie, it scares me to death, I sure hope I would be, because what’s the point of life if we can witness atrocities and just stand there?

I am in awe of Patrick Ness. His books are brilliant, and I’m already looking forward to reading the next. Because of course there’s a cliffhanger. Again.

Edit 05/29 : I’ve started editing this review, but nothing could express my confusion and emotion more than the few words I wrote straight away. Perhaps it’s for the best that my obsessional perfectionism can’t influence everything. Perhaps sometimes, beautiful sentences and neat organization would be nothing else but a lie.

BOOK REVIEW: For Darkness Shows the Stars (For Darkness Shows the Stars #1) by Diana Peterfreund

May 18, 2016 / Chelsea / 3 Comments

For Darkness Shows the Stars (For Darkness Shows the Stars #1)
by Diana Peterfreund
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
It's been several generations since a genetic experiment gone wrong caused the Reduction, decimating humanity and giving rise to a Luddite nobility who outlawed most technology.

Elliot North has always known her place in this world. Four years ago Elliot refused to run away with her childhood sweetheart, the servant Kai, choosing duty to her family's estate over love. Since then the world has changed: a new class of Post-Reductionists is jumpstarting the wheel of progress, and Elliot's estate is foundering, forcing her to rent land to the mysterious Cloud Fleet, a group of shipbuilders that includes renowned explorer Captain Malakai Wentforth--an almost unrecognizable Kai. And while Elliot wonders if this could be their second chance, Kai seems determined to show Elliot exactly what she gave up when she let him go.

But Elliot soon discovers her old friend carries a secret--one that could change their society . . . or bring it to its knees. And again, she's faced with a choice: cling to what she's been raised to believe, or cast her lot with the only boy she's ever loved, even if she's lost him forever.

Inspired by Jane Austen's Persuasion, For Darkness Shows the Stars is a breathtaking romance about opening your mind to the future and your heart to the one person you know can break it.

“People are foolish when it comes to love.”
Elliot hadn’t been. She’d been rational, logical, reasonable, prudent. She’d been cold and cruel and disloyal and distant.
She hadn’t been foolish.
She’d been the most foolish girl on the island.

So look, guys. Here’s the thing. I’m not big on bashing books-especially when a new friend took the time to make a huge list of recs for me. And also because this book wasn’t bad in any way, shape, or form. It had excellent writing, beautiful tension, and a pretty cool and unique plot: It just wasn’t for me.

I don’t mind books that are more build-up than action, I never have, but I guess in my mind I had imagined a big bang of an ending after all the two main characters had been through. And, frankly, I didn’t quite get the world they lived in. *shrugs* And, again, this doesn’t even bother me.

No, what bothers me is that I just didn’t care…and that’s not a good thing. I skimmed more often than not to get to Kai and I kept waiting for all these things to happen and they…I mean…they didn’t. Now, I had seen somewhere in a review that this was a retelling of a Jane Austen novel, or rather that it was based on it or whatever (it’s early and I frankly don’t want to think of a different way of saying it, right or wrong, lol), so, in the back of my mind, I knew not much would go on. But I put up this mental block and imagined how awesome it would be…and sadly, with all the science and stuff, I was bored more often than not.

And that’s the thing-If there had been even a little payoff after I’d wasted my weekend on this, it might have easily been a three. If there had been some action at the end (hell, I KNOW this is my fault, but just saying, to be clear) it might have been a four. But, as it was, I was confused, bored, and always waiting for Kai to steal the show….and he can’t be the only reason I like a book: That would be preposterous.

(^^Even if this has been the case for me, a lot, eeps!) So, ya know, not going to waste any more time talking about how I misinterpreted what this book was going to be about (again, duh on me lol) and how I only highlighted one passage for this review (one!!!!! It’s madness, I tell you!) and instead I’ll move on to something different. As it is, I’m going through a bit of a, hmm, not slump? But I’m struggling to find just what suits my fancy right now. So, ya know, on to like all of your reviews…..better than blabbering on about the same ‘ol things. Maybe some of you will love this (in fact, many of you have) and will be better suited to enjoy it-as for me, I think I’ll forget about it immediately after finishing this review. Toodles.

***********
Well that was…anti-climactic. :/

#Underwhelmed

I’m sorry but…I went through all that scientific crap and waited for the hero and heroine to get to…that???