When I first heard about these books I wasn't sure if I should give them a try. I hadn't read any science fiction before and I wasn't sure if it was a genre I would like. The premise sounded great though so I thought, what the heck? I ended up loving these books! Here's my summary and review of each book in the trilogy:
In a distant future, Earth is in need of help. Natural resources are depleted and the technology is finally available for humans to travel through space and find other planets that can support life. Seventeen-year-old Amy's parents work for the government and are boarding a spaceship to go to one of those recently discovered planets. They give Amy a choice...stay on Earth with her boyfriend and relatives or come aboard the ship, get cryogenically frozen, and start a new life on a new planet many years in the future? Amy loves her parents and decides to go with them. The next thing she knows she's being woken up...early. Mesmerized by her beauty, a boy named Elder unplugs her machine. Elder had no idea all these people were frozen on his ship. He's grown up there and is being groomed to become the next Eldest, the leader. While Amy starts to adjust to her new reality, one in which she is a shunned outsider, someone starts unplugging and killing off the frozens one-by-one. Amy and Elder race to figure out what's going on and who's responsible. What they discover is shocking and life changing. Their spaceship/home has more secrets and problems than they ever thought possible.
It's been three months since Amy woke up on Godspeed. Her and Elder have uncovered many of the ships' secrets but many more questions still plague them. People have died and chaos has erupted. Elder has assumed control of the ship but it isn't going well. The more he and Amy fall in love, he more control over his people he loses. As more shocking discoveries are made, Amy comes to realize that not only will she never fit in with Elder and his people, but she will be older than her parents when they finally land. If they ever land. That's looking more and more like a possibility every second.
They've landed. A lot of lives were lost and a lot of people decided to stay behind but Elder and Amy and about 1000 members of Godspeed have taken the shuttle and landed on the new Earth. But this planet isn't at all what they thought it would be. Something big and scary is outside the shuttle trying to kill them. The frozens are woken up and assume control. It doesn't go well. Amy and Elder do whatever they can to bridge the gap and keep the peace between Elder's people and those that were frozen but nothing they do seems to help. As they all try to make a new life on this strange and amazing new planet, more threats come at them. They can't go back to Godspeed and those on Godspeed can't help them and they can't get a hold of anyone on the original Earth so what do they do? And more importantly, will they survive?
**The Across the Universe trilogy is science fiction at its best. Revis does an amazing job dealing with themes of hope, belonging, and what it means to be human. I loved the relationship between Amy and Elder and how despite all odds they do whatever they can to try to save the people onboard the ship and the mission itself. Elder's character arc is much more obvious and interesting than Amy's but her hardships onboard the ship as well as the feelings she has to deal with when adjusting to her new life will bring tears to your eyes. The final book had me tearing through the pages to see how it all ended and I couldn't have been more surprised and more pleased with how it all played out. I highly recommend this trilogy to anyone who enjoys philosophical questions, space drama, and thrilling mysteries.
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I bet you can easily guess where I got the desire to read these books. If you said "EW's Shelf Life" you'd be right! It must have been months before Tempest was due to be released when they did an interview with Julie Cross about her first book in the TEMPEST trilogy. When I read the premise I was excited...a time travel love story with government agents and life or death stakes! Sold! Here's my summary of Tempest and Vortex:
19-year-old Jackson Meyer can travel backwards in time. It just sort of happened one day and so now he and his best friend Adam play around with how it works. They discover his "jumps" have no effect on the future and aren't sure why Jackson is the way he is. Jackson and his dad aren't close so he can't ask him and Jackson's mom is dead..as is his sister. He has a girlfriend, Holly, who he is completely in love with but she doesn't know what Jackson can do. One day while in her dorm room, two men rush into the room and shoot Holly. Terrified, Jackson accidentally travels back in time. Further than ever before. And he can't seem to get back. Stuck in 2007, Jackson has no choice but to figure out what is going on with his abilities. He meets Holly all over again and the two fall in love all over again. Jackson slowly starts to learn more about who he is and more importantly, who his father is. In the end he has to make a decision: stay in 2007 or go back to the future and fight these enemies--save Holly or rewrite history?
**Let me just start by saying I love time travel stories. The science of it is baffling but when a writer or show gets it right, I get swept away. I love the idea of being able to change our past or relive our lives. Jackson was such a fun character to get to know. I don't usually read YA books from a boy's POV but I loved reading this one. Jackson was a good kid in love and having fun when suddenly his life was turned upside down and inside out. He wants to do the right thing but first has to figure out what that is. I loved the choices he was faced with and how beautifully written his story and character arc was.
Vortex picks up a few months after Tempest left off. Jackson has made his decisions about his life and future with Holly and joined forces with a team of experts who are helping him with his abilities as well as training him to fight those who came after him and shot Holly. Jackson spends a good portion of the novel doing said training and making new friends. We don't get to know too much about what's going on with Adam and Holly until the last half of the book. And as much as Jackson doesn't want to use his abilities, he ends up having to when his enemies catch up with him. Then there is the little girl who looks like his dead sister that keeps popping up and warning Jackson about a possible apocalyptic future. Jackson has to figure out who to trust, how to prevent the destruction of the planet, and how to save those he loves. What happens in the end will leave you stunned!
**Vortex started out a little frustrating for me. Cross tried to explain through Jackson exactly how his time travel and "jumps" worked. It totally confused me. But once I got passed that, I really enjoyed what Jackson was now doing with is life. I liked the tough choices he'd made and I really felt how hard it was on him. I felt his sadness and loneliness and determination to fix everything and fight the bad guys. The action was great and the suspense kept me turning the pages. When Adam and Holly came back in, I was blown away. They had definitely changed! The ending tore me up and made me cry. What is going to happen now!? I can't wait to find out!
The title of the final installment of the TEMPEST trilogy hasn't been released but probably comes out early next year.
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If you haven't heard the talk and praise surrounding this book yet, let me tell you what you're missing. The 5th Wave debuted at #2 on the NYT best seller list and Tobey Maguire (yes the actor!) has bought the film rights. Pretty dang good start for a new series. Yancey isn't new to writing by any means, but this is his first YA book told from primarily a girl's perspective. And he did it well. Here's my summary:
Earth is under attack. A mothership of aliens has approached the planet and wave after wave, have decimated the human population. In the 1st wave they cut the power, in the 2nd they rose the oceans, the 3rd they sent the plague, the 4th they sent their sentries to kill anyone they found alive. Now what few have survived hunker down and wait for the 5th wave. Cassie lives by her #1 rule--don't trust anyone. Why? Because the "others" look just like us. She let them fool her once. She sent her brother away with what she thought were soldiers so he would be safe. Then watched as those soldiers massacred everyone around her. Now with everyone she loves dead, Cassie is trying to make her way to where she thinks they took her brother and the other children. But first she meets Evan. He saves her when a sentry shoots her. Something is off about him though and Cassie can't figure out what. Should she trust him? Meanwhile, her brother Sammy is back at an army base with other kids and a slew of soldiers. The soldiers are training them to fight the aliens. Sammy makes a friend in someone completely unexpected. Someone who like Cassie knows the truth about what's going on. Who plans to save Sammy just like Cassie does. So do they manage? Will the aliens win? But more importantly, what makes us human? When we give up fighting and trying to save one another haven't they already won?
**Not many books inspire me to open up a new (or old) word doc and start writing. This one did. It was well written with tons of suspense and horror and Cassie's voice was right on with what I thought a teenage girl's voice going through all that would be. I literally couldn't put this book down! Kids complained about needing things like food, clean clothes, my attention, and while they got those things, they got them fast because I needed to get back to reading! If you haven't already picked up this book, I highly recommended it! I already can't wait for the sequel (sadly it doesn't come out til next May).
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I'm pretty sure this was another book I saw a recommendation for on EW. If I remember correctly, the author talked about how she only planned on doing two books to tell this story--a duology. I thought this was really cool because it seems like all you find these days are trilogies. It's hard to even find a good stand-alone book. Hooray for Price for deciding to be different. Here's my summary of Starters:
In a dystopian future, all that's left after the genocide spore are those who were vaccinated--the old and the young. Basically, everyone between 20 and 60 was killed by the virus. Medical advances allow those that are over 60 to live past the century mark. They're referred to as "Enders." Callie, her brother Tyler, and her best friend Michael--all "Starters," have no grandparents to claim them so they spend their days as squatters trying to find food and stay alive. When Callie hears about a company offering a lot of money to teens willing to rent their bodies to enders for a short time period, allowing those enders to get to be young again, she eagerly accepts. This will be her chance to get medicine for her brother and a real home for all three of them. Callie agrees to have a chip implanted in her brain and rent her body to an old lady. But the chip malfunctions and Callie wakes up living in the rich lady's home, driving her car, hanging out with her other ender friends in rented bodies, and even dating the grandson of the Senator. Then Callie discovers something horrific--the old lady wants to use her body to commit murder. And that's not all--the company and the man in charge of the renting has chilling secrets that no one could ever have dreamed anyone capable of. And just when things couldn't possibly get any worse--a renter turns up in a body Callie never expected.
**This book hooked me from page one and didn't let me go until I finished. Fast paced and full of weird science and set in a scary future, I loved Callie's story. Her voice was just what you'd expect from a 16-year-old girl who has no family except a little brother. The lengths she goes to to keep them safe is impressive. I loved the friendship between Callie and Michael and had high hopes it would turn into something more. But then when Callie starts dating Blake, the Senator's grandson, I kinda ended up liking him too. The twists and turns and revelations this book had were always unexpected and often had me gasping in surprise. The ending completely shocked me. I can't wait to read the conclusion to Callie's story when Enders comes out next year.
Thanks for stopping by. Let me know what you think in the comments below and if you have a book suggestion, I'd love to hear it!
I often read the "shelf life" section of EW.com for book reviews and author interviews and never once have I been disappointed with a book they've recommended. Cinder was one of those books. When I saw it, I thought: "oh great, here's another retelling of Cinderella. And with cyborgs? Seriously?" But since EW has never steered me wrong I decided to give it ago. Needless to say, EW was right. Here's my summary:
Cinder is a cyborg. She and many other androids live among the humans of New Beijing. Cinder is also a mechanic. She spends her days fixing what's broken and hanging out with her only friend, a full on robot. She puts up with her awful stepmother's constant berating and ordering her around. You see, her stepmother blames her for her stepsister's illness. But illness is everywhere in New Beijing. People are disappearing and dying all the time. When Prince Kai comes to Cinder and asks for her help fixing his android, Cinder immediately gets pulled into palace politics and intrigue. But she wants nothing to do with all the lies, secrets, and betrayals that are all too common among the royals. And try as she might, Cinder can't seem to ignore her growing feelings for Kai. But what chance could she possibly have with the Prince? Then Cinder learns Kai may have to marry Queen Levana. She's the ruler of the Lunars, those who live on the moon. When Cinder intercepts a transmit from a girl named Scarlet, she learns that the Lunars and their Queen aren't all they seem. But what is it they want?
**I enjoyed this book so much. The New Beijing Meyer has created is filled with science and technology and the characters are dynamic and full of life. Cyborg or android, you don't even notice her writing is that good! The slow growing of friendship into love between Cinder and Kai is sweet and realistic. While there were many aspects similar to the original Cinderella, Meyer goes far beyond the fairy tale to create a unique story that is much more modern and relatable. The next book in the Lunar Chronicles, Scarlet (yes that's Little Red Riding Hood!) is sure to be a big hit.
Thanks for stopping by and reading another review. See you back here again tomorrow!
In honor of the recent release of Fox Forever, the conclusion to the Jenna Fox Chronicles, I thought I'd review the first book in the trilogy--The Adoration of Jenna Fox. My sister insisted for a long time that I read this book. Since I wasn't sure I was in to sci-fi, I hesitated. When I finally did read it, I was blown away. This books is one of my all-time favorites. Here's a summary:
Seventeen year old Jenna Fox wakes up after being in a coma for a year. She has no memory of her life before the accident that put her there. She's in a secluded house with her grandmother and mother and rarely does her dad make an appearance. Through re-told stories about her life and home videos, Jenna slowly starts to piece together who she was before she lost all her memories. But she also realizes that her parents aren't telling her everything about what happened to her. When Jenna discovers the truth--the lengths her parents went through to save her from death, she is horrified. Jenna has to learn how to cope with her new life and deal with the emotional toll of parents who loved their child too much to let go. She begins to question what love is, what it means to be human and what place bio-medicine has in the ethics of humanity.
**I can't say how much I love Jenna Fox, the book and the girl. The emotional journey Pearson takes you on in learning just who Jenna is will make you cry more than once. It's impossible not to put yourself in Jenna's place and feel what she feels. The question of bio-medical ethics is a very real one that many authors have explored but none have done as well as Pearson. You will ask all the questions you should, like: How far is too far to save your child? What does it really mean to be human? Is it possible to love someone too much? Where do we stop in trying to play God in medicine? As a mom it was very easy to see why Jenna's parents did what they did. But getting Jenna's perspective, actually living the journey with her, took the whole situation into that gray area of right vs. wrong. This is definitely a book I recommend you read. The follow up books, The Fox Inheritance and Fox Forever were stunning as well.
Thanks for reading! As usual, feel free to comment below.
I love fairy tales. I can read Hans Christian Anderson and the Grimm brothers' stories all day long and not tire of them. Fairy tales have a prominent place in the folklore of every country. They're what we tell to our kids as bedtime stories, what we tell to our sons and daughters as examples of how love should be, and what we often use to scare our kids with into behaving. So whenever I find an author who can take a fairy tale, in this example Sleeping Beauty, and re-tell it in a whole new way, I'm sold! Here's the summary:
Rosalinda Fitzroy has been asleep for 62 years. Left in a stasis tube in a forgotten subbasement, she is awoken with a kiss by a boy. Rose has missed out on so much. Her parents and boyfriend are all long gone and the world is completely changed. And she is the heir to an interplanetary empire. Some view her as a threat and try to have her killed while most just view her as a freak. All Rose wants is to fit in and try to make a new life for herself. But first she needs answers. With the help of her new friend Otto and Bren, the boy who woke her, Rose tries to learn why she was forgotten and who wants her dead. In the process, the once pushover Rose blossoms into a strong young lady and discovers alive a person (or people) she thought she'd lost forever.
**When I first picked up this book, I thought it'd be similar to Beth Revis' Across the Universe because both main characters are in stasis tubes or sorts and are accidentally woken up. Well that's the only thing these two books have in common. Rose is easy to sympathize with in the beginning even though she is such a pushover. I mean lots of young girls just want to please their parents. But Rose's parents are awful! They put her in her stasis tube every time they want to take a vacation or just don't feel like being parents. Why hire a babysitter when you can just put your kid to sleep? I kept wanting to yell at Rose to fight back! Then 62 years pass and you are even more mad because these people forgot about their own kid! And Rose is left to fend for herself in a world drastically different and without any loved ones to help her. The boyfriend who always stood by her side and fought for her, all her friends, all long gone. Everyone is horrible to her and calls her a freak. Rose grows stronger and stronger and endures all the pain and attempts on her life like such a heroine. Her arc is wonderful and the new friends she makes are just what she needs. Though she doesn't get all the answers, she does find out who is trying to kill her and why. But the best surprise comes at the end when she discovers the someone(s) who are still alive. I cried! A Long, Long Sleep is an amazing retelling of Sleeping Beauty that poses the idea that just because you've been asleep for 62 years doesn't mean the world stopped for you. What do you do when everyone you love and the world you know has moved on without you?
Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think in the comments below. And don't forget to check back tomorrow for an exclusive excerpt from my manuscript!!
This is another book I saw that my library had on their "new items" list. I read the synopsis and thought I'd give it a try when it came in. Then one day I was researching YA word counts and I came across Jessica Khoury's website. I recognized her book as the one I was waiting to read so I browsed around her site to learn more about her. Let me just say, I was impressed. Jessica is smart, accomplished and personable. Now I was even more excited to read her book. Here's the summary:
Pia lives in a glass room in a secret laboratory under the canopy of the Amazon rain forest. The scientists that study and look after her are her family. She knows virtually nothing about the outside world and all she knows about herself is that she was created to be the start of a new immortal race of humans. She'll learn the secret to what created her when she proves her commitment and loyalty to the scientists. One night Pia discovers a hole in the electric fence that surrounds her compound. She sneaks out to see what lies in the jungle around her. That's when she meets Eio. He's from a nearby village. Every chance she gets, Pia slips away to see Eio and learn about his people, the jungle, and the world. Slowly the two fall in love and in the process learn that the scientists' aren't as innocent as they want Pia to think. The secrets they are hiding will change Pia's life forever.
**I LOVED this book and the characters within. Pia's arc is well-written and realistic. At first, she's a little self-centered and conceited from a lifetime of being told how perfect she is and how one day she will lead a new race of humans. But when she meets Eio, all this changes. Pia learns that not only can she question her world but she should. And when she actually starts to do this you see a very natural shift in her loyalties. What Pia learns causes her to form her own opinions and make her own choices. The consequences of this new way of being add an element of suspense to the plot that keep you turning the pages. The relationship between Pia and Eio is natural and sweet as any first love between such sheltered people would be. The ending was satisfying in a way that's often hard to come by with a stand alone book. Khoury brilliantly ends Pia's story in a way that leaves you content. I can't wait to read more from this talented new author! (here's a link for what she's coming out with next: https://www.facebook.com/authorjessicakhoury)
