Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver
Posted: March 23, 2012 Filed under: Review | Tags: dystopia, review, series, young adult 1 Comment »
Awaking to pain, heart-break and intense hunger, Lena must learn to face a frightening new world. She has left her family, friends and all she ever knew behind to start a new life – but her intended partner in this new life was shot down during their escape. As she is nursed back to health and then adopted and trained by Invalids for the resistance, Lena’s character develops from the weak and confused girl we met in Delirium to a strong(er) and determined young woman.
Remember Lena? She lives in a world where love - amor deliria nervosa - is a disease. By law, everyone must be cured at the age of 18 in order to maintain law and order.
In Delirium, Lena meets and is infected by falls in love with Alex, only weeks before she must receive the cure. Convinced of the folly of her society, Lena runs away. Only the sad ending to the last book is that Alex did not escape with her – he is shot by the border guards, and she is alone.
In Pandemonium, we follow Lena’s continuing story as she fights first for her own survival in the wilds, then as a member of the anti- government, pro-love resistance, and finally to save herself and her unlikely partner when kidnapped during a political rally.
It should be noted – this is a YA dystopia. There are definite parallels to the classics Brave New World and The Handmaid’s Tale but we’re really looking at a teenage love story, with a dystopian dressing up. This would make me extremely critical if it wasn’t well done, but it is.
I really enjoyed reading this book. Book 1 was good but not great. Sequels tend to be worse, and if I hadn’t had a few dollars left on a Kobo gift card, I probably would not have bothered. I am very glad I did. Oliver has drawn me further into the saga with a few not completely unexpected but still risky plot twists. I am greatly looking forward to Book 3.
Hardcover: 384 pages
Publisher: HarperCollins (February 28, 2012)
ISBN-10: 006197806X
ISBN-13: 978-0061978067
Ashes, Ashes by Joe Treggiari
Posted: August 29, 2011 Filed under: Review | Tags: Atlantic Canada, CanLit, dystopia, postaweek2011, review, young adult 2 Comments »
The end of the word has come and gone with a series of epidemics, floods, droughts (and the resulting violence and chaos) leaving 16 year old Lucy as one of the few survivors. She is alone, foraging for food with the help of her father’s old pocket knife and a survival guide she swiped from a high-end Manhattan sporting goods store.
The combination of a tsunami and an attack by wild dogs leads Lucy to leave her solitary camp in Central Park seek help and company with a group of survivors, including handsome and friendly Aiden. We are introduced to a very different Manhattan, a new social structure, and the real truth about the epidemics that wiped out most of human civilization. We also quickly dicvoer there is something special about Lucy.
Ashes, Ashes starts out strong. Lucy on her own is a fascinating character. I enjoyed reading through her thought processes and problem solving. She is smart, capable, and independent, all nice to see in a young female heroine. After joining Aiden and his group of survivors, she suddenly seems so passive and unsure of herself, it is disappointing. Realistic perhaps after so much time alone, but disappointing nonetheless.
A good read, great for summer days on the beach.
Blood Red Road by Moira Young
Posted: July 11, 2011 Filed under: Review | Tags: CanLit, dystopia, postaweek2011, recommendations, review, young adult 1 Comment »
The debut novel from Canadian author Moira Young turns the young adult dystopian fiction genre on its head with the story of Saba, stubborn, sometimes mean and often naïve, off to rescue her twin brother from the hands of the “King.”
Saba lives in a dry and dusty post-apocalyptic, barren world, destroyed by the previous “Wreckers” civilization. Her family is clinging to life on the shores of the dried up Silverlake, salvaging former Wrecker landfills for materials to repair their home. In the aftermath of a terrible sandstorm, their home is raided by cloaked men, her father killed and her twin brother kidnapped.
Determined to rescue him, Saba must cross the ‘Sandsea’ to Hopetown, and face the dangers waiting there. Though she is determined to leave her younger sister behind, Emmi will not be left. Saba and Emmi survive the desert, a kidnapping, cage fighting and raging fires on their way to a bloody showdown with the deranged and self acclaimed King, just in time to save their brother from execution and sacrifice.
Saba is strong and proud – often to a fault. She can be thoughtless and cruel, especially where Emmi is concerned. All her life, the only person she has ever really loved was Lugh. With him gone, Saba is forced to reach out to others for help, and discovers much about herself in the process. There is even a love story thrown in, but it never takes centre stage. It just isn’t that kind of book.
Other books have tried and come close, but this one truly succeeds in being a novel where the girls are strong enough to rescue the boys, but not too proud to accept help. Most of the time.
Hardcover: 464 pages
Publisher: Doubleday Canada (Jun 7 2011)
ISBN-10: 0385671830
ISBN-13: 978-0385671835
Pluto’s Ghost by Sheree Fitch
Posted: June 9, 2011 Filed under: Review | Tags: Atlantic Canada, CanLit, fabulous, postaweek2011, review, young adult Leave a comment »
I have a bad habit of picking inappropriate airplane books. Which inevitably leads to me crying in front of 300 strangers (as happened when reading Come Thou, Tortoise). Saturday morning, I flew to Austin, TX for work. (What a city! Had a fantastic time.) I had my Kobo packed and so lots to choose from, but also recently bought a good old-fashioned hard copy of Sheree Fitch’s new young adult novel Pluto’s Ghost, so I threw that into my bag at the last minute.
Pluto’s Ghost is the story of Jake Upshore, a troubled teen from a small Nova Scotia town. He lost his mother at a very young age. He is dyslexic and struggles at school. He has suffered with substance abuse and has had more than one run-in with the law. He is occasionally violent with an unruly and explosive temper.
But Jake is so much more than his bad reputation. He is desperately trying to improve himself. He is in therapy and overcoming his addictions, having been clean for six months. He is a songwriter and a poet. He studies martial arts with a teacher, one of his mother’s old friends. He started his own landscaping business. He is in love with longtime friend Skye Derucci, but even this relationship brings limited joy as Skye insists on keeping the relationship secret – she says this is because of her overprotective policeman-father, but Jake is pretty sure it is because she’s ashamed of him.
The novel opens with Jake being handcuffed and shoved into the back seat of a police car in Halifax.
“Everything that’s happened is because of Skye. I’m not blaming. I’m just saying. I’m telling this tale because of Skye and the only reason I was starting to think my pathetic life wasn’t such a crock of shit after all was because of Skye. “
How did he get there? It started with Skye’s disappearance, and the rumour that she was pregnant and running off to Halifax for an abortion. Not quite sure what he wants her to do, Jake is hurt that she didn’t turn to him, and decides to follow her to the city.
“I’m not complainin’
I’m just explainin’
I’m not excusin’
But see
I thought I was losin’
my baby
my lady
my mind.”
Thus begins a terrible 48 hours filled with poor decisions, terrible choices and bad, bad luck. Rumours continue to swirl, as they will in a small town, and your heart breaks right along with Jake’s as you wonder: is she pregnant? Is the baby even Jake’s? Why won’t she answer her phone?
The novel is written in Jake’s voice. His therapist and teachers encourage him to tell his story, both to help deal with the trauma and to earn the final credits needed to graduate high school. Most mentions of teenage pregnancy in novels are from the perspective of the mother, but Pluto’s Ghost allows you to see it from the other side. While Jake knows and accepts that the choice in the end lies with Skye, he desperately wants to be involved. He wants to believe that his voice matters. He just wants to be asked, and have a chance to state his opinion and show his support.
In true Fitch style, Pluto’s Ghost reads like a poem. Using songs, poems, word tricks and more, Fitch writes the novel in the voice of an angry, dyslexic and extremely sensitive boy. She takes you inside the troubled mind of a confused young teenager as he deals with pregnancy, loneliness and addiction, and the kind of desperate love only an 18-year-old can feel.
To anyone who has ever fallen in love with an 18-year-old bad-ass (which is pretty much everyone I know: You will fall in love with Jake Upshore. You will want to hold him, kiss his forehead, run your hands through his hair, and make everything better. But he won’t let you. That’s not what he does, and that’s not how it works. Pluto’s Ghost will touch you, shock you and knock the wind out of you with its final scenes. And as mentioned, you may cry on a plane full of strangers.
“Murderer. It’s one kick in the belly of a word isn’t it? Has a taste, too. It tastes like barbed wire and has wild hyena eyes. Murderer. Murder-her. Did he? Did I? That’s when I remember what I want to forget.”
Paperback: 256 pages
Publisher: Doubleday Canada (September 28, 2010)
ISBN-10: 0385665903
ISBN-13: 978-0385665902
Delirium by Lauren Oliver
Posted: June 3, 2011 Filed under: Review | Tags: dystopia, postaweek2011, review, young adult Leave a comment »
After enduring finishing Moby Dick last week, I needed some book candy to refresh my mind, and so took to the Kobo and downloaded Delirium, a book that had caught my eye in a Goodreads thread back in February.
Once again, I turn to dystopian fiction to cheer me up. I don’t want to think about what this could say about me.
The premise of the book captured me within milliseconds of reading the plot summary. In Delirium, the United States has declared love (or amor deliria nervosa) a disease, and outlawed it. (Think about the problems it causes – who hasn’t wanted to rip their heart out of their chest and “never love again” at least once?)
All citizens must receive the lobotomy-like cure at the age of eighteen, and settle into practical, passion-free lives with their state appointed life partners.
Schools are segregated. Socializing between the sexes is strictly forbidden among the uncured. Music and books are censored. There is no mention or celebration of love. Romeo and Juliet is taught in the schools not as a romance, but as a cautionary tale.
Borders are closed. No one enters or leaves the country. Everyone lives in approved cities – except the Invalids, who oppose the state and live in the Wilds. Of course, no one talks openly about the Invalids, and the state tries to pretend they don’t actually exist.
Our main character is Lena, about to graduate high school and counting the days till she is cured and matched. Her mother succumbed to ‘he disease many year ago, and eventually committed suicide. Lena has been living under that shadow for many years. She looks forward to a happier life without the risk of falling in love.
And then she meets Alex. And becomes infected.
Suddenly, Lena’s world is turned upside down. All the truths she ever accepted have been challenged. Her memories of her mother, and the laughs, cuddles and songs they shared behind closed doors and curtains all have new meaning. Lena begins to rebel against the society she so recently embraced. She no longer wants to be ‘cured’ and desperately wants to avoid the good match she so longed for.
I enjoyed reading Delirium; I couldn’t put it down. Though it started a bit slow, I was soon fascinated by Lena’s relationships with Hana (her best friend) and Grace (her mute younger cousin). Later, I fell in love with Alex just as Lena did, and grieved her mother through her memories. On the surface, the story was intoxicating.
Just below the surface… not so much. Reading any dystopia requires accepting certain assumptions that may be more or less farfetched, but for it to work they have to at least be plausible. While I loved the IDEA of a world where love was declared a disease, Oliver didn’t sell it well enough. I couldn’t understand how or why this had happened. How did an entire country buy into it? Was there a major catastrophe that led to drastic measures? Did a dictator take over and impose his/her will on the country? We don’t know. Add this to the fact that it seems to be set in the not-too-distant future, and I was left thinking things could not have changed so dramatically, so fast.
Also, and maybe this is just another sign of me getting old, but the romance between Lena and Alex wasn’t convincing enough. I can see why they eventually fell for one another, but the instant connection did not convince me, and I don’t see how she could already love him enough to want to abandon her family, friends and life to be with him. I can write it all off to the intensity of teenage love, but that’s a cop-out. I want to be convinced.
Delirium is the first book of a planned trilogy tracing Lena’s adventures in this love-free world. Despite some holes in the plot, I love the idea, and enjoyed the story enough that I anticipate reading more. Perhaps some of what’s missing will be revealed in later novels.
Hardcover: 448 pages
Publisher: HarperCollins (February 1, 2011)
ISBN-10: 0061726826
ISBN-13: 978-0061726828
Review: The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins
Posted: January 26, 2011 Filed under: Review | Tags: dystopia, fabulous, postaweek, review, science fiction, young adult 3 Comments »
Category: Fiction, Young Adult
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Published Date: Sept. 14, 2008, Sept. 1 2009, Aug. 24, 2010
ISBN-10: 0439023483, 0439023491, 0439023513
ISBN-13: 978-0439023481, 978-0439023498, 978-0439023511
I guess technically, this is three books this week, not one, but I have a habit of looking at a series as one book, in parts.
Having finished a few long and/or dark books in the last few weeks, and starting to read Moby Dick – very long and a more difficult read, I was looking for something easy. My sister-in-law had been talking up this series when I chatted with her over Christmas, so last Thursday I bought the e-book version at lunch. Before I got back to work at 1:30 I had read 37% of it. It was exactly the addictive, easy-but-not-simple read I was looking for.
The Hunger Games is a young-adult science fiction dystopian trilogy written by Suzanne Collins. Our heroine is 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives with her mother and sister in District 12 of the country of Panem - all that remains of what we now call North America. The 12 districts of Panem are controlled by a powerful government located in the central city called simply The Capitol. The Hunger Games of the title are an annual televised reality-show type event where one boy and one girl from each district are chosen to fight to the death, in a gruesome reminder that The Capitol holds the power, and not even children are beyond their reach. (This is in retaliation for an uprising by the districts, many decades earlier.)
When her 12-year-old sister is chosen to represent District 12, Katniss volunteers to replace her, and is sent off to The Capitol to compete, along with District 12′s other champion, Peeta Mellark. They are not friends, but many years earlier, Peeta saved the lives of Katniss and her family with a gift of food. So Peeta and Katniss struggle to trust and help each other survive the Games, with the knowledge that only one can survive in the end, which may mean killing one another before it is over.
That’s only the beginning of the first book – and I can’t tell you much more without spoiling it. Of course, with three books you can assume our heroine survives. Does she ever. Katniss is one of the most inspiring female characters I have read in young adult fiction. Collins has created an amazingly strong feminine character. She’s smart. She’s resourceful. She fights to the death. Even the typical love-triangle plot doesn’t turn her into a confused young girl stereotype. She is far from perfect, and could stand to put a little more trust in her instincts and in her friends, but given her life history it is not surprising that she doesn’t.
Simply put, these books were amazing. They took the dark themes of war, survival, tyranny and death and yet played out a beautiful story of friendship, loyalty and perseverance. Despite being written for a young audience, no theme was off-limits – except perhaps sex. Characters were remarkably chaste, despite all the kissing going on. (I remember reading books where teens had sex, or at least some serious making out and temptation. Is that not OK anymore? Particularly when compared to how realistic the rest of the interactions were.)
What struck me the most was the attitude towards war and killing. With the exception of a few characters, all struggle with the realities of taking another life. Whether it happened during the Games or later during the uprising, characters feel the killing, and deal with what can only be symptoms of post-traumatic stress. Violence is not glossed-over. It is not simplified. Characters deal with guilt and loss in very real ways. Also, with the exception of a few characters who are clearly meant to personify good and evil, all characters have a depth not usually seen in this genre. They question their own motivations. They change their opinions on matters, and change them again. They learn and grow based on what is happening around them.
If I can criticise anything it would be that by the end of book three I was beginning to be overwhelmed by just how many bad things are happening. I almost feel the story could have ended 2-3 chapters sooner, that some of the final battles and catastrophes were not necessary. I don’t know which I would choose to cut, only that I found myself wondering if it was ever going to end. And then it did, and I was devastated, because the story was so good I wanted it to continue.
Some of the fault there may also be mine. I read all three books in three days. I just couldn’t stop reading. Perhaps if I had paced myself better, if I’d had to wait for the release of the 3rd book, the ending would have seemed more fitting. Regardless, all three books are well worth the read. You won’t be disappointed.
