Book Review: Savage Drift - Emmy Laybourne

Title: Savage Drift
Authors: Emmy Laybourne
Publication Date: May 6th, 2014
Publisher:  Feiwel & Friends
Pages: 306
Link to Goodreads: Here
Part of a Series: Book 3 of  Monument 14
Plot: The stunningly fierce conclusion to Emmy Laybourne's Monument 14 trilogy.

The survivors of the Monument 14 have finally made it to the safety of a Canadian refugee camp. Dean and Alex are cautiously starting to hope that a happy ending might be possible.

But for Josie, separated from the group and trapped in a brutal prison camp for exposed Type Os, things have gone from bad to worse. Traumatized by her experiences, she has given up all hope of rescue or safety.

Meanwhile, scared by the government's unusual interest in her pregnancy, Astrid (with her two protectors, Dean and Jake in tow) joins Niko on his desperate quest to be reunited with his lost love Josie.

Author Emmy Laybourne reaches new heights of tension and romance in this action-packed conclusion to the Monument 14 trilogy.

Monument 14- Emmy Laybourne

Title: Monument 14
Authors: Emmy Laybourne
Publication Date: June 5th 2012
Publisher:  Feiwel & Friends
Pages: 294
Link to Goodreads: Here
Part of a Series: Book 1 of  Monument 14

Plot:Your mother hollers that you're going to miss the bus. She can see it coming down the street. You don't stop and hug her and tell her you love her. You don't thank her for being a good, kind, patient mother. Of course not-you launch yourself down the stairs and make a run for the corner.

Only, if it's the last time you'll ever see your mother, you sort of start to wish you'd stopped and did those things. Maybe even missed the bus.

But the bus was barreling down our street, so I ran.

Fourteen kids. One superstore. A million things that go wrong.

“Laybourne’s debut ably turns what could have been yet another post apocalyptic YA novel into a tense, claustrophobic, and fast-paced thriller.” (Publishers Weekly)

When Dean raced out the door to catch the school bus, he didn’t realize it would be the last time he’d ever see his mom. After a freak hailstorm sends the bus crashing into a superstore, Dean and a group of students of all ages are left to fend for themselves. 

They soon realize the hailstorm and the crash are the least of their worries. After seeing a series of environmental and chemical disasters ravage the outside world, they realize they’re trapped inside the store. 

Unable to communicate with the ones they love, the group attempts to cobble together a new existence. As they struggle to survive, Dean and the others must decide which risk is greater: leaving… or staying. 

Monument 14 is a post-apocalyptic YA novel that transcends age barriers. If you like heart-stopping suspense, realistic characters, and new takes on survival novels, then you’ll love the first book in Emmy Laybourne’s Monument 14 series.

Reading period: May 1, 2017 - May 6, 2017 

Book Review: Scythe- Neal Shusterman

Title: Scythe
Authors: Neal Shusterman
Publication Date: November 22nd 2016
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Pages: 439
Link to Goodreads: Here
Part of a Series: Book 1 of the Arc of Scythe

Plot: Thou shalt kill.

A world with no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery. Humanity has conquered all those things, and has even conquered death. Now scythes are the only ones who can end life—and they are commanded to do so, in order to keep the size of the population under control.

Citra and Rowan are chosen to apprentice to a scythe—a role that neither wants. These teens must master the “art” of taking life, knowing that the consequence of failure could mean losing their own.

Reading period: February 16, 2017 - February 21, 2017

Book review: Stolen - Erin Bowman

Title: Stolen
Authors: Erin Bowman
Publication Date: February 4th 2014
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pages: 104
Link to Goodreads: Here
Part of a Series: Book 0,5 of the Taken

Plot: Before Gray Weathersby uncovered the truth about Claysoot and the Laicos Project, a girl named Bree came of age in the coastal settlement of Saltwater—and made her own surprising journey to the world beyond its borders. In Stolen, discover the story of Bree’s life before she was Snatched from her home, before she joined the rebellion, and before she met a boy named Gray…

Reading period: February 02, 2017 - February 05, 2017

Book Review: Ashen Winter - Mike Mullin

Title: Ashen Winer
Author: Mike Mullin
Publication Date: October 16th 2012
Publisher:  Tanglewood Press
Pages: 594
Link to Goodreads: Here
Part of a Series: Book 2 of Ashfall

Plot: It’s been over six months since the eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano. Alex and Darla have been staying with Alex’s relatives, trying to cope with the new reality of the primitive world so vividly portrayed in Ashfall, the first book in this series. It’s also been six months of waiting for Alex’s parents to return from Iowa. Alex and Darla decide they can wait no longer and must retrace their journey into Iowa to find and bring back Alex’s parents to the tenuous safety of Illinois. But the landscape they cross is even more perilous than before, with life-and-death battles for food and power between the remaining communities. When the unthinkable happens, Alex must find new reserves of strength and determination to survive. 

Reading Period: May 6, 2016 - May 12, 2016

Book Review: Ashfall - Mike Mullin

Title: Ashfall
Author: Mike Mullin
Publication Date: October 11th 2011
Publisher:  Tanglewood Press
Pages: 476
Link to Goodreads: Here
Part of a Series: Book 1 of Ashfall

Plot: Under the bubbling hot springs and geysers of Yellowstone National Park is a supervolcano. Most people don't know it's there. The caldera is so large that it can only be seen from a plane or satellite. It just could be overdue for an eruption, which would change the landscape and climate of our planet.

For Alex, being left alone for the weekend means having the freedom to play computer games and hang out with his friends without hassle from his mother. Then the Yellowstone supervolcano erupts, plunging his hometown into a nightmare of darkness, ash, and violence. Alex begins a harrowing trek to search for his family and finds help in Darla, a travel partner he meets along the way. Together they must find the strength and skills to survive and outlast an epic disaster.

Reading Period: April 08, 2016 - April 16, 2016

Book Review: Glass Sword - Victoria Aveyard

Title: Glass Sword
Author: Victoria Aveyard
Publication Date: February 9th 2016
Publisher:  HarperTeen
Pages: 444
Link to Goodreads: Here
Part of a Series: Book 2 of Red Queen

Plot: If there’s one thing Mare Barrow knows, it’s that she’s different.

Mare Barrow’s blood is red—the color of common folk—but her Silver ability, the power to control lightning, has turned her into a weapon that the royal court tries to control. 

The crown calls her an impossibility, a fake, but as she makes her escape from Maven, the prince—the friend—who betrayed her, Mare uncovers something startling: she is not the only one of her kind.

Pursued by Maven, now a vindictive king, Mare sets out to find and recruit other Red-and-Silver fighters to join in the struggle against her oppressors. 

But Mare finds herself on a deadly path, at risk of becoming exactly the kind of monster she is trying to defeat. 

Will she shatter under the weight of the lives that are the cost of rebellion? Or have treachery and betrayal hardened her forever?

The electrifying next installment in the Red Queen series escalates the struggle between the growing rebel army and the blood-segregated world they’ve always known—and pits Mare against the darkness that has grown in her soul. 

Reading Period: March 04, 2016 - March 24, 2016

Book Review: Morning Star - Pierce Brown

Title: Morning Star
Author: Pierce Brown
Publication Date: February 9th 2016
Publisher:  Del Rey
Pages: 524
Link to Goodreads: Here
Part of a Series: Book 3 of  Red Rising

Plot: Darrow would have lived in peace, but his enemies brought him war. The Gold overlords demanded his obedience, hanged his wife, and enslaved his people. But Darrow is determined to fight back. Risking everything to transform himself and breach Gold society, Darrow has battled to survive the cutthroat rivalries that breed Society's mightiest warriors, climbed the ranks, and waited patiently to unleash the revolution that will tear the hierarchy apart from within.

Finally, the time has come.

But devotion to honor and hunger for vengeance run deep on both sides. Darrow and his comrades-in-arms face powerful enemies without scruple or mercy. Among them are some Darrow once considered friends. To win, Darrow will need to inspire those shackled in darkness to break their chains, unmake the world their cruel masters have built, and claim a destiny too long denied - and too glorious to surrender.

Reading Period: March 24, 2016 - April 03, 2016

Book Review: Forget Tomorrow - Pintip Dunn

Title: Forget Tomorrow
Author: Pintip Dunn
Publication Date: November 3rd 2 015
Publisher:  Entangled: Teen
Pages: 400
Link to Goodreads: Here
Part of a Series: Book 1 of Forget Tomorrow

Plot: Imagine a world where your destiny has already been decided…by your future self.

It’s Callie’s seventeenth birthday and, like everyone else, she’s eagerly awaiting her vision―a memory sent back in time to sculpt each citizen into the person they’re meant to be. A world-class swimmer. A renowned scientist.

Or in Callie’s case, a criminal.

In her vision, she sees herself murdering her gifted younger sister. Before she can process what it means, Callie is arrested and placed in Limbo―a prison for those destined to break the law. With the help of her childhood crush, Logan, a boy she hasn’t spoken to in five years, she escapes the hellish prison.

But on the run from her future, as well as the government, Callie sets in motion a chain of events that she hopes will change her fate. If not, she must figure out how to protect her sister from the biggest threat of all.

Callie herself

Reading Period: February 24, 2016 - March 03, 2016

Book Review: Uglies - Scott Westerfeld

Title: Uglies
Author: Scott Westerfeld
Publication Date: February 8th 2005 
Publisher:  Simon Pulse
Pages: 425
Link to Goodreads: Here
Part of a Series: Book 1 of the Uglies

Plot: Tally is about to turn sixteen, and she can't wait. In just a few weeks she'll have the operation that will turn her from a repellent ugly into a stunning pretty. And as a pretty, she'll be catapulted into a high-tech paradise where her only job is to have fun.

But Tally's new friend Shay isn't sure she wants to become a pretty. When Shay runs away, Tally learns about a whole new side of the pretty world-- and it isn't very pretty. The authorities offer Tally a choice: find her friend and turn her in, or never turn pretty at all. Tally's choice will change her world forever...

Reading Period: February 14, 2016 - February 25, 2016

Book Review: The 100 - Kass Morgan

Title: The 100
Author: Kass Morgan
Publication Date:  September 3rd 2013
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Pages: 323
Link to Goodreads: Here
Part of a Series: Book 1 of the Hundred Series

Plot: No one has set foot on Earth in centuries -- until now.

Ever since a devastating nuclear war, humanity has lived on spaceships far above Earth's radioactive surface. Now, one hundred juvenile delinquents -- considered expendable by society -- are being sent on a dangerous mission: to recolonize the planet. It could be their second chance at life...or it could be a suicide mission.

CLARKE was arrested for treason, though she's haunted by the memory of what she really did. WELLS, the chancellor's son, came to Earth for the girl he loves -- but will she ever forgive him? Reckless BELLAMY fought his way onto the transport pod to protect his sister, the other half of the only pair of siblings in the universe. And GLASS managed to escape back onto the ship, only to find that life there is just as dangerous as she feared it would be on Earth.

Confronted with a savage land and haunted by secrets from their pasts, the hundred must fight to survive. They were never meant to be heroes, but they may be mankind's last hope. 

Reading Period: February 1, 2016 - February 2, 2016

Book Review: Winter - Marissa Meyer

Title: Winter
Author: Marissa Meyer
Publication Date:  November 10th 2015
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Pages: 824
Link to Goodreads: Here
Part of a Series: Book 4 of the Lunar Chronicles

Plot: Princess Winter is admired by the Lunar people for her grace and kindness, and despite the scars that mar her face, her beauty is said to be even more breathtaking than that of her stepmother, Queen Levana.

Winter despises her stepmother, and knows Levana won’t approve of her feelings for her childhood friend—the handsome palace guard, Jacin. But Winter isn’t as weak as Levana believes her to be and she’s been undermining her stepmother’s wishes for years. Together with the cyborg mechanic, Cinder, and her allies, Winter might even have the power to launch a revolution and win a war that’s been raging for far too long.

Can Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter defeat Levana and find their happily ever afters?

Reading Period: January 04, 2016 - January 08, 2016

Book Review: Cress - Marissa Meyer

Title: Cress
Author: Marissa Meyer
Publication Date:  February 4th 2014
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Pages: 550
Link to Goodreads: Here
Part of a Series: Book 3 of the Lunar Chronicles

Plot: Even in the future. there are damsels in distress...

In the third installment of the Lunar chronicles, Cress, having risked everything to warn Cinder of Queen Levana's evil plan, has a slight problem. She's been imprisoned on a satellite since childhood and has only ever had her netscreens as company. All that screen time has made Cress a great hacker. Unfortunately, she's just received orders from Levana to track down Cinder and her handsome accomplice. 

When a daring rescue of Cress involving Cinder, Captain Thorne, Scarlet, and Wolf goes awry, the group is separated. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes as a high price. Meanwhile, Levana will let nothing prevent her marriage to emperor Kai. Cress, Scarlet and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only hope the world has. 

Reading Period: December 27, 2015 - December 29, 2015

Book Review - The Game of Lives - James Dashner

Title: The Game of Lives
Author: James Dashner
Publication Date: November 17th 2015
Publisher: Delacorte Books
Pages: 352
Link to Goodreads: Here
Part of a Series: Book 3 of the Mortality Doctine

Plot: Michael used to live to game.

Now the games he was playing have become all too real. Only weeks ago, Sinking into the Sleep was fun. The VirtNet combined the most cutting-edge technology and the most sophisticated gaming for a full mind-body experience. And it was Michael’s passion. But now every time Michael Sinks, he risks his life.

The games are over. The VirtNet has become a world of deadly consequences, and Kaine grows stronger by the day. The Mortality Doctrine—Kaine’s master plan—has nearly been realized, and little by little the line separating the virtual from the real is blurring. If Kaine succeeds, it will mean worldwide cyber domination. And it looks like Michael and his friends are the only ones who can put the monster back in the box—if Michael can figure out who his friends really are.

Reading Period: January 13, 2016 - January 16, 2016

Book Review: The Rules of Thoughts - James Dashner

Title: The Rules of Thoughts
Author: James Dashner
Publication Date: August 26th 2014
Publisher: Delacorte Books
Pages: 304
Link to Goodreads: Here
Part of a Series: Book 2 of the Mortality Doctine

Plot: Michael completed the Path.What he found at the end turned everything he’d ever known about his life—and the world—completely upside down.

   He barely survived. But it was the only way VirtNet Security knew to find the cyber-terrorist Kaine—and to make the Sleep safe for gamers once again. And, the truth Michael discovered about Kaine is more complex than they anticipated, and more terrifying than even the worst of their fears.

   Kaine is a tangent, a computer program that has become sentient. And Michael’s completing the Path was the first stage in turning Kaine’s master plan, the Mortality Doctrine, into a reality.

   The Mortality Doctrine will populate Earth entirely with human bodies harboring tangent minds. Any gamer who sinks into the VirtNet risks coming out with a tangent intelligence in control of their body. 

   And the takeover has already begun.

Reading Period: October 15, 2015 - October 20, 2015

Book review: The Eye of Minds - James Dashner

Title: The Eye of Minds
Author: James Dashner
Publication Date: October 8th 2013
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Pages: 308
Link to Goodreads: Here
Part of a Series: Book 1 of the Mortality Doctrine

Plot: Michael is a gamer. And like most gamers, he almost spends more time on the VirtNet than in the actual world. The VirtNet offers total mind and body immersion, and it’s addictive. Thanks to technology, anyone with enough money can experience fantasy worlds, risk their life without the chance of death, or just hang around with Virt-friends. And the more hacking skills you have, the more fun. Why bother following the rules when most of them are dumb, anyway?

But some rules were made for a reason. Some technology is too dangerous to fool with. And recent reports claim that one gamer is going beyond what any gamer has done before: he’s holding players hostage inside the VirtNet. The effects are horrific—the hostages have all been declared brain-dead. Yet the gamer’s motives are a mystery.

The government knows that to catch a hacker, you need a hacker.

And they’ve been watching Michael. They want him on their team. But the risk is enormous. If he accepts their challenge, Michael will need to go off the VirtNet grid. There are back alleys and corners in the system human eyes have never seen and predators he can’t even fathom—and there’s the possibility that the line between game and reality will be blurred forever.

Reading Period: August 17, 2015 -  August 18, 2015

Review

Book Review: Scarlet - Marissa Meyer

Title: Scarlet
Author: Marissa Meyer
Publication Date: February 5th 2013
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Pages: 464
Link to Goodreads: Here
Part of a Series: Book 2 of the Lunar Chronicles

Plot: Cinder, the cyborg mechanic, returns in the second thrilling installment of the bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She's trying to break out of prison--even though if she succeeds, she'll be the Commonwealth's most wanted fugitive. 

Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit's grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn't know about her grandmother or the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother's whereabouts, she is loath to trust this stranger, but is inexplicably drawn to him, and he to her. 

As Scarlet and Wolf unravel one mystery, they encounter another when they meet Cinder. Now, all of them must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen Levana, who will do anything for the handsome Prince Kai to become her husband, her king, her prisoner.

Reading Period: October 10, 2015 - October 14, 2015

Book Review: Illuminae - A. Kaufman & J. Kristoff

Title: Illuminae
Authors: Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff
Publication Date: October 20th 2015
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Pages: 599
Link to Goodreads: Here
Part of a Series: Book 1 of the Illuminae Files

Plot: This morning, Kady thought breaking up with Ezra was the hardest thing she’d have to do.

This afternoon, her planet was invaded.

The year is 2575, and two rival megacorporations are at war over a planet that’s little more than an ice-covered speck at the edge of the universe. Too bad nobody thought to warn the people living on it. With enemy fire raining down on them, Kady and Ezra—who are barely even talking to each other—are forced to fight their way onto an evacuating fleet, with an enemy warship in hot pursuit.

But their problems are just getting started. A deadly plague has broken out and is mutating, with terrifying results; the fleet's AI, which should be protecting them, may actually be their enemy; and nobody in charge will say what’s really going on. As Kady hacks into a tangled web of data to find the truth, it's clear only one person can help her bring it all to light: the ex-boyfriend she swore she'd never speak to again.

Told through a fascinating dossier of hacked documents—including emails, schematics, military files, IMs, medical reports, interviews, and more—Illuminae is the first book in a heart-stopping, high-octane trilogy about lives interrupted, the price of truth, and the courage of everyday heroes.

Reading Period: December 04, 2015 - January 03, 2016

Dystopia Reading Challenge 2016

2015 is nearly finished and it's time to think about 2016 reading challenges. I've had fun with this challenge this year and I want to try it again since I like reading Dystopian Novels. 

I want to try and reach Leader level that's reading and reviewing 16+ books! Yeah!!!

Books read so far: 

The Game of Lives - James Dashner
Winter - Marissa Meyer
The 100 - Kass Morgan
Uglies - Scott Westerfeld
Forget Tomorrow - Pintip Dunn
Glass Sword - Victoria Aveyard
Morning Star - Pierce Brown
Ashfall - Mike Mullin
Ashen Winter - Mike Mullin
The Gender Game - Bella Forrest
Queen Song - Victoria Aveyard
The Last Star - Rick Yancey
A Torch Against the Night - Sabaa Tahir

Book Review: Cinder - Marissa Meyer

Title: Cinder
Author: Marissa Meyer
Publication Date: January 3rd 2012
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Pages: 400
Link to Goodereads: Here
Part of a Series: Book 1 of the Lunar Chronicles

Plot: Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. 

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

Reading Period: September 11, 2015 - September 16, 2015

Review:

I knew this series was very popular among YA readers, but I've always put it off because I wasn't really convinced.... a cyborg Cinderella?!

But  after months of debating and deliberating, I read the first book.... I made the right decision!!!

I really like it! So much that I read the other novellas: Glitches , The Little Android and The Queen's Army in just one day!

Okay, so the book is a retelling of Cinderella's story in a more futuristic and dystopian way. Cinder, is a mechanic and a cyborg. She lives in the futuristic  New  Beijing with her stepmother and stepsisters.

Since she is a cyborg she is considered a second class citizen. Cyborgs are used as experiments to find a cure for a deadly illness that has invaded the planet. One days she meets Prince Kai and they fall in love,

They are a lot of things involved, an intergalactic possible war with Lunar, the inhabitants of the Moon, the virus, cinder's discovery which wasn't really of a surprise. You can image it right for the beginning. I don't know if it was intentional or I've read so many of these books that nothing is unpredictable anymore.

Overall it's a very enjoyable book, well written, dynamic characters. I'm glad I finally picked it up and read it. Now, there's the rest of the series!Lol

RATING