Review: The Breeders by Katie French

THE STORY:

Sixteen-year-old Riley Meemick is one of the world's last free girls. When Riley was born, her mother escaped the Breeders, the group of doctors using cruel experiments to bolster the dwindling human race. Her parents do everything possible to keep her from their clutches-- moving from one desolate farm after another to escape the Breeders' long reach. The Breeders control everything- the local war lords, the remaining factories, the fuel. They have unchecked power in this lawless society. And they're hunting Riley.

When the local Sheriff abducts the adult members of her family and hands her mother over to the Breeders, Riley and her eight-year-old brother, Ethan, hiding in a shelter, are left to starve. Then Clay arrives, the handsome gunslinger who seems determined to help to make up for past sins. The problem is Clay thinks Riley is a bender-- a genderless mutation, neither male nor female. As Riley's affection for Clay grows she wonders can she trust Clay with her secret and risk her freedom?

The three embark on a journey across the scarred remains of New Mexico-- escaping the Riders who use human sacrifice to appease their Good Mother, various men scrambling for luck, and a deranged lone survivor of a plague. When Riley is shot and forced into the Breeder's hospital, she learns the horrible fate of her mother—a fate she'll share unless she can find a way out.

MY THOUGHTS

Best opening chapters ever! If I could say only one thing about this book it's that statement. Imagine what the rest of the story is like! I was hooked from the first sentence and as with all great books it's difficult to define why. Was it the incredibly high stakes? The strong and immediate point of view or the high impact writing? Possibly a combination of all three. After the quick start the pacing does slow down a little but I appreciated the chance to breathe and get my bearings on the setting as well as see Riley interact with her family who are the driving force behind all her actions.

       The Breeders draws you into a dystopian world where women are scarce and in high demand for their ability to have children. This was one of those premises where you have to suspend belief more than usual and skeptic that I am I just found myself going with it instead of questioning everything like I usually do. I'm still not convinced that all men are evil and would turn their wives/daughters/sisters in for a big bag o'cash but in this instance it didn't stop me from enjoying the storytelling. 

       Riley is a strong YA heroine. She's requisitly beautiful but in her world beauty is dangerous. She gets around pretending she's a bender and has to tape up her breasts every day. She's feisty but not rough and I liked that she could be tough without having to be a physically violent heroine. The thing that displays Riley's character the most is her relationship with her younger brother Ethan. Sometimes she's the rigid older sister wanting him to stand on his own two feet. Sometimes she's a stand in mum. Other times she's possessive of Ethan and gets jealous when he shows interest in other people. All traits which show the dynamic of their insular upbringing and adds a bit of realism to the story. As for Riley's relationship with Clay, I'm not completely sold. He's nice enough and says and does all the right things, I just think their chemistry should have had a lot more tension considering he didn't know she was a girl. There is one scene in particular when they have a moment which is huge and should have been a speed bump in the relationship for sure but Clay is just too accepting and accommodating. I guess I just prefer my YA boys with a bit more bite. 

       On the whole The Breeders was an engaging read. Consider it if you enjoy western themed dystopian with lots of action. I couldn't put it down and can't wait for the next installment.

THE RATING

5/5

Review: Unwind by Neal Shusterman

THE STORY

In a society where unwanted teens are salvaged for their body parts, three runaways fight the system that would "unwind" them. Connor's parents want to be rid of him because he's a troublemaker. Risa has no parents and is being unwound to cut orphanage costs. Lev's unwinding has been planned since his birth, as part of his family's strict religion. Brought together by chance, and kept together by desperation, these three unlikely companions make a harrowing cross-country journey, knowing their lives hang in the balance. If they can survive until their eighteenth birthday, they can't be harmed -- but when every piece of them, from their hands to their hearts, are wanted by a world gone mad, eighteen seems far, far away.

MY THOUGHTS 

First off, big thanks to Sherre of Beckoned by Books for recommending this book to me. I am speechless after reading this book. All words seem inadequate to describe how I feel so I'm just going to have to muddle through and hope that it all comes together as a coherent review in the end.

The Belief Suspension:
One thing I've noticed when reading dystopians is that I have a really difficult time suspending belief when the premise of a series hinges on the generalization of the entire human population. Notions like love being a disease and all women becoming walking wombs just doesn't cut it with me. Likewise, if I really let myself think about it, I can't seem to dispel the nagging voice in my head that keeps trying to remind me that there is no way the entire world would agree to unwinding. It seems a very implausible solution for both pro-choice and pro-life campers to agree that killing a child at sixteen is somehow okay just because their parts will be reused. And storking, where unwanted children are left on other people's doorsteps and if you don't get caught the family has to take care of the baby, is just downright idiotic. I could go on for a while about all the medically impossible parts of this book but what I'm really driving at is that despite it all, I was somehow able to suspend belief and just read the book for it's sheer entertainment value. Which is saying a lot considering I am usually the first one to call bullshit on a  lot of stuff in  books.

The Multiple POVs
I'm usually a complete multiple POV hater. I can't stand getting invested in a character and situation only to have it shift when the story is building momentum. Unwind is one of the few books I've read where the multiple POVs was a huge advantage. Especially during a particular scene close to the end where I believe being able to switch into secondary character's POV made the whole book all the more powerful. Shusterman is able to do something I don't believe many authors can boast and that is to create layered characters who you can despise one minute and then feel sorry for the next. No one is truly evil and that makes everybody's actions so much greyer.

The Romance
Some might say that there isn't enough romance in this book but I thought it was perfect. There was no angst, no misunderstood conversations masked as plot advances.  It was blissfully simple. A boy and girl like each other. There are is no confusion about it. I found this refreshing after trolling through so many DNF books. 

All The Other Stuff
Despite the fact that my rant paragraph is much bigger than my other paragraphs, I really enjoyed this book. I loved the non stop action and the fact that everything that could possibly go wrong did.I know there's a sequel to the series but Unwind ended so perfectly for me and had me thinking so long after I finished it that  I don't know if I could put myself through it again.

THE RATING

4.5/5

Review: Sulan by Camille Picott

THE STORY:

Sixteen-year-old Sulan Hom can’t remember life before the Default—the day the United States government declared bankruptcy. As a math prodigy, she leads a protected life, kept safe from the hunger and crime plaguing the streets of America. She attends the corporate-sponsored Virtual High School, an academy in Vex (Virtual Experience) for gifted children.

Beyond the security of Sulan’s high-tech world, the Anti-American League wages a guerrilla war against the United States. Their leader, Imugi, is dedicated to undermining the nation’s reconstruction attempts. He attacks anything considered a national resource, including corporations, food storage facilities—and schools. When Sulan witnesses the public execution of a teenage student and the bombing of a college dorm, she panics.

Her mother, a retired mercenary, refuses to teach her how to defend herself. Sulan takes matters into her own hands. With the help of her hacker best friend, Hank, Sulan acquires Touch—an illegal Vex technology that allows her to share the physical experience of her avatar. With Touch, Sulan defies her mother and trains herself to fight.

When Imugi unleashes a new attack on the United States, Sulan finds herself caught in his net. Will her Vex training be enough to help her survive and escape?

MY THOUGHTS:

I can sum up my thoughts about Sulan: Episode One: The League in one sentence: Traditional publishing is in serious trouble. I don't know where the industry is going to go when authors like Camille Picott are starting to choose to self publish. Sulan is such a high adventure, easily accessible story that I didn't come across many of the issues I tend to have with other YA novels. That's got to be saying something when you guys know how picky I can be.

The Basics

Sulan's world is a world like no other that I've come across in the YA genre so far. It boggles my mind the amount of research and imagination that has gone into writing this book. I can see dystopunk taking off in a big way. Though I'm not a huge fan of sci-fi, I think Camille has done well to make the science is Sulan accessible to the layman reader. Especially since I can really see the world going in this sort of direction in the near future. A great deal of care has gone into the world building in Sulan and I think that is reflected in the slower pacing of the first half of the book. Though this isn't necessarily a bad thing, the story does take a little bit of time to really rev up but it's well worth the wait for the thrilling second half. If I had one complaint about the world building, it would be that there isn't much explanation of how the world really works outside of Sulan's immediate surroundings. It would have been nice to see what life for the underprivileged was really like. Though I'm sure these themes will be more clearly explored in later books.
      Camille's writing was one of the aspects I enjoyed most about Sulan. I'm not big on huge literary tomes and while overly pretty writing is okay sometimes, I am all for accurate metaphors and succinct sentences. I flew through the book in a matter of days and that's saying a lot for someone who reads at a snails pace.

The Characters

Sulan: I must admit I started reading Sulan with a sense of trepidation. So often minority characters are portrayed in a very stereotypical way. I don't know why I was so worried. Camille does an excellent job of creating a heroine with depth and although the story has strong Asian influences, the theme is not rammed down readers throats every few sentences as a lot of other stories do to overcompensate.For all intents and purposes Sulan is a normal teenager struggling to balance other's expectations of her against what she wants for herself. Sulan manages to have a healthy and close relationship with a female friend who isn't secretly a plot device in disguise.

Gun & Taro: I can feel a love triangle coming on. Not sure how I feel about that at the moment, but I will say that if this is where the story is going, it's getting there at a respectable pace. No insta-love in sight. Whilst I am not a big fan of love triangles, I can see the merits in both boys and would be interested in seeing how the romance plays out. 

The Smaller Players:
I would have to say that some of my favourite characters in this book are the minor ones.  One of them especially (I won't reveal who for fear of spoiling the story) is so hilarious and vivid that I wouldn't be surprised if Camille knew someone like that in real life. That Camille is able to give him such animation in such a short part of the story is incredible. In fact, the only character I didn't really feel was fully fleshed out was Imugi. He doesn't have much page time and we never get a real sense of the motivation behind his devastating attacks. I get the feeling he won't be the big bad of this series at all.

The Minor Details

I really enjoyed reading Sulan and these points are probably just me being really nit picky but there were a few things which didn't quite ring true for me. For example, Sulan is a math prodigy and has managed to achieve a perfect score on her Vex school entrance exam. I'm not sure how she does this unless the entire exam is based on math. Which I don't think it is considering the vast array of talents exhibited by other students. Also, I'm still at a loss as to why Sulan's mother refuses to let her train to defend herself. It would seem like a logical step considering the dangers Sulan faces in her new world. 

On the whole, I really enjoyed Sulan and am looking forward to the next books in the series coming out. Anyone who enjoys dystopian or cyberpunk and is tired of the cookie cutter YA novels being published these days should really give this book a try!

THE RATING:

4/5

Review: Legend by Marie Lu

THE STORY

What was once the western United States is now home to the Republic, a nation perpetually at war with its neighbors. Born into an elite family in one of the Republic’s wealthiest districts, fifteen-year-old June is a prodigy being groomed for success in the Republic’s highest military circles. Born into the slums, fifteen-year-old Day is the country’s most wanted criminal. But his motives may not be as malicious as they seem. From very different worlds, June and Day have no reason to cross paths—until the day June’s brother, Metias, is murdered and Day becomes the prime suspect. Caught in the ultimate game of cat and mouse, Day is in a race for his family’s survival, while June seeks to avenge Metias’s death. But in a shocking turn of events, the two uncover the truth of what has really brought them together, and the sinister lengths their country will go to keep its secrets.

MY THOUGHTS

The Basics

It took me well over a year to start and finish this book because I kept having to put it down. Though the synopsis paints it as some kind of political romance/thriller, I couldn't help but notice how incredibly slow the plot actually is. For most of the story there is no real villain and the reader is left to wonder what the point of the whole thing is. If it was to be some kind of show down between two teenage prodigys than it failed miserably. A lot of reviewers have said before and I wholeheartedly agree, if you take away the chapter headings and made the fonts the same, it would be almost impossible to distinguish between Day and June's voices. The world building could have been elaborated on a lot more as many of the aspects of the world were unexplained. On the writing front, Lu is a talented writer and I liked that she used a mix of long and short sentences to break up the flow of the story telling. It made the writing more interesting. Had it not been for the writing and the lack of love triangle, I don't think I would have been able to finish this one.

The Biology

One of the main reasons I bought this book was because it was written by an Asian author and claimed to have Asian inspired characters. This aspect of the book is by far the most disappointing for me. If I sound annoyed it's because I am. I can forgive outrageous hair and other characteristics in fantasy/paranormal novels but not in dystopia. Not when you're trying to make me believe your world could really happen. For a while now I've been wondering whether some writers or their editors EVER do any genetic research before they give their characters certain physical attributes. Let me give you a quick lesson now. You CANNOT classify a person as having dominant Mongolian attributes (I'm looking at you Day) and then describe them as being blond with blue eyes. In my books dominant means more than 50%. If you're 50% Asian, you will have dark hair and dark eyes. End of story. This is basic biology. If one of your parents is full Asian and the other is blond Caucasian, you will have dark hair and dark eyes. By the time you get to a point where two dark haired people produce a child with white blond hair and bright blue eyes they are no longer dominant anything. Above all else, and I don't think Lu would have meant it to come across this way, I am insulted by the way Day looks. It makes me feel like an effort was made to write an Asian character but somewhere along the publishing line a decision was made to "whitewash" the character to make them more palatable.

The Characters

June - Present me with a rich, spoiled, seemingly perfect child prodigy and I will immediately get my hackles up. Make her stupid on top of that and I'm checking out. In my opinion June was very difficult to warm to. Besides being utterly clueless for someone who is meant to be so smart, she has a self entitled air of importance simply because she scored well on a test. She experiences loss which is sad, but the way she handles it doesn't inspire any empathy. I was hoping for a strong female lead and though June is very handy in a fight, I think her attitude leaves a lot to be desired.

Day - I have a hard time believing in Day's characterisation. No one survives living on the streets in a Dystopian novel without getting their hands dirty. And if they do, they're not a well rounded character. I expected Day to be edgy. To be rough and snarky. He was none of those things. We get told very often that Day has done some incredible things such as breaking into a bank in 10 seconds but we never see any of this in action. Despite being the Republics most wanted criminal, he sure starts trusting people very quickly.

Insta-Love

It was there. I did not like it. This novel really just wasn't for me.

THE RATING

2.5/5