Book Review: Encalve

I've had this book on my to-read list for about a year now and have had a copy on my Kindle Fire since August 2012. The Clean Your Shelf Challenge finally encouraged me to read it.

Title: Enclave
Author: Ann Aguirre
Series: Razorland #1
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Original Publication Date: April 12, 2011
Format Read: kindle
Genre: YA Dystopia, YA Post-Apocalyptic, YA Zombies
Purchase: Amazon
Find on Goodreads

Description from the publisher:

New York City has been decimated by war and plague, and most of civilization has migrated to underground enclaves, where life expectancy is no more than the early 20's. When Deuce turns 15, she takes on her role as a Huntress, and is paired with Fade, a teenage Hunter who lived Topside as a young boy. When she and Fade discover that the neighboring enclave has been decimated by the tunnel monsters--or Freaks--who seem to be growing more organized, the elders refuse to listen to warnings. And when Deuce and Fade are exiled from the enclave, the girl born in darkness must survive in daylight--guided by Fade's long-ago memories--in the ruins of a city whose population has dwindled to a few dangerous gangs.

Ann Aguirre's thrilling young adult novel is the story of two young people in an apocalyptic world--facing dangers, and feelings, unlike any they've ever known.

Ann Aguirre has managed to put together an intriguing post-apocalyptic world. I like how she was inspired by the Mole People that lived in the underground tunnels of New York. In her world a great disaster has happened and everyone is evacuated from New York (or so the rest of the world thinks). Instead some of the poor have been left behind. Some of the poor retreated into the underground tunnels and formed the Enclave. The Enclave is just one of many "towns" in the underground tunnels. They have their own set of rules that create a "perfect" society. In this society brats are unnamed. If they survive until 15 they are given a naming ceremony where they bleed on a pile of scavenged objects. Where ever their blood first falls is what they are named.

Our heroine is named Deuce. She has chosen and was picked to be a Huntress. It is her responsibility along with other hunters to bring back food to the Enclave. Any, ANY infraction in the community will get you sent on the long walk. You are exiled and left for dead among the tunnels and "zombies."

As the book description leads you to believe Deuce and her hunting partner, Fade, are both exiled. They decide to leave the tunnels where Deuce sees that there still is a world living above ground. As they fight gangs and "zombies" while trying to head North hoping to find the people who original left the city, they learn more about themselves. 

Ann's version of "zombies" is an interesting one. They are like zombies as in they like to eat flesh, they swarm, etc...but they also have very sharp teeth and claws. They also bleed and can be killed just like you and me. I do not believe them to be true zombies, but they are a fun foe nonetheless. 

The story itself is a bit of a slow one, even though the reading is fast. Overall, I liked the book and plan on reading further into the series.

If you liked this book, it's possible you might like Born by Tara Brown (even though the writing could use a little polishing). Other possible books you might like are: 
Birthmarked by Caragh M. O'Brien
Blood Red Road by Moira Young
Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

My Rating: 

Book Review: Scarlet

Happy Thursday Everyone! Today I'll be reviewing the much anticipated second book in the Lunar Chronicles series, Scarlet by Marissa Meyer. I have previously reviewed Cinder.

Title: Scarlet

Author: Marissa Meyer

Series: Lunar Chronicles #2

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

Publication Date: February 5, 2013

Format Read: hardcover

Genre: YA Science Fiction, YA Fairy Tale

Purchase: Amazon

Find on Goodreads

From the publisher: 
The fates of Cinder and Scarlet collide as a Lunar threat spreads across the Earth...

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.

While I thoroughly enjoyed Cinder, I just LOVED Scarlet! It's not very often that I like the second book in a series more than the first. A lot of the time they are just bridges in-between the first and last books in a trilogy or series. Marissa Meyer managed to do so much more than that with this book. Not only do we get our original kick-ass heroine from the first book, but we also get Scarlet. She is more than strong enough to stand on her own. I can't wait to see what both of these strong female characters get up to in Cress, the third installment in the series.

I will admit I was a little confused about why I was following Scarlet Benoit in this book. I knew it was somehow connect to the first book, but I had forgotten. So, to save you some trouble...Scarlet is the granddaughter of Michelle Benoit. If you remember from Cinder, she is rumored to be one of the people that helped Princess Selene escape death when she was little.

While Cinder is working on escaping and finding out more from her past by trying to seek out Michelle Benoit, Scarlet is looking into her grandmother's disappearance. Scarlet, who has red hair and wears a red hoodie (i.e. our very own Red Riding Hood), does not believe her grandma just left, she believes she was taken and will stop at nothing to get her back. Her search for her grandma leads her to Wolf, a mysterious hottie, who seems to have a connection to her grandma's disappearance. Wolf informs her he may know who has her grandma and agrees to help her. While there is mistrust and tension, it's obvious there is an attraction between the two. I think I might even life Wolf more than Prince Kai. Or maybe I'm just more attracted to Red Riding Hood's story than I am Cinderella, I don't know. I was also fascinate by the "gang" Wolf was originally from. 

This book is much more Scarlet's story than it is Cinder's story. We still get Cinder and Kai's POV's, but it felt like I was following Scarlet's POV the most (even though everything is connected). You even get a chapter at the end of the book from the Evil queen's POV. EEK! 

Just to give you the head's (in case you might be disappointed about such a thing): Scarlet and Cinder do not meet until pretty close to the end of the book. I know the description makes you think they will be meeting up sooner than that. 

I HIGHLY recommend this book. Just like in my review of Cinder, if you like this book, I recommend checking out these fairy tale retellings: A Long, Long Sleep by Anna Sheehan or Beastly by Alex Flinn (book is way better than the movie). If you like stories with a little more science fiction, you might like one of these two stories that take place in space, Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan or Across the Universe by Beth Revis. You might even like Birthmarked by Caragh M. O'Brien.

My Rating: 

Book Review: Cinder

Happy Wednesday everyone! Today I'll be reviewing Cinder by Marissa Meyer. 

Title: Cinder

Author: Marissa Meyer

Series: Lunar Chronicles #1

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

Publication Date: January 3, 2012

Format Read: audio-book, kindle, hardcover

Genre: YA Science Fiction, YA Fairy Tale

Purchase: Amazon

Cinder is a futuristic retelling of the Cinderella fairy tale set is New Beijing. It's a future with humans, androids, and cyborgs. A future in which a deadly plague ravages the population. While a ruthless lunar queen watches, waiting to make her move to take over Earth.

Our heroine is Cinder. She is a gifted cyborg mechanic and a second class citizen. Cinder has no memory of her life from before the operation that turned her into a cyborg at age 11. She lives with her step-mother and step-sister(s). Even though, Cinder is the source of income for the family she is treated very poorly and is blamed for her step-sister's illness. Through a request to repair Prince Kai's android, she is pulled into the intergalactic struggle where she might just be the only person who can protect Earth.

The first thing you might notice is ALL of the different formats I used to read this book. I started out with the audio-book and only made it through the first chapter. I was not a fan. I found myself zoning out when the performer read to me and I knew I was missing vital information. I also knew that based on the books description and the little over four star average reviews on Goodreads that this book was right up my alley. So, I figured I would try again. I was able to locate on Amazon the first five chapters of the book for free. So, I picked that up and tried chapter one again. And it was true. I was intrigued once I was able to read the story. Unfortunately, my library does not have an ebook of Cinder, so I put myself on the hold list for the hardcover. After my hold came in, I quickly progressed through the book, finishing it in one day.

That's how much I ended up liking the the book, I read it in one day. There was still one mild issue with the story that bothered me. Cinder's mother and sisters are referred to as "step-mother" and "step-sisters," when in reality they are her adoptive mother and sisters as her father adopted her after her birth parents were killed in a hover accident. I'm guessing the author did that to try to more closely resemble Cinderella, but I don't think it was necessary. I feel she could have just stated they were her adoptive family and called it good. I think the readers would have been more than happy to go along with it. 

Now on to the interesting world that Marissa Meyer created. As far as fairy tale retellings go, I found this one to be interesting. Most of the retellings I've read seem to take place in modern or present time. A few have taken place in the future, like A Long, Long Sleep by Anna Sheehan, but Cinder not only takes place in the future, but a dirty, gritty world after a few wars. I like that there are humans, androids, cyborgs, lunars, etc...I do find it a little hard to believe that in the future we would treat cyborgs as second class citizens. It seems like most of them had an accident and had a body part replaced, like a leg or an organ, etc...I would believe that we would actually herald that a success in medicine an advancement, from what we can currently do for our soldiers and other accident victims today. But alas, I went with it while reading the story. 

I like description of the vendors in the market. It almost reminded me of Aladdin of all things. The lunar people are scary and mysterious. The plague is obviously scary as they still haven't located a cure. Those who catch it are sure to die a painful death and it's so easily spread. 

Overall, a very appealing set up to a series. I already have the next book in my possession and plan on reading it very soon.

If you like fairy tale retellings, you might also want to check out, A Long, Long Sleep by Anna Sheehan or Beastly by Alex Flinn (book is way better than the movie that turned the beast into some goth guy). If you like stories with a little more science fiction, you might like one of these two stories that take place in space, Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan or Across the Universe by Beth Revis. You might even like Birthmarked by Caragh M. O'Brien.

My Rating: