Review: THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD MOTHERS by Jessamine Chan

 

The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In this taut and explosive debut novel, one lapse in judgement lands a young mother in a government reform program where custody of her child hangs in the balance.

Frida Liu is struggling. She doesn’t have a career worthy of her Chinese immigrant parents’ sacrifices. What’s worse is she can’t persuade her husband, Gust, to give up his wellness-obsessed younger mistress. Only with their angelic daughter Harriet does Frida finally feel she’s attained the perfection expected of her. Harriet may be all she has, but she’s just enough.

Until Frida has a horrible day.

The state has its eyes on mothers like Frida — ones who check their phones while their kids are on the playground; who let their children walk home alone; in other words, mothers who only have one lapse of judgement. Now, a host of government officials will determine if Frida is a candidate for a Big Brother-like institution that measures the success or failure of a mother’s devotion. Faced with the possibility of losing Harriet, Frida must prove that she can live up to the standards set for mothers — that she can learn to be good.

This propulsive, witty page-turner explores the perils of “perfect” upper-middle-class parenting, the violence enacted upon women by the state and each other, and the boundless love a mother has for her daughter.

--

This book is just... AMAZING. I have no other word for it.

It took me a while to read it all, because it's quite dense--yet I don't mean that in a negative way. A lot happens in this book--a lot of really shocking things--and it really makes you think. I found that I needed a lot of 'breathing space' around my reading sessions for this book to really digest it and fully comprehend the terrifying world that Jessamine Chan has come up with for this one--and it's especially terrifying given how close it feels to real life.

There's a lot of important discourse in this book surrounding motherhood, the role of women, and parental responsibility. While we can definitely argue the case that Frida is flawed and could be seen as a 'bad mother' after leaving her baby alone for an afternoon, we get to see the nuances of her character. Does one moment of 'bad mothering' make her a totally awful mother? Where exactly is the line? Because as the novel progresses, we are rooting for her, yet feeling like a happy ending isn't on the cards because of the truly horrific worldbuilding Chan cleverly incorporates into this story.

Characterisation for all the characters is strong and impressive. I just cannot stop thinking about this book.

View all my reviews

Review: THE VANISHING DEEP by Astrid Scholte

The Vanishing Deep by Astrid Scholte
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Seventeen-year-old Tempe was born into a world of water. When the Great Waves destroyed her planet, its people had to learn to survive living on the water, but the ruins of the cities below still called. Tempe dives daily, scavenging the ruins of a bygone era, searching for anything of value to trade for Notes. It isn't food or clothing that she wants to buy, but her dead sister's life. For a price, the research facility on the island of Palindromena will revive the dearly departed for twenty-four hours before returning them to death. It isn't a heartfelt reunion that Tempe is after; she wants answers. Elysea died keeping a terrible secret, one that has ignited an unquenchable fury in Tempe: Her beloved sister was responsible for the death of their parents. Tempe wants to know why.

But once revived, Elysea has other plans. She doesn't want to spend her last day in a cold room accounting for a crime she insists she didn't commit. Elysea wants her freedom and one final glimpse at the life that was stolen from her. She persuades Tempe to break her out of the facility, and they embark on a dangerous journey to discover the truth about their parents' death and mend their broken bond. But they're pursued every step of the way by two Palindromena employees desperate to find them before Elysea's time is up--and before the secret behind the revival process and the true cost of restored life is revealed. 

--

The Vanishing Deep has to have some of the most impressive worldbuilding I've ever come across. And I LOVED this world--set in the future where 99% of the world is water, and the ocean itself becomes this dangerous, menacing character.

Tempest has been alone for the last two years, since her sister drowned. Three years before that, her parents both died too. But Tempest can get one of them back--Palendromena offers a revival programme, and Tempest's been diving for relics of the old world that she can sell to fund the revival of her sister. She knows that Elysea died with a huge secret relating to their parents' demise, and this is Tempest's goal in reviving her sister rather than sisterly love.

Well, at least, it is at first.

But Scholte throws us twist after twist, (and this review's going to contain spoilers), and soon Tempest realises that she should've revived Elysea for love to start with, not through anger, as she realises just how much she misses her sister--and how wrong about her sister she was.

And Elysea tells Tempest that their parents are still alive. I did NOT see that twist coming and I just couldn't read fast enough. This is where the action really starts going, when the two girls escape the revival centre and go on a crazy journey to find their family.

And of course they're being chased--it's a thrill-ride. Lor and Raylan are the chasers, and Lor is also the other narrator for this book (the first being Tempest). Lor is such a complex character. Right from the start, I knew he was guarding a big secret and could tell he was defensive--but when we learn the truth near the end, I was speechless. Lor is dead.

And I don't know how I didn't see that coming, because this book is all about life and death, about revival and resurrection. It's about loss and love,too. And the only negative I had about this book was how quickly Lor appears to fall for Tempest. He acts like he's almost instantly in love with her--right after she kidnaps him too. I just didn't really buy it.

But I loved the story. I loved the book. And I loved Tempest--she's cold and she's angry and she gets annoyed. She felt realistic. And this book's ending has some pretty profound things to say about life.

It's also a very feminist story. I actually did an analysis of this book just now for part of my MA degree work: It is very much the female characters who are in control of the narrative--while it's dual POV narration between Tempest (a seventeen-year-old female) and Lor, all of Lor's actions can be seen as reactions until the very end. He constantly reacts to the actions of Tempest, and so it is Tempest who is very much in control of the plot and the actions of other characters. And, at the end, when Lor does instigate his own actions (causing Tempest to be reactionary rather than active) his goal is to save the life of another character who is also female--and is the sister of Tempest, so Tempest, as the main character, is directly benefitting from the one time Lor exerts his own agency.

When you look at which characters are dead by the end of the novel, it's only some of the male characters too. Even the female characters who die during the plot are brought back to life at the end, because of the sacrifice of a male character.

When looking at it like this, it becomes clear that this is a very feminist novel (all the female characters also end up in high positions of power, if they didn't already start it), yet it wasn't until doing this analysis that I realised quite how feminist it is. Until then I'd just been enjoying it more as an entertaining YA novel!

In terms of post-colonialism, there is also a lot of discourse in this book on issues of power and economics in relation to culture. We've got different societies and cultures coming together and we see the clashes as well as the struggle the characters have as they try to decide whether to include the relics from all the cultures in their museums of the 'old world', or whether some should automatically take priority. In the end, it's decided that all cultures will be preserved in the museum, but special focus will be put on that of the previously colonised. The book ends with the colonised taking control once more, and being respected by the others.

There is also quite a bit of rhetoric on historical issues and social discourse between colonisers and the colonised--which directly linked to real-life cases, but had been subverted so it also applied to the fantasy world.

I also noticed a fair bit of characters who were 'othered' due to their appearances and origins; Tempest and Elysea were described as 'water witches' quite a bit, and interestingly, this term was only in relation to the female characters. (And, by the end, the main female characters of the book has claimed the name 'water witch' as a good thing, relating to female empowerment too).

View all my reviews

Review: WILDER GIRLS by Rory Power

Wilder Girls by Rory Power
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Everyone loses something to the Tox; Hetty lost her eye, Reese's hand has changed, and Byatt just disappeared completely.

It’s been eighteen months since the Raxter School for Girls was put in quarantine. The Tox turned the students strange and savage, the teachers died off one by one. Cut off from the mainland, the girls don’t dare wander past the school’s fence where the Tox has made the woods wild and dangerous. They wait for the cure as the Tox takes; their bodies becoming sick and foreign, things bursting out of them, bits missing.

But when Byatt goes missing, Hetty will do anything to find her best friend, even if it means breaking quarantine and braving the horrors that lie in the wilderness past the fence. As she digs deeper, she learns disturbing truths about her school and what else is living on Raxter Island. And that the cure might not be a cure at all... 

---

Gah, this book!!!!!

I've had it on my kindle for over a year, and I wasn't sure why I hadn't yet read it, so one day I picked it up, not expecting to be totally grabbed by it...and I didn't surface until I'd finish it. Okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration as I read it in sections across about a week. But I truly felt like I was never leaving this book every time I paused. I was so caught up in this world, and I felt like I was living in it. I couldn't stop thinking about it.

It's amazing. Even if I was reading about a pandemic during a real global pandemic... 

Hetty, Byatt, and Reese are at the Raxter school, an all-girls school, on an island, when the Tox breaks out and they're all in quarantine, unable to leave. The Tox is a brutal illness--and it marks its victims in different ways, if they survive it at all. Hetty lost an eye to it, Byatt's got problems with her spine, and Reese has got a scaled hand. And pretty much every character has some sort of disability from it. And I wasn't expecting the disability rep to be great, I'll be honest--but it really is. As a disabled reader, I was so delighted to see this. All the characters in this book are disabled and badass. I loved it!

And Miss Welch--can we just talk about her for a moment? Her characterisation is wonderful. I was really hating her (spoiler ahead--skip to next paragraph to avoid it!) and then there's that amazing reveal where all her actions that make us hate her suddenly make sense, and we learn who the real villain of the book is.

Talking of great reveals--the way we learn info about what the Tox is and what is really going on on Raxter island is just great.

The writing in this book is incredible. It's almost stream-of-consciousness in places, just sooooo immersive and beautifully written. It's told in dual POV between Hetty and Byatt, and even their narrative voices are so distinct, despite both being written in this immersive way.

And the romance. This is such a great LGBT book with romance between Hetty and Reese (I'll be honest, I didn't see that coming as there's a real closeness between Hetty and Byatt, but it felt so natural.) I think Reese is my fave character though. There's something fierce and prickly about her. She's not as easy to like, and I love that.

The only thing that surprised me about this book is the ending... Like, is there going to be a sequel??? Because the (and another spoiler here!) whole book is about beating the Tox, and that just...doesn't happen. It feels like we've got the set up for at least another book. This one finishes with Hetty and Reese escaping the island, but it doesn't feel like the story's over yet. I really hope there's a sequel.

View all my reviews

Review: THE 100 by Kass Morgan

The 100 by Kass Morgan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Hunger Games meets Lost in this spectacular new series. Now a major TV series on E4.

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 re-colonize 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 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. 

--

I decided to read this book after watching the first season of the TV series. Immediately I was hooked—mainly because I realised the book was so different. We’ve got new characters in this book (including main character Glass) and new storylines.

The narrative is split between four POV characters: Wells, Clarke, Bellamy, and Glass. And I guess because I read this after having watched the series, I can’t help but compare it. I soon realised that characters who’d died in the TV series early on weren’t going to die in the book—instead, we get to know a lot more about them. And these four characters are really well written. They’ve got flaws. Though I have to admit that with the exception of Bellamy, their narrative voices sounded a little similar.

While these four characters are extremely well written, I found many of the secondary and minor characters a little flat. I’d have liked to see Luke and Thalia especially fleshed out a bit more. Octavia’s characterisation seemed a little stronger, but again, not as strong as the POV characters.

So I loved the worldbuilding in this book. Perhaps more than in the tv series, though it is of course similar. But the book feels a lot more realistic. The science is more explained--and it seems like their technology has taken a more natural progression than in the books. An example of this is the cornea slips that many of the main characters have on the spaceship, which don't appear in the TV series.

Talking of the spaceship--it's a lot more structured in the book. And there are clearer divisions. So you've got different sections of the ship, such as Phoenix, and each has a different class-status and we see the conflict between these classes and how some are seen as dispensable. I thought this provided a great way to look at modern societies and how elitist some people can be.

The narrative is told through a mixture of present day action for all four POV characters and their flashbacks. And the flashbacks are what really held the book together. They made everything so much more cohesive; they also really helped me understand the lead-up to the book’s set up. Reading the final flashbacks at the end was an “aha” moment as it made me truly understand what had been happening at the beginning. Not to say that there hadn’t been enough info provided at the start—there had, but the ending just gave it all that little bit of extra meaning.

So this book is shorter than I was expecting it to be. And although Glass had a clear arc in her narrative, there wasn’t so much a complete arc for Clarke, Wells, or Bellamy. Instead, the final few pages introduces another element—the other people who have survivor on earth. This clearly sets up for the next book, and because of this, for me, the book’s written more like a TV series than a novel series. I thought that was especially interesting.

And I do just want to say that although Clarke has two love interests--Wells and Bellamy--it's not really a typical love triangle, which I really appreciated. We see her with both of them at different times in the book, but the romance is definitely not a huge drive-force of the book, which I really appreciated.

The writing is so addictive though, and I couldn’t put it down. Highly recommended if you want a YA dystopian/post-apocalyptic/science fiction read.

View all my reviews

Review: GIRLS WITH SHARP STICKS by Suzanne Young

Girls with Sharp Sticks by Suzanne Young
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow. Girls With Sharp Sticks is incredible. By far the best book I’ve read this year, and that’s saying something as I’ve had some incredible reads.

Okay, so this review is going to contain spoilers. I almost want to write this as a review purely for me, to remind myself later on just how amazing this book is. Suzanne Young is incredible and I’ll definitely be getting her other books.

So, Girls With Sharp Sticks is a blend of things. It’s a contemporary boarding school story that swiftly becomes a terrifying dystopian, futuristic but so close to us. The story is set in a school where girls are trained to become the perfect women for men. We meet Mena, an obedient girl who doesn’t want to upset the men who look after her. But meeting Jackson changes everything. She’s accidentally defiant to her Guardian, and it’s this that sparks the events that lead her to “wake up” and discover the truth of what’s going on at Innovations Academy: (huge spoiler alert!) These girls weren’t born. They were created.

This story is a blend of Frankenstein (Mary Shelley) and Vox (Christina Dalcher) and The Walls Around Us (Nova Ren Suma). It’s got a touch of Teri Terry’s Mind Games. There’s so much packed into this story and it works beautifully.

This is a feminist message about girls fighting back. It exposes the sexist ideology of modern day society by exaggerating it. But it also offers a message of hope.

And not all the men are bad. Jackson and Winston and Quentin fight the girls. Jackson tells Mena that she is real though she was created, and that she does have rights—just when she’s heard from the other men how she is just a product made to satisfy.

This book really is incredible. I also truly loved how it explores the power of words and writing. The girls spread their plans for rebellion and “wake” each other up by sharing a book of poems—one of which is called “Girls With Sharp Sticks”. This book almost becomes their voice, their way of discovering the truth, and finding the strength to fight and the way in which they can. And the book was given to them by the wife of the owner of the academy—a lady, it is revealed, was once an Innovations girl. The wife, Leandra, is just like them. And it’s she who manages to get five of the girls out at the end of the story, choosing to sacrifice her own chance of freedoms so she can stay behind with the intention of saving the other girls.

All the girls are so distinguishable. That was something that really wowed me. It’s predominantly an all-girl cast, but they’re all so individual and easy to tell apart. I loved them all. Mena, Syndney, Brynn, Annalise, Lennon Rose, Marcella, Valentine, Rebecca...

And it was great that this is a YA book with no romance. Sure, Jackson is obviously the love interest for Mena, and it’s clear there will be a second book as the ending leads to the set-up for taking the academy down, but in this book, Jackson’s priority is clearly to rescue all the girls at the end, not just Mena.

So, at about the 20% mark I did wonder whether Mena and the other girls at the academy were robots. There was something that felt off about them, but I dismissed this theory because Mena just felt so real. She’s our narrator and we feel her emotions, her soul. So when it was revealed at the end that all the girls there are robotic, I was stunned—even though I had previously questioned it.

There’s some uncomfortable scenes in this book. Violence against women. Sexual abuse. Emotional and physical abuse. But the messages are so important. I’m going to be recommending this book for years, I can tell already.

View all my reviews

Review: BOOK OF FIRE by Michelle Kenney

My rating: 5 stars

About Book Of Fire: 


Life outside the domes is not possible. At least that’s what Insiders are told.
Twins Eli and Talia shouldn’t exist. They’re Outsiders.

Their home is a secret. Their lives are a secret. Arafel is a secret.

An unexpected forest raid forces Talia into a desperate mission to rescue her family while protecting the sacred Book of Arafel from those who would use it as a weapon. As Talia and her life long friend Max enter the dome, she makes some unexpected discoveries, and allies, in the form of rugged Insider August, that will change the course of her life forever.

She’ll stop at nothing to save her family but will she sacrifice her heart in the process?

The Fire Sermon meets Gladiator in this brilliant YA debut.

--

Firstly, huge thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley, for providing me with a review copy of this book. 

So, I went into this book not really knowing what to expect, and the first thing that struck me was the language. It's so lyrical and beautiful, and there's something almost haunting about the imagery and tone. The language itself reminded me a lot of the style employed in both The Clan of the Cave Bear and The Walls Around Us. They both have the immersive, lyrical quality that Book of Fire has. Yet Michelle Kenney's novel also has the high stakes of The Hunger Games (I'm always doubtful when I see that one used as a comp title due to how huge it is, but here it really works). 

I'll confess, it did take me a little while to get used to this writing style that is lyrical and beauitful but that covers a lot of action. It felt a little slower at first than other YA novels I'm used to, but once I was used to Michelle Kenney's voice, I could not read fast enough. I just had to know what happens. 

Both Eli and Talia are fully fleshed characters and very well written. I must admit, I love stories with twins--that was one of the reasons I requested a review copy of this book in particular--and the bond these two share is really well written. I also really liked that Eli is Deaf, and yet he's still treated as a valuable member of society for his way with animal and wild creatures. So often, disabled characters are often treated as a burden in fiction, but I really appreciated this representation. 

The other characters are well-written too, and I especially loved the grandfather. Each character has strengths and flaws. 

I really liked the worldbuilding. It's refreshing and new, and gives a lovely twist on your standard fantasy and sci-fi stories. There's also a touch of dystopian in there too, which I adored. The world itself is hugely imaginative and everything is layered nicely, and I loved how we're given the history of this world too, yet there's not really any sections that are heavy in backstory. Instead, everything is woven in pretty seamlessly. And normally, when I've read Dome stories, the MC has been one who lives on the inside--Talia lives on the outside, and it's the insiders who are the threat, and that just felt so new.  A couple of times, I'd forgotten what the 'terminology' in this book referred to, but this wasn't a problem, as Kenney defly weaves clues in to remind you who's who--it was mainly the Sweepers who I kept getting confused about. 

(Also, Exeter is mentioned, and as a local, I loved that!)

I really liked the contrast of the insiders and the outsiders. It was well-thought out and incredibly well executed, the old 'natural' ways vs technology. 

Overall, Book Of Fire is a tightly plotted fantasy story of deception vs truth, and loyalty vs betrayal, with incredibly well written characters and a plot that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Review: BIRD BOX by Josh Malerman

Bird Box by Josh Malerman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Malorie raises the children the only way she can: indoors, with the doors locked, the curtains closed, and mattresses nailed over the windows.

The children sleep in the bedroom across the hall, but soon she will have to wake them and blindfold them.

Today they will risk everything. Today they will leave the house.

Josh Malerman’s New York Times bestselling Bird Box is a terrifying psychological thriller that will haunt you long after reading.

--

Bird Box is an intense, gripping, and fast-paced apocalyptic thriller by Josh Malerman. I only became aware of the existence of this book after watching the film starring Sandra Bullock. I absolutely loved that film—it had heart, action, and horror packed in—and so when I saw the ebook was on sale for £0.99 o just had to give it a try.

Because I’d loved the film so much, I was a little sceptical—but the book is even better. Malorie, our main character, is strongly written and the narrative really delves deeper into her psyche, allowing us to see new layers that the film didn’t have. We see her weaknesses and her faults as she battles to keep her two young children alive in a world where opening your eyes can get you killed.

The other main characters are well written and believable, and we see how stress brings out the worst and best things about humanity.

Remarkably, the plot of the film is strikingly close to the book. Of course, there are some differences (such as some events happen much closer together in the film and it also has a main character doe much later than in the book), but all the other essential elements are there—the book just develops many more, such as the survivors’ use of animals in keeping them safe from the creatures that will drive them mad if they see them.

I was delighted to see the book kept the back-and-forth non-linear narrative that the film had. I just loved that structure.

There is a lot of darkness in this book and a few scenes that made me feel queasy. Warning for suicide, murder, and graphic violent content.

This is a must-read for apocalypse and dystopian fans.

View all my reviews

Review: VOX by Christina Dalcher

Vox by Christina Dalcher
My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Set in an America where half the population has been silenced, VOX is the harrowing, unforgettable story of what one woman will do to protect herself and her daughter.

On the day the government decrees that women are no longer allowed more than 100 words daily, Dr. Jean McClellan is in denial—this can't happen here. Not in America. Not to her.

This is just the beginning.

Soon women can no longer hold jobs. Girls are no longer taught to read or write. Females no longer have a voice. Before, the average person spoke sixteen thousand words a day, but now women only have one hundred to make themselves heard.

But this is not the end.

For herself, her daughter, and every woman silenced, Jean will reclaim her voice. 


—-

Vox by Christina Dalcher gives us a snapshot into a terrifyingly real world.

Girls and women are no longer allowed to speak more than 100 words a day. If they do, they face extreme punishment. They’ve been stripped of their jobs and any authority they once had is long gone. This is a terrifying look at female oppression and Dalcher explores just how far society will go—and what, if anything, can be done to stop it.

Jean is a great protagonist. She’s relatable and strong-minded, yet she’s careful and cautious too. Seeing the world directly through her own experiences in it was, quite frankly, uncomfortable to read in many places. The injection of flashbacks throughout the MS that showed how the world had come to be like this was also very interesting, as not only did it provide backstory in small amounts, but it also gives the reader a chance to see how Jean’s character has changed and grown, to see how she’s adapted to the new rules of society.

Jean’s relationships with her children were also really interesting. In particular, her eldest son and her daughter. These characters also felt well though-out and well written.

The writing itself is concise and appealing. It invites the reader to “just read another chapter” at every point. It’s a compelling book and it has some fantastic images that border on being almost lyrical in their writing.

The affair in this book was a bit of a surprise for me—but a good one. Seeing the contrast between Patrick and Lorenzo, and how each interacted with Jean was really interesting.

The one thing I didn’t like was the ending. It felt really rushed, and when Jean and Lorenzo so easily realise that they can trust another person so quickly, it just seemed very convenient. I didn’t quite believe they could trust this third character (trying not to give spoilers here) and I was waiting for it to backfire... only it didn’t.

View all my reviews

Review: REACTIVE by Becky Moynihan

Reactive by Becky Moynihan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the first book by Becky Moynihan that I’ve read, and I was not disappointed. This is largely a fast-paced read that had me turning the pages faster than I could read them.

The worldbuilding of this book is something that’s especially well done. I recently read Whisper by Lynette Noni, and the opening of Reactive particularly struck me as similar. But whereas, for me, Whisper lost its pace and tension in the next chapters (and ultimately became a book I did not finish), Reactive was the complete opposite. This is the story I was looking for.

Lune is a great protagonist. Her voice and personality shone through the writing. As a character, she felt authentic. She was strong-minded, yet hesitant at times, and I really liked this as it made her human and really relatable. And we definitely discover more about her as she faces the trials, which was something I really liked.

There were a couple chapters that had slight pacing issues, but this doesn’t really detract from my overall feelings on the book. This is a solid dystopian.

Thank you to the author for providing me with a free review copy.

View all my reviews

Review: ALLEGIANT by Veronica Roth

Allegiant by Veronica Roth
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

So it’s been about five or six years since I first read the Divergent trilogy, and I’ve recently been doing research into the structure of the final book of a YA dystopian trilogy or series, and so I’ve just finished reading Allegiant again.

I didn’t re-read books one and two again, but rather dived straight into book three in my analysis, and I definitely think that this time round, I have different thoughts on Allegiant. I don’t know whether this is because I’m coming to it in a more analytical way this time, rather than as just a reader.

So, the majority of this book is fast-paced and the writing pulls you in. I was particularly enthralled by the imagery and how less says more in a lot of places—particularly as we’re shown Tris’s emotions.

Bringing Tobias’s POV into this trilogy with the final book is still something that bothers me a little. On the one hand, it’s great for his character development—he felt like he had real depth and I loved getting to know him more. But, on the other hand, it changed the tone of the trilogy, and its direction. One thing I remember loving about Divergent and Insurgent is how connected I felt to Tris as a narrator. Her voice really shone through the prose, and it feels like that connection was lost with book three as it’s told through two points of view.

But this new narrative structure also works—and it paves the way for the ending. I’m trying to be spoiler-free in this review, but let’s just say it’s clear the ending wouldn’t have worked if we didn’t have Tobias’s POV too.

The other thing I briefly want to mention here is that, while I liked learning more about Tobias, I found it harder to relate to him in many ways in this book because of his name change. For so long, he was known by his nickname (Four) to Tris and us, yet for the majority of this book he’s called Tobias by Tris, and in his own chapters too. This did feel a little jarring to me. I understand this is probably a personal preference though as other books where a character’s real name has been revealed at a late point has also bothered me.

This book definitely has a bigger-picture feel to it (which makes sense given the ending for book two and how Tris and co leave the city and head for the Bureau). The new worldbuilding is impressive, and it definitely puts a new spin on everything in the first two books, but at times, for me, it felt a bit too much. Like things had changed a little too quickly.

But this bigger-picture feeling led to many characters taking on bigger, more dominant roles in this book’s plot than the previous books. It wasn’t just a boy and a girl trying to save the world—it was organised and involved the work of several of the lesser characters too, and I really liked this. It showed a group of people coming together to fight where each plays an important role.

This book also throws up a lot of questions regarding the ethics of science, experiments, and genetics, and questions how much people are responsible for their own actions. I found this discourse very interesting in the way it was integrated into the story, but it did change the tone quite a bit—this book seems more political than the previous instalments of the trilogy which could arguably be thought of as more entertaining reads.

The relationship between Tris and Tobias is well-written in this book and is one of the most realistic romantic relationships I’ve come across in YA literature. They fall out, nearly break up, and it shows the true ups and downs. I especially liked how insecurity was a theme. It felt authentic and a natural build up of the events in the last two books.

And the ending? I remember the first time when I read it I was super shocked. I both hated it and loved it. This time, going in with the knowledge of the ending led to a different experience as I discovered just how much foreshadowing there is in place and the inevitability of that event. Yet it also made the pacing at the end seem slower in the final chapters—something that, on my second read, seemed to upset the balance of the book a little.

Overall, Allegiant is an emotionally charged and powerful story, but it differs in tone and theme greatly from books one and two in its series, almost becoming something very different and unexpected.


View all my reviews

Review: ...AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR? by Holly Bourne

...And a Happy New Year? by Holly Bourne
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Evie, Amber and Lottie are having a New Year party to remember. For the first time since leaving college, all three girls are back together. It’s time for fun and flirting, snogs and shots. Because everything’s going great for these girls – Spinster Club for ever! Right?

—

...AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR is the final book (this time a novella) in Holly Bourne’s Spinster Club series. I devoured the other books and when I saw this one had been published, I just had to get a copy.

This book is told via alternating POVs between Amber, Lottie, and Evie, and takes place across a couple of hours in the lead up to a new year. A few months have passed since the end of the last book, and we see how the girls have grown apart a little, yet still rely on each other.

As a fan of the other books in this series, I really loved this novella. It was a gem and really reminded me why I fell in love with Evie, Lottie, and Amber. It was so nice to revisit them—and I particularly liked how Evie’s OCD is still there, it hadn’t just been ‘fixed’. And each of their personalities really shine through their first person narratives.

We also get to find out more about the girls’ boyfriends, particularly Oli and his struggle with mental health and how this affects Evie.

As with all of Bourne’s books, this book speaks truth. It shows what university can be like for some teenagers (via Lottie), how mental health issues don’t completely go away (Evie), and looks at big life changes (Amber), and ‘growing up’ and apart from school friends.

The only thing that makes this book a 4 star rather than 5, for me, is that the plot line seemed a little weak—nothing huge happens like in the other books, and this book is definitely written for those readers who are already familiar with the series. Whereas I felt the other books could be read in any order and each worked as a standalone, this one is one definitely to read after the others.

View all my reviews

Review: WHISPER by Lynette Noni

Whisper by Lynette Noni

“Lengard is a secret government facility for extraordinary people,” they told me.

I believed them. That was my mistake.

There isn’t anyone else in the world like me.

 I’m different. I’m an anomaly. I’m a monster.

 For two years, six months, fourteen days, eleven hours and sixteen minutes, Subject Six-Eight-Four — ‘Jane Doe’ — has been locked away and experimented on, without uttering a single word. As Jane’s resolve begins to crack under the influence of her new — and unexpectedly kind — evaluator, she uncovers the truth about Lengard’s mysterious ‘program’, discovering that her own secret is at the heart of a sinister plot … and one wrong move, one wrong word, could change the world.

—-

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Firstly, thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this book. Unfortunately, this book wasn’t what I’d hoped it to be and it’s currently a DNF. Over the last couple of months, I’ve picked it up several times, but each time I just couldn’t get into the story much past the 60% mark and so it FELT like reading and I just wasn’t as absorbed in the story as I wanted to be.

Don’t get me wrong; the beginning was brilliant. Jane’s situation sucked me in right from the start and I was so curious. I devoured the opening.

But then the pacing just seemed a little off. I don’t know, it just seemed a bit too flat at times and way too tense at others—to me, the reveals and twists didn’t quite meant sense. I felt there were a lot of contradictions, especially regarding the supernatural abilities.

Ward was by far my favourite character and I loved the romance building and how he gave Jane a nickname.

But unfortunately this book just wasn’t for me at the moment.

View all my reviews

Review: INFLUENCE by David R. Bernstein

Influence by David R. Bernstein
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

If you could manipulate reality, would you?

Seventeen-year-old Kaylin has been on the run, hiding her untapped abilities for six years, but rescuing a mysterious guy risks exposing the depths of her power. The manipulative sector groups hunt her kind. Life has never been easy, but resisting is even harder. This harsh, new world will no longer allow her to remain hidden.

In a future where greed and corruption has torn American society apart; these relentless sector groups prey on powerful youths to mold the populace to expand their reach. Young people with the ability to shift the mindset of others are high-value targets. War is waging to expand and control this new world. Influencers, as they're called, hold the key to humanity's future.

Will fighting back cost Kaylin everything?

Influence is the first novel in the Influence series, a sci-fi, dystopian epic with a touch of romance, loads of fast-paced action, with a unique story concept. If you are a Maze Runner or Divergent fan than this is the book is for you!

As soon as I read the back cover copy for INFLUENCE, I just knew I had to buy it. And this book did not disappoint.

The premise is unique and original, and Bernstein's world building was great. The writing was fluid and tight, and the packing was spot on. I particularly loved that we're given some backstory, but that we're shown it (no telling!) in flashback-like episodes where it's applicable, and Bernstein leads us into these scenes very cleverly, in such a way that I knew it was a flashback. There was none of that confusion (the 'is this happening now or has it already happened?') that you sometimes get when books use flashbacks as a device to tell backstory. And I mean, the flashback near the beginning contained pretty important backstory too, explaining why Kay is now on the run and answering any questions I had at that point. So, yes, there's no heavy info-dumping, and we're given just the right amount of backstory to go by.

As a main character, Kaylin is great. I also really appreciated the relationship between Kay and her best friend, Amanda. It was refreshing to see.

As the plot builds, the tension and stakes increase. And there's a lot of action, which I absolutely love. The ending! Wow. I loved it and it fitted the whole book so well. I don't want to give any spoilers there--but let's just say it's very cleverly written. I read the whole thing in less than 24 hours.

Would definitely recommend to dystopian fans.

View all my reviews

Review: The Butterfly Code by Sue Wyshynski

The Butterfly Code by Sue Wyshynski
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

My name is Aeris Thorne. I am a genetically modified human. 

PAINFUL SECRETS.
STARTLING TRUTHS.
UNDENIABLE LOVE.

All it took was a chance meeting--one tingling glance across a darkened street to change my life.

I'd been searching for my two best friends in the crowded Zenith Club, which was a really bad idea because I'm totally claustrophobic. 

I burst outside, and that's when I came face-to-face with the incredibly gorgeous Hunter Cayman. Dark-haired, tall, and leaning against an insane sports car, my pulse went haywire. Maybe things weren't so bad after all. The young doctor had his long muscular arms crossed over his leather jacket clad chest, and all his six-foot something would make any girl's knees turn weak. But then, if what Ella said was true, Hunter was the kind of guy who left behind a trail of broken hearts. And heartache was the last thing I needed right now.

Yet there's something strange, something almost superhuman about Hunter. It's more than that infuriatingly knowing grin. I'm trying to stop thinking about him, and I get the feeling he's avoiding me, too. Yet Deep Cove is a tiny town and every time we run into each other the tension literally crackles, sparking around us. It just figures that when suddenly I'm in danger, he's there to save me.

In truth, I should be dead. By all the logic in this world, I should be shattered to pieces. How fast was I going on that ATV when I smashed into those iron gates? Ninety? A hundred? And the men who were chasing me, where did they go?

Somehow I'm whole.

Maybe better than whole. 

There's no one I can talk to, not even my best friend, Gage. Gage hates Hunter. He wants Hunter's laboratory to be shut down. He thinks Hunter's a monster. And yet, if that's true, if Hunter's a monster...than what am I? I'm not sure what terrifies me more, the metamorphosis taking place inside me, or the intensely powerful connection with a guy whose heart and soul has become linked with mine.

Wow, what a book.

Right from the start, we’re thrown into the action. I loved the narrative style so much, particularly the way the narrator questions everything. And I particularly enjoyed the who is he? what’s he doing here? intro for Dr Hunter Cayman.

This new adult paranormal thriller/suspense is so beautifully written, and it really was a delight to read. I loved Aeris, the main character. She felt real, and the way her character changes and progresses also felt believable. The little details we’re given about Aeris’s life and her past add so much authenticity too. And, as this book’s written in first person, she had a real voice. Her way of thinking constantly oozed through the writing, and at times was enough to make me forget I was actually reading a book.

One thing that struck me about the plot were the futuristic/SF elements. I hadn’t been expecting them as we’d already been given the paranormal/mystery/thriller elements, and they were a nice surprise, particularly as I LOVE LOVE LOVE speculative fiction.

And, I also love symbolism too–particularly in names. And there was a lot of this to keep me happy. A lot of work has obviously gone into this book, and I’m determined to reread it soon so I can spot all the foreshadowing–I noticed a few instances in my first reading, which were carefully incorporated, but I’m sure there’s more!

There’s just the right amount of action, suspense and tension in this book, and it kept me turning the pages. I particularly loved the relationship between Aeris and Gage, possibly more than that between Aeris and Hunter. It felt realistic, and that’s what I particularly loved about it.

But Hunter himself was such an interesting character. Right from the start, I was drawn to him–in much the same way that our main character seems to be. I was intrigued about this man who’s apparently dangerous and dark… and I was so, so curious. And there was just something so enigmatic and mysterious about him. He’s the perfect love interest! I really hope there’s a sequel to THE BUTTERFLY CODE.

I’ll definitely be looking for more books by this author!

(I received a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review).

View all my reviews