Requiem by Lauren Oliver

Disclaimer: This review contains SPOILERS! Requiem is the third book in a trilogy. If you haven't read Delirium, Pandemonium and Requiem yet, please do, the books are amazing. Only read this review if you have finished reading REQUIEM!

 

Source: Goodreads

 

Now, WHAT WAS THAT?

92% of the book read (according to my Kindle), Lauren Oliver talks about tearing down walls, I’m waiting for the story to come to an end, for things to make sense... And then: THIS. Freaking Acknowledgements. Really?

Don’t get me wrong: I really really liked this book. I did! There were scenes I loved. The Waterbury scene (Lena is so totally badass!), the mother-daughter-reunion scene. The scene where Hana and Lena meet again. Lena and Grace. Knowing what it’s like to be cured because of Hana’s POV. And so many more!

I just think there were about 50 pages missing in this book, because we don’t know what happens after the chaos in Portland. Did the rebellion win over Portland? I think so. But what happens to the rest of the country? Did similar things happen in other cities as well or just in Portland?

What happened to Hana after she left her husband to die in his house? Will she join the rebellion? I really want her to!

And most important: Who will Lena choose? I know she loves Alex more than she loves Julian (which I don’t understand, since we don’t really know Alex at all, and neither does Lena. Alex is this aggressive stranger who hates Lena when he sees her again. Why? What happened to him in the Crypts? How did he even get there? He was shot, for god’s sake!).

All in all, the book was amazing, minus the missing 50-100 pages. I read it in a couple of hours because I couldn't put it down. Some things happened that I was so excited about. But the ending was so, so disappointing. I've always liked comparing the Matched series to the Delirium series. At the end of Reached, there is an election. We don't know what the results of the election is but things actually changed in Reached. In Requiem there is just this massive riot, people die, walls are torn down, but we don't know if there is any change!

Now, want to know what I think? There is going to be a Delirium TV show. An ending like this is PERFECT for a TV show, because they can do so much with it. There are so many parts in the book that are missing, there is so much free space for the TV show...

It’s just that I’m not a massive fan of books that get turned into TV shows (except Game of Thrones), because they usually change a whole lot (*cough* Vampire Diaries), and after a season or two, you can’t find what’s happening in books anywhere in the show.

I’m giving Requiem  a 4 out of 5. I’d love to give it a 5 because I loved Lauren Oliver's writing and the characters, but I can’t ignore the ending. I don’t hate open endings, but this ending was just too open for me. Too many questions were not answered... And although I know the Delirium trilogy is a TRILOGY I’m hoping for a sequel. And now I have to call Amazon customer service because I threw my Kindle agains the wall after seing the word "Acknowledgements". I have a Kindle Keyboard and the backside got loose. :(

If you want to find out more about Lauren Oliver, click HERE to view her website

                                                                                               HERE to view her twitter 

25 Books Challenge:  9 Books!!! 

Update! Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

Hey everyone! It’s been a while since my last blog post. First I had to study for finals, then I actually had the finals, and then I went on a skiing vacation to Austria...

But during that time I read a lot, and I wanted to post a QUICK update!

Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi 

Source: Goodreads

This book is set in a dystopian world, different from any other world I’ve read about in YA. Population has been split into two parts: The Dwellers who live under the earth because the outside world has become too dangerous because of a substance called Aether (please don’t ask me how to pronounce this one. I have NO idea :D).
 

But there are also people living on the outside in a constant fight against the Aether.

The protagonist of this book is Arya, she’s a Dweller and I think she’s 16... Anyway, she is forced to leave her home underground and struggles to survive on the outside. On her journey she meets Perry who has lived his whole life on the outside. And even though the two of them hate each other when they meet, they need one another to get what they want, and end up... yes, of course falling in love. There HAS to be some romance in a YA dystopian novel, right? :D

I really liked Under the Never Sky. It was a quick read, I liked the characters, and I can’t wait to read Through the Ever Night, the sequel (which has already been released, I just haven’t had any time to read it. 

I'm giving it a 4,5 out of 5

If you want to find out more about Veronica Rossi, you can check out her blog: Link

25 Books Challenge 2013:   5/25 

Book Review: Hopeless by Colleen Hoover

I really want to talk about this book I've just finished. It's called "Hopeless" and it's by Colleen Hoover.

Basically it's supposed to be a YA romance.
Let me tell you the only thing YA about this book is the fact that the main characters are 17 and 18 years old. Apart from that there's NOTHING really YA about it. It has swearing and a lot sex in it without it being inappropriate.
I LOVED this book. So much. I'm trying to wrap my mind around the fact that it's over.

Plot:

Source: Goodreads

It's about Sky who's 17 years old. She's been home schooled by her adoptive mother until she decides to spend her senior year at a public school. She's having a hard time in school because her best friend, Six, isn't spending senior year with her in Texas, but in Italy. Also, Sky kind of has the reputation of a slut because she's made out with so many guys. But nobody, not even Sky herself knows the reason why she never feels attracted to any of the guys she makes out with.
Until one day she meets Holder (that's his last name BTW) at the grocery store, and Sky develops feelings for him.

 

My Thoughts:

It sounds like a cheesy love story. It's not. The further I read, the more complicated and intense the story got. And the more I read, the more I fell in love with Holder as well. He's too good to be true, but he still has his flaws. He's no Edward Cullen who's more of a parent than a boyfriend to Bella. Holder has a temper and a secret, and he and Sky were just meant to be together.

I seriously encourage you to pick this book up, I'm sure it won't disappoint you.
I'm giving this book a 5 out of 5 because everything was perfect. I loved the characters. I loved the unpredictable plot (although I knew what had happened to Sky when she was a little girl from the beginning).
I don't know if I've ever read a book that has made me laugh out loud and cry on the same page. It was a roller-coaster ride full of emotions. I don't have enough words to express how much this book impressed me.

THANK YOU COLLEEN HOOVER! (And thanks for the sleepless night last night, and for keeping me from studying for my business law final tomorrow. Haha. It was worth it!)

I'm glad I found out Colleen Hoover has two other books out (not "Hopeless" related books), that are supposed to be really good as well. Now I know what I'll be doing when my finals are over in two weeks. Read, read, read....
Check out Colleen Hover's website for more information, news and all that good stuff!


25 books challenge: 4/25 (January 31)

A Wish After Midnight by Zetta Elliott

It's me again! Today I want to talk about a book I finished a couple of weeks ago, but couldn't find the time to write about it because of finals. It's "A Wish After Midnight" by Zetta Elliott, which I discovered because it was only 99 cents on the Kindle Store the day I purchased it. 

Source: Goodreads

Plot:

The book is about 15-year-old Gemma who lives in a tiny apartment in Brooklyn with her mother and her siblings. She's not happy with the situation she's in because she wants to go to college, but her mother doesn't have enough money to send her, her siblings sell drugs and get in trouble, she thinks she's not pretty enough to ever have a boyfriend (ugh!) because she's "too black" ... and so on. Basically she wishes for a better life but nothing really happens... until one night she time travels back to the Civil War era Brooklyn and gets to know how hard life can really be.

My Thoughts: (Spoiler Alert!)

What I thought was missing in this book was an explanation. It might just me be but I didn't get the purpose of the time travel. Why did she travel back to 1864? To realize that 2001 has many more opportunities for her? How did the time travel thing happen? How long was she over there? What did Judah do to travel back in time? Many things were left without explanation. What happened to the family she worked for? The doctor, his wife, their little son, Nannie, the Irish girl, the black woman with her three children? And most important of all: What happened to Judah?

Judah's and Genna's "romance" didn't really feel real to me. It seemed like the author wanted to add that relationship aspect to the book. I didn't even like Judah, maybe because we didn't get to know him at all.

I felt like the book skipped over some exciting parts (like how the two got together) and focused on Genna's ongoing pessimist monologue. What she thinks of her mom, her Dad, her siblings, the white guy she met at the botanic garden…
Genna really could have traveled back in time earlier on in the book, because nothing really happened at all in the first part of the book.

But I don't only have negative things to say about "A Wish After Midnight". I really liked Genna as a character. At first her first person narration really went on my nerves because she repeated everything over and over, but Genna is a clever and likable girl. She's determined, fresh, educated… I have to admit I found myself somewhere in her, my self confidence isn't the best, either :)

All in all the book was a quick read, and I enjoyed reading it, but the ending and some parts in the middle of the book didn't satisfy me. 

I'm giving it a 3,5 out of 5.

Oh - I almost forgot something:

25 Books Challenge: 3/25!!!

Angelfall by Susan Ee

When I picked up "Angelfall" by Susan Ee this morning (at 11am to be precise :D ), I didn't expect to finish it at 9 pm. I downloaded the book because it was on sale for just 99 cents in the Kindle Store. The reviews were mainly positive, so I thought I'd give it a try. But I definitely wasn't expecting THIS.

Source: Amazon

• Paperback: 290 pages
• Publisher: Amazon Children's Publishing; First Edition edition (August 28, 2012)
• Available as: Paperback, Kindle eBook
• Get it on Amazon.com

Plot:

The book is another YA dystopian novel (I know. I can't help it). Penryn is 17, her mother is schizophrenic, and her little sister sits in a wheelchair. Penryn's sister is captured by angels who have brought  apocalypse to the world. Penryn finds an angel (Raffe) who has lost his wings, saves his life, and takes him captive because she hopes to retrieve her sister with his help.  So the two of them embark on a journey to get his wings back and rescue the young girl.

My thoughts:

I just couldn't put this book down. The world Susan Ee created is so dangerous but real, and the characters so relatable that I HAD TO find out what happens next. There really was no point where I thought the book was boring. 

There's one thing I dislike about many dystopian YA books: Very often protagonists try to save the whole society and forget about what's good for themselves and their families. This wasn't the case in Angelfall, and I'm so glad about that. Penryn doesn't try to save the human world from angels, all she does is trying to save her sister. She's no super hero, she's just a normal person, and she acts the way a normal person would act in that situation. But still, Penryn is pretty badass. (And Raffe is probably one of the most awesome guys in YA fiction. Tobias aka Four (from Divergent), watch out! :D )

Angelfall is the first book in a series. I don't know how many books will be in the series, but hopefully the second book will be released soon (since Susan Ee finished the book with quite a cliffhanger)... 

 Rating:

I'm giving this book a 4,5 out of 5 because it was kind of short for my taste. But compared to ASoS by GRRM (a 1100 page book) which I finished yesterday any book seems short, I guess. 


So, keeping score:

25 Books Challenge: 8% completed (January 4, 2013)

  

 

Book Review: Reached by Ally Condie

I’m back! I know it’s been ages, but I really haven’t had much time during the last couple of weeks. I just wanted to let you guys know I finished Reached by Ally Condie, which is the third book in the Matched trilogy. Check out this link for a review of the first two books in the series on my blog!

I finished reading „Reached“ last night and I haven’t really had time to figure out how much I liked this book. Maybe at the end of this review I can tell you. It’s just that A LOT happens in it!

Source: Goodreads

 

Plot:

The book starts a few months after the end of Crossed. Cassia is working as a sorter in Central, Xander is a medic in Camas Province (I think. I’m not good at remembering all the different provinces and cities), and Ky is training to be a pilot for the Rising.

More and more people get a mysterious sickness, called the “Plague” that only the Rising has a cure for. So when the situation gets out of control because too many people are infected, the Rising takes over the Society and starts healing the sick. But nobody expected a mutation of the Plague that nobody has found a cure for and that ends deadly…

 My Thoughts:

 Where should I start? Which the things I liked, I guess. Please, if you haven’t read the book yet, DON’T continue reading. There will be spoilers!

1.     I’m really satisfied with the ending: Ky and Cassia are meant to be together. But I’m beyond happy for Xander. At the beginning of the book I thought it could be Indie, because in Crossed she always looks at Xander’s microcard. And I’d never have expected it to be Laney, I never suspected she could be alive. So that was a really pleasant surprise.

2.     Character development. Again. The characters went through so much in Crossed, and now, at the end of Matched they have become adults. In my opinion Xander changed the most, working with the Still at the medical centers, falling in love with Lei. Plus, he’s such a good person! He’d do anything for his friends, and he’s so happy for Cassia and Ky.

3.     The ending. At the end everyone who is older than 17 could vote for the Society, the Rising, or for Anna, who stands for something entirely new: A kind of democratic system. I think the vote is described beautifully in the book; it’s something totally unknown to the people in the Society. I loved the moment when they’re in the mountains and Cassia explains how strange and unknown, but beautiful having a choice is.
      
  Because that’s kind of what Reached is all about: How having a choice is a gift. Cassia’s grandfather gave Cassia the choice which poems to follow, or not to follow any of them at all. Cassia’s father decided not to. Cassia did.

4.     I wouldn’t call it fast-paced, because it really wasn’t in my opinion. But it still made me keep reading, because it was INTERESTING. I had to know what the ending was like so it was a really quick read for me. (Which makes me think of “The Casual Vacancy”. I’m still stuck at page 130. It’s just not interesting to me).

Reached was really good, but it could have been a little better. What I didn’t like as much:

1.     I think too much of the book was about the Plague and about finding a cure for it. 

2.     I’m a sucker for romance. Except for a few scenes at the end there was hardly any romance at all in this book… Which is because the character weren’t together until like the middle of the book. But still, I love Ky and Cassia together, and I would have enjoyed a few more conversations between the two of them.

3.     Sudden deaths! SPOILER ALERT! Seriously? Indie? Cassia’s dad? I was okay with Oker, his death made sense and made the story a lot more exciting. But Indie was one of my favorite characters, I feel like there is so much about her that we didn’t find out, and never will. 

4.     Unanswered Questions. Yes, I know that’s normal, it happens every time a book series is over: there are questions. Why could Cassia walk through the blue tablet? Why can she remember some things that happened after she took the red? Does is have to do with her never taking the green? Do the Otherlands really exist? Why has nobody ever come back? Where are Ky’s aunt and uncle?

RATING:                                                                       

Plot: 4/5
Language: 5/5
Characters: 5/5
Overall: 4,5/5

Author: Ally Condie

Publisher: Dutton Juvenile

Publication Date: November 13 2012

Genre: Young Adult / Dystopian

Pages: 384 (Hardcover)

Get it on Amazon:  (Available as: Hardcover, Kindle, Audio book)

Have you read Reached yet? What did you like or dislike about it? Please tell me in the comments!

 

Book Review: Divergent by Veronica Roth

I've read many books in 2012 so far, but Divergent by Veronica Roth has been one of my favorites. Don't worry if you haven't read the book yet, this review does not contain any spoilers!

Source: Goodreads

Plot: 

 

Divergent takes place in a futuristic, dystopian Chicago where society is divided into 5 different factions: Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Candor (the honest), Amity (the peaceful) and Erudite (the brave).
The protagonist of Divergent is Beatrice "Tris" Prior who was born and raised in the Abnegation (selfless) faction.
At the age of 16, everyone in the society has to decide whether they want to stay in the faction they grew up in, or change factions. But before choosing, everyone has to take a test, the so-called aptitude test, which tells you which faction fits you best.
Tris takes the test and gets a strange result: Tris is "divergent", which means there is more than one faction that fits Tris' character. But Tris is told to keep her divergence a secret from everyone she knows, because being divergent is dangerous. If you read the book, you'll find out which faction Tris chooses, and why being divergent is considered dangerous.

My Thoughts: 

There is a number of reasons why I liked Divergent:

- I could totally relate to the protagonist. Tris is a girl, Tris is physically weak, but during the novel she becomes this strong and brave person.

- They way the story is told is just terrific, I could NOT stop reading. I don't know about you, but I think reading an almost 500-page book in one sitting doesn't happen very often. I just always wanted to know what's gonna happen next, there were no parts of the book that I felt like could have been left out. When I found out that Veronica Roth, the author of this book is only 24, and that she published the book when she was only 22 (which might not be true, I suck at math), I couldn't believe it. This doesn't seem like a debut novel!

- Divergent is a book that makes me want to write fan fictions. I never write fan fictions, the only times I considered doing it were when I was reading Harry Potter and Twilight. (Please don't kill me because I like Twilight!).
It's a story I want to find out more about because I love some characters with my whole heart, while on the other side there are characters in this book that I absolutely despise. There is just so much more to explore, and I'm more than happy that Divergent is just the first book in a trilogy.

- Yes, just like in almost every YA book there is ROMANCE. I'm not going to tell you who it is going to be (you'll quickly figure it out yourselves), but let me tell you it is GENUINE. The relationship in this book is in no way forced, although it develops fairly quickly. If I had to choose my favorite couple in YA books, it would be the couple in this book. Sorry, Harry Potter (J.K. Rowling can write anything! but romance. Sorry ): )

- I find the world, the dystopian Chicago, especially the factions in the society extremely interesting. I want to find out more about the different factions, I want to know more about how the whole thing started, and I want to know WHAT'S OUTSIDE THE FENCE! And why the locks on the fence are on the outside!


At the end there is just one thing I want to say: Read the book. Just read it, I promise you you'll love it! And if you've already read Divergent: Read Insurgent! (Which is the sequel). (Review of Insurgent coming soon!).


RATING:                                                                       

Plot: 5/5
Language: 4/5
Characters: 5/5
Overall: 5/5

Author: Veronica Roth

Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books

Publication Date: May 3 2011

Genre: Young Adult / Dystopian

Pages: 496 (Hardcover)

Get it on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Divergent-Book-1-Veronica-Roth/dp/0062024027 (Available as: Hardcover, Paperback, Kindle)

Have you read Divergent? Did you like it? Please tell me in the comments :)

"Matched" and "Crossed" by Ally Condie

I read two books last week that I really wanted to review. They're "Matched" and "Crossed" by Ally Condie. (Yes, I've been loving dystopian novels recently. This book series really reminds me of "Delirium" by Lauren Oliver (which I also highly recommend!)).

Don't be afraid of spoilers, these reviews don't give away anything about the books' endings!

Matched by Ally Condie

 

 source: Goodreads

"Matched" is about a 17-year-old girl called Cassia who lives in a world where everything is controlled by "the Society", e.g. you can't choose your job or your relationships, how many children you will have or what you eat. The only choice you get to make is whether you want to be "matched" or stay single for the rest of your life when you turn 17. Cassia chooses to be matched, but the result she gets is very strange and dangerous: She gets two results. On the one hand there's Xander, her neighbor and best friend. On the other hand there's Kyle, who Cassia finds out is an "Aberration" (which means he's not considered a citizen in the Society and can't be matched. But for some reason he gets matched with Cassia).

What I found fascinating was the world Ally Condie created. Her descriptions of the houses, technology and the Society in general are very detailed.
It took me a while to be able to relate to the main character, Cassia: At the beginning of the book she doesn't question the rules of the Society at all, she's very naive, and that kind of annoyed me at first. But after getting the strange matching result she grows more and more suspicious of the whole situation, and her whole character develops a lot.

I read "Matched" in only 2 days. I really got sucked into the story, and couldn't put it down. So when I found out there was a sequel I HAD to read it straight away :).

Crossed by Ally Condie

 

source: Goodreads

I always look up reviews online before reading a book. When I finished "Matched" and looked up reviews for "Crossed" I was kind of disappointed because so many people didn't like it ("Eew, I don't like the setting", "there's not enough Xander", "it's boring" etc. etc.)

Now, after finishing "Crossed" I don't think I'll ever read reviews before reading the book again. Because I really liked Crossed.

It's really hard to compare "Crossed" to "Matched". The setting is totally different, and there are many new characters. But different doesn't always mean worse. I really enjoyed getting to know the Outer Provinces, new characters like Indie, Hunter and Eli, and finding out more about Ky (because, let's face it: we didn't really get to know him in "Matched")...

My favorite part of the book was the character development (imagine what Cassia was like at the beginning of "Matched", and how she's so much more independent now), and of course I loved the fast-paced storyline.

I can't wait for the third and last book to come out (next month? Can't wait :D ). I feel like after Cassia found out about Xander's secret, the story will focus even more on the love triangle. (Which I know is like "soo YA", but done really beautifully in this series in my opinion).

"Crossed" was a really quick read for me (just as quick as "Matched"), and even though I liked Matched a little bit better, Crossed didn't disappoint me in any way.

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 If you have any questions about the book, or if you want me to review a book please leave me a comment! I'd love to hear from you!