emilyusuallyreading's reviews
746 reviews

I love A.W. Tozer. He is so wise and has such great insight, even years after the publishing of his books. This book is unfortunately short but a wonderful key during quiet times if one is looking to pursue God more.

What I Liked
I had trouble putting this book down. It's so confusing for the first three-quarters that I desperately wanted to know what was going on. Page after page I would turn until I ended up going to bed late on a night before work.

The story is captivating. There are some intensely gruesome and macabre scenes, but somehow this only made me feel more immersed into the book. In truth, I've never read anything like this before.

The ending completely shocked me, and I actually really liked it. I'm usually pretty good at predicting endings, and since I didn't pinpoint this one whatsoever, I was pleasantly surprised. I plan to buy the second one when it comes out.

(This isn't the best review I've written... because I'm trying to follow Sigler's request and not share spoilers.)

What I Didn't Like
There was not a lot of depth to the characters. They all begin as twelve-year-olds, and I think Sigler struggles to understand how twelve-year-old kids communicate with each other. The flat dialogue flattens conversations, which flattens the characters.

There is too much of a focus on beauty, in my opinion. Everyone in this story is stunningly gorgeous (

Spoiler

except for the monsters

). Conveniently too-small clothes, rippling muscles, faces that draw everyone in with awe and envy. I have to say... considering the trauma into which these children have wakened, why are they focused #1 on each other's beauty? It doesn't make sense to me.

Spoiler

Also, I have trouble with the fact that these kids are 12 in 20-year-old bodies. It's as if Sigler was trying to make this both a middle grade and young adult book by making it about little kids with hot, grown-up figures... but I want nothing to do with reading about a young girl's boobs or about how attractive a 12-year-old boy is. I don't even want to go there.

What I Liked

This is kind of a futuristic, dystopian Huckleberry Finn.

Most of the characterization in this book is excellent. I don't know if this is a part of every edition, but there was a short story told from Viola's point of view at the end, and I instantly knew that Viola was speaking.

Animals talk in this world... which is weird, and at first I was beyond irritated. However, Ness pulls this off. He writes animals exactly how I would imagine them talking, and an animal quickly became my favorite character in the book.

Spoiler

And I knew what would happen, I knew it, I knew it, and I still died inside.

The idea of moving to a new, better planet has been done, but I liked Ness's imagination here. The idea of ships being used to make the first settlements, the idea that the first group of settlers were modern day Puritans, in a sense, like the first of those who traveled to the New World/America. I enjoyed the world building.

This book is immersing. I read until the early morning hours. In the first person, action packed narrative, it's easy to get caught up in the story.

What I Didn't Like

I hate cheating. The idea of Todd's narrative is that whatever he writes in first-person, present-tense can be heard by everyone around him. The reader is given a glimpse into what everyone else experiences, all the time. However, when it's convenient to Ness, he skips over the most important chunks in what Todd has to say. Someone tells him a big piece of the story - and he writes a few vague lines, like, "And he tells me something so bad I can hardly believe it's true!" But every other minute detail of Todd's day-to-day throughout this journey is spelled out, as if we were right there, surrounded by Noise. The cheating is too convenient, too irritating. When it's finally spelled out, the story is almost over and I've already guessed way worse than the truth. If the reader had been allowed to discover the truths about Prentisstown as Todd did, I think these realities would hit a lot harder.

Sometimes-
The narrative-
Goes on-
Like this-
Every-
Single-
Line-
For pages-
And-
Pages-
And-
Pages-
And it drove me bonkers.

Names are used too much. I'm not talking only in the Noise or in the dialogue from Manchee. In almost every spoken line delivered by a person, it goes like this:
"Todd, what are you thinking right now?"
"I'm not thinking anything, Ben."
"Todd, I can hear your thoughts."
"Ben, you can't."
No one uses each other's names that often. It's not how people talk to each other.

Finally, the villains in this book were silly. Unstoppable freaks that were battered and psycho and evil without any sad or relatable back story whatsoever. They wouldn't stop. And they kept popping up over and over and over again... for no reason except

Spoiler

the big army, we need a 13-year-old boy to reinforce our principles of the big bad army

. These villains weren't that scary, they weren't that haunting, and I definitely never quite understood their motives. They were just nuts.

I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would.

The main character is a spitfire. Her personality is almost too strong at times, but I found myself consistently enjoying her reactions to each new twist of the story.

The romance here is realistic and tangible. There was no insta-love or eye-roll love or any kind of love that makes me die a little inside. Instead I am craving the next book, which won't come out until next year.

I was reminded of The Winner's Curse. A similar writing style and a realistic fantasy that is real enough to be completely believable.

What I Liked
This story is interesting. It captivated me enough to make me want to read the next in the series whenever it comes out in 2016. Mare is a likable character.

A class system and supernatural powers merged together makes for an interesting world. While Red Queen blends into the YA genre in most ways (amazingly unique but average protag, a love triangle, dystopian world, etc), this world-building does help it to stand unique from the rest of the crowd.

I think Cal is my favorite character. He feels very real.. The young crown prince, torn between morality and responsibility - between family and love - between duty and conscience. I enjoyed his character development thoroughly, all the way through the end.

What I Didn't Like

Most of the secondary characters did not win me over. They felt flat and predictable. The Silvers were painted solely by their powers. If they had the power of metal, they were cold and unfeeling with no redeemable qualities. If they were a love interest from back home, they were dreamy and angsty and sweet with the tendency to say over and over again, "Just stop trying to save me, Mare."

The biggest thing that bugged me throughout the book was

Spoiler

the fact that Mare thought she and Maven could hide being in the rebellion when the queen could read minds. How could she not see coming the fact that Maven's precious mother could pick his secrets out of his brain? How could Mare risk holding any secrets of the Guard while knowing that she was being carefully watched by a Whisper? And how did she not guess that Maven would betray her because of all of these things? I just don't understand.

What I Liked
The class system is well put-together.

This is a light-hearted read. I didn't go into this wanting an in-depth "thinking" book and I didn't get one. In terms of letting me relax and escape from reality for a little while, it definitely worked. I enjoyed several moments in the book... and I plan to read the next in line due to the fact that I bought a shrink-wrapped package of the series at basically the same cost as one book.

But honestly, I had a lot of problems with this book.

What I Didn't Like
America is a little angsty. Most of the time, she is likable, but she goes into these tangents of, "I am the ugliest person in this room." Or she tries to argue with someone that she is not pretty. Just don't. Just. Don't.

Maxon. I hate Maxon. I kind of wish someone would cut off Maxon's leg or destroy his life or something that would show a glimpse of humanity in this character that is otherwise as flat as a blank sheet of paper. He is handsome and well-muscled. He wears a suit in every single scene, except one where his suit jacket is off. He is always kind, always well-mannered, always in the right. He is innocent, never rogue-ish, and only ever frustrated or impatient when it's reasonable for him to act that way. He has no sadness in his past whatsoever, yet he is endlessly empathetic towards others. A character this perfect is annoying. It's impossible to relate to him. It's impossible to really root for him.

Many other characters have the same level of flatness. Celeste is mean and spoiled and only that. Tiny is shy and quiet and tearful and only that. Etc, etc, etc.

The world-building is also bothersome. There are all of these rebels, but they're just rebels. They're just faceless bad guys that pop up and scare everybody throughout the course of the book. Perhaps they will be explored more in-depth later in the series, but this book is suppose to stand at least somewhat on its own and it offers nothing in regard to the rebels. The history about the United States of China, Russia, and so on is a little cringey.

I think my biggest pet peeve with this book is that it can't stand on its own. It ends abruptly. There is a half-finished story line - no arc to this book. It's as if it ends on chapter 13 instead of beginning a sequel. Who are the rebels? Not only will we not know who they are, we won't even begin to approach who they are. The Selection/Fantastical Royal version of The Bachelor isn't concluded. Any real romance with Maxon isn't concluded. Any realization of Marlee's secret isn't concluded. Is there any knowledge I came to the end of this book having? No, not really.

Don't worry. You don't have to hide your eyes from the comments due to spoilers as the biggest spoiler is on the cover and title of the book.

This is why I don't usually read straight-up romances. I just can't stand them.

Everybody lives happily ever after here. Except for the bad guys.

This book is completely perspective-altering. I would recommend it to anyone, as well as the two-part documentary on Netflix.

These are stories of women who have been through terrible suffering, overcome, and now stand strong and fierce. These are women who empower other women. And reading about them makes my heart sing.

I'm sorry, but I didn't enjoy this one.

I bought Another Day thinking it would be a sequel to the first book. Instead, it was a re-telling of the exact same story, told by Rhiannon instead of by A. Unfortunately, the intriguing part of Every Day was its premise, and without the narration of A, there wasn't nearly as much of a story.

Plus, Rhiannon is involved in so much of Every Day that pages upon pages of this book were direct quotes from the first. It's a near copy of the first book, with less intrigue and mystery and a slightly more obnoxious main character. We know what's going to happen, I was never that interested in Rhiannon's perspective, and her narration fell flat for me.

What I Liked
I'll be honest. Not a lot.

I liked the deepening of the character Kriss. I liked the innocence. I liked the mindlessness. But mostly, I was bored.

What I Didn't Like

The dialogue. Meaningless chatter between characters clutters up this story to the point that I find myself skimming even through pages that should be full of insignificant detail. So much giggling going on. So much smirking. So much saying, "Oh. Do you want to do this?" "No, I'm going to do this." "Oh, giggle, giggle, okay." "Thanks for asking though." "You're welcome." So much silly dialogue. Not so much meaningful dialogue. And when there should be meaningful dialogue, we see America tell the other girls later, "Maxon and I have been talking a lot." And that's all.

So much telling, not so much showing.

The Love Triangle There is no believable love in this series. None. Practically every other chapter, America is torn between who she loves most: the poor, dreamy, boy-next-door Aspen in the handsome guard's uniform or the suited, proper, gentle, oh-so-perfect Prince Charming/Maxon. And she can never decide. She unceasingly tells Aspen she loves him and she straight up refuses to tell Maxon she loves him, and yet it's painfully clear who she is going to choose by the end of all of this, due to the stupid titles. Which brings me to...

The title. There is no suspense here. This is because upon purchasing my clearance rack shrink-wrapped box of three Selection books by Kiera Cass, I saw that book number two was called The Elite. And by the first few chapters of The Selection, I knew that The Elite were the top ten finalists in The Bachelor-Like princess competition. So I always knew she would make it this far. And now, no matter how many petty fights America has with Maxon, due to the title of the next book in line (The One) and a cover where she is wearing a white dress, it's very clear who will win this competition. So why is the focus lingering on Aspen? Thanks to the massive spoilers in the titles, everybody knows who will win. Why do I plan to read any further? Because I own the book.

The world history session/the diary. The world-building in this series just doesn't make sense. Nothing is the same as it used to be. There is almost no public knowledge of any kind of history. There is a New Asia. The United States of China/aka Ilea... and yet there is France and Italy? The diary also seemed to share a governmental structure and history that was way too black and white to seem realistic.

The rebels. The simplicity of the rebels is also confusing. The southerners are bad bad news. The northerners are kind of good news. The end. Hopefully you'll get caught by a northerner and not a southerner.

America. Her lack of decision-making and pointless rages at Maxon drive me up the wall. I'm sorry, America, but we cannot be friends.