Book Review: Rebel Heart by Moira Young

October 26, 2012 by 9 Comments

Rebel Heart by Moira Young Rebel Heart by Moira Young
Release Date: October 30, 2012
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry
Source: ARC for review
Rating: ★★☆☆☆ 
Buy It: Amazon | Book Depository

It seemed so simple: Defeat the Tonton, rescue her kidnapped brother, Lugh, and then order would be restored to Saba’s world. Simplicity, however, has proved to be elusive. Now, Saba and her family travel west, headed for a better life and a longed-for reunion with Jack. But the fight for Lugh’s freedom has unleashed a new power in the dust lands, and a formidable new enemy is on the rise.

What is the truth about Jack? And how far will Saba go to get what she wants? In this much-anticipated follow-up to the riveting Blood Red Road, a fierce heroine finds herself at the crossroads of danger and destiny, betrayal and passion. – Goodreads

Review:
Ouch, it actually hurts me to write this review because it’s not a very positive one. As you may or may not remember, I absolutely loved Moira Young’s Blood Red Road. It was one of my favorites from last year and Rebel Heart, even with a cover redesign that I did not appreciate, was one of my most anticipated books of 2012. The first book packed a punch with its energy and fast pace and I had grown to love the characters so much; I was really looking forward to a reunion with Moira Young’s world. Unfortunately, Rebel Heart took on another direction and I wasn’t much of a fan.

As mentioned above, Blood Red Road kept its momentum going with its fast pace and the adventures Saba set off on. With Rebel Heart, that wasn’t the case. To be fair, it started off on a great scene with Jack and it looked like Rebel Heart would take things up a notch. Instead, however, it dragged for me. It felt like Saba and co. were just traveling around aimlessly because I didn’t feel the same urgency that I did when she was trying to find Lugh in the first book. Considering how much I love Jack I feel that I should have been more invested in Saba’s possible reunion with him. Jack aside, though, I found myself feeling pretty bored with a good portion of the book. I didn’t get caught up in the danger or excitement. It was all just sort of MEH.

Next, the characters didn’t quite grab my attention either. Maybe I needed to re-read Blood Red Road before diving into this one, but I found it difficult to keep track of who some of the side characters were. My feelings towards the core few (i.e. Saba, Lugh, Emmi, etc) ranged from annoyance to straight up “JUST STOP.” I feel like Saba lost a lot of the fire that I loved so much in the first book and that was the saddest part of this sequel for me.

Rebel Heart took on a few unexpected directions and I’m not quite sure what to make of them. I was really thrown for a loop and I’m sure many of you will experience the same, “WHAT?!” reactions that I did. I’ll be interested to see how certain things will play out but, I won’t lie, I’m nervous about a few others storylines. While I’m sure many of you will enjoy what’s within the pages of Rebel Heart, I’ll have my fingers crossed that Moira Young will be able to turn this series around for me in the final book.

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Book Review: Ashfall by Mike Mullin

January 5, 2012 by 5 Comments

Ashfall by Mike Mullin
Release Date: September 27, 2011
Publisher: Tanglewood Press
Pages: 476
Source: Borrowed from Lis
Rating: ★★★☆☆ 
Buy It: Amazon | Book Depository

Under the bubbling hot springs and geysers of Yellowstone National Park is a supervolcano. Most people don’t know it’s there. The caldera is so large that it can only be seen from a plane or satellite. It just could be overdue for an eruption, which would change the landscape and climate of our planet.

Ashfall is the story of Alex, a teenage boy left alone for the weekend while his parents visit relatives. When the Yellowstone supervolcano erupts unexpectedly, Alex is determined to reach his parents. He must travel over a hundred miles in a landscape transformed by a foot of ash and the destruction of every modern convenience that he has ever known, and through a new world in which disaster has brought out both the best and worst in people desperate for food, water, and warmth. With a combination of nonstop action, a little romance, and very real science, this is a story that is difficult to stop reading and even more difficult to forget. – Goodreads

Review:
Quickly glancing through the goodreads page for Ashfall brings to the attention multiple four and five star reviews. It’s easy to understand why so many readers loved it: it has its thrilling moments, but Mike Mullin also created a realistic, bleak landscape that truly grasped the ugliness of humanity in the worst of times. There’s no sugarcoating or handholding in Ashfall and Mullin exposed the desperation that comes with the kind of suffering it features.

Though I did find myself engrossed in the novel — I finished it in one sitting — I did find encounter some issues that kept me from truly loving the book to the fullest extent. For one, Alex, the main character, came across as too immature and young for my liking. Though he did end up displaying growth, as well all other makings of a strong character, I found myself unable to truly connect to him. I didn’t feel any urgency for him to reunite with his family and there was a detachment from him throughout his journey.

I’m familiar with all sorts of hunting taking place in these post-apocalyptic reads: everyone from Katniss in The Hunger Games to Alex in Ashes is sure to capture and eat some sort of animal at some point. I’m fine with that; it’s to be expected. However, Mullin took that to another level with a very gruesome and detailed slaughter of a rabbit (and, later, pigs). It’s possible that I’m being oversensitive, as I’m an owner of a pet rabbit, but it was just too much. I saw no point in going that into depth about it except for the shock factor.

Alex’s romance with Darla is another aspect of the book I couldn’t get into. It felt forced, rushed, and not something that was at all necessary for this particular story. They went through some tough stuff together, and I could understand some of their physical involvement, but the “I love you”s? Uh… There’s certainly a desperation and attachment between them, but anything outside of that left me feeling cold.

Will I continue on to the next book? Maybe. I did enjoy Mullin’s depiction of a realistic disaster — I personally had no idea about the supervolcano in Yellowstone — and the honesty and brutality of human nature. I also appreciated the pace he kept throughout the course of the novel; there were some intense moments, but he also captured the emptiness and quiet that other books sometimes miss out on in favor of “BANG! BANG! BANG!” It’s very likely that the issues I found with the book are mine alone, and that other readers will find no problem with them, so definitely give this a try if you’re curious about it.


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Book Review: Angelfall by Susan Ee

January 2, 2012 by 8 Comments

Angelfall by Susan Ee
Release Date: May 21, 2011
Publisher: Self-published
Pages: 255
Source: Purchased Copy
Rating: ★★★★★ 
Buy It: Amazon | B&N

It’s been six weeks since angels of the apocalypse descended to demolish the modern world. Street gangs rule the day while fear and superstition rule the night. When warrior angels fly away with a helpless little girl, her seventeen-year-old sister Penryn will do anything to get her back.

Anything, including making a deal with an enemy angel.

Raffe is a warrior who lies broken and wingless on the street. After eons of fighting his own battles, he finds himself being rescued from a desperate situation by a half-starved teenage girl.

Traveling through a dark and twisted Northern California, they have only each other to rely on for survival. Together, they journey toward the angels’ stronghold in San Francisco where she’ll risk everything to rescue her sister and he’ll put himself at the mercy of his greatest enemies for the chance to be made whole again. – Goodreads

This is one of those books that I could write “OH MY GOD” over and over again and I still don’t think it would be sufficient enough to capture my excitement over it. And to think I almost missed reading it! I’m completely embarrassed to say that I’m one of those readers that will, 99.9% of the time, look past the self-published/indie books in favor of novels from the big publishers. Shame on me, I know, so thanks to all the good buzz happening on Goodreads, I snagged this for my Kindle and absolutely fell in love.

Susan Ee effortlessly made Angelfall a gripping, addictive read from the very beginning. It opens six weeks after the arrivals of angel on Earth and their massive destruction on the world and humanity. After having holed up in their condo, Penryn, along with her sister and mother, attempt to make an escape to a safer location. Immediately, Ee was able to set the scene by evoking the feeling of fear. A single feather falling from the sky turns Penryn’s blood cold and things go from bad to worse as a fight between several angels happens right in front of them. Even worse yet, Paige, Penryn’s sister, is taken away and her journey to find her depends on one very injured angel, Raffe.

As far as characters go, Ee has a winning combination with Penryn and Raffe. They‘re an unlikely duo, forced to work together in order to reach their own goals. They each lost something in the fight and they share the same determination to get it back. Though there is an initial mistrust between them — and a lot snark involved — they do come to be a great team together. There is a hint of a romance between the two, but it wasn’t overdone. Underneath all their back-and-forth bickering, there’s a sweetness and growing trust between the two. I can’t wait to see that continued in the following books.

Individually, Penryn is brave and kickass, but it never felt contrived. There’s nothing more annoying than a heroine that can do it all, so it was good to see layers and depth to her character. Her relationship with her schizophrenic mother was realistic and, of course, her love for her sister really resonated with me. As for Raffe, there’s a certain amount of arrogance about him, but he’s mostly just charming. Though he didn’t lose his sister, his own plight is just as heartbreaking and it would be impossible not to feel for him after what he endures.

While there was a tiny degree of predictability at first, Ee still took her story to unexpected places. As someone who attended Catholic school for most of my life, I was especially surprised to see her take on the darkness of angels I had come to be (somewhat) familiar with in my education. There were names I recognized and they were definitely “harbingers of doom, willing and able to destroy entire cities” in this book. I do wish I had been able to experience more of the destruction, rather than just the aftermath, but Ee did a great job making the angels intimidating beings. In addition to that, there was some dark and terrifying imagery and, towards the end, there was a sci-fi twist that only gives the series a different edge from the norm.

Angelfall is easily one of my favorite books of 2011 and I’m so thankful to the powers of Goodreads for bringing it to my attention. You can preview the first five chapters here and the book’s awesomeness in its entirety can be yours for only 99 cents on your Kindle or Nook (or computer or reading app of choice). 99 cents! There’s no reason at all to pass up on this deal because I think the quality is worth so much more. I can only keep my fingers crossed for its success and count down to getting my hands on a physical copy once they’re released.


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Book Review: Blood Red Road by Moira Young

June 6, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Blood Red Road by Moira Young
Release Date: June 7, 2011
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry
Pages: 459
Source: Galley from Simon & Schuster | Purchased final copy
Rating: ★★★★★ 
Buy It: Amazon | Book Depository

Saba has spent her whole life in Silverlake, a dried-up wasteland ravaged by constant sandstorms. The Wrecker civilization has long been destroyed, leaving only landfills for Saba and her family to scavenge from. That’s fine by her, as long as her beloved twin brother Lugh is around. But when a monster sandstorm arrives, along with four cloaked horsemen, Saba’s world is shattered. Lugh is captured, and Saba embarks on an epic quest to get him back.

Suddenly thrown into the lawless, ugly reality of the world outside of desolate Silverlake, Saba is lost without Lugh to guide her. So perhaps the most surprising thing of all is what Saba learns about herself: she’s a fierce fighter, an unbeatable survivor, and a cunning opponent. And she has the power to take down a corrupt society from the inside. Teamed up with a handsome daredevil named Jack and a gang of girl revolutionaries called the Free Hawks, Saba stages a showdown that will change the course of her own civilization. – Goodreads

Review:
Hellooooo, new favorite book!

The first thing that makes this read different from others is the writing style. It has short and abrupt sentences, no quotation marks, and is written in Saba’s dialect which is grammatically incorrect. The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness uses a similar technique, but Blood Red Road definitely takes it up a few notches. It took a few pages to get used to, but soon enough I was so completely wrapped in the story that I hardly noticed it. I could see this writing style turning some readers off, but I personally felt it gave the material a little more character.

The book is completely action packed! It opens with a sandstorm, four horsemen showing up, Saba’s father killed, and her twin brother, Lugh, captured by said horsemen. From there, we begin a journey with Saba to find and get Lugh back. Naturally there are quite a few bumps along the way — very intense bumps — but Saba proves what a complete badass she is, taking people down along the way and remaining unwilling to give up in her search for her brother.

Saba’s charm for me, though, is not how many punches she can pack, but how much of a flawed character she is. She’s selfish, stubborn, and can be very unlikable at times, but she’s also fierce, vulnerable, loyal, and it would be impossible not to empathize with the loneliness she feels without Lugh. She does love him to a fault, but she manages to grow throughout the course of the novel and becomes a bit more self-aware. This isn’t to say that she undergoes a magical transformation because, no, she does continue to screw up, but she’s beginning to take the steps out of his shadow and into her own identity. I’m very excited to see the continuation of her personal journey in the next books in the series.

JACK!!! I can’t have a review of this book without a mention of him. I absolutely LOVE him! Not only was the banter and tension between him and Saba delicious from the very beginning, but I wanted to give him a high five for being unafraid to call her out on her crap and her unfair treatment of Emmi. They’re such a perfect balance for each other! LOVE.

If I could pinpoint the one real issue I had with this book, it’s a certain event that happened in the last few pages. It completely took me by a surprise and I felt it was almost unnecessary. Perhaps it’s setting up something in the next books, but I’m skeptical since the characters seemed to move past it fairly quickly… This might bug me more later, but right now I’m just completely in love with the rest of the novel. This was a great debut from Moira Young and I’m looking forward to more from her, both in this series and any other future works.

I enjoyed this book so much that I’m giving away a final copy of it! The giveaway is international as long as The Book Depository ships to you (check here). The entry form will close on June 21, 2011 at 5pm PST and a winner will be selected using random.org. You don’t have to be a follower to enter, but it is appreciated!

Fill out the form!

A special shoutout goes out to Samita for pushing me in the right direction to read this one! ;)

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