Allegiant

by Veronica Roth
New York: Katherine Tegen Books, 2013.

For the earlier books in the series, a ****spoiler**** warning...

And a link to my reviews of Divergent and Insurgent.

Tris and her friends are still at the Erudite compound after the factionless uprising and the showing of the video that many in Abnegation died to protect. Tobias' mother, Evelyn, has essentially established a dictatorship and forcibly dissolved the factions. Tris wants to get out of the city now that she's seen the video. Meanwhile, a group calling themselves Allegiant - allied to the founders' original intent for the city, including the factions - forms in opposition to Evelyn. Tris doesn't entirely agree with them, but could working with them get her the answers she needs?

Between the hype and how much I enjoyed the first two books in this trilogy, Allegiant had a lot to live up to. There was a lot I enjoyed: Tris and Tobias talk to each other (I was getting annoyed with the non-communication throughout Insurgent), the pages turn fast, and we get to see into Tobias's head as well as Tris's as the first-person narration moves back and forth between them. Unfortunately, I found the reasoning behind the creation of the city and the factions overly simplistic and less than believable. It didn't quite live up to all I had hoped it would be. That being said, I found the ending fitting and would definitely read the series again as a whole; this one just isn't my favorite.

Since I'm posting this many months after the book has come out (and, in fact, several months after I read it) - for any who have read the book and had thoughts on the ending, I thought I'd point you to Veronica Roth's post about why she make a certain choice about the ending. Whether you loved or hated what happened, what she had to say provided a lot of food for thought.

UnSouled

by Neal Shusterman
New York : Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2013.

UnSouled is the third book in this series - ***spoiler warning*** for the first two books, Unwind and Unwholly.

Connor and Lev are on the run from the mess that was once the Graveyard. Before he left, Trace had given Connor a bit of information about Proactive Citizenry – the group that seems to be behind quite a lot having to do with unwinding as well as the creators of Camus Comprix, the first person to be made with parts of the unwound – and a mysterious man named Janson Rheinschild. Following that up seems to be all he can think to do, now that Risa is gone who-knows-where. Meanwhile, Cam himself is determined to win Risa's love and trust by demolishing the very organization that made him.

The more I read this series, the more I can believe the premise, that people could get so fed up with “feral” teenagers that they start to think that using them for transplants and saving lives would really be for society's good. In the midst of the future dystopia are real, recent news articles and clippings on related topics, such as black market organ donors and a politician who apparently wrote that he thought there should be a death penalty for rebellious children – not that anyone would use the option, mind you, but that it might scare kids into behaving. This just adds to the believability of what might otherwise sound completely nightmarish and over the top. The various complicated ways in which Proactive Citizenry is working and unwinding has become entrenched in society are further unfolded. I especially enjoyed getting more of Sonia's backstory, that of the woman who first took in Connor and Risa and started them on their way through the safe houses that brought them to the Graveyard. I'm really looking forward to seeing how the series comes together in book four, due to come out next year.

Unwholly

by Neal Shusterman
New York : Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers, 2013 (hardcover pub. 2012).

Unwholly is the second book in a series: this is a ****spoiler warning**** for the first book, Unwind.

Connor, presumed dead by the authorities, is running the Graveyard, a home to the kids still under 17 who are in danger of being “unwound.” Risa works with him as a medic, in a wheelchair because she refused to accept the spine of an unwind – a teen who has been unwound into a “divided” state, with basically all parts used medically for transfusion and transplant. Lev, the former “clapper” who did not clap and detonate the explosives in his blood, has gone through medical treatment to make himself stable and is now feeling stifled, talking to kids in danger of being unwound but unable to speak out against unwinding either.

The book is hard to describe if you haven't read the first book, and would be hard to follow as a standalone as well. The future civilization Shusterman describes has an element of possibility in it: what if really screwed up teenagers were “unwound” to provide organ and other transplants? What if abortion didn't exist, but you could leave an unwanted baby at a doorstep as long as you weren't caught (a practice known as “storking”), with the expectation that the owners of the house would take the child? This series explores the implications of this dystopia, with no easy answers. Unwholly takes up soon after Unwind left off, continuing the multi-perspective switches between Connor, Risa and Lev, and adding some new characters in Starkey, Miracolina, and the “parts pirate” Nelson, who's after runaway unwinds (also known as AWOLs, the kids whose parents have signed the unwind order but who get away before they are picked up to go to “harvest camp”) for the black market. Another new character, Cam, adds another element to the mix as a sort of Frankenstein creation from the parts of unwound kids. Is he merely a conglomeration of all these parts, or is he more? Does he have his own soul? A creepy, fast-paced, and thought-provoking series I'd recommend to a variety readers.

Unwind

by Neal Shusterman
New York : Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, c2007.

Sometime in the future, pro-life and pro-choice groups had a war and the outcome was that there would be no more abortions, but parents could choose to "unwind" a child between the ages of 13 and 18. Connor finds out that his parents have signed the order to have him unwound and runs away; Risa is a ward of the state and budget issues mean they just can't afford her any more; Lev is a "tithe" who knew all his life that he was special and meant to be unwound. When these three teens' lives converge, they will never be the same.

Enjoyed is not quite the right word for this book, but I was deeply engrossed from the get-go. The pacing is fast and the scenario so well-imagined and described that while you're reading the book, you believe events could play out like this. The perspectives switch between multiple characters - usually Connor, Risa, and Lev, but some secondary characters too - which helps keep the tension building and allows you to get to know each of them. Exactly what is going on, what unwinding means, and what it this law has done to society, is slowly revealed and builds to the end leaving you breathless.

Under the Never Sky

by Veronica Rossi
New York : HarperCollins, 2012.

Aria lives in the Pods, where the "real" is gray and everyone's hooked up to Smarteyes that allow them to visit the Realms, a sort of immersive Second Life. Peregrine is an Outsider, one of those whom Aria's people believe to be savage and wild, living in a world that they cannot survive in. When Aria loses contact with her mother, she ventures outside the Pods with friends and finds out that everything she knows about the Outside is wrong.

Shifting back and forth between Aria's and Perry's points of view, the reader gets to see each character's preconceptions change as they travel together and learn about each other. Because most of the action takes place on the Outside, we don't really see much of Aria's world except through her memories and the quick glimpses of technology for the portions that take place in the Pods. If you've read a lot of young adult dystopias, you may not find the plot directions all that surprising, but this is a fast-paced story with two characters I couldn't help but root for. I would hand it to teens who are impatient for the next book in the Divergent series.

Legend

by Marie Lu
New York : G. P. Putnam's Sons, 2011.

Day has been on the run ever since he failed his Trial. He's a wanted criminal according to the Republic, but he cares for an orphan, Tess, and still checks in on his family in a poor section of Los Angeles. June is a prodigy; she scored a perfect 1500 on the Trial and is the youngest in her class by a few years. She hopes to eventually enter the military like her brother, Metias. When tragedy strikes their lives are unexpectedly brought together.

This teen dystopia has a little bit of everything: adventure, romance, two sympathetic narrators that each get to tell their side of the story. As a reader, you know more than they do, and I've read enough of the genre to pick up on the clues: I was only surprised by one or two revelations. There were a few moments that I had to really suspend disbelief, as they seemed too coincidental or not fully explained. While not a perfect book, it's fast-paced and kept my interest throughout. I can see why it's a popular choice for teen readers looking for something after The Hunger Games, and I'll continue reading when the sequel, Prodigy, comes out in January.

Ready Player One

by Ernest Cline
New York : Crown Publishers, 2011.

The year is 2044. The most popular video game: OASIS. It's not just a video game, it's a full-immersion MMOG on a huge scale. Real life has become so wretched that a lot of people find relief playing the game and searching for the "egg." One of these people is Wade Watts, the narrator, whose life dream is winning the game - and, as a result, all of the creator's money.

This was a really entertaining story with a lot of 1980s and other trivia thrown into the mix. The creator of the game, James Halliday, was a pop culture nut and "wanted people to like the same thing he liked," so of course, the solutions to his puzzles often have an answer in 80s movies, songs, and more. As Wade and his friends get closer to his goal, the stakes rise and the plot gains momentum 'til the end. Sure to satisfy your inner geek.

Insurgent

by Veronica Roth
New York : Katherine Tegen Books, 2012.

**Spoiler warning for the first in the series, Divergent**

On the run from the old Dauntless compound, Tris, Tobias, and the others go to Amity for help. Will the faction that wants peace and accord above all else ally with them against Erudite? While there, Tris discovers that Tobias' father, Marcus, knows something important about why Jeanine attacked Abnegation, and she's determined to find out what's going on.

Ever since a friend had me read Divergent, I've been waiting for the sequel. I was one of the first people to put a hold on the library record (before anyone had the book in). The day it came in, I snagged it immediately and started reading it on my first break. The story picks up exactly where Divergent left off, and I was a little afraid I would lose out because I hadn't reread the first book and couldn't remember who everyone was and what had happened. But Roth does a good job of reintroducing characters and their situations in a natural way, and I was soon speeding along, lost in the story. I liked the development of Tris and Tobias; they each have secrets, and they have to deal with how that affects their relationship. The narrative clips along at a fast pace, taking turns here and there which sometimes surprised me and sometimes didn't, but I was enjoying myself so much I didn't mind when the revelations were not entirely unexpected. The end definitely left me wanting more - I predict I'll do exactly what I did with this one when Book 3 comes out.

Divergent

by Veronica Roth
New York : Katherine Tegen Books, 2011.

In a future society, the five factions - Abnegation, Dauntless, Candor, Amity, and Erudite - have ended war. At the age of sixteen, each of their children is given an aptitude test for the traits that the factions most prize, and choose which faction they wish to join. Beatrice has grown up in Abnegation, but her aptitude test is inconclusive. She is Divergent - a rare person who could choose equally between a few factions. Sound good? The woman giving her the test says it's dangerous, but won't explain why. Beatrice's choice of a faction may be more far-reaching than she can imagine.

Wow, what an adrenaline ride! I started reading this book late last night, intending to only read a little before going to bed. Two hundred pages later, at nearly midnight, I went to bed only to pick up the book again first thing this morning. Beatrice, or Tris, as she renames herself, is a compelling, complex character. She narrates her story as she discovers that the original good intentions, such as the end of war, selflessness, courage, and intelligence, have been manipulated and becomes warped by a capacity for evil that humans can never entirely eradicate. The story ends well - a few loose ends, but no cliff-hangers - but even after 482 pages, I was left wanting more.

Monsters of Men

by Patrick Ness
Somerville, Mass. : Candlewick Press, c2010.

**Spoiler warnings for The Knife of Never Letting Go and The Ask and the Answer.**

"War makes monsters of men," Ben warns Todd in The Knife of Never Letting Go. Right from the start, we see this play out in the war between the Mayor's people and the Spackle, the indigenous population of New World. Meanwhile, Mistress Coyle tries to get the upper hand by meeting with the newly arrived ship carrying Viola's people to resettle the land. All Todd and Viola want is peace, but at what price will it come?

Carrying on from the questions of motives, choice, and character that The Ask and the Answer put forth, Monsters of Men focuses more exclusively on war and what kind of people desire war over peace. I struggled more with the story because the themes appear to me to have more of an agenda than in the earlier books. While I hesitate to take universals out of a particular story, in science fiction and fantasy especially its hard not to see these as more "universal" ideas and ideals that can be - and sometimes are meant to be - applied to the real world. I don't mean that the author specifically had an agenda in writing this story, just that it was hard for me not to read it that way, and I wasn't sure I always agreed with the conclusions. Once again, the plot generally hums along, keeping you caught up in events and wondering what's going to happen next even while causing you to grapple with the larger themes. A few times, I wasn't sure if I would end up mad with the author's designs for his characters, but all in all I was happy with the way the series wraps up.

The Ask and the Answer

by Patrick Ness
Somerville, Mass. : Candlewick Press, 2009.

**Spoiler warning for The Knife of Never Letting Go.**

Haven was supposed to be their hope, but when Todd and Viola reached it at the end of The Knife of Never Letting Go, Mayor Prentiss of Prentisstown was the only one who showed up to greet them. Taking up the story where it left off, Todd and Viola describe what happens to them after reaching Haven, which agreed to a peaceful take over rather than fight. Now separated for the Mayor's (or President, as he now wishes to be called) manipulative purposes, Todd and Viola have to decide whose side they're on in a coming war in which neither side seems to have a pure motive.

Is there any pure motive in war? What would you do to be "free," or would you compromise to minimize loss of life? What choices would you make, and what kind of person would they make you? These are the questions at the center of The Ask and the Answer, and they're tough ones to come to grips with. Todd and Viola, Mistress Coyle, the former Mayor of Haven, and a healer named Corinne are just some of the characters making these decisions and whether you agree with them or not, you can see the kind of people they are as a result of past and present decisions in a book just as intense as the first. I'm waiting on tenterhooks until the third book comes in from interlibrary loan.

The Knife of Never Letting Go

by Patrick Ness
Somerville, Mass. : Candlewick Press, 2009 (orig. pub. 2008).

Todd is nearly a man - he'll be thirteen thirteen-month years. He is the last boy of the community in Prentisstown, a town of all men who have Noise, a condition which means that all your thoughts are heard by the community, a germ that Todd was told caused all the women to die. But when Todd learns that what he has been told all his life may not be true, he has to re-evaluate everything he has taken for granted for the past thirteen years. How many secrets do the men of Prentisstown keep?

Todd is our first-person narrator - we're in his head, as if we're hearing his Noise clear as day, with all his dialect (words like "yer" and "attenshun") and confusion about what's really going on with Prentisstown. At first, I found it distracting, but I soon became caught up in Todd's plight and flight, and I had difficulty putting the book down. The plot is fast-paced, the details about this science fictional world are rich, the characters are so believable I hurt for them at times. If you're cliff-hanger averse, I recommend having book 2 ready as soon as you finish!

This was meant to be a "book off the shelf" - reading a book of my own, rather than a library book (my goal is to read 20 this year). Unfortunately (?), it looks like as long as I like the remaining books in the series, I will be adding two more to the shelves instead.

Sapphique

by Catherine Fisher
New York : Dial Books, 2011.

The following necessarily contains ***spoilers*** for Incarceron.

After escaping Incarceron, Finn and Claudia find themselves in a battle of wits with Queen Sia, who does not want Finn - possibly the missing Prince Giles - to inherit the throne. Meanwhile, Attia, left behind in the prison, lives by her wits and tries to hold on to the belief that Finn did not abandon them. But the prison has plans of its own - can anyone stand against Incarceron itself?

Given the revelations at the end of Incarceron, I'd hoped for a little more backstory about Claudia and Finn. Instead, we fast forward a mere few months to Finn already trying to fit into the court and Claudia struggling to keep her position in court as the Warden's daughter. The plot moves along quickly as Attia and those in Incarceron works towards escape while Finn, Claudia, and Master Jared work on the Portal, trying discover Incarceron's secrets. While I didn't like it quite as much as the first, it was a good read with a fitting if slightly confusing ending.

Mockingjay

by Suzanne Collins
New York: Scholastic Press, 2010.

If you haven't read the first two books in the trilogy, The Hunger Games and Catching Fire, this is a **spoiler warning** for those titles.

**Some spoilers for Mockingjay ahead** - I tried to limit spoilers in my discussion of Mockingjay, but I am talking about themes and some events that come later on, so read at your own risk.

Katniss is adjusting to life in District 13. With its strict schedules, rules about food, and careful procedures for life underground, she's finding it rather restricting. The rebels of District 13, in waging a propaganda war against the Capitol to provoke uprising, want to make Katniss into their symbol as the Mockingjay. She isn't sure if she wants to be a piece in their games anymore than a participant in the Hunger Games - but in this situation, how much choice does she have?

In many ways, the tone of this book surprised me. The first surprise was that Katniss has been living in District 13 for a month and we learn about some of the changes to her life, and her reaction to the destruction of District 12, retrospectively. The other surprise is how much of the war is occurring elsewhere. Katniss is a symbol rather than a major player for much of the story, so the main focal point is not the plot but her character. What do you compromise in war, and who loses? What do you do when you don't fully agree with either side, and what are you personally responsible for as a result of others' choices and use of power? All in all, this wasn't what I was expecting, but I continued to be interested in the characters and their choices to the end.

Catching Fire

by Suzanne Collins
New York: Scholastic, 2009.

If you haven't read the first in the trilogy, The Hunger Games, this is a **spoiler warning** for that title.

Though the Hunger Games are over, Katniss is still in danger. The government is watching her, believing her attempt to eat the poisonous berries with Peeta to be an act of defiance and a possible spark setting off revolution in the Districts. The President himself threatens her family if Katniss can't play her role as a lovesick young woman well. But she didn't ask for revolution, and she just wants to run away and be safe with her family and friends.

Once again, the tension builds as events in Katniss' life swirl out of her control. Though the story starts out slower than The Hunger Games, there is still a pervading sense of unease because of the threats to Katniss, her family, and her District. The government isn't giving out any news of uprising, but Katniss is able to put together enough information that you realize there's much more going on beyond what she knows. The intensity in the story builds as we learn about the Quarter Quell, the special Hunger Games that occurs every 25 years, leaving me breathless by the end and extremely glad that I have Mockingjay here ready to go.

The Hunger Games

by Suzanne Collins
New York : Scholastic Press, 2008.

In a future North America, twelve Districts now exist, each providing two "tributes" - a boy and a girl - for the annual Hunger Games. The Capitol reminds each District of its power and the futility of uprising by requiring the twenty-four tributes to kill each other on national television. District 12, which provides coal and is the poorest of the districts, has only one living winner and is not expected to do well. Then, Katniss Everdeen volunteers herself in place of her younger sister.

Intense. That's the word left in my mind after finishing this story, narrated by Katniss herself. The author uses Katniss's narrative to convey details of the world in a very natural way - reflecting on memories or history lessons - making it flow with the story without overwhelming the reader. Given the premise, I was a little afraid of a bloodbath, but since this is young adult literature I was, thankfully, spared most of the gory details. Katniss is the type of heroine you're behind all the way. She is not perfect, but she struggles with what she must do and knowing what is right. I'm waiting with bated breath for the next book to come back to the library.

Incarceron

by Catherine Fisher
New York: Dial Books, 2010.

Finn is a prisoner in Incarceron, the sentient prison originally intended as a utopia, but truly a savage place with Scum and outlaws and all-seeing eyes. Claudia is the daughter of the Warden of Incarceron. As the betrothed of the Prince, Claudia may apparently have an idyllic life, but she's in a prison of her own.

The world imaged in Incarceron is apparently sometime in the future. Huge scientific discoveries were made and a lot of technology could be available, but the people have purposely turned their backs on it, instead following a Protocol much like the Victorian Era. Both those inside and outside Incarceron still seemed imprisoned by Protocol and by the royal family - what Claudia's father refers to as "the game." The world-building is complex and sometimes confused me, but it builds up the tension and suspense in reading. Finn and Claudia are sympathetic characters, and I want to know more about each of them. I hope future titles in the series further explore their backgrounds, and I'll be waiting impatiently for book 2 (due out December of this year).

Shades of Grey

by Jasper Fforde

Imagine a world where everyone behaved well: there are no prisons, no wars or uprisings, everyone follows the Rules. A utopia? Maybe not. As twenty-year-old Eddie Russett is about to find out, a world in which everyone unquestioningly follows Rules that cover everything from the most mundane ("Flowers are not to be picked. They are to be enjoyed by everyone.") to absurd (spoons may no longer be manufactured), a world that follows a strict color hierarchy based on which color(s) the inhabitants can see from Purple at the best to Grey at the worst, holds some secrets. And having curiosity about such secrets may just get him killed - as he tells us from the first page, the activities of the past four days flash before his eyes while he is being digested by a carnivorous yataveo tree.

Having read all of the Thursday Next books by Jasper Fforde, I put a hold on this book as soon as I knew that it was coming out. Fforde's writing can't be easily categorized: it's part science fiction, part dystopia, and all humorous even while making a serious point about unquestioning obedience. The details of the dystopia overwhelmed me at first, as there are so many details that I had to keep a handle on, such as the meanings of merits, positive feedback, and trying to grasp how people who only saw one or two colors saw the world. Fforde creates a good sense of tension at the beginning, hinting that all was not right in the death of Robin Ochre, a "swatchman" (essentially a doctor) out on the Outer Fringes whom Eddie's father is replacing. The middle dragged a bit, however, as naive Eddie muddles about trying to figure out what the reader already has - that all is not right in his world - and deciding whether or not to trust Jane. Though Eddie is the narrator, Jane really steals the show with her adamant refusal to treat people with respect merely because of the color they see. I look forward to seeing what happens to these characters in subsequent titles.