POISON by Lan Chan

Poison by Lan Chan is part dystopian, part fantasy, part sci-fi, and all parts engrossing.  The characters are likeable, the plot believable, and the world itself well rendered.  It was such a nice change of pace from what I'd been reading, and I found myself slowing down as the end drew near because I knew that I'd want book 2 immediately.

In the story, scientists (aka Seeders) rule the land by withholding any viable seeds.  They control everything from a place called the Citadel, where the wealthy live the good, plentiful life while everyone else exists on the meager scraps the government provides for each region.  If anyone is caught with seeds in their possession, the consequences are dire.  I found this plot entirely believable.  The talk of genetically engineered seeds and the vibrant descriptions of plant life that could be just as deadly as it was beautiful was an added bonus.

My favorite part of the book was the characters.  16-year-old Rory was my kind of heroine.  She was brave, loyal, and knew how to carry a grudge.

After her mother was killed by Seeders (as she watched), Rory never lets go of her need for vengeance.  When her stepbrother, Micah, is taken by Seeders, she doesn't give up on finding him.  When she is betrayed and returns to the Citadel to find the one boy she thought she loved has become a Seeder, she doesn't fall back into his arms.

Rory was tough as nails.  Her POV was filled with a need for vengeance--which I personally loved reading.  And seriously, can you blame her?  But Rory also had something that made well-rounded and more human and that was her loyalty and love for several characters in the book.

I loved Sully the most.  She is Rory's pet sabrewolf in the book, and I developed an attachment to her from her very first mention.  Throughout the book, Sully matches Rory for loyalty and bravery, and I couldn't imagine a better pet/companion/friend.

Other favorites were Micah, Rory's engineering genius of a stepbrother, Aiden, Gage and Yuri.

Without giving too much away, I will also say that I loved the scene at the circus.  We get to see the circus as it actually is: a place where the darlings of the Citadel are pitted against one another in a deadly game for the audience's enjoyment.

I also loved what happened at the Citadel dinner when one of the rich girls asks if she can "borrow" Gage.  Rory's reaction is perfection!

In the end, I was left wanting more (in the best way :)).  I need book 2!!  I was sad because Lan Chan is definitely not afraid to kill her characters--though I'm hoping for a reprieve because if the scientists can save Rory after falling off a high tight rope, surely they can save others, right???  Aiden, the boy who may or may not have betrayed Rory all those years ago, is still a mystery.  (Although, between you and me, I think he's actually one of the good guys.)  And I need to know what happened to Micah.

So basically, I'm waiting for book 2 of the Wind Dancer series and hoping my favorites will make it through to the end!

Happy reading,

Ninja Girl

ALIENATED by Melissa Landers

Okay, so I've come to a conclusion: I <3 Aliens.

And apparently so do a lot of other people :-).

Aliens are making a comeback, and I'm loving every second.  I was a big Roswell fan back in the day (still am, actually--Liz and Max, Michael and Maria, Isabel and Alex…yes, yes, YES).  There's this new show, Star Crossed, which I like more than I thought I would.  There's also an Asian drama with an alien/human romance that I'm watching, My Love From Another Star.  FYI: I love me some Asian drama!!  I haven't read Obsidian (yet), though a lot of people fangirl over it.  Didn't love I Am Number Four, didn't hate it.

Anyway, my point is aliens are a thing, like a real trend in books and other media, and I'm enjoying the ride.

Alienated is another nice addition to the alien/human romance category.  Although I can't say I fell in love with the book, I did like it.  From the idea of an alien exchange student to the adversity of humans vs. aliens to the chemistry between our two MCs, this story had a lot going for it.

My favorite thing about Cara was how she stood by Aelyx the entire time.  She was loyal to him and, more importantly, to her convictions.  Even when her friends gave up on her, Cara didn't give into the ignorance of fear and hate, and I really respected her for that.

Different anti-alien groups rose up, distrustful of the L'eihrs, and tried to force them to go back home using scare tactics and violence.  But they also targeted Cara and her family.  This kind of plot really works for me.  The discrimination against a new race of people, the fear, the hatred of the unknown.  Even if you don't believe in aliens, history has shown that people do react this way, and it makes the story more believable.

(Star Crossed does this--a bit better imo--which is one of the reasons I enjoy it.)

The chemistry was there as well.  Cara and Aelyx, two opposing personalities who can't help but be attracted to each other--and one is a super-intelligent, super-hot alien?  Yes, please!  Also, I loved how the L'eirh vs. human mindset differed about things like romance, emotion, food etc.

I didn't like how Cara's "best friend" Tori abandoned and then betrayed her.  I didn't like that two of the people Cara considered her friends would become part of the anti-L'eihr hate group--and hook up behind her back.  I mean, WTH?  I've read a couple books in a row where the BFF ends up stabbing the MC in the back, and I am not a big fan.  Sisters before misters, always.  Also, I didn't love the ending.  I know it's a series, but there were a lot of things left up in the air.

Again, I <3 Aliens--but did I <3 Alienated?  I'm not sure I'd go that far, but I did enjoy it.  Guess you'll have to make up your own mind on this one ;).

Happy reading,

Ninja Girl

DUALED by Elsie Chapman

I've been putting off writing this review.  *sigh*  Dualed was one of those books I was sure I'd love based on the concept.  I was completely taken in; it sounded like another great sci-fi/dystopian to add to my bookshelf.  Alternate versions of people?  A society where one must die and only one can live?  Sounded awesome!  It's also a part of my DAC Challenge, hence the review.

But I have to say: This book just wasn't for me L.

Unfortunately, I couldn't get into the story.  One of the characters I really liked died within the first few pages, and the way it happened left a bad taste in my mouth.  I hadn't grown attached to anyone, not even West, the MC, and all of a sudden BAM!  Brutal death scene--which I'm sure was meant to show how awful the society and its ways are--but I felt like that character could've been the heart of the book.  For me, this death didn't serve its purpose.

Then there's the readability factor.  In this type of book (in any book really), I like the story to be fast-paced with a good flow.  But I found myself having to go back and read passages again, more than a few times.  It could've been the sentence structure, or I could've just been having an off day.  It happens.  But when I had to stop and re-read, it really messed up the flow for me.

As far as the main characters go, West and Chord were okay.  Their romance was one of the things I liked best about the book.  I liked how Chord cared so much about West and tried to help her even when she refused his help.  I also liked Baer--a hardened, straight-talking teacher who gets very little page-time, but who I'm sure will play a role in future books.

My other main problem was with West.  Once she got her assignment (a virtual map to her alt's location), she didn't immediately seek her out.  This would've been fine.  I'm one of those people who believes that heroes don't kill people unless they're cornered and absolutely forced to do so.  And even then, they don't usually kill people.  So what happened next baffled me.  West was unwilling to kill her alt, like I said, but she goes out and becomes a striker???  Strikers kill their clients' alts for money.  So, basically, West becomes an assassin and yes, she does kill people.  Several people.  She does this with no remorse, and doesn't look at them as human beings but as a job--even though she's unwilling to kill her own alt and secure her survival.  I didn't get it.  And if it was about not being able to face yourself or kill your other self, I didn't buy it.

I had such high expectations, and this one fell flat for me.  Good attempt, just not for me.  Dualed was book 1 in a series, and I'm sorry to say I won't be getting book 2.

Happy reading,

Ninja Girl

REBOOT by Amy Tintera

I decided to read Reboot by Amy Tintera because:

1)  It sounded crazy good!  A world where people reboot after death, becoming stronger, faster and all-around bada**?  I'm in J.

2)  It's sci-fi YA--which is really popular right now.  Since this isn't one of my main genres, I'm looking to find the best there is.

3)  It's a debut that can count toward my DAC challenge reads.

Then there's this:  The perfect soldier is done taking orders.  Yes, yes, yes!!  I love it when an MC stands up for herself and starts kicking butt--especially when it's an MC I like as much as I liked Wren 178.

The 178 tells us the number of minutes she was dead before rebooting.  The higher the number, the less humanity (or so they say).  When a new batch of reboots comes in and Wren has to choose her new trainee, everyone expects her to go with the highest number, the best.  But instead she chooses Callum Reyes, a measly 22.  With his constant smile, great sense of humor, and the fearless way he meets Wren's eyes, you'd think the kid was still human.  Being dead only 22 minutes before rebooting, he almost is human.

And he brings out the humanity in Wren.

I loved the scene where she shocked everyone--herself included--and picked Callum.  It was awesome.

Ever, another reboot and Wren's BFF, was a great side character.  Like Callum, Ever was inherently likable and sympathetic.  The scenes with her showed us why HARC was so evil.  Watching Ever lose herself, seeing her humanity slip away b/c of the drugs HARC was administering, was so incredibly sad.  But I loved that she didn't go down without a fight.  The scene where Ever chooses not to give in, to fight back, was tragic but also very well done.  A great turning point for Wren.

This book reminded me of a lot of different books.  The "government's best soldier goes rogue" concept reminded me of Marie Lu's Legend.  The zombie bent made me think of Mayberry's Rot and Ruin.  The mentor/student relationship definitely reminded me of Armentrout's Half-Blood and Mead's Vampire Academy and Wolff's Isle of Night.  It also made me think of White's Paranormalcy and Roth's Divergent.

But what I liked was that while being relatable to all these books, Reboot was most definitely not the same.

 

For one, Tintera flipped the mentor/student thing on it's head.  Our heroine was the mentor, not the mentee.  Tintera gave our girl the power, and I loved that.  Wren 178 was tough, and she loved Callum 22 even if he was a subpar reboot who didn't want to kill people.  And I loved that!  Made me think of Katniss and Peeta actually lol.

I liked Reboot a lot.  Besides all of the reasons mentioned above, it had a very satisfying ending, which is somewhat rare in book 1 of a series J.

Happy reading,

Ninja Girl

MILA 2.0 by Debra Driza

Mila 2.0 is one of those books that can hook you just based on premise: Teenage girl finds out she is actually an experiment in artificial intelligence.  Now, there's a concept with tons of possibility!  I mean, teenager-dom is hard enough without introducing AI into it.  But Mila turns out to be one tough cookie J.

Then you look at the beautiful cover…

And it's like, "Wow, I must have this book!"  Or at least, that's how it went down for me.  There was a lot of hype surrounding this one, and I'm happy to say Mila does not disappoint.  In her debut, Debra Driza knocks it out of the park.  Mila was a great main character who I felt for throughout all of her discoveries (about herself and the people who created her), and I could never really figure out what would happen next.

This is what made the book so fantastic imo.  The unexpectedness.

Here's the rundown: Mila's scientist mother steals her away from the lab after discovering Mila has developed human feelings.  The two attempt to hide out in a small town, and Mila's mom keeps her daughter's secret from her--until a freak accident involving Mila being thrown from a speeding truck bed makes that impossible.  Then baddies come to the town in search of Mila, hoping to steal her tech and sell it to the highest bidder.  But as Mila soon finds out, there is a bigger threat to her survival--and he will do anything to get his creation back.

There were several times when I thought I knew where things were going.  But Driza never took the cliché route.  She kept the story fresh by not leading Mila down the road so many Sci-fi/paranormal stories travel.  The story and Mila's journey was unpredictable, and I loved that.

Another thing I loved was Mila.  This heroine read surprisingly human for being created in a lab.  A lot of times when authors write AI/aliens/cyborgs they lose what makes the character essentially human, and in the case of YA, what makes them teenagers. 

But Mila and her voice couldn't have been more perfect.  Loved the humor.  I really loved how she struggled to accept herself.  The way Mila thought that accepting her tech would make her somehow less human was believable and endearing.

And the tech!!  This story was action-packed, you guys.  The story had several changes in setting; we never stayed in one place too long.  It gives the readers exactly what they want: kick-butt fight scenes, high-speed car chases, a girl who slowly discovers that she is a force to be reckoned with J.

I tried not to give any spoilers, but I'll just say this: Lucas Webb FTW! 

Loved this book, totally recommend it!  I'll definitely continue the series (and probably watch the ABC television show as well :-)).

Happy reading,

Ninja Girl

CINDER by Marissa Meyer

Let's appreciate that beautiful cover.  Goodness.  I can't imagine a prettier, more eye-catching stiletto/cyborg leg if I tried LOL.  The curling-silver font is perfection as well.  Good job designers!  This one's a winner :-).

Cinder is Marissa Meyer's take on Cinderella.  Now, I'm not much for retellings.  Lots of bloggers are all about them, but whenever one comes out, I'm like, "Meh.  I already know the basic story.  How good can it be?"

The answer in this case, folks, is pretty darn good.

I was pleasantly surprised by my first foray into retellings.  This is Cinderella with an edge, a spark if you will (pun intended since Cinder herself is both a mechanic and part-cyborg).  The kick a** heroine and her steampunk-y goodness made this a must-read for me.  But I had no idea I'd like it as much as I did.

Sixteen-year-old Cinder is the best mechanic in New Beijing.  But she's also cyborg, 36.28% not human to be exact, which makes her life not as valuable as that of the other citizens.  When Prince Kai shows up at her market stall, asking her to fix an important android, Cinder does her best to shield her metal parts and her heart.  But Kai's charismatic and charming personality don't make it easy.

Here's a little excerpt that I loved from their first meeting:

"Instead of answering, the prince bent down, craning his neck so that she had no choice but to meet his eyes, and dashed a grin at her.  Her heart winced."--page 8

Wow.  Cinder's heart "winced"?  I could imagine exactly how that felt.  Kudos to Meyer because I've never heard it described quite like that.  Loved the word choice and all the subsequent meetings with Kai.  The chemistry was undeniable.  Cinder was fierce, smart, brave, and loyal to her loved ones (both human and not).

And if I wasn't already sold, Cinder's backstory--which she knew nothing about--sealed the deal.

 

There were several mysteries in this book, and I think I figured most of them out before the big reveal.  BUT that didn't really matter because, back in the day, I was a huge Sailor Moon fan J

 

If someone would've told me this was a retelling of Serena and her lunarly ways, I would've been down even sooner.  Awesome!

 

Two main evil forces threaten the lives of everyone in New Beijing: Letumosis (the plague) and the Lunars. Once one contracts Letumosis, they'll be dead in days. This plague has killed thousands--and yet there's still no cure. The Lunars are another race that hails from the moon and can manipulate anyone into seeing, feeling, or doing whatever they want. Someone who can take away your free will? If that's not scary, I don't know what is. *Shivers* And the Queen of the Lunars has her eye on Prince Kai.

Cinder was a great read.   The only thing that could've made it better imo was if it was a standalone.  Things I loved: Cinder, the gutsy heroine/cyborg, Iko, Cinder's android best friend who had a thing for fashion, Prince Kai, the guy who won our heroine's heart and mine, Peony, Cinder's younger step-sister and only human friend.  A great steampunk story made even better by the Sailor Moon slant.  Looking forward to Book 2!

Happy reading,

Ninja Girl

POSSESSION by Elana Johnson

Possession by Elana Johnson is about one girl's fight to control her own life.

There are plenty of other things going on the novel--a dystopian society led by Thinkers, a best friend/boyfriend who's been brainwashed, a Baddie named Jag with great hair and a dangerous disregard for the rules, enough missing family members to make any reader say, "What the heck?"--but the main struggle is Vi's bid for independence.

The jacket summary was golden.  In Vi's world, girls are not allowed to walk with boys.  Kissing?  Don't even think about it.  There's no wiggle room.  What the Thinkers say is law, and you follow it.  Period.  Yet even with the voice inside her head telling her what not to do (the Thinker just won't shut up and let Vi think for herself), the teen still refuses to listen.  Each time she breaks the rules, it goes down on her record, and this time she's broken one too many.

She's captured their attention--and they want her.  But Vi's not the type of girl to be taken easily.  She goes on the run with Jag, begins to fall for him.  But with the constant threat of the Thinkers looming over their heads, Vi's not sure who to trust--certainly not Jag, probably not Zenn, maybe not even herself with that voice inside her head.  Like the jaket says, it's a game of control or be controlled--but Vi's not sure she wants to do either.

The story was interesting.  I've always loved seeing young female heroines stand up and take on The Man (aka The Thinkers).  The romance with Jag was solid.  He was sarcastic enough to match up perfectly with Vi, who had an instant and believable attraction to the bad boy.  Jag was a rule breaker with a ton of secrets and a thing about hair, but like Vi, I was into him and his "Jag-winner smile" from the start.

The thing I missed was getting to see Vi and Zenn's relationship pre-brainwashing.  From the summary, I thought that's where the story would start, but it wasn't.  I know through Vi's thoughts who Zenn used to be, but I'd have love to see the transformation.  As much as I liked Jag, I got the feeling I'd have probably been on Team Zenn J  What??? Ninjas always go for the underdog people!

The book felt a little drawn out.  I didn't think Jag and Vi needed to be running so long, and I wasn't a big fan of the final showdown.  After all that evasion, I expected something more climactic, more struggle, more action (but that could've just been me).  On the cover, there's a quote from James Dashner that mentions how much he loved the end. Well...I'm going to be honest and say it wasn't how I wanted it to go.  (Don't worry; no spoilers here)  Like I said, I was a huge fan of Vi and her strength, her will to save herself.  In the end Vi made a choice--and it was her choice--but I thought she could've chosen better.  For me, it felt a little like giving up L

There is a second book, though--Surrender--and I'm sure it'll be great and (hopefully) have a more satisfying finish.  Good book, good characters, interesting world.  I'd recommend it, and I'd love to hear what you guys thought about the end.

Have a great one,

Ninja Girl