Category Archives: Science Fiction

Book Reviews

July 23, 2016 posted by Nichole

Book Review: Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles #1) by Marissa Meyer

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl.

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

My Review:

First off, I would like to give a huge thanks to my Secret Sis for getting this book for me! I know, I know. I’m really way behind the times with this series!

I’ve had it stuck in my head for a long time that I don’t like retellings. I can only presume that this opinion stems from the fact that I’m really not the biggest fan of fairy tales to begin with. Why I thought that had anything to do with YA books is beyond me. Cinder is a YA Cinderella retelling and, let me tell you, I LOVED IT. I loved every single moment of it!

Even though I loved Cinder, it did take me a little bit to get into the book. This probably resulted from two different reasons: 1) The first so many chapters were a little slow moving. Nothing major and it didn’t take very long for the story to pick up, but it was a little slow to progress into awesomeness. 2) I honestly just haven’t read very many YA books this year. Cinder is probably like the second or third YA books that I’ve read in about seven months. Since I’ve read close to 60 books this year, you can probably see the gap. I’ve been so stuck on the NA and adult contemporary genres that YA hasn’t really appealed to me. So, even when I decided that I loved this series, it was a little difficult to put my other amazing books down. I’m glad I did, though, because this book rocked!

Science fiction, dystopia, and steampunk genres don’t often appeal to me. It’s just a fact about me: I’m really not the biggest fan of those genres and usually avoid them. Honestly, that’s probably why I didn’t read this series when it first came out. The synopsis just didn’t really appeal to me. After years of other bloggers and readers telling me how amazing this series is, though, I broke down. I put it on my wish list. Let me tell you, I’m glad I did! Even though the above listed genres are incorporated into this book, I would probably lump it more as a retelling with those subgenres. Retellings are a genre of their own, so that makes sense to me. My mom read this book before me and tried to tell me that it was high fantasy………..it’s not. I think sometimes she forgets that, even though she’s read some really cool high fantasy books in the past, I probably have several hundred books on her record. So, if someone tries to tell you that this is high fantasy, please just ignore them. This book is amazing in it’s own right, but it is NOT high fantasy!

Cinder and Kai were amazing leads! I was a bit disappointed that their relationship was a bit cliché. Their moves and actions were fairly predictable. I also would have liked to see maybe some more character development and growth. Same goes for the supporting characters. Everyone kind of stayed at the same pace and not much growth happened from the beginning of the book to the end of the book. This really wasn’t a major complaint for me throughout the book, but it was something that I definitely recognized.

On a more positive note, I really enjoyed some of the twists and turns that happened throughout Cinder. There were some things that happened that I just didn’t see coming. In contrast, there were definitely some roll of the eye moments going on. Some times that happened were definitely a little too predictable for my taste.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I am very excited to read the rest of the books in this series and to see how it progresses!

Rating: :

Book Reviews

October 1, 2015 posted by Nichole

Book Review: Spinning Starlight by R.C. Lewis

About the Book

Title: SPINNING STARLIGHT

Author: R.C. Lewis

Release Date: October 6, 2015

Pages: 336

Publisher: Disney Hyperion

Formats: Hardcover, eBook

Find it: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBooks

Sixteen-year-old heiress and paparazzi darling Liddi Jantzen hates the spotlight. But as the only daughter in the most powerful tech family in the galaxy, it’s hard to escape it. So when a group of men show up at her house uninvited, she assumes it’s just the usual media-grubs. That is, until shots are fired. Liddi escapes, only to be pulled into an interplanetary conspiracy more complex than she ever could have imagined. Her older brothers have been caught as well, trapped in the conduits between the planets. And when their captor implants a device in Liddi’s vocal cords to monitor her speech, their lives are in her hands: One word and her brothers are dead. Desperate to save her family from a desolate future, Liddi travels to another world, where she meets the one person who might have the skills to help her bring her eight brothers home-a handsome dignitary named Tiav. But without her voice, Liddi must use every bit of her strength and wit to convince Tiav that her mission is true. With the tenuous balance of the planets deeply intertwined with her brothers’ survival, just how much is Liddi willing to sacrifice to bring them back? Haunting and mesmerizing, this retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’sThe Wild Swans strings the heart of the classic with a stunning, imaginative world as a star-crossed family fights for survival in this companion to Stitching Snow.

About R.C.:

R.C. Lewis teaches math to teenagers—sometimes in sign language, sometimes not—so whether she’s a science geek or a bookworm depends on when you look. That may explain why her characters don’t like to be pigeonholed. Coincidentally, R.C. enjoys reading about quantum physics and the identity issues of photons.

Giveaway Details:

1 winner will receive a signed finished copies of STITCHING SNOW & SPINNING STARLIGHT. US Only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tour Schedule:

Week One:
9/28/2015- Fangirlish- Interview
9/29/2015- A Backwards Story- Review
9/30/2015- Supernatural Snark- Guest Post
10/1/2015- YaReads- Review
10/2/2015- Two Chicks on Books- Interview

Week Two:
10/5/2015- Pandora’s Books- Review
10/6/2015- Bookhounds ya- Guest Post
10/7/2015- Just Commonly- Review
10/8/2015- Mundie Moms- Interview
10/9/2015- Please Feed The Bookworm- Review

My Review:

I was instantly drawn to this book as soon as I saw who the author was. I first worked with R.C Lewis during the 2014 debut authors bash. I’ll be honest, I have a soft spot for all of my debut authors, and I’m always interested in reading their books! The fact that Spinning Starlight is a companion novel to Stitching Snow was just another perk. That’s right, this is a companion! So, you don’t have to read them in order. And if you haven’t even heard of this series, yet, then you now have two awesome books to read!

What I love about this book is how high-tech it is. There’s so much technology and out of world experiences in this book, and I think that will be a huge hit for readers (especially sci-fi and dystopia lovers!) I will admit that I was a little confused in some parts over what was what and who was who and what was going on. Part of that was probably my own problem, because I’m just not very used to reading sci-fi. However, I did really appreciate the implementation of new technology and a broad range of technological concepts relating to other worlds and discoveries.

One thing that bothered me a little bit was that Liddi couldn’t speak because of the device in her throat that would kill her brothers if she spoke one word. For me, personally, I need a lot of interactions in my books. I’ve read a couple books where the main character isn’t able to talk, and it bothers me every single time. On the other hand, I thought that it was really cool to witness Liddi learn how to write and interact with a whole different culture than she was accustomed to. The author made it seem so real while I was reading about it. I had a complete visual in my head of what was occurring during each scene.

I’m going to be the first one to raise my hand and admit that I absolutely despise fairy tale retellings. When I started reading this book, I must have skimmed over the fact that this is a retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Wild Swans. Let me tell you right now, that I had no idea this was a fairy tale retelling until I read the synopsis while creating this post. If you’re not sure about that statement, that’s a huge compliment coming from me. The author made this book her own. I didn’t feel in any way that this was a knock off or a cheap recreation. I loved that I had no idea that this was a retelling and that the author made it her own.

I would definitely recommend this book to sci fi and dystopia lovers. If you haven’t read the first book, then make a date of it and pick both of them up! I think that readers are going to be extremely impressed with the high tech gadgets that this book incorporates into the plot.

Check out R.C. Lewis’ 2014 debut authors bash stop HERE

audiobook

November 14, 2014 posted by Nichole

Audiobook Review: The 100 by Kass Morgan

In the future, humans live in citylike spaceships orbiting far above Earth’s toxic atmosphere. No one knows when, or even if, the long-abandoned planet will be habitable again. But faced with dwindling resources and a growing populace, government leaders know they must reclaim their homeland…before it’s too late.
Now, one hundred juvenile delinquents are being sent on a high-stakes mission to recolonize Earth. After a brutal crash landing, the teens arrive on a savagely beautiful planet they’ve only seen from space. Confronting the dangers of this rugged new world, they struggle to form a tentative community. But they’re haunted by their past and uncertain about the future. To survive, they must learn to trust-and even love-again.

My Review:

The 100 was a good audiobook to listen to, but it wasn’t overly engaging. It definitely wasn’t something that I absolutely HAD to listen to on the way to and from work every morning….more like something I turned on when none of my stations were playing a good song. So, it took awhile to get through.

My first complaint is that there were wayyyy too many POV’s in this book. Had I actually been reading it, I have no doubt that I would have dnf’d it. As an audiobook, though, the multiple POV’s were kind of interesting. I also really liked how they had male and female vocals for the different chapters.

My absolute biggest issue was the way the audiobook was broken up into past and present segments. It wouldn’t have been annoying if someone said when they were switching tenses, but I often found myself wondering what was going on. All of a sudden we would be 6 months to a year in the past and I had no idea that it happened until part way through the new segment. Then we would shoot into the future and I would be confused all over again. This happened a million times….it’s not something that just happened a few times and can be blown under the rug. I’m not sure if that’s different in the actual book. Maybe it’s more obvious that you’re switching times. In the audiobook, though, it sucked.

There was nothing overly exciting that happened in this book. Honestly, it was more dramatic than anything and was pretty boring in several spots. There were no big explosions; nothing really happened on earth that had a huge wow factor. It was just a lot of talking between the characters and a lot of flashbacks to the past. Again, I probably would have dnf’d the book.

One thing that really ticked me off in this audiobook is that there’s a huge creepy noise toward the end (it’s on the very last disc.) It’s supposed to be some dramatic sound effect for something that’s going on in the book. Yeah….it almost made me wreck. It scared the living daylights out of me. What is WRONG with people? People listen to audiobooks in their cars! It’s not like holding the book and getting super worked up over some dramatic scene. So, I wouldn’t recommend the audiobook for that very reason.

My verdict: I’m interested in watching the TV show, but I don’t care about reading or listening to the next book. It was so underwhelming that I don’t even remember what happened at the end of it. It was okay, though…

Publication Date: September 3rd 2013

Publisher: Little, Brown Young Readers

Rating: :

Book Reviews

October 16, 2014 posted by Nichole

DNF Review: The Infinite Sea by Rick Yancey

How do you rid the Earth of seven billion humans? Rid the humans of their humanity.

Surviving the first four waves was nearly impossible. Now Cassie Sullivan finds herself in a new world, a world in which the fundamental trust that binds us together is gone. As the 5th Wave rolls across the landscape, Cassie, Ben, and Ringer are forced to confront the Others’ ultimate goal: the extermination of the human race.

Cassie and her friends haven’t seen the depths to which the Others will sink, nor have the Others seen the heights to which humanity will rise, in the ultimate battle between life and death, hope and despair, love and hate.

My Review:

This is a tough review for me to write, because I remember that I LOVED The 5th Wave. I had a really hard time getting into this book, though. In fact, I DNF’d it….if you didn’t already see that in the title above. It’s just that it’s been so long since I read The 5th Wave, and The Infinite Sea did not go into any background details AT. ALL. I also had a really hard time identifying who the characters were and keeping up with whose POV I was reading in each chapter.

I can’t remember how far I made it in this book. I think I made it around 100 or so pages before I finally just gave up. The writing style was extremely difficult to get into and I found it to be wayyyy too poetic for my personal taste. And seriously…….did I mention that I had no idea what was going on or who was talking?! Give some damn background info! The first book came out a year ago and I don’t like to reread books!

Ugh.

This one just wasn’t for me.

Book Reviews

June 9, 2014 posted by Nichole

DNF: Push (The Game #2) by Eve Silver

It’s either break the rules or die.

Miki Jones lives her life by her own strict set of rules, to keep control, to keep the gray fog of grief at bay. Then she’s pulled into the Game, where she—and her team—will die unless she follows a new set of rules: those set by the mysterious Committee.

But rules don’t mean answers, and without answers, it’s hard to trust. People are dying. The rules are unraveling. And Miki knows she’s being watched, uncertain if it’s the Drau or someone—something—else. Forced to make impossible choices and battling to save those she loves, Miki begins to see the Committee in a glaring new light.

And then the Game crosses a new boundary, pushes harder into Miki’s and her friends’ lives, and there’s nothing in the rules that can save them now.

Push is the sequel Rush fans will be screaming for.

I really wanted to like Push, but it really just fell flat for me. I was bored out of my mind! Last year I read the first book, Rush, and I liked it, but I wasn’t overly blown away. I felt that Push made no progress from where Rush left off. The plotline was boring, the characters were flat, and I really felt like I was just reading Rush all over again. There was nothing that made this book unique from the second one.

What bothered me the most in Push was the main character, Miki. It’s been awhile since I’ve read Rush, but I remember Miki’s character being a little hesitant. She was totally wrapped up in Jackson and trying to figure out the game. There was just nothing all that special about her. From the very instant that Push starts, Miki is all of a sudden this born to be leader and she comes out of her shell a little bit more. Scratch that…a lot a bit more. It was really weird seeing that change in her that really didn’t happen in the first book. I’m all for character development…but come on. Miki didn’t seem like a leader in the first book. It was odd to have her jump into that role so easily.

Another thing that I didn’t like was the fact that Miki kept accurately guessing everything that was going to happen with Jackson. I wanted mystery and suspense. I wanted to be shocked. Instead, I just went along with Miki because she was always right. That being said, I was never upset over Jackson or the storyline, because I knew how everything was going to turn out.

Push is filled with action scenes, but I was bored out of my mind during each and every single one of them. I don’t even know how that’s possible! I think it really came down to the fact that I had basically read those same scenes in Rush. There was nothing that set Push aside and made it better or stronger than the first book. Honestly, I thought that Push was way worse than Rush due to its lack of progression.

Another problem that I encountered that I also encountered in Rush was the extreme insta lovey quality that this series has. Miki and Jackson are all up in each other with the “I love you’s” Blah. Blah. Blah. I want a little romance and some suspense. Not a Valentines Day love parade 24/7. Also, not being the biggest fan of Miki made it difficult.

I made it 50% into this book before I called it quits. I was just way too bored to continue. This is not a series that I would recommend or one that I will be continuing.

Pages: 352

Publication Date: June 10th, 2014

Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books

Rating: DNF

Book Reviews

May 7, 2014 posted by Nichole

After the End by Amy Plum

“I have no idea what is truth and what is fiction. I’m all I’ve got now. I can’t trust anyone.”

World War III has left the world ravaged by nuclear radiation. A lucky few escaped to the Alaskan wilderness. They’ve survived for the last thirty years by living off the land, being one with nature, and hiding from whoever else might still be out there.

At least, this is what Juneau has been told her entire life.

When Juneau returns from a hunting trip to discover that everyone in her clan has vanished, she sets off to find them. Leaving the boundaries of their land for the very first time, she learns something horrifying: There never was a war. Cities were never destroyed. The world is intact. Everything was a lie.

Now Juneau is adrift in a modern-day world she never knew existed. But while she’s trying to find a way to rescue her friends and family, someone else is looking for her. Someone who knows the extraordinary truth about the secrets of her past.

My Review:

When I first started reading After the End, I made the decision not to read the synopsis. So, I simple went off of the cover and one rave review that I read on Twitter. By looking at the cover, I really thought that this was going to be a big dystopian book. I was thrilled to see the dogs. I just knew that that was going to bring up some hardcore emotions and some beautiful scenes. I was emotionally prepared for what was going to go down in this book. I thought that it was going to be absolutely epic. Unfortunately, this book was nothing like I expected it to be, and I ended up not liking it very much at all.

My number one complaint and question is WHY are the dogs on the cover? I’m going to give you a bit of a spoiler here. The dogs are only in the book for maybe 30 pages. They NEVER make another appearance again! So why put them on the cover?! They’re obviously not a part of the story. So….why do it? This might not be something that’s going to bother other people, but it bothered me. I was really upset that they are on the cover when they don’t play a key role in the book.

My second complaint was that the storyline and concept of After the End was very unoriginal. I was consistently saying that there was nothing new about this book and that it felt like I had read it 100 times before. WHERE is the originality? I was really unimpressed with how lacking the story actually was. If some things had been tweaked around a little bit, then maybe, just maybe, this book would have been off the charts amazing. What it ended up being was a bummer book that I’ll most likely forget by the end of 2014.

As for the characters, I didn’t dislike anyone, but I didn’t overly love anyone either. I was very on the fence with the two main characters, Juneau and Miles. I didn’t feel that they had a lot of chemistry and they just weren’t very memorable characters. Let’s just say that I will be very surprised if Miles makes it on to any top ten boyfriends of 2014 lists. There weren’t any mushy or OMG moments. It was just pretty plain Jane. I was kind of bored.

Oh…and another thing that REALLY bothered me was how drawn out this book was. They literally spent about 290 pages in the car or in the woods. There were no big scenes that really popped out at me during this one. It was all about Juneau and Miles and their road trip. Toward the end, I started skimming a bit because I just couldn’t understand why things weren’t progressing.

One thing that might make After the End a little interesting is the whole concept of the Yara and the magical connection thingy that Juneau seemed to have going on. Yara is kind of like our God in a way. It’s who Juneau and her clan honor and connect with. And the Yara somehow gives them power? Something like that. Personally, I found it a little hard to follow. I also thought that if there was going to be some magical voodoo stuff going on that there should be more to it. More of something that really makes the book pop and flow. That just didn’t happen. Again, it was pretty boring and weird.

I’m not overly surprised that I didn’t care for this book. I’ve tried to read the Revenants series by Amy Plum before, but I didn’t much care for it and haven’t even finished the second book. This is definitely different that her previous works, but it’s just not that amazing. I guess it’s a book one can finish, but it’s not a book that I would ever recommend someone go out and buy or even a book that I would recommend that someone read. Why read to be bored? Because that’s what I was. Maybe the series will pick up in the future, but it’s not something that I will be continuing.

Pages: 336

Publication Date: May 6th 2014

Publisher: Harper Teen

Rating: :

Book Reviews

May 3, 2014 posted by Nichole

The Here and Now by Ann Brashares

An unforgettable epic romantic thriller about a girl from the future who might be able to save the world . . . if she lets go of the one thing she’s found to hold on to.

Follow the rules. Remember what happened. Never fall in love.

This is the story of seventeen-year-old Prenna James, who immigrated to New York when she was twelve. Except Prenna didn’t come from a different country. She came from a different time—a future where a mosquito-borne illness has mutated into a pandemic, killing millions and leaving the world in ruins.

Prenna and the others who escaped to the present day must follow a strict set of rules: never reveal where they’re from, never interfere with history, and never, ever be intimate with anyone outside their community. Prenna does as she’s told, believing she can help prevent the plague that will one day ravage the earth.

But everything changes when Prenna falls for Ethan Jarves.

From Ann Brashares, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series, The Here and Now is thrilling, exhilarating, haunting, and heartbreaking—and a must-read novel of the year.

My Review:

I just….wasn’t interested in this one. It was flat and boring; the characters didn’t interest me; I was super fidgety while reading it. It just……wasn’t that interesting. I only made it till about page 60 and then I DNF’d it. Besides the fact that it was just boring, I really only had two reasons why I DNF’d this book: 1) The main character, Prenna, was not a solid main character. She was boring, timid, whiny. I just didn’t like her. 2) I read 60 or so pages and there was NO BACKGROUND INFORMATION. The entire book was set up like I should already have known what was going on. I was confused and it was giving me a headache!

I actually liked the prologue of The Here and Now. It was a solid beginning that set it up nicely for a unique and action filled science fiction book. It gets really confusing, though, because the plot jumps four years after the prologue. When I say that it jumps, I mean that relationships are formed during that time and other important things and information has been developed and released during that time. Why didn’t I get to read about any of that? It was sort of like reading the second book in a series. The author really made it so that the reader had no clue what was going on and it was just expected of the reader to have an understanding of the worlds in this book.

It’s pretty judgmental on my end, but I’m also very confused by the cover of The Here and Now. Looking at this cover, I would have thought that this was a contemporary book. Also, all of the blue in the cover makes me think of water. Nothing on this cover makes me think science fiction. I suppose that one could place this as a contemporary science fiction but that just seems like a weird type of genre to me. I was really confused by how this book was supposed to be categorized. Looking on Goodreads, it says that it’s a science fiction, dystopia, fantasy, contemporary, mystery, romance. Uh….huh? That doesn’t make any sense to me. I’m just….confused.

I don’t really have much to say about this one. It was just….weird. Read it at your own risk.

Pages: 288

Publication Date: April 8th, 2014

Publisher: Delacorte Press

Rating: DNF