Posts Tagged "young adult"

“What if you knew exactly when you would die?
Thanks to modern science, every human being has become a ticking genetic time bomb—males only live to age twenty-five, and females only live to age twenty. In this bleak landscape, young girls are kidnapped and forced into polygamous marriages to keep the population from dying out.
When sixteen-year-old Rhine Ellery is taken by the Gatherers to become a bride, she enters a world of wealth and privilege. Despite her husband Linden’s genuine love for her, and a tenuous trust among her sister wives, Rhine has one purpose: to escape—to find her twin brother and go home.
But Rhine has more to contend with than losing her freedom. Linden’s eccentric father is bent on finding an antidote to the genetic virus that is getting closer to taking his son, even if it means collecting corpses in order to test his experiments. With the help of Gabriel, a servant Rhine is growing dangerously attracted to, Rhine attempts to break free, in the limited time she has left.”
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Considering that we’ve had three dystopia novels as our Book of the Month this year so far, it’s obvious that not only is dystopia a hot topic, but there have been some amazing novels released on the subject. Wither by Lauren DeStefano is no excepetion.

Sixteen year old Rhine is only four years away from death. Thanks to a genetic flaw, all women die at 20, men at 25. She soon finds herself kidnapped – taken away from her twin brother in New York and sold as a bride to Linden Ashby. Trapped in a polygamous marriage, which has become normal in society, with only four short years left will Rhine resign herself to a life in her mansion prison or will she fight her way back to her brother?

Though I have loved many of this year’s dystopias, their societies resemble one another in a way, so there was always something familiar about each book. About a quarter of the way into Wither it struck me just how original and different the concept was. I can’t say the story was like anything I’d read so far.

From the writing, to the world building, to the characters, Wither was phenomenal – to say I was impressed would be an understatement, I was hooked from the first chapter.

Each character added the light and dark to the story and was so well developed and distinct – even the minor characters left an impression.

The idea of three girls living in a polygamous marriage with their husband is quite dark and strange but was so fascinating and very well presented. The friendship between the sister wives developed slowly but was beautiful to see, but also bittersweet.

Wither has the kind of concept that makes you think. How would you react in that situation? Would you stay, or try find a way out? You find yourself constantly changing your mind about whether you feel Rhine should stay or go, which shows just how involved you become in the story.

The relationship Rhine has with Linden and Gabriel were definitely contrasts but interesting to see how they developed. I’m still not completely sold on how she feels about either- I wonder how much Stockholm Syndrome and proximity played a part, but we’ll just have to see how all that unfolds as the series goes.

It was so nice to pick up a novel with a beautiful cover and not feel betrayed by it – Wither is just as amazing on the inside as it is on the outside.

Dark, emotional and incredible. An absolutely compelling and fantastic novel.

Pages: 358
Publication Date: March 2011
Publisher: Harper Collins
Challenge: Debut Author
Rating: :

Teaser Quote: “She smiles at our husband as she moves, and he blushes, overcome by her beauty. But I know what her smile really means…Her smile is her revenge.”

When Hollywood is looking for the next big thing, they often turn to the world of literature for inspiration.

With so many of our favorite YA book titles leaving their prized places on our bookshelves for a stint on the silver screen, it can be hard to keep track of them all.

Here’s the latest news from Hollywood, from the big screen, to your screen.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Release Date: March 23, 2012

Director: Gary Ross
Producer: Nina Jacobsen
Casting Director: Debra Zane
Studio: Lionsgate

Casting and other rumors: If there’s one thing I’ve learnt from keeping an eye on book to movie news is that IMDB.com is full of lies. It’s a bit like wikipedia, anyone with a pro account can edit the information about casting details etc. As of yet none of the characters have been cast yet.

Names such as Hailee Steinfield, Chloe Moretz, Alyson Stoner (ugh please no), Alex Pettyfer (double ugh no) and Elle Fanning have been thrown around but so far all of those are just rumors.

There was also a story going around that the movie would be filmed in North Carolina, which according to Lionsgate is also untrue.

The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare

Release Date: 2012

Director: Scott Charles Stewart

Casting and other rumors: The same deal with people sabotaging IMDB applies to The Mortal Instruments movie. As of yet only Lily Collins is an official cast member, who will be playing the lead character Clary Fray.

The most talked about casting rumor is of course Alex Pettyfer as Jace, which as I’ve mentioned before, I’m not a fan of the idea (for reasons such as too old, too many franchises already etc). At the moment it’s still a rumor, though he has mentioned that he’s read the books, the script and has spoken with director Scott Charles Stewart. We’ll see.

Other (probably false) rumors include Gaspard Ulliel as Alec and Darren Criss as Magnus.

I Am Number Four

Release Date: 18 February 2011 (out now)

Director: D.J. Caruso (Disturbia)
Producer: Michael Bay (Transformers)

Starring: Alex Pettyfer (I know, I know, I’m mentioning him again, but he’s actually in this one!), Dianna Agron (Glee) and Teresa Palmer

I wasn’t a fan of this book but thought the movie had promise. From the few reviews I’ve read it’s not getting a great response. A few cheesy lines, key information lost in the translation of book to screen and too many explosions (well, come on, Michael Bay is involved, there were bound to be explosions). But, I know some people did enjoy it, I’m hoping to check it out soon for myself and find out.

Bits and pieces -

The adaptation of Stephenie Meyer’s sci-fi novel The Host is making slow progress by announcing earlier this month that Susanna White has signed up as the director.

Looks like Selena Gomez has been cast to play Hannah in the adaptation of Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher which has been an unpopular choice with fans.

Emma Watson has confirmed she will be starring in The Perks of Being a Wallflower which will start filming in the summer

The movie rights to Veronica Roth’s Divergent have been picked up by billionaires Meg Ellisson. It’s not clear yet which studio will be working on the project buy Summit and Columbia Pictures are possibilities

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and directed by Baz Luhrman (Moulin Rouge, Romeo and Juliet) is set to be filmed in Sydney, Australia and in 3D, which not everyone is thrilled about. The movie stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Gatsby, Carey Mulligan as Daisy and Tobey Maguire as the narrator.

Beth Revis is the author of the fantastic new novel, Across the Universe, which is our January Book of the Month! She was nice enough to take time out for a quick Q&A.

Amy and Elder’s life on the Godspeed is incredibly fascinating – where did the idea for the story come from?

The entire story revolves around the ending. I had an idea for that twisty end, and everything else—the setting, the characters, the plot—all of it came about as a way to make that ending happen.

During the early planning stages of the story who came first – Amy or Elder?

Elder. Originally, the first chapter was told in his point of view, and his voice was the easiest for me to write at first. I had to go through rather a lot of revision and rewriting with Amy—it took me awhile to figure her out, but once I had her voice down, she actually became the easier character to write.

There’s a lot of technical info about the way the ship works as well as biology, genes, space travel seen in the book, you must’ve done a lot of research before writing the book?

I had to research mostly in terms of what we don’t have and why we don’t have it. For example, I had to research why cryogenic freezing doesn’t work now (the cell walls burst when frozen) and then invent something that would make it work (the infamous “blue goo” Amy encounters in Chapter 1). In some ways, this made things easier for me—since it’s fiction, I got to do a lot of creative inventing to make the science work, and could use my imagination rather than facts.

During the Plague the ship was cut off from communications with Earth – was that someone’s doing or a computer malfunction?

Oh dear….I’m afraid I’m not going to tell you. That is something that will be addressed in the future books, though!

Most of the reviews on other blogs and on Goodreads are 4 or 5 star ratings, are you surprised by the warm reception?

Happily so! It’s so terrifying to send creative work out into the world. Even though I’m fully aware that writing and reading is an entirely subjective thing, there’s so much of me in my work that to see someone not like it feels like a personal insult when I know logically it isn’t. The wonderful reception AtU has received so far has made me thrilled beyond belief and just confirmed my idea that I have the very best readers in the whole world.

I’m sure it’s still top secret at this stage but is there anything you can share about what we can expect from the next book?

I can only say that at least 2 things you think are true from the first book….are actually lies.

And lastly, let’s finish on a fun one….crunchy or smooth peanut butter? (Would they have that on Godspeed?)

Crunchy for me! Peanuts are a crop that would be easy (and necessary) for the residents to grow, so I imagine there’s lots of peanut butter around Godspeed—and since peanut butter is so easy to make, I’d say that they can have it either way they want, crunchy or smooth!

Thank you Beth! Check out our review of Across the Universe here and Beth’s guest blog here.

There’s still time to enter our Across the Universe giveaway too, click here to enter.

“Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awaken on a new planet, three hundred years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end fifty years too soon and that she would be thrust into the brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules.

Amy quickly realizes that her awakening was no mere computer malfunction. Someone–one of the few thousand inhabitants of the spaceship–tried to kill her. And if Amy doesn’t do something soon, her parents will be next.

Now Amy must race to unlock Godspeed’s hidden secrets. But out of her list of murder suspects, there’s only one who matters: Elder, the future leader of the ship and the love she could never have seen coming.”

Not to be confused with the song by the Beatles, Across the Universe is the debut novel by author Beth Revis. Combing elements of sci-fi, dystopia, romance and murder mystery and sticking them within the confines of the spaceship, Godspeed – 2011’s most anticipated releases start off with a bang.

The story is told alternating between the perspectives of sixteen year old Elder – who is next in line as the leader of the ship, and Amy – who till now was part of the cargo having been cryogenically frozen 250 years ago, to be woken up when the ship landed. Only thing is, she’s been woken up 50 years too soon by someone attempting to kill her….and she was only first on their list.

Amy is unlike anyone Elder has ever seen before – literally. Since the ship has been working with the same gene pool for 250 years everyone has become mono ethnic. So when Amy is violently woken up in all her red haired, fair skinned glory, Elder’s world is turned on its head.

But don’t think that the love story is a done deal. Amy is freaked out by her situation. Not only will she have to live out the rest of her days as an outcast on ship that makes a poor imitation of the Earth she knew, but she’ll also probably outlive her parents who are still frozen below.

Elder has his own set of problems, as the next in charge his mentor and current leader, Eldest has taught him very little about the ship and it’s many secrets. As he tries to uncover the truth about the ship and who is killing the frozens, he discovers just who he can trust and a lot more than he bargained for.

Usually a dystopia or sci-fi (in this case, a mix) can be a bit disorientating to read since there’s so much concept and world building that you need to grasp but Revis lets the world form completely seamlessly. The dual perspectives worked perfectly with a brilliantly plotted storyline that had so many twists and turns, weaving in the issues of free will, corruption and control, all of which made it feel haunting and disturbing in all the right places.

Our main characters are both strong and fierce, I loved that their emotions were completely real, especially Amy who does not automatically adjust to her new surroundings. She struggles with her fear, anger and confusion as well as with the four walls now containing her, which is exactly how anyone would feel. Though I found it a little creepy that she always referred to her father as Daddy, I still really liked her.

For Elder, up until now he’s felt more like a child than a future leader and really grows throughout the book, becoming what he was born to be. I loved that they weren’t in an all consuming love at first sight (well, maybe Elder was…;) ) relationship which would’ve made it feel fake. They have a lot of potential together and I really want to see what happens next.

It’s an epic dystopian sci fi that’ll make you very thankful your feet are planted firmly on Earth. It’s evocative and haunting but basically, it’s a frexing awesome book.

Pages: 398
Publication Date: January 2011
Publisher: Razorbill/Penguin
Challenge: Debut Author
Rating: :

Teaser Quote: “And the whoosh! The flash freeze filled the tiny chamber. I was in ice. I was ice. I am ice.

But if I’m ice, how am I conscious?… I can’t be awake for three hundred and one years. I’ll never survive that.”

“As an angel exiled from heaven and doomed to return repeatedly to Earth, Mercy is never sure whose life and body she will share each time. And her mind is filled with the desperate pleas of her beloved, Luc, who can only approach her in her dreams.

In Paradise, Mercy meets Ryan, whose sister was kidnapped two years ago and is now presumed dead. When another girl disappears, Mercy and Ryan know they must act before time runs out. But a host of angels are out for Mercy′s blood and they won′t rest until they find her and punish her — for a crime she doesn′t remember committing …”

In amongst the growing number of young adult novels based around angels – particularly the exiled kind, comes Mercy by Rebecca Lim. When there are quite a few books based on a similar topic, it can be hard to stand out from the crowd, or in this case, the bookshelf.

Mercy combines the concept of exiled angels with a forbidden and intriguing romance and adds a twist – a mysterious kidnapping.

When Mercy (in the form of an angelic soul) wakes up on a school bus, now bound in a body belonging to a girl named Carmen, she must immediately adjust and carry on as Carmen would’ve, while also trying to figure out why this time she has been placed in this particular body.

This is one of many times this has happened, since her exile (for a crime she’s unable to remember) she has been moved from body to body, life to life, many times, only remembering a few details from the previous host and doomed to do so indefinitely.

This punishment not only keeps her away from her true form but also from her love, Luc, whom she only sees very briefly in her dreams, only long enough to give her cryptic advice. If all this wasn’t enough she’s also being hunted by an angelic band of eight brothers, who only have one intent: to kill.

When she arrives in the town of Paradise, as part of the school’s choir as their star soprano, she discovers the family she’s boarding with is still harboring the pain of their shattered past when their teenage daughter, Lauren, was abducted from her bedroom two years ago. All believe her to be dead, except her twin brother Ryan. Together, Mercy and Ryan conduct their own search and rescue, determined to get Lauren back.

The story is artfully written and the plotline in Mercy is amazingly layered. Not only are we learning about the events unfolding for Mercy/Carmen in the human world, but we also get glimpses into her past as an angel and her relationship with Luc. Though the main focus is on the human life, it only makes our curiosity about her angelic one grow.

The combination of murder mystery with the paranormal was great and made the story feel very original. I was glad the identity of the kidnapper wasn’t apparent till the very end, allowing the feeling of suspense to carry through the whole book.

As the first in a trilogy (each book has an AMAZINGLY beautiful cover) Mercy is a fantastic start. The story will captivate you and definitely makes us curious enough to put Exile (book two) high on our list of books we’re looking forward to for 2011.

Pages: 280
Publication Date: November 2010
Publisher: Harper Collins
Challenge: n/a
Rating: :

Teaser Quote: “If I get too comfortable, I will wake one morning and everything around me will have shifted overnight. All I knew? I know no longer. And all I had? Vanished in an instant. There’s nothing I can keep with me that will stay.
I must always re-establish ties.
I must tread carefulle or give myself away.
I must survive.
I must keep moving, but I don’t know why.”