Book Review: The Keeping Place (The Obernewtyn Chronicles #4) by Isobelle Carmody

After a kidnapping, Elspeth Gordie and the Misfits are forced to join the rebellion against the oppressive Council, using their extraordinary mind powers. But Elspeth must also seek out clues left by the long-dead seer, Kasanda, vital to her quest to destroy the Beforetime weaponmachines. One clue is lost in the past, forcing Elspeth to travel the Dreamtrails, stalked by a terrifying winged beast, with the cat, Maruman, as her guide and guardian. Only there can she learn more of the Beforetimer Misfits and their enemy, Govamen.

Gradually Elspeth realises her quest is intimately linked to the Misfits' refuge, Obernewtyn - its past and its future.

The Keeping Place is the fourth book in The Obernewtyn Chronicles series by Isobelle Carmody, originally published in 1999.  This one was a bit of a disappointment to me.  All the books in the series so far have had ups and downs in the pacing, but this one was slow most of the time.  The Dreamtrails parts of the story were not very exciting, even felt a little silly to me.  Dragon, the wild little girl, was kept out of all the real action in the book, which I think was a mistake as she's a great character and I missed her.  I've noticed that the books were published four-five years apart, so I expect more from the stories.  I still like the series, and I'm hoping for better in the next installment.

Here are links to my reviews for the first three books in the series:

1.  Obernewtyn 
2. The Farseekers
3. Ashling

 I give this book 3 Bookworms.

Book Review: Ashling (The Obernewtyn Chronicles #3) by Isobelle Carmody

Elspeth’s adventures continue as she tries to seal an alliance between the secret Misfit community at Obernewtyn and the rebel forces rumored to be hiding in the capital, right under the noses of the dreaded totalitarian Council.

Elspeth travels from the mountains reluctantly, for at any moment the long-awaited summons may come to find and destroy the dormant weapon machines left by the Beforetimers. Her journey takes her far beyond the borders of the Land, across the sea and into the heart of the mysterious desert region of Sador. Here she discovers that she cannot destroy the weapon machines alone—she needs the help of the Sadorians. But before her dark quest can begin, Elspeth must learn the truth of her dreams: she must understand why the Beforetimers destroyed their world

Ashling is the third book in The Obernwetyn Chronicles by Isobelle Carmody which was first published in 1995.  I'm really enjoying this series.  Elspeth is becoming a young woman in Ashling.  She is slowly learning and very slowly accepting her fate of being the savior of Obernewtyn and the animals.  It's a lot for someone only about eighteen to take on, but Elspeth takes on the necessary responsibilities and grows ever stronger as a result.  She knows she can rely on help from her friends, human and animal alike.  It's a good series for older children through adults to enjoy!


Here are my reviews for some other books in the series:

1.   Obernewtyn

2.   The Farseekers

4.   The Keeping Place

 I give this book 4 Bookworms.

Book Review: Through the Ever Night (Under the Never Sky #2) by Veronica Rossi

It's been months since Aria learned of her mother's death.

Months since Perry became Blood Lord of the Tides, and months since Aria last saw him.

Now Aria and Perry are about to be reunited. It's a moment they've been longing for with countless expectations. And it's a moment that lives up to all of them. At least, at first.

Then it slips away. The Tides don't take kindly to former Dwellers like Aria. And the tribe is swirling out of Perry's control. With the Aether storms worsening every day, the only remaining hope for peace and safety is the Still Blue. But does this haven truly exist?

Threatened by false friends and powerful temptations, Aria and Perry wonder, Can their love survive through the ever night?

Through the Ever Night is the 2nd book in the Under the Never Sky series by Veronica Rossi.  It continues the story of Aria and Perry trying to survive in the outside world with its violent storms.  Aria and Perry, from two different worlds, fell in love in the first book, Under the Never Sky.  They were apart for a long time as Aria went home.  With the beginning of Through the Ever Night, they are set to be together again.

Perry is now leader of the Tides, the people who live out in the wild.  They don't trust Aria's people, the Dwellers, so Aria has a hard time fitting in.  Perry must keep his people safe, even if it's against their wishes, plus he and Aria still need to save his little brother.  How do they keep their relationship alive if they must separate again?

There's a lot of tension and in-fighting in the story.  The people must learn to work together and accept help from outsiders in order to survive, and they may not be able to do it.  The action never stops in this exciting sequel to Under the Never Sky.  It's a must read series for dystopian lovers!

 I give this book 4 Bookworms.

Book Review: The Farseekers (The Obernewtyn Chronicles #2) by Isobelle Carmody

In this powerful sequel to Obernewtyn, young Elspeth Gordie-possessed of extraordinary mental powers-has united with others Misfits for refuge on the remote mountain keep of Obernewtyn. Yet the threat from the totalitarian Council to their safety is ever present. Their only defense is to work hard to develop their mental powers before an inevitable confrontation.

But when Elspeth is lured off the mountain in a dangerous quest to rescue a powerful Misfit, the fate of the Obernewtyn colony will hang in the balance.

The Farseekers by Isobelle Carmody is the second book of The Obernewtyn Chronicles.  It was first published in 1990, three years after the first book Obernewtyn.  That was back when books in a series weren't cranked out  year after year.  Readers nowadays are more impatient.  Yes, that includes me!

For me, The Farseekers was a good bit better than Obernewtyn.   It's set two years after the end of the first book, Elspeth is now 17.  Being older opens Elspeth's character to a lot more possibilities.  All the characters in this book were better developed.

I love the animals being sentient and how each animal has a distinct personality.  It's true in real life (the personality part) and it's great to see it in the book.  It's fascinating how the bonds form between the humans and the animals.

The story pace picks up more in The Farseekers and is even more enjoyable to read. 

Here are my reviews for other books in the series:

3.   Ashling

4.   The Keeping Place

 I give this book 4 Bookworms.

Book Review: Obernewtyn (The Obernewtyn Chronicles #1) by Isobelle Carmody

For Elspeth Gordie freedom is-like so much else after the Great White-a memory.

It was a time known as the Age of Chaos. In a final explosive flash everything was destroyed. The few who survived banded together and formed a Council for protection. But people like Elspeth-mysteriously born with powerful mental abilities-are feared by the Council and hunted down like animals...to be destroyed.

Her only hope for survival to is keep her power hidden. But is secrecy enough against the terrible power of the Council?

Obernewtyn by Isobelle Carmody is the first book in The Obernewtyn Chronicles.  It was first published in 1987, but still holds up today as a well written dystopian novel.  The book starts off a little slow for me, though I'm sure it's hard to build and describe a dystopian world.  Today's books usually start off with more action, but Carmody took her time to give us a true sense of the world.

The story is told in first person narrative.  Quite often that made things more passive.  Instead of relating what was said in exact words, Elspeth will tell us that she told them such and such and they said okay.  I'd rather the actual interaction was played out.  Also, dialects were used in some of the characters speech such as, "Dinna worry 'bout 'er."  That was hard to read. Characters could have been more well rounded, but as it's a series, I hope that happens as the books progress.

The world and storyline were well written.  It helped me to overlook the other minor annoyances and keep me reading.  I do want to know what happens next!

Here are my reviews for some other books in the series:

2.    The Farseekers
3.    Ashling

4.   The Keeping Place

 I give this book 3 Bookworms.

Book Review: Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

Worlds kept them apart.

Destiny brought them together.

Aria has lived her whole life in the protected dome of Reverie. Her entire world confined to its spaces, she's never thought to dream of what lies beyond its doors. So when her mother goes missing, Aria knows her chances of surviving in the outer wasteland long enough to find her are slim.

Then Aria meets an outsider named Perry. He's searching for someone too. He's also wild - a savage - but might be her best hope at staying alive.

If they can survive, they are each other's best hope for finding answers.

Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi is the first book of her three book (so far) Under the Never Sky series.  It's dystopian setting is two worlds, one in secluded domes where everyone lives through virtual realms and they can do just about anything that can be imagined, the second world is outside exposed to the elements including violent storms.

The story is told alternately through Aria and Perry.  They come from different worlds, but slowly build a trusting relationship.  They realize they each have the same goal of finding loved ones and need each other to make that happen.  I appreciated the fact that it wasn't love at first sight, they had to work together and learn about each other for the caring to develop.  

If you're a sci-fi geek, don't expect the technology and realms of Reverie to be explained in depth.  It's not, but really isn't needed to fill out the storyline.

Rossi has built a great dystopian world in Under the Never Sky.  The characters are believable and the plot is intriguing and paced well.  I'm looking forward to reading the whole series!

 I give this book 4 Bookworms

Book Review: Fire & Flood by Victoria Scott

Tella Holloway is losing it. Her brother is sick, and when a dozen doctors can't determine what's wrong, her parents decide to move to Montana for the fresh air. She's lost her friends, her parents are driving her crazy, her brother is dying—and she's helpless to change anything.

Until she receives mysterious instructions on how to become a Contender in the Brimstone Bleed. It's an epic race across jungle, desert, ocean, and mountain that could win her the prize she desperately desires: the Cure for her brother's illness. But all the Contenders are after the Cure for people they love, and there's no guarantee that Tella (or any of them) will survive the race.

The jungle is terrifying, the clock is ticking, and Tella knows she can't trust the allies she makes. And one big question emerges: Why have so many fallen sick in the first place?

Fire & Flood is the first book in the series of the same name by Victoria Scott.  I knew when I started reading it that people would compare this (badly) to the Hunger Games.  I understand the comparison, but I think there is enough good stuff in Fire & Flood to let it stand on its own as an enjoyable dystopian novel.  

Firstly, there's the Pandoras.  I admit I'm a sucker for animals, and I liked how they were used in the story for the most part.  I didn't like the last requirement to get into the second base camp - which I won't mention because of spoilers.  It was kind of harsh and I didn't quite see the point of it.

I liked seeing the Contenders group up for support and helping each other get through the challenges.  This also brought some interesting tension as they know only one of them can win and they are all playing for loved ones.  Those relationships were portrayed well, but I felt the potential romantic relationship between Tella and Guy was a little lacking.  The ways Guy was stand-offish, then suddenly holding her while she slept seemed contrived.

The novel was an easy read, I finished it in one afternoon.  Over all, I enjoyed it and will probably keep reading the series.  It's marketed for Young Adult, but if YA is considered as 13-21, I would say this skews more to the younger end, and maybe into the older Childrens' level. 

 I give this book 3 Bookworms.

Book Review: Starters by Lissa Price

Callie lost her parents when the Spore Wars wiped out everyone between the ages of twenty and sixty. She and her little brother, Tyler, go on the run, living as squatters with their friend Michael and fighting off renegades who would kill them for a cookie. Callie's only hope is Prime Destinations, a disturbing place in Beverly Hills run by a mysterious figure known as the Old Man.

He hires teens to rent their bodies to Enders—seniors who want to be young again. Callie, desperate for the money that will keep her, Tyler, and Michael alive, agrees to be a donor. But the neurochip they place in Callie's head malfunctions and she wakes up in the life of her renter, living in her mansion, driving her cars, and going out with a senator's grandson. It feels almost like a fairy tale, until Callie discovers that her renter intends to do more than party—and that Prime Destinations' plans are more evil than Callie could ever have imagined. . .

Very interesting plot that fits right into today's world of technology and gaming. The dystopian setting isn't too unique, the protagonist Callie lost her parents in a war and she has a younger brother to take care of.  She's desperate and has to resort to renting her young body to seniors.  The whys and hows of this renting bodies and complications thereof kept me reading.

It's not a bad book, it can really get you thinking about youth and aging.  This book is marketed for "young readers."  I'd suggest it would be better for a bit older readers, maybe young teenagers because of some of the subject matter.

 

I give this book 3 Bookworms.

Book Review: Pure by Julianna Baggott

Pressia barely remembers the Detonations or much about life during the Before. She thinks about what is lost-how the world went to ash and dust, scars, permanent burns, and fused, damaged bodies. And now, at an age when everyone is required to turn themselves over to the militia to either be trained as a soldier or, if they are too damaged and weak, to be used as live targets, Pressia can no longer pretend to be small. Pressia is on the run. There are those who escaped the apocalypse unmarked. Pures. They are tucked safely inside the Dome that protects their healthy, superior bodies. Yet Partridge, whose father is one of the most influential men in the Dome, feels isolated and lonely. Different. He thinks about loss-maybe just because his family is broken; his father is emotionally distant; his brother killed himself; and his mother never made it inside their shelter. Or maybe it's his claustrophobia: his feeling that this Dome has become a swaddling of intensely rigid order. So when a slipped phrase suggests his mother might still be alive, Partridge risks his life to leave the Dome to find her. When Pressia meets Partridge, their worlds shatter all over again.

With all the post-apocalyptic/dystopian novels out, it's hard to find one that's unique in any way.  Pure, by Julianna Baggott definitely fills the bill.  Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me read it!

One of the strongest features of this book - description - turns out to also be one of its weakest.  The author writes in vivid detail, so it's easy to picture everything in your mind. This was great when she was describing the combinations of people and inanimate objects and/or animals.  It takes a great imagination to come up with a heroine with a doll head for a hand.  But sometimes the detail was just too much; the long paragraphs depicting the new world tended to drag on the storyline to me.

Pure is a solid, entertaining post-apocalyptic tale that easily holds the reader's attention.  It's suitable for teenagers and adults alike.  

I give this book 4 Bookworms.

Book Review: Tankborn by Karen Sandler

Best friends Kayla and Mishalla know they will be separated when the time comes for their Assignments. They are GENs, Genetically Engineered Non-humans, and in their strict caste system, GENs are at the bottom rung of society. High-status trueborns and working-class lowborns, born naturally of a mother, are free to choose their own lives. But GENs are gestated in a tank, sequestered in slums, and sent to work as slaves as soon as they reach age fifteen.

When Kayla is Assigned to care for Zul Manel, the patriarch of a trueborn family, she finds a host of secrets and surprises—not least of which is her unexpected friendship with Zul's great-grandson. Meanwhile, the children that Mishalla is Assigned to care for are being stolen in the middle of the night. With the help of an intriguing lowborn boy, Mishalla begins to suspect that something horrible is happening to them.

After weeks of toiling in their Assignments, mystifying circumstances enable Kayla and Mishalla to reunite. Together they hatch a plan with their new friends to save the children who are disappearing. Yet can GENs really trust humans? Both girls must put their lives and hearts at risk to crack open a sinister conspiracy, one that may reveal secrets no one is ready to face.

Tankborn is a dystopian novel that is set on a different planet, although it seems much like Earth.  It's also science-fiction-ey with the genetic engineering as a predominant part of the society.

There are a lot of interesting elements to this book.  There's genetic splicing of animal DNA to human DNA to make new GENs with special strengths, tattoos used to hook up datapods to the GENs, a strict caste system, and hover cars!  I've always been a fan of hover cars!

There's an obvious social message in this book, told through the caste system.  The highborns and lowborns are differentiated by their eye and skin color, as well as the clothing and jewelry they wear.  The GENs have no status at all as they are not even considered human.  These ranks and issues mirror the problems our society has/has had with different races, religions, and economic levels.  While I embraced the idea of exploring these issues in the book, I felt like I was being hit over the head with it.  There was so much exposition on it from each character, over and over, saying the same things, it got old very quickly for me.

Overall, it's an interesting book and worth a read if you enjoy dystopian and/or science fiction novels.

*Disclaimer:  I received this book for review from the publisher through Netgalley.  I was not required to write a positive review.

I give this book 3 Bookworms.

Reading Level:  Young Adult

Hardcover:  384 pages

Publisher:  Lee & Low Books (September 15, 2011)

ISBN-10:  1600606628

ISBN-13:  978-1600606625

Ebook:  1,172 KB

Publisher:  Lee & Low Books/Tu Books

ASIN:  B005ODGZDY

Book Review: Prized (Birthmarked #2) by Caragh M. O'Brien

Striking out into the wasteland with nothing but her baby sister, a handful of supplies, and a rumor to guide her, sixteen-year-old midwife Gaia Stone survives only to be captured by the people of Sylum, a dystopian society where women rule the men who drastically outnumber them, and a kiss is a crime.  In order to see her sister again, Gaia must submit to their strict social code, but how can she deny her sense of justice, her curiosity, and everything in her heart that makes her whole?

Prized is the second novel in the Birthmarked series.  It picks up right where the first book (Birthmarked) leaves off, but it can be read as a stand-alone novel.  Still, I recommend reading them in order.

For a fairly new author, Caragh O'Brien is very polished.  The story starts off fast and just keeps going, never dragging.  Prized is in such a different setting than Birthmarked that if not for the characters Gaia and Leon, I might have felt I was reading a different series.  That was fine with me, I was impressed with how O'Brien masterfully created two different worlds and bridged them together in the two books.

This is a fascinating dystopian series.  It will be published on November 8, 2011.  Officially it's for young adults, but us older kids are allowed to enjoy it, too!

*Disclaimer:  I received this book for review from the publisher through Netgalley.  I was not required to write a positive review.

I give this book 4 Bookworms.

Reading Level:  Young Adult

Hardcover:  368 pages

Publisher:  Roaring Brook Press (November 8, 2011)

ISBN-10:  1596435704

ISBN-13:  978-1596435704

Ebook:  5 KB

Sold by:  Macmillan

ASIN:  B005N8Y5VE 

Book Review: Wither (Chemical Gardens #1) by Lauren DeStefano

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.

Book Review: The Postmortal by Drew Magary

The year is 2019 and a cure for aging has been discovered. After much political and cultural debate "The Cure" is made available to populations worldwide. Through fast-paced journal entries and blogger-style news story roundups compiled by an ever-watchful New York lawyer, John Farrell, readers experience a world where age-related diseases and deaths disappear altogether.  But there are residual effects and THE POSTMORTAL forces us to rethink our idea of marriage if rendered indefinite and the allocation of precious resources in a world with exponential population growth. Ideological divisions manifest themselves in chilling ways in this new environment, introducing "pro death" anarchists who inflict ghastly punishments on those who dare to remain young.  With the apocalypse on the horizon and regret creeping into everyday lives, living forever, as it turns out, isn't all it's cracked up to be.

The  Postmortal is a powerful book.  Magary takes an honest look at society's reaction to not aging - constant partying, marriages fall apart, the earth's resources are dwindling.  We see John Farrell, a wise-cracking lawyer, who's life changes markedly throughout the book as he gets older without aging.  His optimism turns to skepticism, even on to hopelessness. The storyline is very dark in this book, but Magary manages to add humor and lighten the mood in just the right places. 

It's an interesting novel, showing how society slowly disintegrates just as it is granted one of its biggest wishes.  The government begins to take total control of everyone's life...and death.  This story really makes you think, even as you're being entertained.



 I gives this book 4 Bookworms.



Pages:  384
Publisher:  Penguin (August 30, 2011)
ISBN-10:  0143119826
ISBN-13:  978-0143119821

Book Review: Delirium by Lauren Oliver

 

Ninety-five days, and then I'll be safe. I wonder whether the procedure will hurt. I want to get it over with. It's hard to be patient. It's hard not to be afraid while I'm still uncured, though so far the deliria hasn't touched me yet. Still, I worry. They say that in the old days, love drove people to madness. The deadliest of all deadly things: It kills you both when you have it and when you don't.

As a young adult dystopian novel, Delirium delivers what is expected.  Society has deemed love to be a virus that is the root of all evil, so it must be destroyed.  A young girl, Lena is days away from receiving the cure, and she meets someone who makes her doubt everything she ever believed.

The problem with this story for me is, there's nothing original about it except the social entity being controlled - love.  Otherwise, it's the same almost cookie cutter plot.  There's a good society member about to have the society-approved treatment, who meets someone against this societal control, falls in love and then turns against society themselves.  Nothing overly surprising happens, there are no big plot twists.

That being said, the story was well-written.  Lauren Oliver writes beautifully and manages to draw you into the story.  She manages to show the horrors of having no love for anything, which keeps you reading. 

 I give this book 3 Bookworms.

 

Reading Level:  Young Adult

Hardcover:  448 pages

Publisher:  HarperCollins (February 1, 2011)

ISBN-10:  0061726826

ISBN-13:  978-0061726828

Format:  Ebook

File Size:  582kb

ASIN:  B0045U9WPU



Book Review: Uglies by Scott Westerfield

Tally is about to turn sixteen, and she can't wait. Not for her license -- for turning pretty. In Tally's world, your sixteenth birthday brings an operation that turns you from a repellent ugly into a stunningly attractive pretty and catapults you into a high-tech paradise where your only job is to have a really great time. In just a few weeks Tally will be there.

 Uglies by Scott Westerfield is the first in his The Ugly series.  This is a young adult book, but the issues raised are good for adults to think about as well.  Little children are considered so ugly they are cute, but when they are around 10 years old, they are sent away to a boarding school and called, "the uglies."  At 16 they receive an operation that turns them into the society's version of pretty.  Big eyes, small nose, tall, thin, etc.  This operation is not an option, everyone must have it.

Westerfield has taken today's societal norms of what is considered beautiful and taken it about as far as it can go in his novel.  If you're not pretty, you are not anything.  This is the same thought that too many people have today and Westerfield shows how it's not the ideal.  That looking and being different is what true prettiness is.  His main character Tally learns this as she experiences life outside the society in which was raised. 

This is a good story that makes you think about life's ideals as well.  There are some twists and turns that keep you on your toes as you read.  Give it a try!

I give this book 4 Bookworms!

Pages:  432

Publisher:  Simon Pulse; Reprint edition (May 3, 2011)

ISBN-10:  1442419814

ISBN-13:  978-1442419810

Book Review: Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

 

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before—and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that will weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

I'd been seeing this book recommended everywhere.  I read the synopsis and I was hooked, I had to read it.  It was a great book!  The only negative thing I could say about it is that it was written and marketed as a young adult book, but I worry that the subject matter is a little too violent for the younger of the young adults.  Teenagers forced to kill each other for other's amusement isn't the greatest storyline for children to read.

I loved everything else about this book.  It's one of those page-turners that won't let you put it down until you've read it all.  Katniss has had to take on the responsibility of taking care of her mother and little sister since her father was killed in the mines.  She's 16, but already an adult.  Living such a harsh life has forced her to bottle up her emotions, so she finds being partnered with Peeta especially difficult. She slowly learns to open up and evolve through the trials in the story.

It's a great story that leaves you wanting more.  And there is more, 2 more books in the series.  Look for those reviews here soon!

  I give this book 5 Bookworms!

 

Paperback:  384 pages

Publisher:  Scholastic Press; Reprint edition (July 3, 2010)

ISBN-10:  0439023521

ISBN-13:  978-0439023528