August Book Review: Outrage by John Sandford and Michele Cook

Book stats (from Amazon):

Series: The Singular Menace

Hardcover: 336 pages

Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers (July 14, 2015)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0385753098

ISBN-13: 978-0385753098

Amazon rating: 4.1/5 stars

Goodreads rating:

Summary/back-cover blurb (from Amazon):

John Sandford and Michele Cook follow up their New York Times bestseller, UNCAGED, with the next nail-biting installment in The Singular Menace series. Perfect for fans of The Maze Runner!
Shay Remby and her gang of renegades have struck a blow to the Singular Corporation. When they rescued Shay’s brother, Odin, from a secret Singular lab, they also liberated a girl. Singular has been experimenting on her, trying to implant a U.S. senator’s memories into her brain—with partial success. Fenfang is now a girl who literally knows too much.

Can the knowledge brought by ex-captives Odin and Fenfang help Shay and her friends expose the crimes of this corrupt corporation? Singular has already killed one of Shay’s band to protect their secrets. How many more will die before the truth is exposed?


     Anyone who read my blog back in May has seen my review of the previous book in this series, Uncaged. I was originally planning on reviewing sequels to the books I'd previously reviewed in the same month of the next year (if that makes sense. If not, basically I intended to review Uncaged in May 2015 and Outrage in May 2016.) But I realized that not only would that make my blog extremely boring and predictable, there are some books that I can't wait to review, and others I wouldn't be able to find much different to say from what I said about the original books. That being said, I may reiterate some of the points I made in my review of Uncaged, but that is mainly due to how much I love this series. I rarely admit to this, but this especially is one of the books that can really get me excited about a series and about the story itself. As I am typing this, my hands are flying over the keyboard and I am fighting to put together sensible sentences rather than unintelligible strings of letters. I cannot believe how underrated this series is.

Spoilers below: You have been warned!

     One of my favourite things about this series is that it isn't just children and teens running around on their own. I'm not bashing this plot device, and I am guilty of it as well, but in the context of this novel, it wouldn't make much sense for the teens to work on their own. The thing I love the most, however, is how, although the adult characters are more experienced and often more responsible than the teens, they aren't portrayed as stuffy or uptight, and the teenage characters don't constantly dismiss the adults' concerns or advice because "they're adults, they don't understand". I talked about Twist in the last review, and I still love him. This book also debuts another adult ally for Shay, Odin, Cruz, Cade, and Fenfang (more on her later) - I say debuts rather than introduces because he was already an established character in the first book. The character I am referring to is Harmon, the head of Singular's intelligence division. A former solider, he realizes what Singular is doing is wrong and decides to help Shay and her band of rebels take them down. Using his inside knowledge, Shay and the others are able to get closer to Singular's leaders than ever before. Twist and Harmon are not the only adults in the group, as there is also Danny and, formerly, West, they are arguably the most important and definitely my favourite two.
     This book continues to up the ante in terms of plot, uncovering new depths of Singular's cruelty and how far their experiments have gone. People in positions of power, such as government officials, have been paying Singular for a sort of immortality. They kidnap young people - many of whom are Chinese and brought through North Korea to Singular's laboratories in the US, and wire their brains to erase their personalities and upload a new consciousness - that of the person who paid Singular - into their minds. This is the case with Fenfang, who was being held prisoner along with Odin. The personality that was partially uploaded into her brain was that of US Senator Charlotte Dash. Dash's personality periodically surfaces and takes over Fenfang's body, making her almost expose where the others are hiding. The partial upload of consciousness, however, means Fenfang also knows very private things about Dash, such as the codes for the safes in her house.
     I'm going to end my review here, to avoid further spoilers.  The third book, Rampage, is scheduled to be released in Fall 2016 (too long if you ask me). Overall, this book is amazing and very underrated. I think it would be enjoyed by both fans of Young Adult novels and fans of John Sandford's other work.
     5/5 stars!

Edit 06/01/16: added hyperlink

July Book Review: Eye of Minds by James Dashner

Book stats (from Amazon):
Paperback: 336 pages
Publisher: Ember; Reprint edition (July 22 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0385741405
ISBN-13: 978-0385741408
Amazon rating: 4.4/5 stars
Goodreads rating: 3.84/5 stars

Summary (from Amazon):
    From James Dashner, the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling Maze Runner series, which includes The Maze Runner—now a #1 movie worldwide—and The Scorch Trials—soon to be a major motion picture from Twentieth Century Fox that hits theaters on September 18, 2015—comes an all-new, edge-of-your seat adventure. The Eye of Minds is the first novel in the Mortality Doctrine series set in a world of hyperadvanced technology, cyberterrorists, and gaming beyond your wildest dreams . . . and your worst nightmares.

    Michael is a gamer. And like most gamers, he almost spends more time on the VirtNet than in the actual world. The VirtNet offers total mind and body immersion, and the more hacking skills you have, the more fun. Why bother following the rules when most of them are dumb, anyway?

    But some rules were made for a reason. Some technology is too dangerous to fool with. And one gamer has been doing exactly that, with murderous results.

    The government knows that to catch a hacker, you need a hacker. And they’ve been watching Michael. If he accepts their challenge, Michael will need to go off the VirtNet grid to the back alleys and corners of the system human eyes have never seen—and there’s the possibility that the line between game and reality will be blurred forever.

    I am not ashamed to admit that I have loved video games for a long time - I was and still am a 'game geek'. Just a few years ago I went through a massive Minecraft obsession where the game consumed most of my free time. I still play it (and I also still own a Creeper t-shirt, a stuffed Baby Mooshroom, and a Minecraft edition of a gaming magazine), but it's taken more of a backseat to my writing and other obligations. Other video game obsessions of mine include or have included The Sims (I played the original for years, never played 2, finally managed to get 3 to work, and also own 4 which is awesome, but slower and harder to get immersed in that 3, I feel (although it might be my lack of expansion packs for 4, which always made 3 better in my opinion), Legend of Zelda games (I'm currently playing Twilight Princess on the Wii), Kirby (GameCube Kirby was my life for a while), and almost any racing game. Whether it's cars, go-karts, horses, whatever, I'm a sucker for racing games.) That was a lot of words that were all basically to say this: I love video games, and so when I saw this book, it instantly piqued my curiousity. Even before I noticed it was by James Dashner (I love him as an author. His Maze Runner series was amazing, and overall I think he's a really cool guy and great with his fans), I was hooked in by the novel's concept.
    The Eye of Minds is written in first person from the perspective of Michael, an experienced gamer and advanced hacker. With his best friends, Bryson and Sarah, Michael manipulates the Virtnet - the gaming network accessed by the player connecting to their Coffin, the virtual reality simulator - largely for his own benefit. Small things like hacking a restaurant to get free nachos are all the three really use their abilities for. When Michael witnesses another gamer rip out her Core - the device that ensures that, no matter what happens in the Virtnet, the player wakes up safe in their Coffin with no lasting injuries - and commit suicide by diving off a bridge, he realizes that something is very wrong.
Spoilers ahead! You have been warned...
    I don't often use the term 'a twist you will never expect' because I feel it's overused and doesn't often deliver on its promise, but in my opinion, the ending of this novel really does deliver a twist that I, at least, never saw coming. The entire plot is largely unexpected and extremely well-executed.
    Michael, Bryson, and Sarah's quest through 'The Path' was unpredictable and exciting, especially with the added condition: if they die within The Path, they will not be able to re-enter it. This forces the three characters to rethink their strategies and carefully think through their actions, as their current philosophy - if you mess up, you can always try again with no consequences - will not be good enough to get them through.
    Like in the Maze Runner series, Dashner creates a complex and believable, although fantastical and futuristic, world. While the slang used is sometimes confusing, it quickly becomes evident what the meanings are. The characters are also realistic and interesting. One of my favourite parts of this novel was how interesting and three-dimensional the minor or side characters were. Like NPC's in a video game, they are sometimes bizarre and often more frustrating than helpful. I felt that this gave a lot of realism to the novel and made it feel almost as if it were a guide to a video game.
    Overall, I really enjoyed this novel. I can't really point out anything specifically bad about it or anything I didn't particularly like, so I'll stop before I spoil anything else. I'd recommend this book for an older teen, as it tends toward being a bit violent, but I wasn't bothered by it and I don't think many people would find it too bad, but be warned that the story does get violent, especially during the 'Devils of Destruction' segment.
    5/5 stars!

June Book Review: Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

 

 

Book Stats (from Amazon):

Paperback: 560 pages
Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks; 1st edition (June 1, 2005)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0439709105
ISBN-13: 978-0439709101
Amazon rating: 4.3/5 stars
Goodreads rating: 3.8/5 stars

Summary (from Amazon):
One cruel night, Meggie's father reads aloud from a book called INKHEART-- and an evil ruler escapes the boundaries of fiction and lands in their living room. Suddenly, Meggie is smack in the middle of the kind of adventure she has only read about in books. Meggie must learn to harness the magic that has conjured this nightmare. For only she can change the course of the story that has changed her life forever.
This is INKHEART--a timeless tale about books, about imagination, about life. Dare to read it aloud.


    I'm going to say it now; I know you guys may be a bit confused as to why I chose to review Inkheart. By no means is it a new release, or has it received a lot of attention lately. But to me, these book reviews have always been about sharing books I love, so that's what I really want to do.
    I've had this book for years. I don't even really remember when I got it. I do remember reading it with my mom and bringing the final book in the trilogy, Inkdeath, to school and showing it off, because it was the thickest book anyone in my friend group at the time had read. I've had it for so long, the bookmark I use for it is a ribbon I won in a square dancing contest back in 2008 - and many of the pages are dogeared, so I'd read it at least once before I got that ribbon.
    As I was reading and reminiscing about this square dancing contest (it's a long story, perhaps for another post), I came across this quote: books are like flypaper—memories cling to the printed page better than anything else. This quote hit me like a ton of bricks - and it reminded me of why I loved this book in the first place. And really, it reminded me of why I love reading itself. And that is why this book is so powerful. I was instantly transported back nearly seven years. I could ramble on about my love of reading and the origins of that forever, if you let me, but I'll keep that story for another post.
    While I wouldn't say Inkheart is strictly Young Adult, as Meggie, the protagonist and main POV character is 12 years old, so I would call it early Young Adult or upper Middle Grade, but when I picked it up again for the first time in years the other night I couldn't resist writing a review on it. It truly is a classic to me. It and its siblings Inkspell and Inkdeath have survived at least one move (perhaps two) and several rounds of what I call the "time to clear my bookshelf and put some books in a box in the storage room before the shelf collapses and crushes me" game. I don't know if I can put into words just how much I love this book, but I'll try to.
    I've said it before and, quite likely, I'll say it in every blog post. Quirky, unexpected, interesting characters draw me into a story like nothing else. I've spent hour agonizing over the slightest idiosyncrasies of my characters' personalities, and I think Cornelia Funke paid careful attention to her characters personalities as well. Inkheart was one of the first books I read with such interesting and complex characters.
     Mild spoilers may be ahead. Read on at your own risk!
    The fire-eater Dustfinger was and still is one of my favourite characters, and while he was not the first character like this I encountered, his unpredictable and had confusing/contradictory behaviour really stood out to me, probably because I was so interested in and attached to him as a character. That is to say, he was one of the first characters I really noticed having complex motivations and working either with or against the protagonists because of these motivations. This is a type of character I use often in my own writing, and I think Dustfinger was really one of the first, and even now one of the best, examples of this type of character I've read.
    The protagonist, Meggie, was one of the most relatable characters I had read, and she still is one of the characters I identify with the most. Her love of reading and her family reminded me of myself. Neither of my parents have ever disappeared into a book (at least not literally), but Meggie's relationship with her father, Mo, and how she inherits her love of books from him reminded me of my relationship with my mother. She was always the one who read out loud to me, although nothing ever came out of the books she read. My father reads quite a bit as well, although he never read out loud much (I wonder if things would come out of books if he read them... Maybe that's why...)
    I could write a paragraph or more on every one of the characters in this novel and why I love them, but I doubt I could without spoiling the entire plot of the novel, and this review would end up thousands of words long if I did.
    I would describe this book as suitable for someone reading at at least an upper Middle Grade level, although anyone older than that would enjoy it as well, in my opinion. It isn't a "light" read, as some of the situations and antagonists can be genuinely scary (especially for a younger reader), but it's an incredible book and one I think everyone should read. There are two other books as well, Inkspell and Inkdeath, and all of them are excellent.
    5/5 stars!


May Book Review: Uncaged by John Sandford and Michele Cook

    

Book stats (from Amazon):

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers (July 8 2014)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385753063
• ISBN-13: 978-0385753067
• Amazon rating: 3.8/5 stars
• Goodreads rating: 3.85/5 stars

Summary (from Amazon): 

Shay Remby arrives in Hollywood with $58 and a handmade knife, searching for her brother, Odin.

Odin’s a brilliant hacker but a bit of a loose cannon. He and a group of radical animal-rights activists hit a Singular Corp. research lab in Eugene, Oregon. The raid was a disaster, but Odin escaped with a set of highly encrypted flash drives and a post-surgical dog.

When Shay gets a frantic 3 a.m. phone call from Odin—talking about evidence of unspeakable experiments, and a ruthless corporation, and how he must hide—she’s concerned. When she gets a menacing visit from Singular’s security team, she knows: her brother’s a dead man walking.

What Singular doesn’t know—yet—is that 16-year-old Shay is every bit as ruthless as their security force, and she will burn Singular to the ground, if that’s what it takes to save her brother.

    I have to admit, I love this book. I did a small review of it on my Twitter several months ago, which some of you may remember. I got this book from my mom, since she has read almost all of John Sandford's books and bought this one for me when she saw that he'd written a YA novel. That was a recommendation I'll always be grateful for because, frankly, I've read it so many times since I got it that I was shocked to read that it actually only came out last July. it seems like it's been so much longer since its release. 

    I think this novel is definitely suitable for the majority of the Young Adult audience, but, that being said, it is up to the reader what they're capable of handling. This book does deal with violence - it isn't particularly graphic in its description, but it's clear what's going on. I didn't find it disturbing other than the fact that some of the injuries that occur sound really painful. The book also deals with some real-life issues such as immigration laws, environmental issues, and the morality of medicinal testing on animals - which is my fancy way of saying, it discusses the killing of living creatures for the sake of medical/scientific testing. I didn't find the book was preachy on any of these topics - although the medical testing part was often creepy and somewhat disturbing - but it's your choice in the end.

Warning: while this review will not contain any major spoilers, due to the nature of the plot, some plot details may be mentioned. You've been warned.

    This book is written in third person, with the primary character being Shay Remby, a 16-year-old girl in foster care. Her foster parents are climbers, and she lives with them and three other girls. They don't really appear in the story, but the climbing skills Shay learns from them become invaluable to her. Shay's quest begins when her brother, Odin, calls her late at night and tells her he has to run. They communicate secretly over multiple Facebook pages, and Shay decides to take matters into her own hands. With some food, the money she'd been saving over the years, and a bag of survival supplies taken from her foster parents, she heads to LA to find her brother.
    This is where Shay meets the majority of the book's major cast. I've said in more than one review that the characters in a novel are what makes or breaks it for me, and the characters Sandford and Cook created in this novel definitely made it amazing. I won't lie, I am a huge fan of quirky, unpredictable characters. I love when characters defy the expectations you get when you meet them. There are many instances of this in this book, but one of the most notable ones is Cade. He's one of the street kids who lives in the Twist Hotel (more on that later), and when we first meet him, he's being brought back to the hotel by the police. The reason is that he hacked the demos at the Apple store, and later on we learn that this is not the only feat he's capable of when it comes to computers. He's a computer genius, and this soon proves to be very helpful to Shay and her cause. My favourite character from this novel, however, would probably be Twist. We never learn his first name, or if Twist is even his real name, He is the owner of the Twist Hotel, an old hotel that houses street kids in Hollywood. Twist himself is an artist and activist for many causes, such as immigration. The rumour throughout the novel is that Twist was a street kid himself, but when he became rich from his art, he bought the old hotel to shelter other kids. He becomes one of Shay's greatest allies in her quest to find her brother and stop Singular, the corporation that's after them. There are other characters worth mentioning, such as West, Odin, Cruz, Dum and Dee, and others, but for the sake of this review not being several thousand words long, I'll leave it there.
    The plot itself was extremely well-executed. It never falls flat, and it is evident that extensive planning went into this novel. The writing is eloquent and streamlined, and despite the fact that two authors collaborated on it, the voice and characterization remains mostly consistent throughout. There are some stylistic features that appear in some places and not in others, which could evidence which author worked on which part of the novel, but overall I found it very smooth and easy to read.
    One of the biggest stigmas found with YA novels with female protagonists is that they are often more concerned with their love lives than with the real problem at hand, and while I don't believe that is true with all female YA protagonists, the assumption still exists, and I felt obligated to deny it in this case. While there is a bit of a love triangle hinted at between Shay, Cruz, and Cade, it doesn't really come to anything (at least not in this book) and it doesn't detract from the rest of the story.
    Overall, this is a great book. I've read it over and over and it doesn't get boring. The plot twists are unpredictable but all fit into the plot well. The next book in this series, Outrage, is due to come out July 14th 2015.
    5/5 stars!

April Book Review - Red Rising by Pierce Brown

Book stats (from Amazon):

• Paperback: 416 pages

• Publisher: Del Rey; Reprint edition (July 15 2014)

• Language: English

• ISBN-10: 034553980X

• ISBN-13: 978-0345539809

Amazon rating: 4.3/5 stars
Goodreads rating: 4.2/5 stars


Summary (from Amazon):
“I live for the dream that my children will be born free,” she says. “That they will be what they like. That they will own the land their father gave them.”

“I live for you,” I say sadly.

Eo kisses my cheek. “Then you must live for more.”
 
Darrow is a Red, a member of the lowest caste in the color-coded society of the future. Like his fellow Reds, he works all day, believing that he and his people are making the surface of Mars livable for future generations. Yet he spends his life willingly, knowing that his blood and sweat will one day result in a better world for his children.
 
But Darrow and his kind have been betrayed. Soon he discovers that humanity reached the surface generations ago. Vast cities and lush wilds spread across the planet. Darrow—and Reds like him—are nothing more than slaves to a decadent ruling class.
 
Inspired by a longing for justice, and driven by the memory of lost love, Darrow sacrifices everything to infiltrate the legendary Institute, a proving ground for the dominant Gold caste, where the next generation of humanity’s overlords struggle for power.  He will be forced to compete for his life and the very future of civilization against the best and most brutal of Society’s ruling class. There, he will stop at nothing to bring down his enemies . . . even if it means he has to become one of them to do so.



    I have to be honest. I did not expect to like this book. I love sci-fi and dystopian, but the back of the book just made it seem dull.

    I wouldn't say this book is Young Adult, per say, but it is often called that because Darrow, the main character, is 16 years old. Despite his young age, I would say the book tends more toward an adult market. It's certainly suitable for an older teenager, but as a lot of readers start moving into Young Adult in their preteens or perhaps younger, I feel the need to caution people against giving this book to younger teens, although ultimately it is up to them and their parents/guardians if they are mature enough to handle it. That being said, this book doesn't have any graphic sex scenes in it, but it does have some fairly graphic violence. I didn't find it stomach-turning or even particularly gruesome or disturbing beyond a few instances of "okay, that sounds really painful", but again it's up to you what you can handle. It does, however, cover some topics which may be sensitive subjects for some people, such as rape and prostitution. I found that these topics were covered very carefully and inoffensively, but if you are disturbed or offended by those issues, you may want to steer away from this novel or skim over some parts.

    Warning: This review will contain no major spoilers, but due to the nature of the plot and the twists that occur, it would not be possible to detail everything I loved about this book without some minor spoilers occurring. You have been warned.

 

    This book is written in first-person from the perspective of 16-year-old Darrow, later Darrow au Augustus. He is a Red (specifically a lowRed), a member of one of the many colonies of oppressed miners living below the surface of Mars under the pretense of making the planet habitable for the rest of humanity. Obviously, Darrow figures out that he has been tricked, and, with the help of a rebel group called the Sons of Ares (I have to admit, I loved the story behind the name, but I love Greek and Roman mythology so maybe I'm biased), he infiltrates Gold society.

    I have to say, the worldbuilding in the book is incredible. The universe Pierce Brown creates is amazingly real, and what few large blocks of worldbuilding-information there were were fascinating and didn't pull me out of the story at all. The majority of the information, however, was woven beautifully into the plot, and the slang the characters used is self-explanatory after a few uses and isn't overpowering.

    The plot itself was, in my opinion, masterfully executed. It is reminiscent of The Hunger Games and other popular dystopian novels, but despite the similarities, at no point in the story did I feel as if I was rereading something I had already read. I think this novel's plot was one of the freshest dystopian takes I've read in a while. It clearly draws inspiration from other popular dystopian novels, without being a rip-off. Another thing I absolutely loved in this novel was that, near the end, something happens that presents a supposed roadblock for Darrow - perhaps a fatal roadblock. But Brown doesn't use this to present an actual conflict - instead, the character who was accused of being a traitor turns out to be completely loyal. Some readers may find this a deus ex machina way of making Darrow the hero who defeated his enemy without any real effort, but I found it very well done. After all, Brown could have chosen not to have occur this at all, and stretched out the plot more by having Darrow hunt down the enemy, which quickly would have gotten dry and blended in with all the other searching/marching/battling that occurs, rather than feeling like a "final showdown" of sorts. I also admire what I think is foreshadowing on Brown's part - I can't say too much without spoiling, but I think Brown is setting Darrow up for a bit of a conflict of interest, especially where loyalty is concerned.

    I find that interesting, dynamic, quirky characters are often what brings a novel from great to incredible, and Red Rising definitely delivered on this front for me. The characters all have complex motivations and often they have shifting loyalties, which I found fascinating. None of them fall into the trap of being "good-then-bad-no-good-no-bad-no-I-was-good-all-along-surprise" or flip-flop back and forth. Darrow himself was an interesting character, and I liked how he was written. What I especially enjoyed was his struggle over his loyalty to his late wife, and his affection for another girl. I thought he was a very realistic character - he was loyal to his wife, but was not the completely virtuous, would never look at someone other than their soulmate type of character that many main characters seem to be. He could also be just as ruthless as many of the other characters and made mistakes, but learned from them as well. However, I have to admit, Sevro was my favourite character. He is unabashedly quirky, even bizarre, and an absolutely fascinating character. There are too many characters that I loved for me to ever be able to mention them all, but Roque, Lea, Fitchner, Eo, Narol were definitely some of my top characters in addition to Sevro and Darrow.

    I couldn't help but laugh when I read about Sevro's Howlers - soldiers who charge into battle wearing wolfskins and howling like wolves - because it reminded me of a childhood memory of mine. When I was around the second grade, perhaps a bit older, a friend of mine (I won't name him for the sake of not embarrassing him, but you know who you are if you're reading this) went on a field trip with our class to a sugar bush, where they made maple syrup. Of course, we'd tried quite a bit of maple syrup and had quite a bit of sugar by this point, and - although it is very embarrassing to admit - we were very hyper and for some reason decided it would be a good idea to run through the maple trees howling. Like wolves. *bad poker face* Anyway, the reason I chose to tell this story, was that I noticed Pierce Brown had been asked on Twitter who Sevro was based on, and he replied that he was based on someone he knew as a child, to which someone replied that they hoped Brown and this friend had run around howling like wolves as children, and I thought the opportunity and the connection was too good to pass up.

    Overall, I adored this book, and I can't wait to read the rest of the trilogy, Golden Son and Morning Star. Golden Son is out now, while, according to Goodreads, Morning Star will be out in January. This book is a fantastic choice for older teenagers and adults alike. Science-fiction and dystopian fans will find connections to their favourite novels, but I don't think anyone would find this book cliché or repetitive.

    5/5 stars!

March Book Review: Asylum by Madeleine Roux

    Quick note: I am so, so sorry for being late with these two months in a row. I didn't even realize it was March until a few days ago, and I know it's no excuse, but I hope you can all forgive me. 

 

Book stats (from Amazon):

Hardcover: 320 pages

Publisher: Middle Grade (Aug. 12 2013)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0062220969

ISBN-13: 978-0062220967

Amazon rating: 3.2/5 stars
Goodreads rating: 3.5/5 stars

Summary (from Amazon):
Asylum is a thrilling and creepy photo-novel perfect for fans of the New York Times bestseller Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.
For sixteen-year-old Dan Crawford, New Hampshire College Prep is more than a summer program—it's a lifeline. An outcast at his high school, Dan is excited to finally make some friends in his last summer before college. But when he arrives at the program, Dan learns that his dorm for the summer used to be a sanatorium, more commonly known as an asylum. And not just any asylum—a last resort for the criminally insane.
As Dan and his new friends, Abby and Jordan, explore the hidden recesses of their creepy summer home, they soon discover it's no coincidence that the three of them ended up here. Because the asylum holds the key to a terrifying past. And there are some secrets that refuse to stay buried.
Featuring found photos of unsettling history and real abandoned asylums and filled with chilling mystery and page-turning suspense, Madeleine Roux's teen debut, Asylum, is a horror story that treads the line between genius and insanity.


    I'm going to acknowledge this now: I feel this book has a bit of a bad reputation. A lot of people online didn't like it. I don't understand why. Sure, it may be somewhat similar to other horror/suspense novels/movies/what have you, but it's extremely difficult to write anything in that genre - or really, any genre - without there being something, somewhere, that is similar.

    To be frank, I loved this book. I had trouble putting it down. I sped through the majority of it in one day, and I'm planning to buy the sequel, Sanctum, as soon as I can. In all honesty, this book had my heart pounding. I was almost panicking at some points, and legitimately frustrated by the setbacks the characters faced at other points. This book blended creepy pictures and creepy description with a few instances of dry humour, which anyone who knows my book preferences will know I love, especially when it's balanced nicely with the content. I love dry humour in almost anything, although I am a fan of creepiness too.

    This book is classified as Young Adult. It's written in third person, from the perspective of 16-year-old Daniel "Dan" Crawford. Dan is a history-loving outcast excited to make friends before he heads off to college for real. His best friends are Jordan, the math genius, and Abby, an artsy girl Dan finds himself falling for. Dan and Abby do end up dating later in the novel, which creates a bit of tension between the trio, but the romance isn't overdone, nor does it take over the plot.

    The best part of this book, for me, were the plot twists. The ending itself (or rather, who the villain turns out to be), was completely unexpected. I fell for what I'm sure the author was trying to lead the reader toward (I won't spoil it, but if you've read it, you probably came to the same conclusion). The best part of it, however, was that when you reread the book knowing the real villain, it makes perfect sense. Which I find somewhat infuriating because WHY DIDN'T I REALIZE IT BEFORE?

    I have to say, I'm not sure I can pick a favourite part of this book. I love the characters, especially Dan's (creepy) roommate, Felix, and Jordan's roommate Yi was a favourite too. I love the main three as well, but in my opinion, good secondary characters can really bring a novel from good to amazing. 

    As I mentioned before, this book is part of a series. I believe there will be three books: the second, Sanctum, is out now, and according to Goodreads, the third will be called Catacomb. Also according to Goodreads, there are two in-between books called The Scarlets and The Bone Artists (Asylum 1.5 and 2.5, respectively). I haven't read either of these or Sanctum, but (as stated previously) I am looking forward to Sanctum and I think I'll have to read the other two as well, if I can get a copy. 

    Overall, this book is not for everyone, but I would recommend it to anyone who likes a creepy, fast-paced, hard-to-put-down adventure! 4/5 stars!

Throwback Thursday: Tuck Everlasting Stories from Middle School

   The other day, I was going through old work from when I was in school, when I stumbled across a Tuck Everlasting story that I had written back in the eighth grade. I still remember reading that novel and loving it (although, I will admit, my mom had been trying to get me to read it for years and I hadn't, but I regretted not reading it earlier once I had). After we finished it, the teacher gave us an assignment. There were a few options, ranging from drawing what we pictured the town looking like to the one I chose: What did we think would have happened if Winnie had drunk the water Jesse gave her?
    I remember very distinctly my terror when my teacher, Mrs. Hanson, told me I had to read my story out loud. To the whole class. My school was very small, so there were only about seven people in the class plus Mrs. Hanson, and I was friends with all of them. But still, I was terrified. To this day I get nervous reading my writing to other people or seeing them reading it.
    But the reaction I got to this story was one of the most encouraging things for me as a young writer - they loved it. It even made Mrs. Hanson cry, which I was apologetic but also somewhat pleased about, because I thought it meant the story was good. I hope she was crying because of the ending, and not because it was just THAT bad. I like to think my writing has improved between eighth grade and now, but I'm still proud of this story, and seeing as this year is Tuck Everlasting's 40th publishing anniversary (or book birthday, as I believe it's called now), I decided to share it with you. Enjoy!

    “Are we almost there?”

    Jesse Tuck laughed. “Almost, Charlie,” he said, ruffling his son’s hair.

    “Jesse, don’t do that! He’ll have his hair a mess again soon enough, without your help!” Winnie laughed, pulling her son toward her and smoothing his hair down again. Charlie Tuck had thick, curly brown hair like his father’s, and it stood up every which way.

    “Mom, I look fine!” Charlie complained, trying to squirm away from his mother.

    “Hold still, little Toad,” Winnie said patiently.

    Her husband smiled. He still didn’t understand why Winnie called their son Toad. They had been married for 25 years, but she had never told him about the toad.

    They stopped outside the Tuck’s old cottage. Charlie was off like a shot, running toward the house. Jesse’s brother, Miles, stepped out of the house. Charlie practically knocked him off his feet, hugging him happily. “Uncle Miles!” He exclaimed, laughing.

    Miles stumbled backwards a few steps, then bent down and picked his nephew up. “You’re growing up,” he commented, smiling slightly.

    “I’m eleven, Uncle Miles! I’m not supposed to be a little kid anymore!”

    “I suppose not,” Miles said. “Well, at least you’re growing.” He wondered what it would be like when his little nephew was his age, if he ever got that old. He supposed Jesse and Winnie would give their son an opportunity to drink the water, but as much as he loved Charlie, he secretly hoped the boy would decline and live a mortal life, the way life was meant to be.

    “Where are Grandma and Grandpa?” Charlie asked.

    “They’re right inside, getting supper ready,” Miles replied. “I’ll take you to see them.” He carried Charlie inside.

    “Don’t bother talking to your brother or anything!” Jesse yelled jokingly after Miles. “Just ignore me, no big deal at all!”

    Winnie laughed and kissed her husband’s cheek. “Let’s go in,” she said.

    They walked into the cottage hand-in-hand, smiling.

    “There you are!” Mae Tuck ran up to them and hugged them tightly.

    “Hey, Mom,” Jesse said, kissing his mother.

    “I can’t believe it’s been ten years already,” Mae said. “Charlie’s grown so much. He was just a tiny little thing last time I saw him.”

    “I can’t believe it either,” Winnie said. “He’s becoming more and more like his father every day.”

    “You must have your hands awfully full, then,” Mae laughed.

    Winnie smiled. She saw Tuck approaching behind Mae and waved to him. He reached out and hugged her silently. “Hi,” she said to him.

    “It’s good to see you,” Tuck replied softly. He loved Winnie, and he was happy for Jesse and her, but he had always wished that she hadn’t drunk the water. But she had, and there was nothing he could do now.

    Jesse came over with Miles and Charlie. “Isn’t this great?” He asked. “The whole family, together again!”

    “I wish it could be like this forever,” Charlie said happily, hugging Mae.     

 

80 years later

    The Tuck family stood near the grave. Winnie was crying into Jesse’s shoulder. Tuck knelt down by the gravestone. He had been both waiting for and dreading this day.

 

In Loving Memory of

Charles Jesse Tuck

1913-2004

 

    “Good boy,” Tuck whispered. “The wheel’s still turning."