Break on Through

An extreme of any type of society is bound to lead to a heavy hand in enforcing the cultural expectations. When the country swung from a focus on freedom to a focus on morality, the means of upholding forced morals went too far. In the sequel to Article 5, Breaking Point is a story of just how fast Ember is forced to grow up when she is on the run from a government that thought she was a criminal just for being born. 

Ember knows Chase had a hand in her mother's murder, but she also knows he had no choice. Tucker, on the other hand, is as sadistic and guilty as the worst parts of the government. They were happy to be free of him, but even on the other side of the fence, they find themselves surrounded by people whose decisions are questionable at best. In the resistance, everyone must work to end the government's moral indoctrination of society. As a bunch of societal misfits, criminals, and AWOL soldiers, the resistance needs people like Ember and Chase. Everyone is expected to work and fight in order to turn the tide of of the moral oppression that believes anyone who breaks an article is subject to imprisonment or death. 

The Resistance is confident in their ability to sway public perception, but they underestimated the power of the government. Their safe houses and ability to smuggle "packages" (people) out of the government's control gives them a false sense of security under the heavy hand of moral directives. All that security comes crashing down on them when their safe house burns to the ground and soldiers surround the building. Ember and Chase have been on the run before, but they almost didn't make it. With what they have lived through before they came to Wallace's safe house, they are facing a terrifying proposition: is there really any place safe for them to go? The government would like the answer to that question to be NO!

It was a long time between when I read the first book in this series and this sequel, so I had to look up a plot summary of the first story in preparation for this book. I think that was part of the reason the first 1/4 of this story was a little slow for me, but the other part of that problem was because the beginning of the story was indeed a little slow. Luckily it turned itself around and picked up the pace to what I so fondly remembered from the first story. Unfortunately, that slow beginning might be a struggle for a student who has difficulties sticking with a book. If they can hang in there, though, they would really enjoy a story that basically has Ember and Chase on the run for most of the book. We saw a lot of that in the first book, but in this sequel, the risk is elevated once Ember is named as one of five enemies of the state and her face is plastered all over the place with a reward for her capture. When people are starving and displaced, their sense of loyalty is disposable. 

The idea of being hunted by the government and moral police compared with being a hero to the resistance was an interesting angle. This is a book where religion took over the government and the separation of church and state was abolished to make way for moral and religious indoctrination. In contrast to our own politics or the politics of countries where religious police already exist, it is a book that could produce many topics for discussion or research while still being entertaining and interesting. And best of all, I really like the characters of Ember and Chase. Ember puts herself in harms way more often than not in the name of what is right, and Chase is her voice of reason. Together they make the perfect hero, and I love the dynamic that the two of them bring to each adrenaline pumping situation. Now I am looking forward to how the story wraps up with the final book!

The Full Fragment

It isn't a far stretch to find a world that has been ravaged by the greed and hubris of humans. In Dan Wells' Partials series, the development of humanoid soldiers, the Partials, was just the beginning of the end. When the Partials rebelled against their creators, a war like no other ravaged the face of the planet, leaving humans and Partials alike desperately clinging to life. In Fragments, that fight gets even more desperate. 

Kira's astonishing discovery that she isn't completely human was life-altering. She grew up fearing Partials only to find out she was some kind of Partial, but no one knew exactly what she was. She aged like a human, and didn't seem to have the same weaknesses of a Partial, but she certainly had the strength of a Partial. Kira was the one who realized the Partial pheromone was the key to inoculation against RM, the virus that kills all babies within days of birth and is effectively phasing out the human race. When she saves her friend's baby, the first child to survive since The Break, she realizes there is more to the story. With Samm, the first Partial who made her realize just how human the created beings were, and his Partial friend Heron, Kira takes off across the country to get to the heart of ParaGen's motives behind their current situation. The Partials are about to reach their expiration date, the twenty year mark when they will all degrade and die, and with them goes the cure for RM. They are in a race against time. 

While Kira is off trying to save the world, Marcus is trying desperately to hold onto their little piece of the world. The humans on Long Island have seen a baby live, but without a cure to replicate, they have lost more baby since then. The Partial army is closing in on them and threaten an invasion with every bated breath. Marcus is worried about Kira off in the dangerous world, but he is more terrified Dr. Morgan will find her. Dr. Morgan, the crazy Partial doctor who thinks Kira holds the cure to the Partial expiration date and isn't afraid to experiment on her to find it, is ripping apart their world to find Kira. While she waits for Kira's arrival, she is using humans as her guinea pigs to find a cure. Morgan thinks she is untouchable, but Marcus has a plan to stop her, however crazy it might be. 

It had been a long time since I read Partials, so I was glad this story began with a brief refresher to the first story without being too repetitive for a reader who didn't need a reminder. Then it quickly jumped into the fray and started with an action-packed story that never let up, which is pretty impressive for a 500+ page book. The story alternates between Kira's journey and life back on Long Island, neither of which are stable situations. Kira's journey is terrifying as she evades Partials and survives in a world with any number of horrors awaiting her around every corner. I always liked Kira, so watching her determination to save both the Partials and the humans was a winner in my book. All the other characters question the best way to save one or the other, but Kira will not abandon one population for the other, and her quest for answers about the origin of RM is fascinating. 

This book is rife with moral ambiguities that make the story relevant to our current political and cultural climate. There are moments when Kira's moral compass is sent reeling with the choices that are forced upon her, and she she consistently has to decide if sacrificing one is acceptable when it means saving the many. For a character like Kira who doesn't deal well with moral ambiguity, these crises of confidence are both difficult and fascinating to read about. Wells did a great job with this series, and I can't wait to see how it all wraps up in the final book!

Where Does Your Allegiance Lie?

The city formerly known as Chicago has been divided into factions for generations, but it was never more divided than when a group of factionless, led by a tyrant of a woman, forced the factions to disband. In the conclusion to the Divergent series, Allegiant is Veronica Roth's chance to wrap up the stories of Tris and Tobias. 

With the factions disbanded, the people of the city are struggling to find their rightful place. When Evelyn locks the city down, Tris, Tobias, and a number of others designated the "Allegiant" or rebels against the factionless, decide to escape the city in the hopes of some help from the Vast outside. What they find outside the city, however, is something none of them could have expected. They have known all along the Divergent were special, unique. They also knew the Divergent were being hunted, but they assumed those people were lost forever. When Tobias runs into the Divergent who helped him when he joined Dauntless, he can't believe he is alive. But outside the fence, there are even more secrets to be uncovered.

Very quickly they learn Chicago is only one city of many experiments. All were treated differently, and not all had factions, but the most terrifying thing is the organization outside the fence is just as devious and cold as those factions inside the fence. When a war is on the brink of eruption in Chicago, they have plans to "reset" the experiment. Tris, Tobias and the others are stuck on the outside watching their friends and family inside being treated like mice in a maze. But if you know anything about these brave kids, you know they don't just sit idly by and watch tyrants mess with their lives. They are going to do something about it. Even if it means risking their lives. 

I have a truly strange relationship with this series. I loved, I mean adored the first book. The second book was good, but it just didn't have that magic for me. And again, I liked this book, but it just didn't have that spark of the first book. I will, however, say that for all of you out there who hate the romance or the relationship angles of these dystopian books (can't harm the sacred 10 people who we love so much!), you will be happy to know Roth ended this story in a way that leaves no question where her loyalties lay. She is dedicated to her story, not her characters. She is dedicated to the world, not the relationships in it. While I struggled to truly LOVE this book like I had the first, I totally respected her dedication to the world she built. I am sure it wasn't easy for her to do and she will get a lot of flak for it (much like Robert Kirkman gets for his ruthless treatment of his characters in The Walking Dead). 

I think the struggle with this story lies in the huge amount of conflicts all intertwined but still independent of one another that are going on. Sometimes they contradicted one another, which made the whole situation a little more confusing. For instance, there was more than one rebel movement in the fence, more than one outside the fence, people pretending to be on one side but really on a different side but actually secretly working for a third side?! Sadly, in an effort to make the story intricate and complex, it got lost in a convoluted mess. That being said, however, it wasn't a bad story. I actually enjoyed it and was content with the ending (although I predict many readers will hate it). I just don't think the rest of this series lived up to the amazing first book, sadly. 

A Vampire Book Immortalized

Sometimes they are elegant but ruthless. At times they are shimmery, but murderous. They can act like rabid animals or the most gentle of gentlemen. But they are everywhere. Vampires are in every culture, every literary tradition, every contemporary culture, and certainly all over the young adult genre. So why should you read yet another young adult vampire book? Because The Immortal Rules: Book One of Blood of Eden by Julie Kagawa is a vampire book like you have never seen before!

Allie refuses to become registered and have blood taken twice a month to feed the bloodsuckers who run her city, even if it means getting a food ration. She and the other Unregistereds scavenge for food even though stealing is a crime punishable by more than just death. Out on a food mission beyond the city wall that protects the humans from the rabids (people turned into zombie-like, mindless vampires who live like animals and would rip a human to shreds), Allie finds a food haul in a house that can't be passed up, even if it is risky. She and her crew go back for the food, but the rabids do what they do best, leaving Allie torn apart and dying. When a passing vampire offers her a choice to die from her injuries or die and become an immortal vampire, everything she despises, she chooses life, even if it is a life as the undead. 

After a brief period of lessons and education into the life of a vampire by her sire, Kanin, Allie is forced to flee the only city she has ever known. She doesn't want to hunt or hurt people, but Kanin warned her that denying the Hunger that can only be sated by human blood will slowly devolve Allie into a furious beast with no control over her own body. She can last about two weeks without human blood, but alone in the desert has left her desperate. Luckily the first people she stumbles upon are ruthless raiders, but shortly thereafter, she rescues a little boy who became separated from his traveling group. Allie is uncertain of the group, but she still hasn't lost her human side. She craves the company of others and is willing to fight the urge to feed in order to protect this rag tag group of travelers who are in search of Eden, a land with no vampires and no rabids. But Allie isn't the only predator out there, and she may have assumed a position she can never succeed at. 

Wow. Just Wow. Kagawa created a vampire world like you have never seen before. This post-apocalyptic wasteland combines the desolate PA world with terrifying dystopic societies, and rabid, mindless creatures hunting where you least suspect it. This is an EPIC read that will cut you off from everything you should be doing just so you can plow through the story page by page. Vampires may be old hat for most authors, but Kagawa makes them new and fresh and terrifying again. I loved this story and can NOT wait for the next installment. There is a sense of closure at the end of this story, but it is only a temporary conclusion, with the story open for more of Allie's story. You will be content with the ending but dying for the next book, a perfect conclusion in my opinion!

And Allie is a fantastic main character. She knows what she has to do to survive, but her inability to let go of everything that makes her human is what keeps her going. But her presence in the lives of the ones she wants to protect not only keeps them alive, it also puts them in harms way. This is an inner conflict Allie cannot deny and one that rips her apart. She knows the right thing to do, but she cannot give up her one attachment to her humanity she has left. It is a transformation you will feel right along with Allie from page to page. This is a complex, long novel that would appeal to anyone who likes an exciting story. It is probably best for high school students, but adults would enjoy this vampire tale as well. Kagawa knocked it out of the park with this one!

A New Dystopia Emerges

A dystopia is a strange thing. We want the world to be perfect, without pain, suffering, or oppression, but can such a thing exist? Veronica Roth's new dystopia comes out of a world that hoped to eliminate certain parts of human nature and focus on other parts. Divergent is a story of dystopian Chicago where people think a focus on one great quality of society can eliminate all the bad aspects of human nature. While seeking a utopia, they find themselves living in a dystopia, complete with the control and oppression they sought to avoid.

Beatrice Prior is part of the Abnegation faction- a group of people who devote themselves to selflessness to better the world. Because of their devotion to selflessness, they are in charge of the government, a fact the other four factions aren't always comfortable with. Erudite (knowledge), Dauntless (bravery), Amity (friendship), and Candor (honesty), along with Abnegation, make up the five factions in Chicago. When a kid comes of age in this society, they must choose which faction to join. Most kids follow the faction in which they were raised, but some jump to a new faction. First they take an aptitude test that gives them guidance as to which faction would fit them best, but the choice is all theirs. When Beatrice's brother Caleb chooses Erudite over Abnegation, their parents are shocked. When Beatrice chooses Dauntless and reinvents herself as Tris, her father is devastated, but her mom seems oddly proud. What they don't know is that her aptitude test was inconclusive- leading the tester to believe she was a Divergent. Luckily for Tris, the tester knows how dangerous it is for Divergents and warns Tris to hide the fact vehemently.

Immediately Tris must report to the Dauntless headquarters and before they even arrive, they are tested with death-defying stunts. Whether jumping from a train or leaping from a building, the Dauntless initiates are instantly thrown into the world they chose. When they get to the headquarters, they learn their initiation will consist of three stages and by the end, only ten initiates will remain with Dauntless. The rest will become Factionless castaways- sent to live in the margins of society, a fate worse than death for most.

As Tris continues her training, she gains a few friends, a few enemies, and a particularly interesting attachment to her trainer- a mysterious guy named Four. Training is brutal for the fearless. They must overcome their physical fears as well as their emotional fears before they can be considered Dauntless. Unfortunately, this leads to a lot of fierce competition, especially when a girl like Tris keeps coming out on top. But her budding friendship with Four helps her not only realize important things about herself, but also about the world they live in. More and more, Tris feels like something is happening between the five Factions that could lead to dangerous consequences. Together, they must get to the bottom of what is happening outside the Dauntless headquarters, even if it means risking everything they know and love.

This was an A.MAZE.ING story. I could not put it down and read all 500 or so pages in one day. I am sure it will be compared to Hunger Games because it is a YA dystopia in the wake of Suzanne Collins, but that is not enough for this story. It is the kind of story that holds its own in a world of similar stories and will keep the reader engaged and begging for the sequel. I know it is a long book, but I am sure this story will keep even the most reluctant readers hooked.

My only concern for this book is the vocabulary, but it isn't really a concern. Actually, there is something more to the fairly impressive vocabulary in this book. I think this book is not only excellent for entertainment value, but can also serve a greater purpose. The vocabulary in this story is a great starting point for SAT preparation. As a teacher, we all know vocabulary instruction means the most when a student encounters it in context, but it is hard to find a book with enough vocabulary to be useful in preparation for those dreaded SATs... but Divergent does it effortlessly! Unfortunately, what the book gains in vocabulary for older students may preclude it from being a great book for younger students. The vocabulary is very mature and I guarantee the context will keep these words with the student, no matter what. Just make sure the student is ready for such adult vocabulary.

This was a fantastic debut by Veronica Roth. I can't believe she is only 22, but I am blown away by the world she created. It is so original and well-developed, and the characters have so much depth. I love this story and can't wait to share it with my students, family, friends, and colleagues. This is one you won't forget (especially with a sequel in the future!).