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Are any of us prepared for a true pandemic? If a plague hit us, how would we survive it? Those are the questions you are going to ask yourself and are going to keep you up at night as you read Yvonne Vontresca's Pandemic.
No one knows what happened to Lil except her parents and her two friends. Well, the one who believed her is still her friend. The other? Let's just say she didn't believe Lil's big secret. Since everything happened, Liz has broken up with her boyfriend, doesn't go out, and certainly doesn't want her parents to see her grades. She has also started slipping into "Prepper" habits. With her father working for Disease Control, it isn't hard to imagine what could happen to everyone if there was any kind of pandemic. She hides her supplies in a closet, and doesn't tell anyone about her disaster monitoring, but her mom finds out anyway. While her father is less disturbed by the behavior than her mother, it is clear they are both worried about what has happened to Lil.
When Lil sees a strange flu that is hitting south of their NJ home, she decides to keep an eye on it. Her mother is heading out of town, which means she doesn't have to keep such a careful check on her concerns, but when her father is called to a conference that is focusing on the disease, she becomes concerned. He tries to soothe her worries, but at the same time, they both know the flu seems to be spreading, and its deadly. When her father gets quarantined at his hotel, it is clear the pandemic isn't a figment of Lil's imagination. Now she is alone, she is terrified of the flu that has hit her home state, and out there is the man who changed her life not too long ago.
There are two stories in this book: the pandemic, and Lil's big secret. They are both interesting, both are handled well, but it still seemed weird to me to have both in the same book. Not sure why, it just didn't seem like they belonged together in the same story. Still, both were very interesting, so I got over my weirdness and just enjoyed the story. I like disaster/pandemic stories, so this was right up my alley. As disaster stories go, this is a fairly tame one, so feel free to use this story for your middle school through high school students. As for the big secret? It isn't graphic, and it is rarely dealt with once the pandemic starts, so it shouldn't be too distracting.
As for Lil? I actually really, really liked her. She was quirky, and I loved the little prepper in her, but when push came to shove and she should have been locking her windows and doors and pretending she wasn't around, instead, her worry for her friends and neighbors overcame her need to stay safe and control her surroundings. It was a good display of how we can overcome our own demons in the wake of a tragedy, and I really enjoyed watching her transformation. Like all disaster books, there are obvious losses, and it was sad watching Lil deal with them, but she is a tough girl. This was a great first novel, and I am interested to see what Vontresca does next!
If one event that happened decades before you were born could shape the person you would become, what would you do if you could go back and witness that event? Would you try to change it? Jordan Sonnenblick takes a boy whose life has been dictated by the events of the summer of 1969 and flings him from 2014 back to that summer and the festival that changed the face of our culture. Are You Experienced? is your opportunity to be transported back to the three days that defined the decades that followed.
Richie's parents were older than his friends' parents, and their age shows in more ways than one. He has never had anything in common with his father other than their love for guitar, but his dad even controls his love for music. In his parents militant anti-drug, anti-alcohol campaigns, they control his life like he is on lock-down. When he sneaks out to play at his girlfriend's protest to legalize marijuana, Richie doesn't expect his father to show up outside, but then again, Richie didn't even know what the protest was for! When he gets home, the chasm between him and his father is almost insurmountable... almost. When Richie's mother tells him the truth about his uncle Mike's death, Richie goes to speak to his father and instead finds the secret his father has been keeping: Jimi Hendrix's famous guitar from Woodstock... with a note for someone named Gabriel. Richie can't help himself. Despite his father's restrictions on electric guitars, he plugs it in. Just as he is about to rock out, his father finds him. Despite his father shouting at him to stop, Richie refuses to give in. He needs to play this miraculous piece of history he never knew was hidden in his basement. And then it all goes black.
Richie wakes up, naked, in 1969 just in time to get hit by a car. Granted it wasn't going very fast, but it still hurt! He can't understand why he ended up on the side of the road, why he is naked, or where all of these pristine super old cars came from. That is, until a girl named Willow jumps out of the car to check on him. Through a few quick questions, it becomes clear that Willow is Mike's girlfriend, Richie's uncle Mike. And his little brother David, is Richie's father. Richie has heard that Woodstock was the weekend where it all went downhill for Mike and started the trend that led to his heroin overdose two months later, but somehow, he is going to live it right alongside them. Knowing he had to be careful about the future, Richie tells them his name is Gabriel, his middle name, and the strangest and most incredible weekend of his life that he wasn't even born for changed his life forever.
Wow. Just Wow. I thought the premise of this story was hokey. I have to admit it. Time traveling to Woodstock? Ha! Wouldn't we all love that?! But it still seemed silly. And even the beginning of the book where one chapter was in Woodstock and it alternated with 2014 didn't thrill me, but from the moment Richie learned the truth about his uncle and played that legendary guitar, I was hooked. This story is so steeped in incredible history and music legends, I felt that I was transported to 1969 right next to Richie. Some stuff was a little silly (how the holding of lighters at concerts or crowd surfing started?), but on a whole, this was a really amazing story of how one weekend can ripple into the generations that follow it. I loved seeing how the consequences of Mike's weekend even affected Richie and his own music. It was a pretty powerful message. And that music? Let's not forget that music! Oh, I could just hear Janis and Jimi and Credence. It makes me think I was born a few decades too late, and the beauty is many of our students don't know who these greats are yet. So let's grab the Woodstock album and set the tone! There is no better way to understand such a festival than to swim in all its magnificent tunes!
The thing to know about this story is that it is Woodstock, with all its amazing adventures and all of its 1969 charm... including the things people would like to forget. There are certainly a lot of drugs being taken and accidents happening, and some skinny dipping, but you have to understand Sonnenblick wanted an authentic experience for his readers. If hundreds of thousands of young adults could go to Woodstock and spend an entire weekend peacefully listening to music and not rioting, hurting, and being unkind to one another, why can't today's young adults read about it? I find fault with the opinion that reading about drugs makes kids try drugs. I think that is a ridiculous hypothesis, but then again, I have always felt it was important not to censor our young adults' reading habits (or music or movies, for that matter). I grew up reading everything I could get my hands on, and that includes some of those romance novels my mom and grandmother read, and you know what? I didn't turn out so bad! I read Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Trainspotting, and I didn't turn to a life of drug abuse. I watched R-Rated movies and it didn't make me violent. I think we have to trust our young adults to experience something like Woodstock through this amazing story, and experience it in its entirety!
One part of this story that we can all agree is invaluable, though, is that Richie finally took a moment to understand why his father did the things he did. He always thought his father was overbearing and controlling and basically just there to throw a wrench in Richie's fun, but really, he just wanted to protect Richie. Mike was everything to David, and it took a trip to Woodstock for Richie to understand that was why David protected Richie so fiercely. I have read a lot of Sonnenblick novels, and I think this might be one of my favorites! I just can't get our how much the culture of 1969 washed over me, from the music to the idea of war and the draft. After reading this, I talked to my students about the draft and how they would feel if it was reinstated, and they were speechless. It is important to understand what the generation of my parents and their grandparents lived through. It was a summer to remember, even if you weren't there!
Every family has its skeletons in the closet, the elephants in the room, and the secrets that aren't really kept, but Delilah's family is more dysfunctional than most. In Sarah Ockler's Fixing Delilah, we see a family that has never been able to be truly honest... until now.
Delilah's mother drags her away for the summer, but it isn't for some dorky family vacation. Her grandmother, whom she hasn't seen since she was eight, has died, and Delilah's mother and her aunt, both estranged, must pack up the house, make the arrangements, and settle her affairs. Delilah doesn't understand why no one has spoken to each other in years, but her mother refuses to speak about anything to do with her past, even about Delilah's father who died before she was even born.
Returning to Vermont is emotional for Delilah, who has been getting in a lot of trouble back home, but when she reunites with Patrick, a boy she used to play with when they were kids, she realizes there are more than just bittersweet memories she was forced to leave behind. Having left her boyfriend, Finn, back home, she begins to realize he might not be as great as she once thought he was. Patrick embodies everything she has been missing for all these years. But when they start really getting into the breaking down of her grandmother's house, all those secrets and hushed conversations start coming to the top. Now Delilah's workaholic mother must answer Delilah's questions whether she wants to or not. There are things Delilah deserves to know... even if she won't like the answers once she gets them.
I loved Ockler's Twenty Boy Summer, and while I didn't like this book more than that one, this was still a really great, emotional, character-driven story. There were parts of this story where you say Delilah's grief and her attempts to reconcile her life and her grandmother's death and her family secrets that were so touching and gut-wrenching, I was instantly reminded of Ockler's supreme ability to transform a novel into a true emotional experience. For instance, in the sifting through of the house, everyone had avoided her grandmother's bedroom, so Delilah goes in, she puts on her grandmother's sweater, her necklace, uses her talcum powder, and tries to reconnect with the grandmother she really lost when she was eight. It was only a few pages, but this description was so poignant and bittersweet I was in complete awe of it. I don't know how Ockler does it, but she can describe grief like a master painter can transport you to their landscape.
This was a great story for any emotional, sensitive young woman. It doesn't have any rampaging action, but the story behind Delilah's family is so raw and emotional, that kind of student who is deeply sensitive will truly love the experience of this book. I have grown to really love Ockler, and look forward to reading more of her books in the future. She knows her characters, and while the stories aren't the most action-packed, the characters are so real, you will feel like you are living life right along side them.
High School is all about choosing sides and finding allies, which inevitably makes you enemies. If you are a drama kid, the jocks will undoubtedly ignore you at best. If you are a Queen Bee, the goth kids despise you. But what if you could manage to be accepted on the outskirts of every single group? You would never be able to reveal your allegiance to another group, would have to avoid all areas of congregation like the plague, and would have to accept that in order to be friends with everyone, you can't have any real friends. Is it worth it? For Greg, it was a juggling act that was about to come crashing down in Jesse Andrews' Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl.
Greg is a pasty, overweight, nondescript kind of guy, but his philosophy for making it through high school is a unique one. If you can somehow manage to have a casual connection with every group on campus without actually committing to a single one, you can be relatively safe from the horrors of high school. For a kid like Greg who is awkward, can't talk to girls (actually, turns into a babbling idiot every time a cute girl walks into the room), and is obsessed with strange, obscure movies, this is really the best decision. He has always had Earl, the filthy mouthed oddball who shares Greg's love of strange movies and is his coproducer in their own miserable attempts at filmmaking, but you wouldn't exactly call Earl a "friend". He is more like a bad habit.
When Greg actually made attempts to get girls to notice him, they turned into poo-covered, flaming disasters. The only girl he didn't completely alienate was Rachel. Granted, he never accomplished much of anything, but at least she didn't think he was a drooling moron. When Greg's mother tells him Rachel has cancer, she forces him to spend time with her. In reality, it isn't so bad. Rachel is pretty cool, and she isn't appalled by Greg's bizarre antics, but this isn't like what you would expect from a boy who befriended a dying girl. It isn't some life-affirming, wisdom laden one-liner filled cream puff of grief and self-reflection. Greg insists Rachel's presence in his life has not changed him. But is it possible to live through something like the death of a girl who was the first person you let over your protective wall and not be affected? Greg insists it is!
OK, this was a strange book. It was strange in the same way Greg was strange- awkward, sometimes pretty funny, and surprisingly endearing. I actually loved it when I first started it, went through a period of being annoyed by Greg's silliness, and finished absolutely loving it. It was a strange experience, to tell you the truth. Even now, I am not sure how to describe the book that is going to truly do it any justice. Greg is just this big ball of awkwardness. He is so invested in blending in and not identifying himself to anyone, that is becomes terrifying to him to even consider openly befriending Rachel in school, but because he has a soft, gooey center, he does it anyway. And he insists over and over again that he is not affected by Rachel's leukemia, but you can see how it chips away at his resolve and his hard candy coating he uses to protect himself. Not in a "come to Jesus" kind of revelation, nothing that dramatic or expected, but just in small, tiny little ways where he allows Rachel to affect him. It was a really interesting approach. In fact, it made me think that this book was the antithesis to The Fault in Our Stars. Everything Greg made fun of, the deep, meaningful one liners, the emotional roller coaster, the grief, was hidden so well, you would almost miss it if you weren't looking carefully enough. And in the end, although Greg was totally ridiculous at times, it was a really great book.
And the supporting characters were just as hilarious. Earl in all his foul-mouthed glory was so absurd you had to love him. Greg's parents were just as entertaining. I think I can see the exact kind of kid I would give this book to- the wise-guy kind of tough guy who hides behind his wise cracks and silly jokes, the class clown. The only concern is that there is a lot of profanity and sex talk in this book (nothing graphic, just gross teenage boys talking about boobs and whatnot). I personally wouldn't let that keep me from giving this to a younger student if I thought they would enjoy the book, because it is mostly in the form of silly jokes and ribbing, but some might not be comfortable with that, so I thought it was worth mentioning. I am still shaking my head about this book, but I will definitely read Andrews' next book to see how much of this story was his creation of the characters and how much was really Andrews!
Noah and Echo's relationship was so deep and so emotional in Katie McGarry's Pushing the Limits, that you can't imagine finding yourself just as invested in another relationship from McGarry, especially from a short story. However, in Crossing the Line, we see the budding love of Lila and Lincoln despite the fact that they have only met once. And it isn't a relationship to trifle with.
Lincoln's brother was killed in the same roadside bombing that took Echo's brother Aires. Lincoln's parents brought the whole family to Aires' funeral in an attempt to preserve a little bit of his life from the moments before he was killed, but Lincoln didn't expect to find answers at a stranger's funeral. He also didn't expect to find a girl he could fall in love with after only meeting once, either, but that didn't stop him from having hope once he met Lila.
Lila was confused about a lot of things, but after watching her best friend, Echo, lose her brother, she was even more confused than ever. But one thing made sense: Lincoln. After the funeral, they agreed to write each other real letters twice a week At first, it was something whimsical, but quickly it became more, much more. Soon it became the impossible feelings of love that you shouldn't feel for a person you only met once. But when Lincoln lies to her, it all falls apart. From 12 hours away (10 if you ignore the speed limits), two lives have connected in a way that no one understands, not even them.
Leave it to McGarry to sucker punch me with only a few short pages. This was a relatively short story that was loosely connected to Pushing the Limits, but it was still amazing. I really loved the long-distance connection they had through letters, real letters. It felt like those letter collections you read from famous authors where they spent years of correspondance getting to know the one person who knew who they truly were. It was beautiful, and this story was a modern version of the same. You don't have to see a person every day to let them into your life. And that comes from a few short pages of letting Lila and Lincoln into my life!
When a devastating consequence of trying to cure diseases leaves all new generations with an early expiration date (20 yrs for women and 25 for men), the generations left will try anything to find a cure. There are no boundaries to how far they will go, including unthinkable experiments. In the conclusion to Lauren DeStefano's Sever, we see the true devastation of the virus and the unflappable hope of a few that might just turn the tide against complete destruction.
Rhine has survived her murderous father-in-law before, but she never thought she would find herself back in his grasp so soon. Vaughn will go to great lengths to conduct his experiments, but his daughter-in-law's unusual eyes are the source of his intrigue. This time, however, Rhine's husband Linden is actually listening to Rhine's concerns. He agrees to take Rhine and his son and other wife, Cecily, to his reclusive uncle's house instead of keeping them under Vaughn's watchful eye. But Vaughn isn't so easily deterred.
He quickly finds them and through blackmail and threats, he convinces Linden and Cecily to return home. Meanwhile, Rhine's only concern is finding her brother. Rowan has become the leader of the resistance, blown up laboratories trying to develop a cure, and is the source of a great deal of terror in the world, all because he believes the hunt for the cure is what killed his sister. After Cecily loses her baby and realizes Vaughn's connection to her pregnancy so soon after the difficult birth of her first son, she convinces Linden to go with Rhine in her search. They may soon find Rowan, but the answers they find along the way in their search may not be the answers they were expecting to find.
Hmmmm. Well, I am not sure where to begin with this book, this series. I loved Wither, but Sever not only suffered from the sophomore slump, it made me wonder if it was even written by the same woman. Where was the magic? Where was the beautiful, haunting intrigue the first book was so full of? SO I really wanted this final book to pick up that beauty and recover from the confusion of the second book. Sadly, it failed on that front for me. There wasn't anything of importance for the vast majority of the book, and then the bitter end was solid, albeit rushed.
*Spoiler Alert* The entire plot of the story consisted of run away from Vaughn, Vaughn finds them. Run away again, Vaughn finds them again. Run away again, agree to return with Vaughn. Find out Vaughn is hiding and experimenting on your one true love, leave him there while you dither and fritter your time away so sad that he is in the basement in an induced coma. bad vaughn. We hate Vaughn. Grrrr. And that was about it. I did indeed like the way the story ended, but our journey to get to those last 20 pages was a bit ridiculous. No, actually, it was more than that. It was really ridiculous. If an evil, mad scientist had your love in the basement withering away and doped up, wouldn't you find a way to break him free and escape? Yeah, me too. Not Rhine! She goes to tea. And argues with Vaughn. And does as she is told. Ugh. As if our young adults need anything more to pull them into the dark side of passivity. *End Spoiler*
So I have to say this series started out fabulously and ended with my complete confusion for the way the author took the story. it felt as though she had a good book idea that a publisher convinced her to make into a trilogy, because that is what sells these days, and so she stretched everything and added some whining and pining, and POOF you have yourself a trilogy. And thanks to Wither, we know DeStefano can WRITE! So what happened here? I am not sure, but it makes me sad to think this happened to a really promising author who had a lot to offer. I am not sure I would recommend this series to someone, because it just did not do anything for me by the end. The conclusion is good, but that doesn't make up for the crap that came before it. I hope DeStefano manages to come back from this series and get back to the beautiful, haunting writing she showed us in Wither. Those are books I would definitely buy.
I am not one who generally seeks out an "afterlife love story," but there was something about Jess Rothenberg's story The Catastrophic History of You and Me that kept calling to me. And I am glad it did.
Brie's heart broke in half. Literally. Jacob, the boy she loved, broke her heart in half and now, being D&G (Dead and Gone), she must travel through the five stages of loss. Fortunately for Brie, she has a guide through her adjustment to life beyond life: Patrick. Patrick might be goofy and sarcastic, and his clothes are Sooo 80's, but he just wants to help Brie through her denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally, acceptance.
But the journey is made worse by Brie's ability to see her family, friends, and especially Jacob. The boy who told her "I do not love you" and cleaved her heart in two has some secrets of his own. As Brie spends time watching her friends and family live their lives without her, she realizes how much pain and suffering her death has caused. Through her stages of grief, she takes out her feelings on the people she left behind, even when Patrick cautions her against it. But in the end, it is Brie who must accept her death the most. Even if there isn't much she can change about what she left behind.
I honestly didn't know what to expect about this story, but I really liked it! I am always skeptical of the ghost girl seeks the boy story (weirdness), but this one was so darned sweet and endearing, but also a little snarky and fiesty at times! Brie really experiences each of those five stages, and when she is angry, boy is she angry! She is so mad she is willing to act without really thinking of the consequences or even seeing the full scope of the circumstances. And her anger feels true and realistic and sincere. I can just imagine any girl in her situation reacting and feeling the way Brie does. And it is heartbreaking. Sometimes funny, but mostly heartbreaking.
This is a really unique story and would appeal to anyone looking for the romantic comedy books that also have some meat to them. It is a story that really examines grief as you survive it (in one capacity or another) and there are some definite twists to the story you will undoubtedly enjoy. They certainly surprised me, and I was left really satisfied by the end of the story. It is a very clean book that deals with some serious situations about love, family, friendship, and relationships. I think that makes it a fabulous story for a wide range of readers. And I can't imagine anyone not wanting to see where Brie takes you next!
Once in a while a book comes by that tells a story of a character you can relate to and empathize with so much, you feel like you have known them all your life. That is exactly how I felt about Sarah in J.J. Johnson's The Theory of Everything. I loved everything about this character and this book.
Sarah suffered an inconceivable tragedy; she lost her best friend Jamie in a horrible accident. But that isn't the worst part. The accident was Sarah's fault. Now SJD (Since Jamie's Death), she has become a different person, a person apparently no one enjoys being around, including her parents and her boyfriend Stenn. And to top it off? Her regular demeanor was replaced by a snark box that makes people stop feeling sorry for her and start getting annoyed by her. But regardless of how much Sarah just wants to be left alone to wallow in her misery, no one seems to want to leave her alone. The only creature who understands Sarah is Ruby, her rescued dog who knows just how to calm Sarah and exactly how to get her in trouble.
Feeling guilty, Sarah agrees to go to a party with Stenn, but she brings Ruby along as a buffer. When Ruby takes off through the woods and ends up in a creepy man's garage eating the very same deer carcass that crashed through the high school gym right in front of Sarah (bringing all the memories of Jamie's accident flooding back with a vengeance). When the creepy man shows up at Sarah's school, he offers her a chance to work off the lost meat by working on his Christmas tree farm. If she agrees, he won't tell her parents about where she was and how her precious dog went native. Sarah will do anything to protect Ruby, but she wasn't expecting hard labor to be just the thing she needed to truly begin to heal. Snark Box and all!
Oh, how I loved this book, let me count the ways! 1. Sarah and her snark box were just the kind of dry sarcasm I have been looking for in a main character these days. Coming from a family full of Snark Monsters, I appreciate a good snark box! 2. Sarah's grief was real, it was tangible, and it made me, the reader, grieve right along with her. Her reactions are expected and unexpected at the same time, the very nature of grief personified. It was beautiful and painful, all wrapped up together. 3. There was no attempt to romanticize or glorify Sarah's relationship with Emmett, Jamie's twin brother. In a cheaper, cheesier YA novel, they would have realized their love for one another and ridden off into the sunset. In this book? They are both suffering. They need each other. But it isn't about some forced romance. It is friendship, understanding, and a mutual love for someone they both lost. 4. Stenn was a good guy. He really was! He was, months after Jamie's death, growing weary of Sarah's actions and unable to understand why she couldn't move on, but he was patient, he loved her, and he was devoted. He wanted the best for her, but he was human and humans can grow impatient eventually. Even when he grew impatient, though, he was always just a boy who cared about her and wanted to see her smile again.
This is one of those books that just makes your literary hairs stand on end. I loved every single page, every description, and every bit of dialogue. I am so very impressed with Johnson's portrayal of this young woman who just can't survived in a world SJD. It reminded me of Green's Fault in Our Stars and Jandy Nelson's The Sky is Everywhere not because they are similar stories, but because the characters are so real and the situations are so bitter-sweet you can picture yourself doing and saying exactly what the authors have written. This is a story for so many different people. Basically, if you know someone with a heart who needs a good book, pass this along. You won't be sorry. Snark and all, this was quite the masterpiece!
Do you believe in nature or nurture? I ask my students this all the time. Fate vs. Free Will. Nature vs. Nurture. Can our choices determine who we become? Or are we destined for a specific future? In The Forsaken by Lisa M. Stasse, kids are all subjected to a test to determine whether they will become future criminals. And you don't want to fail this test.
Alenna watched her parents taken from their home by force. She was put in foster care, but even as an orphan, you don't escape the test that determines your possible criminal future. She can't imagine she would fail, but when she is put under for the test, she wakes up on the island, known as The Wheel to the residents of the penal colony. She knows the life expectancy on the wheel is only a few years, but she has no idea how to protect herself. She wakes up next to a boy she hopes she can trust, but when he gets injured, she has no choice but to abandon him and run away with the girl who saved them from the lunatic drones (other kids who follow the Monk). The Monk owns most of the island, but the other kids are struggling to hold on to their last piece of the wheel.
They know their days are numbered, so they plan to find a way into the Gray area of the wheel- the only inaccessible piece that is protected by a strange bubble. But their plan to escape is delayed by attacks from the Monk's drones, sickness, and the feelers- creepy unmanned flying crafts that suck kids up into them. Those kids are never seen again once the feeler takes them. And the Gray area is the only place the feelers could be kept, so the kids know this mission would most likely mean a swifter death for anyone who goes. But that doesn't stop Alenna. She wants to find a way off the island... and she doesn't want to be left behind by Liam. Liam, the strong, fearless hunter, is leading the trip to the Gray area and nothing will stop them from getting there... but what about the Monk, the drones, the illness, and the feelers? How could they possibly make it?
This was a really interesting dystopia. The idea of screening kids for criminal futures and dumping them to survive on their own at a penal colony is terrifying and would be a real eye opener to any young adult. It also brings about the big question of Fate vs. Free Will. I love having this conversation with my students because they can never pick one side and stick with it. It is one of the ultimate unanswerable questions, and I enjoy the discussions it creates. Alenna wasn't my favorite character, though. I found her a little *meh*, and preferred Gadya, the girl who saved her in the beginning. She was feisty and angry, and I appreciated that. I was also confused by David, who just floated in and out of the story with no real purpose, explanation, or conclusion. Even by the end, I had no idea what his real purpose was.
But the rest of the story was really exciting and interesting. It was a dystopia that will appeal both to dystopia junkies like myself and the general population. There is even a little "Love of My Life" action in case you couldn't imagine a dystopia without an insta-love (rolling my eyes). I will definitely read the next book, but I wish there was a little more explanation by the end of this first book. Instead it opens up a whole new can of worms... and then just ENDS. So, if you can't handle the year+ wait, I suggest holding off for the next book, because you are gonna be ticked off by the ending!
Ah, the sad middle book. Just like the middle child, it suffers from identity crisis. Neither the attention grabbing first book or the long-awaited, cathartic conclusion, the middle book is bound by the desperation to live up to the first book without all the excitement of the final book. So, it makes sense that Lauren DeStefano's Fever would have a lot of work to do to make Wither fans happy. But could it pull itself out of the middle child lot in life?
Rhine and Gabriel ran for their lives, but the life they find outside the estate's walls where Rhine's husband, sister wife, and evil father-in-law live is not the freedom they imagined it would be. Almost immediately after escaping, they find themselves held captive again. This time, the captor might not be performing horrific experiments, but she isn't exactly warm and cuddly either.
Sucked into a brothel where the girls are ranked according to color by their level of worth, Rhine finds herself trapped and Gabriel is being kept drugged so he can't help her. Lilac, another trapped girl, helps Rhine through this terrifying experience, and finds a way to get Rhine and Gabriel to safety outside the brothel's electrified walls, but she wants to come with them and she doesn't plan on leaving her blind, malformed daughter behind. Their escape brings them closer to finding Rhine's brother, but in a world where mother's don't grow old enough to see their children become adults, another mother is separated from her daughter. Is finding Rhine's brother Rowan worth everything she and Gabriel have suffered through.
Sadly, this book did not live up to Wither for me. I thought it was kind of forced with no real purpose and while the outcome was incredibly interesting, the almost 300 pages that came before it were bland and lost. The exploits of Rhine and Gabriel could have been exciting, but instead they rambled around in a drug and illness induced haze that just seemed unnecessary. I found myself hoping the book would end quickly so I could move on to something more interesting, but feeling obligated to stick with it out of love for the first book.
When all was said and done, I am glad I slogged through this book because the final 40 pages or so were reminiscent of the Wither I love. It was creepy and exciting and terrifying all at once, and I couldn't stop reading once I hit that point. Unfortunately, a struggling reader might never make it to that point. I am sad to see this series stray in the middle, but I am hopeful it will triumph in the end. So fingers crossed that the final book will live up to the first book and not be stained with the memory of the sad middle child!
The new thing these days with these young adult trilogies is to release small stories in between novels as "teaser" for the newest book in the series. OK, I am fine with that, but the short story has to do something for me. I buy them because I love the trilogy, but when I get to the story and find out it is actually 86% (according to my Kindle) filled with chapters from the first book (and you wouldn't be reading this short story had you NOT already read the first book), and another ~10% previews for the next book, you find yourself wondering, "Why did I buy this 7 paged snippet?"
Once you wade through the chapters from Lauren DeStefano's Wither (which you undoubtedly already read), you get to the short story First Bride, which is the reason you purchased this eBook in the first place. The story is from Rose's point of view, the first wife who was dying and Rhine and the others were a replacement for. The chapter, because for me 7 Kindle pages does not constitute any kind of short story to speak of, was certainly interesting, but it should have been incorporated as a brief introductory chapter to Wither. Its only saving grace was getting to view Linden in this light, who was always a character you struggled to like or dislike. Seeing him with Rose, the girl he truly loved, you get to see the magnitude of his grief and the devastation this virus has caused.
But still, I just can't justify this being sold separately from the original novel Wither and the new novel, Fever. I suppose if you are a Wither fan like myself, you will still buy it since you want to know everything you can about Wither. Of course, you will most likely be a little disappointed like I was. The story was interesting, but not worth the money or the effort of slogging through 50 pages of the first book... But I imagine, if you are anything like me, you are still dying to read Fever regardless of the disappointment of Seeds of Wither.
A dystopia leaves us faced with some big choices, but a fairly common decision is that of safety vs. freedom. Would you be willing to be subservient and blindly follow orders if it meant your community was safe? Even if it meant you had to deal with murder, sacrifice, and other impossible choices? Or would you rather take your chances in the ugly world if it meant your decisions were your own? Even if it meant survival was less than likely and surely not to last terribly long? These are the questions you will find yourself asking while reading the first book in the Razorland series, Enclave by Ann Aguirre.All Deuce ever wanted was to make it to age 15 where she got her name and her new job: Huntress. Living in the subway tunnels underneath the city, the College Enclave has a very strict way of doing things, and this is what has kept them alive. Children die so often they remain unnamed until they are 15. Then they are named and given their job, Hunter, Breeder, or Builder. The Hunters are responsible for going out into the tunnels to gather food for the Enclave, as well as keeping the Freaks at bay. The Freaks are weird monsters that are human/zombie type creatures. They are constantly looking for meat (fresh or rotten) to eat, have sharp teeth and hideous claws. They will even resort to eating each other, but they aren't particularly bright and don't work together, or so the Enclave thought. When Deuce and her new partner, Fade (not born in the Enclave) come across a blind boy from another Enclave, they are sent to on a suicide mission to see if the boy's Enclave really did fall to the Freaks. When they surprisingly make it back to their own Enclave with scary news of Freaks working together, the Elders refuse to believe it. Instead, they seem to be determined to live in ignorance of the inevitable threat that will destroy the Enclave and every person in it. They even go so far as to plant banned artifacts in people's rooms and sacrifice them as examples. When Deuce's best friend is accused of hoarding artifacts, Fade and Deuce take the blame and are exiled from the Enclave.Deuce assumes going Topside (above ground) is a death sentence, but Fade tells her he used to live there and he thinks they can make it. He warns her about gangers- gangs of men who only use women as breeders and hunt other men for sport if they won't join their gang. Unfortunately, the warning isn't enough, and they are captured by a gang called the Wolves. Stalker, head Wolf, claims Deuce for his own. He has plans for her once he finishes hunting Fade (think "The Most Dangerous Game") and he sends her with another young woman name Tegan to get cleaned up. What he doesn't expect is that Deuce isn't about to go down without a fight, and she is taking Tegan with her. Together, they free Fade and manage to dismantle the Wolves' hunting party one by one. Once they are free of the Wolves, they continue on their journey north, where Fade's father always told him life would be safer. Along the way, however, it becomes clear the Freaks aren't just in the tunnels anymore. They are Topside and they are hungry. When the Wolves find Fade, Deuce, and Tegan, the Freaks attack, leaving Stalker as the lone Wolf surviving. He decides to stick with them and head north, seeing the futility of returning to the city if these creatures are coming up to the surface. Can they find the land to the north where life continues as it did before the world came crashing down? Will Deuce lose Fade to more tragedy and loss than he can handle? Can Tegan, the weakest of the group, survive the journey, especially alongside her former captor who she wants to see dead and bloody?Now, clearly you know by now I have a dystopic/post-apocalyptic "soft-side". I love 'em! Call me dark, weird, creepy, whatever, but I can't help it... I love reading about The End of The World As We Know It (TEOTWAWKI). Some are good, some are bad, but occasionally you find the ones that are phenomenal. Welcome to Enclave. Simply addictive. My only complaint about this book? The next book is over a YEAR away! The world Aguirre weaves is so intricate and believable. The creepy Freaks gave me nightmares last night and were way too zombie-like not to make me barricade the door (but they aren't quite zombies). The characters are interesting and have layers you end up peeling back layer by layer. Finally, the journey is one you would be terrified to take, but can't resist tagging along on. This was an amazing story of epic proportions that will keep you angry at Aguirre for not pumping out the next book faster!The language is very tame, and the content is typical for this genre, but not overly gory or bloody. There are life and death scenes of course, but they aren't terribly graphic. In light of the recent Wall Street Journal article knocking the current climate of YA lit (real, gritty, graphic, and true), I can't help but chuckle that this is the book I happened to be reading as this article dropped. This is the exact kind of book that is charged with "darkening" our the lives of our children. And you know what I have to say to that? Wall Street Journal, if you think YA lit, which delivers strong morals and survivor stories, are hurting our children, you clearly haven't been to high school lately. Sadly, our kids HAVE to be survivors to make it today, and I am not afraid to let them read books about other survivors. In those books, kids survive the apocalypse, oppressive governments, rape, torture, bullying, gay bashing, abuse, eating disorders, and so much more. Until you can keep our children from having to be survivors, you need to dismount from your ignorant moral high horse and accept the fact that survivor stories, of all kinds, are reality. You don't scare me, Wall Street Journal, but now we know we scare you!
The cover and design of this book is so unique and so striking you simply can't ignore it. I was so enamored with the design on the cover pages and throughout the book I just thumbed through it for a while before reading it! When I finally did start reading, I realized it was actually as good of a book as it looked. Lauren DeStefano's breakout dystopia Wither is the start of the Chemical Garden Trilogy, and you won't want to stop reading once you hit that last page!
Modern science has cured all those horrible illnesses and defects that affect children. Unfortunately, it only worked for one generation. The generations that follow find themselves with a severely shortened life span before dying an agonizing death. Women live to be 20 and men to 25, and so far there has been no progress in reversing the process. This has caused many first generation people to accept babies as donations for medical experiments to find a cure. More wealthy people have started collecting wives (and usually kidnapping and buying them) in order to have as many babies as possible. This situation has created a world of orphans where young girls are kidnapped and forced to bear children they will never get to raise.
Rhine Ellery and her brother are barely scraping by, but they still do better than most kids their age. They have some food and are able to work enough to stay safe- until Rhine answers an add for work and finds herself in the back of a van with a large group of girls. She has seen other girls in her neighborhood disappear into the hands of the Gatherers, but she never thought it could happen to her. She is tossed from the van where a man makes his decision to keep three of the girls, including Rhine. Once the man leaves, the other girls are put back in the van and disposed of. The three who were chosen and spared are taken to a magnificent estate, but they have no idea where they are. They are brought to a secure wing where they have bedrooms, a sitting room, and a library. This is where Rhine and her sister wives, Jenna and Cecily, are expected to spend the rest of their days, pregnant with Master Linden's babies.
Rhine is 16, Jenna is 18, and Cecily is only 14. Cecily is the only one who is interested in being Linden's wife, as the life in the estate is better than what she experienced in the orphanage. Young and enthusiastic, she vies for Linden's attention. Jenna is the oldest, and while she despises Linden and everything he stands for (he sister was in the van of girls not chosen), she chooses to accept her fate with unwilling concession. Rhine is the only sister wife who wants to escape. She worries about her brother desperately and beings to grow attached to the young man, Gabriel, who delivers food and answers to the wives on the floor. Her feelings for Gabriel are forbidden, but she can't help but care about him.
Her biggest struggle is that she doesn't actually hate Linden. He turns out to just be a clueless, heartbroken boy, much like his new wives. Just after the wives arrive, Linden's previous wife and only true love, Rose, died in the wives wing. He has never really recovered, and only took the new wives at the urging of his father, the evil Vaughn. Vaughn has given his life over to finding the cure that will save his son, but his methods are far less than ethical. He is a horrible, vile man who is afraid to stop at nothing to help his son and find a cure, even if that means sacrificing the lives of the wives. When Vaughn finds out about Rhine's attachment to Gabriel, he takes Gabriel away. Now Rhine must find the boy she truly cares about and find a way out of the estate. But how can she do that when the estate seems like a fortress with no entrance or exit?
I loved so much about this book, it is hard to pick anything specific. The characters were dynamic and had to be peeled away layer by layer like an onion. The characters you thought you would hate turned out to be sad and broken. The ones you thought you would like were flawed. The story takes turns that you would never expect, and the mast villain, Vaughn, is so beyond evil they would have to make a new classification for him right next to Josef Mengele and President Snow of Panem from The Hunger Games. He gives me the creeps just thinking about him. The beauty of this book lies in the fantastic story telling and the haunting but beautifully written prose. This was a difficult topic to broach- forced marriages and kidnapping- but DeStefano accomplished her goal with ease.
The language is moderate, but this might be a book left for mature 9-12 grades. It has tons of discussion opportunities and can make for a great book to read with your child or student. I am thrilled by DeStefano's breakout novel and can't wait for the next book in the trilogy. We are in a stage of the YA world where young people are contributing as much as seasoned authors, and so far, the experience has been amazing! I can't wait to see what they throw out next!
