4 stars

Review: Enclave

19:25

Enclave
By Ann Aguirre

Source: Personal purchase, paperback,
Genres: Young Adult, Dystopian, Science Fiction, Post Apocalyptic, 

 Goodreads Synopsis:

 New York City has been decimated by war and plague, and most of civilization has migrated to underground enclaves, where life expectancy is no more than the early 20's. When Deuce turns 15, she takes on her role as a Huntress, and is paired with Fade, a teenage Hunter who lived Topside as a young boy. When she and Fade discover that the neighboring enclave has been decimated by the tunnel monsters--or Freaks--who seem to be growing more organized, the elders refuse to listen to warnings. And when Deuce and Fade are exiled from the enclave, the girl born in darkness must survive in daylight--guided by Fade's long-ago memories--in the ruins of a city whose population has dwindled to a few dangerous gangs.

Ann Aguirre's thrilling young adult novel is the story of two young people in an apocalyptic world--facing dangers, and feelings, unlike any they've ever known.


 My review:

 This book was everything I've been looking for. It's been so long since I've read a dystopian as good as this. Enclave had literally every aspect I like in books: action and fight scenes, really gory descriptions, disease (my one true love), slow-burning romance, a well-thoughtout world, originality, and light-hearted moments too. I really didn't expect to enjoy this book as much as I did - although I knew I was going to like it, I never knew how great it was. 

 It had a great beginning. It jumped straight in on the action (not some annoying build up like in some other books). The world building was really clever - I found out about the world pretty quickly, though it didn't bore me at all. The writing was really clever, and it kept this standard throughout the whole book.

 The messages this book sent pleased me. For once, a book says sexism is not okay (!!!), not naming any names *cough* The Selection *cough*. Also, it teaches to never give up, which I think is really important in a book. Another thing I thought was a great aspect was that small children were called brats. This made me smile - I am not the biggest fan of little kids (they just smell and are dirty and ew), and calling them brats just seemed perfect. 

 Deuce, the protagonist, was amazing. She was so strong, yet flawed so she was more real. At times, she was a little bit stupid, but that's just to be expected - nobodies perfect! She was really tough, and protected everyone, which I loved. She really showed the men up!

 All the other characters were good too - they had depth, so seemed really real. I especially liked Fade (him and Deuce just need to be together!) because he was really tough, yet had another side which was interesting to find more about as the story progressed.

 I would recommend this book to dystopian fans - it has all aspects of a great dystopian, yet is still really original too. I am definitely going to pick up the rest of the series soon! My reaction to this book:

My rating: 

3.5 stars

Review: Shatter Me

13:17

Shatter Me
By Tahereh Mafi

 Source: Physical
Page count: 338
Genres: Young Adult, Dystopian, Romance, Post Apocalyptic, Science Fiction, 

Goodreads Synopsis:

I have a curse
I have a gift

I am a monster
I'm more than human

My touch is lethal
My touch is power

I am their weapon
I will fight back

Juliette hasn't touched anyone in exactly 264 days.

The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette’s touch is fatal. As long as she doesn’t hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don’t fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color.

The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war – and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she’s exactly what they need right now.

Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior.

 My Review:

 I'm going to start off this by saying: loads of people hate this book. How? I thought this was amazing - I was really excited throughout the whole book, and wanted to just keep on reading. The description was great - it was different to other books I've read as it had loads of similes and metaphors, most of them were really original (but some of them really didn't make sense!). The writing was really clever - it made me feel empathy for Juliette by page 23 - this is very unusual for me, as normally I never feel like that at such an early stage in a book!

 One thing I really didn't like in this book was the romance. It was too intense - they had only known eachother for a few weeks, and they already had a really passionate relationship. In my eyes, it was too early for them as a couple. Too much insta-love! I also didn't like how the dystopia seemed to be based around the romance, not the other way round. For me, I would have liked more action and less romance.

 Another thing I didn't like was the fact that they were on the run, yet wasting valuable time kissing! It was a really dangerous situation - they were running for their lives! I know that if I was Juliette I would be focusing on how to stay alive, not using time to spend gazing into my boyfriend's eyes. 

 I think the book needed more dystopian aspects, and for it to be less centered around the romance. There wasn't much world building because it was so character-based - I would have prefered to know more about The Reestablishment so we can hate them more. I would have also liked to know more about Juliette before she got locked up - this way we would care more about her, and I the way it is so character-centered would become more effective.

 I also hated the British stereotype in the book! I am British, and Mafi made her only British character say things like "blimey" and "bloody confusing". No-one says things like that! British people don't speak much differently to Americans, and aren't at all posh. This annoyed me so much!

 From my review, it sounds like I hated this book, but I really didn't. It had me captivated from the beginning and I was hooked until the very end. I need the next book now!

 Rating: 

 I would recommend it if you enjoyed Divergent.

 Please note: This month I am extremely busy: I am loaded with exams and homework *cries*, and I am doing NanoWrimo too, so I won't be able to post as much. 

3 Stars

Review: Blood Red Road

21:39

Blood Red Road
By Moira Young

 Source: Library
Page count: 459
Genres: Young Adult, Dystopian, Romance, Post Apocalyptic, 

 Goodreads Synopsis:

 Saba lives in Silverlake, a wasteland ravaged by constant sandstorms where her family scavenge from landfills left by the long-gone Wrecker civilization. After four cloaked horsemen kidnap her beloved twin brother Lugh, she teams up with daredevil Jack and the Free Hawks, a girl gang of Revolutionaries. 

 Saba learns that she is a fierce fighter, an unbeatable survivor, and a cunning opponent. And she has the power to take down a corrupt society from the inside. Saba and her new friends stage a showdown that change the course of her civilization.

 Review:

 I enjoyed this book. I thought it was interesting, different from others of its genre, and had a unique writing style. It took a while to get into - the writing style took time to get into, and the book's beginning was terrible. It was boring and dull, and I was seriously considering stopping reading Blood Red Road because the start was so awful. Though, I persevered through the start, and thankfully, the book picked up. By the middle of the book, I was really enjoying it. 

 One of the reasons why this book was so good was because of the characters. Saba, the main character, was strong and independent - I really enjoyed reading about her. She was gutsy, and wouldn't let people stand in her way of her chance of saving her brother, Lugh. Probably the reason I liked Saba so much was because she was fierce, and changed throughout the book. At the beginning of the book, she says that if her younger sister, Emmi, had been kidnapped, she wouldn't go to save her: at the end of the book Saba says that now, she definitely would save her. "If it'd bin Emmi they took, he says, Emmi an not Lugh... would you of gone after her?
"When he asked me that question, back at Darktrees, the answer was no. If he asked me agin, if he asked me now, I'd answer yes, Without stoppin to think. Yes" I think this is important to see in a character because it shows the books has meaning - also, it shows that what the character has gone through is worthwhile, because they learnt things from it. I also thinks it means that us, as readers can learn more from the book, because we have been on the same adventure as the characters, so we can learn the same things.

 Another reason why Saba - in my opinion - is such an amazing heroine, is because she (although she didn't know it - it's the author's clever writing) wasn't a typical dystopian female heroine. In your average dystopian novel, the girl is the hero, and saves / changes the world for the better. In Blood Red Road, Saba says "I'm here to git Lugh back, not to change the world" which was really the icing in the cake to a seemingly perfect character for me, because it made Blood Red Road stand out from the other books around at the moment. It shows that the character wasn't your average Tris or Katniss, she was her own, and was different, because she changes the world while doing something for other people, and didn't set out to do that. I believe this makes Blood Red Road a different and unique read because the core reason for the book is completely different.

 However good my initial thoughts of Saba were, I was highly disappointed with her. I thought she was a strong, determined character, but my expectations of her proved too high. 
"I press myself closer. I cain't seem to get enough
Stop, he says aginst my lips
I don't. I don't want to. I cain't.
He grabs both my hands. Saba, he says. Saba, stop" 
This outraged me greatly because this just completely doesn't fit in with Saba's character. She is strong minded, and would not kiss somebody while rescuing her brother, let alone not being able to stop and control herself while kissing somebody. In all honesty, I feel like this part was not needed in the book. It didn't add anything, just made Saba go down in my estimation, and actually altered my view of the whole book.  

 To continue with the theme of sections in the book that shouldn't be in there, some parts of the book feel like they have not been checked over. For example, in the book it says "If I'm lucky, I'll be there in a week. A week, she said, if I'm lucky" which I thought was just bad editing. Both of the lines were not needed in the book. 

 Overall, I would say this book is OK, but I wouldn't recommend it unless you're ready to persevere, because the beginning is bad, but the ending is good. 

 Rating: