Category: YA

YA

Review: Defy by Sara B. Larson

Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

Series: Defy #1

defy -sara b larsonA lush and gorgeously written debut, packed with action, intrigue, and heart-racing romance.

Alexa Hollen is a fighter. Forced to disguise herself as a boy and serve in the king’s army, Alex uses her quick wit and fierce sword-fighting skills to earn a spot on the elite prince’s guard. But when a powerful sorcerer sneaks into the palace in the dead of night, even Alex, who is virtually unbeatable, can’t prevent him from abducting her, her fellow guard and friend Rylan, and Prince Damian, taking them through the treacherous wilds of the jungle and deep into enemy territory.

The longer Alex is held captive with both Rylan and the prince, the more she realizes that she is not the only one who has been keeping dangerous secrets. And suddenly, after her own secret is revealed, Alex finds herself confronted with two men vying for her heart: the safe and steady Rylan, who has always cared for her, and the dark, intriguing Damian. With hidden foes lurking around every corner, is Alex strong enough to save herself and the kingdom she’s sworn to protect?

3.5 Drink Me Potions

Defy instills themes that remind me of great pieces of YA fantasy such as Graceling by Kristin Cashore and The Study series by Maria V. Snyder. With a premise that starts off sounding like the classic Mulan tale, I was rather excited for this book. Who doesn’t love a forbidden romance forming when a girl has to pretend that she’s a guy? Even seems to throw in some of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night ideologies.

I had really wanted to give it at least a 4 star rating, but maybe because of my rather high expectations from the books I compared it to, Defy was a little lacking in the middle with its adventure. Mostly, I felt it lagged a lot as the author didn’t seem to know what to do to make it more exciting after their kidnapping. I was really hoping for more action as well near the end. There was a battle, sure, but it just wasn’t…exciting enough. I was truly hoping that it wouldn’t end so fast or so easily. Like, it pretty much went down the way I would’ve imagined it, so I guess I’m sad about the lack of surprise factor.

As for the romance, it was not so much a love triangle as the synopsis made it sound. I loved the way Larson depicted both guys. It makes it hard to pick which one I might have liked more, as they both care deeply for Alexa and for their country. But I normally hate love triangles so I do appreciate that the protagonist isn’t one of THOSE GIRLS who drags along both guys endlessly just ’cause she has no idea how she feels about either one of them. It gets so tiring and plain exhausting!

Although the story could use so more umph in the action area, I did enjoy the world that Larson built for this series. Evil sorcerers and tyrant kings? Check. Forbidden magic use? Check. All the makings for a fun fantasy novel, albeit not a very original starting point.

The main characters were loveable, but in particular, I really enjoyed Alexa as the protagonist. She’s a fighter, and a good one at that. She doesn’t hold many people close to her because of her secret. Dealing with tragedy while maintaining her duty to the prince as his guard was admirable. I won’t say what kind of tragedy, but it shook her world and to see her try to stay strong on her own 2 feet made me like her all the more. Contrary to what other reviews for Defy might suggest, she really tried to keep up the pretense that she was a guy for a very long time, as this was punishable by being sent to the breeding house or even by death. How so many people figured out she was a girl is still a question I’d like to know the answer to.

So, whether this book met expectations or not, it lands solidly in the YA fantasy genre and has great potential to becoming something akin to Graceling one day.

Overall Recommendation:
Defy was everything I expected, yet still held notes of pure emotion for me. Comparably similar to Mulan and Graceling, this debut novel starts off the series with simple world building and great characters. Alexa was a wonderful protagonist, strong and capable yet vulnerable and lonely due to the secret she bears as the prince’s guard. Filled with romance and the truths of friendship and family, Defy is worth checking into, even though a little more action would’ve picked up the pace a bit.

YA

Review: Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

Series: The Lunar Chronicles #1

cinder -marissa meyerHumans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl.

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

4.5 Drink Me Potions

I’m not sure why I waited so long to hop onto the The Lunar Chronicles bandwagon, but I’m sure glad that I’ve joined now. And boy, I can see why it’s been raved about so highly.

Cinder is a gorgeous character. She may be modelled after the classic fairytale Cinderella, but Meyer totally made this princess character into something brand new and original. She only has one human friend, surprisingly which is her younger stepsister, and one android friend. Her struggles at being a second-rate citizen are heartbreaking. She never asked to become a cyborg, to be taken in by her stepmother. Yet, the world thinks so lowly of her. She is more than what her body parts make her to be. So what if she had a hand, foot, some ribs that were metal? Or had this really cool interface part of her brain that allowed her to detect and scan things? So what? She loves and feels just like other people do, but ultimately, a label is a label.

Which is why she of course could not admit to Prince Kai what she was. And going to the ball the palace was hosting? No, that was unthinkable, right? Not only is she a cyborg, but there’s also such a social divide between them as she was only a mechanic.

Although that synopsis above sounded just like Cinderella (minus the cyborg part, obviously), there is so, SO much more in Cinder. Where many other re-tellings of the classic tale kind of stops there with the storytelling ideas, Marissa Meyer placed this whole story into a beautifully thought-out world that bloomed in the ashes after World War IV.

They live in a place called New Beijing, with Kai being the next in line for the throne of the Eastern Commonwealth. I’m digging the Asian culture going here, and no, it’s not because I’m biased or anything. Not many YA novels feature Asian culture, and for that I’m already intrigued with the author’s choice of setting. To make this world further complicated, there’s a whole community of people living on the moon. The moon . No wonder it’s called the LUNAR chronicles, hmm? Should’ve seen that coming.

These people living in Luna (no duh, ’cause that’s the perfect name for a city on the moon) are called Lunars and have powers! And they threaten war against the Earthen Union, which comprises of the 6 world regions on Earth including the Eastern Commonwealth. Solution? Marriage to Kai. But it’s not as simple as it sounds because, well – their queen is pure evil. Get it? Evil Queen?

Oh no, what will Cinder do? And how the heck does she fit into this re-imagined world? As if the problems aren’t already wracked high enough for her, there’s a horrible lethal plague that randomly selects its victims and kills them within a week of the first noticeable symptoms. Man, that’s a lot of world building to take in within the first few chapters. And I absolutely LOVE it. Sometimes you just have to set the world of the characters into clear detail before the story can really take off, and this was definitely the case for Cinder. It made me appreciate so much more the creativity that went into designing it.

Following Cinder’s adventures after she met Prince Kai was a real blast. There were so many secrets she had yet to learn about herself. It wasn’t an easy journey to find such answers, but the way she held it together even though no one respected her was very admirable. Heck, they were downright antagonistic and rude to her. If I were her, I would’ve spat at her stepmother multiple times. Kai was a loveable prince. He truly seemed smitten with Cinder, and I loved those little moments between them where it didn’t seem anything could possibly hurt their budding relationship. Of course, there was always the elephant in the room (she’s a cyborg! *gasp*), for which Cinder couldn’t truly let herself be with him. I like to think from Kai’s character that he’d get over that little fact…right?

Anyway, with threats of war from the Lunars and the plague still wiping out numbers of people, life was not easy for the young princeling. I don’t blame him for what happened at the end, though for now, this fairy tale does not have its happy ending yet. Gonna hold out and hope the conclusion to this magnificent series will truly blow my mind as Cinder has.

By the way, that cover? Genius. Who would have ever thought that Cinder(ella) could lose her “shoe” because it was in actuality her metal foot disconnecting from its wires? I repeat, GENIUS.

Overall Recommendation:
Cinder is an amazing example of a classic re-telling of Cinderella, but with tons more imagination in its world building. Our to-be princess is a lowly mechanic, but she’s also a cyborg, considered by others as not human compared to them. Cinder was a great protagonist, with such heart, but unable to prove it to most of her stepfamily. Upon her meeting with Prince Kai, things get more complicated than it already was for her, and soon, secrets about past and threats of war from Lunars loom on the horizon. With plenty of sweet sizzling chemistry between our lovely Cinder and her prince set in a dystopian world with people from the MOON that have powers to brainwash, this first installment in the Lunar Chronicles was definitely worth every single praise that was ever uttered about it.

YA

Review: Four by Veronica Roth

Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

four -veronica rothTwo years before Beatrice Prior made her choice, the sixteen-year-old son of Abnegation’s faction leader did the same. Tobias’s transfer to Dauntless is a chance to begin again. Here, he will not be called the name his parents gave him. Here, he will not let fear turn him into a cowering child.

Newly christened “Four,” he discovers during initiation that he will succeed in Dauntless. Initiation is only the beginning, though; Four must claim his place in the Dauntless hierarchy. His decisions will affect future initiates as well as uncover secrets that could threaten his own future—and the future of the entire faction system.

Two years later, Four is poised to take action, but the course is still unclear. The first new initiate who jumps into the net might change all that. With her, the way to righting their world might become clear. With her, it might become possible to be Tobias once again.

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Veronica Roth comes a companion volume to the worldwide bestselling DIVERGENT series, told from the per-spective of the immensely popular character Tobias. The four pieces included here—THE TRANSFER, THE INITIATE, THE SON, and THE TRAITOR—plus three additional exclusive scenes, give readers an electrifying glimpse into the history and heart of Tobias, and set the stage for the epic saga of the DIVERGENT trilogy.

3.5 Drink Me Potions

I’ve been waiting a long time to read Four’s POV. Yet, I could’ve never imagined that I enjoyed the first 3 novellas more than the The Traitor, which occurs after Four met Tris.

The Transfer, The Initiate, and The Son flowed really nicely from one to the other as we follow Four’s journey in redefining who he was, away from his father’s abuse and rules. I really enjoyed learning where he came from. In some ways, it was more enjoyable than Tris’ efforts at becoming herself, away from the teachings of Abnegation or Dauntless or whatever faction would have her conform to. I think it was because they were novellas and were so much more straightforward with the point. Tobias had a lot of baggage to get rid of, with 1 parent gone, presumed dead, and 1 who caused his worst nightmares. In finding the courage to be someone beyond who anyone would define him as, who any faction would limit him to, he found a way to express even the tiniest bit of the Divergence in him.

How? Through his tattoo. I’ve always admired it, but hearing the whole contextual reasoning for it made me realize just how brave, and possibly reckless, of a move that was. It made me like the guy more.

And that says a lot. I haven’t read the Divergent series in a long time. I remember the major scenes, but most definitely not the intricate details or underlying chemistry he had with Tris. For that reason, I felt this story made Four likeable, whether or not someone had read Divergent and just really liked him ’cause he was Tris’ boyfriend. At the end of the day, who doesn’t have fears to conquer and demons to relinquish? He did it all, in the best way he could by shedding his old self and becoming anew.

Speaking of which, I think that’s why The Traitor didn’t sit as well with me. I mean, it was nice to kind of remember these scenes from Tris’ POV and now see it from Four’s, but I sure didn’t remember their chemistry enough to really love the extra perspective. It was kind of just repeating the same scene again, in my opinion. If I had time to have re-read Divergent, it probably would have been a better experience. I definitely recommend doing that if you were excited for these scenes between the two of them.

Anyway, I know novellas are getting ridiculous with popular YA series these days, but I really liked this one just because it wasn’t necessarily re-telling the same story from someone else, and instead showcased how far Tobias pushed himself in order to become the guy he was when Tris met him, as Four.

P.S. but did anyone else think the scene on the Ferris Wheel would be in this story? Come on, the cover is so pretty – and misleading.

Overall Recommendation:
First note, probably should re-read Divergent at least in order to get the best experience out of Four, unless your memory is spot-on of the chemistry between Tris and Four. It would’ve been what I would redo. But, even without that, Four proved to be a really nice read, diving into the mind of a guy I had admired in the series, but now am seriously respecting and even loving him. It takes a lot of perseverance and determination for an Abnegation, a “Stiff”, to redefine himself so well with barely anyone else’s help. All in all, this story doesn’t just complement the series, but it went a long way in baring Tobias’ character to the world. That’s what makes it good, and not because fans just love him for his part in the bigger series.