Tag: dystopian

YA

Review: Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

Series: The Lunar Chronicles #2

scarlet -marissa meyerCinder, the cyborg mechanic, returns in the second thrilling installment of the bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She’s trying to break out of prison–even though if she succeeds, she’ll be the Commonwealth’s most wanted fugitive.

Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit’s grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn’t know about her grandmother or the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother’s whereabouts, she is loath to trust this stranger, but is inexplicably drawn to him, and he to her. As Scarlet and Wolf unravel one mystery, they encounter another when they meet Cinder. Now, all of them must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen Levana, who will do anything for the handsome Prince Kai to become her husband, her king, her prisoner.

4 Drink Me Potions

Scarlet was not a disappointment after the high bar its predecessor, Cinder, set.

Even though the story follows Scarlet Benoit, there are still quite a number of chapters dedicated to Cinder and her predicament after the events of the previous novel. I truly appreciated that as I absolutely ADORE Cinder. That, however, also gives less time for us as readers to follow along with Scarlet and Wolf’s adventures as the book is split between all their different POVs.

First, I’d like to mention that the introduction of Cadet – I mean Captain Thorne was my favourite part. He is an amazing character, fun and laughable to offset the seriousness of Cinder’s attitude. They make a great pair. Friendship goals! No competition for Kai, no worries, but they are probably the best platonic relationship between a male and female I’ve seen in a long time.

Scarlet I couldn’t relate to as much as I did with Cinder. Maybe it was partly due to a diverted focus from just her as we swing back and forth between Cinder and Scarlet’s situations. But I just think that she’s a little too hot-tempered for me. Like, we’re first introduced to her and she’s seen pelting tomatoes at a wall behind the restaurant at which she’s supposed to DELIVER those same tomatoes. I dunno. Red temper for a redhead?

I DID enjoy the mysterious Wolf. I wasn’t sure what exactly he was. Wolf? Man? Both? And I definitely was wondering how he would fit into the overall plot that concerns Queen Levana and her goals for Earth. Let’s just say, I was pleasantly surprised to see how seamlessly Marissa Meyer was able to combine two fairy tale stories together with this dystopian world and its problems. Definitely kept me on the edge of my seat.

Having Scarlet and Cinder’s lives collide was also done so well, especially in the midst of the battle scenes that were more prevalent in this novel. That was probably the part in the story that I kept waiting for. I am fully anticipating how their stories are going to mesh with Rapunzel’s next. Onto Cress!

The only thing about this book that I might complain a little bit about is that it personally didn’t push me to keep on reading as much as Cinder did. That’s not to say that it wasn’t a fast read or wasn’t enjoyable. It just didn’t…excite me as much. It could also be because of my love for Cinder was so much greater. The unfairness of her situation and her personality just made it so hard to not love her and want the best for her.

I could say a whole lot more for this review, but I think it’s come to that point where I have such high expectations for Meyer that it’s rather normal for everyone to hear how amazing this novel was. Whether as a part of the larger series or as a stand-alone novel, Scarlet pieces together more of the crazy adventures that await our fairy tale characters, as well as keeps the excitement and originality at a high level. She’s just one amazing author that writes beautiful stories. Enough said.

Overall Recommendation:
Scarlet was exactly as how I’d imagined it. Another great fairy tale story, this time centred on Little Red Riding Hood, with fun and realistic characters set in a creatively crafted dystopian world. I don’t know how Meyer does it. She takes these age-old people and spins them into something new and exciting, while staying true to certain essentials of the fairy tales. A definite must read! The suspense is ratcheting up.

YA

Review: Matched by Ally Condie

Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

Series: Matched #1

matched -ally condieCassia has always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her: what to read, what to watch, what to believe. So when Xander’s face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is her ideal mate… until she sees Ky Markham’s face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black.

The Society tells her it’s a glitch, a rare malfunction, and that she should focus on the happy life she’s destined to lead with Xander. But Cassia can’t stop thinking about Ky, and as they slowly fall in love, Cassia begins to doubt the Society’s infallibility and is faced with an impossible choice: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she’s known and a path that no one else has dared to follow.

3 Drink Me Potions

In a world where it’s just plainly called The Society, things are strictly governed by people dubbed the Officials. Everyone carries 3 tablets at all times (green, blue and red), with the red one having an unknown purpose. People are reared for the most optimal health, even Matching couples to generate the best genes. The citizens are told they have choices. They can choose if they want to be Matched or if they’d rather remain Single with no children.

But in reality? Everything is governed by others. Even when and how you die.

This is the setting for Matched. It is a very intriguing world that sounds like it could happen down the road if people really thought that living long and amazing lives could only be dealt in this way. Enter our protagonist Cassia. She was so obedient and never wondered if there could be something more to life than the simple one they all lived out. Never dreamed of creating things of her own, just following along with what she was told to do.

I liked that she grew more restless of the course of the story. I really enjoyed the way her grandfather prompted her down this road of “not going gentle into the night”, to fight for herself and for others. It was a good premise – I just didn’t love the way Ally Condie went about writing it.

The pacing was a little too slow for me. I get that writing a dystopian novel requires time to get the readers acclimatized to the rules and general ideas of the world through world building. But, at the end of it, I still don’t know all too much about The Society besides that there are different ranking Officials and each are segregated into different departments specializing in various fields. That way, no one person would know how to do anything all the way through on their own. And other than their Matching program, most of the society seems to somewhat operate similarly to the present life. So you can see that I’m NOT impressed by the world building.

The plot centred too much on Cassia’s gradual awareness of The Society not always being right. It wasn’t exciting enough. Oh, and of course, her piqued interest in Ky after seeing his face pop up accidentally after Xander’s.

The “love triangle” didn’t interest me all that much either. I think it’s ’cause there really wasn’t much passion going on between them. The Society forbade any of the teens to really pursue childish crushes ’cause at the end of the day, the probability of being Matched to someone in the same town you live in is virtually impossible. So there was definitely friendship love going for them, but it was harder for me to see that she truly loved either boy in that manner. And frankly, both guys are really good people, so for once, I wouldn’t care who the author chose to put Cassia with.

Which, I guess, is a bad sign in itself because I’m ALWAYS worked up about a love triangle. Meh.

You can say that I’m feeling rather indifferent right now about Matched. I will read on with the sequels to see what happens, but I’m mainly interested in the demise of The Society now that rebellion may be stirring in some people’s hearts.

Overall Recommendation:
With a very promising and intriguing future world, The Society rules by compromising all choices that the citizens can make. Enter Cassia. She was initially a very boring and obedient girl who just followed along with what she was told to. Gradually, with prompting from her Grandfather, her character started questioning what exactly it meant to have a choice and whether it was worth ruining their way of life. Set at a rather slower pace than I would’ve liked, the first installment in this trilogy has left me feeling hugely indifferent about the potential love triangle as there really wasn’t much passion in them in that way. Here’s to hoping that it could only get better from here as the foundation has been set. Fingers crossed!

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.