Review: Time Between Us

TIME BETWEEN US
Tamara Ireland Stone
Hyperion
ARC from ALA Annual

Anna Greene, a nineties teen (1995, to be exact) stuck in the suburbs of Chicago, dreams of traveling to far-off places  after high school. When she falls for the new guy at school, she gets a chance for her wish to come true even sooner, but not in the way she'd imagined. Because the boy, Bennett Cooper, is a time traveler. And if not for a mistake in time, he wouldn't even be in 1995 -- instead he'd be at home in present-day (2012) San Francisco.

Time Between Us is the sort of book that just looks so full of promise. Romance, a nineties setting, and time travel -- what more could a 20-something female YA reader want? Well, in this particular case I did want more. Of everything. Let me state at the outset that I like this book. It's a nice mix of emotions, light sci-fi, and enjoyable romance. Anna Greene is no Mary Sue; she's smart, independent, and full of dreams for herself. Likewise Bennett Cooper is a wonderful mix of awkward and cute (and also my favorite character in the book). Their romance is cute, fairly predictable, and clean enough that I'd have no problem handing this book off to young teens.

The problem is that the book, at least in my opinion, lacks spark. I liked these characters, but never really really felt for them the way I like to feel for characters in stories. And while the time travel was set up nicely, with rules that guided it (I love when time travel has rules to it), the vast majority of the book takes place in 1995 and Anna's curiosity about the future -- hers and the rest of the world's -- never reaches the level that I'd assume it would. While she wants to go other places, she's oddly disinterested in discovering other times. Which brings me to another complaint, though I admit it's a superficial one: where are all the 90's references? I mean, this book takes place smack-dab in the middle of the decade, yet there are so few references to anything 90's that it's often easy to forget Anna's story doesn't take place in 2012. For adults reading the book out of nostalgia, this will be a let-down and for teens who are interested in the 90's setting, there's not a whole lot to latch onto.

It takes a while for Time Between Us to really take off and even when it does there's nothing earth-shattering in the way of plot twists or the stakes of the story, but it reminded me of The Future of Us in the way that it slowly, deliberately considered the effect that changing the past has on the future and how small decisions can cause a ripple effect across time and lives. Bennett is incredibly precise in his time travel and his interest in the butterfly effect were parts of the story that I absolutely loved and I wish they'd played a larger role, especially in the first half of the book. Anna's story is charming and definitely readable, but unfortunately never shot off into must-read status for me, though I know many others have disagreed.

review: mothership

MOTHERSHIP
Martin Leicht & Isla Neal
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
(copy sent for review by publisher)

I've read quite a few YA novels that feature the pregnant teen issue, but they've all been contemporary/realistic. Until now. Mothership is a sci-fi novel set in the year 2074, about a girl (Elvie) on board an orbiting school for pregnant teen girls. Her school is attacked by invaders, one of whom is her MIA baby daddy, at about the same time it's revealed that the faculty of Hanover School for Expecting Teen Mothers are evil aliens.

Haha -- wait, what?

Yeah, that was my reaction to the summery of this story also. But, surprise! It's good. It's, like, really good. Okay, the story's a bit hokey. Okay, a lot hokey. It's outrageous, really. But the comedy is sharp, the pop-culture references are more than solid (even if I was confused as to why there's so many 20th century film references in a book that takes place in 2074), and the characters are awesome. Elvie's a smart and witty protagonist who has plenty of humor about herself and her crazy alien-fighting situation. Her prepared-for-anything dad and supernerd best friend are one of the most solid and loving supporting casts I've seen lately. And Cole, the not-quite-ex-boyfriend-turned-alien-fighter manages to be sweet, stupid, and cheerworthy all at the same time.

It's so rare, in my experience, to find science fiction or comedy novels with incredible characters, but Mothership manages to be darkly funny, a solid sci-fi, and stacked with an amazing cast of characters. The actual plot involves incredibly good-looking aliens, pregnant teenagers, fighting in space, and then even more aliens. Honestly it's almost too crazy to talk about. There are quite a few twists, though most of them can be easily predicted in advance -- not that it takes anything away from this book, which is much more a comedy than a mystery or suspense novel. While I'm sure those with a bit more sci-fi and world-building knowledge than I have might be able to poke a few holes in this plot, I was just happy to be along for the ride. Elvie's definitely one of the best protagonists I've read this year and I'll admit that I really fell for the romantic aspect of this story.

And while I was dreading the cliffhanger ending I'm happy to report that while this book (which, yes, is the first in a planned trilogy -- fingers crossed it doesn't get cancelled!) doesn't tie up all the loose ends, it also doesn't end on an infuriating cliffhanger, but instead had a little question mark of an ending. I I have any complaints with this book it's that some of the more violent parts were difficult for me to get through. It's all what I think of as comic-book violence (like the POW, KAPOW! of the old animated Batman show), but still there was just a little much of it for me. That said, this is definitely a winner. It's a sci-fi comedy full of heart. A crazy combination that totally, totally works.

Review: A Million Suns

A MILLION SUNS
Beth Revis
Razorbill

Warning: this review contains spoilers for the FIRST book in the Godspeed trilogy, Across The Universe.

With Elder as the new leader of Godspeed, things are different. He's determined to lead his people without the use of Phydus and to face the truth of what's wrong with Godspeed. This is, of course, more complex than it at first seems as it quickly becomes apparent that Godspeed's problems are deeper than he ever imagined and that, without Phydus or the firm leadership of Eldest, the society on Godspeed is falling apart. While some people are depressed, others still take their newfound freedom to new heights, demanding a change in leadership. Meanwhile, food supplies are dwindling and Amy's on her own quest to discover what lies at the end of the mysterious clues Orion left for her as well as struggling with her feelings for Elder.

I am so glad I kept reading this series. In my review of Across The Universe, I stated that it was a book I wanted to like so much more than I actually did, but that the world was complex and interesting enough to keep me interested in the sequel. As it turns out, I was right. A Million Suns is the rare sequel that actually surpasses the first book. It's complex, mysterious, interesting, and all the different plots are woven together so neatly. As in the first book, there's a series of murders, but there's also so much other stuff happening. Dwindling food supplies. Rebellious or depressed citizens. For Amy, there's the threat of Luthor (the man who attempted to rape her in the first book) around citizens of Godspeed who still regard her as a "freak." Elder has to contend with being thrust into a position of power at a young age, and must somehow gain control of the ship's population all while he tries to fix the numerous problems - most of them hidden from everyone else - that are happening. Elder and Amy's storylines fit together perfectly and while I still sometimes had some trouble differentiating between their voices, because everything else was so good it bothered me less this time.

Though I wasn't a fan of the reveal of the murderer near the end of this book (the scene felt a little overwrought to me), the ending itself was fantastic, with the different storylines coming together so nicely and a perfect set up for the last book in the trilogy. Having read this second book in the series I can say that I definitely recommend the Godspeed trilogy for anyone wanting a good, honest sci-fi series. Call it dystopian if you want, but this book (and series) is so solidly sci-fi and I love it for that.

Review: Unwind

UNWIND
Neal Shusterman
Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing

I rarely do this, but for Unwind I'm using Goodread's summary of the book because it's much better than whatever I might write: "The Second Civil War was fought over reproductive rights. The chilling resolution: Life is inviolable from the moment of conception until age thirteen. Between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, however, parents can have their child "unwound," whereby all of the child's organs are transplanted into different donors, so life doesn't technically end. Connor is too difficult for his parents to control. Risa, a ward of the state is not enough to be kept alive. And Lev is a tithe, a child conceived and raised to be unwound. Together, they may have a chance to escape and to survive."


I'd been hearing about this book for a while, but never really planned to read it until I came across it at the used bookstore and decided to give it a try. There are a myriad of problems, I think, with the chilling premise of this book. Like, whatever your views on abortion are, I can't imagine anyone thinking oh, yeah, this is a good idea. Compromise! Huzzah! But the amazing thing here is that, despite the problems I had with the premise the writing was such that it made this creepy, horrible thing feel completely real. Usually, I'm a very character-driven reader and the surprising thing is that, with this book, I didn't particularly like any of the characters. The book itself is very plot-driven and this plot was good enough to keep me completely riveted despite not hugely caring about the characters. Shusterman twists certain things (like the Humpty Dumpty nursery rhyme, or storks bringing babies) from our current culture for his futuristic world, and makes them fit perfectly, which makes the book both more real and more creepy.


Each of the three characters in this book have a slightly different set of circumstances, which gives a broad view of the society within Unwind. While rebellious, short-tempered Connor is the typical "Unwind" -- difficult to control, often thought of as a criminal type -- the other two come from very different situations and the one thing that unites these three is the reality they're faced with: the unwinding. Will they die? Or will it be like everyone tells them -- just a change? None of them know, and the prospect of finding out is terrifying. However, we do find out, in bits and pieces (how appropriate) as the book heads to its ultimate, surprising, climax. Though this is set to be the first in a trilogy, it works well as a stand-alone.

Review: Cinder

CINDER
Marissa Meyer
Feiwel and Friends

Cinder is a teenage girl and the best mechanic in New Beijing. She's also a Cyborg -- 32.68% robotics. With the "blue plague" plaguing Earth's society and the threat of war (or worse...) from Lunars, the advanced, human-like creatures who live on the moon. When Cinder's step-sister, the only human who cares for her, is taken ill by the blue plague, Cinder's evil stepmother offers her as a test subject for an antidote -- something no Cyborg has survived -- only for Cinder to discover she's immune to the disease that's killing her world. Of course, this discovery just leads to more discoveries, most of them surrounding the Lunars, their evil queen, and the fate of Earth.

Full disclosure: I've never liked the Cinderella story. Even as a kid I thought it was pretty stupid that Cinderella did absolutely nothing for herself and was basically handed her happily-ever-after thanks to a fairy godmother. Thankfully, this isn't the case here. Though a retelling of the more traditional Cinderella tale, Cinder uses the elements of the story very creatively and, best of all, gives Cinder actual backbone. She's smart and resourceful, sure, but more than that she insists on standing up for herself, which was refreshing.

This is a solidly sci-fi retelling of the tale and I loved every element of it -- the Cyborgs, Androids, and Lunars as well as the hints of fairytale -- so it's surprising and a little sad that I didn't altogether love it. My thoughts on this book are a little bit conflicted and at least some of that has to do with my own personal tastes as a reader. I like character-driven books. And, in plot-driven stories like this one, I like well-developed characters who can carry the plot, who make me care about it. While Cinder, Prince Kaito, and the rest of the characters were good, there was something missing. The book was so plot-driven and so full of nearly nonstop action that it was difficult to really get to know these characters beyond the part they played in the story. I'm sorry to say that it's a good bet none of these characters will make a huge impression on me or linger in my mind for days the way the best characters always do. The emotional scenes didn't have the impact on me that I would have expected or liked them to, and I think this is probably due to the fact that though I liked the characters, I didn't really really care about them the way you need to for emotional heft.

The book as a whole felt almost like a prequel to the story's progression in the next three books of the series, but I found myself confused about certain fairly important points regarding Cinder's world. I wanted to know why Cyborgs are considered less than human -- how much robot are they? We know Cinder's percentage, but what's the difference between the Cyborgs of New Beijing and people today who have prosthetic limbs or rebuilt joints? More explanation on points like this, which would be obvious to the characters and the writer, but not to readers, would have been nice.

However, though I was confused about some of the world-building things, the "twists" in the book were obvious from the get-go. Nothing here surprised me and on the one hand this means that Cinder's discoveries were foreshadowed well, but on the other hand... I wanted to be surprised. For as awesomely action-packed as this book was, it was also predictable to the point of almost being boring -- like I said, it feels like a prequel or prologue to the rest of the story that this series will cover.

I don't want this review to sound like I didn't like the book because despite all my issues with it, it was an enjoyable read for me. Meyer has turned the traditional Cinderella story into something fantastic and made her futuristic world completely original. Despite the predictability, it was fun noticing all the fairy tale elements that are in play and Cinder's journey is such a departure from what you'd expect from a fairy tale retelling. I'm a reader who goes for characters and their relationships above all else; the fact that I didn't really connect to any of these characters hampered my connection to the book, but definitely doesn't take away from the fact that the story is pretty incredible. It's an original world and an original concept. As with Across the Universe, I'm more excited about the full series than book one and I just hope that by the time the second book comes out my enthusiasm for the series hasn't faded away.

Review: The Future of Us

THE FUTURE OF US
Jay Asher & Carolyn Mackler
Razorbill

It's 1996 and Emma's friend Josh has just given her an AOL CD-ROM to go with the computer her dad bought her. When she creates an email address, she accidentally stumbles fifteen years into the future -- onto her future self's Facebook page. Once they get past thinking the page is an elaborate practical joke, Emma and Josh realize that they can see their futures -- and what they see isn't what they're expecting. As Emma tries to change the future and Josh tries to hang on to it, each of them must take a step towards what they want now.

I'm just old enough to be totally spazzing out about a book set in the 90s. All the references! The sly future in-jokes! I'm old enough to remember 1996, in a very child-like way (because, um, I was SIX) but honestly I don't think the time period is going to throw off a lot of teen readers the way you might expect. Even if someone doesn't remember the particular reference or year, they'll easily find their footing amidst all the music references and VHS-talk. This book has a cool mix of being slightly old-school and offering up Back-to-the-Future-style shenanigans; this is where it's true appeal lies. The premise is pure AWESOME.

Beyond the premise, I didn't always love the two main characters, Emma and Josh. Emma, who goes a bit crazy with trying to change her future, is a bit prickly. She seems to know exactly who she doesn't want to be, but has no idea who she does want to be and there were many points in the book where I just got irritated with her as I felt like she kept missing the point. She could be a little dense. Josh, on the other hand, is the ultimate Nice Guy. He's got a crush on Emma (or did, at least) and finds it easy to go along with what she and her other friends suggest without making many decisions for himself. If the book had been reliant on the characters alone, it would have been an okay-but-bland read. Luckily, this wasn't the case. Some readers might not love that the future world Emma and Josh discover can be changed by the decisions they make in 1996, but I thought this was a great part of the book and brought into play some incredibly interesting themes having to do with happiness, personal responsibility, and the ripples that seemingly small changes can create in the future. Though I sometimes felt like Emma went too far in her small-changes-big-ripples idea, I liked that this part of time-bending-warping stuff (whatever you call it) was brought up.

There are quite a few subplots in this book - most of which would be spoilers to talk about - and I did find myself wishing the book had dealt with them better in the end. While some were things that really didn't need to be resolved, the ending seemed to come too suddenly and there were loose ends that I wish had been tied up a bit neater.

But The Future of Us isn't about it's subplots, or it's ending, or even Emma and Josh, really. It's about seeing your future and figuring out what to do if you don't like it - or if you do - and it's about remembering the now even as you're focused on what comes next. This is a quick, immensely fun read, and though it feels lighthearted, it will leave you thinking.


The Future of Us comes out Nov. 21st.

Review: Life As We Knew It

LIFE AS WE KNEW IT
Susan Beth Pfeffer
Harcourt Children's Books

When a meteor crashes into the moon and knocks it off course, a bit closer to earth, things start going haywire. Overnight the climate changes so dramatically that Miranda and her family are stockpiling food and blankets, preparing for the hard times ahead. On both coasts there's flooding and there are lengthy lists of the dead, but Miranda and her family are safe - at least at first. Told through Miranda's diary entries, this is the story of the end of the world as we know it. It's a startlingly simple concept, with scary realistic results as Miranda's mother becomes obsessed with having enough food and the rule quickly becomes: family - and only family - first.

I can't believe I waited so long to read this one. Though Miranda's personality is a bit of a mystery, this is still a great book. Unlike most of what I read, it's very much plot-driven and it doesn't matter so much who Miranda and her family are as much as how they get through. The reactions to the earth's sudden emergency are realistic and, thank goodness, smart. Miranda's mother immediately fills up the car with gas, pulls her children out of school, and concentrates on getting as much food and other necessities as possible. Better safe than sorry.

At first, Miranda thinks her mother's crazy; there's no way they'll need this much food, or long underwear, or so much medicine. But her disbelief quickly changes as instead of getting better, the planet gets worse. Soon she's cut off from all of her friends, everyone she used to know is a stranger while her world is narrowed to include only her mother, two brothers, and the elderly neighbor they consider part of their family. Everyone is deciding what matters most and how to best survive, and sometimes the choices of others put Miranda at odds with them. There's a religious subplot that I can only explain as strange, but with one exception I was surprised by the realistic actions of these characters. This is very much a story of family and survival in the hardest of times, and there's little to talk about because everything was done so well. It's definitely a disturbing and scary little book, but not enough to stop me from recommending it. The characters are pushed to their limits and while it's unsettling, there's a certain comfort in the way they handle things and the reflection of ourselves in them. There's a theme of the importance and strength of family running through this book that gives it heart.

Review: Girl Parts

GIRL PARTS
John M. Cusick
Candlewick Press

(SPOILER Note: I try very hard in reviews not to post anything that could be considered a spoiler. However, for this book there were elements I felt important to discuss that happen later in the book and could be considered spoilers by some, so read with caution.)

Rose isn't a real girl. She's a seriously life-like robot, specially calibrated as a "companion" for David, a teenage boy so disassociated from real life that his parents have decided a friendship with a Sakura Doll would be a good idea for him since it would help him become emotionally close to another person. Or in this case, a robot. The problem comes when David's more interested in a physical relationship than an emotional one and Rose finds herself separated from her Boy, saved by Charlie, an outsider who has some reservations about the whole "companion" thing. As much as the girl-is-a-robot idea is an awesome premise, the book's focus on the sexual aspect gives it a very, very weird vibe. And this is sad because underneath that this book - and Rose - has real heart as well as something to say.

David, the Boy that Rose is assigned to, is a hard character to like. He's callous, arrogant, spoiled, entitled, and gives us no reason to empathize with him or care about his situation. Rose though - she's programmed to love him. Even when he does things that frighten her or that she doesn't understand, he's still her main focus. Her everything. And when he's taken away from her, she finds herself lost and heartbroken, with no idea who or how to be without him. This, I think, is the real strength of Girl Parts. There's an exploration of love, heartbreak, companionship, and male-female roles that I absolutely loved. As Rose - with the help of loner-boy Charlie - tries to figure out who she is, who she has any possibility of being without David, she learns that she has interests and ideas outside of what David wanted her to think. She wonders how other girls - real ones - can "switch" boys and how she can ever get over the pain of loving and losing David. As much as David was an unlikable and unsympathetic character, the emotions that Rose exhibits are - regardless of the source - very real and very interesting to view through the scope of programming. Because it turns out a heartbroken Sakura Doll isn't very far off from a heartbroken human, as Rose learns.

I wish this, Rose's heartbreak and personal journey, had been the primary focus of the story, but it wasn't. To be honest I'm not even clear on whether Rose or David and Charlie were the main characters. Instead, there's a huge focus on sex; first with David and later with Rose when she seems to decide that lack of sex organs is what separates her from being not only the girl that David wants but also a "real" girl. The irony here is that Rose is the most realistically human character in the book and robot or not, I found it easy to relate to her. However certain decisions she makes in the last third of the book sent the story in an (even weirder) direction that had me wondering what the heck just happened? From there the book quickly unravels, ending with what doesn't even seem like an ending in that there really is no resolution. As a reader I was left confused and wanted another chapter to tie up the free-floating plot points.

There were elements of this book that I absolutely loved, but then there were elements I didn't understand, didn't like, or just could not get on board with. Unfortunately it's these less-than-stellar elements that make up the majority of the novel and will probably make it difficult for many readers to enjoy. If you're into sci-fi, give it a try, but don't be surprised if it doesn't work for you.

Review - Wild Child

WILD CHILD
Mike Wells
self-published

When his best friend Brie is hit by a speedboat while swimming in the lake, Kyle's sure she's dead. There's no way to survive a blow like that. But when Brie reemergest from the water a few minutes later, she's strangely energetic and her wounds are already closing up. Brie has found a green water at the bottom of the lake that seems to have healing powers. Soon, Kyle and Brie are on the run from government officials who want their discovery -- to make things worse, Brie's health is fading fast the longer she stays away from the green water.

This book is straight-up sci fi; the story starts up right away with a minimum of backstory. Kyle and Brie aren't the most compelling characters by themselves, but their relationship is interesting enough to pull me into the story and their bond does a good job of grounding what is an incredibly unbelievable story. Unlike most scifi I've read, this one takes place in our world and as impossible as it is to believe this "green water" heals and gives the ability to breathe underwater, I accept this part of the story wholeheartedly because that's how Kyle reacts.

That said, though I bought into the premise of the green water, this story still leaves a lot of questions unanswered. Not only are we left to wonder just what, exactly, the green water actually is, but also: who are these government agents? Why is Kyle so sure they're bad? Why do they want the green water so badly? This is a super-short novel and because of that there are certain aspects -- like Kyle's relationship with his dad -- that aren't fully developed. In most cases, this is fine; the story is focused exclusively on Kyle, Brie, and the mysterious green water that Brie is dying without.

For me, this biggest issue with this book is the sudden, bizarre ending. I had to read it a few times just to be sure what I thought happened actually happened. This ending seems to come out of nowhere and apropos of nothing, but that's not entirely a bad thing. For a novel, it's definitely a head-scratcher, but this entire book reads less like a novel and more like a very long short story, where unresolved questions and sudden endings are more common. And for that it works well.
This book is published as an eBook for both the Kindle and the Nook. 

*ebook received from author

Review - Human .4

HUMAN .4
Mike A. Lancaster
Egmont USA

Kyle only volunteered to be hypnotized at the local talent show to save his friend some embarrassment, but during the time that he's out, something happens. Not to him or to the other three volunteers on stage with him, but to everybody else. When Kyle wakes up his parents might look the same and sound the same, but there's definitely something inexplicably off about them, as well as everyone else in town. Add to this the fact that phones, televisions, computers -- nothing -- works anymore, and there's a definitely threat of something dangerous looming larger. As Kyle and the others who were hypnotized wonder if the problem might be with them and not everybody around them, they head out of town to find out just what happened to the world -- or to them -- while they were under hypnosis.

The narrative style of this book is one I haven't seen since Jay Asher's Thirteen Reasons Why. Kyle's account of what happened to him is transcribed from old cassette tapes with asides from a future society to explain parts of his story as well as the "primitive" human society of the early 21st century. These "academic notes" are easily some of the best parts of the book, offering a glimpse into parts of the big picture of this story that we know little to nothing about through Kyle's narration.

In terms of plot, I'm hesitant to say too much as this book is very much a mystery and a lot of what actually happens during and after the hypnosis isn't revealed until the end of the book. While this definitely makes for a story you want to keep reading, it also means that there's a lot of questions without answers. As the story is told from Kyle's POV (point-of-view) and there's a lot he doesn't know, this makes sense but it does leave a lot to the imagination.

For readers looking for more science fiction in YA, this is definitely a story we haven't seen before. It's not dystopian, but it is suspenseful and plot-driven, a welcome addition to sci-fi in YA.

Review: Across the Universe

ACROSS THE UNIVERSE
Beth Revis

I've had this book sitting on my shelf for months, waiting for the new year to read it. This is the first YA sci-fi I've found and it takes place on, as the cover says, a "spaceship fueled by lies." Amy is a teenage Earth girl who was cryogenically frozen 250 years ago - before the ship took off for it's 300 year journey to a new planet. Elder is the teenage heir to the ship's tyrannical current leader, Eldest. Together, Amy and Elder must not only keep Amy safe aboard a ship where she's labeled as a "freak," but also figure out who keeps unplugging the cyro chambers, killing the people inside of them.

The premise here - murder and lies aboard a spaceship - is fantastic like woah. However, despite the description on the back cover of this book there are lots of little subplots inside that sometimes distract from the main story. Elder's interest in his biological parents is a subplot that doesn't really come in until the very end of the novel and other storylines, such as Harley's story and the character of Luthe, felt either out-of-place or like they should have been bigger than they were. The murder mystery aspect gets forgotten for a time, so much that when it came back into the story I'd almost forgotten about it. However, despite the many storylines the ship's mysteries are incredibly interesting and make this sometimes-slow-moving book a page-turner.

While a few of the characters seemed a little one-dimensional, for the most part they were awesome and realistic as they dealt with life on the ship. The two lead charcters, Amy and Elder, were especially awesome - Amy as she navigated her way through a world where everyone just seems a little bit off and tries to make peace with having to live with these people for the rest of her life, and Elder as he tries to protect Amy and find out what secrets Eldest is hiding from him. Probably the biggest issue I had with these characters was the fact that after a while Amy and Elder's voices (the book is told from their alternate POVs) started to sound very similar and I sometimes had to double-check whose chapter I was reading.

I can't review this book without talking about the setting. OH MY GOODNESS THE SETTING. There is a whole world on board the spaceship called Godspeed, and though it's very obviously a dystopian society it didn't remind me at all of other dystopian books I've read. Here, everything is the same. There is one race, no religion, and most everyone on the ship seems incredibly empty-headed, incapable of believing anything different from what Eldest tells them to believe. The exception here are the "crazy" people in the Ward, including Elder and Harley, who almost seem like real people. The outlooks on art, sex, and individual thought is bizarre to say the very least. 

This book was different from what I was expecting. There were more mysteries, more intrigue, and less romance than I was expecting. And though I didn't totally love it, I did like it quite a lot and now I find that I can't stop thinking about it. Across the Universe is one of those books that I want to like more than I do, that's different from what I expected, and that I'm eager for the sequel to. Yeah, all of that.

*Across the Universe comes out Jan. 11

In My Mailbox: Introducing... Music!

So I saw someone else doing this and it seemed like a good idea to me, so from now on my IMM posts will include books and music that I've gotten in the past week.

THE BOOKS

From Publishers: Razorbill sent me this one and SERIOUSLY SERIOUSLY SO EXCITED ABOUT IT OMG OMG OMG. I completely geeked out when I opened the package. I'm very excited for a straight-up sci-fi in YA. This one comes out in January, so the review won't be posted for a while (and hopefully I can resist reading it until closer to the pub date, too).

Gift: Korianne sent me this one when she mailed back the Get Smart disc she'd borrowed. AND WOOOO YAY SO HAPPY. The former glory of my BSC collection is once again being realized... slowly. (Also, this totally has a shiny cover, even though you can't tell from the photo.)

THE MUSIC

Bought: I was really really really hoping Taylor Swift's next album would actually sound like country music, the way her first album did, but it's not looking like it. That said, I'm a little obsessed with the song Speak Now and have listened to it SO MANY TIMES. And the Kesha song is the first song on the playlist for my current WIP. It just fits in so perfectly.

In My Mailbox: Science Fiction, the South, and... Violence?

There was no IMM last week because there were no new books to talk about, BUT THIS IS THIS WEEK AND THIS WEEK THERE ARE BOOKS OHHH YES. But first let's all take a second to realize that today is 10/10/10, which is pretty awesome just because IT IS.

From Publishers: An ARC of VIOLENCE 101, by Denis Wright, sent to me by Penguin. It seems quite a bit darker than my typical read, but it also looks terribly interesting, so that's good.

Borrowing: I'm trying to read more science fiction, so my friend gave me these to borrow. The novel looks kind of intense and intimidating (but I haven't started it, so I really can't say) and I'm super-excited about the book of short stories, because there has to be SOMETHING in there I'll really like.

Gift! Of course I've saved the best for last. My mom bought this one for me and I cannot wait until I have time to tackle this epic. BECAUSE I LOVE IT SO MUCH BEST BOOK EVERRRR WIN WIN WIN WIN.