The end is here (boo) for our Young Adult Appreciation Month and we go out with a bang! Or rather with one of our …

FLASH GIVEAWAY:

You know the score, a Flash giveaway is a contest that runs for 24 hours only. This time around we have two YA batches to giveaway to two lucky winners (one batch each):

Batch one:

Jessica’s Guide to Dating on the Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey
Marked by PC Cast
Tithe by Holy Black (signed by the author)

Batch two:

Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan
You are SO Undead to Me by Stacey Jay
Libyrinth by Pearl North

To win one of the batches, leave a comment saying which one you prefer. Contest is open to everyone and runs till the end of the day today (ie Saturday 22nd, 11:59PM Pacific). Winners will be announced in our Sunday stash. GO!

A while back – last Christmas, to be exact – I got my buddy Kyle a book.

Actually, let me backtrack.

Kyle is a burgeoning reader; when I first met him, he’d just started to read the Twilight books by Stephenie Meyer (in fact, he now has my old copies of the books). And since then, he’s been on the lookout for reading recommendations, mostly of the young adult persuasion. So, after lending him a few of my favorite titles (Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer, Mara, Daughter of the Nile by Eloise Jarvis McGraw – which I still think he has…Kyle??) I decided a great Christmas present would be The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. It’s a young adult novel, but off the beaten path of YA paranormals. In turn Kyle offered to review the book for us here, as an honorary Smuggler – of course Ana and I were thrilled at the prospect! But, as the year carried on, we all kind of forgot about it. Then, a couple of weeks back, Kyle told me he had finished the book and LOVED it. So, naturally, we were back on.

Without further ado, ladies and gents, please give it up for Mr. Kyle Quon and his guest review of The Book Thief!!

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Publisher: Alfred Knopf / Random House, 2005
Length: 552 Illustrious pages

Summary: Liesel Meminger is The Book Thief; a 9 year old girl growing up in 1930’s Nazi Germany. Through her stealing of books, she helps support her family and friends, and in the process of doing so discovers the horrors and beauty of human nature.

Review:

To be honest, I’ve been putting off reading this book for months. I really have no excuse especially with how much I enjoyed reading this book.

Before I can begin even reviewing the content of the book, I need to place into perspective. The Book Thief is told from the first person narrative of Death. Yes, the Grim Reaper. I must also mention that the book has a very unorthodox style of categorization. On the very first page and throughout, there are facts, reactions, announcements and general clarification by the narrator in bold type on the page. **HERE IS A FACT: ZUSAK IS A CRAFTSMAN OF A WRITER** More than just a literary novel, this is the composition of a story- similar to how a parent tells a personal story to their child. Death as a narrator treats the reader to the story of a girl that touched his very existence, so much that an average way of telling her life would be just that: average. Perhaps the most surprising and non disturbing in the least is that our narrator has a conscience, however apathetic it may be.

Death literally takes us by the hand and drops the reader off at the beginning scene of the book; a snowy railroad track. Liesel standing by her mother who has her dead younger brother in her arms and has died from the bitter cold. The train guards bring the family back onto the train once they decide that the dead body is none of their responsibility, and force them off the train at the next stop to have the Memingers figure out what to do with the body. A small yet central theme of The Book Thief is the consequences of responsibility or lack thereof. What we eventually learn is that some of the characters in the book live and die because of what they should or should not have been doing. At the cemetery where they bury her brother’s cold and lifeless body is where The Book Thief gains her namesake. As one of the grave diggers begins to bury the body, a small black book falls out of the digger’s pocket. Haunted by the image of her dead brother, she clings for any material thing to hold onto him by and seizes her first book: The Grave Diggers Handbook.

We learn the reason for their train ride was that Liesel’s mother was on her way to placing her and her brother into a foster home. After Liesel is pulled from her mother, she is taken to a small town called Molching, an small rural town. She is taken to the home of Hans and Rosa Hubermann, a set of experienced foster parents with their own set of issues, not the least of which is that they are somewhat poor. Rosa is an abrasive, cussing, “squat” figure. Hans, a warm hearted, quiet, nurturing father. Thanks to The Book Thief, I can now swear with aplomb with words like “arschloch” (exactly what it sounds like- asshole. ) and “Saumensch” (female pig), common words out of Rosa Hubermann’s mouth. As you might imagine by their character traits, Liesel immediately takes to her father and is put to work by her stern mother, helping with washing clothes for others in the town. After Hans discovers Liesel’s treasured book, but that she does not know how to read, he begins to teach her through the use of painting (his profession) letters and the corresponding objects that start with the letter.

The Book Thief’s world begins to evolve from a forlorn child into some realm of normalcy. She becomes friends with her neighbor Rudy Steiner; a child much as your typical kid next door. As her life develops within her home, school and circle of friends; the one thing she has for herself are books. Her father trades cigarettes for books as her christmas gift, and she begins to get better at reading- going through her books sometimes dozens of times.

When all seems to be going normally for Liesel and the Hubermanns (well, as normal as a country gearing up for war can be), an old favor is redeemed. In the first world war, Hans was selected to help his Captain write a few letters while the rest of his company went to battle- of which none returned. His best friend in the army was Erik Vandenburg, who like Hans was more into cigarettes and cards than war and guns. Erik taught Hans to play the accordion, and when he returned from war, met with Erik’s widow and his infant son, Max. Hans promises that should they ever need something, he would help to the best of his ablilty. Now as the second world war is looming, Max has grown up (a Jew) and while others are being sent to concentration camps, Max tries to flee. With nowhere to go, he asks Hans Hubermann to hide him in his basement. It is this part of the story where we learn the human faces of Nazi Germany: Max- one of sadness yet hope; and that of the Fuhrer (German for leader / Hitler)- one of hate and anger. It seems that Liesel and the Hubermanns are of the few in their town that see past simple looks and do not hate the Jews.

Rather than give away the whole book, i’d like to focus on 2 things in particular that I was particularly touched by. The first is that this unconventionally written book also has pictures. Much as I previously mentioned, this is a story. For her twelfth birthday, her parents give her a book. It is at this point in The Book Thief that Max and Liesel begin to become very close. He has nothing to give her, though he promises himself to give her something for her birthday. He rips pages out of Hitler’s Mein Kampf and paints over them to form blank pages. From these, he fashions his first gift to her- a book called The Standover Man. Essentially a story within a story, The Standover Man incorporates pictures along with a short story that Max writes for Liesel about his own life. The crux of his story is that he has always had men standing over him. First his father when he is born, then when he is growing up the children that would beat him up in the schoolyard fights. The “Standover Men” continually change to his friend who hides him in his basement from the Nazi’s, and then the most important “Standover Man” of all is actually a female; Liesel. She who stood over and watched him when he was sick and on the verge of dying after catching a severe cold. After reading this part of the story, I literally turned the pages back and reread it a few times. Zusak’s integration of drawings add another level of realism and depth to The Book Thief. This is precisely the type of imagery that make this book amazing.

As you may imagine, books are a large symbol in The Book Thief. More so than simply things that she steals, books represent a much broader ideal for Liesel Meminger and for the reader. Books are nothing except for a collection of words. It is the choice of words, the placement and formulation of words that do so many things: express feelings, remind us of the past, and explain our lives. It is words that brought Germany to arms, and eventually to its knees. Words of hate and intolerance, words that placed a race of people in the scope of another and made our narrator, Death, carry away millions of souls. Words can hurt, and conversely as we find out from The Book Thief; they have the capacity to heal and give way to hope.

I would highly recommend The Book Thief, if not for its entertaining twists; for the depth in which its ideas are presented. The Book Thief is complex in its intertwining of symbols, thoughts and messages it offers. My only caution would be that it begins fairly slowly- I had to tread through about 60 pages before I was pulled in. Also getting used to the voice and candor of Death, the narrator took some getting used to. However by the end of the story the narration spoiled me. It made me wish that all books I read had a voice, one that reasoned and revealed. There is even a discussion prompt in the back, apparently they market the book to even younger readers. Regardless of its intentions, this was a story that anyone can get something out of. The Book Thief goes past a simple “feel good reading” and illustrates the bleak and beautiful things we each are capable of.

Thank you Kyle for the wonderful, thorough review! Hopefully we’ll see more of Kyle around these parts in the future…

Title: Rapunzel’s Revenge

Author: Shannon Hale & Dean Hale

Illustrator: Nathan Hale

Genre: Fantasy, Fairy Tale Retelling, Graphic Novel, Young Adult

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Publication Date: August 2008
Hardcover: 144 pages

Stand alone or series: Stand alone graphic novel.

Why did we read this book: How could we close out YA Appreciation Month without covering at least one graphic novel? Since Thea loved Shannon Hale’s Bayern series, and because of the awesome concept for this book, we eagerly agreed to do a joint review of this reimagining of Rapunzel. (I mean come on! It’s Rapunzel choosing not to wait for rescue and going out for revenge on her own. In the Wild West. With her hair as a lasso/whip. AWESOME.)

Summary: (from amazon.com)
Once upon a time, in a land you only think you know, lived a little girl and her mother . . . or the woman she thought was her mother.

Every day, when the little girl played in her pretty garden, she grew more curious about what lay on the other side of the garden wall . . . a rather enormous garden wall.

And every year, as she grew older, things seemed weirder and weirder, until the day she finally climbed to the top of the wall and looked over into the mines and desert beyond.

Newbery Honor-winning author Shannon Hale teams up with husband Dean Hale and brilliant artist Nathan Hale (no relation) to bring readers a swashbuckling and hilarious twist on the classic story as you’ve never seen it before. Watch as Rapunzel and her amazing hair team up with Jack (of beanstalk fame) to gallop around the wild and western landscape, changing lives, righting wrongs, and bringing joy to every soul they encounter.

REVIEW:

First Impressions:

Thea: Rapunzel’s Revenge is a little different from the few comics I usually read – certainly a far cry from Bill Willingham’s Fables series! – but in a very sweet, refreshing way. I loved this young adult fairy tale reimagining from first glance. This take on Rapunzel has the original Brothers Grimm background, but it dramatically transforms Rapunzel from a passive princess into the heroine of her own destiny, eager to thwart her so-called Mother, (the Evil Witch who stole Rapunzel when she was just a child) and to save her real mother from hard labor in the mines. Throw in a vagabond companion named Jack – yes, THAT Jack – bandits, gunslingers, angry and oppressed ranchers and dwarfs, and you get the wonder that is Rapunzel’s Revenge. I loved it.

Ana: I never read any of Shannon Hale’s books before and now I ask myself why, WHY, WHY?! After reading the first 30 pages of Rapunzel’s Revenge I knew two things: 1) that I loved this version of Rapunzel with the force of a thousand thunderstorms and 2) that I would be glomming Mrs Hale’s backlist pronto. Because this reimagining is imaginative, creative, funny and ever so empowering for girls – Damsel in Distress, saved by her hero?? Hell noes.

On the Plot:

Rapunzel’s Revenge takes the basic Grimm collected fairy tale as its base: a farmer couple finally gets pregnant after years of trying, much to their delight. But the wife develops an insatiable urge for rapunzel, a type of lettuce, planted in the garden of the couple’s witch neighbor. Her yearning for the rapunzel grows so strong that she know she will die without it, so her husband has no choice but to scale the wall surrounding the witch’s garden and steal some of the lettuce. On the third night of his endeavors, however, he’s discovered by the witch (named Dame Gothel) who spares his life in exchange for the life of his unborn child. Once the child is born, Dame Gothel cashes in on her bet and raises the baby girl – named, of course, Rapunzel – as her own. When Rapunzel turns 12, she imprisons her in a high tower in the woods, without doors and only a single window, visiting her every day but leaving every night. One night a prince is traveling through the woods and hears Rapunzel’s singing, falls in love, she lets down her hair to let him climb up, etc. The witch discovers them, cuts off Rapunzel’s golden locks, tricks the prince and blinds him. Later, he hears Rapunzel’s singing, her tears heal his blindness and they live happily ever after.

In Rapunzel’s Revenge, things are a little different. The first part of the fairy tale is true – Rapunzel is taken from her parents when she’s only a child and Mother Gothel raises her as her own. But by the time Rapunzel turns twelve, she is able to scale the wall surrounding the hacienda-like home she shares with her supposed mother – and she sees the ruins of the outside world, including her real mother. When Rapunzel confronts Mother Gothel and demands the truth, she is thrown into an isolated tower. As the years pass, her hair grows incredibly long…and then she decides she’s had enough of sitting and waiting around. Using her hair as a rope, she swings to a tree and makes her way to the ground. From there, she runs into a rogue thief named Jack (who is guarding a goose with his live), and together the two of them strike out back to Mother Gothel’s mansion, to save Rapunzel’s mother and to exact revenge.

Thea: Rapunzel’s Revenge is a melange of familiar fairy tales, using not only Rapunzel as inspiration, but also the likes of Jack and the Beanstalk and the dwarves of Snow White – all set against the backdrop of the wild west. And, I gotta say, I think I prefer this retelling of the fairy tale to the original! First off, Ana and I are suckers for westerns (no seriously, we had a whole Western Week to prove it), and what better way to spice up an old story than with some southwest flair? And, strangely enough, the story fits the setting beautifully. Rapunzel’s Revenge is a traveling tale, where Rapunzel and Jack work for their keep, protecting frightened and disenfranchised villagers, stopping horse thief outlaws, and slaying troublesome critters. In each dustblown town they ride to, Rapunzel and Jack always find trouble – but it’s all part of the fun of their adventure together.

I loved the different episodes they go through (not to mention the scene of their first meeting, when Jack’s dressed up as a lady trying to work as a barmaid), and the rapport that begins between these two characters. The writing is solid, as per usual with Shannon Hale – I loved the Books of Bayern by this author, but I was unfamiliar with Dean Hale’s writing and Nathan Hale’s illustrations. And, I gotta say, this is one talented group. Written by the wife and husband team of Shannon and Dean Hale, Rapunzel’s Revenge uses the same imaginative and subversive storytelling Ms. Hale wrote her Bayern Books with, but with a more comic touch. I am pleased to say that these two authors were able to translate from prose to comic form seamlessly – it’s clever, beautifully plotted and altogether winsome. One of my favorite things about this graphic novel was the dialogue employed, especially for Rapunzel. Really running with the western theme, Rapunzel’s lines are colorfully fun – i.e. “Well I’ll be swigger-jiggered and hung out to dry;” or “I can get off my own horse, you rumdum.” Awesome.

Nathan Hale’s (no relation to wife-husband team Shannon and Dean) illustrations are a little more…illustration-y than I was expecting. They are nicely drawn and use a wide array of colors, and I love that Jack is visualized as a hispanic, darker skinned young man and Rapunzel is channeling Pipi Longstocking with her red braided pigtails. Once I got acclimated to Mr. Hale’s style – as he is a children’s book illustrator and webcomic artist – I loved it.

But the best thing of all about Rapunzel’s Revenge has to be the empowering message it sends to young readers, especially girls. There’s romance and adventure in this book, but it’s all because Rapunzel is willing to get off her butt and save herself. And that, my friends, is a worthy message.

Ana:Yes, Thea, I completely agree. Words cannot describe how much I admired this version of the Rapunzel’s tale – in fact it completely overshadowed the original for me. Already in the first pages , Rapunzel shows spunk and determination and by the end of the novel through the various episodes she and Jack go through, she has turned into a veritable force of nature. From naïve young girl to the loss of that naiveté to becoming a strong-willed woman, every step of the way was a great joy to read and see. A graphic novel is a perfect medium for such a story, as every change in Rapunzel’s life was accompanied by a change in her demeanour. Case in point, the point where she turns into a young woman and replaces a virginal white shirt for trousers and vest. Evidenced here:

(both images copyright Nathan Hale 2007 – from here)

Even though like Thea, it took me some time to get used to the art –which at first seemed rather juvenile (not surprisingly, given this is a YA novel) but eventually turned out to be perfect for the story.

The driving force of Rapunzel’s Revenge is the heroine’s need to set things right – starting with her own story and her own need for revenge but ultimately becoming a proper heroine’s quest for JUSTICE. For all the poor people she and Jack met along the way, that were suffering in the hands of Mother Gothel. The Western set is a perfect fit for the story – oh hell, there is little about the book that is not a perfect fit.

And I absolutely loved the narrative as well, especially how sarcastic Rapunzel could be. At times she would narrate an adventure in one way whilst the illustration showed something else entirely. Like her escape from the tree tower: she says something like how gracefully she jumped from the window and the illustration shows her clumsy making her way out. FUN.

On the Characters:

Thea: It’s all about Rapunzel. Gone is the passive weepy princess of the luscious golden locks – and she’s replaced with a fiery, auburn haired whippersnapper. Shortly after saving herself from her tower prison, she runs across the Hero who was questing to save her – with slightly different results than the fairy tale.

HERO: Are you all right?
RAPUNZEL: Oh…Am I…Am I all right? Well, I was until someone shot my pet pig. I was going to call him Roger.
HERO: You’re welcome! All in a day’s work. I’m an adventuring hero.
RAPUNZEL: Well, it’s nice to meet you. It’s nice to meet anyone, really. Can you give me directions to –
HERO: I was getting so bored watching the workers farm my fields all day. So I left behind the civilized comforts of the Husker City, following tales of a beautiful maiden trapped in a high tower.
RAPUNZEL: Oh! That’s so noble of you to come all this way to help her.
HERO: Yes, noble is a good word for me. I can’t actually rescue her, of course. The word is she’s Mother Gothel’s pet and I won’t risk crossing the old lady. But I can tell her I’m going to rescue her. She’s bound to be too naive to know the difference and it’ll be such fun in the meantime!
RAPUNZEL: Oh.
HERO: So, tiny ragamuffin, as payment for saving you from that rampaging beast, you may point the way to her mystical tower.
RAPUNZEL: Uh, yeah, the tower is a huge tree just back that way, but…but she’s slightly deaf. If you keep calling out, she’ll hear you. Eventually.

Tee hee. Even when Rapunzel teams up with Jack, she’s the muscle of the operation – Jack being more of a thief and conman, naturally. She’s witty, and brave and stubborn as all-get-out, and that makes her a perfect heroine cowgirl in my opinion.

And then, there’s Jack. He’s a true delight as a funny, refreshing hero/sidekick character. He actually reminds me a bit of Razo from River Secrets as a jokester who knows when he’s out of his depth – but he’s much more cunning than Razo in his scheming. When Rapunzel strictly tells Jack that they cannot steal for their food and goods, instead they must earn their way back to Gothel’s Reach, he reluctantly agrees because he is the proverbial thief with a heart of gold. He and his “Punzie” (a nickname that Rapunzel detests) form a strong friendship that evolves into a romantic attachment…and it’s so very sweet.

I mentioned it a bit above, but another thing I think I should mention about Rapunzel’s Revenge is how much I loved the diversity in the characters. By diversity, I mean: Not everyone is white. There are hispanic villagers, there are black characters and asian characters, and best of all, Jack himself (a main character) is dark skinned. Diversity is lacking in a lot of “mainstream” fiction and comics, and I loved to see it represented here especially in this young adult book.

Ana:Again, I have to echo Thea’s thoughts for just about everything. The diversity is welcomed , but most of all, well employed (ie the Hispanic villagers are not used for comic relief for example. *coughlikethemovietheproposalcough*).

Jack was a delight to read as a con-man and a worthy hero – even if his ass had to be saved by Rapunzel over and again , which only added to my delight. Even in the end, in the showdown against Mother Gothel, when everything seemed lost and I feared that Rapunzel would end up having to be rescued, Shannon Hale never let me down and turned my own expectations around. I should have known.

The story really does belong to Rapunzel who shines from cover to cover with her determination, smarts, even her bossiness towards Jack. An absolute delight of a character, an example of a young woman who goes after what she wants.

Final Thoughts, Observations and Rating:

Thea: If you couldn’t tell, I loved Rapunzel’s Revenge. This is a book I will give to my ten year old sister to read because of its imagination, it’s beautiful illustrations, writing, and above all because of its model, empowering heroine. Absolutely recommended.

Ana: I had a LOT of fun reading this, for all the right reasons: writing, illustrations, plot and characters. MORE, please.

Additional Thoughts: Apparently we weren’t the only ones to love Rapunzel’s Revenge – it was nominated for the 2009 Eisner Award for Best Publication for Tweens/Teens (though it lost out to Neil Gaiman’s Coraline). In fact, a sequel is completed and due out next year! Here’s a look at Calamity Jack (love the title):

Jack thinks of himself as a criminal mastermind with an unfortunate amount of bad luck. A schemer, a trickster …maybe even a thief? But, of course, he’s not out for himself he’s trying to take the burden off his hardworking mum’s shoulders. She’d understand, right? He hopes she might even be proud. Then, one day, Jack chooses a target a little more …’giant’ than the usual, and as one little bean turns into a great big building-destroying beanstalk, his troubles really begin. But with help from Rapunzel and other eccentric friends, Jack just might out-swindle the evil giants and put his beloved city back in the hands of the people who live there …whilst catapulting them and the reader into another fantastical adventure.

You can check out some of the other cover drafts and art by clicking on the thumbnails below:

Also, check out this non-official trailer for Rapunzel’s Revenge. We think it captures the spirit of the book beautifully.

Rating:

Thea: 8 – Excellent

Ana: 8 – Excellent

Reading Next: Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson

Alexander Gordon Smith is the writer of the Inventors series for children and the YA/Fantasy Furnace series. I met  Gordon  in London at a Forbidden Planet’s event (the Guillermo del Toro signing) and prompted by his passionate talk about his books, I decided to give Furnace a go and wouldn’t you know, I LOVED it.

When we decided to extend our YA Month, I thought we should invite Gordon to write a guest post and he came up with what we think is one of the bravest Inspirations post we have ever been graced with:
__________

Inspiration for Furnace

Alexander Gordon Smith

It’s often difficult to pinpoint exactly where the inspiration for any book comes from. But I guess with Furnace: Lockdown it can be boiled down to one truth:

Alex Sawyer is Alexander Gordon Smith. Or at least he’s the person I could have become.

In the first draft, Alex (the main character) didn’t have the name Sawyer, he had the name Smith. And it wasn’t just my name he shared – in many ways he was me, with the same loves, the same fears, the same insecurities. I never set out to write a book with myself as the main character, but as soon as Alex took life on the page I realised that he was one version of the teenager I had been. He was me, but a me that had never been allowed to exist. And his story, his horrific ordeal in Furnace, was a parallel version of my history that, fortunately, was never written in reality.

This makes more sense when you know what kind of character Alex is. He’s no hero, not the conventional kind anyway. He’s the bad guy, a school bully who robs kids of cash so he can buy himself new trainers, new bikes, new computers. He’s a burglar too, the kind of person who would steal a wedding ring from a lonely old woman so he can play the latest computer games. He knows he’s in the wrong, but this only makes his behaviour worse: there’s nothing innocent about Alex’s criminality, he does it because he consciously buries those bad feelings so deep that they can never rear their ugly heads.

Now, I was never as bad as Alex when I was a kid, but for a while I could have been. I remember all too well that lure of easy money – the desire to control at least one thing at a time when it feels as though your life is spiralling into chaos around you. I never robbed a house, but I was a thief: I stole money from my Mum and Dad, never more than ten or twenty quid at a time, but I stole other stuff too, things I could sell. Sentimental things. Things I knew I could never get back. Those same horrible feelings clawed their way through my gut every time I betrayed someone I loved, but like Alex I knew how to force them down, so deep inside me I could pretend they weren’t there at all.

And it got worse, too. I began hanging out at a biker bar, drinking lots, absorbing hours of heavy metal then letting it all out of my system in drunken scraps. I wasn’t a bully like Alex – I never picked a fight with anyone – but I was just as lost as him. And with each bloody nose and lost tooth I found my grasp on life, on myself, slipping away a little bit more. I hated it, but it was fast becoming who I was – without it, I faced the far greater fear of being nothing at all. And when you’re that age, absence is so much worse than substance, even when that substance has begun to rot.

I don’t know how bad it could have become. I’m guessing it never would have gone too far – I had the best family in the world, a safety net that was always there for me no matter how bad my behaviour became. Maybe that’s why I felt I could get away with it – I knew I could never lose myself completely. After I’d failed my A-Levels (not just because of my behaviour, I should say, I’d also written my first novel and assumed I wouldn’t need qualifications as a famous writer) I calmed down. I started to uncover some of those buried emotions – the guilt, the loathing, the shame – and only by confronting them and coming to terms with what I could have become did I truly realise what I wanted to be.

The Alex in Furnace has the same realisation, but in his version of history there is no escape. In his version of history there is the Furnace Penitentiary. Alex Sawyer is punished for the crimes that I committed, he suffers the worst fate that I could have imagined for myself when I was a teenager. This is why the events that take place in Furnace feel so real. When I was writing the book, Alex wasn’t just a character – he was me and I was him. I had to do everything in my power to try and find a way out, because if he couldn’t escape, then neither could I. Our lives may have taken different paths, but for as long as Alex was buried alive in the guts of the world we were one and the same again. His actions were mine, his terror was mine, the friends he made were my friends, the pain he felt was pain I felt too. And, most importantly, we were making a break for freedom together.

Being a writer sometimes means you have all the power in the world – in the world of your story, that is. But with Furnace I felt just as powerless as Alex. I didn’t plot the books, the story just unfolded, sometimes in a way that I never could have predicted. And there were many times when I had no idea how a scene would turn out, whether or not Alex would even survive. During these periods I felt that the pages of the manuscript were a mirror backed up against some impossible inter-dimensional void; the words on the page bars, through which I saw myself fighting tooth and nail just to stay alive. It was the same feeling I had when I was a teenager, wanting to be free but unable to control the chaotic world around me, unable to find a way out of the depths to the light and air on the surface.

I don’t know what will happen to Alex over the course of the series, but I know one thing: I’ll be there with him until the end. There’s no way I could abandon him in the pit of Furnace Penitentiary. Everything he goes through, I go through too, and when he changes – and he does change, so much, over the course of each book – so do I. His life is mine, and mine is his. And if I ever need a reminder of that I only have to read back over this piece of writing and notice how similar it is to Alex’s. That was unintentional, but I guess it was also inevitable when you not only become close to your character, but have always been him.

********
A HUGE thank you to Gordon for this incredible piece.
Find out more about his Furnace books here . If you already read Furnace: Lockdown and wants a sneak peek for the first chapters of book 2, Solitary, check this out. Warning: contains spoilers for book 1!

Now for the giveaway: Gordon is generously offering copies of Furnace books 1 AND 2 plus assorted goodies to 4 lucky winners! All you have to do is to leave a comment here. The contest is open to all and runs till Saturday 22 August 11:59PM Pacific Time. Good luck!

Title: Wake

Author: Lisa McMann

Genre: Speculative Fiction, Young Adult

Publisher: Simon Pulse (US) / Simon & Schuster (UK)
Publication Date: December 2008 (US) / October 2009 (UK)
Paperback: 224 pages

Stand alone or series: Book 1 of the Dream Catcher (Wake) trilogy.

Why did we read this book: Both of us had seen the cover, the numerous reviews filled with praise across blogland, and found the premise pretty interesting. And since both of us were intrigued, we decided on a joint review.

Summary: (from Amazon.com)
Not all dreams are sweet.
For seventeen-year-old Janie, getting sucked into other people’s dreams is getting old. Especially the falling dreams, the naked-but-nobody-notices dreams, and the sex-crazed dreams. Janie’s seen enough fantasy booty to last her a lifetime.

She can’t tell anybody about what she does — they’d never believe her, or worse, they’d think she’s a freak. So Janie lives on the fringe, cursed with an ability she doesn’t want and can’t control.

Then she falls into a gruesome nightmare, one that chills her to the bone. For the first time, Janie is more than a witness to someone else’s twisted psyche. She is a participant….

REVIEW:

First Impressions:

Thea: My first thought when I started Wake was a little hesitant. The format of the book is broken into headers under dates and times, in sort of an episodic, third person present tense play-by-play. I was scared it would get kinda hokey, kinda quickly…but it didn’t. Wake’s narrative style works beautifully with the type of story it is, and I found myself unable to put the book down. Seriously, this is one thrilling little book – I gotta say, I enjoyed it.

Ana:I too enjoyed Wake and quite a lot, actually. Thrilling is a damn good word to describe Wake as I was unable to put the book down after I started reading it. It is a very short book and I was done within two hours – and in those two hours I went through a rollercoaster of emotions: I laughed, I was angry, I was terrified and I cried at least twice.

On the Plot:
Wake follows Janie, a seventeen-year old girl who has had little rest for most of her life. Anytime Janie is in close proximity to someone asleep, she immediately and uncontrollably gets sucked into their dreams. This understandably causes some big problems for Janie – when someone sleeps in class, behind her on the bus, or even has a nightmare and she’s driving by, she goes into something of a seizure, blind and paralyzed in body, she has to endure the entire dream with the dreamer in her mind. As Janie grows older, this becomes more of a problem, especially in her study hall and at her job as an assistant at a nursing home. But then her dreams start to change – first, there’s Cabel who can see, speak to and remember Janie in his dreams. Then, Janie realizes she might not have been the only one with the power and curse of slipping into others’ sleep – and she learns that in the dreams, she might have the power to change things.

Thea: As far as plotting is concerned, Wake isn’t exactly a traditional story with a dominating main problem and resolution. It’s an incredibly readable novel, but not because of a central conflict – rather, this is a book about a character struggling with what she perceives to be her curse. As I mentioned before, Wake is written in an episodic fashion, broken down by dates and times and composed almost entirely of brisk, quick sentences. For example:

October 16, 2005, 9:30 p.m.
It’s Sunday. The house is clean. Janie had the day off. She ran out for groceries in the morning, vacuumed, dusted, washed, polished, shined, and steam-cleaned.

Now, Jaine is asleep on the couch.

This writing style may seem gimmicky at first, but it’s an ingenious gimmick as it suits the story perfectly. What is Janie’s life, as she jumps from dream to life and life to dream, if not a series of episodes?

Most of Wake’s plot deals with Janie and her struggles, especially after she becomes close with Cabel. There’s a lot of teenage angst – Cabel likes Janie but can’t always be with her, Janie gets disappointed and angry when Cabel seems to be dealing drugs and sidling up with a popular cheerleader type, Cabel tries to get Janie’s attention but she doesn’t want any of it, etc, etc, ad nauseam. But, surprisingly, the angst (though predictable) isn’t at all trite or draggy. And, when Janie and Cabel finally get their wires uncrossed, it’s pretty sweet.

Though much of the book is devoted to the relationship between these two characters, the draw to Wake in my opinion is Janie and her gradual understanding of her gift. What starts off as a curse becomes something that Janie (finally) learns that she can control and even change, especially when she discovers she might not be the only one of her kind. The dream sequences are varied, ranging from terrifying to hilarious to exhausting, and are definitely one of the strongest parts of this book. Though, by the end of the novel it gets a tad tiresome with Janie slipping into dreams so often, it’s still a very cool, imaginative idea. Major kudos to Ms. McMann.

My only real dislike with the book was how it turned into a ridiculously simplistic cop novel by the end. Seriously, this has gotta be the nicest police station in the country with the most understanding captain ever. Everything is so prettily and easily resolved by the end of Wake, it’s a little tough to swallow or take seriously. Not that it’s bad, but it’s just a bit…simple.

Ana:I very much enjoyed the narrative style – first person, present tense, and short, staccato sentences – because it was extremely effective in presenting the story to the reader. I felt it was the best choice as it fit perfectly with what I felt, Lisa McMann was trying to do. The episodic narrative was very potent in conveying just how episodic Janie’s life was. It portrayed beautifully the sense of being alone and the idea that she was utterly, completely unable to avoid being captured in someone else’s dream. The fact that every single step she took in her life was so that she could avoid being close to someone who was asleep and everything in her day or life had to be carefully planned showed that she there was no possibility of casual agency in Jaine’s life. For that, a lot of what happens in Wake made me feel like I was the one trapped in a nightmare.

The story starts to change a bit when Jaine realises that she can’t allow herself to be dragged through life like that and that’s when she is able to find a way to control what happens to her. And yes, that comes with responsibility and yes, it opens up doors and I though the idea behind what she can do was quite interesting.

Similarly, I was completely captivated by the romance plotline as well – In fact, it may have been my favourite part of the novel, and all that teen angst was so wonderfully irresistible. I was completely surprise at how such a narrative style could convey a LOT of emotion without really putting it out there. It is through actions rather than feelings that we learn what the characters are going through. It is funny how once again, Thea and I chose the very same quote to use in our review but here it goes again – the same bit above, which I think is a GREAT sequence that shows how Jaine is first, excited about a date with Cabel and then the ensuing disappointment that we can only guess at:

October 16, 2005, 9:30p.m.
“It’s Sunday. The house is clean. Janie had the day off. She ran out for groceries in the morning, vaccuumed, dusted, washed, polished, shined, and steam-cleaned.
Now, Janie is asleep on the couch.
Cabel doesn’t come.
Or call.”

I really did enjoy most of the book but as Thea I felt that I had to suspend disbelief when it came to the final part. Regardless of that, this is a solid first in a series.

On the Characters:

Thea: Wake is definitely a book about characters – in particular, Janie and Cabel, as characters. Janie is a strong heroine who translates as a very real, very tired teen and is without a doubt the best part of this novel. Since the time she was 8, Janie has experienced these episodes where she is victim to anyone sleeping nearby, and what she has to go through and the extent of how dreaming affects her day to day life is a shocking thing to read. Add to this Janie’s alcoholic mother and her life of poverty, her own determination to make enough money to eat and to go to college, and you have an incredibly endearing heroine. I loved how in the early portion of the book, Ms. McMann takes readers through some parts of Janie’s childhood and gradually shows how she has become the person she is in real-time – Janie tries to be normal, but it’s impossible between her home life, her tough work schedule, and the fact that her days and nights are interrupted by other dreamers leaving Janie exhausted.

Then, of course, there’s Cabel. Cabel has the requisite tortured past which didn’t really speak to me (sorry Ana, I’ve read better!), and he seemed like a mashup of the every paranormal dream-boy in so many young adult titles these days. He’s gorgeous and smart and of course is HIDING A SECRET but is a misunderstood good guy with a good heart (and naturally, is head over heels in love with heroine Janie and has been forever). Meh. It’s not that Cabel is a bad character, but he’s not a particularly unique one, or one that elicited any real emotion from me.

Cabel aside, there are glimpses of other character that I wish I knew more about in Wake – for example, Janie’s mother. Why did she start with the drinking? Did she have Janie’s power and resort to alcohol to take the edge off? There’s also Janie’s best friend and next door neighbor Carrie – who has a troubled past of her own and gets into her own scrapes over the course of the book. There’s the biatch, Melinda. We never really know much about Melinda (other than she has a secret crush on Carrie and hates Janie with a passion), but I’m hoping she’ll be in the next book with a little more color. Finally, there’s Miss Stubin, who I definitely expect to see more of…

Ana: Cabel, Cabel, Cabel….oh, let me count the ways I felt for this character. I have to wholly disagree with Thea on this one – my emotional connection with the book was all because of Cabel, much more than Jaine. From the first time we see glimpses of his nightmares via Jaine, I felt sorry for the guy. For his childhood, for what he was going through right now and I loved him. Mind you, it is not a “falling in love” kind of love but a humane, sympathetic love for this character. When it came to one scene in particular where he is completely naked for Jaine to see, I cried. I was in public, reading at Starbucks, and I had to hide my tears behind the book, I was practically sobbing. I though his actions were sweet and romantic and he was well-suited for Jaine – but he wasn’t perfect and neither was she.

As for Jaine, she is indeed an endearing heroine and once she finally decides to take control she becomes a really strong protagonist and someone I was able to root for and relate to. As for the other characters, they are there but not really enough fleshed out for me to care – although I do have one of my Special Theories about Jaine’s mother and the reason behind her withdrawal from the world.

But really, the best aspect of Wake, for me, was Cabe and Jaine’s relationship.

Final Thoughts, Observation and Rating:

Thea: This is a quick, fun read and one I’d recommend especially to those looking for some fast entertainment. It’s the kind of book I’d recommend for parents trying to get their kids into reading, or to friends who want to ease into the YA paranormal genre. I wasn’t blown away by Wake, but I certainly enjoyed it! And I cannot wait to give Fade a read, very soon.

Ana:Wake is thrilling and undeniably romantic with well-written Teen angst and a gripping storyline. I actually think this works really well on its own and I was thoroughly satisfied with the way things were when I closed the book. I will read Fade though – and as soon as I can.

Notable Quotes/Parts:

Thea: The first time Janie tries to have a sleepover is a disaster and a great scene that sets the stage for Janie’s future (and it’s kind of funny too).

Ana: The scene were Cabe tells about his childhood and shows his back to Jaine and he cries. Or the scene in the bus when Jaine is in the throes of several dreams one after the other and he takes care of her. Awww.

Additional Thoughts:

Book 2, Fade continues the story of Janie and Cabel, and book 3 in the trilogy, Gone, is due out early next year.

Janie thought she knew what her future held. And she thought she’d made her peace with it. But she can’t handle dragging Cabel down with her.

She knows he will stay with her, despite what she sees in his dreams. He’s amazing. And she’s a train wreck. Janie sees only one way to give him the life he deserves–she has to disappear. And it’s going to kill them both.

Then a stranger enters her life–and everything unravels. The future Janie once faced now has an ominous twist, and her choices are more dire than she’d ever thought possible. She alone must decide between the lesser of two evils. And time is running out…

He reaches toward her, his fingers black and bloody, his eyes deranged, unblinking. Janie is paralyzed. his cold hands reach around her neck, squeezing tight, tighter, until Janie has no breath left. She’s unable to move, unable to think. As his grasp tightens further around Janie’s neck, his face turns sickly alabaster. He strains harder and begins to shake.

Janie is dying.
She has no fight left in her.
It’s over.

Rating:

Thea: 6 – Good

Ana: 7 – Very Good

Reading Next: Rapunzel’s Revenge by Shannon Hale

Title: Everlost

Author: Neal Shusterman

Genre: YA (Fantasy/ Paranormal)

Publisher: Simon Pulse (US) / Simon & Schuster Children (UK)
Publishing Date: Nov 6 2007/ Jul 6 2009
Paperback: 384 pages

Stand alone or series: First in the Skinjacker trilogy

Summary: Nick and Allie don’t survive the crash, and now they are in limbo, stuck halfway between life and death, in a netherworld known as Everlost. Everlost is home to those who didn’t make it to their final destination: A magical yet dangerous place filled with shadows where lost souls run wild. Shocked and frightened, Nick and Allie aren’t ready to rest in peace just yet. They want their lives back. Desperate for a way out, their search takes them deep into the uncharted regions of Everlost. But the longer they stay, the more they forget about their past lives. And with all memory of home fading fast and an unknown evil lurking in the shadows, Nick and Allie may never escape this strange, terrible world. In this imaginative, supernatural thriller, Neal Shusterman explores questions of life, death, and what just might lie in between.

Review:

Everlost was not at all what I was expecting. When I was harassed enlisted by Thea to read a Ghost story I was half expecting to be scared to death (since Ghosts are the Things That I Fear The Most) but Everlost is not an usual ghost story. Instead it is an adventure of the highest calibre.

It begins thusly:

“On a hairpin turn, above the dead forest, on no day in particular, a white Toyota crashed into a black Mercedes, for a moment blending into a blur of gray”.

Nick and Allie don’t survive the crash and as they go into that tunnel towards the light, they end up bumping into each other, going off course and missing the light altogether. They sleep for nine months and wake up confused, now in Everlost (a limbo-like place for children only) and are greeted by Lief, a lonely boy who has inhabited the dead forest for a long time. Overwhelmed with happiness at the prospect of company, he explains a few things about Everlost to Nick and Allie but as Greensouls the questions pile up and Lief’s answers are not enough.

They decide to embark on a trek to where they used to live and find out if their parents survived the crash. You see, as any Greensoul recently arrived in Everlost, they sort of still believe that they can revert their deaths. This is a journey fraught with perils like Gravity Fatigue, where if you walk in places that are alive, you start to descend thought the earth down to its centre, so the first thing they need to learn is how to find a way to walk without losing themselves. Plus there are bullies like Johnny O. or monsters like the McGill on the loose.

As they go on, they realise that they are really death and there is no return. All that is left to them is to accept it and to learn the rules of the afterlife, beginning with lessons from Mary Hightower, one of the oldest inhabitants and responsible for a large group of kids who live in the ghostly Twin Towers of Manhattan. Mary knows a lot about Everlost , about the place itself and about the things that cross from the land of the living via either the dead spots or because they were so loved that they have an eternal presence in the world. As the author of many loved books such as The Gravity of Gravity (whereupon Gravity Fatigue is explained ), Spectral Visions: An Afterlight’s Guide to Looking One’s (the importance of reminding oneself of how one looks lest you become less of yourself) or Death Be Not Dull (in which she explains about the Greensouls and about the important of Routine), Mary is their light at the end of the tunnel (pun so intended) and Allie, Nick and Lief join her ranks.

HOWEVER, soon Allie, the more inquisitive and rebellious of the kids starts to realise that most of the children are living in a rut: their movements are repeated every single day and she starts to mistrust Mary’s lessons. Nick, on the other hand, who is a more accommodating kid, is perfectly happy where he is , especially when he starts to fall in love with Mary. Until he too, realises he is falling into a routine and together they leave to find out more.

This is when things get really interesting. Even though Nick and Allie start the book and their journey together, their paths in Everlost are not the same. Each undertakes their own adventure and go through life-altering experiences. For Nick, his story is connected with Mary’s whereas Allie ends up having to deal with the McGill. There are plenty of twists and turns and the plot expands over time and space within Everlost. Even though I saw from a mile ahead the twist involving the McGill, still this book was completely unpredictable in many ways plot-wise, or the way the character’s arcs – Nick’s, Allie’s, Mary’s and others – were executed. The biggest surprise though was how imaginative this book turned out to be.

Everything about Everlost was so creative and interesting that I kept turning the pages to see what wonders the author would throw at me. It also helps that many a thing about Everlost is of a brand of ironic humour which I am most fond of. Like how important Chinese Fortune Cookies, A.K.A. Evil Chinese Pastry of Death, are and how they plan such an important role in the story. Or how each kid in Everlost remains as they were at the time of death. For example, when Nick died , he was eating a chocolate bar and he is to spend eternity with chocolate smudges all over his face. He is not as unfortunate as the kid who died wearing a swimsuit though – Speedo is his name, by the way.

There is high adventure, real danger, pain, loss, love, hope and all the way to its perfect, bittersweet ending, I totally, totally loved this book and had a great time reading it. For once, I was extremely happy to find out it was only the first one in a trilogy and the next book, Everwild is out in a couple of months. Ellie and Nick have plenty of adventures and important roles to play in the future of Everlost and I can’t wait to read more.

Notable Quotes/ Parts: There are many things worth quoting in Everlost, but of course, I need to go with silly-funny. This one , cracked me up:

“Allie was alone in an elevator the following morning, when a human skeleton got in on the ninety-eighth floor.
Allie gasped at the sight of him.
“Get over it”, the skeleton-boy said as the elevator doors closed.
Allie quickly realised who it was. He wasn’t a skeleton at all. He simply had white makeup all over his face, with black around the eyes, and wore a cheap Halloween skeleton costume. His Afterlight glow merely added to the overall effect.
“Sorry”, said Allie. “You just caught me off guard”
There were two kids here who had the supreme misfortune of crossing on Halloween: this kid, another green face-paint and fake peeling skin. Everyone called them Skully annd Molder.”

Verdict: A great, imaginative adventure of the highest calibre with many unexpected turns. It is a great plot-driven novel without losing sight of its characters and their personal journeys in their brand of Afterlife.

Rating: 8 – Excellent

Reading Next: The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker by Leanna Renee Hieber

Other Titles for the Post-Apocalyptic Dystopian Fan to Try:

I wanted to review many, many more books for YA Appreciation Month, but there simply aren’t enough hours in the day to do so. Instead, I decided to compile a list of some of my favorites and some new titles to try, should you look for any new titles in this subset of Young Adult fiction! And, prompted by a discussion in the comments of the last Apocalypse/Dystopia Day post, I’m separating the suggestions by disaster/category. **Please note many of these fit under multiple categories, but for time and organization’s sake, I’m only listing each book once under what my opinion is the dominant heading**

APOCALYPSE BY CLIMATE CHANGE (or Natural Disaster)

1. The Moon Crush Books by Susan Beth Pfeffer

You’re probably exhausted from hearing my talk about these books all the time, but both Life As We Knew It and the dead and the gone are brilliant, harrowing books about the end of the world after an asteroid crashes into the moon and pushes its orbit closer to earth, causing a chain reaction of natural disasters.

2. Exodus and Zenith by Julie Bertagna

Apocalypse by global warming, the complete meltdown of the ice caps and glacial deposits on Earth. Exodus looks at the gradual disappearance of the island Wing and a dystopian city in the sky, while Zenith follows some survivors as they sail out for fabled land.

3. The Other Side of the Island by Allegra Goodman

An evil corporation carefully constructs a dystopia complete with pleasant, false weather, mind altering drugs and strict rules to protect a small society on Island 365, in the aftermath of a great Flood that obliterated the planet.

4. Floodland by Marcus Sedgwick

Global warming strikes again, flooding the world’s cities. Zoe strikes out to find her parents but comes across some nasty Lord of the Flies societies in the process.

5. The Island at the End of the World by Sam Taylor

It’s not out yet, but here’s the synopsis:

In a world nearly destroyed by catastrophic floods, one family has been spared. Many years ago, as the waters rose, a father and his three children took to their ark and drifted to the safety of a small island. Life there is a quiet idyll of music and farming—and young Alice, Finn, and Daisy are grateful for their salvation—until the day a stranger swims ashore. A terrifyingly plausible adventure story, The Island at the End of the World is a mesmerizing novel from an exciting new writer.

APOCALYPSE BY NUCLEAR WAR

1. The Obernewtyn Chronicles by Isobelle Carmody

Following the Great White, humans with special abilities (a mutation due to the radiation) are segregated and killed, until those of Obernewtyn fight back.

2. Z for Zachariahby Robert C. O’brien

Alice thinks she’s the last person on earth, having survived the world-ending Nuclear War. But when she sees someone approaching her valley, she fears the worst…

3. On the Beach by Nevil Shute

Another Aussie apocalypse novel – a looming radioactive cloud (fallout from Nuclear War) is sweeping south and killing everything in its path. An American submarine is stationed off the Australian coast, preparing the people there for their inevitable, ever closer end.. (Technically this falls under Adult fiction, but I read it in middle school, so it goes on the list!)

4. The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau

For 250 years, the residents of Ember have lived happy lives in their near constant darkness, the only light coming from dim electrical lights above that shine for twelve hours of day. But the lights start to fail, and food is almost completely out – what are the people of Ember to do? Young adults Lina and Doon know that there has to be something beyond Ember, and they make a desperate attempt to find the outside, even though they don’t know what waits for them. The rest of the series details what Lina and Doon find on the surface of an Earth after hundreds of years following – you guessed it – nuclear war. (Check out a review by my very own little sister HERE)

5. Daybreak 2250 AD by Andre Norton

Post-nuclear apocalypse waaaaay in the future, about a young man who leaves his village to discover the ruins of the world.

APOCALYPSE BY ZOMBIE (or alien or other monster) & MISCELLANEOUS

1. The Forest of Hands and Teeth and The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan

The unconsecrated surround a small gated village in the woods, and it’s only a matter of time before the fences are breached. The Forest of Hands and Teeth is unquestionably one of my top 10 reads of 2009, and I cannot wait for The Dead-Tossed Waves next year.

2. Bones of Faerie by Janni Lee Simner

An apocalyptic war has broken out between human and faerie, and faerie has won – but the planet is ravaged by strange magic in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Liza, however, discovers she has her own magic and seeks out answers.

3. I Am Legend by Richard Matheson

Again, technically Adult, but a classic to be appreciated by all ages. Don’t be fooled, the Will Smith movie has nothing on this novella about the last human on earth after the vampire plague turns everyone into, well, vampires (full comparison review HERE).

4. Tomorrow series by John Marsden

Beginning with Tomorrow, When the War Began this is a series about a group of teens in a small Australian town, who choose to fight back following the foreign invasion of their country and imprisonment of their families.

4. How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff

England is invaded and occupied by a foreign force and the world is on the brink of war, meanwhile a group of young adults struggle to overcome and survive.

DYSTOPIA: Hi-TECHNOLOGY

1. Feed by M.T. Anderson

Feed takes a ravaged planet and consumerism to the extreme, as teens happy with their wifi’d brains live horrifyingly absurd lifestyles.

2. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Again, Adult labeled, but a classic for all ages. In this dystopian future, humans are mass-bread and separated into different classes, and live happy, Soma-fueled lives where everything they could ever want provided for them. Until, one man begins to question his feelings that something is missing. And then, there’s the savage John from the outside…

3. 1984 by George Orwell

Same story. Adult fiction, but a classic. You know the story – a totalitarian regime where truth is what Big Brother tells you it is, and the Thoughtpolice monitor your every move. I think every high schooler is required to read this book, and for good reason.

4. The Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld

In a future where everyone at 16 becomes a Pretty, Tally Youngblood and a few others stand apart and try to resist. This dystopian quartet is truly addictive stuff (trilogy review HERE).

5. Battle Royale Koshun Takami (and manga series too)

Battle Royale is a gory, blood drenched novel of a future where rebellious youth are quelled by immersion in a to the death battle royale on an isolated island. There are exploding collars that will activate in danger zones, a number of weapons, and action galore. I fell in love with this Japanese book and movie at first sight. Fans of the next book on this list might consider giving Battle Royale, the original, a spin.

6. The Hunger Games and Catching Fire by Susan Collins

A decidedly less-violent version of Battle Royale, The Hunger Games is the tale of young children selected to participate in a to the death battle – completely televised, in the style of The Running Man. Though it borrows heavily from Stephen King/Robert Bachman and Koshun Takami’s work, it’s a strong novel in its own right, and I cannot wait for the sequel, Catching Fire next month!

7. The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson

In a not too distant future, Jenna Fox awakens from a year-long coma after a horrible car accident. Thanks to future technology, her body was salvaged by BioGel. But Jenna has a hard time remembering things, and gradually must confront some tough questions about her past. The Adoration of Jenna Fox is another one of my favorite reads for the year and one that I highly recommend.

8. Skinned by Robin Wassweman

In the same premise of Jenna Fox above, Skinned tells of a future where a popular girl is nearly killed in an accident and is downloaded into a mechanical body. Thought provoking questions about humanity ensue.

9. Little Brother by Corey Doctorow

A 1984 for the x-box generation, Little Brother examines what happens after a terrorist attack occurs in San Francisco, and what some intrepid young adults do to stick it to the man. Though it’s not exactly well written and pretty ham-handed with Doctorow’s personal views, it’s still a very interesting read (and if you happen to agree with Doctorow’s politics, it’s a forgivable lapse).

10. The Declaration by Gemma Malley

In a world where anyone can live forever, there are only a few rules. Because of the resulting boom in population and subsequent overcrowding and decline of society, those who have become immortal must agree never to have children. But Anna is born, and she and other “surplus” children have to make their own way in a world of immortal adults. (Ana and I both have this book and cannot wait to read and review it!)

11. Unwind by Neal Shusterman

In the near future, retroactive abortion is a reality – any parents that might not be so thrilled with their troubled teens have the option to “unwind” them until their sixteenth birthday. For nothing is wasted in this future – young body parts are donated to those who need them. Another favorite novel of mine, and a particularly chilling one at that.

12. The Sky Inside by Clare B. Dunkle

Her first foray into science fiction, Ms. Dunkle takes a domed community in which everything they could want is provided to them by carts. But when an outspoken dissenter is taken out on a train, and Martin’s sister is taken out as part of a “product recall,” Martin decides has to find out what really lies outside his sheltered community.

13. Genesis by Bernard Beckett

Genesis looks at the world of the future, after plague and war has decimated the planet and a small island nation survives. As Anax undergoes a grueling entrance exam to the prestigious and highly exclusive Academy, she finds herself questioning her peoples’ unique history, and what it means to have free will, and to be human. Another of my favorite books of 2009.

DYSTOPIA: Low-TECHNOLOGY

1. Libyrinth by Pearl North

Libyrinth takes place on a far future world, a forgotten colony of earth where technology is seen as magic, and books are burned to liberate the written word.

2. The Time Machine by H.G. Wells

Another all-ages classic, The Time Machine explores a world where the Eloi, remnants of the rich and lazed upper class have become brainless giggling blobs, while the Morlocks below ground resort to a primitive, savage society.

3. The Inferior by Paedar O’Guilin

The Inferior is a terrifying look at life on a different, future world, where the only law is eat or be eaten. Humans living in abandoned buildings hunt the other savage creatures in the arena for survival – nothing ever goes to waste. Until one day, a strange woman falls from the sky, and Stopmouth’s world changes completely. Another memorable read of 2009, and highly recommended.

4. The Giver trilogy by Lois Lowry

Finally, there’s the Giver trilogy by Lois Lowry, in which three very different societies are examined in a future dystopia. The Giver is a classic (and technically hi-tech, though the other two books are low-tech), and Gathering Blue ain’t too shabby either. We still have yet to read Messenger, but we are looking forward to it.

5. Chaos Walking: The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

The Knife of Never Letting Go looks at a human colony on a distant world, where all the women have disappeared and the thoughts of men and animals are heard by all. Another awesome, highly recommended read.

Phew! So there you have it. There are some that I know I’ve forgotten, so please make suggestions as you see fit!

When we were brainstorming our plans for the final week of our YA Appreciation month, we realized the need to do a second Apocalypse/Dystopia day. And, when looking over what titles we both wanted to read, we decided to go with a classic: The Giver by Lois Lowry. As Ana had not yet read this dystopian classic, she finally decided to take it on. And Thea, who has loved The Giver since meeting the author in middle school, thought this was a very fitting time to give the companion novel Gathering Blue a read. (Note: Neither of us have read the third novel in the loose trilogy, Messenger, but we do plan on reading it soon!)

The Giver by Lois Lowry

Publisher: Laurel Leaf /HarperCollins Children’s Books
Publication Date: September 10, 2002/ 5 May 2008 (First edition was 1994)
Paperback: 192 /240 pages

Summary: Jonas’s world is perfect. Everything is under control. There is no war or fear of pain. There are no choices. Every person is assigned a role in the community. When Jonas turns 12 he is singled out to receive special training from The Giver. The Giver alone holds the memories of the true pain and pleasure of life. Now, it is time for Jonas to receive the truth. There is no turning back.

Review:
With the YA Dystopia Day approaching, I had to pick one book to read and The Giver was the natural choice especially because Thea has been talking about it ever since I met her. I opened the book and read it under 3 hours and had the most visceral reaction to it in what I can only describe as an incredibly disturbing experience.

The Giver is the story of Jonas, our third person narrator. He is an 11 year old boy, one of the inhabitants of the Community. At first glance, the Community is a perfect place to live: set in some point in an undisclosed future, where life is well- balanced, everybody has everything they need to survive, everybody has a role in the society and there is no war, no pain, no suffering.

As Jonas narrates his life under the Sameness, the Utopia created a long time ago by his ancestors comes into close scrutiny for the benefit of the reader. How his life is dictated by the community and he has a daily routine. How he lives in a family Unit with his Mother and his Father and his Sister and every morning they have the sharing of the dreams they had the night before. Members of the community do not lie, do not ask each other questions that could be seen as intrusive, do not feel pain or confusion and Jonas lives his life in accordance with all that; and as an Eleven, he is preparing for the Ceremony of the Twelve when he will learn what his role in society will be and to his surprise, he is chosen to be the new Receiver of Memories.

These first few chapters, almost half of the book could be seen as a horrendous glimpse into a kind of controlled Big Brother society. But. Here is the twist: Jonas, as everybody else in the Community is perfectly content. He has time to play with his friends, he has FUN, his family may not be loving per se, but Mother and Father are nice, supportive people and Jonas’ sister is an adorable kid. This sense of contentment comes mostly from the fact that the Elders go at great lengths to assign people’s roles in lives according to what they are good at. Take Jonas’ best friend for example: a boy who always liked playing and who has an enduring sense of humour, hence he is allocated to be part of the department of Recreation, a perfect, agreeable fit that makes him content. Similarly, Jonas’ Father is a Nurturer, working with the Birthmothers and the children that are born in the Community. Everybody fits. Those who don’t are allowed to ask to be released Elsewhere – and they are granted their wish every time. The Release also happens when an Old Person reaches a certain age and the ceremony is one of great pomp and circumstance and a celebration of the life of the person who is leaving.

I was overwhelmed with angst as I read The Giver – even those similarly perfect first chapters made me feel inexplicably sad. Up until the moment when Jonas starts to receive his training as the Receiver, The Giver is about an Utopia, an ideal society and only I, as a reader KNOW what these people don’t have: deeply felt Emotion (note how only words such as “content”, “nice”, “agreeable” have been used so far). Choice.

Then Jonas receives his Receiver folder, with a set of 7 rules about what happens next, a folder that everybody receives once they start their training and here is the first inkling that something is not quite right: rule number 7 decrees that Jonas, can now….lie. He wonders if he can lie, can anybody else?

Then he starts his sessions with the Giver. He was told, when he was allocated this role, that it was a role that required great courage because his training would bring him great pain. And so it does. Because the Giver has the role to be the sole person to sustain every single collective memory of the Community’s past.

Every.single.one. Of snow and sunshine (the Community is a weather controlled environment) ; of hills and beaches (The Community is geographically perfect); of colour (the Sameness has genetically modified people to not see colours) ; of bad things too – the bad things the Community tries to avoid: war, famine, pain, death. But also, in the name of Sameness, in the name of leaving out the negative , all of the positive, great things and feelings that make life worth living are excluded as well: Family. Sex.Devotion. Love. Behold the bleakness of Jonas world and he asks his Father a question, prompted by the memory of a Family Christmas:

“Do you love me?”
There was an awkward silence for a moment. Then Father gave a little chuckle. “Jonas. You, of all people. Precision of language, please!”
“What do you mean?” Jonas asked. Amusement was not at all what he had anticipated.
“Your father means that you used a very generalised word, so meaningless that it’s become almost obsolete,” his mother explained carefully.
Jonas stared at them. Meaningless? He had never before felt anything as meaningful as the memory.
“And of course our community can’t function smoothly if people don’t use precise language. You could ask, “Do you enjoy me?’ The answer is ‘yes’,” his Mother said.
“Or”, his Father suggested, “Do you take pride in my accomplishments?’ And the answer is wholeheartedly ‘Yes’.”
“Do you understand why it’s inappropriate to use a word like ‘love’?” Mother asked.
Jonas nodded. “Yes, thank you, I do,” he replied slowly.
It was his first lie to this parents.

Then it hits me that the angst and sadness that I inexplicably felt up until that point were merely an intuitively build-up of emotions because it is clear that the book was going towards one direction: to the point where the Giver gives all these memories to Jonas. And there is pain. Physical pain. But the greatest pain is the emotional one of knowing what they have been missing; and he continues his training for one year until it becomes utterly, completely unbearable.
For me as a reader as well – because part of me wondered.

Wondered if it was FAIR that the Giver and Jonas would want to destroy the Community when they are only two people, and the rest of them are so content. But just then there comes the horror: one scene, one scene where we and Jonas realise what the Release was all about and wonder I did no more.

Because as Thea would argue: an Utopia is always someone’s Dystopia and when it comes at the cost of lives of people that don’t fit an imposed mould then change is always a good thing.

The Giver was a great read and I had an intellectual rapport with the book that lasted for days. I reflected about the close relationship between memory and emotion, about the needs of the collective and the needs of the individual. About Utopias and Dystopias. About the future and the past. In that sense, the book is very effective in engaging my brain, raising questions that are difficult to answer but needed to be asked. It invites discussion and it begs to be heard.
However, for all that there is good in The Giver, the reader in me felt strangely disappointed. I was never close enough to Jonas to care as much as I felt I needed to. I think the overall story may have overshadowed the characters which is an incredible irony taking into consideration the theme of the novel. I also find myself unable to let go of some of the questions I had that were never truly answered: for example, how exactly does one transfer a memory? And why would the Giver lose it completely once it was done? How were genetic engineers able to remove colours? And why were the role of Birthmothers looked down when they were the sole responsible for continuing the race?

I think this is a great book – a great, well- written book for children and adults because it makes one think and wonder. I am not so sure that as a fiction novel it survives close scrutiny of plot specifics. But maybe that is not really the point.

Rating: 8 – Excellent

Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin (original) / Random House (reprint)
Publication Date: September 2000
Paperback: 224 pages

Summary: (from Amazon.com)
Kira, an orphan with a twisted leg, lives in a world where the weak are cast aside. She fears for her future until she is spared by the all-powerful Council of Guardians. Kira is a gifted weaver and is given a task that no other community member can do. While her talent keeps her alive and brings certain privileges, Kira soon realizes she is surrounded by many mysteries and secrets. No one must know of her plans to uncover the truth about her world and see what places exist beyond.

Review:

In 1996, Lois Lowry came to visit my middle school in Jakarta. For a few glorious days, we got to hear Ms. Lowry read passages from her books, talk about her work, and we were able to ask her questions. As a sixth grader, I loved her books Number the Stars and A Summer to Die especially, but my favorite novel was always The Giver. And, when we were able to ask her about the ending of the novel (which could be interpreted in a few ways), I remember Ms. Lowry saying that she wanted to keep it ambiguous.

Fastforward to 2000 and 2004, and two sequels/companion novels were written. I held off on reading Gathering Blue for a long time because I was scared that there was no way either book could live up to The Giver…but then YA Appreciation Month rolled around, and perfect excuse-thwarter it is, I finally had the opportunity to force myself to read and review this second book. So, it was with some trepidation (or rather, Anxiety, as Jonas would say) that I started Gathering Blue…

And I loved it.

Gathering Blue is the story of Kira, a newly orphaned young woman after her mother falls to the mysterious illness that periodically claims lives of the village. Kira’s world is nothing like Jonas’s safe, high-technology, compartmentalized and organized society. In Kira’s village, only the strong and ruthless survive and Kira, without her mother’s protection and her father long dead from a beast attack in the surrounding woods, is completely on her own. Her future in the village is a perilous one, for she was born with a twisted leg and cannot walk without the aid of a staff, nor can she work fields or be desired as a wife with her physical defect. But Kira, saved from being killed at birth by her mother’s will, has a saving grace – she has a magical ability to weave. After her mother’s death, she is saved from banishment by Jamison, one of the village elders who speaks in her defense. For Jamison has a special task that only Kira can accomplish – the weave of the Story Singer’s ceremonial robe that vividly depicts the history of the world and its demise. For years, Kira has watched her mother make repairs to the robe with awe, and she has now inherited that role and more; her new task is to not only repair the robe, but to complete the weave at its end. But then Kira discovers that she is not the only one Jamison has singled out from the village – there’s Thomas, as gifted with wood carving as Kira is with weaving. But there’s also the mysterious crying coming from beneath their rooms. And, as Kira learns more about dyes from an old woman on the outskirts of the village, she also learns that the council has some very large secrets that could change her view of the world forever.

I really had no idea what to expect with Gathering Blue. It’s completely different than The Giver, following an unrelated character in a completely different environment. While Jonas’s story is set in the Community with a distinctively Big Brother type of feel, Kira’s village is in a low-technology, almost medieval-style village in the tradition of Obernewtyn. But for the differences in characters and style, both books are connected by the same theme – two young adults, with traces of magical abilities, fighting to discover the truth that their dystopian societies do not want them to know. And, I can honestly say that Kira is a worthy counterpart to Jonas in every way. I love it when authors take chances with their protagonists, writing them as less than perfect or not perfectly beautiful/strong/brave. In Kira’s case, her twisted leg is a handicap that puts her in a very dangerous spot with the villagers and also prevents her from any daredevil escapes – but it also allows a different strength to develop in her as a character:

Her stick thumped on the wooden floor and the foot of her flawed leg brushed the boards with a sweeping sound, as if she dragged a broom.

“Take pride in your pain,” her mother had always told her. “You are stronger than those who have none.”

Like Jonas, Kira has an older mentor who teaches her the craft she needs to continue her work for the good of the village – and as with The Giver, Annabella, Kira’s mentor, knows much more about the village than anyone else does. And again, the most important similarity between these two protagonists is their decision to discover the truth, and to inspire change. Though Gathering Blue doesn’t ask the same questions that The Giver provokes concerning what makes a society ideal (for Kira’s world is far worse off than Jonas’s community of comfortable ignorance), it does tell a powerful story with strong characters. In addition to Kira, Thomas the woodcarver is a fantastic addition, though the scene stealer has to be Matt – the ragabond youngling that helps Kira in many ways, and central character of the next book.

Gathering Blue is a perfect companion novel to The Giver in every way, even mentioning what I suspect is an allusion to Jonas in the final pages. Now, to give Messenger a try, uniting all the characters from both books in a grand finale!

Rating: 7 Very Good

Two weeks ago, we had our first day of Bleak Post-Apocalyptic Dystopian Book Goodness – and since we love this genre so much, we decided to have a reprisal. Today, we take a look at some old favorites and new titles about the end of the world as we know it…

Libyrinth by Pearl North

Publisher: Tor Teen
Publication Date: July 2009
Hardcover: 336 pages

Summary: (from amazon.com)
In her debut novel, Pearl North takes readers centuries into the future, to a forgotten colony of Earth where technology masquerades as magic and wars are fought over books.

Haly is a Libyrarian, one of a group of people dedicated to preserving and protecting the knowledge passed down from the Ancients and stored in the endless maze of books known as the Libyrinth. But Haly has a secret: The books speak to her.

When the threat of the rival Eradicants drives her from her home, Haly learns that things are not all she thinks they are. Taken prisoner by the Eradicants, who believe the written word to be evil, she sees the world through their eyes and comes to understand that they are not the book-burning monsters that she has known her entire life.

The words of a young girl hiding in an attic—written hundreds of years before Haly’s birth—will spark the interest of her captors and begin the change necessary to end the conflict between the Eradicants and Libyrarians. With the help of her loyal companion Nod, a creature of the Libyrinth, Haly must mend the rift between the two groups before their war for knowledge destroys them all. Haly’s life—and the lives of everyone she knows—will never be the same.

A powerful adventure that unites the present and future, Libyrinth is a fresh, magical novel that will draw in young readers of all genres.

Review:

Libyrinth is the story of a clerk named Haly, who has a singular skill that she hides from everyone. While she like all of those in the Libyrinth can read and write, the written word speaks to her and only she can hear it. Afraid she will be seen as a witch or punished for this ability, Haly tells no one except her best friend Clauda, a kitchen servant of the Libyrinth. But Haly’s gift has a higher purpose and will not remain buried forever; when Haly’s assigned Libyrarian, Selene, shares that she has discovered a map to the most important book on their world, The Book of the Night, together Haly, Selene and Clauda ride out to find it. They are intercepted, though, by the Eradicants, the book burning people of the neighboring realm. Selene and Clauda manage to get away and ride hard for Ilysies to beg for help, but Haly is taken prisoner as a witch when her secret ability to hear written words is discovered by the Eradicant guards. Soon though, Haly’s circumstances change radically, for her ability to hear holds an important place in the Eradicant religion. Hally is The Redeemer and through her the Eradicants plan on liberating – that is, burning – the dead words of the Libyrinth forever. It is up to the efforts of Clauda, Selene and Haly to stop the destruction, and find another way for the Redemption to occur.

Libyrinth is a futuristic, dystopian-ish science fiction novel in a similar tradition to Ray Bradbury’s Farenheit 451 with a touch of the colony world feel of Patrick Ness’s The Knife of Never Letting Go. In many ways, Libyrinth is a book about books. A deep love of literature is imbued in each page of this remarkable novel, as Haly’s snatched verses from books color the story – from the beginning with E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web to the closing poignancy of The Diary of Anne Frank.

That said, Libyrinth is a hit and miss book – for all that it has some fabulous ideas and impressively creates a future dystopian world, it fails in its execution of the overall story.

In this future colony of a long forgotten Earth, three different Greek city-state like societies are locked in battle. Thesia has just been conquered by the Eradicants and as their name suggests they are in the business of eradication, namely the burning of books. The Libyrinth, a massive labyrinthine library is fearful of the Eradicants for good reason as every year they demand a payment of burned books. Thesia and the city-state of Ilysies have stood to protect the Libyrinth from destruction by the Eradicants, but when Thesia falls and The Book of the Night is discovered, the Libyrinth’s existence is in jeopardy. This is where Ms. North is at her best, with this detailed look at completely different societies and the complex scope of her new world. The brilliance of this world building in Libyrinth is that none of these societies are purely good or bad. While the Eradicants are warlike people, demand a tithe of books burned from the Libyrinth every year, and detest the written word, this is not because they abhor knowledge or are evil bigots. Rather, their religion and history is rooted in the belief that words once written “die” and serve to create an unforgivable rift between those who would hoard knowledge from the poorer who cannot read – and thus by burning, they liberate the dead words from their dusty graves. Haly learns that the Eradicants are not the monsters she and those of the Libyrinth have believed them to be and she learns of their love for words and their deep-seated belief in Singing (as the Eradicants are, understandably, an oral culture). There are the Ilysians too, a matriarchal society in sharp contrast to the male-only priesthood of the Eradicants, who have their own beliefs and plans for The Book of the Night, led by their strong willed Queen.

While the world-building and overall story is impressive, the execution of the book is unfortunately lackluster. The characters are fine enough, but nothing really special or engaging. Haly as the tentative heroine who struggles to find a balance between the knowledge of the Libyrinth and the song of the Eradicants is a decent leading lady, if lacking any read depth. Clauda, her friend, is a far more compelling character with her struggle to control her failing limbs and her busybody spying on the court of Ilysia; and Selene, in her strained relationship with her mother the Queen of Ilysia is another decent character that outshines Haly in this story. But even though these three characters are all well and fine enough, I couldn’t really find myself caring about any of them.

In this sense, Libyrinth fails to truly engage, dragging with lengthy unnecessary scenes and a slow moving plot, especially in the first half of the novel. Even as I write this review now, the story seems like it should be any bibliophile’s dream – a book rife with literary allusions, set in a far future world where books are revered and simultaneously reviled. But I could not focus on this book, as I’d get bored after a few pages and find my mind wandering.

Though there are sufficient twists at the end of the book and a dramatic conclusion that leaves room for the next installment in the trilogy, Libyrinth didn’t really do anything for me. It’s the same sort of feeling I had after reading Stephen Hunt’s The Court of the Air. Both books have grand ideas and an impressive depth of themes and issues…but they lack the spark that makes them truly good reads. Still, I recommend Libyrinth for its impressive world-building alone and will tune in for the sequel. There’s a lot of potential here, and perhaps this will be tapped in future books.

Rating: 6 – Good, Recommended

Feed by M.T. Anderson

Publisher: Candlewick Press
Publication Date: December 2003
Paperback: 330 pages

Summary: (from Amazon.com)
For Titus and his friends, it started out like any ordinary trip to the moon – a chance to party during spring break and play with some stupid low-grav at the Ricochet Lounge. But that was before the crazy hacker caused all their feeds to malfunction, sending them to the hospital to lie around with nothing inside their heads for days. And it was before Titus met Violet, a beautiful, brainy teenage girl who has decided to fight the feed and its omnipresent ability to categorize human thoughts and desires. Following in the footsteps of George Orwell, Anthony Burgess, and Kurt Vonnegut Jr., M. T. Anderson has created a not-so-brave new world — and a smart, savage satire that has captivated readers with its view of an imagined future that veers unnervingly close to the here and now.

Review:

“We went to the moon to have fun, but the moon turned out to completely suck.”

So begins the story of Titus, an average teen in a future not so far off from our own. In this future world people are installed with the Feed – an implant in the brain that connects its user to a world of instant gratification. IMs are mentally conducted, consumer profiles and recommendations are personalized and beamed straight to the customer’s brain, and spam gets a whole new meaning. On spring break, Titus and his friends go to the moon for kicks and it is there that he meets Violet – a beautiful girl who is different from anyone that Titus has ever met. She tags along with Titus and his friends for spring break until one night when they all become victims of a vicious terrorist-hacker attack at a nightclub. In the following days, Violet, Titus and his friends are sequestered in a hospital where they live a strange, shocking life: their feeds are completely silent.

After their feeds are restored life goes back to normal for the teens as though nothing even happened, but Titus and Violet deepen their relationship based on a shared bond over this event. But as Titus learns that the attack has changed Violet more than he could ever have comprehended and far more than it has affected him, their relationship grows strained and sour while the world too deteriorates around them.

You know those books that haunt you once you’ve finished reading them? The ones that you might dream about, that you cannot shake from your consciousness even days after their conclusion? Feed is one of those books.

It begins as an extreme consumerist American future, choosing to focus on the human element. Rather than explore politics or social issues on a grand scale, Feed takes a micro-approach to this dystopian future, focusing on the teens that happily lap up the convenience and wicked cool things the Feed can provide for them. The Feed is not something Titus or his friends ever question because it is as normal a part of everyday life as eating or breathing. These characters are the worst exaggeration of the vapid, self-centered airhead brat – speaking in a future slang that is nearly incomprehensible:

Link Arwaker was like, “I’m so null,” and Matty was all, “I’m null too, unit,” but I mean we were all pretty null, because for the last like hour we’d been playing with three uninsulated wires that were coming out of the wall.

And this is what is so fascinating about Feed – the fact that the main character, though he’s a little different than his friends, is an apathetic protagonist that floats through life, unquestioning and uncaring, completely absorbed with the status quo and happy with it. Violet, on the other hand, is the one that questions and pushes – first by trying to trick her Feed out of building a consumer profile for her to fit her into one of a few preset categories, then later by reading glimpses of the deteriorating world and America’s place in it. In contrast to the passionate, intelligent Violet (who is an outsider since her birth and homeschooling by her scholarly father) Titus is a something of a wanker until the end. But, this is the point of the novel – Titus and his friends are the bland, “brag” new wave; they are the generation that will live and propagate the future. Teen rebellion is no more; self-definition through mediums like clothing, music, movies are obsolete. Everything is mass-produced and consumed, with institutions like schools and governments owned by corporations.

Feed walks the line between satire and sadness; the absurd and the terrifying. Corps like Nike and Coke hold competitions through the Feeds, offering prizes to those who talk about their products (i.e. “Marty had also gotten a Nike speech tattoo, which was pretty brag. It meant that every sentence, automatically said ‘Nike.’ He paid a lot for it. It was hilarious, because you could hardly understand what he said anymore. It was just, ‘This fuckin’ shit Nike, fuckin’, you know, Nike,’ etc.”), on the absurd and satyric end of the spectrum. Then there’s the seriousness of what this consumer utopia means for the rest of the world – the oceans are black toxic pools with no fish; forests are demolished completely from the face of the continent to make room for suburbs and malls, replaced with the more efficient air machines; weather and Clouds™ are simulated and artificially created; and finally, most terrifying of all, the consequences of these acts are seen on humans. Lesions, that mysteriously (and are not given a second thought by the teens of the novel) appear on their skin, become hip and fashionable.

This apathy – no, rather, this loving and eager acceptance of the complete destruction of our planet in return for brag new, like, clothes and, like, fashionable new lesions and upcars, is the most terrifying part of this remarkable novel. The glimpses we see through Titus and Violet of their rapidly dying world, the impending unravelling of diplomacy, and the gradual and happy decay of humans themselves, Eloi who are happily plugged in and tuned out, is where Feed soars.

One of the most shocking, funny, and indescribably saddening books I’ve read – and one of my most memorable reads of 2009. Highly, highly recommended.

Rating: 9 Damn Near Perfection

Obernewtyn by Isobelle Carmody

Publisher: Penguin (Australia) / Random House (US Reprint)
Publication Date: 1987 (Australia) / 2008 (US Reprint)
Paperback:

Summary: (from Obernewtyn.net)
“In my dream I was somewhere cold and darkly quiet. I could hear water dripping and I was afraid, though I did not know why. In the distance there was a bright flash of light. A high-pitched whining noise filled the air like a scream, but no one could scream for so long without stopping to breathe.”

Only then will she learn most truly who and what she is…

Review:

Obernewtyn is a book I discovered when I was in middle school – along with books like The Giver and Tomorrow, When the War Began, Isobelle Carmody’s vision of a post-apocalyptic future is one that I have loved since I myself was a young adult. And thus, for the second of our Post-Apocalypse/Dystopia days here during YA Appreciation Month, I had to give Obernewtyn a reread and review.

“In the days following the holocaust, which came to be known as the Great White, there was death and madness.”

After humanity nearly caused its own extinction by nuclear war, only small pockets of life dotted the planet. After the Great White, radiation fallout claimed almost all of the survivors with sickness and famine, causing death and mutation. Centuries later, peace has been restored to the land by the Council of farmers, but enforce their peace with religious zeal and unrelenting, harsh rules. Any deviation (mutation) found in beast or man – for small talents like mind-reading and future-telling have emerged – are to be met with death, or a harsh sentence of work in a labor farm (which essentially amounts to the same thing as death). So Elspeth Gordie, whose parents were burned as seditioners, must hide her ability carefully – for she can read minds and speak to animals. Elspeth is denounced, though, and she is shipped off to exile in Obernewtyn – the feared final destination for many mutants. Though the true extent of her powers is unknown by Madame Vega and the those in charge of the mountainous keep, Elspeth fears for what lies in store for her. For in Obernewtyn, she finds many others – Misfits – with strong powers like her own, and uncovers a dark scheme of experiments, secret family histories and forbidden old knowledge that lies in wait.

Rereading Obernewtyn is a comforting homecoming for me – and, as with my reread of Tomorrow, When the War Began, it’s even better this time around with my older, more experienced eye. Ms. Carmody manages to blend the science fiction post-apocalypse scenario flawlessly with magic and supernatural elements more often found in fantasy, and manages to make this a serious, immensely readable novel without ever falling into simple caricatures or cheese. Elspeth reminds me of heroines of my young adult reading world – girls like Alanna of Trebond or Mara, daughter of Nobody and his wife No one. These heroines are intelligent young ladies who embark on Adventures of their own making without ever needing to be defined by boyfriends or true tortured eternal loves. Elspeth enters the cold world of Obernewtyn and discovers a horrible plot, and she decides to fight back. I miss this kind of adventuring heroine, who though isn’t dead (see this year’s Eon: Dragoneye Reborn by another Australian author, Alison Goodman) certainly isn’t as popular in the legacy of Twilight.

The fantasy and dystopian elements are also strong, extrapolating on a world ravaged by fallout and still suffering from the consequences of nuclear war. The magical abilities of future humans in the wake of prolonged radiation is not a new concept (not even back in 1987 when this book was first published), but Ms. Carmody’s take on these mutant humans in a fanatical new world is one of the best I’ve ever read. The fear of anything different, of challenge, change and knowledge is understandable as the world reverts to a dark age and struggles for survival. Even as there are pockets of lethal radiation, such as in the Badlands surrounding Obernewtyn, there are also glimpses of vibrant life – in the farms and the animals that have survived the war. Ms. Carmody’s world building in Obernewtyn may be small of scale, but as the series progresses, her scope grows ever larger (hint: the books keep getting better).

I should also mention that Obernewtyn is one of those books that will have you ignoring phone calls, significant others, parents, and/or friends. Though it’s not particularly short at around 250 pages, it’s impeccably plotted. There is no stopping once started.

So, in short (if you couldn’t guess) rereading Obernewtyn was a true delight. There’s always that fear that over time, books lose the appeal they may have had years earlier – but this is not the case with this dystopian gem. The only drawback to my reread? Now I need to go back and read the entire series…

Rating: 8 Excellent

Additional Thoughts: Make sure to stick around, as later today Ana and I will have a joint review of Lois Lowry’s The Giver and Gathering Blue, as well as a list of other titles for the Post-Apocalyptic/Dystopian fan.

Title: Newes From the Dead

Author: Mary Hooper

Genre: Historical Fiction, Young Adult

Publisher: Bodley Head Children’s (Random House UK) / Roaring Book Press (Macmillan US)
Publication Date: April 2008 (UK & US)
Hardcover: 320 pages

Stand alone or series: Stand alone novel.

Why did I read this book: Recently, looking back at all the titles both Ana and I have reviewed over the course of our Young Adult Appreciation Month, I was shocked to see that neither of us had read or reviewed a YA historical fiction (save for A Countess Below Stairs, reviewed earlier today). And, when I remembered that I had a review copy of Newes from the Dead on my TBR pile, I decided that it was time to give it a read. As YA Historical Fiction was one of my favorite genres as a kid (to this day, Mara: Daughter of the Nile remains one of my favorite books of all time – not to mention other classics like Ann Rinaldi’s The Last Silk Dress or Avi’s The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle).

Summary: (from amazon.com)
It is 1650 and a baby lies raw and cold, dead before it even drew breath. A young servant girl, terrified and alone, is accused of its murder and sent to the gallows. Protesting her innocence in the chill air of a December morning, Anne Green is hanged. Moments later her lifeless body is lifted down from the scaffold and carried to the College of Physicians for brutal dissection.

But as Anne’s corpse lies on the table and the doctors assemble, a strange rattle is heard in her throat. Against all the odds, could she still be alive?

Review:

On a cold winter’s night in 1650, Anne Green awakens from a dark slumber, and she realizes that she cannot move. Slowly she remembers her last breath before her long sleep, with a hangman’s noose around her neck. Anne fears that she has died, and now lies in some horrible state of purgatory, buried beneath ground in a coffin, doomed to darkness and for all eternity. With nothing else to do, Anne begins to recount her sad story from the beginning; her first days housemaid in the home of a powerful family, the attentions and empty promises of the young lord of the house, and her ultimate demise as she’s found guilty of fornication and murder. Parallel to Anne’s recollections is another storyline, where a young noble with a pronounced stammer gathers around Anne’s body with his fellow students and doctors in Oxford, ready to dissect her still fresh body for the purposes of scientific inquiry. But then, the men see Anne’s eyelids twitch. Eager to make their reputations, the physicians of Oxford try to revive Miss Anne Green from her half-dead state – for against all logic, the girl has faced the gallows protesting her innocence and has survived.

Newes from the Dead takes its title and its subject matter from a pamphlet published in 1650 – the shockingly true tale of a young woman who was found guilty of infanticide, hanged, and pronounced dead only to show signs of life hours later on the dissection table and become revived by her would-be autopsists. Anne Green’s morbid but fascinating tale, as heard by Mary Hooper on the radio one day inspired her to weave a compelling novel around the historical account.

And compelling Ms. Hooper’s historical fiction is. In effect, the plot is already spelled out from the synopsis – there are no surprises or twists in Newes from the Dead, as we know from the beginning that this is a story about a young girl who miraculously survives her execution and a close brush with dissection. It is testament to Ms. Hooper’s writing that even though the overall plot is known well ahead of time, Newes from the Dead is a haunting, even thrilling read.

There are two parallel stories being told in Newes from the Dead – there’s Anne’s recounting in her immobile body, and there’s the tale of Sir Robert Matthews observing the looming dissection with feelings of apprehension. These storylines converge as Robert sees Anne’s eyelids twitch and stays by her side until she is fully revived. Anne’s memories of her time as a housemaid in the home of Sir Thomas is a tragic and completely believable tale. As a pretty young maid, Anne attracts the attention of Sir Geoffrey, grandson of Sir Thomas of the house – and Geoffrey is relentless in his pursuit of Anne, showering her with sweet words and empty promises of wealth, stature and a safe future as his wife. And Anne, young and naive girl that she is, gives in to his advances, though later she tries to flee his attention. Anne’s shame at believing Geoffrey, even though it was momentary, is painful to read and heartbreaking because it seems so plausible. When Anne finds herself pregnant and then shunned by Geoffrey completely, the pain intensifies. I couldn’t help but feel for the poor girl, caught in an impossible position. The engineering of her quick death sentence, at the hands of the influential Sir Thomas of course, only enhances the aura of dread and helplessness that young Anne feels – indeed, what any number of women or unprivileged persons must have felt in the early days of Cromwell. Anne’s tale is the heart of Newes from the Dead, as Ms. Hooper writes a heartbreakingly story about the events leading up to, and immediately following, her execution.

The other storyline, told with insight to young, stammering Robert’s perspective in the auditorium, is a different type of tale but equally compelling. Robert, prisoner in his own body as much as Anne is by his inability to speak around his colleagues, is an endearing hero counterpart to Anne’s sad story. While Anne lies in a fugue state, Robert remembers his own sad past and finds himself drawn to Anne’s story, and desperately hopes for her to live through her ordeal. If the events in Anne’s memory are a beautifully told story of heartache and abuse, Robert’s observations in Oxford with the physicians, a Puritan and the hateful Sir Thomas are the events that make Newes from the Dead a historical thriller of sorts. Even knowing that the dissection does not happen, I found myself holding my breath at the exclamations and angry arguments from Sir Thomas and the religious Puritan, and I eagerly hoped along with Robert that the physicians – with self-promoting motives of their own, remember – would be able to save young Anne Green’s life. For, even when they knew that Anne was not quite dead, urging her back to resuscitated life – especially with Sir Thomas so eager to make sure she stayed silent and dead – was no small feat.

If this were an Edgar Allen Poe story (which it does share the same sort of ominous foreboding), doubtless Anne Green would survive the gallows only to suffer some other morbid fate – dissected alive, or buried alive. But Ms. Hooper’s Newes from the Dead takes the heavy subject matter with all its gruesome possibilities and instead ends on a happy and completely fulfilling note. This is one well-written, strong novel, and I cannot wait to read more of Ms. Hooper’s historical fiction.

Notable Quotes/Parts: From the opening chapter:

It is very dark when I wake. This isn’t frightening in itself, because most of the year I rise in darkness, Sir Thomas insisting that as much of the house as possible be put in order before any of the family is about. It is the quality of the darkness that is strange; blacker than black, soft and close about me.

I go to turn my head toward the window, to see if any streaks of light can be seen in the sky, but my head doesn’t move! I try again, and again. I lift my hand—or try to—but it doesn’t want to obey me either.

It must be that I am deeply asleep, in some sort of trancelike state, and aware that I’m dreaming. I think I will just waitfor it to pass so I may rise, dress, and go about my household duties.

The waiting continues, and I feel nothing: neither cold nor warm, hungry nor replete. I just sense the blackness and soaring emptiness, but this is not too unpleasant. Some time later, though I cannot tell how long, I perceive movement across the backs of my eyes: four blurry white streaks, moving and gliding in the blackness. The streaks are feathery soft and remind me of doves, or of the soft, enveloping wings of angels. The blurry shapes dance across my eyelids, but when I try to stop them, to endeavor to focus on one and see if I can spy a shining halo or a gold harp, I find it impossible.

I would like it to be angels that I dream of, for I know that would be very lucky. The Reverend Coxeter told us that. He said that no matter whether you are a scullery wench or a lord in his castle, you are truly blessed if you dream of angels. I have tried to dream of them ever since I heard that, but have never succeeded.

Suddenly I remember something and want to scream with terror, and the blackness loses its velvety softness and takes on an aspect of such vast and unknown fears that the angels disappear. What I have remembered is this: the last time I saw the Reverend Coxeter ’twas not in church, but in a bleak yard in the icy rain, and he was entreating the Lord to have mercy on me, preserve my soul, and convey me quickly to paradise. Behind him had stood a great crowd of people, a man wearing a black hood, and a mighty wooden scaffold from which hung a heavy, knotted rope. And it was for me that all these were waiting, for I was . . . was about to be hanged.

A terrifying thought comes to me: If this happened, am I now dead? No, I cannot be, for surely I can hear my heart thumping within me and echoing through my ears. Then is this the state that they tell us about in the Bible? Is this purgatory?

I struggle to think, and recall that purgatory is said to be a painful state, with tortuous fires that cleanse the soul and bring it to righteousness. But how long does it last, this purgatory? A very long time, I think—thousands of years.

My state is not painful now, though, so perhaps it might not be too terrible to be in purgatory. If it just means lying here quietly in the dark, it might be quite bearable. There would be no rising at two in the morning on washing day to soak the linen, no more scrubbing of the kitchen range until my hands bleed, no more going without food for breaking a plate and being unable to sleep for hunger. No more of that, either—that which Geoffrey Reade sought. As I think on this, I feel a shadow pass over my soul and know, without being sure of the circumstances, that he is inexplicably connected to my fate.

I leave this thought atremble in the air and move on. Yes, I could, perhaps, bear purgatory. What I cannot bear . . . what I won’t contemplate is . . . no, no! I won’t let that thought in. But it comes anyway: What I could not bear, dare not consider, is the possibility that I’m not dead, but merely occupying a coffin, having been buried alive.

I’m of a sudden desperate to come out of the trance I must be in, for surely—oh, surely—I am still in the little bedroom I share with Susan, and only deeply asleep. I urge myself on. In my mind’s eye I picture myself pushing back my coarse blanket, swinging my legs out of the bed, and rising up, but though the urge is there, though I think I can perceive my muscles trembling with the effort to work, nothing happens and no part of me moves.

I concentrate harder. Maybe sitting up is asking too much of my body. It will be enough if I can move my hand, feel what’s around me: the straw mattress beneath me and the blanket on top. Once I know that I’m safe in my bed, I’ll be content to lie here longer.

I realize then that instead of being in my usual sleeping position, curled up like a wood louse, I’m lying straight and still with my hands crossed over my breasts. But this is not the usual manner in which I go to sleep . . .

My limbs are not working, but my mind is going ahead, whirling on a dance, showing me images of the effigy in St. Mary’s: a stone woman lying with her arms crossed over her cold stone body. Indeed! That’s how they lay out the dead! I’m so disturbed by this image that for a moment I forget to breathe.

I open my eyes; close them again. It makes no difference to the quality of the darkness. In fact I don’t know if I’m opening my eyes or just dreaming I am. Am I asleep or awake? Alive or dead? Am I already a cadaver?

My heart contracts with terror; there is a pain behind my eyes where I long to cry and a choking in my throat, but it seems that even crying is denied me. I begin to count to calm myself down. It is what I learned to do when Master Geoffrey was—but no, I cannot think on that yet.

I wonder if this state, this condition of mine, is punishment for what I have done, for they are very hard with all who commit sin now, and I have heard of women who have fornicated being tied on a ducking stool and dropped into a pond, and those who have stolen being whipped around the village behind a cart. I have never heard of anyone being buried alive, though.

I am very, very frightened. If I find out that I am buried, I’ll claw at the wood that surrounds me, scratch the walls of my coffin, and break out. But what will I do then? If I’m a buried corpse, then I’m under six feet of earth and will never get free. Best to die quickly perhaps, to clamp my lips together, stop myself from drawing breath, and perish.

In the blackness behind my eyes I try to see the blurry shapes again and turn them into comforting angels, but I cannot. Instead, chunks of my life come crowding in, clamoring to be heard, asking that they be considered in order to make sense of what’s happened to me.

Additional Thoughts: Anne Green was revived in 1650, and lived out a full life – in fact, becoming something of an icon, inspiring narrations in prose, poetry and even a woodcut, as pictured below.

But how did Anne Green survive her hanging (for thirty minutes, no less)? In the author’s afterward and after doing a cursory search online, the common theories involve a misplaced noose that failed to break Anne’s neck or even fully throttle her. Combined with the very cold weather which may have saved her from death by lack of oxygen, Anne managed to survive.

Verdict: Newes from the Dead is a strong novel in terms of characters and skillful plotting. I certainly recommend it for anyone looking for a grittier young adult historical novel, and look forward to reading more of Ms. Hooper’s work!

Rating: 6 – Good, recommended

Reading next: Libyrinth by Pearl North