Book review: This Fragile Earth by Susannah Wise [blog tour]

Dystopian novels are one of my favourite kinds of reads, and the cover of This Fragile Earth by Susannah Wise (colour, font, and image) screams Station Eleven (which is my all-time fav). Needless to say I had to start reading the book as soon as I got my hands on a copy, and I'm so glad I did as it was really compelling!

Book review: Last One at the Party by Bethany Clift

Oh hello. 2020 was a strange one wasn't it? I lost my reading and blogging mojo amongst this tumultuous time, but after a refreshing break from everything I feel energised and motivated to dive back into this wonderful world. After all, it's brought me so much joy in the last 10+ years that this little happy corner of the Internet is exactly what I need as we go into another strange year. Today I'm thrilled to bring you a review of one of the most anticipated books of 2021 – Last One at the Party by Bethany Clift – and rightfully so, what a corker of a read. 

The Last by Hanna Jameson

When I first heard about The Last it sounded like it could be a pretty compelling read, but I didn't anticipate quite how gripped I'd be by this post-apocalyptic murder mystery. So much so, in fact, that when I started reading the novel I missed my stop on the commute into work – a journey I make every single day... I'd flown through the pages and the story, hooked by the disconcerting unknowns and the depth of the characters, and I clearly didn't want it to end. If that isn't a sign of a true page-turner, then I don't know what is.

Book review: All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders

All the Birds in the Sky is a crazy sci-fi/fantasy mash-up, which started out as a solid 5-star novel aimed at the young adult market. As the story progressed, however, it became less sure of what it wanted to be and the feeling of excitement I felt over those early chapters mostly disappeared. In the end I did think it was an interesting read, and I'm glad I had the opportunity to read it, but it didn't manage to live up to my initial expectations.

Book review: MARTians by Blythe Woolston

After reading a few hefty novels in a row, filled with intricate world-building and stories that required a slower pace of reading to ensure I didn't miss a small nugget of information that would become important later down the line, I was keen to delve into a lighter read which wouldn't require quite so much brain power and I picked up the thinnest novel on my to-read shelves; the interestingly named MARTians. I assumed this would be an alien invasion novel, but it's actually more of an middle grade/young adult dystopian tale which looks at today's society of excessive consumerism and takes it one step further into the extreme – a fascinating concept.

Book review: Cloud 9 by Alex Campbell

My edition: Paperback, published on 3 September 2015 by Hot Key Books, 325 pages.

Description: Life's short. Enjoy it.

This is the slogan of Leata, the wonder-drug that sixteen-year-old Hope has been taking since she was a child, just like the rest of her family. Well, the rest of the country really. For who would choose not to take it – a perfectly safe little pill that just helps 'take the edge off' life. Because everyone can do with a little help staying happy sometimes... Especially Hope, whose life is maybe not as perfect as she likes to make out on her blog.

Tom's never taken Leata. Why would he? His family are happy as they are. At least they were, until the sudden death of his journalist father. The police are unequivocal: his dad killed himself. But Tom just can't believe it. Consumed by grief, he obsessively begins to unravel the trail that leads to his dad's final news story.

And Hope is there to help. As a Leata-backed blogger, Hope wants to steer Tom into 'positive living'. Instead, her efforts take them down a path she could never have expected – into the murky underworld that lies beneath the surface of the 'happy' drug everyone wants to love... and the secrets it will kill to hide.

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Book review: The Chimes by Anna Smaill

My edition: Hardcover, to be published on 12 February 2015 by Sceptre, 304 pages.

Description: A boy stands on the roadside on his way to London, alone in the rain.

No memories, beyond what he can hold in his hands at any given moment.

No directions, as written words have long since been forbidden.

No parents - just a melody that tugs at him, a thread to follow. A song that says if he can just get to the capital, he may find some answers about what happened to them.

The world around Simon sings, each movement a pulse of rhythm, each object weaving its own melody, music ringing in every drop of air.

Welcome to the world of The Chimes. Here, life is orchestrated by a vast musical instrument that renders people unable to form new memories. The past is a mystery, each new day feels the same as the last, and before is blasphony.

But slowly, inexplicably, Simon is beginning to remember. He emerges from sleep each morning with a pricking feeling, and sense there is something he urgently has to do. In the city Simon meets Lucien, who has a gift for hearing, some secrets of his own, and a theory about the danger lurking in Simon's past.

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Book review: The Ship by Antonia Honeywell

My edition: Hardcover, to be published on 19 February 2015 by Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 309 pages.

Description: Welcome to London, but not as you know it.

Oxford Street burned for three weeks The British Museum is squatted by ragtag survivors The Regent's Park camps have been bombed

The Nazareth Act has come into force. If you can't produce your identity card, you will be shot.

Lalla, 16, has grown up sheltered from the new reality by her visionary father, Michael Paul. But now the chaos has reached their doorstep. Michael has promised Lalla and her mother that they will escape. Escape is a ship big enough to save 500 people. But only the worthy will be chosen.

Once on board, as day follows identical day, Lalla's unease grows. Where are they going? What does her father really want?

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Book review: The 100 - Day 21 by Kass Morgan

My edition: Paperback, published on 25 September 2014 by Hodder, 311 pages.

Description: It's been 21 days since The 100 landed on Earth. They're the only humans to set foot on the planet in centuries... or so they thought.

Facing an unknown enemy, Wells attempts to keep the group together. Clarke strikes out for Mount Weather, in search of other Colonists, while Bellamy is determined to rescue his sister, no matter the cost.

And back on the ship, Glass faces an unthinkable choice between the love of her life and life itself.



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Book review: Breakdown by Sarah Mussi

My edition: Paperback, published on 2 October 2014 by Hot Key Books, 418 pages.

Description: It is 2084. Nuclear radiation has poisoned the country. Society has fallen apart. Starvation is rampant, and power shortages have resulted in piles of obsolete gadgetry. Necessity has driven those who've survived to complete self-reliance, if they have the means to do so. For Melissa and her Nan, survival is just about possible, so long as they can guard the tiny crop of potatoes in their back garden and find enough fuel to cook on - and as long as they are safely barricaded inside their home by curfew.

For after dark, feral dogs hunt, and violent gangs from the old Olympic Stadium (now a miserable ghetto) roam to loot and plunder. If they catch you, they are not merciful; so when Melissa falls into the hands of Careem's gang, her prospects look bleak. But Careem soon realises that she might just be more valuable alive, as a ransom victim. However, he hasn't reckoned with Melissa's resourcefulness. Soon part of his young gang are completely beguiled by Melissa and her story of a hidden valley in Scotland - a place that sounds like a comparative paradise, if they can get there. But apparently only Melissa knows the way, and only she can lead them there.

But Melissa is hiding a secret. She has never been to Scotland in her life, let alone a mythically Elysian valley there. Can Melissa's stories keep her alive long enough to escape - or will they get her killed?

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Book review: Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

My edition: Paperback (proof), published on 10th September 2014 by Picador, 384 pages.

Description: DAY ONE

The Georgia Flu explodes over the surface of the earth like a neutron bomb.

News reports put the mortality rate at over 99%.

WEEK TWO

Civilization has crumbled.

YEAR TWENTY

A band of actors and musicians called the Travelling Symphony move through their territories performing concerts and Shakespeare to the settlements that have grown up there. Twenty years after the pandemic, life feels relatively safe.

But now a new danger looms, and he threatens the hopeful world every survivor has tried to rebuild.

STATION ELEVEN

Moving backwards and forwards in time, from the glittering years just before the collapse to the strange and altered world that exists twenty years after, Station Eleven charts the unexpected twists of fate that connect six people: famous actor Arthur Leander; Jeevan - warned about the flu just in time; Arthur's first wife Miranda; Arthur's oldest friend Clark; Kirsten, a young actress with the Travelling Symphony; and the mysterious and self-proclaimed 'prophet'.


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Book review: Perfect Ruin by Lauren DeStefano

My edition: Paperback, to be published on 3 October 2013 by Harper Voyager, 352 pages.

Description: Morgan Stockhour knows getting too close to the edge of Internment, the floating city in the clouds where she lives, can lead to madness. Even though her older brother, Lex, was a Jumper, Morgan vows never to end up like him. If she ever wonders about the ground, and why it is forbidden, she takes solace in her best friend, Pen, and in Basil, the boy she’s engaged to marry.

Then a murder, the first in a generation, rocks the city. With whispers swirling and fear on the wind, Morgan can no longer stop herself from investigating, especially once she meets Judas. Betrothed to the victim, he is the boy being blamed for the murder, but Morgan is convinced of his innocence. Secrets lay at the heart of Internment, but nothing can prepare Morgan for what she will find – or whom she will lose.


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Book review: Awaken by Katie Kacvinsky

My edition: Paperback, published in 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 320 pages.

Description: Maddie lives in a world where everything is done on the computer. Whether it’s to go to school or on a date, people don’t venture out of their home. There’s really no need. For the most part, Maddie’s okay with the solitary, digital life—until she meets Justin. Justin likes being with people. He enjoys the physical closeness of face-to-face interactions. People aren’t meant to be alone, he tells her.

Suddenly, Maddie feels something awakening inside her—a feeling that maybe there is a different, better way to live. But with society and her parents telling her otherwise, Maddie is going to have to learn to stand up for herself if she wants to change the path her life is taking.

In this not-so-brave new world, two young people struggle to carve out their own space.

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Book review: The Line by Teri Hall

My edition: Paperback, published in 2011 by Speak, 224 pages.

Description: When Rachel and her mother move to Mrs. Moore's house-the one with the greenhouse, right next to the Line-Rachel starts questioning things.

There are so many rumors of horrible things that lie beyond the Line-in a place called Away-but no one dares to talk about it. And it's no use asking questions- especially of Mrs. Moore, who has always lived by the Line, or of her mother, who is just happy to have a place to stay, especially since Rachel's father died in the war.

But then Rachel comes across a recorded message-one that could only have come from Away. And the voice on the recorder is asking for help.

As things start to unravel, the question becomes, how far is Rachel willing to go to cross the Line and do the right thing?

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Book review: Wither by Lauren DeStefano

My edition: Paperback, published in 2011 by Voyager, 320 pages.

Description: Obviously, something went terribly wrong.

Genetic mutations have festered, reducing human longevity to twenty-five, even less for most women.

To prevent extinction, young girls are kidnapped, mated in polygamous marriages with men eager to procreate.

Sixteen-year-old Rhine Ellery, a recent victim of this breeding farm mentality, has vowed to break loose from its fetters; but finding allies and a safe way out is a challenge she can only hope she will survive.


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Review: Divergent by Veronica Roth

My edition: Paperback, published in 2011 by HarperCollins, 487 pages

Description: One choice decides your friends, defines your beliefs and determines your loyalties... forever.

One choice can transform you.

In Veronica Roth's debut novel, Divergent, a perfect society unfolds into a dystopian world of electrifying decisions, stunning consequences, heartbreaking bertrayals and unexpected romance.

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The city previously known as Chicago, and assumingly the entire world though we have yet to glimpse behind the gates surrounding the city, is divided in five factions. These factions represent the virtues that the people within these parts hold most important. Abnegations treasure selflessness, the people in Candor pride themselves in being honest, those in Amity value peace, the Erudite seek knowledge and the people in Dauntless are daredevils that put bravery above all else. Those that do not belong to any of these are the factionless and they wander the streets in between the factions; homeless and begging for a scrap of food.

At the age of 16 the children of this world undergo testing which will define which one of the five factions would be most suitable for them to spend the rest of their lives in. Though the results are a a mere advise as it's up to the children themselves to decide if they will stay in the faction they grew up in or change to one of the four others. Choosing factions means having to go through an initiation process (which upon failure can, depending on which faction you want to join, lead to death or becoming factionless) and when changing factions you have to leave your former friends and family members behind. "Faction above blood", is the motto after all.

And this is where we meet our main character Beatrice, an Abnegation struggling with the decision as to which faction to pick. She hopes that the test results will make the choice easier but unfortunately the exact opposite is the case when she's classified as the rare sixth option: Divergent. For reasons yet to be clarified at this stage this result is extremely dangerous for her so the test is deleted from the computer system and instead put in manually by her instructor - leaving Beatrice to make the choice all on her own and with an extra, possibly lethal, secret to keep.

I do not mind the fact that the dystopian genre seems to have exploded in the past few years and everyone and their gold fish is trying to cash in on the hype by writing their own little versions when as a result of such every now and again a wonderful novel like Divergent comes around. I wouldn't go as far as to say that the book is perfect or OMG THE BEST BOOK EVER!!1! but the world it's set in is endlessly fascinating and had me hooked from the start. Even though I do not understand the reasoning from main character Tris for the faction she eventually decides on - quite possibly because it would be the one I am least attracted to myself - that is not a problem as each of the different factions have something special and intriguing about them that can lure the reader in. The history of how the factions came to be, their differences and the inevitable doom hanging over everyone's head (because the seemingly perfect worlds within this genre are always nothing but a mirage for the trouble brewing underneath) makes for an amazingly complex and interesting story, one I can not wait to uncover a little bit more in the next book.

10/10