Reached

Rating: 3 out of 5 Red Pills

After leaving Society and desperately searching for the Rising—and each other—Cassia and Ky have found what they were looking for, but at the cost of losing each other yet again: Cassia has been assigned to work for the Rising from within Society, while Ky has been stationed outside its borders. But nothing is as predicted, and all too soon the veil lifts and things shift once again.

In this gripping conclusion to the #1 New York Times-bestselling Matched trilogy, Cassia will reconcile the difficulties of challenging a life too confining, seeking a freedom she never dreamed possible, and honoring a love she cannot live without.

(from Goodreads. com)

 

I don't know what it is about trilogies, lately, and the Third Book Syndrome. Condie's trio has potential. And this is why I have a love-hate relationship with it. The idea is good, and it works, but it didn't work for me. I don't know. Condie writes beautifully at times. There were a few gems of wisdom in each of the books, commentaries on life and human nature that I thought were priceless, but there seemed to be a disconnect. 

Ok, compared to other YA fiction out there right now, Condie's novels have more depth and the love stories are a little more believable, but I couldn't help feeling like it was missing something. Cassia is likable, but she isn't relatable. I don't feel like her character, as the heroine, leaps out of the pages for any special reason. At least she isn't a moody character and she is determined all the way through to the very last page, but I think because she didn't have fluctuations in her mood is why she was so unrealistic to me. She'd cry or she'd have these flashbacks but she never got angry. Of all the people in this series to get angry, Cassia is the one who should have been screaming mad. I wanted emotion and all I got was a pretty monotone character. Her insights are beautiful, and she becomes a way for Condie to show that it is the arts and the ability of humans to create that is going to save us someday. 

Ky was the best character throughout all of it because he was the most in-depth. He had more emotion behind him. However, I hated that he was so okay with Xander being in love with the girl he loved. So when the characters have emotions in this series it doesn't feel like something a normal person would feel. 

Xander is okay. He seems to shine the most in this book and he doesn't get very much mention in the other two books. He's kind of a side figure. The poor fella who got Matched to Cassia who doesn't love him. And then we are introduced to Lei in a sad way to match him off with someone else so the Cassia and Ky can live happily ever after. It felt like the whole Renesmee/Jacob fiasco in the last book of the Twilight series. Hey, let's introduce a new character for my third member in the love triangle so he can also be happy and my main duo can have their love. I'm sorry, but real life doesn't work that way. It's messy. And I wanted there to be mess in this book. I wanted there to be raw emotion. I mean...hello, The Society is being overthrown and nobody seemed to care. I won't spoil it, but I just feel like that should have been handled differently.

 Now to the Pilot thing. My other big gripe about this. Two whole books of the buildup of "Who is The Pilot?" Then it's just some random guy we never heard of. Nor do we ever get a freaking name or a description of this guy. I'm not sure I understand the point of that. And then we suddenly had Pilots popping up everywhere. Indie was a Pilot? We are all Pilots? Meaning we all determine our own destiny? I was so confused. I wanted the Pilot to be Cassia or Ky or even Xander. That would have made literary sense. 

Ok. Enough of the gripes. I have to give Condie props for some really beautiful writing. Especially in the first two books. Her descriptions were very handy and well-crafted. Where story line and emotion seemed to fail, her writing picked up the slack. When I finished the second book, I wasn't sure I wanted to finish the last book because the whole business in The Carving felt plotless and too wander-y for my taste. But it was Condie's writing that brought me back. I will continue to watch for her career in the future because I definitely think she's a gifted writer. I just think she needs some help in the conveying emotion department. 

Addendum: Now that I think of it, this book actually reads a lot like Ayn Rand's Anthem which is an amazing and very short book. The plotline seems about the same. But, Rand was still able to convey some very real emotion in characters that didn't even have names. So it can be done.  

Pandemonium

WOOT WOOT!

 

I’m pushing aside the memory of my nightmare,
pushing aside thoughts of Alex,
pushing aside thoughts of Hana and my old school,
push,
push,
push,
like Raven taught me to do.
The old life is dead.
But the old Lena is dead too.
I buried her.
I left her beyond a fence,
behind a wall of smoke and flame. 

(From Goodreads.com)

 

Lauren Oliver has done it again. She continues to astound me with her electric prose and her exciting plotting. She is a master at creating a mood and getting the reader completely sucked in. There were seriously moments, during the reading of Pandemonium, that I was so engrossed and I would look up and realize where I was. It is a mark of a sheer genius who can make you believe the characters are real because you identify with them so much and you empathize with them. 

 

It is an unfair comparison, but I kept thinking about Crossed by Ally Condie. While I enjoy the story and the idea in Condie's trio, I think the writing is lacking. Where these two are both the second in a trilogy it seemed appropriate to see where one was winning and one was lacking. Condie's second volume is good, don't get me wrong. I have a review of it on this blog, but I remember shutting it at the last page and thinking "Nothing even happened!" And now, as I recall, all I remember is a lot of running, some climbing, some hiking, twists and turns, and nothing real progressive with the plot. I think another reason I compared the two, in my mind, is because they both dealt with tunnels or being out in the forbidden "Wilds." Condie's wilds are alien and unapproachable. I had no idea where to even plant myself in them. Oliver's Wilds are realistic and, exactly that: wild. The pain is real in Oliver's book. I felt each pang of hunger, each twist and turn as the characters turned on each other because they acted human and real. 

 

Oliver also did an unfair thing. She introduced a love triangle. I wanted to cry out, but the progression of the love Lena gains for Julian is natural and quite beautiful. This is truly a triangle I'm going to struggle to pick a side for. Both of them are good guys and I'm pretty sure Oliver has a good answer for it. The third book will be very telling. Julian was an interesting addition to the mix and I grew to empathize with him. And it was also an interesting twist that suddenly Lena takes Alex's place and "infects" Julian just like Alex did to her. 

 

Lauren Oliver moves her story forward like an unstoppable avalanche. It rumbles and bursts with power, sometimes managing to take my breath away. Back to Condie's book: I don't remember being rendered breathless with her story. Yes, her words are pretty, but when you match plot to that, she's seriously lacking. Lauren Oliver has managed to partner the two to make a genius and remarkable story in the young adult fiction world. I highly recommend this trio and anything else that she writes.  

Crossed

Rating: 2 out of 5 Canyons

Cassia's quest leads her to question much of what she holds dear, even as she finds glimmers of a different life across the border. But as Cassia nears resolve and certainty about her future with Ky, an invitation for rebellion, an unexpected betrayal, and a surprise visit from Xander - who may hold the key to the uprising and, still, to Cassia's heart - change the game once again. Nothing is as expected on the edge of Society, where crosses and double crosses make the path more twisted
than ever. (Amazon.com)

Don't get me wrong; I love the story. I just kept expecting something to happen in this the second installment in Condie's Matched trilogy. Nothing really gets explained. Who is the Enemy? And it just feels more dramatic and epic than it should be. Does that make sense? 

I guess I'm just being negative about this review because I look back on reading this book and don't feel like I got anything out of it. However, that being said, Condie's writing is beautiful and it is really what kept me going. Her sense of imagery is spot-on. I just don't feel like this one was as well done as far as plotline as the first book. Call me crazy. I gave it 2 out of 5 Canyons. 

Octavius & Christmas

It may be awhile before I do another blog. My computer, Octavius, decided he had had enough. I was actually about to do a book review for Crossed when he came up with a bunch of crazy messages and all my stuff was wiped away before my eyes. Luckily, I did not lose my book. That was my biggest worry. He is now at the doctor and they are trying to diagnose the problem. I'm hoping they can make him well enough to last until I go to basic and then I can save up some cash and buy a new one. Guess he'd had enough of my book reviews and went on strike. Haha! 

On another, much happier note:

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

I will have to just give you a post later about how my Christmas went and, by then, I will have more book reviews as well. So stay tuned! 

Matched

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Compacts

In the Society, Officials decide. Who you love. Where you work. When you die.
Cassia has always trusted their choices. It’s hardly any price to pay for a long life, the perfect job, the ideal mate. So when her best friend appears on the Matching screen, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is the one… until she sees another face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black. Now Cassia is faced with impossible choices: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she’s known and a path no one else has ever dared follow — between perfection and passion. (From Matched-Book.com, official website for Ally Condie)

How much is there, really, that you can do with a dystopian society plot? I've read a lot of YA fiction with the whole dystopian theme which seems to be the latest trend thanks to the success of The Hunger Games. It was a breath of fresh air after the vampire/werewolf craze that Twilight created. Now, it seems, futuristic, totalitarian societies are the thing. I don't mind this new thing; I just wonder how many more ideas there can be with this whole thing because there's not a whole lot of things you can do with it. I am glad, however, that this trend allows YA authors to teach young adults about society and the problems we have in our own society that could be blown out of proportion to create a miserable future for our predecessors.

Ally Condie's first book in her Matched trilogy is quite catchy. The writing is sparse and beautiful, to the point. Condie's words are often poetic which is really what kept me hooked. I was intrigued with the plot enough that I wanted to keep reading which is always a good sign. I never felt like I had to force myself to get to the end. In fact I wanted there to be more. Good thing the second book is out. I went and got it today.

Love triangles. Gotta love 'em. They make for good drama. I just wish there was more to them sometimes. Condie's triangle is decently done. She focuses a lot on Ky so when Cassia says she loves Xander also, I feel forced to believe her because I don't see any proof. Condie could have easily tagged in some memories of Xander or had more scenes with Xander so we at least get to know him the same way we know Ky. Xander remains a mystery all the way through the book so when Cassia acts like she knows him it just feels forced or something. That being said, I wonder if Condie is going to show more of Xander's character in the next book. Here's hoping. Kinda hard to have a love triangle when we don't know a whole lot about one of the love interests.

Speaking of Xander, there's a scene at the end where he tells Cassia a memory he has and she describes him as cruel. Yet she still loves him. Somehow I don't see the attraction to Xander. There definitely needs more development with that relationship if Condie wants me to believe that there really is a love triangle. This normally wouldn't be a big deal except that it's a pivotal part of the plot.

I will admit I was worried it was just going to be a bunch of whining about a girl that has to choose between two boys. Sound familiar? Condie gave me a pleasant surprise by giving the story more depth. A fundamental thing that we all take for granted is that we have the ability to choose for ourselves: our jobs, our mates, our health, everything. In Condie's dystopian society that ability to choose has, essentially, been taken away. It's interesting to see what kind of world it would be without that.  

So she has some development things to work on, but Condie has really built an interesting setting and some good plotting. It isn't my favorite book ever, but it also isn't the worst one I've read so I gave it 3.5 out of 5 Compacts. Stay tuned for my review of Crossed.






 

Attitude of Gratitude #20

Today I'm thankful for:

Shirts that Fit

A few years ago I bought two shirts from Kohl's that were a little on the snug side. I really don't know what my thinking was. Part of it was probably denial that I was getting big. Maybe I thought I would get down enough to fit into them. Or maybe I liked that they were tight and showed off my "muscles." Well...I didn't really wear them all that much because instead of getting fitter, leaner, and smaller, I started getting bigger. We've had this discussion before. Well, I saw one of the shirts in my closet today and decided I would see if it fit. Lo and behold! It fit! Perfectly! And I now have the muscles that I wanted to be able to show off in that shirt. Woohoo!

 

Freedom

I started reading Ally Condie's book Matched which is a dystopian/totalitarian (all the rage right now thanks to Hunger Games) society that pretty much tells you how your life is going to be lived. The whole premise is based on being matched to who you will have to marry. The Society links you with someone your most compatible with, tells you what job you get for life, and even tells you when you're going to die. I would go crazy, and I'm kinda going crazy reading it which, I guess, is kinda the point. Reading this book, even though I'm not that far into it, has made me realize how grateful I am for the freedoms I have and that I take for granted. Some societies out there act a little like the one in Condie's book (not to the extreme) and I'm grateful I have the choice of what to do with my life, who I can be with, and how I'm going to do everything. Oh how I love America! Even when our economy is in the dumps like it is right now it's still a pretty awesome place to live. 

 

Music

I love how music can change emotions, heal, bring joy, calm us down, and give us a form of expression when words fail us. I have heard that "We sing because we have no more words; we dance because we cannot move." That just means that these artistic expressions allow us to convey things that words and motions can no longer do justice to. I love music in most of its forms and I'm grateful for its power in my life.