Book Review - Hunger

Hunger by Michael Grant
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Gone series began with the vanishing of all adults - everyone aged 15 or over - leaving behind only children, babies to be cared for, and a handful of pre-teens with sudden, unexpected responsibilities they aren't exactly ready for. When a fight broke out between the two factions in town - those from the private school on the hill, as it were, and the townies from public school - it nearly became a war. After the dust settled, the kids realized that while living on chips and candy had been fun, they'd let the fresh food rot on the shelves, and were now down to making meals out of a jar of gravy or relish.

They were hungry. And angry. And looking for someone to blame. Those who they had trusted responsibility to seemed to have disappointed them. And it was time for a rebellion.

Meanwhile, Caine had not recovered, as the ipso facto leader of the Coates Academy (private school) kids from his humiliating defeat. His time under the mine with "The Darkness" - possibly the cause of the curses these kids have had to bear - has infected him with a madness that seems unrelenting. His second, Drake, with his mutation of his whip hand, also granted by The Darkness - has only grown more evil and power hungry while Caine has been partially disabled by the invader in his mind. They hatch a plot which at first seems to be to torture the Townies (in reality, it is in service to their master, The Darkness) which Sam and Astrid will have to work hard to overcome.

This follow-up stays true to the original book; I wasn't bored at all. It's entertaining and a quick read, and again is well-written and makes you forget it's a YA book.

View all my reviews

Book Review - Salem Falls

Salem Falls by Jodi Picoult
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Some people have all the bad luck.

Jack seems to be one of them. Though he was born to wealth and priveledge, he was falsely accused of rape by one of his students when working as a high school teacher and soccer coach. On the advice of his lawyer, he took a plea bargain in the case, serving only eight months compared to the many years he would serve if convicted. But what he lost was formidable; his career, his best friend (the cop who arrested him), his mother (a woman's advocate who would not abide someone who would hurt women in her family), his home, and even his pride, thanks to the tougher guys in prison with him. When he gets out of prison, he picks a small town at random to start over, and things begin to look up; he finds a job, and is taken by his beautiful boss, and even makes a friend in her father.

But once word gets around town about his past, a vindictive teenager decides to do the unthinkable, and once again, Jack finds himself falsely accused.

I like Picoult as an author, and there isn't one of her books that I haven't really liked. This was no exception. While I didn't find it as absolutely riveting as some of her others, I was still drawn in and enveloped in the world she created. Like most of her books, this is very character driven, and her precisely drawn people of all sorts that populate the town will affect you; some will anger you, some make you sad, some make you reflect. The wonderful thing is, though, how very poignantly they make you feel for them, and that's the real beauty of this piece.

That, and the fun of the courtroom drama. If Picoult ever decides to go law and order, Grisham better look out!

View all my reviews

Book Review - The Fox Inheritance

The Fox Inheritance by Mary E. Pearson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was... Well, it was a book. Yeah.

It started off interesting enough. The concept, in fact, was one I found fascinating; after a serious accident, the brains of three young people were downloaded to preserve them and somehow keep them alive. One had an artificial body created for her. Two sat on a shelf for more than 200 years before someone did the same for them. The trouble is, they were awake and aware and trapped the whole time. Imagine what that might do to a mind, and how they might adjust whee given a body again?

That said, the storytelling is slow in places, trips over itself (a bot who it just said can't breathe taking a deep breath for instance) and loses all momentum about three quarters through. The characters lose focus, are not so bright for minds that are supposed to be brilliant... I just had so many problems. Everything fell apart in the second half, but three stars for a unique concept and interesting beginning.

View all my reviews