The Bar Code Tattoo (#1)

By Suzanne Weyn

"Individuality vs. Conformity
Identity vs. Access
Freedom vs. Control
The bar code tattoo. Everybody's getting it. It will make your life easier, they say. It will hook you in. It will become your identity.
But what if you say no? What if you don't want to become a code? For Kayla, this one choice changes everything. She becomes an outcast in her high school. Dangerous things happen to her family. There's no option but to run...for her life."

This review is barely a review at all. The unthinkable has happened: I have given up on a book. Sure, there have been times when I've lost momentum and put a book down, intending to pick it back up again one day, but I don't purposely return it to the library with no plans to ever try again. What have you done to me, Suzanne Weyn? I have absolutely no desire to see this book ever again. It was so boring, tedious even. The main character irritated me; I can't even remember her name to be honest. The plot was boring, the pace was slow, the characters were flat. I don't know if I was able to read even half of this teeny 256 page book. I gave it a valiant effort, but The Bar Code Tattoo and I just weren't meant to be.

Branded (Fall of Angels, Book #1)

By Keary Taylor

"Jessica's had the nightmares for as long as she can remember. Nightmares of being judged for people who have died, of being branded by the angels. Her friends and family think she's a crazy because of it all. Yet she carries the mark of the condemned, seared into the back of her neck, and hides it and herself away from the world.
But when two men she can't ignore enter her life everything changes, including the nightmares. The two of them couldn't be more different. She will do anything to be with one of them. Even tell him the truth about angels, why she never sleeps, and the scar on the back of her neck. But one of the two has set events into motion what will pull her toward her own judgment and turn her into the object of her greatest fear."   This book starts out slow... and never really speeds up.  Everything happens at a very leisurely pace, despite the dark subject matter within the story.  However, the pace didn't really bother me.  Taylor created a very mesmerising character in Jessica, who is very self-contained, but extremely strong and enduring and good.   The role and motivation of Cole were elements I never fully grasped. Every story must have a villain, though, and Cole made a very sinister one. Alex on the other hand was a little too good to be true, a real knight in shining armor.  The coupling of Alex and Jessica was just a little too idyllic, too perfect. Even the lack of your typical romance plot, in which the heroine and hero are tricked into a miscommunication that ultimately leads to either grave results or the final unveiling of the antagonist, was missing.  Still, I like the story and it being devoid of common cliches made it surprising.

The Maze Runner (Book #1 in The Maze Runner Series)

By James Dashner

"When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his first name. His memory is blank. But he’s not alone. When the lift’s doors open, Thomas finds himself surrounded by kids who welcome him to the Glade—a large, open expanse surrounded by stone walls.
Just like Thomas, the Gladers don’t know why or how they got to the Glade. All they know is that every morning the stone doors to the maze that surrounds them have opened. Every night they’ve closed tight. And every thirty days a new boy has been delivered in the lift.
Thomas was expected. But the next day, a girl is sent up—the first girl to ever arrive in the Glade. And more surprising yet is the message she delivers.
Thomas might be more important than he could ever guess. If only he could unlock the dark secrets buried within his mind."

The maze Runner started out slow.  I had a hard time getting into it until maybe 17 chapters in. From there, it was exciting and action packed and I had a hard time putting it down.  That being said, I thought the book was excruciatingly predictable.  There were very few times my eyebrows tilted together in surprise and all of those small twists were ones that I immediately saw in hindsight.

The characters were well developed and Dashner did a great job giving each endless Glader a personality, but there were just too many to keep track of.  Teresa seemed to get the short end of the stick in the personality development. I actually really liked the specialized slang of the Gladers and the way they had banded together to create a "normal" semblance of society.  I kept forgetting these were prepubescents running the "world".

The end of the book was a little anti-climactic for me.  I was also left a little confused; more questions than answers.  I understand that he's setting up for two more books, but there should be a few "ah ha" bits of information that lead into the next book, not just more mystery piled onto the end of book one. Interested to see how the next book plays out.