The Scorch Trials (The Maze Runner #2)

 by James Dashner

"Solving the Maze was supposed to be the end. No more puzzles. No more variables. And no more running. Thomas was sure that escape meant he and the Gladers would get their lives back. But no one really knew what sort of life they were going back to.
In the Maze, life was easy. They had food, and shelter, and safety . . . until Teresa triggered the end. In the world outside the Maze, however, the end was triggered long ago.
Burned by sun flares and baked by a new, brutal climate, the earth is a wasteland. Government has disintegrated—and with it, order—and now Cranks, people covered in festering wounds and driven to murderous insanity by the infectious disease known as the Flare, roam the crumbling cities hunting for their next victim . . . and meal.
The Gladers are far from finished with running. Instead of freedom, they find themselves faced with another trial. They must cross the Scorch, the most burned-out section of the world, and arrive at a safe haven in two weeks. And WICKED has made sure to adjust the variables and stack the odds against them.
Thomas can only wonder—does he hold the secret of freedom somewhere in his mind? Or will he forever be at the mercy of WICKED?"

Mediocre. That's about the sum of book #2 in the Maze Runner Trilogy.  While The Maze Runner was difficult for me to get into, but easy for me to finish, The Scorch trials was just the opposite. I was optimistic in during the first several chapters, but eventually it just kind of fizzled.  Book two brought up even more questions, and it ended with even fewer answers. 

Once again, Dashner shows his love of words, but also his lack of finesse. His imagery simply falls short.  He creates this epic story filled with too many faceless, nameless characters.  He does occasionally introduce these characters, graces them with a name for all of two paragraphs and then back to anonymity.  He also did himself a disservice in giving the old characters that endeared themselves to the reader less of a voice in this sequel.  He focuses on yet another new set of characters and the inevitable climax blazes in out of nowhere only to leave us confused and unimpressed. Also, Thomas is obviously talented in inspiring others to action, but he's also kind of a wimp.

I'm not rushing out to read the third, although, I do think I will finish the series eventually.

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.

Catching Fire

by Suzanne Collins

Catching Fire is the sequel to The Hunger Games. I was dying for this to come out, hoping it would be as good as its predecessor. Collins did not disappoint.

Once again, the story drew me in and ultimately left me wanting more. Although considerable less fast paced and action packed, the plot was compelling and far from dull.

I love how Collins continued the story, leaving unresolved issues unresolved without a quick resolution. The characters were no less charming in this installment and I continued to be caught between Katniss' conflicting emotions for Gale and Peeta. I loved the plot twists despite the fact that they weren't necessarily surprising.

This second installment provided even more character development in characters that I'd already fallen in love with and related to. The writing is extremely easy with great imagery.

I love this book, I love this series and I will be holding my breath until the next comes out.

Academy 7

by Anne Osterlund

Looking back on my review of Osterlund's debut novel, Aurelia, I am surprised I even gave her a chance at redemption with Academy 7. I am so happy I did.

Osterlund has found her niche in this space-age, sci-fi novel. The plot was well-developed, as were the characters, there were a few well-place plot twists and a very engaging romance. The writing in Academy 7 was exponentially better than that of Aurelia. Osterlund managed to create a very real collection of worlds and cultures and I was relieved that she wasn't inclined to delve too deeply into them, instead relying on a surface facade in description and interaction of the worlds. This simplification maintained the focus on the story and the characters, rather than deterring attention on inadequacies or unimaginative development I felt might have been present, based on the society she created in her previous novel.

There was excitement, teenagers and rebellion in this story, but I don't believe there was one profanity, and the only physical intimacy was a kiss.

The Hunger Games

by Suzanne Collins

(CONTAINS SPOILERS) Overnight, The Hunger Games has joined the list of my favorite books. I literally could not drag my eyes from the pages and stayed up all night, until my eyes refused to stay open, reading. I enjoyed it from the first sentence to the last period and my mouth dropped open in disappointment to see that the story has an open ending which will continue in the sequel not yet published.

I immediately fell in love with the main character, Katniss. Strong, smart, passionate and sacrificing, she is my ideal heroine. That's not to say she doesn't have faults. I was a little irritated at the fabricated romance between Katniss and Peeta because from the start I was rooting for a love story between Katniss and Gale. Also, Peeta is a very endearing character and I felt bad that Katniss couldn't get her mind together and realize what was happening and find a solution.

I loved the never-ending suspense and action throughout the actual Games. I was glad Collins didn't delve too much deeper into most of the other tributes because I didn't want to feel for the characters that died like I did for Rue and even Thresh.

This was an incredible book and I'm practically salivating over the prospects the sequel presents. There was a large amount of violence, but no swearing or lewdness.

The Last Days

by Scott Westerfeld

The Last Days could be classified as a follow-up to Peeps. The original characters do make an appearance, but the plot is centered around a group of individuals that form a band and strive to become famous before the inevitable collapse of the world as we know it.

I felt that Westerfeld did a great job in developing the characters better than he might have through having each chapter told through the eyes of a different protagonist. I enjoyed seeing this world and the "disease" from the perspective of someone outside of the Night Watch and I liked that the outcome told more of the historical side of vampirism. However, the way the band members came together was too perfect and felt a little contrived.

I really like Scott Westerfeld, but sometimes his writing is a little annoying, like he's trying too hard to be hip and create these new trendy societies. This book was no exception; he was a bit redundant in the use of some "dictionary" words, making the overuse glaringly obvious.

The Last Days was not as good as Peeps, but a nice wrap up.

Peeps

by Scott Westerfeld

I thoroughly enjoyed Peeps. Coming right on the heals of The Host and being based on loosely the same topic, parasites, I would say that I definitely liked this much better than The Host. I love Westerfield's style and the flow of this story was something I didn't always encounter even in The Uglies series.

My favorite thing about this book was the way the author managed to turn a work of fiction into a biology lesson. Every other chapter was about a different parasite. It was extremely interesting and also fit into the story. I also really liked the protagonist, Cal. He was charming and unguarded and I always wanted to kind of underestimate him, but his character was innately brave and smart. I also appreciated that he was in control of himself.

The idea that vampirism is caused by a parasite and the accompanying explanations of how myths about vampires, and witches for that matter, were started was very clever. There didn't seem to be any loose ends or unexplained details that wouldn't obviously be expounded upon in the next installment.

I would definitely read this book again and can't wait to get my hands on the "companion" book.

The Host

by Stephanie Meyer

The Host was a very intriguing book. The idea of a parasitical alien race taking over Earth would be one that I might avoid in the Science Fiction section of the library. I'm glad I gave this one a chance.

I liked the way this book made the main character a dual one. It was difficult as the reader to figure out whether I was rooting for Wanderer, the Soul, or Melanie, the Human trapped inside her own mind. The thought of Wanderer having almost no control over her compelling love for Jared and Jamie, no choice in loving Ian, was a little sad and at times I wanted Melanie to disappear so that Wanderer could experience life for herself. It was heartening the way the Alien assimilated so entirely as to become more Human than not and the way her friends and even her host fell in love with her, making sacrifices to keep what they most loathed alive in her. I really enjoyed the ending of this book and wouldn't mind a sequel.
As with all of Stephanie Meyer's books, this one could have been told in 200 less pages. There's a lot of nothing that comprises the story and she could definitely have made the story more complete if she had left out the pointless walking around tunnels and told more of the story.

All in all, I give this book a high mental rating and would read it again.

Extras

by Scott Westerfeld

I was intrigued by this book. The idea of having fame as a kind of currency was one that is prevalent in our society, although not acknowledged or perceived the same way. The author tends to take these real life situations and bend them to the extreme end of the spectrum to create new societies. I was expecting this story to be more like Uglies by introducing a new heroine and allowing her to have her own plot and adventure. Extras started out, seemingly, with this intention. There was character developement and complex situations. However, about three quarters of the way through, it almost felt as though the entire book had been meant to set up for the return of certain characters thought obsolete. It took a little of the focus off of the main characters and, just as suddenly, returned to them to tie things up.

All in all, I enjoyed this book and thought it was more on the level of Pretties, rather than Uglies or Specials. As with each of the previous, the book contained nothing crude or inappropriate and didn't even contain profanity.

Uglies, Pretties, Specials

by Scott Westerfeld

Uglies
I really liked this book. I thought that the concept was alarmingly plausible in our future. There is such a huge emphasis placed on outer beauty and I think that there is definitely an elitist attitude among many "beautiful" people. The fact that it seemed as though Tally was waiting until she was a New Pretty for her life to start made the plot parallel our own society as a prepubescent essentially waits for puberty to reach certain milestones and life experiences.

This book had a few well meaning life lessons thrown in about accepting yourself and others and looking past physical appearance. However, by the end of the book, and as the series continues, there is still that brain washing fascination with beauty, even by Tally who experiences majority of the change. The ideal of beauty may be changed, but the "Pretties" are still hypnotizing and important.

There are so many subtleties, so many ideals and story lines that I would love to expand upon, but overall, I will just say that this is a one that I will read again.

Pretties
I didn't like this book as well as the first in the series, but it was a good continuation of the story and allowed the characters to change and develop more. I liked that Tally had the strength to overcome her neural deficiencies without assistance, but it was a little predictable. I would have liked a break for the typical extraordinary heroine that overcomes all odds without any help from anyone, but I guess you can't really save the world and be a whiny little wuss.

Overall, good follow up and I liked the depth of the changes that Tally experiences. Don't need to buy this one, though.

Specials
Once again, Specials wasn't as good a read as the previous installment. By the end of this book, I really didn't like Tally anymore. I thought she was a little selfish and self indulgent and weak, despite her physical modifications. I expected the upheaval of the world to look a little different. Throughout all of this, I really wondered about the government of these cities and I think he could have expounded upon the actual hierarchy of the Wardens, the Specials, the Minders, etc.

This one was alright, but now that I know the ending, I don't mind forgetting the details.