review: 172 Hours on the Moon by Johan Harstad

pub date: April 17, 2012
publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
pages: 355
source: for review at Kiss the Book
appeals: Space!, horror, scifi, suspense, life and death, future-ish
content: some swearing

summary:
It's been decades since anyone set foot on the moon. Now three ordinary teenagers, the winners of NASA's unprecedented, worldwide lottery, are about to become the first young people in space--and change their lives forever.


Mia, from Norway, hopes this will be her punk band's ticket to fame and fortune.

Midori believes it's her way out of her restrained life in Japan.

Antoine, from France, just wants to get as far away from his ex-girlfriend as possible.

It's the opportunity of a lifetime, but little do the teenagers know that something sinister is waiting for them on the desolate surface of the moon. And in the black vacuum of space... no one is coming to save them.

In this chilling adventure set in the most brutal landscape known to man, highly acclaimed Norwegian novelist Johan Harstad creates a vivid and frightening world of possibilities we can only hope never come true.
 
thoughts:
I do not read suspense often, but I'm assuming that suspense books normally focus on story, and not so much on character's development. The first half of this story focused on characters, mostly the three teens who are chosen to go to the moon. But I never felt attached to the characters and there didn't seem to be much to them and they weren't really developed. Since there wasn't much going on, it was a little slow. And boring. It took me a week to get through the first half of the book.

Once the five astronauts and three teens got to the moon...much more interesting. Things were happening, people were dying (was that a spoiler? sorry if you hadn't guessed that already), and the suspense was good. But I also felt like it was rushed. Like I said, I don't read suspense so maybe I don't know what I'm writing about, but I think the suspense would have been more suspenseful if it had built over days, instead of hours. They are supposed to be on the moon for 172 of them, not 20. If between horrific events, the characters stewed about it a while... But, whatever. There was suspense and my interest was held. My impression of the book went up quite a bit.

I read the last of it while I was house sitting...and it rather freaked me out. I was in a strange house with strange noises. It was cool.

As for the premise...sending random teens up into space? Really? I get the publicity aspect of sending the teens (sort of), but I also thought it was a stupid idea. Especially because the higher ups at NASA have top secret information and they have specific goals for going to the moon (I think) and teens would just get in the way. And it's dangerous.

The whole, "what else is on the moon," question...the answer is odd. But cool. And the ending was good.

Let me just say, these "possibilities" will never come true.

reviews by Jaye: A Million Suns by Beth Revis

Because I've been such a horrible blogger the past few months, I convinced my good friend Jaye to write some reviews for me to post on my blog. Which is awesome because I get to be a horrible blogger and still post reviews. Yay! Here is the first of Jaye's reviews, hopefully more will follow. I'm crossing my fingers for one a week.

pub date: January 10, 2012

publisher: Razerbill

pages: 386

Jaye's Thoughts:

Book two of a trilogy, Suns suffers from that horrible middle-book symptom, filleritis. I really enjoyed book 1, Across the Universe. In this second book, though, Amy seems designed to annoy. She goes back and forth, saying she can’t have feelings for Elder because they’re the only teens on the ship, then flipping back to, “Wait, Elder’s mine!” and not having a problem with it. Plus, she acts incredibly selfish the entire book.

In fact, there are several things like that in the book. On one page, a certain thing will be said, or explained, or whatever. Then, maybe two paragraphs later, maybe two pages later, the real truth comes out, which is the complete opposite of the earlier bit. I got more and more frustrated.

As for plot structure, it was illogical to me. It turns out that Orion (a main player in the first book) has planted clues around the ship for Amy to follow, because she is the only one who can make The Choice. But he never tells her what The Choice is. Also, because of other things going on (like people fighting against Elder because he shut off the phydus machine to let them think for themselves, and the murders that have started up—more on that later) time is kinda of the essence. Orion knew other things, too, but they would be spoilers, so I won’t say them here. Suffice it to say, it makes no sense to send Amy on a scavenger hunt for clues when he knows there’s no time for it. If it’s so important—and it is—just tell her straight up! He can still send her off to see these things, but don’t make her hunt—what if she can’t find one of them? It’s still a choice that needs to be made, but because of the scavenger hunt, she could easily miss out on an important part. It all seemed designed to take up a few hundred pages before the third book.


Okay, the murders. This is a later development, but I’ll try to avoid spoilers. People start getting killed. Gasp! Anyway, there’s always a message with the body. The same message every time. I guess the murderer felt the point wasn’t getting across. The thing is, when we find out who the murderer is, and why they were killing people, it still doesn’t make sense. It was about a secret very few people knew, and leaving the cryptic message was never going to resolve anything.


Overall, it was a second book that struck me as a 386 page tour to get us to the start of the concluding volume. I’ll still pick up the last one, but it’s going to be a skimmer.

summary:
Godspeed was once fueled by lies. Now it is ruled by chaos. It’s been three months. In that time, Amy has learned to hide who she is. Elder is trying to be the leader he’s always wanted to be. But as the ship gets more and more out of control, only one thing is certain: They have to get off the ship.

review: A Long Long Sleep by Anna Sheehan

pub date: August 9, 2011
publisher: Candlewick
pages: 342
format: audio
reader: Angela Dawe
appeals: future, fairy tale retelling, romance, sorta scientific
content: a few swear words--maybe ten?

thoughts:
I needed an audio book, but I wasn't sure what to listen to. So I went browsing at the library and picked this one up because the title sounded familiar. I'm sure I read something about it somewhere. Besides, I like fairy tale retellings, so I thought I'd give it a try.

The the story follows Rose, who is awoken by a boy (hehe) after 62 years hibernating in a stasis tube. Her parents are dead, and the world around her has changed quite a bit while she's been "sleeping." So she has the present she woke up in, but a long ago past that still haunts her.  

The audio was really good, too. I liked the Angela Dawe as the reader, a lot. I thought she did a good job with the male voices.

Here were my thoughts as I listened:


discs 1: This is a really interesting world that the author has created. I love well built worlds, and I think this one is well built. Very intriguing. However, where is this story going? If I had the book, I'd probably skip to the back and read the last few pages just to find out, because even after reading the summary on the jacket three times, I'm still confused on what the point of this story is.

disc 2: The plot is a little slow. Rose's present is broken up a bit by her memories from her past. It's still interesting, but a tad slow. And I still don't know where the story is going.

disc 3: Rose is a wimp. She is so spineless she's practically an amoeba. As her past unfolds, I understand why she never stands up for herself and accepts everything everyone tells/told her (especially her dead parents), but the book is a third through, when is she going to grow up? I want her to take a stand. Grow a spine.

disc 4: I am really enjoying the future technology Sheehan created for this book. It is so creative. And interesting. And very cool.


disc 5: I am so angry at the people that surround Rose and how they manipulate her, past and present. I am so angry at them! I want Rose to feel the same anger! Yet, she's still in the amoeba stage of her development. When? When will Rose break free?!!!!!


discs 6: YES!! FINALLY! Rose gets ANGRY!!!! It was long in coming, but very satisfying. I sit in my car for 30 minutes because I want to know what is going to happen. It isn't slow anymore! The pace has definitely picked up. I make myself get out of my car when the disc ends.

disc 7: Oh no! Is this the first book in the series? I had no idea it was a series! But I can see how Sheehan is setting it up for another book if she does continue it. And it's all so exciting! I like Rose when she has some bone structure. Yay Rose!

disc 8: The dreaded two words: Love. Triangle. Ack! Not in this book, but I think Sheehan is setting it up for one in the next book. And now I'm going to have to read it. I'm hooked!

summary:
Rosalinda Fitzroy has been asleep for sixty-two years when she is woken by a kiss. Locked away in the chemically induced slumber of a stasis tube in a forgotten subbasement, sixteen-year-old Rose slept straight through the Dark Times that killed millions and utterly changed the world she knew. Now, her parents and her first love are long gone, and Rose— hailed upon her awakening as the long-lost heir to an interplanetary empire— is thrust alone into a future in which she is viewed as either a freak or a threat. Desperate to put the past behind her and adapt to her new world, Rose finds herself drawn to the boy who kissed her awake, hoping that he can help her to start fresh. But when a deadly danger jeopardizes her fragile new existence, Rose must face the ghosts of her past with open eyes— or be left without any future at all.

review: Cinder by Marissa Meyer

pub date: January 3, 2012
publisher: Feiwel and Friends
pages: 387
source: NetGalley
appeals: scifi, fairy tale retelling, Cinderella, future, romance, techy stuff
content: nothing that could be offensive

thoughts:
I enjoyed this book a lot. It is supposedly a retelling of Cinderella, but only loosely. The world and characters and plot were so original and exciting and fun, that if I hadn't known it was supposed to be Cinderella, I don't know if I would've thought so just by reading it. But since I did know it was Cinderella, it was fun to pick out the similarities (I especially loved the foot), and I LOVED how it was scifi. Lots of fairy tale fantasys, but this is the only fairy tale science fiction that I know about. So cool!

I really liked this world that Meyer created. There was such depth, so much that was going on outside of the Cinderella-ish plot thread. It was done really well.

I am a sap for romance in my books, and this one did not disappoint. I really enjoyed the romance between Cinder, the cyborg, and Kai, the emperor of New Beijing's son.

And Cinder herself is a very sympathetic character. She's brave and humble and compassionate and strong and a dreamer. I could empathize with her plight and hated her step-mom.

A really enjoyable read.

However, I am noticing a trend in YA, and it's liable to drive me crazy. What is with not finishing a story?!?!? I get that it's a series, but please, give me an ending! Tie off some of the plot threads! It's like Meyer wrote a novel that was 1600 pages long (goodreads says there will be four books in the series) and randomly chopped it where it felt like a nice break in the ongoing plot. Lots of authors are doing this, and it's infuriating. I expect a conclusion when I begin a book and feel cheated when I don't get one. Especially if I won't ever get one until the fourth book comes out. Arg.

summary:
Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . .

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

review: Hourglass by Myra McEntire

pub date: May 24, 2011
publisher: EgmontUSA
pages: 397
challenges: Debut author, 350 page challenge
appeals: supernatural, science fiction, time-travel, romance,
content: swears once or twice, thats it

thoughts:
Fun, awesome, exciting, and surprising. I liked this book a lot.

So, it starts out pretty straight forward--Myra can see ghosts. Michael is going to help her deal. There's some romantic chemistry. But then...there's more to the story. A whole new level of plot and intrigue. Which is cool, so I think that the story is going to go in this new direction when a little later there's revealed another aspect of the story, which changes where it is actually going. And then another surprise and another. All the way up until the very end McEntire kept me guessing about what else she hadn't told me yet. Which is so COOL.

There were a lot of characters but they were all developed and interesting. Well, some of the others at the Hourglass are barely seen, so they aren't so well developed, but they are interesting! It's very well written. There weren't awkward places, or even slow parts, which I love, especially in long books. I loved it all.

This is the kind of book that should be discussed. There are a lot of unexplained aspects of the story (still!) that will (hopefully!) come out in later books. I want to talk to someone about them! I want to make guesses at what it all means! So my advice is to read this book with some friends.

Seriously, this is an awesome book.

goodreads:
For seventeen-year-old Emerson Cole, life is about seeing what isn’t there: swooning Southern Belles; soldiers long forgotten; a haunting jazz trio that vanishes in an instant. Plagued by phantoms since her parents’ death, she just wants the apparitions to stop so she can be normal. She’s tried everything, but the visions keep coming back.


So when her well-meaning brother brings in a consultant from a secretive organization called the Hourglass, Emerson’s willing to try one last cure. But meeting Michael Weaver may not only change her future, it may change her past.

Who is this dark, mysterious, sympathetic guy, barely older than Emerson herself, who seems to believe every crazy word she says? Why does an electric charge seem to run through the room whenever he’s around? And why is he so insistent that he needs her help to prevent a death that never should have happened?

Full of atmosphere, mystery, and romance, Hourglass merges the very best of the paranormal and science-fiction genres in a seductive, remarkable young adult debut.