1984 by George Orwell

Genre: dystopia
Pages: 290
Published: 1949

"War is Peace"
"Freedom is Slavery" 
"Ignorance is Strength"

--the motto of the Party

1984 is a 1948 dystopian fiction written by George Orwell about a society ruled by an oligarchical dictatorship. The Oceanian province of Airstrip One is a world of perpetual war, pervasive government surveillance, and incessant public mind control. Oceania is ruled by a political party called simply The Party. The individual is always subordinated to the state, and it is in part this philosophy which allows the Party to manipulate and control humanity. In the Ministry of Truth, protagonist Winston Smith is a civil servant responsible for perpetuating the Party's propaganda by revising historical records to render the Party omniscient and always correct, yet his meager existence disillusions him to the point of seeking rebellion against Big Brother.

Like many readers, I became a fan of the dystopia genre and the recent dystopian trend in YA after reading The Hunger Games a few years ago.  1984 is something like the granddaddy of dystopian fiction and I had heard a lot about it.  Some phrases which Orwell coined in the book, like "Big Brother is watching'' is part of popular culture, and many people know that the society Orwell wrote about was inspired by Stalinism.  However, 1984 is more than the few things about it which have become part of popular culture; I now think that 1984 is an amazing book that everyone should read for themselves.

1984 is different from many YA dystopias I have read, in that while the teenage characters in books like The Giver and The Hunger Games do not usually get to see the inner workings of their dystopian societies, Winston is a part of the Party that seeks to control every aspect of citizens' lives.  Winston's job is basically to eradicate and "edit" information.  For example, if the mysterious Big Brother made a prediction in the newspaper that never came to pass, Winston would go back and change the prediction so that it matches what actually happened.  Though he comes to loathe this job, Winston literally rewrites history.  He reflects that in this society, "all history was a palimpsest, scraped clean and reinscribed exactly as often as was necessary."  History is constantly altered to justify and vindicate the present--a historian's worst nightmare.  While the endless work hours, uniforms, telescreens that watch everyone's every move, and proscriptions against divergent thought were more standard dystopian fare, I was most intrigued by this more psychological aspect of Oceania's control over its citizens.

One of Winston's colleagues is hard at work on furthering the development of Newspeak, the official language of Oceania.  As he tells Winston, this is not so much a process of creating new words as destroying "unnecessary" words to par English down into its simplest form.  The concept is that nobody "needs" words like "exquisite," "extraordinary," "brilliant," "wonderful," "fantastic," when they can simply say "doubleplusgood."  And if there is no word for "liberty," then how can anyone yearn for liberty?  The limits of one's language prescribe the limits of one's mind, after all.  The people of Oceania are warned to never even let themselves think that the Party may be wrong-- doing so would constitute what in Newspeak is called "thoughtcrime."

While Orwell was doubtless inspired by Stalinism, it would be a mistake to write this book off as "political commentary on Stalinism" or other totalitarian governments.  Some of the phenomena which 1984 describes are very relevant to capitalist societies, such as the Lottery system which provides hope to the disadvantaged in the society that they may rise economically and the way governments wage war abroad "on behalf" of the folks at home.  The book also introduced to me the concept of doublethink, "the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them."  An example of doublethink that came to my mind immediately was, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..."  The people who wrote that believed that "all men are created equal," yet they also consciously believed that people of non-European descent were inferior--classic doublethink!

While I was clearly fascinated by the philosophy and the world of 1984, characters aren't really the book's strong suit.  Winston is a rebel, but that doesn't mean he's a particularly exciting rebel.  His co-worker Julia, who also isn't buying what the Party are selling, seemed promising.  Julia initially freaks Winston out, because she seems to be stalking him outside of work and he fears she's an agent of the Thought Police who has discovered his "thoughtcrime" by watching his expressions.  (Even "facecrime," making incriminating expressions which suggest disapproval of the Party, is a no-no in Oceania.)  Instead, Julia abruptly declares her love for Winston and the two of them begin a passionate relationship which they must hide from the eyes of Big Brother and the Thought Police.  However, Julia also wasn't an extremely likable character; the book really isn't character-driven, but more a book about ideas.

I highly recommend 1984 to those who, like me, may have had it on their tbr lists for ages but have hesitated to read it because they think they know the story already.  1984 was actually the oldest book on my Goodreads to-read shelf.  I added it in 2010 and just now got around to reading it, but I'm so glad that I did.

Another favorite quote:

"Perhaps a lunatic is simply a minority of one."

This book is

riveting                                      thought-provoking                  unsettling

Manga Review: Library Wars: Love & War

Genre: dystopia/manga
Pages: 186
Published: 2010 by VIZ

Synopsis: In the near future, the federal government creates a committee to rid society of books it deems unsuitable. The libraries vow to protect their collections, and with the help of local governments, form a military group to defend themselves--the Library Forces!

Iku Kasahara has dreamed of joining the Library Defense Force ever since one of its soldiers stepped in to protect her favorite book from being confiscated in a bookstore when she was younger. But now that she's finally a recruit, she's finding her dream job to be a bit of a nightmare. Especially since her hard-hearted drill instructor seems to have it in for her!

Review:
For whatever reason, I haven't been reading a lot of manga lately.  That definitely changed when I discovered Library Wars, a series I was drawn to if only because of the title and the synopsis.  Libraries, or pretty much the greatest places in the wide world, + futuristic dystopia-like Japan + a guy who looks like Colonel Mustang from Fullmetal Alchemist on the front cover is a recipe I could not resist.

Kasahara is our spitfire of a (very) flawed heroine.  She has wanted to be a member of the Library Defense Force for years, ever since a mysterious Defense member, her "hero", inspired her to dedicate her life to preventing the censorship of books.  At the story's start, she's made it to the lower end of the totem pole, training to be a Defense Force member under the harsh but basically well-meaning Sergeant Dojo.  Although she always falls asleep in her classes and can't seem to get her Dewey Decimal on, Kasahara manages to impress Dojo and the other higher-ups with her quick, impulsive thinking and great athletic skills.  Dojo's bipolar criticism and support of Kasahara makes her wonder how her superior really feels about her.  But meanwhile her rival student Tezuka, who by all accounts hates her guts, may also have a thing for her.

Library Wars is a very light-hearted series, so far.  Kasahara is far from the most bad-ass female heroine in manga history, though I like her alright.  Dojo is the brooding, bipolar love interest, and Tezuka is the... even more bipolar love interest??  Both of them are so hot-and-cold.  Tezuka is also terrible to Kasahara most of the time, though, and I was definitely Team Dojo from the moment he was introduced.  I really have no good reason why (*cough looks like the awesomely amazing Colonel Mustang cough*), but he is my favorite character so far (I've read two volumes).  

There is also some non-romantic and non lighthearted comedy stuff going on, though not too much.  The Library Forces, sponsored by local governments, are at war with the media censorship sponsored by the national government, and so there are some raid and battle-type scenes where Kasahara and the others must spring into action with their deadly weapons and whatnot.  This looked very cool, especially with the backdrop of a public library.  I absolutely disapprove of banning or censuring books in a big way (the only bad book is badly-written one, I think), so I loved the idea of the Library Forces protecting free speech and the freedom to read-- very cool premise!  The art of Library Wars is a very highly rated so-so.  It's by no means extremely unique or beautiful art, but the characters are easy to distinguish from one another and I generally enjoyed it.  Some of the panels are maybe a little sparse.  I would recommend this series to new manga readers or those who want to get into manga, since it is a straightforward series with good translation and a bookish theme which I think all bibliophiles would be drawn to.

Rating:

 

Starters by Lissa Price

 Starters and Enders #1
Genre: YA dystopia
Pages: 352 (hardcover)
Published: 2012 by Delacorte Books

My Take:

Callie, once a middle-class teen before the Spore Wars which killed her parents, now squats with her brother Tyler and her semi-boyfriend friend Michael.  Starters like Callie aren't allowed to have jobs or identities, and the Marshals diligently hunt down any teens who aren't lucky enough to have grandparent Ender guardians.  Unlucky Starters are caught and taken to the dreaded institutions, where they must live until they come of age.  Desperate for money and a second chance to save her brother after she loses everything in a raid by Marshals, Callie signs up for a three rental contract at the mysterious Prime Destinations, a corporation which lets Enders re-live the days of their youth in the bodies of real youth, who are "put to sleep" with sci-fi technology while the Ender takes over control of their body to party, do extreme sports, and enjoy life in the body of a beautiful teen for a few days-- or a few months.  Little does Callie know, Prime Destinations is expanding: Enders are renting out bodies for longer periods and more and more teens are being targeted and used as 'merchandise' by the company.

During her third and last rental, Callie awakens suddenly in her own body weeks before schedule due to a malfunction, in a nightclub where moments before her renter was controlling her.  Helena Winterhill, her renter, seems at first glance to be a wealthy elderly woman grieving over the death of her own granddaughter.  But as Callie soon begins to discover, Helena has rented Callie's body with a purpose: this Ender has a gun in her sock drawer and a serious grudge against Prime Destinations.  Torn between disbelief and worry for the brother and friends she has left behind, Callie nevertheless strikes up a relationship with the dreamy and wealthy real-life teen Blake, whose family may be more involved in Helena's plot than Callie knows.  Caught up in a conspiracy of great and terrible proportions, Callie must decide whether to trust her renter and follow through with her plans to dismantle Prime Destinations.

I actually enjoyed Starters much more than Legends, another (more popular) 2012 YA dystopia I recently reviewed.  The premise of old Enders renting out the bodies of desperate teenagers, or Starters, is pretty fantastic and very disturbing!  Those creepy senior citizens with all their ideas about 'youth being wasted on the young', eh?  *Shivers*.  As a lot of other reviewers on Goodreads pointed out, the actual background of the Spore Wars which killed all adults between 20 and 60 (what they are, why they happened, who the heck they were against) is left really vague in this book.  As its the first in a series, I'm hoping that will be clarified a little.  But the world-building of the dystopian aftermath feels all too real and the story that Lissa Price tells is one I didn't want to stop reading for a second.

None of the characters are sketched out too well or are very complex, with the exception of Callie, but this is absolutely a plot-driven novel-- it didn't bother me in this case.  The concept of Starters reminded me a little of the movie Surrogates, and I think this book would make a great sci-fi thriller movie.  The stakes are very high and the villain (the enigmatic head of Prime Destinations, called the Old Man) is definitely bad and creepy enough for the silver screen.  The feeling that you never knew whether somebody was really their own age, or in their own body, gave an excellent air of sci-fi-esque suspense and the twisting plot kept me guessing.  I will absolutely be anticipating the next book in the Starters and Enders series and recommend it as a fantastic, edge-of-your-seat dystopia thriller.  Starters also breaks away from the post-Hunger Games dystopia mold, and that is something I would definitely like to see more of in the genre as a dystopia reader.   

This book qualifies for: The 2013 Dystopia Reading Challenge (hosted by Blog of Erised).

My Rating:
A very solid four unicorns

Legend by Marie Lu

 (Book #1 in the Legend series)
Genre: YA dystopia
Pages: 305 (hardcover)
Published: 2011 by Putnam

Synopsis:
What was once the western United States is now home to the Republic, a nation perpetually at war with its neighbors. Born into an elite family in one of the Republic’s wealthiest districts, fifteen-year-old June is a prodigy being groomed for success in the Republic’s highest military circles. Born into the slums, fifteen-year-old Day is the country’s most wanted criminal. But his motives may not be as malicious as they seem.

From very different worlds, June and Day have no reason to cross paths—until the day June’s brother, Metias, is murdered and Day becomes the prime suspect. Caught in the ultimate game of cat and mouse, Day is in a race for his family’s survival, while June seeks to avenge Metias’s death. But in a shocking turn of events, the two uncover the truth of what has really brought them together, and the sinister lengths their country will go to keep its secrets.

My Take: 

I stumbled across Legend in my university's library, of all places.  I was, like, wait, ya'll don't have any fun books!  Who donated this fun book which I've seen all around the blogosphere to your collection of psychology textbooks and ancient Babylonian tablets?  Needless to say, I snatched what's probably the most entertaining book in my uni's library and took it back to my dorm.

Legend is definitely a YA dystopia, and a decent one at that.  It has all the elements I've come to know and love (maybe know a little too well).  The story alternates between the POVs of June and Day; their POVs are very similar in nature, despite their vastly different backgrounds-- June being a rich and brilliant military girl and Day a superb athlete and tactical genius from the slums and the Republic's most wanted criminal.  He's also a fifteen year old teenage boy-- must try to suspend disbelief.  Day and June have some Insta-love going on, and I wasn't all that captivated by their romance despite liking both characters fairly well.  (Day more so than June.)  
  
But, anyway, the dystopia cliches are everywhere.  This part of the former United States is called "The Republic of Panem".  There is a mysterious group of people from outside their borders, called District Thirteen the Colonies, who are considered terrorists trying to break the idealism and peace of the Republic.  (Yeah, right.)  The Republics are plagued by terrible strains of plagues which mysteriously seem to hit the slum districts with surprising accuracy.  On every child's tenth birthday, they are forced to undergo a government-mandated Trial to see if they are intelligent and strong enough to become a worthy member of the Republic, or fail and are sent to a "labor camp".  (Uh.  Huh.)  Needless to say, the-government-is-lying-- that's the biggest dystopia cliches there is, but it goes far beyond that.  The nature of the military, June's initial disbelief that her Republic could be hiding anything, the incredibly athletic and planning skills of the teenage protagonists, and the Insta-love despite June having a good reason to hate Day when she first meets him.  

In short, I don't feel like Legend is an original kind of dystopian story.  That's not to say I didn't enjoy it: this is a great quick read, perfect for, say, breaks between studying for finals week.  I think Marie Lu is a pretty skilled writer, even if a little cliched, and I liked the characters of Day and June and her brother Metias.  (The villain, or probable villain-- this is the first book in a series-- was one of the flattest I'd ever read about, though.  The "president" figurehead type is just about like President Snow.)  I thought it was cool how the Colonies seems to be the people in the Southeastern US (waves) and how the residents of the Republic don't realize they were once joined in the union of the United States, but see them as terrorists.  

The next book hints that we will see a lot more of these Colony spies and so-called terrorists-- I can't wait, because I have the feeling that, like District Thirteen, they have more than a few more tricks hidden up their sleeves than the Republic is willing to admit to its citizens or soldiers.  You know how the citizens of dystopian civilizations are: they know nothing.

If only these citizens/military personnel would read more dystopian YA, they might realize that their government is: poisoning people/ kidnapping them and experimenting on them in laboratories/ turning them into flawless soldiers or that those government-mandated pills are actually causing them to be devoid of emotion/follow all orders, then, well, I guess there wouldn't be a dystopian genre.  And that would be no fun.

Rating:

Review: Battle Royale by Koushun Takami

Genre: dystopia/ thriller
Pages: 614 (paperback)
Published: 2009 by VIZ in the US; first published 1999 in Japan
Recommended for: adult fans of the Hunger Games and those who don't mind violence

My Take:

I feel like a real push-over lately when it comes to reviewing books.  First I reviewed the Wolves of Mercy Falls series, which is extremely good, and then I posted a total fangirl gush-fest about Fullmetal Alchemist.  I know I'm going to be trying to do the incredibly phenomenal masterpiece that is The Magicians justice pretty soon, so I'll try to be objective in reviewing Battle Royale.

This notorious Japanese novel has become something of a pulp classic in its native land, and its premise will sound eerily familiar to those of us caught up in the Hunger Games craze.  In an alternative, oppressive Japan, forty-two junior high students are selected to take part in the Program: a bizarre government-run social experiment in which they are set loose on a deserted island and instructed to kill one another until only one student survives.  Good-natured, brave Shuya is the star of his school's Little League team and athletic, but in no way is he prepared or willing to kill off the classmates he has grown up with.  He teams up with a small group of fellow students who attempt to defy the game and the entire Republic by attempting to sabotage the secluded set-up of their island playing field...

OK, here's me being objective: this book was a little cheesy.  Somebody dies in virtually every other chapter, so there's no shortage of gore and violence.  The way the Program was introduced-- literally, the kids wake up in a strange classroom where their 'instructor' Sakamochi informs them they've been selected for the Program and must kill each other-- was so dead-pan.  It was almost too much, almost funny, but I kind of liked the way the horror was so under-stated.  Imagine going to school and being told by your teacher, 'OK, students, for today's assignment you'll each be given a random lethal weapon and sent onto the grounds to murder one another.'  That idea that the Program was already established, that the kids already knew how it operated, worked in the same way the Hunger Games work in Suzanne Collins' books.  Now, here's what didn't work: I don't think the translation from Japanese to English was as good as it could have been.  Japanese and English are drastically different as far as languages go, but quite a few things kept jumping out at me which I think were mere errors of the translation.  For example, there was a minor character who appeared in like two chapters who was gay and-- even though it was completely irrelevant to the plot, which was him wandering around on his own with a shotgun-- every time this guy was mentioned, he was called 'this queer boy'.  Like an abrupt switch to a distant, objective point-of-view 'this', 'this'-- it must be something with the original language.  To be honest, it was hard to take this kind of writing seriously.  I saw this same error several other times and certain words were repeated over and over, too.  Particularly 'gun', and the sentence structure was off occasionally.

Overall though, I have read much worse translations and wasn't too incredibly bothered.  Battle Royale is such a thrilling, startling read.  I didn't catch many of the huge plot twists and was able to connect and understand the backgrounds of many of the characters, despite the fact that so many of them died early on.  A lot of the reviews I read on Goodreads said the Japanese names made keeping characters straight difficult, but I didn't really struggle too much beyond the first few pages.  (Except with Yumiko and Yukiko, but I think that was intended by the author.)  I was a bit skeptical of junior high students who knew how to operate guns-- though most of them didn't, a few did-- and drive.  But the way the action unfolded was amazing and the characters have branded themselves into my mind.  I do think it may have partially inspired the Hunger Games (seeing as the book inspired a cult classic movie), but I also think the two books are very different and cannot be said to be the same material at all.  Battle Royale is an action thriller which follows many different characters, and the Hunger Games is Katniss' more personal fight to survive.  The dystopian worlds have a completely different feel, too.  All the same, I think HG fans will probably enjoy this book.  The writing is somewhat like Stephen King... Stephen King if he was a Japanese writer whose work was translated not-so-brilliantly into English.  But for all my complaints, I did enjoy this memorable, intense novel.

Cover: 4/5 (okay)
Premise: 4/5
Characters: 4/5
Story: 5/5
Overall Rating:

Special Guest Review: Gone by Michael Grant

 Yes, my good friend and sisterly accomplice Pinky has returned to the blog at last.  This time she's giving us her take on the first book in the phenomenal, intensely fast-paced Gone series.  Take it away, Pinky!...

Genre: YA dystopian
Pages: 558 (paperback)
Published: 2008 by Harper Teen
Recommended for: fans of dystopian series

Synopsis:

In the blink of an eye. Everyone disappears. GONE.
Except for the young. Teens. Middle schoolers. Toddlers. But not one single adult. No teachers, no cops, no doctors, no parents. Just as suddenly, there are no phones, no internet, no television. No way to get help. And no way to figure out what's happened.
Hunger threatens. Bullies rule. A sinister creature lurks. Animals are mutating. And the teens themselves are changing, developing new talents—unimaginable, dangerous, deadly powers—that grow stronger by the day.
It's a terrifying new world. Sides are being chosen, a fight is shaping up. Townies against rich kids. Bullies against the weak. Powerful against powerless. And time is running out: On your birthday, you disappear just like everyone else... 

Pinky's Take: 

In a phrase, this book pretty much 'rocks socks'.   The nonstop action, suspense, cliffhangers, and even a little romance helps this book appeal to every type of audience.  Even so, it is not for the faint-hearted.  However addictive the novel can be, I was on the verge of tears several times throughout.  I would never describe it as a 'happy' book, although there are many cheerful parts that simply make you smile.  

Most people would describe the beginning of Gone as a bit slow.  This is probably because all of the characters are in shock from the disappearance of everyone over the age of fifteen.  The big disappearance actually happened before the book even began.  On the first page, it describes the main character, Sam Temple, in his classroom right after his teacher has vanished.  He glances around the room, looking at his classmates, and notices how a couple students are missing as well.  This is because they were already fifteen years old.  Sam, being fourteen himself, and now considered an elder in the town of Perdido Beach-- "Fallout Alley"--, the only place affected by the strange disappearance, naturally takes charge.  Sam, being a hunky surfer dude and the guy who saved two dozen kids' lives in a horrific school bus accident, is immediately looked to for guidance by toddlers and teens alike.  Along with his new girlfriend, nicknamed 'Astrid the Genius', and his surfing partner/best friend, he does everything possible to keep the delicate situation under control. 

This turns out to be harder than it sounds.  With the cell phones and internet down, and a strange reflective barrier surrounding the entire city and forests beyond that hurts to the touch, Sam has a big responsibility on his hands.  And things get especially difficult when the students from Coates Academy, the rich kids' private school outside of town, make an entrance and claim the FAYZ (Fallout Alley Youth Zone) as their own.  I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys fast-paced, action-filled series that you can't stop reading once you start.

Cover: 2/5

Premise: 5/5

Characters:4.5/5

Plot: 4/5

Overall Rating: 4.5./5

~Pinky

The Lens and the Looker by Lory S Kaufman

Genre: YA post-dystopian
Pages: 336 (paperback)
Published: March 2011
Recommended for: readers who enjoy both futuristic and historical fiction, as well as exciting adventure stories

Synopsis:
THERE'S HOPE FOR THE FUTURE,
BUT WHAT ABOUT THE PAST?

It’s the 24th century and humans, with the help of artificial intelligences (A.I.s) have finally created the perfect post-dystopian society. To make equally perfect citizens for this world, the elders have created History Camps, full sized recreations of cities from Earth’s distant pasts. Here teens live the way their ancestors did, doing the same dirty jobs and experiencing the same degradations. History Camps teach youths not to repeat the mistakes that almost caused the planet to die. But not everything goes to plan.

In this first of a trilogy, we meet three spoiled teens in the year 2347. Hansum almost 17, is good looking and athletic. Shamira, 15, is sassy, independent and an artistic genius. Lincoln, 14, is the smart-aleck. But you don’t have to scratch too far beneath the surface to find his insecurities.

These three “hard cases” refuse the valuable lessons History Camps teach. But when they are kidnapped and taken back in time to 1347 Verona, Italy, they only have two choices; adapt to the harsh medieval ways or die. The dangers are many, their enemies are powerful, and safety is a long way away. It’s hardly the ideal environment to fall in love – but that’s exactly what happens. In an attempt to survive, the trio risks introducing technology from the future. It could save them – or it could change history.

My Take:

The world-building in this novel is fantastic.  We are treated to a glimpse of a near-perfect society, hundreds of years into the future: a world where AIs (sleek robot creatures of various sizes who are endearing as they are logical and helpful) have helped saved humanity.  Lory Kaufman's setting is post-dystopian-- we learn that most of the world's population died out circa the 22nd century.  The mixture of the long-ago past and the faraway future really worked for The Lens and the Looker-- it was as fascinating to muse about having your own personal AI as it was to imagine what it might be like to visit a history camp.

Our three teen protagonists are "hardcases"-- mischievous kids who have broken the rules of their strict if sheltering society-- but none of them could be categorized under today's definition of a juvenile delinquent.  The trio are sent to a hardcore history camp (as opposed to the Renaissance Faire-like recreational ones which are common in their world) in order to learn to appreciate the ease and happiness of their lives.  The camp's particular setting is Fair Verona, Italy, where the stage of Romeo and Juliet was once set.  But Italy in the mid-fourteenth century was the stage for another infamous historical happening... the Black Death.  It's one heck of a tough history camp indeed that Hansum, Lincoln, and Shamira have landed themselves in, but even as they take up the role of apprentices to a craftsmen and his wife, Hansum is convinced he has the nuts and bolts of the camp's enactors (players) figured out.  With the help of a holographic "genie", he and the others scheme to unravel the storyline-- until they cross paths with a time traveler and wind up in real-life Verona, in the year 1347, exactly a thousand years ago.  Verona is a deadly place far removed from anything these slightly spoiled and arrogant, if resourceful, teens have ever encountered.

I really enjoyed the way the characters, particularly Hansum, come into their own, and how they manage to band together and even triumph after being suddenly immersed into a brutal, medieval world.  Verona was rich with details, though the one thing I never really understood was how three English-speaking teens could perfectly understand fourteenth-century Italian.  Perhaps it was part of the magic, or maybe the education system is just re-vamped and a million times better in the future!  I could certainly believe that-- in a world so full of information, perhaps people three hundred years from now will measure to the intellects of people today as we measure to Cro-Magnons.  It was also interesting to get an in-depth look at lens-making early on in the book.  The descriptions of the process were a bit extensive in the book, but I can hardly complain myself-- were it not for contact lenses, I doubt I could see to read or drive.  There is also a romance between Hansum and and the daughter of his master in Verona, Guilietta, which is sweet and genuine.  The ending has left me wanting the next book in the trilogy, the Bronze and the Brimstone.  

The most unique aspect of the book, and the one which intrigued me the most, was the history camps.  I'm declaring my history nerd-ness here, but I can imagine nothing better than a summer camp where everyone acted out the Renaissance or Ancient Egypt. (Though I can't imagine the daily ceremonies of the latter would be too popular among modern parents ;)  And it's all too true what they say: those who ignore history are doomed to make its mistakes again.  That's a big theme of the Lens and the Looker, but the read is too entertaining to linger long over the technicalities, as I am soo apt to do: this is a book where it's worth it to just enjoy the ride.

Cover: 2/5 (really not impressed by it)

Premise: 5/5

Characters: 4/5

Plot: 5/5

Overall Rating: 4.5/5

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Genre: YA dystopia
Pages: 495 (hardcover)
Published: May 2011 by Katherine Tegen Books
Recommended for: Hunger Games people.  Definitely.

My Take:

Wow, just wow.  I was blown away by how intense and absolutely enthralling this much-buzzed-about new dystopia is.  Divergent is a quick read despite being nearly 500 pages-- because, believe me, before long you'll most likely find yourself physically incapable of putting it down for even a second. 

Tris has always lived in Abnegation-- the faction where her father is an important politician, and where charitable goals of selflessness and good will towards others rule every action taken by its initiates.  In Tris's city, every individual must choose to belong to one of five factions depending on what they believe is the most important virtue: the Candor believe that honesty is the only thing which can keep humanity from descending again into the apocalyptic chaos of the past, the Amity are dedicated to peace, the Erudite to the gaining of knowledge to prevent ignorance.

 Although Tris was raised in Abnegation, the faction who strive to live their lives for others, and knows that leaving would break her family's hearts, she cannot help but feel drawn to the raw excitement and reckless freedom of Dauntless-- the warrior faction who value bravery over all else.  Tris is told that she is a Divergent-- someone who does not fall neatly into any of the factions-- but what exactly that means, she doesn't yet know.  Only that to be Divergent is to be considered extremely dangerous by those who run the city behind the smoking curtains... the very people whom are doing their best to make sure that the morals of every faction grow more and more corrupt each day.  Tris and her fellow initiates must face physically and emotionally grueling trials in order to be initiated into their new faction-- but the biggest test of all, for Tris, might well be if she can know her own heart well enough to make terrible choices in the face of death and city-wide corruption.

Divergent raises a ton of questions which will likely have you pondering your own psyche.  The clever and unique structure of the five factions was really fascinating to me-- I'm OCD, so I have an unhealthy adoration for categories of any kind.  The factions reminded me of the four Houses in Harry Potter; the initiation process of the grim training and arena battles of The Hunger Games.  There's plenty for Hunger Games fans here, I think: constant action and suspense, treachery among fellow teens trying to win the top training spots which was reminiscent of HG Arena baddies like Cato and Clove.  Tris is a lot like Katniss, too.  They're both underdogs, but also both very strong gals-- Tris doesn't take any crap, and she's quick to see where both Abnegation and Dauntless fall short of their supposed faction manifestos.

I didn't mention romance in my little synopsis, but there's a great one here.  Four is the enigmatic and athletic young mentor assigned to train Tris and the other initiates of her new faction for their initiation.  His and Tris's falling in love isn't unexpected by any means, but wow, are the moments they spend alone together amazing.  Four is going to be featured in a heck of a lot of My Book Boyfriend posts-- I can see it coming already!  The last 75 pages or so of this book were mind-blowing and, if possible, twice as intense as the rest of the story.  Another painfully abrupt cliffhanger promises a new dystopian trilogy on the way...but Divergent is definitely a stand-out.  Veronica Roth is a superbly gifted new author.  As for which of the five factions I would pick at the age of sixteen... Dauntless sounds like a constant thrill ride and is definitely out of my comfort zone.  But in the end, I think I'd end up choosing Erudite, home of those who constantly seek knowledge.  All the best parties are in the library, after all.  ;)    

Cover: 5/5

Premise: 5/5

Characters: 4/5

Plot: 5/5

Overall Rating: 5/5

Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Genre: YA dystopia
Pages: 441 (hardcover)
Published: February 2011 by Harper Teen
Recommended for: fans of dystopian romance

Synopsis:
Before scientists found the cure, people thought love was a good thing. They didn’t understand that once love -- the deliria -- blooms in your blood, there is no escaping its hold. Things are different now. Scientists are able to eradicate love, and the governments demands that all citizens receive the cure upon turning eighteen. Lena Holoway has always looked forward to the day when she’ll be cured. A life without love is a life without pain: safe, measured, predictable, and happy.

But with ninety-five days left until her treatment, Lena does the unthinkable: She falls in love.

My Take:

The premise of Delirium kind of had me worried at first-- I mean, I love dystopia, and there was so much buzz surrounding this book.  But the idea of a futuristic society where love is treated as a disease and they literally have it down in the textbooks in Latin as amor deliria nervosa with symptoms like 'scattered thinking' and 'sweaty palms' listed seemed a little cheesy at first, even if there was supposed to be a great love story involved.  But I ended up loving the execution of the story, the beauty flowing descriptiveness of Lauren Oliver's writing, the subplots, everything.

Lena isn't my favorite heroine ever, mostly because she doesn't really stand out to me among other dystopia protagonists.  But the other characters: Alex, her mother, and especially her best friend Hana are all fantastic.  They're strong and passionate and caring in a world where passion and love are seen as terrible disease.  The story of Lena's mother, a rebellious woman who vanished from her life long ago and was considered 'uncurable' and a problem subject by the doctors who administer the cure for love at age 18, is what really sold me on the book.  Alex is amazing-- he's rebellious and fun-loving and genuinely cares for Lena, and felt so much more real than many love interests in YA books I read.  So much that I came close to having a little panic attack for his safety while reading the last few pages when everything boils down to a suspenseful (and very cruel, Lauren Oliver!) cliffhanger of an ending.

There are quotes at the beginning of every chapter, which I always love because one of the first books I ever loved to death, Inkheart, had quotes as well.  These quotes arent from actual books, but bits of poetry and lore and song taken from the futuristic world of Delirium and a sort of well-being book for their world called "The Book of Shh".  Some of these excerpts and songs are so beautiful and entrancing, I was almost surprised they weren't already written down somewhere and they didn't seem fabricated at all.  Some aspects of the futuristic Portland where Lena lives were harsh and somewhat bleak-- the interviews and committee which decide the fates of teenagers graduating high school were particularly disturbing, and put me in mind of  The Giver, another dystopian book which I liked considerably less than this one.

The romance was sweet and I liked reading Alex and Lena's conversations and what-not, even though the story itself occasionally seemed to drag.  But here's the thought I keep having, the whole time I was reading: Why is Lena the MC of this book?  She's alright: she's nice, ordinary, a little bit of a sheep in the beginning, though she likes Romeo and Juliet in a world where even that most innocent and beautiful of love stories is all but banned.  But why is Lena the main character, when we have her best friend Hana, who's so strong and bright and passionate and vibrant?  I could so seeing Hana being the girl who sneaks out to a party and meets this boy from the outskirts of society and falls deeply in love with him, and refuses to let go of her love and surrender to the cure even when everything and everyone she's ever known depends on her staying within the confines of this love-less society.  Lena and Alex had good chemistry, but I can't help but think Hana and Alex would have been better-- they're both rebels, fun-loving and generally outgoing.

Despite my initial doubts about the premise, I ended up coming down with a raging case of amor deliria nervosa for this book.  Delirium is beautiful and bittersweet and occasionally sad, it's lyrical and pretty much fantastic... And it reminded me of a song. I've never posted a song with a review before, nor have I really seen it done- but here it goes.  The song is Resistance by Muse.  Let me know if this is a weird idea in a good way, or if you think it's an epic fail! 

	Muse - Resistance .mp3
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

Cover: 4/5

Premise: 4/5

Characters: 5/5

Plot: 4/5

Overall Rating: 4/5

Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi

Genre: YA dystopia
Pages: 326 (hardcover)
Published: May 2010 by Little, Brown
Recommended for: dystopia fans

Summary:
Set initially in a future shanty town in America's Gulf Coast region, where grounded oil tankers are being dissembled for parts by a rag tag group of workers, we meet Nailer, a teenage boy working the light crew, searching for copper wiring to make quota and live another day. The harsh realities of this life, from his abusive father, to his hand to mouth existence, echo the worst poverty in the present day third world. When an accident leads Nailer to discover an exquisite clipper ship beached during a recent hurricane, and the lone survivor, a beautiful and wealthy girl, Nailer finds himself at a crossroads. Should he strip the ship and live a life of relative wealth, or rescue the girl, Nita, at great risk to himself and hope she'll lead him to a better life?  This is a novel that illuminates a world where oil has been replaced by necessity, and where the gap between the haves and have-nots is now an abyss. Yet amidst the shadows of degradation, hope lies ahead.

My Take:

This is one of the best dystopias I've read in a long time.  It has a fast-paced, instantly intriguing feel which reminded me of The Hunger Games, masterpiece of that genre, except that Ship Breaker is definitely more of a 'guy's book' in some ways.  The synopsis catches the feel of the book perfectly, so I won't do my usual long-winded 're-summarizing and setting the scene' thing. 

The world in which Nailer-- who's young even for a YA protagonist-- lives is a harsh one, a coastline wrecked by tides and global warming, where it's difficult just to get by and many resort to terrible means in order to survive.  Global warming is a common reason given for a dystopian future and I sometimes find it a little redundant after reading like, thirty books whose authors all felt it would be a good idea to stick that 'this could be our planet's future if we don't shape up' theme in, but I liked the way Paolo Bacigalupi handled it and didn't mind a bit.  The ship breakers are impoverished scavengers who systematically take apart ships which wash up on the shore of their ragged coastline after storms crash them.  I felt immediately absorbed into Nailer's world and that of his loyal (and not so loyal) crew members.  Treachery and life-threatening situations run amok on the pages of this thrilling novel, and there wasn't a single character who didn't feel real enough to bleed.

I particularly liked Nita, the wealthy 'swank' girl who Nailer rescues from her ship against the wishes of his crew, who would just as soon see her drown.  The romance between them is cute-- they're like fourteen, so...-- and hopeful, but it isn't a big part of the story, nor does it need to be.  Richard Lopez is one of the most real and truly frightening villains I've read about, not least because he's Nailer's father, an addict who has abused him ever since the long-ago death of Nailer's mother.  I'm not giving away spoilers, but the showdown between them was seriously cooler than when Skywalker faced Darth Vader (oops, my nerd is showing again;).  This book might make a very good movie, actually.


The book also takes a stab at asking questions about the nature of humanity-- in the future, there are mutant half-men who are basically like human-animal crosses who serve one human for the entirety of their life.  The exception to this rule seems to be Tool, a mysterious half-man who accompanies Nailer and Nita when they flee to the now-ruined city of New Orleans to escape Nailer's father.  Tool was an interesting character, and like everyone in the novel, neither decisively good or bad.  I think too many books have characters who don't blur that line the way that real people do, and Ship Breaker should be applauded for doing a marvelous job of that.

On a side note, this book won the 2011 Printz Award.  Printz books always turn out to be some of the absolute best-- I wish I had room on my to-read list to read every single one of the Printz books from the last few years.  Anyway, happy reading to you all!!

Cover: 4/5 (it has a cool rustic look which is better in person)

Premise: 5/5

Characters: 5/5

Plot: 5/5

Overall Rating: 5/5

Sapphique by Catherine Fisher

Genre: YA dystopia/ fantasy/steampunk
Pages: 462 (hardcover)

Published: December 2010 by Dial
Recommended for: only those who've already read Incarceron; steampunk fans

Summary:
The only one who escaped . . . And the one who could destroy them all.
Incarceron, the living prison, has lost one of its inmates to the outside world: Finn’s escaped, only to find that Outside is not at all what he expected. Used to the technologically advanced, if violently harsh, conditions of the prison, Finn is now forced to obey the rules of Protocol, which require all people to live without technology. To Finn, Outside is just a prison of another kind, especially when Claudia, the daughter of the prison’s warden, declares Finn the lost heir to the throne. When another claimant emerges, both Finn’s and Claudia’s very lives hang on Finn convincing the Court of something that even he doesn’t fully believe.
Meanwhile, Finn’s oathbrother Keiro and his friend Attia are still trapped inside Incarceron. They are searching for a magical glove, which legend says Sapphique used to escape. To find it, they must battle the prison itself, because Incarceron wants the glove too.

My Take:


There's really not much that can be said about the plot of Sapphique without completely spoiling everything that happens in the first book, Incarceron.  Even the summary is jam-paced with spoilers. But I'll give reviewing it (mostly) spoiler-free a go.  This was another fantastical, amazingly-imagined novel by Catherine Fisher, set in the world of the living, sentient prison Incarceron-- a world I'd been dying to return to ever since I read the first book last year.  

Sapphique is fueled by an ever-thickening, suspense-driven plot which races along at the speed of light.  The story switches frequently between Finn and Claudia, who are in the outside Realm world and struggling to secure Finn's claim to the throne despite the conniving Queen Sia, and Finn's oathbrother Keiro and Attia, the former slave girl who has now joined up with a mysterious mad magician who claims to possess the lost glove of Sapphique.  The world of Incarceron is one rich in mythology and steeped with weird allusions and stories which have been twisted over time, just as our own is.  It's nothing short of mind-blowing that Catherine Fisher can write a futuristic world as complex and crazy-real-feeling ( there's another of my lovely hyphenated words ;) as Incarceron, or indeed any of the other fantasy worlds she has written about.  It takes a while for readers, especially those who haven't read the first book in a while, to get the hang of the prison jargon and the story of Sapphique.  The atmospheres of both Incarceron and the Realm are so believable, and once again I loved the steampunk feel of everything in Incarceron.

The characters were a hit-or-miss with me as always... I loved Keiro, who's charming even for all his arrogance and self-absorbed betrayals-- he's a character who it is really hard not to love.  A warning to romance fans: there was literally almost no romance in this second book, which disappointed me very much.  I was expecting a Keira/Attia thing to get going, or a Claudia/Jared thing, but neither of these really panned out beyond a few little hints. (Though I'm sure JK Rowling would call them 'anvil-sized hints', they still weren't enough for me ;).  All that aside, Sapphique was jam-packed with surprises and shocking twists, huge revelations.  I was unable to put this (very thick) book down for a moment!  Parting with it was literally painful.  A fantastic conclusion to this steampunkish dystopian dualogy.

Cover: 4/5

Premise: 5/5

Characters: 4/5

Plot: 5/5

Overall Rating: 4/5

Wither by Lauren DeStefano

 (Chemical Garden Trilogy #1)
Genre: YA dystopia
Pages: 356 (hardcover)
To Be Published: March 22nd, 2011
Recommended for: older teens and adults who like edgy dystopia novels

Synopsis:
What if you knew exactly when you would die?
Thanks to modern science, every human being has become a ticking genetic time bomb—males only live to age twenty-five, and females only live to age twenty. In this bleak landscape, young girls are kidnapped and forced into polygamous marriages to keep the population from dying out.

When sixteen-year-old Rhine Ellery is taken by the Gatherers to become a bride, she enters a world of wealth and privilege. Despite her husband Linden's genuine love for her, and a tenuous trust among her sister wives, Rhine has one purpose: to escape—to find her twin brother and go home. 

But Rhine has more to contend with than losing her freedom. Linden's eccentric father is bent on finding an antidote to the genetic virus that is getting closer to taking his son, even if it means collecting corpses in order to test his experiments. With the help of Gabriel, a servant Rhine is growing dangerously attracted to, Rhine attempts to break free, in the limted time she has left.

My Take:

I was so excited to find Wither in the mail.  I'm talking night-before-Christmas excited.  Like a lot of readers, I've long been in love with that beautiful, intriguing cover, which I just adore.  And the gritty, enthralling story behind that cover far from disappoints.

The concept of Wither sounds similar to a lot of YA dystopia novels I've read or seen lately, but trust me when I say that this book stands out among the masses like a lighthouse beacon above the waves.  Our heroine Rhine has lived her entire life in a post-apocalyptic Manhattan, years after a genetic experiment gone wrong caused the young generations of North American people (the rest of the world has been obliterated) to die prematurely and horribly of a terrible sickness soon after reaching adulthood.  Rhine is only sixteen, but has only four years to live.  The story begins in the midst of action, as Rhine is kidnapped along with other young girls and taken from New York to the deep South, where she and two other girls are chosen to become the new wives of a wealthy young governor in a luxurious mansion.  Her new husband Linden is mild and distant, and now at all the chauvinistic villain you would expect the husband of three unwilling sister wives to be like.

All of the characters, save Rhine, make their entrances as distant and somewhat flat names and characters, but as the story continued I grew to love every single one of them.  Character development is the gem at the heart of Wither, the aspect of the novel which made me love it.  I especially loved reading about the three sister wives and their dynamic relationships, their pasts and their fears for their very uncertain futures.  The science isn't the strongest I've read in a dystopia novel, but the science behind the drastically shortened lifespans of these generations isn't at all the main focus of the story.  The book is often sad, just shy of somewhat depressing, and always a gritty tale of bleak futures, terrible secrets, and love found in the most unlikely places.  And yet somehow, I found it to be a message of hope more than anything.  I'm not sure exactly what makes Wither so.  Perhaps the lyrical writing and the lingering feelings of the deep friendships and love among the characters, perhaps the remarkable strength of Rhine and several of her sister wives quite literally in the face of death and ruin.  I'm happy to report that this one lives up to expectations and, in fact, surpasses them.  Definitely recommended.

Cover: 5/5 

Premise: 4/5 

Characters: 5/5 

Plot: 5/5 

Overall Rating: 5/5 

Unwind by Neal Shusterman

Genre: YA dystopia
Pages: 335 (paperback)
Published: 2007 by Simon & Schuster
Recommended for: anyone who likes to read dystopia

Synopsis:
Connor, Risa, and Lev are running for their lives.
The Second Civil War was fought over reproductive rights. The chilling resolution: Life is inviolable from the moment of conception until age thirteen. Between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, however, parents can have their child "unwound," whereby all of the child's organs are transplanted into different donors, so life doesn't technically end. Connor is too difficult for his parents to control. Risa, a ward of the state, is not considered talented enough to be kept alive. And Lev is a tithe, a child conceived and raised to be unwound. Together, they may have a chance to escape and to survive.

My Take:

Unwind is a book that surprised me again and again, in a lot of different ways.  First, I was surprised by how much I ended up enjoying the book, granted that the first 20 or so pages didn't exactly captivate my attention and I don't really love the cover.  Neal Shusterman has a great talent for story-telling-- not writing novels or character-building or even world-building.  It's all brilliant story-telling: the kind of twisty, fast-paced tale that sucks you in, without burdening you with too many or too few details.  He has this talent for catchy monikers and throwing in a little bit of humor to even out the often darker tones and settings of his novels.  The way everything unfolds is pretty genius, though I ended up liking all the characters, too.  There are tons of twists in the plot-- most of them totally unsuspected.  By the 21st page, I was well and truly hooked. 

The thing about the world of Unwind is that it's dystopian, but doesn't seem too far-out a future for society.  The Unwinds-- kids thirteen to eighteen who are sentenced to be surgically divided in a sort of teenage abortion-- all have sympathetic and sometimes disturbing backstories.  Lev goes willingly to be Unwound on his thirteenth birthday-- he's known all his life that this would be his fate, and his uber-religious friends and family assure him that he's going to a better place.  Conner's that 'troubled' kid whose parents just couldn't care less, and poor Risa is the most sympathetic of them all-- she's a talented concert pianoist who makes a few mistakes during a recital, and is sent to a harvest camp to be Unwound after the state decides she's not good enough to make the budget cut for state orphanages.  And then there's CyFi, who received a brain transplant from a former Unwind a long time ago, and is slowly realizing that he wound up with more than just a few of the kid's brain cells from the operation.   

There is one particular scene (yes, this is one of those spoilers where you open a book at the library and see someone's scribbled turn to page 289...oops. Well, yeah, the scene starts on page 289. ;)  which really made me squirm.  It's by no means graphic, in fact, I wish the author hadn't left so much to the imagination.  You won't think I'm crazy if you read it.  Anyway, Unwind is a stand-alone dystopia by a master storyteller which is by turns disturbing and intriguing, funny and oddly realistic for a futuristic thriller.  I definitely recommend it, especially to anyone else as caught up in the YA dystopia craze as I am. 

Cover: 2/5
Premise: 4/5
Characters: 4/5
Plot: 5/5
Overall: 4/5

*This book qualifies for the following reading challenges: Dystopia Challenge 2011*

Matched by Ally Condie

                                                       Genre: YA dystopia
Page Count: 366 (hardcover)
Released: November 30th by Dutton Juvenile
Recommended for: dystopia fans, particularly the Hunger Games

(from Goodreads): Cassia has always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her: what to read, what to watch, what to believe. So when Xander's face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is her ideal mate . . . until she sees Ky Markham's face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black.

The Society tells her it's a glitch, a rare malfunction, and that she should focus on the happy life she's destined to lead with Xander. But Cassia can't stop thinking about Ky, and as they slowly fall in love, Cassia begins to doubt the Society's infallibility and is faced with an impossible choice: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she's known and a path that no one else has dared to follow.

My Take:

I'm a little slow in reviewing Matched, simply because I've been bombarded with enticing books lately.  Besides, this is the kind of book which stays with you long after you read the final page, the kind of story you can really mull over and think 'What if..', and anticipate the sequel long before the release date is even close.  Matched is most definitely one of my favorite reads of the year, and its hype is well-deserved.

Cassia is a protagonist you can cheer for-- she defies the airtight restrictions and guidelines of the Society, without actually going all Katniss Everdeen about it.  This book reminds me of The Hunger Games for several reasons besides its dystopia feel-- Cassia's voice in the present tense has a similar feel as Katniss's--, but it's no tail-coat-riding book.  The Society isn't as brutal as the Capital, but they have their own methods of cruelty-- they restrain the freedom of the people in their Society so completely and indifferently, but not so outrageously that their people revolt. (Yet.)  The scary thing was that I can see these kind of changes, the kind of guidelines that the Society forces people to live their lives by, being put into place in the not-so-distant future.  I'm not sure exactly when Matched takes place, but it probably isn't too far along the timeline.  The story also reminds me a lot of Lois Lowry's older YA novel, The Giver.   

The hero behind the story of Cassia's defiance and even her growing, forbidden love for Ky is her grandfather.  In Cassia's world, people die the day they turn eighty, and they believe it should be this way.  This, for me, was one of the worst cruelties of the society, because I simply could not imagine knowing the exact moment when you were going to die, when everyone you knew was going to die.  Cassia's grandfather doesn't stand up and deft the Society, but he's so obviously a hero in his own way, advising Cassia to not 'go gently into the night' and becoming the basis for her questioning of the Society's ways and labels.

Ky, the boy Cassia falls in love with despite her being Matched with her best friend Xander, is an Aberration-- set apart by the Society due to a mysterious infraction committed by his father.  Aberrations aren't entered into the Matching pool-- they can never get close to any 'normal' member of society, and they have the worst jobs and lifespans while most people live comfortable, sheltered lives.  I liked the depth of Ky's emotion and the way he connected with Cassia, but I wish we found out a little more about his past and exactly what was so terribly tragic that his parents died and he was forced to relocate from his country home.  The end of the book leaves you wanting more and the story is wide-open for the sequel, Crossed (coming next November according to Ally Condie's blog.)

One last thing-- I love, love the cover of this book.  Browsing it on Amazon, I thought it was a strange choice, but after having read the book, I think the cover could not possibly have been better.

My Rating: 5/5 
 

NoMansLand by Lesley Hauge

Genre: YA, dystopia 

Page Count: 256 (Hardcover) 

Released: June 2010 by Henry Holt and Co. 

Recommended For: Dystopia Fans, fans of The Hunger Games

Synopsis (from Goodreads):  

Sometime in the future, a lonely, windswept island is populated solely by women. Among these women is a group of teenaged Trackers—expert equestrians and archers—whose job is to protect their shores from the enemy. The enemy, they’ve been told, is men. When these girls come upon a partially buried home from the distant past, they are fascinated by the strange objects—high-heeled shoes, teen magazines, make-up—found there. What are they to make of these mysterious things? And what does it mean for their strict society where friendship is forbidden and rules must be obeyed—at all costs? 

My Thoughts: 

I think I expected to like NoMansLand. It has an intriguing premise, a gorgeous cover which I love, and, of course, it's a poster-child for new dystopia. (God, I'm going to have to rename this blog 'A Myriad of Dystopian Books' if this keeps up!)  

Our protagonist is Keller, a teenage girl training to become a Tracker-- one of a group of Amazon-like warrior women who defend their island-bound colony of women living apart from the rest of the broken and devastated world.  Keller's a smart girl with a lot of promise (this book feels like it must be the first of a series) and she also isn't afraid to think for herself, despite the extremely controlling atmosphere of the island society where she lives.  These girls and women are taught to work hard in their selected positions and defend the island from invaders-- namely men, who are demonized by their leaders.  But they aren't allowed to have relationships with the other women, friendly or romantic.  Beauty and vanity have no place in this society and those women who speak out or break the laws-- even via such a simple act as painting their fingernails-- are severely punished.  Along into Keller's life comes Laing, a beautiful girl and fellow Tracker-to-be who has discovered an old, half-buried home from the world Before.  In this house, several of the girls uncover ancient artifacts from a world they've never known, a world where women were too often judged by their appearances and seen as second-class citizens.  Our world. 

The backstory behind the world of NoMansLand is mysterious and shadowy-- we never really find out exactly how this island of women came to be, or how this mysterious council of leaders operates.  Luckily, the author is writing a prequel, according to her website.  But as of now, I felt there were too many questions left unanswered.  This book appears to be more of a light-hearted read, judging from the synopsis... 'girls who find teen magazines and beauty products..' and the fact that it's a thin book, easily read in a day.  But there is a turning point when the story moves quickly from engrossing and light, to darker and heavier events which border on disturbing. Overall, I definitely enjoyed NoMansLand, but I'm not giving it five stars for several reasons.  The writing was clear, and Keller's voice likable, but the depth of the characters was nothing outstanding.  Laing was the only character who really stood out from the masses-- I read this book weeks ago, and she's the only girl besides Keller whose name I remember.  

One of the neatest things about the island colony are the women's names-- it is forbidden to add the suffixes 'y' or 'ie' or 'a' to the end of names, so the names end up sounding androgynous.  So in the book, 'Kelly' became 'Keller' and 'Laini' becomes 'Laing'.  My own name's not one which can be transformed using this system, but I had a fun time running through the names of girls I know and picking new names for them.  :) 

Overall Rating: 4/5

Dark Life by Kat Falls

Page Count: 304 (Hardcover)

Published: May 2010 by Scholastic

Genre: YA, science-fiction, dystopia

Recommended For: fans of far-out science fiction

Synopsis: Set in an apocalyptic future where rising oceans have swallowed up entire regions and people live packed like sardines on the dry land left, DARK LIFE is the harrowing tale of underwater pioneers who have carved out a life for themselves in the harsh deep-sea environment, farming the seafloor in exchange for the land deed.
  
The story follows Ty, who has lived his whole life on his family's homestead and has dreams of claiming his own stake when he turns eighteen. But when outlaws' attacks on government supply ships and settlements threaten to destroy the underwater territory, Ty finds himself in a fight to stop the outlaws and save the only home he has ever known.

Joined by a girl from the Topside who has come subsea to look for her prospector brother, Ty ventures into the frontier's rough underworld and begins to discover some dark secrets to Dark Life.  As Ty gets closer to the truth, he discovers that the outlaws may not be the bloodthirsty criminals the government has portrayed them as. And that the government abandoning the territory might be the best thing for everyone, especially for someone like Ty, someone with a Dark Gift. 

My Thoughts: Dark Life is without a doubt one of the most unique books I've read in a long time, setting-wise.  It's sort of like the movie Water World meets Heroes meets the old Wild West movies-- you've got pioneers living on ocean-floor fish farms, driven to find new free land after the government and overpopulation made the surface world all but unlivable.  There are a band of mysterious outlaws-- sort of sub-sea pirates, really, called the Seablite Gang-- attacking the settlers' homesteads and destroying the complex system of their underwater homes.  And then we have the revelation that many of the children who were born sub-sea or have lived there for most of their lives have adapted to their environment and developed powers-- called Dark Gifts.  At times the nature of these Dark Gifts could be a little beyond far-out... bordering on beyond belief.  Yes, I realize this is sci-fi, but the author didn't really offer a valid explanation for why these kids are developing these incredible powers.  I wish Kat Falls (another author namesake!) had expanded a little more on all that.  

The book's first-person narrator, Ty, draws you immediately into the action of the plot, which kicks off on the first page and doesn't cease for a single paragraph until the very end.  The break-necked pace and colorful inventiveness of the story world really draw a reader in, and I can't imagine anyone being unable to put down this engrossing read for more than a few minutes.  (I'm very guilty of reading it under my desk at school.)  Gemma, the Topside girl who Ty meets on an apparently abandoned submarine, is one tough girl-- I really loved her backstory and the way she was determined to survive in the underwater world she was utterly unfamiliar with.  There's a hint or two of romance between Gemma and Ty, but the pages are mostly devoted to Ty's thwarting the Seablite Gang.  There are quite a few plot twists, but I saw most of them coming a mile away.  

I recommend Dark Life for the amazing, intricate dytopia world and as a quick, fun read.  It's not the most memorable book I've read this year, but all in all, I definitely enjoyed it.  The sequel, Rip Tide, has just been announced and will be released sometime in 2011.  I will definitely be looking forward to re-submerging into Ty's undersea world.  

Overall Rating: 4/5