The Extinction Trials by S.M. Wilson

Ooh boy. So when I first saw this book, it was on Amazon and I presumed it was self-published. You see that little sticker on the cover that says 'The Hunger Games meets Jurassic Park'? Yeah, this book is literally a rip-off of the Hunger Games premise only stupider and now there are dinosaurs. Imagine my utter surprise when I walk into Waterstones and see this being promoted. It's a real book alright.

Of course I had to read it. The main character is called STORMCHASER KNOX. She has PURPLE EYES. There are DINOSAURS. So I picked up this book expecting a good laugh. I certainly got that but to my surprise, it was much better written than I was expecting.

There are many elements that make up a book. Let me be clear-the writing style of this book is actually pretty good. Everything else varies from just kind of silly to genuinely bad, but this got a much higher rating overall than I was expecting and so the author deserves some credit for that. They deserve absolutely no credit whatsoever for the nonsensical worldbuilding however. The plot of this book makes zero sense and it just goes downhill from there. So Stormchaser is our main character. She is a firm loner without a family and only one best friend to speak of. You remember how Katniss had to enter the Hunger Games to save her sister? Well, Stormchaser chooses to go to an island of dinosaurs entirely voluntarily. Her friends/competitors on the island all have better motivations than her, and yet she's still desperate to win and steal the prize from them. That sure is one likable protagonist!

This fictional world is so confusing as well. I think it's maybe meant to be set in the future but that makes no sense. Even being kind and assuming it takes place in an alternate timeline doesn't help much. In this universe, there are only two continents-one for people and one for dinosaurs. The people continent is running out of space so they want to conquer the dinosaur continent using the mystical power of...DNA. Apparently the only way to get DNA is to steal a dinosaur egg. Not a single character in this book goes into any detail about DNA and I can only assume the author has no idea what it is or how it works. Anyway, the whole premise of the Extinction Trials is that people volunteer to go to the dinosaur continent and then undergo some physical and mental tests to determine their suitability. The top 100 then go to the island, the majority die every year and then the survivors get free food for them and their families. That is the only incentive for applying, and while that is a good incentive if you have hundreds of siblings, it is not a good motivation for Stormchaser.

The ending is the dumbest part of all and I'm going to need to spoil some things.

SPOILERS AHEAD

So as mentioned, Stormchaser has no reason to enter beyond her desire to see the world of dinosaurs. Her surviving teammates on the island include her love interest who has a sick sister, and this other guy who has his own family to feed, plus the families of several dead teammates that he's promised to pretend are his own. When they return from the island, they are the only people with an egg (they actually have two which is important). The evil scientists in charge then change the prize so that all three of them can't win; instead, two of them must claim an egg and those two will get a prize. For some reason love interest claims both eggs, then Storm claims both eggs and then other guy claims one and says Storm got the other. To sort this out, they make everyone compete in further challenges (which are nowhere near as intense as the narrative implies they're going to be). Storm takes part in these and WINS. She voluntarily beats out two guys with legitimate reasons to win because...she wants to?

END OF SPOILERS

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by this book. Granted that isn't saying much given that my expectations were rock bottom, but it's enjoyable enough and I can see kids liking this quite a lot. If you want a genuinely good dystopian novel though you will have to look elsewhere. For a 'so good it's bad' read however, this could be great.

Overall Rating:

.5

The Selection by Kiera Class

Sooo I was fully expecting this book to be trash. I mean, have you read the blurb? That cover is gorgeous but with a main character called America Singer, my hopes can only soar so high. And yet, to my utter bewilderment I really enjoyed this book. Not in a 'so bad it's good' kind of way but in a genuine, 'want to read more' way.

Don't get me wrong, this book is not high art. I read so many negative Goodreads reviews before picking this up that I was preparing for a snarkfest. But there is something so happy and enjoyable about these characters. The protagonist is a nice person, the prince is a nice person, even most of the competing girls are nice people. I didn't find any of them annoying with the exception of Aspen, the 'other' love interest. Even then, he wasn't so much annoying as he just got in the way a bit of my lovely fluffy romance.

However, I do have one major major issue with this book-it doesn't have an ending. As in, literally nothing is resolved by the end and we are stuck with a literal 'TO BE CONTINUED'. I am not okay with that. I don't care how many sequels you've planned, each book should have its own goddamn satisfactory conclusion. This sin was big enough for me to knock my rating down an entire star because I don't understand how an author or publishing company could be this cocky about people picking up two books to get the plot of one. Seriously not cool.

Overall, can I understand why this book might not be everyone's cup of tea? Yes, absolutely. It is fluff pure and simple, a love story about girls in pretty dresses trying to win the affections of a prince. Also there's a love triangle and the barest hint of world-building in an attempt to qualify it as a dystopia.  However, I am genuinely baffled by all the hate this book is receiving because honestly, it's just so nice and unassuming. Ultimately I like reading books about decent people and there just aren't enough of them in YA fiction.

They should have written a freaking ending though.

Overall Rating:

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

I don't think I like this book.

I say 'think' because admittedly, I'm not entirely sure. I really wanted to like it, or maybe I felt like I should. Ultimately though I have to be honest and I feel Brave New World falls flat in what it's trying to do.

Okay, my first reason is probably the most 'controversial' but honestly, I don't see the future world as being all that bad. Obviously it is bad in comparison to the real world, I'm not an idiot. But in comparison to other dystopias? Everyone is happy and those who aren't get sent somewhere else to be with a whole bunch of other people like them. Not killed, not brainwashed or imprisoned. Just sent away to live their lives how they please. Again obviously, the constant drugging, biological manipulation of the lower classes and lack of art or science are all terrible things. I do not want to live in this world by any means but I think the sex part is what is supposed to be so awful about it and honestly, that makes the book come across as dated and diminishes its impact.

My second issue is with the characters. In the entire book, the only characters I kind of liked were Lenina, Linda and Helmholtz. Bernard was okay but I could not stand John at all. I think my dislike of John is one of the reasons I can't quite see this as a terrible world. He was so pretentious and utterly joyless that, when presented as the alternative, he doesn't make a very good argument for it. It also makes it harder for me to agree with any of his arguments, no matter how valid they are. His treatment of Lenina is appalling and I did not find him particularly sympathetic. The crush angle also seemed repetitive to me as Bernard's crush on Lenina and John's crush were pretty similar in terms of how they fit into the plot and both played the same purpose narratively.

However, the thing I disliked the most was how unsubtle this book was. Characters literally have long discussions about the theme of the book and it feels like the author is whacking you in the face with it. I do not like books which are purely a vessel for a certain message and while this book was too well-written and developed to be just that, it came dangerously close.

Honestly though, there were a lot of good things about this book. I think I like projecting my own interpretation of the story more than I like the actual story itself. Like John-the whole part where he pleads for the right to be unhappy feels like it should be really meaningful and in my head now, it is. But when I was reading it, I felt nothing but weariness. I think this book has a lot to say but its execution lets it down, which is weird because it is well-written. Something is missing but I'm not sure what. For the first time ever, I'm not going to rate this book because I honestly have no idea what to rate it on. My review probably sounds a lot more negative than I feel and this book will certainly stick with me if nothing else.

Only Ever Yours by Louse O'Neill

*MILD ENDING SPOILERS (NO REAL DETAILS)*

I first read this book almost in one sitting on one frenzied day during exam time. It was probably the worst time possible to be engulfed by a book but it was so compelling that I couldn't put it down. I promptly finished it and while I was desperate to share my thoughts on it, I was so emotionally-drained that I wasn't quite sure what those thoughts were. A couple of months later, I picked it up again and once more finished it in a day. It's that good.

Only Ever Yours is an emotional gut-punch of a book, in a similar way to how Some Girls Are was. To quickly sum up the plot, global warming has hit, resulting in a future where the only women who exist are 'eves'-perfect girls grown by scientists to serve men. There are three ways eves can accomplish this: companionship (a marriage of sorts), becoming a concubine (prostitute) or (the most dreaded third) remaining at their school to teach future generations as a chastity. The school is where eves live until the end of their 16th year and where they are taught important things like how to hate your body and how only men matter.

Obviously this book is an exaggeration of a modern-day issue, like many great sci-fi books. I can't even begin to describe how compelling I found this world which is surprising given how relatively simple it is. I think what I loved most is how gradually and quietly the horror seeps in. The protagonist casually tells us about how all companions are terminated when they turn 40, how female babies rot in the womb and how infertile companions willingly burn themselves alive so that their husband may choose a 'better' eve to replace her. It's very realistic in the way the main character doesn't realise the horror herself, having grown up in this world. Unlike some dystopian protagonists, she has no unlikely liberal views tainting her view of her world.

Speaking of the protagonist, Frieda is about as heartbreaking a character as they come. She is utterly broken by the world around her and yet is powerless to do anything about it, not that she would have the insight to do anything if she wasn't. The other characters are equally engaging-even evil Megan is vaguely sympathetic in that she is only doing what she has to in order to survive (not that that stops you hating her). By the time the ending comes, you feel as broken as poor Frieda in the best way. Again, this isn't a book I can say I 'enjoyed' reading but it's one I am eternally grateful I did.

Oh, and the ending. It crushed me completely both times and yet, what else did I expect? This isn't the sort of book which can have a happy ending and Frieda is not the sort of character who gets one. And in the end, who is really happy anyway? Not a single character gets what they want, or if they do then it turns out to be a hollow victory. The ending really hammers home the theme of the book, right down to the last bleak sentence.

In case you couldn't tell, I love this book. It's one of those I think everyone needs to experience and like Some Girls Are, it will haunt me forever. It carries an important message in a well-written and utterly compelling package. I strongly recommend you check it out

Overall Rating:

Falls the Shadow by Stefanie Gaither

Argh, this book was so frustrating!

Don't get me wrong, it's a decent read. I just feel cheated somewhat in that the story promised was not the story delivered in my eyes. There are so many books about cloning and I've never had much of a desire to read them but the blurb of this book was so inviting that I had to give it a look. And like I said, it's not a bad book. But oh, the author just had to go for the bigger picture.

Here's what I wanted from the book-an intriguing, philosophical look at the implications of cloning using the family unit as the basis for the story. Here's what happens-it starts off well and then soon descends into the usual 'rebellion' plot line that The Hunger Games has made so popular.

Listen to me YA authors, you don't always have to threaten all of society to make an interesting story. I picked up this book on the basis that I wanted to hear about what one girl thought about her sister being replaced with an identical clone (and a potentially dangerous one at that). I wanted to see the problems the clone had with fitting in, the kind of prejudices she would encounter. I did not want a story about taking down society and deadly assassins and stuff like that.

On the whole, Falls the Shadow is a perfectly acceptable book. I'd go so far as to say I even enjoyed it. I'm just disappointed by the fact that I feel like it could have been something so much better, something different. Instead we get the same-old rebellion story, albeit told well. It might not be better but hey, it could be a whole lot worse.

Overall Score:

The Hit by Melvin Burgess

Melvin Burgess is one of those authors I've always meant to read but somehow never got round to doing so. Many of his books are about intriguing, flashy topics and The Hit is no different. It's the tale of revolution and a little pill called Death that can give you the best week of your life on the condition that you die at the end of it.

It's an interesting enough idea (though Burgess admits it wasn't his) but sadly this book is lacking. While it's entertaining enough, the characters feel very...flat. They have personalities but a third person narrative combined with no focus on their emotions makes them seem very distant to the reader. This could be because the characters weren't Burgess's either but until I read another of his books, I can't really say whether this is the case.

Also the main guy Adam is just an asshole. I found it very difficult to root for him or even care about what happened to him much because he was such a douche. Lizzie was slightly more compelling but again, underreactions to her situation made it hard to relate to her. Less detailed characters could be acceptable if the plot was strong enough to carry the book but honestly? It's decent enough but you get the feeling it could have been so much more. A lot of the book is people talking about the revolution and how things are going to go/have been going with the occasional angry mob mentioned in the background. With the exception of the opening scene, the characters are never actually in an angry mob. The only people actively involved in the revolution are side characters and their role is very small in comparison.

The writing style too was annoyingly simplistic. I did wonder if maybe it was aimed at the younger side of YA fiction but the bleeped-out swearword on the front and the frequent mentions of sex/drugs suggest otherwise. Perhaps the simplicity is just the author's style, I don't know.

All in all, The Hit didn't wow me. Maybe the fact it wasn't the author's story made it suffer but either way, it fails to deliver the excitement the blurb promised. Is it bad? No. But the whole thing feels very meh.

Overall Score: