leaninglights: book review

Showing posts with label book review. Show all posts

Saturday, October 15, 2016

The 5th Wave Trilogy by Rick Yancey (SERIES REVIEW)

The 5th Wave Trilogy

The 5th Wave | The Infinite Sea | The Last Star

by Rick Yancey

After the 1st wave, only darkness remains. After the 2nd, only the lucky escape. And after the 3rd, only the unlucky survive. After the 4th wave, only one rule applies: trust no one.
Now, it's the dawn of the 5th wave, and on a lonely stretch of highway, Cassie runs from Them. The beings who only look human, who roam the countryside killing anyone they see. Who have scattered Earth's last survivors. To stay alone is to stay alive, Cassie believes, until she meets Evan Walker. Beguiling and mysterious, Evan Walker may be Cassie's only hope for rescuing her brother-or even saving herself. But Cassie must choose: between trust and despair, between defiance and surrender, between life and death. To give up or to get up.

My experience with the 5th Wave trilogy has been a rollercoaster ride, to say the least. I went from really enjoying the first book to loathing the second book, to actually liking the third and final book, which surprised me more than anyone.

I think Rick Yancey has a great story here and I really love Cassie as a main character. I think the overarching plot is good and the side characters are strong. HOWEVER, I think this series from too many cooks in the kitchen. Meaning, there was too much going on to adequately fit in a trilogy. And while I enjoyed each different plot line running through the series, that's just it: it felt like a bunch of different plot lines running through the series. If the series had been longer, or split up into a first series and then a spin-off series, I think it would have worked better. But the constant switching of perspectives, while can be effective in some instances, worked against the series as a whole, in my opinion.

All that being said, I did enjoy how the series ended. I thought it was fitting and brave and I was glad to see Rick Yancey "go there," for lack of a better term. He didn't wrap everything up too nicely and it felt more genuine and realistic than many YA stories I have read.

However, I do have to say that The Infinite Sea (book 2) was a hot mess. I did not enjoy a single page and I'm not even sure the book had a point. If you had taken one or maybe two minor things from the second books and divvied it up between books 1 & 3, making the series a duology, I think it would have been much more effective and efficient.

So all in all, I would recommend this series. I think that if you are not into aliens or teen romance, steer clear, but otherwise, I think it's worth taking a crack at. The books are quite heavy in language, so if that bothers you, this is not the YA series for you... so you've been warned. But there is a fun cast of characters and a story running throughout that you probably haven't read before!

Overall, I am satisfied with my reading experience.

The Fifth Wave: 4 out of 5 stars
The Infinite Sea: 2 out of 5 stars
The Last Star: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

The Revolution of Ivy

The Book of Ivy

by Amy Engel

Website | Twitter | Goodreads

Publication Date: November 3rd, 2015
Publisher: Entangled Teen
ISBN: 9781633751156

Available to purchase:
Amazon | Book Depository | Barnes & Noble

*This book was sent to me from the publisher in exchange for an honest review - all opinions are my own*

**PLEASE READ: The Revolution of Ivy is the second in a series and will contain spoilers for the first book in the series in the synopsis and the review.**

Ivy Westfall is beyond the fence and she is alone. Abandoned by her family and separated from Bishop Lattimer, Ivy must find a way to survive on her own in a land filled with countless dangers, both human and natural. She has traded a more civilized type of cruelty--forced marriages and murder plots--for the bare-knuckled brutality required to survive outside Westfall's borders.
But there is hope beyond the fence, as well. And when Bishop reappears in Ivy's life, she must decide if returning to Westfall to take a final stand for what she believes is right is worth losing everything she's fought for. (via Goodreads)

I wasn't sure WHAT to expect after The Book of Ivy ended with our poor Ivy exiled to outside the fence. I was 1) terrified of the gross and awful rapist guy 2) terrified of the gross and awful rapist guy. That storyline was gut-wrenching in the first book and I was 100% sure he would be back in the second book.

And the biggest selling point of book 1 for me was the romance and we start Revolution with our love interests separated, so I was a tiny bit hesitant when picking up book 2. And while I was happy with how the romance played out, I thought the rest of the story was equally just as compelling.

I really liked Ivy's journey in Revolution because I felt like she grew up a lot and learned about herself and I think she needed to be away from Bishop to do that. Not because of Bishop but because was only 16 when they got married and she needed time to be independent from her family AND Bishop -- otherwise reuniting them would have felt cheated to me and I wouldn't have been as excited.

Ultimately I really enjoyed The Revolution of Ivy and I think it was a great sequel to The Book of Ivy. I think I enjoyed it the slightest bit less than the first book, but it was still a fantastic book I recommend everyone read!

GIF from here.

4.25 out of 5 stars!

The Book of Ivy

by Amy Engel

Website | Twitter | Goodreads

Publication Date: November 4th, 2014
Publisher: Entangled Teen
ISBN: 9781622664658

Available to purchase:
Amazon | Book Depository | Barnes & Noble

After a brutal nuclear war, the United States was left decimated. A small group of survivors eventually banded together, but only after more conflict over which family would govern the new nation. The Westfalls lost. Fifty years later, peace and control are maintained by marrying the daughters of the losing side to the sons of the winning group in a yearly ritual.

This year, it is my turn.

My name is Ivy Westfall, and my mission is simple: to kill the president’s son—my soon-to-be husband—and restore the Westfall family to power.

But Bishop Lattimer is either a very skilled actor or he’s not the cruel, heartless boy my family warned me to expect. He might even be the one person in this world who truly understands me. But there is no escape from my fate. I am the only one who can restore the Westfall legacy.
Because Bishop must die. And I must be the one to kill him… (via Goodreads)

My thoughts on The Book of Ivy are quite simple: I loved it.

It's been awhile since I have picked up a straight young adult dystopian book and I have to say that the experience was refreshing. This book is a testament to the idea that less can be WAY more. There is nothing complicated or overly complex about the book and honestly, it is part of what made is so enjoyable.

Amy Engel was able to capture something familiar yet enticing with her balance between politics and romance. The Book of Ivy, at it's core, is a romance between two teens on the opposite sides of a political war. You have Ivy, who is the daughter of a gilted would-be leader, who is determined to bring his family back to power. Then there is Bishop, the privileged and seemingly spoiled son of the president of Westfall, Mr. Lattimer. But there is a lot more to both teens story than meets the eye.

So on the joining of their families through their arranged marriage, we see them in a new position, away from both influences and forced to face the truth that both families may have lied and that they might not be what the other was expecting.

I found the romance in this book SO ADDICTING. It was a slow burn that had me turning pages, unable to put it down. I HAD to know what happened next between Ivy and Bishop and just when I thought I knew what would happen, I would be thrown off-guard.

It's a fast-paced read that will have you begging for more. And that ending?!

4.5 out of 5 stars!

Monday, November 9, 2015

The Grownup

by Gillian Flynn
Website | Facebook | Goodreads

Publication Date: November 3, 2015
Publisher: Crown
ISBN: 9780804188975

Available to purchase:
Amazon | Book Depository | Barnes & Noble

A canny young woman is struggling to survive by perpetrating various levels of mostly harmless fraud. On a rainy April morning, she is reading auras at Spiritual Palms when Susan Burke walks in. A keen observer of human behavior, our unnamed narrator immediately diagnoses beautiful, rich Susan as an unhappy woman eager to give her lovely life a drama injection; however, when the "psychic" visits the eerie Victorian home that has been the source of Susan’s terror and grief, she realizes she may not have to pretend to believe in ghosts anymore. Miles, Susan’s teenage stepson, doesn’t help matters with his disturbing manner and grisly imagination. The three are soon locked in a chilling battle to discover where the evil truly lurks and what, if anything, can be done to escape it.

Review

There's not a whole lot to say about this one. It started SUPER interesting -- in a completely differently place than I was initially anticipating. I was really excited to see what dark and twisted places Gillian would take the story and while it did go some weird places... it didn't pay off for me in the end. I wasn't WOWed or really interested by the end. I finished it and was like, "okay... that's it?" It just felt like it could have been more. It's obviously a work of short fiction, so for the amount of pages it had, I think it did pack a punch. Bottom line, however, is that it was forgettable.