Review: "1984"

1984 by George Orwell
2 out of 5 stars

This is another one of those classics that I really could have used an English teacher to interpret and explain the themes for me. I don't know how high school kids read some of these books and get any kind of personal meaning out of them. I know I had read this previously but I don't remember when or what I thought of it at the time. I just know I didn't like it this time around, as an adult. As always, my reviews for classic books will have spoilers throughout, so be warned.

Winston stopped reading, chiefly in order to appreciate the fact that he was reading, in comfort and safety. It was bliss, it was eternity. Suddenly, as one sometimes does with a book of which one knows that one will ultimately read and reread every word, he opened it at a different place and found himself at the third chapter.

Yes, I think this book is important, in the same way that The Handmaid's Tale was. Interestingly, both books were set sorry Handmaid's Tale was written in the mid-1980s and also terrifyingly, both could still happen today. These things could still happen. Certain presidential candidates could make these things happen. How scary is that? So yes, people should be reading this book. Or at least discussing it, comparing it to their own lives. The themes (the ones I could decipher, at least) are still prevalent, 60+ years after Orwell wrote it. But does that make it a good book? Not necessarily.

We are led to believe we should feel pity for Winston Smith, the main character, but it's hard to. He's a pretty boring guy. And it's not his fault, he can't really do anything interesting without Big Brother watching. His biggest coup is sitting in the alcove of his apartment where the cameras can't see him and writing in his secret diary. (Insert your own Lord Voldemort joke here.) He knows he should stand up to Big Brother, speak out, make a change, but he doesn't know how or have the courage really.

He who controls the past controls the future. He who controls the present controls the past.

Then he meets the lovely Julia and feels the first stirrings of hope. Going back and rereading passages for this review has made me realize that I actually really enjoyed the first half of the book. I liked Winston & Julia's relationship, their secret meetings and clandestine talks, when they get the private room above the antique shop. It's when Winston gets the book that it all goes downhill for me. Pages and pages and pages of doublespeak and political ire that I could just not wrap my head around. And then when they are captured and we get 65 pages of Winston being tortured, well it's all just too much. And for what purpose? We know the government can be evil. But what is the real purpose of Big Brother? What are they thinking, who is running it all and why? We need that back story to make this a truly good book, otherwise it's just an overly long political essay.

(images found on Pinterest, if you don't want yours shown, let me know)

Review: "A Wrinkle in Time"

 A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
3 out of 5 stars

I never read this book as a kid. Just skipped right past it. And I can't decide if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Reading it as an adult left me confused and a little bit jaded. But I honestly can't see how a child could read this with any kind of comprehension of the plot. Since this is considered a classic, spoilers will be free-for-all, so beware if you want to give it a shot yourself.

The story starts out well enough with 15 year old Meg lamenting her high school career, or rather the lack of it. She's considered "weird" because her parents are highly intelligent scientists and her youngest brother (5 year old Charles Wallace) doesn't speak much in public. Meg is smarter than she seems or acts, as is Charles Wallace, but it's not helping them much. On "a dark and stormy night", the Murry family is visited by a strange creature named Mrs Whatsit, who mentions to their mother that the tesseract is a real thing. In case you're not up on your scientific studies, a tesseract is essentially, a wrinkle in time. Don't ask me to explain it further, there's math involved and I'm just not up for that. (This comic by Faith Erin Hicks probably explains it better than me!)

This is about when we get into the strange and unusual. Mrs Whatsit, along with her 2 friends (sisters?) Mrs Who and Mrs Which, take Meg, Charles Wallace, and a school friend of Meg's named Calvin on an amazing adventure thru time and space to save the Murry's father. He has been missing for quite some time and it is up to the children to find and rescue him from Evil, even though they have no idea what they are doing most of the time. There are fantastical creatures, 2 dimensional planets, Mediums with crystal balls, Dark Evil Things, and a planet where every person and thing is perfectly in sync with the next. It is on this planet that the children's father is being imprisoned by IT...a disembodied brain controlling everything around it. Pretty creepy.

Side note: does anyone remember the Galactic Milieu series by Julian May? I loved those books but got grounded (because of bad grades) from reading the last one in 9th grade and now I can't remember if I ever read it. I should pick those up sometime and reread them.
Another side note: was I the only one who got grounded from reading books? Lol...

Okay, moving on. The children free their father but in the process, lose Charles Wallace to IT. He is turned into a pod person and they escape to another planet before IT gets Meg as well. Meg is severely injured when they tesser (you know, move thru time) but is taken care of by the strange creatures on the planet, whom she calls Aunt Beast. I think this was probably my favorite chapter. The gentleness and quiet laughter from Aunt Beast was so refreshing for Meg and me.

"How strange it is that they can't tell us what they themselves seem to know."
"They are very young. And on their earth, as they call it, they never communicate with other planets. They revolve all alone in space."
"Oh, aren't they lonely?"

In the end, it is Meg who goes back to save Charles Wallace and she does so with love. Yep, love is the only thing IT doesn't have. Convenient, right? But that's okay, I still kind of teared up. The 3 children and their father tesser back home, where they are reunited with the rest of the Murry's in the vegetable garden.

"How did all this happen? Isn't it wonderful? I feel as though I were just being born! I'm not alone any more! Do you realize what that means to me?"

Review: "Saga: Vol 4"

Saga: Vol 4 by Brian K Vaughan
4 out of 5 stars

Seriously, I say this every time but this series just keeps getting better and better! This review will have spoilers for vol 1-3, so if you haven't read those yet, go check out my review of 1 here! (and 2 and 3)

This volume picks up with the last...a year or so down the road. And of course, we don't get caught up with everything that's happened in those months, we just get thrown into the current story. Hazel is an adorable, bouncing toddler. Marko & Alana are hiding out on a new planet, where Marko is the stay-at-home dad and Alana is acting "incognito" on the open circuit (think super trashy tv that the audience can interact with). Prince Robot's son is born, but dad is still missing or dead. King Robot makes an appearance though and he is awesome. (That's all I'll say lol.) The authorities seem to have stopped looking for the outlaws...for now. Things seem to be finally looking up for the star-crossed lovers.

Until they're not. What do you expect? It wouldn't be an interesting story if everything was hunky dory all the time. There's a new political radical out there and he's determined to get some justice for the underdogs, no matter who he has to kill. (And he kills a LOT.) Alana & Marko's relationship is feeling the strain of living a double life and it isn't helped by Alana getting into party drugs at work. Marko's mother is doing well, remembering Mister Heist by reading his trashy novels. Speaking of Heist, one of his ex-wives makes an appearance in this volume and causes trouble, possibly accidentally?

It's kind of hard to discuss much more of this story without some kind of slight spoilers/surprises, so stop here of you haven't read it yet and want to be totally surprised. Did you stop? Okay, good. When Sophie & Lying Cat showed up suddenly about halfway thru the story, I was honestly shocked to see them. I had totally forgotten about my 2 favorite characters! Almost 8 yr old Sophie is adorable with her hipster cape and glasses. And LC (as Sophie calls her) ugh...I love her so much. And even Gwendolyn, their caretaker, is growing on me. Especially when you find out what she's up to. And who she's going to be working with in the future.

And let's end with my favorite page from this volume (there's always at least one that totally grabs me or in this case makes me actually laugh out loud).

Review: "Saga: Vol 3"

Saga: Vol 3 by Brian K Vaughan

5 out of 5 stars

I just love this series so much, y'all. It keeps getting better and better and if you haven't started it yet, you are missing out mister. Go read my review of volume 1 here and then get to the store or interwebs and buy it! My one complaint, as usual, is that it is not long enough and that's the best kind of complaint for a book, don't you think? And if you have been reading it, this review will most likely have spoilers for the first 2 volumes, so be warned!

This volume starts off with a new story-line following two journalists who are out for the story of the rogue soldier Alana and her mysterious former prisoner Marko. They helped us get some back-story on Alana and introduced a very intriguing character related to Marko. I really can't wait to see where that story goes. In the meantime, Hazel is continuing her story of their trip to the infamous author of the love & war story that brought the two lovebirds together. Mister Heist was pretty awesome. 

"There are only three forms of high art: the symphony, the illustrated children's book, and the board game."

I am loving The Will more and more as this story goes on. He saved the Slave Girl (who gets a name finally) and along with Gwendolyn and Lying Cat (my second favorite), he helps her start to overcome her horrible past. There is one heart-breaking moment that I'm going to refrain from posting here, but you'll know it when you see it. 

The two parties finally collide and chaos ensues. People die, people live, there are lots of adventure and twisty turns and cliff-hangers. So much cliff-hanger. And really, that's all I can say without spoiling it for you.

Review: "The Giver" Classic a Month #1.2014

The Giver by Lois Lowry
3.5 out of 5 stars

I wanted to give myself something easy for the first classic of 2014 so I decided to finally read The Giver, which has been sitting on my shelf for several months now. I never read it when I was younger and didn't really know a lot about it until I started hearing about the movie coming out soon. I also didn't even know it had sequels/companion books so I'm going to try to get those from the library soon, because hello cliff hanger. :P

If you're like me and have never read it, here's the basic plot: way, way, way in the future there are small communities like Jonas' that have made life "perfect". In other words, super regulated and removing of all basic choices. When they hit the age of 12, each citizen is given their career. Jonas gets picked for an extra special one, The Receiver. The book spans about a year and a half to two years and tells all about Jonas' journey to realizing that his world maybe isn't perfect after all. And that's your spoiler-free review, so stop here if you still want to read it!

The book felt a little "flat" to me in some parts. It took me until roughly halfway thru to realize that they weren't seeing color or hearing music. I just thought they were overly polite & structured and that was about the only change. I enjoyed the "daily life" of the first half of the book. I laughed when little sister Lily described getting angry and her little fists. I teared up when the weaker twin was "Released". (And come on, who didn't see that immediately as a euphemism for "euthanize"??) Asher was good comedic relief, but I didn't feel the importance of him or Fiona that Lowry seemed to want to make them. Jonas was a decent young boy with little to no personality, until he met the Giver. (All this "giving and receiving" reminds me of that Friends episode lol.)

The Giver was a nice old guy who didn't want to make the same mistake as with his first replacement (Rosemary) again with his new, young Receiver so he starts out nice and slow with the memories. I loved his memory of Christmas, that was probably my favorite part. But somewhere along the way, he gets ornery and decides that maybe Jonas is right. Maybe the people do need these memories and choices. And all of a sudden, they're planning a mutiny. It just seemed very rushed and out of nowhere to me.

Of course they needed to care. It was the meaning of everything.

Questions that didn't get answered for me (mostly rhetorical, since I'm planning on reading the sequels):
1. How did the people stop seeing color? Is it in their water or food?
2. How is the climate controlled if there are no borders to other communities?
3. Why are all the Receivers born with those strange, light-colored eyes? Wouldn't that make it pretty obvious who the next in line is and they could start training earlier?
4.  Is Rosemary actually dead? (Don't answer that one! :))
5. Did Jonas & Gabriel die at the end? (I'm going to say no, but that they were hallucinating with the sled and all.)
6. Is the Receiver/Giver's gift magic or science?

Review: "Frankenstein" Classic A Month #10.2013

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
2.5 out of 5 stars

I had many issues with this book but I also enjoyed a good part of it. Hence the ambivalent 2.5 rating. As always, my classic reviews are full of spoilers and this one more than most, so don't say I didn't warn you. ;) Okay. Let's talk about the author first because that part is pretty interesting. Mary Shelley was born in 1797 but her parents were big time hippies...they didn't believe in marriage and she was encouraged to learn and question everything. When she was 17, she met Percy Shelley and they fell in love, despite the fact that he was already married and had children. They eloped and she spent the next several years having and losing babies. The summer she was 19 she was staying at a lake house in Geneva with Shelley and telling ghost stories with neighbor Lord Byron (who was a complete scoundrel). And that's when Frankenstein was born. Yep, she was 19 years old. Don't you feel bad for yourself now? I know I do. After her book was published to mixed reviews, she had a series of deaths including her husband when she was 25 years old. She lived to be 54 but refused to remarry, saying that she wanted her tombstone to read "Mary Shelley". She had a pretty sad life if you really start thinking about it.

I was expecting Frankenstein to be a true horror story which is why I picked it for my October classic. I wanted to be scared. I was not. I wasn't even a little bit weirded out for the most part. But let's start at the beginning. The book starts off with a series of letters from a ship captain named Walton to his sister who lives in England. This was confusing enough but then when he starts telling his sister about a man he meets on his travels who starts telling Walton a story parts of which were told to him, it just becomes this nesting doll of who said what. And the letters were truly boring. They're all about how Walton wants a friend and it just starts to get a little weird. "I desire the company of a man who could sympathize with me, whose eyes would reply to mine." Okay then. It finally starts to get interesting when the stranger starts telling his story. Not really sure why he felt the need to tell every little thing about his life ("I am by birth a Genevese, and my family is one of the most distinguished of that republic.") but whatever.

In case you haven't guessed yet, the stranger is Frankenstein. I'm assuming you were aware that Frankenstein is actually the scientist and not the monster. The monster never even gets a name. Young Victor Frankenstein grew up in a happy family, with a mummy and a daddy and brothers and a lovely girl named Elizabeth, who was taken in as a young child from a peasant woman in Milan. Victor always considered Elizabeth "his" and she, along with his best mate Clerval, were what kept him from becoming a sullen outcast. Victor became interested in the science of life and death at an early age and soon focused his studies "...with the greatest diligence into the search of the philosopher's stone and the elixir of life..." So yeah, he was a strange child. (I can make Harry Potter fit in any review lol.)

At the age of seventeen, after mourning his mother's death, he went off to university and began his descent into the weird world of alchemy. The modern masters promise very little; they know that metals cannot be transmuted and that the elixir of life is a chimera. But these philosophers, whose hands seem only made to dabble in dirt, and their eyes to pore over the microscope or crucible, have indeed performed miracles.

It was with these feelings that I began the creation of a human being. ...I resolved, contrary to my first intention, to make the being of a gigantic stature, that is to say, about eight feet in height, and proportionally large.

Sure, that seems smart. Make the monster even bigger than you first thought. Victor goes into this kind of frenzy of studying and gathering materials (IE: body parts) and basically starts ignoring every other part of his life. And I apologize for the large amount of quotes, but there are some really good ones, so here we go:

A human being in perfection ought always to preserve a calm and peaceful mind and never allow passion or a transitory desire to disturb his tranquility. I do not think that the pursuit of knowledge is an exception to this rule. If the study to which you apply yourself has a tendency to weaken your affections and to destroy your taste for those simple pleasure in which no alloy can possibly mix, then that study is certainly unlawful, that is to say, not befitting the human mind.

So Victor continues on in this state for nearly two years and he finally succeeds...the monster comes to life. There is no lightning storm or shouts of "It's aliiiive!!" or even a hunch-backed sidekick. The monster opens its milky yellow eyes, Victor freaks out and runs off to his bedchamber. The monster shows up, hovering creepily over his bed, and does the "father??" routine but Victor wants none of it and runs into the night. (Running is a theme, FYI.)

Then, horrors, Victor's pal Clerval shows up suddenly to check on him. They make their way back to Victor's pad, which is ominously empty, and Victor falls into a sort of delirious fit that leaves him bed-ridden for months. (Another theme) Clerval takes care of him and two years pass. Yep, you read that right...TWO YEARS go by and he doesn't do anything about this monster that he let loose into the world. He doesn't even know if it really is a monster, he just assumes. Especially when he gets a letter from Elizabeth telling him that his younger brother was murdered. Victor immediately heads home, where he is confronted by the monster first thing, so yeah, he was probably right. A servant girl is accused of the murder and Victor can't say anything without incriminating himself, so the girl is tried and hanged. Good job, Vic. His whining and selfishness really got on my nerves throughout this book. Also, his lack of nerves. Every other page, he's fainting and falling into a horrible illness that takes months to recover from. Grow a spine, weenie...or steal one from a cadaver, whatever. Anyway, after all that mess, Victor takes off and ends up on an icy mountain where he's confronted by his creation. Who is surprisingly eloquent.

"All men hate the wretched; how, then, must I be hated, who am miserable beyond all living things! Yet you, my creator, detest and spurn me, thy creature, to whom thou art bound by ties only dissoluble by the annihilation of one of us."

Seriously? I don't have a dead guy's brain rattling in my head and I can't speak that well! Basically, the dude is super sad and it's all Victor's fault. Because of that, the monster wants Vic to listen to him and show some freaking compassion for the pitiful creature. So Victor sits down and listens to the guy's story, which though really long and wordy, was one of my favorite parts of the whole book. Speaking of long and wordy, this review is getting there, yes? Let's try to speed things up.

The monster wakes up to a scary world, with no idea who or what he is. Victor totally shunned him so he goes off into the world. After freaking out some villagers, he comes to realize that he's kind of a leper of some sorts so he hides in the woods a lot. He finds a small cottage with a hovel of sorts next to it and hides there and starts spying on the family living there. Turns out it's an old blind man and his two children. That's where he learns his humanity and language and such. He starts to care for the family and does things for them in secret, like cutting wood and shoveling snow. He begins to find his humanity again.

These wonderful narrations inspired me with strange feelings. Was man, indeed, at once so powerful, so virtuous and magnificent, yet so vicious and base? He appeared at one time a mere scion of the evil principle and at another as all that can be conceived of noble and godlike. To be a great and virtuous man appeared the highest honour that can befall a sensitive being.

After observing the family for months and months, the monster finally decides to reveal himself, in the hopes that they will accept him and love him. It doesn't go well. And in a fit of rage, he sets fire to their cottage and takes off to find his creator. Way to live up to stereotypes. He finds Victor's family, kills the boy, sets the crime on the help, and starts stalking Victor when he shows up, and now we're back at the icy mountain. What does the monster want now? He wants Victor to build him a woman, a companion, as ugly & ostracized as him, and then he'll leave him alone forever. Understandably, Victor is like "Whaaat??? No way, dude." But then the monster threatens him and says he'll follow him to the ends of the earth til his dying days, blah blah and Victor reconsiders.

He finally agrees and then a whole bunch of months pass again. Victor and Elizabeth get engaged, but he refuses to marry her until his deed is done (although he doesn't tell anyone that, so she thinks he has another woman somewhere). Victor and Clerval go off on this "gentleman's holiday" of sorts which Victor set up so he could go somewhere far away to make the lady monster. He gets all the materials together and does more research but in the end, just can't bring himself to do it. The monster, of course, is keeping tabs on him the whole time and is super pissed when he sees Victor destroy the body. The monster retaliates by killing Clerval, which Victor is accused of and hey, he falls ill again. Oh, before that he gets this ominous message from the monster: "I shall be with you on your wedding-night." Whoa dude, not that kind of relationship. Haha, just kidding.

Victor is freed from prison, marries Elizabeth, they honeymoon on a tropical island, the monster finds them and kills Elizabeth, Victor faints. He doesn't actually get sick this time though. He finally decides to take out the monster once and for all, especially after his father dies from all the grief, and starts tracking the creature all over the world. And they make their way to the icy sea where he meets Walton and the story is back to the present. Victor is near death which is very sad for Walton, who thought he might be his friend. Alas, Victor doesn't want a new BFF.

"When you speak of new ties and fresh affections, think you that any can replace those who are gone? Can any man be to me as Clerval was, or any woman another Elizabeth? Even where the affections are not strongly moved by any superior excellence, the companions of our childhood always possess a certain power over our minds which hardly any later friend can obtain. They know our infantine dispositions, which, however they may be afterwards modified, are never eradicated; and they can judge of our actions with more certain conclusions as to the integrity of our motives."

I love that; it's so true. And we're at the end of the book...Victor dies after telling Walton to seek happiness in tranquility and avoid ambition, the hideous monster shows up on the ship and is kind of mad that Victor died and the chase is over. Because he was kind of enjoying himself. He tells Walton not to worry, that he's done killing, after one last person...himself. And that's it. Honestly, I think I prefer Young Frankenstein.

Review: "Cutters (Uglies: Graphic Novel #2)"

Cutters (Uglies: Graphic Novel #2) by Scott Westerfeld
2 out of 5 stars

I was so excited to get this second installment of the Uglies graphic novels but then when I finally did, I just kept putting it off. I wasn't sure why until I actually started reading it. Like the first, I'd say if you are a mega-fan of the series, then absolutely read it. If you enjoyed them on a surface level, like me, I'd say you're okay skipping them. I probably won't buy any of the future issues, if he decides to make them.

This is starting out pretty negative, so let's talk about the things I did like about this book. The artwork is great still, for an anime-style gn. The party scenes in particular were lovely. I didn't feel like it lived up to the novel again though. I wanted to see more of the high-tech bubbly world that Westerfield created. Maybe it needs to be in color? I just thought of that. The cover is much more crisp and life-like.

I also really liked Dr Cable, her evilness shone thru the pages for sure. The rest of the characters fell flat though. I kept getting all the guys confused and even had a hard time recognizing Pretty Tally. Shay was okay, but I still disliked her as much as in the novels. Which I guess is the point. You really need to read this pretty close after reading the novels though, I was very confused throughout most of the book. Despite the title, the cutting seemed to be glossed over a lot more than in the novel. I mean, yes it does show the kids cutting themselves and having the ceremony, but it doesn't seem to have the glorification that the novel did.

Review: "Bumped & Thumped"

Bumped & Thumped by Megan McCafferty
3 out of 5 stars

I saw these books in a "What to Read After The Handmaid's Tale" post on Bookriot and since that was my classic for September, I decided it'd be interesting to read these and compare it. There is a definite similarity and I'd be comfortable calling these a contemporary remake of Handmaid's. I would at least recommend them as a companion read for it. When I checked them out at the library, my 13 year old sister was with me and after reading the summary, she said that she would want to read them as well.

I'd almost call this a utopian series as opposed to dystopian. Or at least, it's trying to be. There's a strong sense of hope and "we're doing good things" instead of doom & gloom and "everybody is going to diiiieeee". ;) Bumped is set in 2036 America and like Handmaid's, a virus has caused the majority of the population to be infertile. In this case, most women over 18 years. Why is it always women? Why can't men have a problem for once? So this means the world must rely on teenagers to have babies. Controversial for sure but McCafferty did a really great job with it, in my opinion. I have to admit I've never read any of her other books, but I really enjoyed the writing in these two.

Melody and Harmony are 16 year old twins separated at birth. Melody has grown up to become a Professional Breeder (although she hasn't gotten a contract yet to actually procreate) and Harmony was raised in an incredibly strict Church life in "Goodside". Harmony's story is very old-fashioned-no technology, communal raising of the children, etc. Where Melody's story is all about the new slang and electronics of the future-MiVu's, contacts that you put in to connect to the Net and things like that. The lingo was a little annoying at first, she was trying a little too hard to push it.

Ventura Vida has the pee stick. "The Pro/Am has an image problem," she says. "We're just not sexy enough. I mean, rilly!"

But there are some interesting comparisons to present-day as well, just like Handmaid's. In the United States, deliveries of every color and creed are valued. It's shocking to think that the government would try to stick its nose in our ladyparts. I know a lot of people believe this story is meant to be a satire, but it had its serious moments to me. When the twins reunite, they are each carrying secrets and they must come to terms with them before their relationship can grow. The struggles they face are real even if the world isn't. Their confusion about what is right and wrong is heartfelt. And of course, there are boys and romance...it is a young adult novel after all. Melody's best friend, Zen, was a lot of fun and his interactions with Harmony were particularly nice to read. Ram, a "brother" in Goodside, has a major secret that he struggles with throughout.

And then there is Jondoe. The breediest man brand you could possibly ever want to bump with. This dude is a true pro and he loves every minute of it. And I know what you're thinking: "ew gross" right? Well, yeah at first. But this guy has more depth than his stud-for-hire commercials show. So give him a chance. But be sure to wear protection haha! (Sorry, I just had to go there!)

Moving on. Bumped focuses more on Melody's side of the story and you may feel like Harmony is getting the short end of the pee stick, but Thumped brings it more into balance and you really end up liking both girls quite a bit. Be sure to get both books at once though, because the first ends on a cliffhanger (someone gets pregged!) and you will want to know what happens. I don't know if I would want my 13 year old sister reading these, even though she read Twilight ages ago, but I think an older teen would have no problems with it. Just from the reviews, you might think the books are encouraging teen pregnancy, but after reading them I think you'll change your mind. It would absolutely be a good companion to The Handmaid's Tale, as I said above. In any case, they will get you talking.

Review: "Saga: Vol Two"

Saga: Vol Two by Brian K Vaughan
3 out of 5 stars

This review may (probably) contain spoilers for Volume 1, so stop here if you haven't read it yet and want to!



The intergalactic love story of Marko and Alana continues but this volume fell a little flat for me, compared to the first. I think my main problem was that it felt rushed...it could have been 50-100 pages longer and I would have been happy. I would have also been extremely happy if my dad (who loaned it to me) had censored this book for me ahead of time. I'm just going to warn you now...this is what you have to look forward to, minus the black censor bar! O_o So if you get offended easily, this is so not the book for you. But then, if you got offended by the first book, you definitely wouldn't be reading this one lol.

Okay, so the story started out decent. Hazel, Marko & Alana's child, is still narrating the story from some distant future. Marko's parents have arrived on their ship and think they are rescuing him from Alana, which is obviously not the case. I really liked Marko's dad, Barr. His interactions with Alana were a pleasure to read and his secrets were so intriguing, I wanted to know more about him. His mom, not so much. She was kind of a b-. There were several flashbacks in this arc, about how Marko & Alana first met and also Marko as a child, that helped weave the story together.

We also get more of my personal favorite character, bounty hunter The Will and his partner Lying Cat. I love that cat lol. He is still on the trail of the 2 soldiers but can't get his mind off the 2 girls he lost in the previous story. When he teams up with a new person (who happens to be an important figure from someones past) he gets the chance to right some wrongs. This new person is super intriguing as well, I can't wait to read more about them. Because, of course, this volume ends on a cliffhanger as well. Gah, so annoying! Seriously, I'll just let y'all know when the whole series is out and you can just binge on it then, okay? ;)

(this was my favorite page in the book)

Review: "Saga Vol 1"

Saga: Vol 1 by Brian K Vaughan
4 out of 5 stars

Brian K Vaughan is another one of my favorite graphic novelists. (After Terry Moore and Neil Gaiman, of course.) He has done 2 of my favorite series: Y: The Last Man and Runaways, so when my dad said I needed to read Saga, I agreed readily. He left one important point out though when telling me about it and I'm not going to be mean like him, so I'll tell you right now: Volume 1 ends on a cliffhanger and Volume 2 is not due out until July. He claims he didn't know before he read it...sure. ;) So that said, I would highly recommend this series, but you might want to wait until you can at least have 2 volumes to read.

Many reviewers call this "Romeo & Juliet meet Star Wars" and I'd have to agree with them. The beginning of the story is set up as two star-crossed lovers trying to be together for the sake of their unborn child, but then it's revealed that they are from different worlds. Literally. And those two worlds just happen to be at war with each other. And the two lovers? Soldiers for their individual homes. So yeah, it gets complicated real fast. Not to mention all the supernatural beings: the main male, Marko, has ram horns; the main female, Alana, fairy wings; there's a bounty hunter with a giant cat who can detect lies; dudes with TV's for heads (I'm not sure what their deal is yet); ghost kids; and lots more.

In case you can't tell from the cover, this is not a graphic novel for kids or young teens. The first page is Alana giving birth, graphically. It's got a lot of sex (a sex planet for example) and violence, so if that's going to offend you, I'd skip this one for sure. Besides that, this is a great story with lots of twists and turns. The artwork is really great, too detailed in some spots, but that can't really be considered a complaint, can it? I honestly can't wait for the next volume to come out. :)

Review: "Shay's Story (Uglies: Graphic Novel #1)"

Shay's Story (Uglies: Graphic Novel #1) by Scott Westerfeld
3 out of 5 stars

I think this graphic novel, like the Vampire Academy, is best as a follow-up to the original series. If you enjoyed the Uglies series, I would absolutely recommend this. I'd say these would work well as a stand-alone too, unlike VA. This gn gives us most of the same story as book 1, but is told from Shay's point of view so we get some new story as well. I really enjoyed reading about her beginnings with the Crims, the kids that pull pranks on Pretties. And also her adventure to the Smoke and her relationship with David.

But. There's always a but. I felt like the drawing was lacking. Well, not the drawing itself, that was fine. But the execution of the drawing, if that makes sense. The whole point of this series is to show the huge difference between the Uglies and the Pretties. In the graphic novel, there is no difference. Okay, some of the kids are kind of average looking and Tally has weird hair, but Shay looks just like one of the Pretties with her super-long, gravity-defying hair. She looks exactly the same to me in the end when she has the operation. So that was irritating. It's not a deal-breaker for me though, so I'm excited to read the second book. And this is a super short review, so how about a few more pictures?

Review: "Echo"

Echo by Terry Moore
4 out of 5 stars

Ah...Terry Moore. One of my favorite graphic novel authors. When my dad loaned this to me back in the summer, it took me a while to actually pick it up (mostly because the complete edition weighs about 15 pounds), but once I did, I started falling in love with Julie and Ivy and the rest. The drawing and style is very reminiscent of Strangers in Paradise, which is always a good thing to me. But it did make me want to go read those again.

This is essentially a story about three women saving the world from total destruction. There is a lot of science talk which went way over my head most of the time, and quite a bit of violence, but the relationships and back stories made up for that. Annie is a scientist working on a special project, an alloy suit that gives her all kinds of special powers, but once she gets most of the kinks worked out, her higher-ups decide that she is a liability and kill her. Or so they think. Annie's boyfriend, Dillon, also plays a big part in this story as he tries to find out what happened to her.

Julie is a young woman who is not having a good time in life right now. Her sister, Pam, is in a hospital after losing her children and her touch with reality, her husband wants a divorce because she is too damaged, and she has a mysterious box in her closet that holds some deep, dark secret which WE NEVER FIND OUT. Seriously, I marked it down half a star just for that. Julie is out in the desert taking pictures, when she is swept up in Annie's death and her life suddenly gets a lot more interesting.

Ivy works for the government in a very special capacity and is hired to bring Julie in before she messes things up even more. But as Ivy gets deeper into Julie, Annie, and Dillon's lives, she starts to realize that she may be working for the wrong side. She's also got a little girl named Lulu to worry about. Who are the good guys and who are the bad guys? It's hard to tell at first. While I enjoyed the overall story immensely, the ending was so rushed and under-explained, that it forced me to mark it down that other half a star. But even with that, this is still an excellent story and I highly recommend it.

Review: "Uglies" Series Books 1-4

Uglies Series Books 1-4 by Scott Westerfeld

3.5 out of 5 stars averaged

I finished the last book in this series the other day, so I can finally review it all! I know I'm several, several years behind everyone else probably, but I'd never even heard of Scott Westerfeld before I found these at Half Price. Now I'm kind of obsessed lol. (I have the Peeps books to review too!) Also, it took me forever to find the last one and I had to buy it new, which was kind of annoying.

So, was this the best series I've ever read? Not really, but I enjoyed it overall and I'd definitely recommend it to those who love any of the other dystopian novels that are so popular right now. The premise is unique and there is plenty of fun, new technology. It's set around 300 years in the future and of course, the world has self-destructed due to its extreme oil consumption and been rebuilt in a better way. That's one of the few things I didn't like about these books (and actually a lot of dystopian novels in general)....the whole "save the environment or the whole world is going to go kaboom" thing. I mean, yes I agree it's important and all but is that the only way authors can think of to destroy the world?

Okay, the main character is Tally Youngblood. She is fifteen years old and can't wait to turn sixteen, not because she gets her drivers license but because she gets an operation to turn her Pretty. (I just realized I wrote the same summary as Goodreads almost word for word lol...I swear it was an accident!) Tally is an Ugly right now and she hates it. She wants to be a Pretty like her BFF Peris (male) and live in New Pretty Town where you get to party all the time and you don't have to worry about anything. Sounds great right?

While Tally is waiting to turn sixteen, she becomes friends with Shay, another Ugly. Tally and Shay get along great, playing pranks and tricks, going hoverboarding (kind of like in Back to the Future lol), and going to The Wasteland which is a huge broken down city that the Rusties (ie: us now) used to live in. But there's one thing about Shay that doesn't sit well with Tally: Shay doesn't want to be a Pretty. She tells Tally all about a place called The Smoke, where people live "naturally" and don't get the surgery. She wants Tally to go with her, but Tally is like "no way, I wanna be Pretty and party all the time." So Shay takes off and then lots of spoilery things happen. ;)

Tally is finally turning sixteen, but the day of her surgery she is taken to meet Special Circumstances director Dr Cable (Dr Evil) instead. The Doctor wants her to tell her how to get to The Smoke, assuming Shay left her instructions. Tally refuses until they threaten to make her an Ugly for life. Tally finally agrees and goes on a big long journey to The Smoke, following the weird riddle that Shay left for her. The trip was kind of boring at times, but once she gets to The Smoke, it picks up again. She meets up with Shay and also a youngish Ugly called David. Of course, Tally falls for David, even though he's pretty much hideous and even though Shay likes him too. And hey guess what? David likes Tally back. Hello, love triangle. There were some surprises at The Smoke and I enjoyed the twist at the end, but I'm not going to spoil it for those who haven't read it yet. So let's move on to book 2, shall we? (Unless you haven't read book 1, then you should stop right here Mister/Young Lady!)

Pretties was probably my favorite out of the series. (Although, according to Goodreads reviews, it's most people's least favorite so take that how you will!) Tally is finally Pretty, just like she always wanted and living in New Pretty Town with her BFF's Shay and Peris. And her new boy-toy, Zane. This girl goes thru boys more than anyone I've ever seen! She's having tons of fun being Pretty and everything is totally bubbly and dizzy-making. I know the "bogus" language got on a lot of people's nerves, but I kind of liked it. And I've totally used "dizzy-making" in real life now. (My sister looks at me like I'm crazy every time I do though lol.)

So Tally is enjoying being Pretty, but she feels like something is missing. She feels like a Pretty fraud and she doesn't know why. Then she and Zane find a letter written from her past Ugly self with some pills and everything starts to become clear. This book does tend to run the same plot-line as Uglies, but it has some twists. The pills are the cure to the "Pretty-headedness" that David's mom came up with at the end of book 1; Tally and Zane decide to take them together and disastrous things happen.

I do have to mention this and I apologize if it is triggering for anyone: the use of cutting and starving themselves to stay clearheaded was one of the most disturbing things in these books. I feel like it was very well-written, but at the same time, Westerfeld seemed to condone it. I don't know if others felt this way or not? I can understand explaining why someone would cut to get "Icy" and how they feel doing it, but to glorify it the way he did...it just felt icky. These are books geared towards teenagers, mostly girls. Take some responsibility here man. Okay, off my soap box.

Specials is book 3 in the series, actually the final book in the original trilogy and you guessed it: Tally has had another surgery. She's now one of Dr. Cable's Special Circumstances, meaning she's a cop basically for the city. She's also a special Special; Shay has had her turned into a Cutter like herself. This group is super dangerous and lethal with unbreakable bones, razor-sharp teeth and fingernails, and all kinds of technology built into their bodies.

I enjoyed this book a lot, probably as much as Pretties, but it was really hard for me to like Tally in this one. Which I guess is the point. She's not supposed to be likable. But the way she treats Zane, who is damaged a bit from the previous book, is heartbreaking. *Highlight for spoiler if you have already read this book: She is totally disgusted with his tremors and "averageness". And when he died, I cried. Like for real, cried. /spoiler There is plenty of action in this one, but the ending felt a bit lacking to me. Another spoiler: Tally ends up staying Special and going off with David. I understand that she has grown and matured since the first book, but it still felt weird to me. /spoiler Overall though, it was a good conclusion for the series.

Extras is book 4 technically of the series, but can also be read as a stand-alone. I loved the cover of this one. Aya Fuse is the main character in this book, a 15 year old girl living in Japan 3 years after the end of Specials. It actually took me a long time to even realize they were in Japan lol...There are no longer Pretties and Uglies, but society is now based on your popularity rank. I really enjoyed the concept of this. Everyone has a face rank that is bumped up by how popular their feed is. Similar to Facebook and YouTube, the more friends and views you have, the higher your society ranking is and the more money you get from the government.

I think we can all definitely relate to this and even feel a little conceited about it sometimes. I mean, how many times do you check your blog stats to see how many views you've had in a day? Or get upset when you lose a friend on FB? Or obsessively see how many comments a review/video/picture has? This book takes that all to a new level.

Aya Fuse is obsessed with becoming popular and bumping her rank out of the 400,000s. She needs a big story to kick and she thinks she finds that when she meets up with the Sly Girls, a group that does killer tricks but stays totally anonymous at the same time. They agree to let her come along for a few tricks, including hoverboarding on a train, and she records them with secret cameras and her hovercam called Moggle. Let me just stop and say that I think Moggle is the cutest character in the whole series and I want one lol.

Okay, so Aya starts out just recording the Sly Girls' stunts but it turns into a huge secret other-wordly story that she is totally not in control of. I honestly didn't enjoy the second half of the book nearly as much as the first. There was too much preaching, ET aliens, "bigger story" here. Also, Tally Youngblood is back and not nearly as good a character as in the other books. I don't know, I think Westerfeld just wanted to write more fun technology stuff (which he is very, very good at) but didn't really think about the actual plot of the book and when it came time to end it, he was just like "oh, let's make it a good thing and how about a big party?" Yeah.