Dystopian August

Have any of you been doing some Cornelia Funke reading? I certainly hope so! Just last week I passed one of my favorites, Inkheart, on to my aunt. I'll let you know if she loved it as much as I did. But meanwhile, I thought I would let you know that I have been reading like crazy for the past month. I reread the entire Harry Potter series, and loved it even more the second time around. I love reading books over again to catch things the author put in there. J.K. Rowling is a genius, and it is amazing how much she put into her early books that allude to things you don't learn until book 7. I also finished the Artemis Fowl series, which was great, but kind of sad because it was like finishing up part of my childhood. I've been reading those books since I was 8-years-old, and it was hard to be done. I will admit, I wasn't totally happy with the ending. Maybe others will feel differently. Please let me know if YOU did.
And now, onto reviewing a couple of books I've finished recently. Delirium by Lauren Oliver and Partials by Dan Wells. I am on kind of a dystopian kick right now, as I am reading Brave New Worlds, a collection of short dystopian stories written over many years. Delirium is a story of love - or the lack of it. In the world of Delirium, it has been discovered that love is a disease! It must be cured, or people could be driven to insanity and eventually death. At age 18, you are cured of love. Lena has always believed in the cure, but now she isn't so sure. In fact, she would rather be infected and eventually die than be without the feeling that love has set alight inside of her.
I adored this book. For me, it was more than dystopian. It was a love story. It was a story of discovering things you never thought possible, and of learning things you never thought were possible. Lena was a perfect character because of how much she believed. It made it more believable to hear from her head what it was like to fade away from all you have ever known.

Rating: 4.5/5

The second book of the day is Partials, by Dan Wells. Now, you should know right now, I adore Dan Wells. I attended a teen writers conference, and him and his brother taught a session and it was hilarious! And then I got to go to a release for his new book, The Hollow City and get all of my books signed by him. Which means that my copy of Partials (plus The Hollow City, and books 1 and 2 of the John Wayne Cleaver books) are signed by the man himself. Ok, I have raved enough. But seriously, I love Dan Wells. If you get the chance to meet him, MEET HIM! Back on track, Cecilia....

(Here's a picture of me and my Dan Wells Books!)

 

Partials is also a dystopian novel, also with a twist I haven't seen before. In the future, warriors were created called Partials, who were organic beings identical to humans. But, because they weren't actually human (seriously, when are people going to learn their lesson when it comes to robots?), they turned against their human creators and leave the population completely decimated. And even worse, no children have been born in the decade that has passed since the Partial Wars. Every woman is required to get pregnant as quickly as possible once they turn 18, and now Kira's friend is pregnant. It is up to Kira to find a cure for her friend, before it is too late for her child.
It took a long time for me to get into this book. I didn't feel connected to the characters which left me putting the book down frequently. In fact, I would say that it wasn't until about halfway through the book that I really started getting invested in Kira's future. As soon as I found a way to care, though, I cared! The book attacked me after that, and I read the rest all in one night. Kira was a fairly good narrator, but I felt like I was missing a few things that would have helped me to know her and care about her more. Overall, I did end up liking the book, and I am looking forward to reading future books. I would recommend it, but I would warn you that it won't start as fast as books like The Hunger Games do.


Rating: 3.5/5