The Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsch - Review

The Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsch

Publisher: Scholastic

Release Date: September 1st, 2011

Source: Library

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

“If it was true that all paths in our World led to only one place, then why not fill whatever path you chose with the best things you could find?”

A strain of influenza hits America and only a third of the population has survived this "Eleventh Plague". Stephen Quinn, born 5 years after the Collapse, has just lost his grandfather. As salvagers, he and his father continue their lives on the path that they have been circling for all their life.

However, an incident occurs and Stephen finds himself with nothing but his father who is in a coma. He must find a way to recover his dad, but he also must find what he really wants in HIS life.

The idea is not entirely creative, but it was still very engaging. My favorite character was Jenny, because she had a lot of wise things to say and she knew what she wanted, rather than following what others wanted. She was a strong character and it showed through her actions and words.

I also liked the development of Jenny and Stephen's relationship. Here was Jenny, a girl who was misunderstood and who did not belong, who, despite her callous attitude towards others, decided to befriend Stephen, the reserved "new" kid in Settler's Landing. It was an interesting thing to read about.

The ending seemed very rushed and the sad moments weren't entirely convincing, but I still enjoyed this book a lot because it makes you think a little bit. The only part I didn't like was the ending. It didn't really make sense and I was trying to figure out what was going on, and by the time I did, it was over.

Overall, this book deserves 3 stars for me. It was an okay debut novel.

On "Uglies" - Importance of Individuality

I was assigned a research paper (4-6 pages long) about a theme or issue shown in 2 or more works by the same author. I chose to do the Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld. Here's a sneak peek at my paper:

If the time should come for our society to transform to one similar to Tally’s, then we should question ourselves before doing anything irreparable: Do the bad things in our life really outweigh the joys that perfection would disable? Shay, another pivotal character in Uglies, shows her views about the operation towards Tally:

“Or maybe when they do the operation- when they grind and stretch your bones to the right shape, peel off your face and rub all your skin away, and stick in plastic cheekbones so you look like everybody else- maybe after going through all that you just aren't very interesting anymore.” (goodreads.com)

If perfection “fixed” every bad aspect of our lives, would there still be value in the good things, or would they just be considered normal things?

Opinions? How do you view this subject? Thanks!

So Yesterday by Scott Westerfeld - Review

So Yesterday by Scott Westerfeld

Publisher: Razorbill

Release Date: September 8th, 2005

Source: Library

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

“Sometimes the facts in my head get bored and decide to take a walk in my mouth. Frequently this is a bad thing.”

Hunter is a 17-year-old boy who takes part in "cool tastings", basically meetings to decide if a product is cool or not. He meets a girl, Jen, who is an Innovator. There's a whole cool pyramid, with Innovators, those who do something the very first time (like inventors), trendsetters (like Hunter), who sit below the Innovators, and a few more below that. Hunter's boss, Mandy, goes missing, and her phone is found inside an abandoned building right where she was supposed to meet Hunter and Jen. They go around, searching for clues, go to a formal "hoi aristoi" launch party for a famous magazine, all to find out where Mandy went.

This book wasn't really that exciting. Most of the book, the two protagonists are trying to find their friend, who was apparently kidnapped. That was the reason that kept me reading, to see what would happen. Westerfeld used many metaphors that were very mind boggling. I didn't understand the ending at all. This book takes weird to a whole new level. I usually like Westerfeld's work, but this was definitely not a favorite.

In My Mailbox (1)

This is my first time doing IMM, so please bear with me!

IMM is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren, which is used to interact with other bloggers about their upcoming reads.

Here is what I have this week:

Going to start the Pretty Little Liars series! Can't wait to read them.

Lately have been obsessed with John Green. Fell in love with his writing after reading The Fault in Our Stars. Can't wait to start this one. Borrowed from the library.

That's all I have this week! Short and sweet. Thanks for tuning in.

Michelle

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher - Review

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

Publisher: Razorbill

Release Date: October 18th, 2007

Source: Bailey, my friend

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

“No one knows for certain how much impact they have on the lives of other people. Oftentimes, we have no clue. Yet we push it just the same.”

This book was so mysterious, suspenseful, and ... a little creepy. I don't have much to say except, "wow." I think for Asher's first book, he did a fantastic job at playing with your emotions. The only thing I didn't like was that Hannah didn't reach out enough to people. She just expected them to know about her problems and what was going on in her life. Then she makes a bunch of tapes blaming everyone. Half of the people on the tapes probably didn't even know they were hurting her, but they had to go through that heart stopping, mind boggling (for lack of better words) experience. I felt bad for Clay, even though he sort of betrayed her as well.


This book will definitely make you think. I give it 4 stars.

I loved the creative story format, with both of their PoV's switching back and forth, although I did get some parts confused, forcing me to go back and read it again.

GIVEAWAYS!

The lovely Jude from In Between Writing and Reading is hosting two book giveaways! One is for her goal of 1000 followers and the second one is for her blogoversary. You can find these giveaways in the links below or on my sidebar.

Happy Reading!

M

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld - Review

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Release Date: February 8th, 2005

Source: Amazon Books

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

“Nature, at least, didn’t need an operation to be beautiful. It just was.”

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the UGLIES series. It is my favorite. Period.

The Uglies is about a futuristic, dystopian (with a tad of utopian) world where the Rusties (our generation) have died out because of their foolish attitude. This world is all based on looks- everyone has a cosmetic surgery at the age of 16, which makes them "pretty". 15-year-old Tally Youngblood can't wait to have this surgery, because once you are Pretty, you get to have fun all your life with parties and drinking. But she meets a girl, Shay, who doesn't want to be like everyone else. Tally has to decide if she wants to party everyday for the rest of her life, being pretty and just like everyone else, or to realize that what Shay is saying might be true.

There is a strong theme here -or multiple, depending on how you look at it-. The main theme that I noticed is the strong importance of individualism. Everyone in Tally's society is the same -pretty, bubbly, perfect- and there is almost no variety in personality or attitudes at all. Shay & Tally show their (sensible) views through their rebellious actions of travelling to the Smoke, where they can actually live.

I have to say this is one of the best series I have ever read. Of course, the first book is always the best, but I love the additions to the series as well. Westerfeld surely has an extremely creative imagination -- he has created hoverboards, rotating buildings, skintennas, sneak suits, and much more that will make you turn the pages so eagerly you won't realize you have been sitting in your chair reading for the past 3 hours and that you still have Chemistry homework to finish!

Go read this series now!! Thank you!

oh, and MAKE IT A MOVIE!