Review: Reached by Ally Condie

Author: Ally Condie

Publisher: Penguin

Release Date: 30- November-2012

Format: Paperback

Synopsis: After leaving Society to desperately seek The Rising, and each other, Cassia and Ky have found what they were looking for, but at the cost of losing each other yet again. Cassia is assigned undercover in Central city, Ky outside the borders, an airship pilot with Indie. Xander is a medic, with a secret. All too soon, everything shifts again. (Copied from Goodreads.com)

Rating: 4.5 stars. 

Review: I had thoroughly enjoyed Matched and Crossed so I was naturally excited for the last instalment of the book.  What I love most about this trilogy is Ally Condie’s writing, she spends a lot of time building up her characters and their development throughout the novel. By the end of the 3 books you feel as if you really know them inside and out. Although there are several big plot arcs in the book a lot of it is character focused and although this is evident in her other books, it can be slow going at times- especially if you’re looking for an “explosive” ending. Each chapter is in the point of view of Cassia, Ky and Xander, the narrations give the reader strong and powerful reactions to the situations they go through. 

As the life they once knew continues to change dramatically, Cassia, Ky and Xander have to each make decisions that will decide their future. The conclusion to the Matched trilogy does the whole series justice, it’s poetic and gives such a strong message. If you loved the first two books you should have no worries about the last one. Ally Condie’s writing allows you to get sucked into that world so that even if you’re not the biggest fan- I don’t think you’d have a problem finishing the last book.

It may not be as enthralling as some of the other YA books about but it’s poignant, powerful and the writing is beautiful. Well worth a read.

Kathleen x          

Review: Lengend by Marie Lu

Title: Legend

Author: Marie Lu

Publisher: Penguin  

Release Date: 2nd February 2012

Format: Paperback (295 pages)

Series: The Legend Trilogy 

Synopsis from Goodreads: 

What was once the western United States is now home to the Republic, a nation perpetually at war with its neighbors. Born into an elite family in one of the Republic’s wealthiest districts, fifteen-year-old June is a prodigy being groomed for success in the Republic’s highest military circles. Born into the slums, fifteen-year-old Day is the country’s most wanted criminal. But his motives may not be as malicious as they seem.

From very different worlds, June and Day have no reason to cross paths—until the day June’s brother, Metias, is murdered and Day becomes the prime suspect. Caught in the ultimate game of cat and mouse, Day is in a race for his family’s survival, while June seeks to avenge Metias’s death. But in a shocking turn of events, the two uncover the truth of what has really brought them together, and the sinister lengths their country will go to keep its secrets.

Cover: For once I’m actually glad they changed the covers. The original UK cover had a girl on a rooftop and everything was all golden. Then the covers were changed so that they were pretty much exactly what the US covers looked like, which is good because I actually prefer them as they are a lot more simple and make me think of the DIVERGENT covers in the context of the symbols. Also that and the fact that I hate models on covers. 

Review: Wither by Lauren DeStefano

Title: Wither 

Author: Lauren DeStefano 

Publisher: Harper Voyager  

Release Date: 4 August 2011

Format: Paperback (320 pages)

Series: The Chemical Garden Trilogy 

Synopsis from Goodreads:

By age sixteen, Rhine Ellery has four years left to live. A botched effort to create a perfect race has left all males born with a lifespan of 25 years, and females a lifespan of 20 years--leaving the world in a state of panic. Geneticists seek a miracle antidote to restore the human race, desperate orphans crowd the population, crime and poverty have skyrocketed, and young girls are being kidnapped and sold as polygamous brides to bear more children. When Rhine is sold as a bride, she vows to do all she can to escape. Yet her husband, Linden, is hopelessly in love with her, and Rhine can't bring herself to hate him as much as she'd like to. He opens her to a magical world of wealth and illusion she never thought existed, and it almost makes it possible to ignore the clock ticking away her short life. But Rhine quickly learns that not everything in her new husband's strange world is what it seems. Her father-in-law, an eccentric doctor bent on finding the antidote, is hoarding corpses in the basement; her fellow sister wives are to be trusted one day and feared the next; and Rhine has no way to communicate to her twin brother that she is safe and alive.

Together with one of Linden's servants, Gabriel, Rhine attempts to escape just before her seventeenth birthday. But in a world that continues to spiral into anarchy, is there any hope for freedom?

Review: The Declaration by Gemma Malley

Title: The Declaration 

Author: Gemma Malley

Publisher: Bloomsbury  

Release Date: 5th May 2008 

Format: Paperback (304 pages)

Series: The Declaration Trilogy 

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Anna Covey is a ‘Surplus’. She should not have been born. In a society in which ageing is no longer feared, and death is no longer an inevitability, children are an abomination.

Like all Surpluses, Anna is living in a Surplus Hall and learning how to make amends for the selfish act her parents committed in having her. She is quietly accepting of her fate until, one day, a new inmate arrives. Anna’s life is thrown into chaos. But is she brave enough to believe this mysterious boy?

A tense and utterly compelling story about a society behind a wall, and the way in which two young people seize the chance to break free.

Review: Gone by Michael Grant

Title: Gone

Author: Michael Grant

Publisher: Egmont Books Ltd. 

Release Date: 6th April 2009

Format: Hardback (559 pages)
Series: The Gone Series #1

Synopsis from Goodreads:

In the blink of an eye. Everyone disappears. GONE.

Except for the young. Teens. Middle schoolers. Toddlers. But not one single adult. No teachers, no cops, no doctors, no parents. Just as suddenly, there are no phones, no internet, no television. No way to get help. And no way to figure out what's happened.

Hunger threatens. Bullies rule. A sinister creature lurks. Animals are mutating. And the teens themselves are changing, developing new talents—unimaginable, dangerous, deadly powers—that grow stronger by the day.

It's a terrifying new world. Sides are being chosen, a fight is shaping up. Townies against rich kids. Bullies against the weak. Powerful against powerless. And time is running out: On your birthday, you disappear just like everyone else...