Review: Insignia by S.J Kincaid

More than anything, Tom Raines wants to be important, though his shadowy life is anything but that. For years, Tom's drifted from casino to casino with his unlucky gambler of a dad, gaming for their survival. Keeping a roof over their heads depends on a careful combination of skill, luck, con artistry, and staying invisible.

Then one day, Tom stops being invisible. Someone's been watching his virtual-reality prowess, and he's offered the incredible--a place at the Pentagonal Spire, an elite military academy. There, Tom's instincts for combat will be put to the test and if he passes, he'll become a member of the Intrasolar Forces, helping to lead his country to victory in World War III. Finally, he'll be someone important: a superhuman war machine with the tech skills that every virtual-reality warrior dreams of. Life at the Spire holds everything that Tom's always wanted--friends, the possibility of a girlfriend, and a life where his every action matters--but what will it cost him?

Gripping and provocative, S. J. Kincaid's futuristic thrill ride of a debut crackles with memorable characters, tremendous wit, and a vision of the future that asks startling, timely questions about the melding of humanity and technology



******CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE BOOK!!! DO NOT READ IF YOU DON'T WANT ANYTHING SPOILED FOR YOU!!*******

When I first heard about this book a few months ago, I immediately REALLY wanted to read it. It was great to see a YA book set in the future that wasn't set in the same old dystopian city with the same old kind of main character (I like dystopians, but some are just far too similar to each others for me...). I loved how Insignia was set in the future with advanced technology but apart from that, everything seemed similar to how it is now, which made it more believable to me. It also had a pretty original concept - I have read a book where the main character had a computer in his head but it was extremely different to Insignia and apart from that, I have never read anything like it. As a gamer myself I liked how games were quite a big part of the book, too!

I liked how the author explained things throughout the book, which did not make it confusing to read at all and there weren't any points where I thought 'wait, when/how/why did THAT happen?!'. The action was good - there wasn't too much of it to distract from the story, but it still made it an exciting read.

The characters were also great, and as we found out more about them I found myself wondering about each other their backstories, especially how they were selected to be Combatants. Hopefully we will find out more about them in book 2 :D. I also liked how they changed throughout the book.

So many books have an end battle where the character strangely seems to be amazing at fighting and wins. I was pleased that Tom didn't beat Medusa by luck and sudden good fighting skills. Tom losing to Medusa in every online game fight they did actually made me feel quite nervous for Tom before the end battle!

Overall an excellent book I'd definitely reccomend. :)

Rating: 4.5/5

Review: Virals by Kathy Reichs

Tory Brennan, niece of acclaimed forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan (of the Bones novels and hit TV show), is the leader of a ragtag band of teenage "sci-philes" who live on a secluded island off the coast of South Carolina. When the group rescues a dog caged for medical testing on a nearby island, they are exposed to an experimental strain of canine parvovirus that changes their lives forever.

As the friends discover their heightened senses and animal-quick reflexes, they must combine their scientific curiosity with their newfound physical gifts to solve a cold-case murder that has suddenly become very hot if they can stay alive long enough to catch the killer's scent.

Fortunately, they are now more than friends they're a pack. They are Virals.


I actually finished this book a while ago, and although I remember most of it, some parts I don't remember as well as when I first finished it.  So any mistakes on characters, plot, etc are probably because of this!

I thought this book sounded interesting - it had a mix of action/adventure, supernatural and crime, which sonds a bit odd but was mostly fine when I was reading.  To start with the book was quite slow, mainly concerntrating with Tory meeting with her friends, going to school and describing where she lived, and even with Tory's discovery of important things (I won't spoil the book by saying what!) there was more of her just doing everyday things than any of the promised exciting action.

However, Virals did get better as Tory and her friends found out more about what they were investigating and the research building's (?) secret work.  And I was definately not expecting the action at the end, which really improved the book for me!  I liked how all of the mysteries Tory came across were solved at the end of the book and weren't dragged on into the next book.

The supernatural element of the book was good, but I think sometimes it didn't suit the general theme of the book (crime), and it only seemed to appear when it would help the characters and the plot!  However, from the ending I think it might be featured a bit more in the next book.

I didn't really have many problems with the characters in this book, apart from the author making Tory's Dad's girlfriend (?) obviously (and kind of unrealisticly) annoying, and how Tory and her friends never told their parents what was actually going on/the parents didn't seem to care or notice.

Overall I enjoyed Virals, but there were just a few small things I disliked and some slow paced parts.

Rating: 4/5

Review: Starters by Lissa Price

Callie lost her parents when the Spore Wars wiped out everyone between the ages of twenty and sixty. She and her little brother, Tyler, go on the run, living as squatters with their friend Michael and fighting off renegades who would kill them for a cookie. Callie's only hope is Prime Destinations, a disturbing place in Beverly Hills run by a mysterious figure known as the Old Man.

He hires teens to rent their bodies to Enders—seniors who want to be young again. Callie, desperate for the money that will keep her, Tyler, and Michael alive, agrees to be a donor. But the neurochip they place in Callie's head malfunctions and she wakes up in the life of her renter, living in her mansion, driving her cars, and going out with a senator's grandson. It feels almost like a fairy tale, until Callie discovers that her renter intends to do more than party—and that Prime Destinations' plans are more evil than Callie could ever have imagined. . .




I couldn't wait to read this book and was really excited when my reserved copy from the library came through!  I started it straight away (despite a massive reading pile!) and finished it early the next morning.  I usually take 2-3 days to read an average length book, so I think it's obvious I was gripped by Starters from the first chapter.

The concept for this book seemed a bit strange at first, but it didn't put me off.  I liked how it started and wasn't slow at all - it got me into the book immediatly.  In fact there was rarely, if any, slow paced parts in this book.  It was mysterious and tense which definately helped me want to carry on reading.

I liked the main character, Callie.  She seemed to be a mature and sensible main character, even in strange situations, which I think really helped the book.  I liked most of the other characters too, but I found Madison a bit annoying, however it wasn't much of a problem as she wasn't in the book a lot and got a bit better towards the end.

One thing I would have liked to see in this book was more description and information about where Callie lives and how the war affected the country (?) she lives in.  I also found a few parts slightly predictable.

However I generally loved this book!  It was a lot more 'dystopian' than most books in this genre I have read - I would definately (and already have) reccomend it to others.

Rating: 4.5/5

Review: Divergent by Veronica Roth

In a future Chicago, 16-year-old Beatrice Prior must choose among five predetermined factions to define her identity for the rest of her life, a decision made more difficult when she discovers that she is an anomaly who does not fit into any one group, and that the society she lives in is not perfect after all.

Sometimes I say I'm not sure what to expect from a book, or it was very differant to how I thought it would be.  I have to say Divergent was amost *exactly* how I expected it to be.  Of course I didn't know about every little thing that happened, but I thought it was a little preditable at times.

I quite liked the book, but there were definately a few things I didn't like about it.  As I've said before I REALLY do not like the kind of writing style used in this book!  It feels blunt and dull and I didn't get a good image of many of the characters or settings in this book.  Divergent was quite a long book, which wasn't a problem, but I think if the book had less of Tris trying to fit in/her 'initiation' and more of the kind of thing towards the end of the story, it would have been shorter and a whole lot more realistic.

I would have liked to have found out more about the world Tris lives in.  Apart from the 'factions' and some other things, it doesn't seem all that futuristic/dystopian/post apocalyptic and I think it could have actually been set in present day, and was just set in the future because that is the 'thing' at the moment.

Also, I really don't see how this book could turn into a series longer than about two books.  I couldn't find much that would lead on to many other books, apart from Tris being Divergent and the 'war'.  For this reason, I don't think I'll read the second and any other books in the series, unless I come across them at the library or something.

I didn't love this, but it was still quite good.  I actually liked Tris, if I looked past the way she narrated.  At times I thought she did some rather stupid things and thought it was fine because she was 'brave' and 'a Dauntless', but apart from that I did think she was a good main character for the book.

Rating: 3.5/5

Review: Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

I have two weeks. You’ll shoot me at the end no matter what I do.

That’s what you do to enemy agents. It’s what we do to enemy agents. But I look at all the dark and twisted roads ahead and cooperation is the easy way out. Possibly the only way out for a girl caught red-handed doing dirty work like mine — and I will do anything, anything, to avoid SS-Hauptsturmführer von Linden interrogating me again.

He has said that I can have as much paper as I need. All I have to do is cough up everything I can remember about the British War Effort. And I’m going to. But the story of how I came to be here starts with my friend Maddie. She is the pilot who flew me into France — an Allied Invasion of Two.

We are a sensational team.

**SPOILERS!!**





I'm really not sure what to think of this book.  When I picked it up and read the blurb I expected to read about Verity/Julie and Maddy's journey to France, but instead it was written almost like a diary by Verity where she describes various things in her life.  I was a bit confused as to why she focussed so much on her best friend, Maddy's, life and how the whole story was told from her point of view.  This was quite clever and I didn't realise that 'Queenie' was actually Verity until it was mentioned.

One thing I didn't understand about this style was how would Verity know what Maddy was thinking in these situations, or what she was exactly doing and thinking in the events where Verity wasn't there.  Apart from that I thought it was an interesting way to write and I didn't have a problem with it.

The book did kind of drag on a bit at times and I read it quite slowly, probably because of this.  I thought the book got better when Maddy started to narrate it - things that Verity had done were suddenly more clear and things that weren't even obvious were also revealed.  It also got more tense at this part as Maddy was trying to rescue Verity.

I thought the characters, especially Maddy and Verity, were good - I really got to 'know' them during the book.  I didn't like Verity a huge amount - I didn't hate her, but she definately wasn't my favourite character. 

Overall I liked this book!  I didn't love it, but it wasn't bad and I didn't hate it.


Rating: 3.5/5

Review: The Third Day, The Frost by John Marsden

Life in the war zone enters its sixth month of heart-stopping tension in the latest installment of the internationally bestselling Tomorrow series.

In the third installment of the Tomorrow saga, the anything-to-survive existence of Ellie and her friends has sharpened their senses and emboldened their plans. They aren't merely on the defensive anymore; they're also striking back. Their strategy? Attack the enemy not just on land, but also on water. If they have any hope of sabotaging the formidable container ship at Cobbler's Bay, then stealth is a must, but so, too, is one very big explosion.
And if they fail, they may face a whole new kind of terror -- imprisonment.

As I wasn't a fan of the first two books in the series, I was sure I wouldn't like this one much.  However, I was actually wrong!  I liked this book a lot more than the others.  I felt more happened in this book - there wasn't so many long parts where the characters just talked, and the talking parts were shorter and more interesting.  The characters seemed to have a better idea of what they were goig to do during the book, rather than sit around wondering if they were going to be found or captured.

This book was definately a whole lot more tense than the others, and I really got an idea of how the characters, especially Ellie, were feeling at differant times.  Mostly because of this I felt that we get to know them all a bit better, and while before the amount of main characters was slightly confusing it was easy to tell who was who as we know their personalities better now.

Although I liked this book, I wasn't really pulled in by it - if I had another book sitting next to it, I was more likely to pick up that one.  But when I was actually reading it, I was quite gripped.

There wasn't any romance, which I thought was good as I think it can distract from the main story!  As I have said before I'm not really into romance, especially in action and adventure books like this, so it could just be me.

Overall I enjoyed this a LOT more than the first two in the series.  I don't think I will carry on with the series - I am wondering what will happen after the unexpected ending, but it wasn't a cliffhanger enough for me to be desperate to carry on.  I think a cliffhanger ending would have been great considering I was getting into the series a bit more and would have made it even more exciting, but I was fine with how it ended anyway.

I am really not sure how to rate this book!  I feel a 3.5 would be too low, but a 4 too high.  So I'm not going to rate it.

Thank you to Chicklish for sending me this book!

Review: The Truth About Celia Frost by Paula Rawsthorne

Celia Frost is a freak. At least, that's what everyone thinks. Her life is ruled by a rare disorder that means she could bleed to death from the slightest cut, confining her to a gloomy bubble of 'safety'. No friends. No fun. No life.

But when a knife attack on Celia has unexpected consequences, her mum reacts strangely - and suddenly they're on the run. Why is her mum so scared? Someone out there knows. And when they find Celia, she's going to wish the truth was a lie.

A buried secret, a gripping manhunt, a dangerous deceit... What is the truth about Celia Frost?

This book sounded differant and interesting, so I really wanted to read it!
I wasn't dissapointed at all with it.  I didn't know what to expect, and what I found was a book full of excitement that was tense and had me gripped from the start.  I couldn't wait to get to the end and find out anwers to all the questions that I had throughout the book.  Fortunatly, all the things I had been wondering about were explained.
Although this book definately wasn't confusing, it was one of those books where as I read on, I understood things that happened earlier in the book better - and I love books like that!  Some of the chapters were from the point of view of someone who was trying to find Celia and her mum, which made the book more mysterious and added more excitement in parts that might have been otherwise boring.
To start with I liked Celia, the main character, but when she discovered there wasn't anything wrong with her I started to dislike her.  I didn't like how she tried hard to make her mum angry or worried, and it just annoyed me a bit.  however, that's pretty much my only complaint about the book!

I really liked this book.  It was gripping, exciting and I didn't predict what was going to happen at all - I really could not guess the reason why Celia's mum was so worried about her.

Rating: 4/5