Review: Bodyguard: Hostage by Chris Bradford

ASSESS THE THREAT.
COUNTER THE DANGER.
ESCAPE THE KILLZONE.

In a dangerous world, everyone needs protection. 

No one suspects that a teenager could protect someone – but Connor Reeves is no ordinary 14 year old. He’s a professional bodyguard trained in surveillance, anti-ambush techniques, hostage survival and unarmed combat. When he’s summoned to protect the President’s daughter, his protection skills face the ultimate test.

Alicia doesn’t want to be guarded. She just wants to have fun. With no clue that Connor is her bodyguard, she tries to escape the Secret Service and lead him astray. But unknown to her and Connor, a terrorist sleeper cell has been activated. 

Its mission: to take the President’s daughter HOSTAGE


This book was fun to read and a nice break from the sci fi I usually read.  I wasn't expecting much, as although I used to love them, teen spy (or similar, like this) books just seem incredibly unrealistic and the idea has been used many times.  But I was surprised.

I enjoyed reading about Connor and his friends, both in the UK and America.  These parts broke up the action and really made me get to know the main characters a lot more.  The concept of a 'buddyguard' and Connor's training in general seemed a lot more believable than other similar books I have read, but I thought it would make a lot more sense to have an older teen or adult.  But then again, the whole point is the fact he's a teen and the book is for teens.

One thing that REALLY stuck out for me as a negative was the plot.  While it was fast paced and exciting, I have read extremely similar plots, and at some points I almost inwardly groaned at it.  It was also predictable.  I saw most of it coming miles away.

If it wasn't for the plot, I would have loved the book.  I had fun reading it, and it was fast paced and once I got into it, I was never bored when reading.  I will be reading the sequel, though.

Review: Fractured by Teri Terry

How do you know where to go when you don't remember where you came from?

Kyla's memory has been erased,

her personality wiped blank,

her memories lost for ever.

Or so she thought.

Kyla shouldn't be able to remember anything. But she can - and she's beginning to realise that there are a lot of dark secrets locked away in her memories. When a mysterious man from her past comes back into her life, she thinks she's on her way to finding the truth. But the more she learns about her history, the more confusing her future becomes...

Set in a disturbing future world, FRACTURED is an engrossing, fast-paced read that establishes Teri Terry as a master thriller writer

I loved this sequel to Slated.  The world it's set in is so interesting, and so is the character of Kyla.  I felt kind of indifferent to her in Slated, but really liked her in Fractured.

I found the plot was even better than in Slated - what happened to Ben, disappearing people and other Slateds added extra mystery to the already great plot.  I just hope all these get solved in the next book.  I like how it expanded more on both the Lorders and Free UK/terrorists and just gave a lot more backstory in general.  Also, I found it quite hard to guess who Kyla would choose who to side with in the end, if anyone - I won't say any more though as I don't want to spoil it!

Kyla's character is so well done.  It must be extremely difficult to write one character with 2, almost 3 different personalities, but Teri Terry has done it really well and it's never confusing.  I'm glad she found out the complete truth about some of her past.

The other characters were awesome too.  I wasn't too convinced about Cam, but the others I loved.  I'd happily have a book full of all their backstories :D.

There was one small problem I had though.  In Slated, Phoebe disappears but then Kyla sees her Slated.  She's never mentioned in Fractured, and I would have liked to see what happened to her in the end.

Overall an amazing sequel.  This kind of dystopian is more believable and realistic than others I have read.  A great story and characters!

Review: Fragments by Dan Wells

Kira Walker has found the cure for RM, but the battle for the survival of humans and Partials is just beginning. Kira has left East Meadow in a desperate search for clues to who she is. That the Partials themselves hold the cure for RM in their blood cannot be a coincidence—it must be part of a larger plan, a plan that involves Kira, a plan that could save both races. Her companions are Afa Demoux, an unhinged drifter and former employee of ParaGen, and Samm and Heron, the Partials who betrayed her and saved her life, the only ones who know her secret. But can she trust them?

Meanwhile, back on Long Island, what's left of humanity is gearing up for war with the Partials, and Marcus knows his only hope is to delay them until Kira returns. But Kira's journey will take her deep into the overgrown wasteland of postapocalyptic America, and Kira and Marcus both will discover that their greatest enemy may be one they didn't even know existed.

The second installment in the pulse-pounding Partials saga is the story of the eleventh hour of humanity's time on Earth, a journey deep into places unknown to discover the means—and even more important, a reason—for our survival.


POSSIBLE SERIES SPOILERS.






I loved Partials, and I had to read the sequel, Fragments!  Post apocalyptic isn't usually my favourite kind of sci fi, but the world building of this series makes it amazing.  Sometimes in books I just want the character to stop and explore their surroundings, especially in books like this - and this is exactly what Kira does in Fragments.

I thought Partials could have been a stand alone book but Fragments added so much more to the plot (which I also love).  While Partials was more about curing RM, Fragments is more about the history of the Partials.  I love the amount of thought put into the plot and backstory.  The world building is also one of my favourite parts of this book, and all of this made me very immersed in the book.  I like how while Kira was searching for information about ParaGen, she'd find small things belonging to whoever owned that desk, or lived in a house, which just made it all seem that much more real.

The plot really surprised me - I was expecting it to be more about Kira working on the cure, but I ended up reading for hours, wanting to find out the mystery about ParaGen, the Partials, and Kira's past.  All these mysteries were solved and turned out to be more in depth than I originally expected when Kira started searching.  I really did love the plot and preferred it to the plot of Partials.  I have to admit I saw small parts of it coming, but not the whole story.

I think Samm's character improved a lot in this book.  I like how he turned out not to be completely unemotional as they were thought of in the first book, but not the complete opposite either, and the concept of the link.  In fact, I like all the characters - this book really gets the reader to know them more and I loved that.

I don't really have much else to say.  This book is quite long, but the world building, plot and character development is excellent.  It's like an awesome mix of Fallout, Deus Ex, and The Last of Us.

Return to blogging!

I have hardly posted any reviews recently but I have decided to start blogging again!  Also I've made the decision to stop putting ratings on my reviews.  Sometimes I can't decide how to rate a book so I've decided to stop using them on Blogger, but will still use them on Goodreads.

Review: Metawars: Battle of the Immortal by Jeff Norton

The dead have risen and now it's war between the living and the dead in this thrilling third instalment in the epic MetaWars saga.

Jonah Delacroix is on a mission to free the Metasphere virtual world, but hordes of Uploaded (the digital immortals) have escaped the Metasphere and taken over the bodies of living people - 'Reborn' in the real world. 

When Jonah's best friend, Sam, is usurped by a digital Uploaded, he finds himself on the opposite side of his dead father in a savage battle of the immortal.

POSSIBLY CONTAINS SERIES SPOILERS!!

The Metawars series is one of my favourites.  I started the first book not expecting it to be as good as I found it.  I love the world, the technology, and characters, and I've loved all the books in the series.

This is the third book in the series.  While I still loved it, I *did* prefer the other two in the series - but I still enjoyed it.  One thing I think this series does very well is how, unlike many other books I've read, there isn't a clear 'good' and 'evil' side.  Each side does things that could be considered good or bad depending on someone's opinion, and (especially in the first book) it's clear Jonah still hasn't decided who he agrees with the most.  I loved this part of the series - it makes it more complex and interesting to read.

As the book carries on the plot of the second book, I thought it was great how the point of view of the Uploaded was shown more.  I liked how the addition of more Uploaded characters and their views - it was a good idea to include what they thought of what was going on.

One thing I love about this series is the awesome technology used.  It's futuristic, but the amount of detail put into the Metasphere makes it feel a lot more realistic and more likely to be something that could happen in real life.

The plot carries on from the previous books.  It is good, but without the characters and other things I have mentioned in this review it wouldn't have been as good as it is.

I like the character development throughout the series, especially for Jonah.  I like the characters in general, they all feel like real people and there's no 'perfect' characters which is something that annoys me in books.

Overall I loved this book, but I did slightly prefer the other ones.  This series really should be a LOT more popular!

Review: Mila 2.0 by Debra Driza

Mila 2.0 is the first book in an electrifying sci-fi thriller series about a teenage girl who discovers that she is an experiment in artificial intelligence.

Mila was never meant to learn the truth about her identity. She was a girl living with her mother in a small Minnesota town. She was supposed to forget her past—that she was built in a secret computer science lab and programmed to do things real people would never do.

Now she has no choice but to run—from the dangerous operatives who want her terminated because she knows too much and from a mysterious group that wants to capture her alive and unlock her advanced technology. However, what Mila’s becoming is beyond anyone’s imagination, including her own, and it just might save her life.

Mila 2.0 is Debra Driza’s bold debut and the first book in a Bourne Identity-style trilogy that combines heart-pounding action with a riveting exploration of what it really means to be human. Fans of I Am Number Four will love Mila for who she is and what she longs to be—and a cliffhanger ending will leave them breathlessly awaiting the sequel

Rating: 3.5/5

The premise of this book made me desperate to read it as soon as I found out about it. And after the teen drama beginning, it was a good book.  I did enjoy reading it a lot!

Although I didn't really like the beginning, this was purely because I really don't like teen drama. It set the scene for Mila thinking she was an ordinary girl who went to school, saw friends, etc, which I liked, though. I think if had immediately started with Mila finding out about being an android, it would have felt a bit rushed and there wouldn't be a chance to get to know her first. I did really like the part when Mila discovered she was an android.

I didn't like the romance. I'm not into romance that much, but Hunter seemed too much like a 'perfect' character with no flaws at all, and the way Mila CONSTANTLY thought of him despite only knowing him a few days bugged me. 

I really enjoyed action parts and parts where Mila used and was finding out about her abilities. I thought those were some of the best parts of the book and I liked how the author showed what Mila thought of the situations - I thought it improved her character a lot.

All the way through, I really did not think Mila acted like an AI. As other characters actually said later in the book, I thought she WAS too emotional. She IS a computer.  I'm guessing this is a big part of the book/series, but because of this, Mila reminded me more of augmented humans in the Deus Ex series, because of what she could do and because she still acted very much like a human rather than robot. Also, parts of the plot reminded me of this series too. This is a good thing as it is my favourite series of games :D.

I liked the characters, the only exception being Hunter (all because of how he seemed 'perfect'). I would have liked more backstory (especially for Holland, Lucas and Mila's mum) but in general I liked them. 

The book was fast paced and I liked the plot. I DID see parts of it coming, but it kept me reading and I found most of it interesting, especially when Mila was at the base (lab?).

In general I enjoyed this book. It had parts I disliked, but I liked most of it! :)

Review: Missing Me by Sophie Mckenzie

Six years have passed since the end of Sister, Missing and Madison is now a teenager. During a visit to her older sister Lauren, Madison learns that their biological father was an anonymous sperm donor and sets out to track him down. Her search bears fruit sooner than she expects, but is the father she discovers all he seems? As Madison gets drawn into a mysterious investigation involving missing girls and secret hideaways, she finds herself in more and more danger. A tense and thrilling end to the bestselling series, not to be missed!


I read Girl, Missing some time ago and liked it, but I was surprised when I saw a sequel had come out - I thought it was fine as a stand alone book.  I didn't like Sister, Missing as much and I did not have high expectations of Missing Me, but I decided to read it anyway.

I felt that this book didn't have much to do with the plot of the other two - if I remember rightly, a character or two from Girl, Missing was bought back in Sister, Missing, at least relating it a bit to the first one - Missing Me seemed more like a book written to show what happened to the characters after a series ended, rather than the ending (?) of one.

The plot wasn't exactly different from the others either.  As before, the main character finds out something unexpected about her past, goes to investigate it, realises things aren't what they seem and finally everyone ends up getting kidnapped and they (very luckily) escape.  I could predict a lot of what was going to happen, and it was pretty much the exact basic plot of the other books.  The characters are also extremely lucky and a lot of things seemed to be a very convenient coincidence.

There was quite a large time gap in between Sister, Missing and Missing Me, and the main characters have all changed a lot.  There were some new characters (such as Esme and Wolf) who feature a lot but I didn't think they were particularly original - I have seen similar characters a lot before.

I *did* get a bit gripped by this book and it was fast paced.  I didn't take long to read it.  I don't think this book is BAD, just rather unoriginal.  Some more relation to the other books would have been nice too.

2 stars - 'it was ok'.

Review: Struck by Jennifer Bosworth

Mia Price is a lightning addict. She’s survived countless strikes, but her craving to connect to the energy in storms endangers her life and the lives of those around her.

Los Angeles, where lightning rarely strikes, is one of the few places Mia feels safe from her addiction. But when an earthquake devastates the city, her haven is transformed into a minefield of chaos and danger. The beaches become massive tent cities. Downtown is a crumbling wasteland, where a traveling party moves to a different empty building each night, the revelers drawn to the destruction by a force they cannot deny. Two warring cults rise to power, and both see Mia as the key to their opposing doomsday prophecies. They believe she has a connection to the freak electrical storm that caused the quake, and to the far more devastating storm that is yet to come.

Mia wants to trust the enigmatic and alluring Jeremy when he promises to protect her, but she fears he isn’t who he claims to be. In the end, the passion and power that brought them together could be their downfall. When the final disaster strikes, Mia must risk unleashing the full horror of her strength to save the people she loves, or lose everything

I'm really not sure how to review Struck. I liked the general idea (Mia being a 'lightning addict') but this wasn't talked about nearly enough and had a lot of religion in it, which I had read about in reviews but didn't think it would take up most of the book. I think it should have been mentioned in the blurb - I don't think I would have been so annoyed with it if it had been.

Struck was original - instead of a war, government taking over or global warming making the area dystopian, subjects I've seen a lot in YA dystopia, it was a storm that destroyed LA, and I have never read a book whose main character has similar 'powers' to Mia. These are what interested me in the book, but Struck consisted mainly of strange religious groups predicting the end of the world and trying to get Mia on their sides. I really wanted to find out more about Mia and the lightning, but it wasn't explained as much as I thought it would be.

I liked Mia more than I thought. I'm glad she wasn't the kind of main character who spent most of the book deciding which boy to be with. Main characters like that *really* annoy me >.>. I didn't get why she continued to be around and like Jeremy so much when she found out he had TRIED TO KILL HER and hung around her house all the time. In fact I didn't like Jeremy at all. The way Mia describes him as being good looking and smart kind of made me think that the author just wanted to put him in to be a 'perfect' boy character and added in romance to fit in with other YA books.

Struck was an ok book with a good concept, but I didn't like the romance and the amount of religion in it.

Rating: 2.5/5

Review: The Phoenix Files: Arrival by Chris Morphew

Luke is having a rough year. When his parents split up, his mum drags him to Phoenix, a brand-new town in the middle of nowhere.

But Phoenix is no ordinary town. There are no cars, no phones and no internet. Luke thinks this is as weird as it gets.

Then he discovers that someone is plotting to wipe out the human race. Phoenix is suddenly the safest and most dangerous place on earth.

And the clock is already ticking.

There are 100 days until the end of the world.


I didn't think I was going to like this book, as others had compared it to the 'Tomorrow' series by John Marsden which I didn't enjoy.  But Arrival turned out to be a pretty good book.

The basic storyline, stopping the end of the world, is a very popular one which sometimes annoys me a lot.  But this book was different - the strange town of Phoenix and the mysterious things the main characters find to hint at what's going on made Arrival more interesting and original than other 'saving the world' books.  These parts of the book also kept me reading, as I wanted to find out what each clue meant.

I found it easy to read and wasn't confusing at all.  Everything was well described and explained.  The only thing I didn't see being mentioned was how old the main characters were - it didn't really matter, but some of the things Luke said seemed quite young to me.  I imagined him to be about 12-13.

There was less action in this book than I thought there was going to be, but it didn't stop Arrival being a good read.  Sometimes the writing style seemed a bit like it was for younger readers, but it wasn't childish at all.  Although I enjoyed this book and have no real bad things to say about it, I didn't really feel gripped by it.

Overall I liked Arrival, and despite the kind of overused basic storyline is was made more original and interesting.  I just didn't feel particularly gripped or pulled in by it.

Rating: 3.5/5

Showcase Sunday #6

This is a meme hosted by Books, Biscuits and Tea where bloggers taking part showcase their new books.

From the library:

Stalking the Enemy by Jane Prowse:  I read and reviewed the first book, The Revenge of Praying Mantis, when I started this blog a while ago.  I hope I will enjoy this just as much.

Struck by Jennifer Bosworth:  I like the idea for this book, but I've heard mixed reviews.  Hopefully I will like it.

Inside Out by Maria V. Snyder:  I have read the second book without knowing it was the second one until I was reading it.  It was quite confusing, so hopefully because Inside Out it the first it will be less confusing!

Partials by Dan Wells: Again, looks interesting, and with mixed reviews on Goodreads.

(I really need to read some different genres....)

Review: Gamerunner by B.R. Collins

Rick is a Gamerunner. His job is to test there are no glitches or bugs in The Maze - the computer game that is much more than just a computer game. In The Maze you physically become your avatar. You fight, run and loot, all the time avoiding the deadly slicing traps - whirling blades that appear from nowhere. Rick has known nothing outside The Maze and his life at the headquarters of Crater, the company that created The Maze. When Rick's father falls out of favour and Rick is faced with being thrown out of Crater HQ into the outside world - a world of flesh-dissolving acid rain and ferocious, feral roving gangs - Rick has some life-changing decisions to make ...


This book had an exciting start which quickly got me interested in the book.  One of the first things I noticed was how the author wrote in third person, but instead of using the character's name sometimes, always used 'he'.  Later, when the character's name (Rick) is found out, it's used a bit more, but it made me feel like the book was from the point of view of someone who is watching Rick, rather than Rick himself.  This writing style also stopped me from getting to know him more, and I think I would have liked him more as a character and liked the book more if it had felt more as if it was from Rick's point of view, rather than from someone watching's point of view.

I really liked the concept of this book though!  The whole idea of video games where the player is actually IN them was definitely a good idea, and a *great* change from the usual very similar sci fi/dystopian YA books that have been popular recently.  However I found that everything wasn't explained nearly enough - why was 'the maze' made?  What is 'Crater' and the building Rick and the others live in?  What is it like, and what does it look like?  What happened  for it to be dangerous to go outside?  I had so many questions about this book.  Rick often wonders whether Daed is his father or related to him, and I expected this to be explained as it came up quite often.  But it wasn't.

There were quite a few loose ends left at the end of the book, not just the mystery of Daed being related to Rick.  I didn't like the ending.  WHY did Rick want to go outside so badly, and why did he **spoiler** burn everything in his room **end spoiler*?  It seemed like a pretty random thing for him to do.  The only major part of the plot that was cleared up is what Asterion was, which was a good conclusion I didn't expect, but apart from that I disliked the ending.

I'm not sure if there's a sequel that might tie up the loose ends.  If there is, I might look out for it.  I liked the concept for Gamerunner, and I didn't really get bored by it, but no much else.

Rating: 2/5 

Review: TimeRiders by Alex Scarrow

Liam O’Connor should have died at sea in 1912.
Maddy Carter should have died on a plane in 2010.
Sal Vikram should have died in a fire in 2026.

Yet moments before death, someone mysteriously appeared and said, ‘Take my hand ...’

But Liam, Maddy and Sal aren’t rescued. They are recruited by an agency that no one knows exists, with only one purpose—to fix broken history. Because time travel is here, and there are those who would go back in time and change the past. That’s why the TimeRiders exist: to protect us. To stop time travel from destroying the world...


I have been wanting to read TimeRiders for a while now, but have always put it off.  I'm so glad I eventually did read it though!  I didn't think it was going to be as good as it was.

I haven't read that many books about time travel, and the ones I have have not been believable to me at all.  However, I thought this book's idea of time travel to be a lot more believable, thanks to well thought out (but short, so not making it confusing or boring!) explanations.

I loved the beginning to this book.  It was immediately exciting and mysterious, and really pulled me into the book!  The descriptions of what happened to the present day world when something in the past changed were great.  I could almost feel confused and shocked along with the characters as everything suddenly changed.

It wasn't just the changed present day world descriptions that were great - I could easily picture all of the settings and characters in my head, which really helps me to get into a book.  TimeRiders was exciting and gripping throughout the book, especially when the Maddy, Sal and Foster were faced with a **SPOILER - HIGHLIGHT TO READ!**  post apocalyptic world **SPOILER OVER** and Liam was faced with **SPOILER** being stuck in the past**SPOILER OVER**.

Overall I really enjoyed TimeRiders.  I have two small complaints - it was sometimes a bit confusing when the point of view swapped quickly between characters, and some words Sal uses I didn't know.  Unless I'm just stupid and don't know them, I think there should have been an explanation.

Rating: 4.5/5

Review: Matched by Ally Condie

Cassia has always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her: what to read, what to watch, what to believe. So when Xander's face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is her ideal mate... until she sees Ky Markham's face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black.

The Society tells her it's a glitch, a rare malfunction, and that she should focus on the happy life she's destined to lead with Xander. But Cassia can't stop thinking about Ky, and as they slowly fall in love, Cassia begins to doubt the Society's infallibility and is faced with an impossible choice: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she's known and a path that no one else has dared to follow



*****CONTAINS SPOILERS!!******



I have to say I didn't think I would love this book, but I felt like trying something different so I borrowed it from the library.

One thing I noticed after reading a chapter or two was a lack of description and world building - Cassia mentions the tablets she carries, the fact she lives in a dystopian future and being matched but none of this is explained well, or a small description is given near the end of the book.  I wanted to know about all these things - why is it necessary for everyone to have the tablets, be matched and why is the world dystopian?  What does it look like?  What happened in the past?  These were all questions I was wondering early and throughout the book.  Some of the places Cassia visits had very little or no description, making the parts set there a bit confusing for me.  I felt that this book was only made a dystopian as it's a popular genre at the moment - apart from the obvious things it could easily be a teen drama book set in present day.

I found the long scenes about Cassia's grandfather should have been further into the book or even left until the second or third book so readers get to know him a bit more and so they also know WHY everyone dies at 80, which Cassia finds out quite a while after this part in the book.  I think the scenes would have made more sense and would fit in better if they had happened after Cassia found out about the poison.
 Talking of the storyline, I didn't feel there was much OF a storyline o.0.  The entire book focused on Cassia trying to decide whether to be with Ky or Xander.  There were a few moments where the Officials randomly did something like cut down trees or take away artifacts, which made no sense.  It was as if the author thought she NEEDED to make them do something a bit 'evil' to fit in with some other popular dystopians....

I didn't hate any of the characters or find them annoying, but neither did I love any of them.  I found none of them to have much too them and being a bit flat or much backstory at all, the only one having a bit of backstory being Ky.  Which generally made me feel a bit 'meh' about them.

I don't think I will be reading the next in the series.  In general I disliked this book, but I didn't HATE it and I think readers who like drama or romance books would enjoy this book.

Rating: 2/5

Showcase Sunday #5

This is a meme hosted by Books, Biscuits and Tea where bloggers taking part showcase their new books.

Given to me (!!):

The Dead of Winter by Chris Priestley:  This looks like a horror, which isn't the genre I usually choose, but I'm going to give it a read anyway.  :)

Tyme's End by R. Collins:  Again, this looks like a horror.

My Name is Mina by David Almond:  I've heard quite a lot about this and Skellig by the same author, but I've never been interested enough to read them.  I have read that the book makes more sense if you read Skellig first, but I'm going to read My Name is Mina first - although it's not what I'd usually read it stll looks quite good.

From the library:

Matched by Ally Condie:  Despite this being in a genre I like (dystopian), I don't think I'm going to love Matched, but I'm trying to read books I would not usually choose at the moment to read a bit more of a variety.

Seizure by Kathy Reichs:  I enjoyed the first book, Virals, so I'm wondering if this is going to be as good, better, or worse....

Time Riders: City of Shadows by Alex Scarrow:  I only realised as I picked this up to read yesterday that it wasn't the first in the series! *facepalm*.  I'll still read it anyway, but if it's very confusing because I've not read the others I won't review it.

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!