Book Thoughts: Unremembered

Title: Unremembered
Author: Jessica Brody
Series: Unremembered #1
*Imported from tumblr*

Let’s talk about Unremembered for a minute. I am not sure how to describe this book without spoilers, but I’m going to give it a try: a girl wakes up with no memory of anything, knowing only that the year is 1609. Except she’s just been pulled as the only survivor from the wreckage of a plane crash. There’s a boy who seems to know her and men who seem to be out to get her, but she doesn’t even know her own name. So she’s in for a huge shock when she figures out who she is.

I adored the way this was done. The sci-fi is awesome, and this is SO not your typical amnesia story. The way the memory recovery process was done was awesome, the whole story behind her identity made me have ALL the feelings, and — okay, one minor spoiler that you can probably guess from the fact that she thinks it’s 1609 on page two — there’s some time travel involved, and it is the *coolest* time travel I’ve ever seen. Transession is so awesome.

Definitely pick this one up, guys. You’ll love it. (And be awaiting the sequel as eagerly as I am.)

Book Thoughts: What's Left of Me

Title: What's Left of Me
Author: Kat Zhang
Series: Hybrid Chronicles #1
*Imported from tumblr*

Um, wow. This is such a cool idea.

Every body is born with two souls. By the time they’re in first grade, one of them -- the “recessive" soul -- has faded. Or at least, that’s how it’s supposed to be, but Eva never faded. Doctors have tried and tried to take her away and leave Addie in sole possession of their body, and they mostly have. Addie controls the body's physical movements, but Eva is still there, an observer trapped at her twin soul's mercy. But when she finds out she might be able to move again… Eva will do anything.

I loved the way this world was built. I am just fascinated by this concept and I think Kat Zhang does an awesome job of pulling it off. I thought the writing was brilliant and the characters were wonderful and I can't gush enough about how much I enjoyed it. What's Left of Me is a complete story in itself but also sets up the rest of the series (trilogy? I don’t know) well. I devoured it - read it in one sitting, with one break to eat dinner. If you’re a fan of scifi or if you’ve ever just felt invisible, definitely check this one out.

Book Thoughts: Linked

Title: Linked
Author: Imogen Howson
Series: Linked #1
*Imported from tumblr.*

Elissa used to have a pretty normal life. But that was before she started getting bursts of horrible pain and flashes of another girl’s life. When she finds the girl whose mind she’s been seeing and learns an astonishing secret about her family, Elissa’s life is turned upside-down. But she will do whatever it takes to protect this girl who is linked to her soul.

Set in a futuristic (and interplanetary) society, Linked manages to be a thrilling sci-fi space adventure while at the same time challenging how far humanity is willing to go for science and examining the way mental health is handled with high school students. I really loved the way the interplanetary society was written -- it's part of Elissa's life, so it's just the way things are, but enough is explained that the reader can completely grasp the way things work. The romantic subplot was kind of predictable but I definitely still enjoyed it. (Plus, is this cover cool or what?) I devoured this book in one sitting and would recommend it to all sci-fi lovers and others as well.

Book Thoughts: The Unidentified

Title: The Unidentified
Author: Rae Mariz

I think the thing that hit me hardest about this book is that it's totally plausible. Maybe not in the immediate future, but the technology of the Game is fast approaching and education spending is decreasing and corporations are on the rise... is it really so ridiculous to imagine a world where "school" is a blend of technology, video games, and marketing?

Before I get too rambly, let me start at the beginning. Katey, known to her friends as "Kid," is basically the epitome of mediocrity in the Game. She has decent scores, "riding high on the bell curve" as her advisor puts it, a few friends... she's not on the It List (which is an actual list in the Game), she's not a social pariah, she's just...average. And she's happy that way, mostly. And then an anti-corporate prank rattles her world. She's the only one who seems to care - and that attracts attention. Suddenly corporations want her, her friends don't understand her sudden popularity, she maybe has a boyfriend -- and the anonymous group responsible for the prank knows she knows about them. Cue mystery and hidden agendas.

It took me a while to get into The Unidentified for a couple of reasons. First, the set-up was kind of confusing; I didn't really understand the Game for the first several chapters. Second, the slang was not what I was used to; Kid and Mikey and Ari were using words that I didn't know. It took some getting used to. But once I got into it...wow. I couldn't put it down.

I love that The Unidentified challenges us to think. To think about popularity, and fashion, and corporate America, and what it means to have an identity. The ideas that this book tackles are so big and so real that it's impossible to read it without fully engaging your brain - and that's a good thing. But at the same time, it's a very basic look at friendship and humanity that is just as applicable now as in the technology-dominated society Kid lives in.

It's a bit confusing at times, but I think The Unidentified is definitely worth your time.

Book Thoughts: Vesper

Title: Vesper
Author: Jeff Sampson
Series: Deviants #1

Vesper surprised me, and it confused me. It bothered me in places. It made me laugh out loud, and it made me shudder. It definitely was not what I was expecting, but I enjoyed it.

Our story begins with shy, geeky Emily Webb dressed in an outfit she would never wear and attempting to climb out of her bedroom window. A few minutes later, she snaps back to reality, horrified by what she has almost done. Then she gets a phone call: Emily Cooke, a girl from her school, has been shot and killed. Her body was found barefoot, pajama-clad, three miles from her home.

Emily Webb is affected in a way she can't explain by the death of the other Emily, and even as she grieves the loss of a classmate she barely knew, she is changing. Each night, she is hit with a crippling pain, and then she changes into someone different - still Emily, but an Emily who is bold and brazen and maybe even a little slutty. And then she changes even more, into something that may not even be human. Mixed in with the story are transcripts of a conversation Emily has with someone called "F. Savage" describing her adventures.

At first, based on the transcripts, I was expecting a straight-up science fiction novel, but that wasn't what I got. It's a mystery - a murder mystery and a who-am-I mystery all wrapped into one. The plot was excellent. I just kept turning pages, eager to find out what was going on and what would happen next. I hope it doesn't take too long for the sequel, because I want it (a problem, since this one isn't even out until next week).

The only problem I had was Megan. I'm not sure why Emily and Megan were actually friends; it definitely wasn't the kind of friendship I'd want to have. I just didn't like her at all, and I wished we had gotten to know a little more about who she was.

Despite that, Vesper was an intriguing story that kept me reading and left me wanting more. I recommend it, especially if you like a nice dark blend of fantasy, science fiction, and murder mysteries...

Book Thoughts: The Gardener

Title: The Gardener
Author: S.A. Bodeen

Science fiction + global warming + eco-cyborgs = a pretty intense mix of stuff.

The only connection Mason has ever had to is father is a DVD of the man, shoulders-down, reading The Runaway Bunny. So when a comatose girl at the hospital where his mother works suddenly wakes up when she hears the story on the DVD and begs to leave, Mason - who has a bit of a hero complex - rescues her.

The girl only remembers bits and pieces of who she is and what has happened to her, but Mason can tell that she's anything but normal. The circular scars covering her legs only add to the mystery of the girl's past. Add in that there's a tattoo on her arm that matches the one on Mason's father on the DVD and the fact that the least official police force Mason has ever encountered is chasing the girl he rescued. There's mystery and adventure brewing, and Mason may not like what he discovers.

This novel takes a real, present-day scientific crisis and gives it an impossible solution with just enough scientific backing that it just might happen. Add in two teenagers who are trying to figure out the truth behind the science and the mystery of the girl's past, and you've got The Gardener. I will say that I figured out the end well before I got there, but it was one of those books that was worth reading anyway. Not the best book I've ever read, but still definitely worth my time. I'm glad I read it. You should check it out too.

Book Thoughts: The Different Girl

Title: The Different Girl
Author: Gordon Dahlquist

The first word that comes to mind to describe this book is "strange."

It was a really fascinating premise -- four virtually identical girls, clearly not quite human but believing that they are, lives suddenly interrupted by the arrival of a very human girl, the first they've ever known. Suddenly questions are everywhere as they struggle to figure out May's past and what will happen now.

I loved watching the story develop and piecing together the clues to get the bigger picture of what was going on, and as much as the premise and writing style were strange, I enjoyed them, too.

What bothered me about The Different Girl was the ending. There's all this buildup, all these clues, to something Big that has happened that the girls on their island don't know about, and the story pushes and pushes towards this big reveal of this Event, and then --

Nope.

Maybe there was another point to the story and I just didn't see it, but I felt like there was a lot of buildup, a lot of pointed questions asked, that were just let go. No answers, nothing was actually explained. You can draw a lot of pictures in your head of what this world looks like, but none of them are very clear.

This was still an interesting read and not one that I would dismiss outright; I definitely enjoyed reading it. But I also felt like it had a lot of potential to be something great and didn't quite offer enough information to actually get there.