Enclave: Review by Diva Schuyler

Enclave by Ann Aguirre

In Deuce’s world, people earn the right to a name only if they survive their first fifteen years. By that point, each unnamed ‘brat’ has trained into one of three groups–Breeders, Builders, or Hunters, identifiable by the number of scars they bear on their arms. Deuce has wanted to be a Huntress for as long as she can remember.
As a Huntress, her purpose is clear—to brave the dangerous tunnels outside the enclave and bring back meat to feed the group while evading ferocious monsters known as Freaks. She’s worked toward this goal her whole life, and nothing’s going to stop her, not even a beautiful, brooding Hunter named Fade. When the mysterious boy becomes her partner, Deuce’s troubles are just beginning...
~excerpt of summary from GoodReads.com

Deuce lives in College enclave, underground in a part of NYC's abandoned subway system. Long ago she learned from her elders that the world above is uninhabitable. Therefore, she follows the strict rules dictated by the leaders of her enclave, knowing that only within its tunnels is she safe. Not only protected, but important: a Huntress, the only job she's ever desired, the only identity for which she's lived.

"...I never felt beautiful unless I was fighting, and even then it was something that went beyond skin and bone into the kinetic joy of successive movements." --Deuce (pg. 147)
 
Aguirre has written a formidable protagonist in Deuce. Deuce has trained since she was young to hunt for the enclave, guard its citizens, and to kill Freaks (monsters who feed on human flesh, but don't seem to be undead). She's also learned to store her emotions--and any curiosity about life beyond College--so she can be the best Huntress possible.

"...I wanted to prove myself with blade and boot..." --Deuce (pg. 15)

 However, blade and boot seem to carry Deuce only so far. Her name itself, based on the two of spades, shows she may have more than one path to follow as she's hurtled from one challenge to the next. Enclave, though ostensibly about a post-apocalyptic landscape and its survivors, also calls the reader to think about the dual nature of oneself. Aguirre depicts this not only through her characters' actions, but by a binding tale woven sparsely throughout: a story by George MacDonald called The Day Boy and the Night Girl. 

"There was once a witch who desired to know everything." --from The Day Boy and the Night Girl, (quoted on pg. 141)

It's this attempt at knowing and understanding the world as a whole, and herself, that kept me cheering for Deuce throughout Enclave. Her love interest, Fade, and others she comes to know, also display this yearning for truth in their own ways.


"...I had begun to throb with the desire to understand why things happened..." --Deuce (pg. 173)


We readers want to know why, too. Enclave will have at least one sequel, so prepare yourselves for more Freaks and more adventures--and hopefully, more of the same insight each character has gleaned in this first book. I'm excited to see where Aguirre takes us next!


~Diva Schuyler

Link to The Day Boy and the Night Girl by George MacDonald on GoodReads.com here
Watch the book trailer for Enclave:

"Like" Ann Aguirre on Facebook: Facebook author page
Follow Ann Aguirre on Twitter: @MsAnnAguirre

The Prole Poll Results!

POLL RESULTS ARE IN!

The next book Diva Schuyler will be reviewing is...ENCLAVE by ANN AGUIRRE

A big thank you to everyone who voted! The Marbury Lens by Andrew Smith was only one vote behind, so the Divas will be sure to feature it soon as well.

As they say, WATCH THIS SPACE for the upcoming review. Since "they" are watching you...and so are your Divas. MUAHAHAHA!

Want a taste of Enclave before the review? Read an excerpt on GoodReads! Just click under the book cover image. http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7137327-enclave

The Polling of the Proles...and YOU!

What book should Diva Schuyler review next?

• Encalve by Ann Aguirre
• The Other Side of The Island by Allegra Goodman
• The Marbury Lens by Andrew Smith
• Girl in the Arena by Lisa Haines

View Results
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Drought: Review by Diva Schuyler

Drought by Pam Bachorz

Ruby Prosser dreams of escaping the Congregation and the early-nineteenth century lifestyle that’s been practiced since the community was first enslaved.
She plots to escape the vicious Darwin West, his cruel Overseers, and the daily struggle to gather the life-prolonging Water that keeps the Congregants alive and gives Darwin his wealth and power. But if Ruby leaves, the Congregation will die without the secret ingredient that makes the Water special: her blood.
So she stays.
But when Ruby meets Ford, the new Overseer who seems barely older than herself, her desire for freedom is too strong. He’s sympathetic, irresistible, forbidden—and her only access to the modern world. Escape with Ford would be so simple, but can Ruby risk the terrible price, dooming the only world she’s ever known?
~summary from GoodReads.com

 
Spooning for water. This is what Ruby, her mother, and the rest of the Congregation--enslaved long ago by Darwin West--do all day, every day.  Spooning delicate drops of dew and moisture from leaves and plant stalks into pewter cups, praying they can make the unrealistic quotas--maybe a full cup of water one day, maybe two cups another day--demanded by Darwin West and his savage flunkies. The forest in which Ruby, her family, and the Congregation work is all Ruby has ever known, and this is the worst drought in their long history together.


Ruby's mother, Sula, serves as Reverend to the Congregants. Sula preaches that one day, the person who brought them to the forest (helping them flee another horror) will return. Ruby is to take Sula's place as Reverend someday, particularly because she, like the person who brought them to the forest, has powers in her blood. But Ruby is tired of waiting. Tired of watching people she loves suffer brutally by Darwin's punishments. Ruby has thoughts that go against her mother's teachings, and in this lies her search: not only for freedom for herself and the Congregants, but her longing to know and follow her own mind and strength.


Bachorz's depiction of this strange enclave is believable and shows, starkly, the bleak existence of the Congregants' life. Her writing is spare and melancholy, smoothly drawing the reader deeper into just how tightly bound the Congregation, led by Sula, is. Darwin and his men are merciless and hard, but the Congregants have their own ways of binding, too. Ruby fights all of the chains threatening to tighten at her throat. Even when she meets the kind Overseer Ford, she wonders if his version of freedom is a trap as well. But if she leaves the forest with Ford, can her mother and Congregation live if she doesn't keep giving the magic of her blood to the water, which makes it so valuable?


Drought is a book that explores religion, family bonds, individualism, and the chains we all put around ourselves, whether we are part of an insular group which shuns disbelievers; committing cruel acts with the mentality of "it's my job;" or keeping our own values and instincts locked away for some greater good we no longer remember or understand. Darwin, by his name alone, seems to represent survival of the fittest by power. Ruby's mother, Sula (meaning either "peaceful" or "little she-bear"), wields more subtle methods of subjugation. Ruby--her namesake gemstone portraying fire, passion, and blood--is in the middle, and she is desperate to know truth. Her truth. And what is in her world is not only a drought of water, but a desert of lies.


Bachorz doesn't spend much time on world-building or backstory. She drops us into Ruby's life, lets us in piece by piece, and what is left unanswered will stay a mystery. We travel with Ruby not just through her current world, but toward what life she might choose.

~Diva Schuyler
 
View the book trailer for Drought:

You Give Me Fever: GIVEAWAY from Lauren DeStefano

"You give me fever
When you kiss me
Fever when you hold me tight
Fever in the morning
And fever all through the night."

~song lyrics written by Eddie Cooley and Otis Blackwell

Lauren DeStefano of Wither fame is giving away two feverishly wonderful prizes!!

 1). A signed, HIGHLY personalized ARC of Wither (see her blog for just how personal; it gets good if you like cats and lightsabers)

2). An ARC of the next book in the Chemical Garden trilogy, FEVER!!!

So how can you win either of these fiery and FREE books?

Check out her blog. See the rules. Follow them like the good, controlled citizens you are supposed to be, and not the mad, greedy, book-grabbing demons we Divas know you are...because SO ARE WE.

"And may the odds be forev..." Nah, we'll just say good luck!! :D

Link to Lauren's giveaway: Here There Be Fever (and Wither, too!)

~Diva Schuyler

 

The Adoration of Jenna Fox: Review by Guest Diva Samantha

The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson

Who is Jenna Fox? Seventeen-year-old Jenna has been told that is her name. She has just awoken from a coma, they tell her, and she is still recovering from a terrible accident in which she was involved a year ago. But what happened before that? Jenna doesn't remember her life. Or does she? And are the memories really hers?

This fascinating novel represents a stunning new direction for acclaimed author Mary Pearson. Set in a near future America, it takes readers on an unforgettable journey through questions of bio-medical ethics and the nature of humanity. Mary Pearson's vividly drawn characters and masterful writing soar to a new level of sophistication.

~summary from GoodReads.com 

What would you do to save a human life? And, better yet--and perhaps more importantly--what defines a human life? In Mary E. Pearson's The Adoration of Jenna Fox, these are the two underlying issues of the book. On top of that, though, is the dilemma every teen faces: Jenna is trying to figure out who she is.

It's hard to rave about this book without giving too much away. Even with what I've said already, I'm scared that I'll have ruined the book for someone. The Adoration of Jenna Fox is a beautiful mystery. Pearson has crafted it very well. I "read" the book in audio format, usually listening to it when I walked home from work. Instead of pausing it and finishing it the next day, I went and sat on my bed for the last few hours of the novel; the mystery was just that engaging!

The narration of the book is very lyrical. In fact, had I not bought a hardcover of the book--yes! that's right, after having the book in audio I went out and bought a hard copy just so I could have it on my shelves--I never would have known that some of the book is actually written in verse. I think the flow of the narration is done very well, and really keeps the reader engaged throughout Jenna’s self-discovery.

Jenna's character is very enduring because she faces many of the same problems that teens do. A main point in the book is her desire for freedom. Even teens not in Jenna's unique circumstances deal with this. All the characters are very real; they could easily jump off the page. I felt that Jenna’s family and their different reactions to Jenna’s situation were all well done. I liked that it wasn’t perfect. Lily, Jenna's grandmother, dislikes Jenna, and this was completely believable. Alyss, Jenna’s friend, was also well written, and I enjoyed how well her passion for the environment and medical science played in so well to the main story and to her story. I thought that the relationship between Ethan, the love interest, and Jenna could have been played out more. I didn’t find it as believable, but the last thing that Adoration is is a love story, so I could push that aside. This book has been optioned for a movie, and I really hope that it doesn't fall apart, because it could be something very beautiful.

Aside from the fact that this is one of the very few novels that really kept me on my toes and constantly guessing and re-guessing what was going on, I really liked how the mystery and science of the novel was still based on real-life issues. Just like other teens, Jenna wants to know who she really is, and it's because of this that the book resonates so well. 

I know this review doesn't say much about the plot. It's because the book is so chock full of mystery and suspense that there is very little I can really say about the book without ruining it for you. Since the mystery makes the book, I simply can't let that happen.

I believe this book has a lot of dystopian elements, even though it’s not exactly The Hunger Games or Divergent, because it is set in the future where vast medical advances have been made. Genetic engineering and its effect on the environment are discussed in the book and play very well into the plot. The book deals with whether we as humans have the right to play God. The world, in this book, also deals with environmental changes. These changes are talked about but they don’t affect the plot of the story.

There is, of course, a sequel coming out in August called The Fox Inheritance. I can’t say anything about it because it would spoil the book but I am looking forward to it!

Eight Reasons Why the World Is Not Ending...Via Dystopian Novels

The World is Not Ending!..At least not according to dystopian novels.

Here at the Dystopian Divas blog we enjoyed Huffington Post’s list of reasons the world wouldn’t end today. Instead of just linking that to you guys, we decided to do something a little more, and how else would we do it without the help of some of our favorite dystopian novels? We present to you “Eight Reasons the World Won’t End Today (And Why You Still Have to Take Your Finals).”

REASON ONE: No Perma-Tats

In The Bar Code Tattoo we see a world that starts to be ripped apart when one girl refuses to get her identification bar code tattooed on herself. I don’t blame her, what with the questionable content of tattoo ink! This book tells us that the world is not ending because we are not forced to have bar code tattoos. We are forced to give our fingerprint sometimes…and my school seems to want my social security number a lot…and I’ve already memorized my new ID for UCSC…but no, it’s the bar CODE that’s important! As of yet, we have no demand for permanent identification tattoos. (Although something could be said about those microchips they put in animals.)

REASON TWO: All the Colors of the Wind

Oh Giver, where would I be without you? I would not be as avid a reader and I certainly would not have as huge a love for dystopian literature if I didn't know you. I also would not have had to write that high school senior year term paper. Another thing to thank The Giver for: it has told me that the world is not going to end. In The Giver, the world is black and white; there is very little emotion or anything that would be over-stimulating. Our current world, however, is far from under-stimulating. Between iPods and cellphones we are always amused; among Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare and Myspace we are always connected. TVs are bigger and now in 3D. (And just in time for True Blood, mmm, this is gonna be a great season!) In conclusion, the world’s not ending because we’re still in Technicolor.

 REASON THREE: We Didn’t Start the Fire

Did anyone get out of school without reading this book? (Or watching the movie, like I did? Come on, give me a break, in my high school years we had dialup Internet. Do you know how long it took to even log on to Myspace? Who had time to read?) For you “Of course I read the book” snobs, the movie is just as good. We all know what it’s about: every bibliophile’s worst nightmare. Critical thinking is bad in this society (and after I get my grades for my critical thinking class I might agree with them), and because they burn books. Now, some very close-minded people have tried to get book-burning to catch on. We’ve seen Sarah Ockler’s Twenty Boy Summer and Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak get challenged, and we’ve all seen Harry Potter banned and even burned in some radical cases. But in the words of Amy Winehouse we readers and critical thinkers all said, “No, no, no.”

REASON FOUR: Love Still Makes the World Go Round

Now, it’s not just older books that are helping us here at Dystopian Divas determine that it’s worth it to make our beds and pay our bills today; it’s the newer books, too! If you watch the news or the TV show House, you know that as a society we love to get scared about diseases. We love to hate them,  love to obsess over them. I mean, Bath and Body Works probably stays open because of their HandiBac products. I know I have an entire box of them (I like options when it comes to germ killing). In Delirium, love is a disease. In our world, we haven’t gotten there yet. H1N1, bird flu, regular flu, chicken pox, measles, mumps, rubella, botulism…all real diseases. Love, not so much. Now, because the world isn’t ending you have the time for this: go read BlondieC’s review of this book (link below) and then read Delirium, because it’s amazing and beautiful.

REASON FIVE: Our Bodies, Ourselves

Here we have a two for one kind of a deal. Not exactly as exciting as Payless’s BOGO, but we’re a tiny little book blog. What do you want from us? So anyway, in The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood and XVI by Julia Karr, a woman’s right to her body and her ability to consent are seriously taken into question, and in some cases, thrown right out the window. Even though some lawmakers are trying very hard to pass laws about women’s uteruses we still have the right to make our own decisions about our bodies.  End point? World not ending.

REASON SIX: Life Isn’t a Reality Show…Yet

Once again, we have another book that we were all supposed to read in class. I haven’t actually seen the movie, but I remember enjoying the Wikipedia page when I was writing the essay for it. (Wink.) What I took away from this novel is that the society was always being watched by someone referred to as Big Brother. If you ask me, it sounds like a reality show rip-off. Now, we know the world isn’t ending because our every moment isn’t logged in, although that sounds an awful lot like Foursquare. Ads aren’t tailored to us, although I feel like they seem to know where I shop online. Amazon also does such a good job of recommending books to me. Well, no matter, I have my Facebook set to private no one can get into it that I don’t want, I’m sure...

REASON SEVEN: Abandon Ship?!

Ship Breaker is about a society that finds oil inside abandoned ships. The oil is used to trade for money and other goods. This book shows that the world isn’t ending because a world that’s on the verge of destruction would be desperate for oil…. No comment.

REASON EIGHT: Katniss, DUH

Last, but certainly not least, and probably the most important reason here at Dystopian Divas, we know the world isn’t ending because we haven’t seen the cave scene between Katniss and Peeta. Making us leave this earth before The Hunger Games movie comes out isn’t funny. It’s just sick and cruel!

 What’s your evidence that the world isn’t ending? Share your proof down in the comments below!

~Guest Diva Samantha, with 'reason' titles by Diva Schuyler 

Catch Guest Diva Samantha on Twitter: @writerlysam

Diva Schuyler's Twitter: @ReadersInk

See Guest Diva BlondiieC's review of Delirium!

http://dystopiandivas.blogspot.com/2011/05/divergent-review-guest-diva-blondiiec.html

Oryx and Crake: Review by Guest Diva Sarah

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

Oryx and Crake is at once an unforgettable love story and a compelling vision of the future. Snowman, known as Jimmy before mankind was overwhelmed by a plague, is struggling to survive in a world where he may be the last human, and mourning the loss of his best friend, Crake, and the beautiful and elusive Oryx whom they both loved. In search of answers, Snowman embarks on a journey--with the help of the green-eyed Children of Crake--through the lush wilderness that was so recently a great city, until powerful corporations took mankind on an uncontrolled genetic engineering ride. Margaret Atwood projects us into a near future that is both all too familiar and beyond our imagining. 

 ~summary from book blurb

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood is an incredible dystopia; or more accurately, an incredible post-apocalyptic sci-fi dystopia. The reason it’s both post-apocalyptic and dystopian is because the main character is living in a post-apocalyptic world and reflecting on the dystopian society in which he once lived. The world that Atwood builds is fascinating and terrifying at the same time. Well, the world that was; the one before the apocalypse.

The story starts off with Snowman waking up in a post-apocalyptic world, and interacting with a new breed of humans, the Children of Crake. Through Snowman’s recollections we gradually learn the sequence of events leading up to the collapse of civilization, the creation of the Children of Crake, and Snowman’s place in all of it.

Snowman reminisces about a world in which there is extreme social disparity, genetic hybrids, corporations which have taken over society, and man-made viruses run rampant. And since corporations are the government, anything is legal as long as they get their cut.

Atwood has never failed to horrify me… in a good way, a self-progressive way. Her command of the English language is something to be admired. What I love about Oryx and Crake and the other books of hers I’ve read (The Handmaid’s Tale, The Year of the Flood) is that they aren’t just sci-fi books, they’re deeply philosophical works of fiction that raise some important questions that really make you think. I think the most horrifying aspect of Oryx and Crake is that it may seem far-fetched, but it’s really not. This book is too relevant for my comfort.

There’s more to Oryx and Crake than just the philosophical side. It’s also about friendship, betrayal, loss and loneliness. There’s even a love triangle. Not one as dramatic as Bella, Edward, and Jacob’s, but it’s there.

The ending of Oryx and Crake is uncertain, definitely a cliffhanger. Fortunately, there’s a sequel, The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood, which answers A LOT of questions left unanswered. Unfortunately, that one ends with a cliffhanger as well because it turns out that it’s supposed to be a trilogy. But the third one isn’t out yet! I’m just going to crawl in bed and cry myself to sleep now.

I would definitely recommend this book to people who don’t mind feeling uneasy, and who enjoy the sci-fi, dystopian, post-apocalyptic genres; for Atwood fans, and for anyone who is up for an awesome cerebral read.

~Sarah

About Guest Diva Sarah: I’m a 21-year-old literature student living off of vegan sloppy joes. Dystopia is my absolute favorite genre so I’m really excited to be a Guest Diva. Aside from receiving an award for doing a superawesome job in my high school economics class, my greatest achievement to date is coming up with an extensive zombie survival plan. That means if you somehow find yourself in my apartment you will see a backpack full of survival supplies and a tomahawk axe sitting next to it.  

Delirium Review: Guest Diva BlondiieC

Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Before scientists found the cure, people thought love was a good thing. They didn't understand that once love--the deliria--blooms in your blood, there is no escaping its hold.

Things are different now. Scientists are able to eradicate love, and the government demands that all citizens receive the cure upon turning eighteen. Lena Haloway has always looked forward to the day when she'll be cured. A life without love is a life without pain: safe, measured, predictable, and happy.But with ninety-five days left until her treatment, Lena does the unthinkable: she falls in love. ~from GoodReads.com

This is the latest offering from the author of the brilliant Before I Fall. Lauren Oliver has delivered another work of young adult (YA) fiction that will blow readers away. This is a fantastic dystopian that crosses age barriers flawlessly. Lauren Oliver writes beautifully and skillfully; she has offered up another great book that takes the notion of YA fiction and turns it upside down.

Many readers hear the term YA and cringe or back away for fear that this is yet another Twilight remake. But fear not! This isn't another paranormal romance novel with annoying characters. This is absolutely fantastic. More readers are turning to YA fiction for more of what they love: dystopian fiction, sci-fi, and fantasy. The lines are blurring and the crossover potential is infinite. YA is fast becoming one of the best-selling genres of the moment and with books like Delirium, it's not hard to see why.

Dystopian fiction is on the rise again. This genre is not new but  authors such as Oliver definitely have fresh outlooks on it. Thanks to the popularity of such dystopian classics as Soylent Green and 1984 and the unforgettable Brave New World, authors are turning back to a type of writing that works and we are all truly grateful.

Delirium takes readers to the not-too-distant future where love is a disease that needs to be cured and the "powers that be" have decided that love is the reason for all that is wrong with the world. Delirium explores that idea that by curing people of this disease "love," the world would be rid of civil unrest, and society would be placid and more pliable. And of course, it wouldn't be a story without some romance, and Lauren Oliver has cast Lena as the troubled teen who falls in love amidst circumstances that forbid it.

I don't want to give too much away about the plot and the way this story evolves because you just have to read it for yourself. One thing I can say is that Lauren Oliver's writing is captivating. It draws you in right to the last page. The use of language in Delirium is stunning, and that's what sets Lauren Oliver apart from most YA writers. She doesn't "dumb down" the language or assume that her readers can't understand big words, and that is part of what makes Delirium so incredible. Not to mention that the characters are real and totally believable and likeable. Lena is a great character and I know everyone who reads it will empathise with her right till the end. Do yourself a favour: if you haven't read Lauren Oliver's work yet, do it now. You will not be disappointed. Delirium is great.

Watch the book trailer for Delirium (Diva Schuyler adds: The song for this is absolutely gorgeous!):

~BlondiieC

xox

Diva Schuyler: If you love Delirium as much as the Divas do, you'll be glad to know it will be a trilogy! The next book will be Pandemonium, and the last, Requiem.

About BlondiieC: I am a book-addicted word nerd, I love books and I love big words! I also like to read a lot and blog a lot. So you could pretty much say I love books and words and that's me. But there is more to me than that. I work in an independent book store and I love it. I love finding the right book for people and sharing in their reading journey. I am an aspiring writer, and I hope to one day get paid to write reviews. I'm a recent convert to YA Fiction and Fantasy/Sci-fi and I can't get enough of it. I love to read and I love sharing my thoughts with the world. Oh, and I think reading is sexy! So that's me. Nice to meet you (sort of)...I hope you like what I write ! :)

Memento Nora Review: Diva Schuyler

Memento Nora by Angie Smibert

"A teen struggles to hold onto her memories--and her identity--in a world that wants everyone to forget--and keep on shopping. Three dynamic teens come together to create a comic book of their memories." ~from GoodReads.com

 Nora James is into having "glossy" days: ones spent shopping for the latest trends, watching her favorite shows, and spending time with friends just like her. So when she witnesses an event that won't leave her mind, she wants to go back to being glossy--by going, as so many do, to a Therapeutic Forgetting Clinic (or TFC). Only once she's there, she decides she doesn't want to forget. This decision leads her to find different friends and learn truths about the world around her--scary things. With the help of new friends Micah and Winter, she embarks on a project to write these truths. Thus, an underground comic called "Memento" (meaning "remember") is born. 

This slim novel charts the path of the three main characters, Nora, Micah, and Winter, in turn. Despite the grim reality of the world around the teens, Smibert inserts flashes of humor and also a celebration--of art and its power to heal and to revolutionize. The underground comic is a notable example, but there is also sculpture, architecture, graffiti and tattoo art. Reading this book made me want to read more about these types of expression, and make more of it, too.

All three of the main characters are compelling and very different from one another. Yet as the book progresses we see factors that tie them together, as each sees the way the other lives and thinks. This is often showed through the sharing of memories. As a reader, I pondered my own memories, and how it has felt to share the more traumatic ones with others. It has often left me feeling more whole, and closer to the person with whom I've shared. In Memento Nora's world of forgetting, there would be no such cathartic moments. There would be no real therapeutic times--just a pill to take the bad thoughts away.

As a person with PTSD (Posttraumatic Stress Disorder), I had to think very hard about whether I'd want a pill to forget. PTSD has harsh symptoms like nightmares, flashbacks, and acute anxiety. There are days when these symptoms are strong, when I know the temptation to go to a Therapeutic Forgetting Clinic would be a terrible struggle. However, my memories--even the traumatic ones--are also what helps me to understand myself and others. Without that, I'd just be...glossy. Without cares, but also without the capacity to be truly caring.

Memento Nora is a dystopian book that has at its heart the meaning of friendship. The meaning of what it takes to care about people and the world around you. I personally loved it, and since it's to be a trilogy, am ready for more!

 Think the world of Memento Nora is far away? Take a look at this article from MSNBC: 

"Pill Could Help You Forget Bad Memories"

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29284885

Quote: This Is Your Brain on Words

"The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the words. " – Philip K. Dick

Divergent Review: Guest Diva BlondiieC

"One choice. One choice decides your friends, defines your beliefs, and determines your loyalties . . . forever. Or, one choice can transform you. In Veronica Roth's début novel, Divergent, a perfect society unfolds into a dystopian world of electrifying decisions, stunning consequences, heartbreaking betrayals, and unexpected romance."--book blurb

In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles to determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes infuriating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers a growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.

Debut author Veronica Roth bursts onto the literary scene with the first book in the Divergent series—dystopian thrillers filled with electrifying decisions, heartbreaking betrayals, stunning consequences, and unexpected romance.

~GoodReads.com

Divergent is a brilliant début novel, and the best part of that is that it's the first in a trilogy. Veronica Roth has taken the YA world by storm with this stunning book. Divergent has it all: edge of your seat thrills, death-defying stunts and nonstop action. Fast-paced, gritty, and at times disturbing, Divergent is a fantastic new book from a writer that I am personally very excited to have discovered. I started Divergent and didn't stop reading until the last page. I was completely hooked; I got drawn into Tris' world and did not want to leave. I put everything else aside; I couldn't help myself, I just had to keep reading it. Divergent is the reason the term "captivating page turner" was coined. Be prepared to do nothing else except read until this book is finished.

Tris is the ultimate female protagonist: gutsy, determined, fearless, yet vulnerable and inherently feminine. She will appeal to readers over a huge age range, and better yet ,she will appeal to male readers as well as female. Tris, in short, kicks ass and she does it all without being a whiny pain like so many characters in YA fiction. I really love this character and had to keep reminding myself that she is, in fact, just a character. She is just so real!

You simply could not write a review of Divergent without a mention of the other protagonist in this book. Four is a startlingly brilliant character and for anyone who doesn't enjoy a female lead, Four will make up for the focus on Tris. He is amazing, completely three-dimensional, infinitely believable, and strong. He is fearless like Tris, and at times frightening. Male readers will want to be him and female readers will want to date him. He really is that good.

I really could go on and on about Divergent. It is a fantastic book that will have readers hooked. I am already counting down the days until book two is released.

~BlondiieC

xox

About BlondiieC: I am a book-addicted word nerd, I love books and I love big words! I also like to read a lot and blog a lot. So you could pretty much say I love books and words and that's me. But there is more to me than that. I work in an Independent book store and I love it. I love finding the right book for people and sharing in their reading journey. I am an aspiring writer, and I hope to one day get paid to write reviews. I'm a recent convert to YA Fiction and Fantasy/Sci-fi and I can't get enough of it. I love to read and I love sharing my thoughts with the world. Oh, and I think reading is sexy! So that's me. Nice to meet you (sort of)...I hope you like what I write ! :)

Quote: Paradise Is Not What It Seems

"All paradises, all utopias are designed by who is not there, by the people who are not allowed in."
- Toni Morrison 

photo from the film "Never Let Me Go"

Dystopia and Our Society: Guest Diva Samantha

 Dystopia and Our Society: An article by Guest Diva Samantha

Horror has long been thought of as the genre that plays on our fears. Frankenstein is probably the one you have heard of most often. Frankenstein’s monster is brought back to life, and during the time that Mary Shelley wrote the novel, medical advances were being made. Many people feared and wondered if we were playing God, and they wondered how far we were allowed to go. The attempt to bring people back from the dead was not just fictional, it was really happening. Time has passed, though, and the idea of coming back from the dead isn’t as frightening to us as it used to be. Stem cell research doesn’t send shivers down the spine or make the person fear that they are going to die. A hoard of test tube babies is not going to come after us in our sleep. Global warming, government uprisings, natural disasters, government collapses, social networking, and severe social injustices, however, are very pressing matters for our society today.

 With vampires defanged and zombies not quite having the bite that they used to we are forced to turn from traditional horror to something new. Maybe Sarah Dessen leaves your knees trembling for the wrong reason, the Cullens don’t give you the creeps, and certainly witchcraft doesn’t end in trials anymore. Dystopia is where it’s at. 

The trends in YA are like a volcano. They come in spurts. As a reader you can’t exactly time when they will happen or tell what is going to come up; but you know trends will happen and, eventually, they will change. With The Hunger Games still rising in the charts, more and more dystopian novels are coming out: XVI by Julia Karr, Bumped by Megan McCafferty, Delirium by Lauren Oliver, Divergent by Veronica Roth. Then there are the ‘oldies’ (but the goodies!): Lois Lowery’s The Giver, Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies Trilogy (er, quartet?). Then the classics like Fahrenheit 451 and 1984. All of these books have one thing in common: something caused the upheaval of our society. Burning books, love being a disease, infertility, women’s place in society slipping back again, global warming leading to the change of the continents, Big Brother. 

Some of these books could tell our future, but some already have. With iPhones now having the capability to track the user and send them specific ads for where they are, the only thing closer to Big Brother would be if they were watching you. Of course, there was the high school that gave students laptops and then watched them through the webcams. But, certainly, that was only for their safety. (If you believe that, then congratulations, you’re buying into it.)

Other more recent books borrow tidbits from our society and emphasize it. In Westerfeld’s Extras your online status suddenly becames very important. Your friends hitting the “Like” button no longer just sends you little red warnings on the Facebook window bar, but now determines where you stand in society.

Lauren Oliver takes a different approach in Delirium where she plays on the reader’s relationship with love and heartbreak. Delirium is a YA book so it is intended for teens (I laugh in the face of intentions, though). Love is such a new thing for teens; it’s scary making yourself vulnerable to someone else. Your first loves, though, also come with your first heartbreak, and the idea of having a cure for that would be very alluring.

             

As our society changes, so will our fears. In conjunction, so will the topics that are discussed in the pages of dystopian novels.

Guest Diva Samantha is 21 years old. She will be a UC Santa Cruz student next fall studying literature. She has loved dystopian novels since The Giver was assigned reading in her sixth grade class. It was the first book she ever read in one sitting and the last assigned reading she ever enjoyed. Aside from dystopian novels, she likes paranormal (with a strong female main character) and some contemporary novels. When not reading, she is either writing or organizing.  Samantha can be found on Twitter: @writerlysam.

The Hunger Games: Fan Art, Katniss & Gale

Diva Schuyler is an amateur artist who started drawing in February of 2011. Here, she talks about her sketches of Katniss and Gale from The Hunger Games trilogy.

I picture Katniss as looking hard, older than her years, and like someone who could be pretty if she didn't appear so angry, so burdened. I've shadowed her face to depict both the harsh realities of Katniss's life, and the disappointment in herself that she seems to carry with her everywhere.

 Here's a pencil sketch of Katniss, with a little chalk pastel for coloring. I imagine that her hair is windblown from hunting.

Gale, like Katnisas, is a character who carries anger and guilt like a shadow with him. Because of this, and sometimes because of his feelings for Katniss, his perspectives on life are skewed. Therefore, I sketched him with his hair obscuring one eye. Yet Gale, at times, also has great clarity of thought, and for this reason, his other eye is clear and large.

The Why of Reading Dystopian: Diva Schuyler

Why read dystopian, when the works often feature  intense human misery? Why are there suddenly so many young adult book in the genre; what do kids today know about suffering and deprivation? Diva Schuyler writes about why she loves dystopian lit, particularly for teens.

It's been interesting to watch the rise of dystopian tales (as well as post-apocalyptic reads) in the young adult market. I believe tragedies such as 9/11, Columbine, and the like here in America, and the current struggles for freedom in places like Libya, have wriggled their way into our unconscious minds; so that while we go about enjoying our freedom we are aware, too, of how life as we know it can end, brutally swift. Also, awareness of more personal tragedies such as bullying, child abuse, and homelessness is high, and sadly these issues are not abating. Today's teens deal with a world where these problems are nearly inescapable. It's either in their face due to internet/media exposure, or an undercurrent in their daily lives, or it IS daily life. Kids just know. Young adult literature reflects this knowing.

As an adult who faced childhood trauma, I read tales like Divergent by Veronica Roth to cheer on characters who either know, or come to know, life's big and small tragedies, and then fight. Some of these characters face actual combat, like in Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games or Patrick Ness's Chaos Walking trilogy, or a more subtle war, as in Ally Condie's Matched or Angie Smibert's Memento Nora. But always, they battle. And in every one of these stories, they find friends who fight alongside them. In dystopian tales, the main characters fight hard, and they love hard.

We suffer, celebrate, and love with them.

 Maybe the question is not, "Why read dystopian?", but "Why is today's society such a perfect market for these stories?"

~Schuyler