Review: The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

age: Ya
genre: dystopia, sci-fi
rating: 5/8 tentacles

Todd Hewitt lives on a planet where everyone's thoughts are psychically broadcast, even animals. When Todd finds something strange in the swamp, his stepfathers present him with his dead mother's journal and a map and urge him to escape town. Todd discovers that much of what he's been raised to believe is a lie. Interesting premise dealing with privacy, truth, and innocence.

Ness writes skillfully (although he overdoes the dialect a little in my opinion). I like the interaction between Todd and Viola. I liked watching Todd slowly make sense of the world, and could empathize with the frustration he felt when his ignorance was proven to him again and again. The way that Patrick Ness deals with the conflicts that would naturally arise from a world in which every man can see into every other man's mind, and only women can keep their thoughts private, adds ambiguous complexity to the story.

I did not like the way that readers were excluded from secrets revealed to the main characters. Withholding information creates suspense, but if withheld for too long, readers will become frustrated. If I'm going to watch somebody show or explain something to Todd, I want to be in on it. Especially if the "big reveal" later on isn't all that exciting and I could've guessed the big secret. Just tell me. What is the point of writing in first person if I don't get to experience everything Todd experiences.

I also don't like Todd because of a thing he did (didn't do) that I can't tell you about. His actions are often portrayed in a manner that seems to suggest a moral lesson, which annoys me. It feels forced to praise a character who shuns murder, even in situations where killing would be a legitimate defense, or would protect a loved one. To me, this is not admirable. It's cowardly and stupid. It's also a little implausible considering the conditions that Todd was raised in, right? Todd goes on and on about how some people grew up in luxury while in his town, people had to fight to survive. But then he only fights to survive up to a certain point. I guess personality can trump environment and up-bringing? I don't know. I feel skeptical about this.

Anyway, the writing is solid and I love the idea of Noise. On to the sequel!

Review: All You Never Wanted by Adele Griffin

age: YA
genre: realistic fiction
rating: 8/8 tentacles

Alex Parrott, high school senior and former It girl, struggles through a nervous breakdown as her younger sister Thea fights to claim a place for herself in the high school hierarchy. While Alex wastes away in her room, Thea performs the new self she's cultivated, spreads lies, and flaunts her step father's money.

This book is great. The writing is beautiful and real. It's gut writing. It's poetry. I wish I could be this good.

The novel is split between Alex and Thea's perspectives.  Alex's chapters are written in third person and Thea's in first.  (Interesting, interesting.)  The characters possess a human complexity that makes them engaging and relatable, if not likable.

Love this book.  I will definitely be reading more of Adele Griffin.

Review: Sapphire Blue by Kirsten Gier

age: YA
genre: sci-fi, time travel
rating: 6/8 tentacles

I feel like sometimes there's no point reviewing sequels. I could copy and paste my review of Ruby Red here and I think it would make complete sense and be mostly accurate. Same likable characters, same mystery, same time travelling fun, same incomplete arc. At the end I turned the page expecting the story to continue and then thought wait, that's it? It just ended?

Luckily I got distracted/lazy/something and didn't get around to reading this until a while after publication, so I don't have to wait very long for the next installment, which I am excited for. This is the kind of fun book that leaves you wanting more of the same. Now I just have to wait til October.

P.S. I hate Charlotte and want terrible things to happen to her. I want her to be exposed as the useless, spineless, fraud that she is. Someone needs to slap her.
P.P.S. I hope Gideon turns out to be evil. I'm tired of predictable romances.

Review: The No Hellos Diet by Sam Pink

age: adult
genre: realistic fiction
rating: 6/8 tentacles

Sam Pink is weird and I like it. 

Experience humanity in all its idiosyncratic, mundane glory. In second person.

Review: Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

age: YA
genre: fantasy
rating: 5/8 tentacles


In a world where humans and dragons live in tentative peace after years of wars, Seraphina must conceal the fact that she is half-dragon. Because dragons can take the form of humans, this is not as weird as it sounds.

I love the way that Rachel Hartman sets up the differences between humans and dragons. Her dragons are obsessed with knowledge and logic and lack the ability to mimic the social niceties of humans. I wish I could go around behaving like a dragon. Hartman's worldbuilding is economical and informative and the vocabulary she creates around her dragon culture is fun and lends her world authenticity.

The characters lean a little toward cartoony but the ambiguous subject matter--prejudices against a foreign "race"-- adds back some complexity. As does Seraphina's fear of being found out as a fraud. Even people without secret dragon scales may be able to relate to her insecurities.

I hated the mental garden scenes. We watch as Seraphina withdraws into her imagination and describes creatures that we assume she has made up. This stuff does become relevant later, but until the end of the book, we float away from the plot and the tangible world and waste time hearing about seemingly random creatures that have no anchor in the story and no discernible purpose. I was completely bored during these scenes.

Even though Seraphina drags in places, the premise captivated me and I stayed up late to finish it instead of doing things I was supposed to do. Always a sign of a good book.

Review: Another Little Piece by Kate Karyus Quinn

age: YA
genre: horror
rating: 7/8 tentacles

when missing girl annaliese is found after a year, she remembers nothing but the few days she spent wandering before her rescue. returning fragments of memory that don't fit anneliese's life begin to convince her that she's not who everyone thinks she is.

authentic characters, authentic relationships. great mystery that steadily unspools and satiates craving for answers bit by bit instead of ending in a cheap twist. creepy, fun, original. solid writing. read in one day.

Review: Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews

age: YA
genre: realistic fiction, cancer
rating: 7/8 tentacles

this is about a boy who finds out a girl he was sort of friends with once has been diagnosed with cancer. his mom thinks he should be there for her, so he is pushed into the awkward task of reconnecting and beginning a friendship that has an expiration date.

honest, human, compex. fun, youthful voice. cuts out annoying sentimentality and preachy it-will-be-okay messages. imperfect, likable characters. funny--i laughed out loud (for real) a bunch of times. screenplay format successfully integrated into prose (like in Monster, which is also great). read in one day.