The Scorpio Races

The Scorpio Races
Maggie Stiefvater

Irish island mythology. Sean Kendrick and Kate (Puck) Connelly are young residents of Thisby, an island of the Irish coast. This island is known for its horses and its fish and annually hosts horse races that attract tourists and buyers from the mainland. This annual event supports most of the island for the rest of the year. The mythology comes in the form of the water horses. These creatures are monstrous horses that live in the sea, and when the come on to land, their carnivorous appetites terrorize the locals. As part of the annual festival, a water horse race is held, and as the first line states "It is the first of November and today someone will die".

With Sean as the resident horse whisperer and Puck a feisty girl not willing to bow to conventional wisdom, our protagonists follow paths that eventually intertwine. This is an excellent character book, with the island as much a character as the people. Stiefvater has a way with the phrase that is both clever and able to convey deep meaning with few words.

Very enjoyable.
Rating: Read

The Inferior

The Inferior
Peadar o Guiloin
Book 1 of The Bone World trilogy

Stopmouth is the hero here. He is a hunter in the human tribe, one of many hunters whose sole purpose is to bring enough flesh back to the tribe to insure survival. Stopmouth knows that when he can no longer contribute flesh, he will need to volunteer his own in trade for food for the tribe. Such is the scenario set up in this seemingly gruesome throwback tale of survival. Without giving too much away, it turns out that what we have is a developing battle between the meat-eaters and the vegetarians, the savages and the civilized, the powerful and the weak, or the knowledgeable and the ignorant. What becomes clear as we progress though the story is that, aside from the meat-eater/vegetarian distinction, it is not clear which side falls into the other categories. In fact, it isn't even clear that there are sides for awhile. This first book does an excellent job of introducing the fantasy world with meaningful and complex characters while giving hints of what is to come in resolving this plot. I see an epic battle in the future...
Rating: Read

Across the Universe

Beth Revis
Book 1 in Across the Universe trilogy

Amy is just a kid and is put in a position to make the biggest decision of her life. Should she end her life as she knows it in order to jump on a space ship with her parents and wake up in 250 years on another planet?

On the ship Godspeed, the Eldest and Elder are the current and future leaders. Their "cargo" is secret but their purpose is clear. Get to Centauri-Earth and initate the first human colony on another planet. When Amy is unfrozen before her time, she is taken under Elder's wing. What starts as a straight-up sci-fi drama turns into the space version of dystopia. A teen age boy and girl slowly uncover the corruption and systemic evils of the world they live in and become determined to change things for the better. And we get to evaluate the value of life, how to insure quality of life for all, the rights of one vs. the good of all, etc. This one just happens to be in a bit more of a claustrophobic atmosphere. I really enjoyed this book and look forward to the next in the series.

The thing with sci-fi is you should probably get the sci part right. And these are just easy fixes. Why refer to an inertial confinement hydrogen fission power source? Clearly this would be a fusion device? Why talk about a lead cooled fast reactor engine that can take the uranium waste, recycle it and use it again for fuel --- indefinitely? At least don't break the fundamental laws of physics without making this a significant part of the plot line. Actually, for now I will give Revis a break on the recycled fuel since that little piece of science was told to us by Eldest, a known scientific neophyte. But she better clear that up in the next installment.
Rating: Read it

Delirium

Lauren Oliver
Book 1 of Delirium trilogy

In the world created by Oliver, Love (Deliria) is a disease. And like all diseases, it can be cured. Lena, our hero, is a teenager in Portland Maine. She and her friend Hana are enjoying the last summer before their senior year of high school, and the last summer before they receive the cure. At the age of 18, every American citizen has the surgical procedure that cures Deliria. After that, mating matches are made and life goes on without the trouble caused by excess emotion. Of course, for this to be a story, Lena and Hana begin to have questions about this system. What they discover and how they and those around them react will change their lives forever. I find the pattern of dystopian future plotlines interesting. Much like an alternate history (e.g. What would life be like if the south won the Civil War) where a particular key event turns out differently, each of the dystopian future novels chooses a particular societal ill and vanquishes it. So here, Love is what causes all of our problems and we imagine a future where love is controlled. In The Hunger Games, Hope is what is taken and in Matched, Love remains, but the choice to Love is removed. In Divergent, several problems are highlighted at once (truth, courage, power, etc.). By imagining what life would be like with a missing element, we are able to show the true value of that element. With that in mind, what would a dystopian future novel look like where the missing element was Violence? Could you write such a novel, or would it cross into Utopian?

Rating: Read

Matched

Ally Condie
Book 1 in Matched series

In this future, the computer distills everything there is to know about you and your genetic makeup and finds for you a perfect mate. Perfect in terms of the best use of your genes for the future of society as well as for your own happiness. The government also provides all your nutrition (along with a few pacifying drugs) and is reponsible for all of your culture. They have outlawed (and actively destroy) non-approved culture. The problem is, our heroine Cassia is matched to her childhood friend Xander, but the computer accidentally gives her bio information on Ky. So who is her true match?

Rating: Read

Divergent

Divergent
Veronica Roth
Book 1 of Divergent trilogy

Rating: Read

Rating System

Recommending books to read is dangerous since everyone has their own tastes and idiosyncrasies. This is primarily a reflection of what I wish I had done, had I known the book. You will have to make your own decision based on the reading you like.

• Read - Entertaining and enjoyable, maybe even thought provoking.
• Wait - not up to standards for this author, or perhaps a second quality story. Wait until series is finished to see if it is worth your time, or just find a better book.
• Skip - don't bother.