So I'm already starting to get behind on this blogging. I've read 3 more books and have yet to blog them, so I will attempt  to do all three today ...we'll see how it goes. So once again I'm doing a twofer. I read Across the Universe last year when it came out, but never got around to reviewing it, now that the sequel is out and of course I have read it, I an now talk about both of them. On to the double review.

So like I said, I read Across the Universe last year when it came out and of course I loved it. The cover it just so pretty and the synopsis of it was different and interesting and def made me want to read it. The idea of space travel is super cool, and being cryogenically frozen, oh man that scene where Amy is being frozen so she can undertake the 300+ year trip with her parents to the new earth, it was so well written and descriptive that I felt like I was being frozen. So anyway the story is that of a girl from Earth who is traveling aboard a huge space ship in order to find a new Earth to inhabit because the old Earth is running out of resources. So Amy and all of the other people who are frozen are supposed to be woken up once the ship reaches the new planet. The ship is being manned and run by people who have made the ship their home and continue to take care of it through the generations. Amy is woken up early and almost dies in the cryo chamber, but is saved by Elder. Elder is destined to take over the ship, he is taking lessons from Eldest, who now runs the ship. Together Amy and Elder, must unravel the mystery of why she was woken up, who is waking up and killing the other frozens, and why the ship has yet to reach it's destination.

The next book picks up uncovering a lie from the first book, the fact that the engine is broken and the shippers(those responsible for guiding and keeping the ship running) were told to lie to Eldest, who is now dead. Elder has assumed leadership of the ship and isn't doing a very good job keeping order on the ship now that the Fedders(those responsible for keeping the ship running) are off Phydus (a drug making the Feeders more complaint and easier to control). The Feeders, now that they have been giving freedom of choice and thought are starting to think that maybe Elder isn't the right choice as leader and the rumblings of rebellion start. Amy, meanwhile, is determined to unravel the clues left to her by Orion(the previous Elder) before he was frozen for his crimes. The clues lead her and Elder to the conclusion that the have indeed arrived at the new planet, but someone doesn't want them to land and is sabotaging the ship. The book ends with Amy and Elder and others breaking away and going to the new planet, which they have learned, while it is habitable the inhabitants on the planet are not friendly. Overall, the book was awesome, I loved the mystery that came about in the book and totally an't wait to see what they find on the new planet, too bad we'll have to wait until next year to see the end.

Legend by Marie Lu

OK, so far so good, def blogging more than last year. I joined the goodreads 2012 reading challenge and I've set my goal for 100 books this year. Thus far I have read 4 and I am on book number 5. I have also decided that I will blog about all the books that I have read so in theory this means at least 100 posts this year, we'll see how this goes. Anyway onto today's book which actually came out last year. When I read the plat summary for it, I felt like it was an ehh book, but I was going to read it because it was dystopia and I love me some dystopia. After reading it I can still say that it was an ehh book, though not as ehhh as I thought it would be if that makes any sense? So now onto the review.

The book is told through the alternating viewpoints of the two main characters, Day and June. June is the prodigy of the country. She is the only kid to score a perfect score on her Trial (think of it like an SAT and an aptitude test for 10 year olds) The higher the score the better your placement in school and then the better the job you get after you finish. Day is the most wanted criminal in the country. He failed his trial (or so he thinks) and then escapes after being experimented on and lives on the streets acting as a modern day Robin Hood, stealing money and plague cures from the wealthy, destroying republic battleships, and other general acts of vandalism. The story starts off with Day seeing his family that he left behind for his life on the streets being quarantined because his youngest brother has developed the plague. Day then endevors to break into the hosptial to steal the cure for him. This is where the plan goes awry, there are no plagu cures, only suppressents. While Day is making his daring escape, he meets June's brother Metais, whom he injures in his attempt to get away. Later we find out that he has died and its made to look like Day has killed him, when in all actuality this isn't true. And there are plots afoot and big government coverups, like any dystopia.

Much of the story takes place on the streets of the poor sector where June is trying to track down Day for her brother's murder, then once Day is captured in the military base and through flashbacks, done by both characters. While I admit that the flashbacks are important, the book moved a little slowly becasue of it. While June is trying to get to the bottom of the murder and the coverups, she begins to believe Day and starts to fall for him. The two begin to work together, and try to figure out the mysteries, all the while Day is on death row and June is trying to figure out a way to break him out.

Personally I think that the world could have been developed a little better. All we know is that the United States doesn't exisit anymore. The Republic that is left is at war with the rebels in the colonies, but that is all we really know about the outside world. I am hoping that the rebel and the colonies are better developed in the next book since it feels that the way this first one left off that that is where our hero and heroine are heading. So my overall review is that the book/series/triology shows some promise but ultimately it is not the next Hunger Games.

Delirium and Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

Special double feature today. I read Delirium last year when it came out. The premise sounded really interesting. "What happens if love were considered a disease?" And so I borrowed it from work and read it...twice. It was so well written, so descriptive it was like I was there in the book, I could picture everything. When I finished with it the second time I was anxiously awaiting the second and third books due out in Feb. 2012 and 2013. Well imagine my shock and delight when an ARC (advanced reader copy) appeared at work on Tuesday. I immediately snatched it up, did a happy dance and set about reading it. Now that I have finished it, I have reviewws for both books, while waiting and wanting the final book.

So Delirium tells the story of a girl, Lena Halloway right before she is supposed to get her "cure" from the disease of love. Basically the cure is a lobotomy that is performed when you turn 18. Prior to that time the only real contact that you have with the opposite sex is your father and if you have any brothers. After you are "cured" you basically become a zombie and do not feel passionately about anything, love and hate become bad words and showing emotion about anything is dangerous. So Lena is only a fw months away from her procedure, which she is looking forward. She lives with her aunt, uncle and two younger cousins, since she is under the impression that her mother is dead. Her mother had the procedure multiple times, but was never cured. Lena doesn't want to end up like her mother, so she anxioulsy awaits her cure date. Before you are cured though you are given a sort of aptitude test that will determine your future spouse, job, income, even how many children you will have. It is on the day of Lena's evaluation that she first sees Alex. Later she runs into Alex again and then begins to develop the disease of love. The rest of the book develops their love to the point where they are both willing to forsake their lives in civilization and escape to the Wilds, where the Invalids (the uncureds) live, where Alex was born. The ending is so sad, yet so well done that I couldn't wait for the next one.

The second book is told in alternating times. Each chapter goes between then and now. Then being when Lena was in the Wilds, after she escapes the regulators and leaves Alex behind. In the Wilds she meets a band of Invalids, who teach her the ways of the Wilds. Raven in the leader of the band who found and saved Lena when she was lost. Now is after Lena, Raven and Tack leave the Wilds and have joined the resistance. They have infiltrated civilization and are acting as spies for the resistane. Lena's assignment is to watch a boy, Julien, who happens to be the son of a high ranking DFA official. The two are kidnapped at a rally and because of their close quaters they begin to fall in love. Because this book isnt out for another 2 months that is all I will say for now on the book, but fear not Alex fans, he may be making apperance at the very end in the cruelest of all cliffhangers.



Divergent by Veronica Roth

OK so let me start out by saying I absolutely LOVED this book. That being said I know that there has been a lot of buzz about this book and I can see why. I actually read this right when it came out last year and I wanted to do a really awesome review of it because I loved it so much and that is the reason that I am reviewing it now over 7 months later. So here we go....

The book starts out  in our future dystopian world of Chicago. There are differnt factions that most of society belongs to (There are the factionless, but there are the dreg of society). When you turn 16 you must make a choice as to which faction you are going to belong to. The factions are Abnegation (the selfless), Candor (the honest), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent).  These factions embody what society values and eah faction holds their namesake as the most important aspect of society, for instance Dauntless values bravery, so their members try to exhibit acts of bravery such as jumping off trains and climbing tall buildings. Most people choose to stay in the faction which they have grown up in, but not Tris. Tris is our heroine of the book. She and her brother both forsake their faction (Abnegation) and choose different ones, for Tris it is Dauntless and for her brother Caleb it is Erudite. 

Once you have picked you faction you go and live amongst it's members and must pass a sort of initation test, if you fail you become factionless, but if you pass you become a fullfledge member of said faction.So anyway, Tris goes through the three stages of initiation. While she is going through all of this there is a plot afoot. Some of the other initiates want to off Tris because she is doing so well in her trials, she learns that the reason she is doing so well is becasue she is Divergent, meaning she can manipulate the simulations she is put through,what this also means is that she doesn't just portray high aptitude for on faction, but two marking hr as dangerous to society (not really sure why, hopefully this will be explained in book 2). At the end the plot comes out, and there is a big show down where Tris and her love interest, fellow Divergent, Four save the day, kinda.

Like I said I loved this book, I have no major gripe with it. I can not wait until book 2, Insurgent, comes out in May. I loved how Veronica Roth used the city of Chicago in her story, I had recently been there so when reading it I could picture every place she described. I only have nice things to say about this book. If you haven't read it you need to get yourself a copy ASAP.

Happy Reading