Book Review: Leviathan

By Scott Westerfeld

Prince Aleksander, would-be heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, is on the run. His own people have turned on him. His title is worthless. All he has is a battletorn war machine and a loyal crew of men.

Deryn Sharp is a commoner, disguised as a boy in the British Air Service. She's a brilliant airman. But her secret is in constant danger of being discovered.

With World War I brewing, Alek and Deryn's paths cross in the most unexpected way…taking them on a fantastical, around-the-world adventure that will change both their lives forever.

Why I read it: I’d heard of Westerfeld’s Ugly series, which is near the top of my TBR pile, so when I saw this sitting at the library I though I’d check it out.

What I liked: I haven’t read much steampunk, but this is certainly one of my new favourite genres. I love the idea of alternate history. While Leviathan wasn’t very alternate, that almost made it cooler, since it was kind of like historical fiction only a ton more interesting. Plus, the time leading up to WW1 was probably my favourite period in the history course I just took, so I love how this story concentrated on the (fictional) son of the Austrian archduke who was assassinated to start the war.

I loved the creatures and machines that Westerfeld invents. There are huge machines that walk like animals (very Star-wars) and gigantic ‘fabricated’ animals that work with engines like machines. I loved how he took two characters, one who loved the machines and the other who loved the animals, to show the different sides of the new technology. This story was illustrated, which meant that we could see pictures of the beasties and so he didn’t need to waste too much space describing everything. In short, I think Westerfeld writes steampunk very well.

What I disliked: A lot of people have pointed this out already, but I’ll say it again: The characters feel really young. Instead of 15-16, they feel more like 12-13. I still liked them and they felt real, but I didn’t quite connect with them like I wanted. I never got much emotion from either of them. While I was actually relieved that there wasn’t any romance (though I’m sure there will be in later books) there weren’t many high-tension scenes, either, except for one where Deryn almost tells Alek who she is.

For a 450 page book I was expecting a little more plot. It didn’t really feel draggy but now, looking back on it, I see that very little happened. In fact, it’s not until page 400 that the last plot point from the cover synopsis is mentioned. I was expecting them to get together fairly soon, but the book’s half done before they meet and virtually done before they’re together on the Leviathan. While it was all interesting and well written, it could have been much shorter.

From a Christian Perspective: In terms of violence, sexual content and profanity this book does quite well. There may have been a few quick swear words, but mostly the characters used other exclamations like ‘barking spiders!’ There was a bit of violence but nothing graphic and no sexual content at all.

On the other hand, this story treats evolution as real. The huge animal/machine things are all ‘fabricated,’ meaning that they’re grown from their ‘life threads’ in a lab, combining species. England, France and the other allies are called the ‘Darwinists.’ I know this is just a story but I still didn’t like the emphasis on evolution.

To buy or not to buy: I think I’ll pick up the sequel, Behemoth, because I want to find out what happens next. However, I don’t think I’ll get this book. A book needs to have a real page-turning plot for me to want to read it again, but this one felt more like MG to me.

 
 

Book Review: Matched

By Allie Condie


Cassia has always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her: what to read, what to watch, what to believe. So when Xander's face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows he is her ideal mate . . . until she sees Ky Markham's face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black. The Society tells her it's a glitch, a rare malfunction, and that she should focus on the happy life she's destined to lead with Xander.
 But Cassia can't stop thinking about Ky, and as they slowly fall in love, Cassia begins to doubt the Society's infallibility and is faced with an impossible choice: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she's known and a path that no one else has dared to follow.

Why I read it: It’s dystopia, and that’s reason enough. Plus, the cover is absolutely gorgeous. I know you’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but in this case the cover fits perfectly.

My Thoughts: I’ve decided not to do a ‘what I liked’ and ‘what I disliked’ about this book, because my thoughts are all over the map. Basically, I liked almost everything, but didn’t really like anything.

The premise is an intriguing one. At seventeen, everyone is ‘Matched’ up with the person they will eventually marry. Cassia is matched with her best friend Xander, and she’s completely happy with that until she puts her match disk in her home port, and another boy’s face appears for a second. I quite enjoyed this premise; the idea of an arranged marriage perfectly calculated on their personalities sounds like something that could eventually happen. However, I was annoyed by the romance in this book. She loves Xander and knows that she would be happy with him; he’s a super sweet guy. And yet, she decides to fall in love with Ky. I never really understood why she liked Ky that much more that she would risk everything to be with him when she knew it was impossible.

The setting was certainly well described. I enjoyed the portrayal of the Society as something that was meant to help the people. Instead of being an evil totalitarian government, they honestly meant to do the best thing for the people. I liked this twist, but it felt a little off when they would do some semi-evil things for no reason whatsoever. I got the impression that it was actually a fairly good society, but Cassia needed an excuse to rebel to keep the book from getting boring, so Condie would make them do something completely senseless, like go door to door collecting all their old valuables. Also, the Society decided to keep only a hundred poems/songs/paintings because the culture was too ‘cluttered’. I never really understood why they’d stop creativity like that.

As for the characters, I liked them alright but I didn’t quite identify with them. I really liked Cassia’s family. Her parents were nice, well-rounded characters, and I loved her little brother. I also really liked both the love interests, Xander and Ky. However, I never quite felt the romance between Ky and Cassia. It always seemed like they liked being together so they could talk about old (forbidden) poetry rather than having any real attraction.

From a Christian Perspective: Matched scores very high in this category. I don’t think there was any swearing at all. There was no sexual content, aside from two or three quick kisses that weren’t sensual at all. Religion is mentioned once or twice as something that ended a long time ago, with the coming of the restrictive Society. One of the major reasons that Cassia hates the Society is because she finds out that the reason everyone dies at eighty is because the Society poisons their food. It was nice to see an anti-euthanasia message in a popular book. In short, this is not exactly a Christian book, but it has nothing in it that would offend a Christian.

To buy or not to buy: I’ve decided not to buy this because it’s just not my type of story. I was looking for an action/adventure, it turned out to be a romance. If you love dystopian romance, though, this is definitely the book for you. 

Book Review: The Lying Game

By Sara Shepard

I had a life anyone would kill for.

Then someone did.

The worst part of being dead is that there’s nothing left to live for. No more kisses. No more secrets. No more gossip. It’s enough to kill a girl all over again. But I’m about to get something no one else does—an encore performance, thanks to Emma, the long-lost twin sister I never even got to meet.

Now Emma’s desperate to know what happened to me. And the only way to figure it out is to be me—to slip into my old life and piece it all together. But can she laugh at inside jokes with my best friends? Convince my boyfriend she’s the girl he fell in love with? Pretend to be a happy, carefree daughter when she hugs my parents good night? And can she keep up the charade, even after she realizes my murderer is watching her every move?

Why I read it: Honestly, I’m not quite sure. I don’t think I’ll like Pretty Little Liars but I guess the idea of this story (girl finds out she has a long lost twin who has been murdered and so she has to take her place) sounded a lot more interesting to me.

What I liked:  This was a very fast-paced read, which was exactly what I’ve been looking for. I’ve had to push myself through the past couple books, but this one dragged me along for the ride. I finished it in two days, despite being really busy (had I not been busy, it would have been one afternoon.) At 300 pages it’s not terribly long, but not ridiculously short either. It was just the perfect length. And Sara Shepard never allowed it to get boring, either. I was constantly on my toes.

 

Also, I really enjoyed the setting. For some reason, I’m a big fan of stories where the poor girl (in this case, a foster kid) is thrown into a really rich setting. I like reading about crazy rich people who can buy five hundred dollar boots and consider $40 sunglasses to be a bargain. Shepard does a good job with this setting, making Sutton’s family rich, but not unbelievably so.

What I disliked: The main thing that annoyed me was the narration. It’s written in first person from the POV of a dead girl. This immediately threw me off. What is it with all these dead narrators? (Before I Fall and Hereafter to name a few more.) In this case, it just felt really awkward. Most of the story read like it was third person limited from Emma (the MC’s) POV. Then occasionally Sutton, the dead girl, would say something, and we’d realize that no, Sutton was actually the narrator, not Emma. And then sometimes Sutton would refer to herself as ‘I’ and other times as ‘Sutton’. It just felt jarring.

I also didn’t care for the ending. I won’t say much, but basically I was expecting a bigger revelation. We learn a bit more about the situation, but that brings us back to square one. At the end of the book, Emma is virtually no closer to solving the murder than she was at the beginning. This is certainly not a standalone novel in any way. I guess HarperCollins is just too sure of Sara Shepard’s success (after Pretty Little Liars) to be worried that her future books won’t sell.

 

From a Christian Perspective: This wasn’t near as bad as I thought it would be. The dead narrator was just a little weird, and I would have liked it much better without. There was very little swearing (unless you count the word ‘bitch’) and just a tad of sexual content. A party is slightly described where they get a little drunk, and Sutton’s boyfriend plans for him and Emma (who he thinks is Sutton) to lose their virginity at this party. As soon as Emma realizes this, though, she runs away, so the ‘romance’ between them stops at a quick kiss or two.

To buy or not to buy: I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would. I don’t think I would buy this book, but I do see why it’s so popular. If I win more books from HarperCollins, I may well choose this one. I guess it all depends on whether the next books turn out to be good. 

Book Review: Before I Fall

By Lauren Oliver

What if you had only one day to live? What would you do? Who would you kiss? And how far would you go to save your own life?

Samantha Kingston has it all: the world's most crush-worthy boyfriend, three amazing best friends, and first pick of everything at Thomas Jefferson High—from the best table in the cafeteria to the choicest parking spot. Friday, February 12, should be just another day in her charmed life.

Instead, it turns out to be her last.

Then she gets a second chance. Seven chances, in fact. Reliving her last day during one miraculous week, she will untangle the mystery surrounding her death—and discover the true value of everything she is in danger of losing.

Why I read it: I saw it pretty much everywhere and read a ton of good reviews for it, so I decided to give it a try, even though general fiction really isn’t my thing.

What I liked: This is certainly a book with a message, something that seems to be rare in commercial YA. At the beginning of the story the MC is a stereotypical ‘mean girl’ but throughout the book she becomes less self-centered until at the end she’s nothing like the girl she was at first. This transformation was super predictable, but it never felt forced, which impressed me. She went through several realistic stages, a day of complete disbelief, a day playing the bad girl, a day being all goody-goody… She felt so different each day, but it was always so connected that it felt real.

I have no quibbles with Oliver’s writing. Somehow she managed to take the exact same day and twist it so that we could read about it seven times and it was interesting each time. There isn’t exactly anything unique about her writing, but it carried the story perfectly. I always understood and empathized with the MC.

What I disliked: I won’t say much about this because I don’t want to ruin it for you, but I wasn’t satisfied with the ending. Basically, it didn’t seem to really satisfy the moral dilemma. There were so many problems in the story and the ending only seemed to fix one of them. Aside from that, I don’t see how the MC’s actions would really work the way they did…

Like I just mentioned, there was a lot of bad stuff in this novel. One of the main events of the day is a big party, where people are getting drunk or stoned or something. There’s an awful lot of sexual content, and while the MC never actually has sex, it was still a prevailing part of the story. Considering the ending, I never felt like there was any real hope for change. Maybe the MC has realized how empty it all is, but no one else really has.

From a Christian Perspective: I’m not sure if I would recommend this or not. There is an awful lot of bad content. There isn’t exactly a sex scene, but the story opens with the MC deciding to lose her virginity that night, and she gets pretty close at least once. She ends up kissing three guys during the story, and many other characters make out. Sex is discussed regularly, never explicitly, but still… There’s not an awful lot of swearing, unless you count ‘bitch’ as a bad word. The MC and her friends get drunk several times. Like I said earlier, the MC does come to realize that all this is really empty, but it’s never really called bad. The message is more ‘Don’t bully people’ instead of ‘don’t get drunk and have sex.’ I found this book was good for understanding how other people think, but I won’t read it again.

To buy or not to buy: I won’t be buying this book because I have no desire to read about Sam’s messed up life again. Others may really enjoy it, but in the end there’s just too much questionable content for me to actually buy it.