Me on Let's Revisit a Book! (2)

And we're back with another fun look back at an older YA book to see if I still think it's good or not. Today, or prior to today, I reread Malinda Lo's Adaptation! (There might be a little bleed-through of the second half of the duology, Inheritance, because they do go hand in hand.)

Title: Adaptation
Author: Malinda Lo
Release Date: September 18, 2012
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Hachette Book Group imprint)

From Goodreads:

Reese can’t remember anything from the time between the accident and the day she woke up almost a month later. She only knows one thing: She’s different now.

Across North America, flocks of birds hurl themselves into airplanes, causing at least a dozen to crash. Thousands of people die. Fearing terrorism, the United States government grounds all flights, and millions of travelers are stranded.

Reese and her debate team partner and longtime crush David are in Arizona when it happens. Everyone knows the world will never be the same. On their drive home to San Francisco, along a stretch of empty highway at night in the middle of Nevada, a bird flies into their headlights. The car flips over. When they wake up in a military hospital, the doctor won’t tell them what happened, where they are—or how they’ve been miraculously healed.

Things become even stranger when Reese returns home. San Francisco feels like a different place with police enforcing curfew, hazmat teams collecting dead birds, and a strange presence that seems to be following her. When Reese unexpectedly collides with the beautiful Amber Gray, her search for the truth is forced in an entirely new direction—and threatens to expose a vast global conspiracy that the government has worked for decades to keep secret.

My revisit conclusion: it's still really good! It's like sci-fi lite, set in the present day with some creeping in of aliens and advanced technology and conspiracy theories and a secretive government (because aren't they all? *winky face*). I do like stories like this, when it's set in the present day and everything's as the reader knows it but there's something that's a little different, something unfamiliar and chaotic in all the mundane.

What books like this seem to be about, to me, is about the unexpected. How sometimes it comes right at us, barreling into us, and we're just left behind to pick up the pieces and move on. But we know something's different, something's changed, and there's no one there to ask why or how or if it can be stopped or how long it's going to last or why us. Why now. And now that it's happened, how do we navigate this familiar but slightly different space when no one's there to guide us? I mean, there are figures there to guide us as best as they can, but it's not 100%. We have to learn on our own, and that can be a frightening prospect when we don't understand what's happened.

So if you haven't read this duology and you're looking for some sci-fi, far less violent and deadly than Independance Day with a fair amount of alien confusion and romance, then give it a chance. It flips back and forth between alien secrets and tension to teenage romance and Reese questioning her sexuality.

I hope you've enjoyed this week of looking back at a couple of slightly older YA books. I'll probably do this again when I get a free week or two. :)

Me on Zero Repeat Forever

Title: Zero Repeat Forever
Author: G.S. Prendergast
Release Date: August 29, 2017
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (Simon & Schuster imprint)

He has no voice, or name, only a rank, Eighth. He doesn't know the details of the mission, only the directives that hum in his mind. Dart the humans. Leave them where they fall. His job is to protect his Offside. Let her do the shooting. Until a human kills her. Sixteen year-old Raven is at summer camp when the terrifying armored Nahx invade, annihilating entire cities, taking control of the Earth. Isolated in the wilderness, Raven and her friends have only a fragment of instruction from the human resistance. Shelter in place. Which seems like good advice at first. Stay put. Await rescue. Raven doesn't like feeling helpless but what choice does she have? Then a Nahx kills her boyfriend. Thrown together in a violent, unfamiliar world, Eighth and Raven should feel only hate and fear. But when Raven is injured, and Eighth deserts his unit, their survival comes to depend on trusting each other

Zero Repeat Forever is haunting, a look at invasion and survival from two points of view. A look at what drives us forward, to protect, to survive, and what we'll do in order to stay alive. Who and what we'll listen to.

Eighth is lost and confused. Defective. Part of the sudden force that's overtaking parts of the planet and its population, he can't remember what came before. What he was before. All he knows is what the directives tell him. Dart the humans, leave them there, move on. But he can't shake the feeling that there's something else he should remember. His chapters are sparse and immediate. Almost lyrical. Like he's missing half of himself. He's lonely, searching for purpose. When he finds Raven, he thinks he's found it.

Raven is worried and determined, full of life and rage. She's focused, determined to stay alive and find her parents. She's furious, at herself and the choices she made before being sent away to the summer camp. At the Nahx for invading Earth, for killing her boyfriend. At the remaining humans who find a sick joy in posting videos of them killing the Nahx. At Eighth for finding her, saving her, following her. Her chapters are far more dense, more descriptive. She's human, she has all these human fears and worries, hopes and regrets. There's desperation running through her. She doesn't want to die.

There's something eerie and complicated about this book, about the story of Eighth and Raven. About the invasion of the Nahx and their purpose on Earth. At times this book reminded me of Rick Yancey's The 5th Wave and of Margaret Stohl's Icons with some Canadian attitudes and sensibilities. Of alien invasions and humanity not having any answers about reasons why, of secrets and survival. Considering how this ended, I'm so curious as to what the second book will hold, what might or might not be revealed. Who will still be around. I would recommend this to those looking for something different in their science fiction.

(I received an advance copy of this title to review from Simon & Schuster Canada.)

Me on Amid Stars and Darkness

Title: Amid Stars and Darkness
Author: Chani Lynn Feener
Release Date: July 18, 2017
Publisher: Swoon Reads (Macmillan imprint)

Delaney's entire world is thrown into chaos after she is mistaken for Lissa Olena, an alien princess hiding out on Earth in order to escape an arranged marriage. Kidnapped by the princess's head bodyguard, Ruckus, and imprisoned in an alien palace, Delaney is forced to impersonate the princess until Olena can be found. If she fails, it will lead to an alien war and the eventual enslavement of the entire human race. No pressure or anything. Factor in Trystan, the princess's terrifying betrothed who is intent on unraveling all her secrets, and her own growing feelings for Ruckus, and Delaney is in way over her head.

Amid Stars and Darkness is full of danger, of secrets and lies. Caught up in intergalactic intrigue and assassination attempts, Delaney struggles to keep her wits about her and to not let anyone know who she really is.

Delaney is a victim to circumstance after happening across a stranger in a club and being a similar height and body shape. Because what happens next is Delaney is taken from Earth to an alien ship, somehow looking like and being treated like a runaway alien princess. She's annoyed, afraid, angry. She's a regular girl, just finished with high school. She's in no way ready or capable to deal with anything like this. I was impressed by her restraint. She doesn't hide the fact that she's furious that Olena put her in this position, that she's being forced to pretend to be Olena until they find her, that someone's trying to kill her. But she doesn't necessarily completely break down screaming. She's pissed while seeing that she has to go along with it so a massive war that could doom Earth won't break out.

There were some parts of this that were interesting, some moments with Delaney that showed she could be both angry and her situation and understanding of the seriousness, but for the most part it felt rather predictable. Considering the summary and the set up, the plot happened how I thought it would. Some characters stayed the same, consistently arrogant or foolish. Nothing really surprised me. I'd hoped for some more science fiction, some more exploration as opposed to aliens who mostly looked human and barely any exploration on the planet Delaney ends up on. In the end, this wasn't the book for me. That being said, I'm sure there are those who would enjoy this, those looking for more romance in their sci-fi.

(I received an advance copy of this title to review from Raincoast Books.)

Me on Gemina

Title: Gemina
Authors: Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff
Release Date: October 18, 2016
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers (Random House imprint)

On board the space station Heimdall is Hanna, the station captain's pampered daughter, and Nik. the reluctant member of a notorious crime family. While the pair are struggling with the realities of life aboard the galaxy's most boring space station, little do they know that Kady Grant and the Hypatia are headed right toward Heimdall, carrying news of the Kerenza invasion. When an elite BeiTech strike team invades the station, Hanna and Nik are thrown together to defend their home. But alien predators are picking off the station residents one by one, and a malfunction in the station's wormhole means the space-time continuum might be ripped in two before dinner. Soon Hanna and Nik aren't just fighting for their own survival; the fate of everyone on the Hypatia—and possibly the known universe—is in their hands. But relax. They've totally got this. They hope.

Gemina is a story of fear, worry, survival, and impossibility. It's a meeting point in deep space where everything is about to explode. We know what's already happened, we know what's coming. Now we get to see the impact.

Hanna is the station captain's daughter. She's smart, skilled, tough as nails, and totally has her dad wrapped around her little finger when it comes to getting what she wants. Sure, she's spoiled, and sure, she doesn't want to be stuck on a space station where nothing exciting ever happens, but that doesn't mean she can't make her own fun. Like hanging out with her friends, spending a little quality time with her boyfriend. But she's no idiot. Nik is like a classic nice guy, except he's caught up in some family politics. Which can get pretty sticky and hard to escape when your family is a crime family. When you're knee deep in a current job. When you've already been to prison. But he's surviving, being on the station. He has things that get him through days. Like the chats with his cousin. Like the chats with Hanna.

Apart from Hanna and Nik, we get a good look at the bigger picture. At BeiTech's plots and plans, at their determination and ruthlessness. We get BeiTech's highly skilled team of "auditors," led by a seemingly calm and calculating monster of a man. We get a group of well-trained operatives who go in expecting business as usual and end up in a perfect storm of catastrophes. And because they're cold-blooded killers, it's hard to feel sad when they die.

AIDEN. Because of course AIDEN would be back. How could it not come back? How could it not return, say the most obvious and logical things, and give the human characters chances to snarkily talk back? How could readers pass up the chance to witness AIDEN's continued fracturing?

Even with the book written in chats, audio logs, and video transcriptions, you can find the differences in the characters. Their choice of words, the different degrees of their worry and panic. Their skills and how they use them. Hanna's trained in martial arts, she can definitely handle herself in a fight. Nik is your classic nice guy stuck in a bad situation, he's tough but that doesn't mean he's not afraid. This is an exciting, deadly, tense continuation from the situation that first started in Illuminae, that first started with the attack on Kerenza IV, and I can't wait to see how it will all unfold in the last book.

(I received an advance copy of this title from another review blogger.)

Me on Flying

Title: Flying
Author: Carrie Jones
Release Date: July 19, 2016
Publisher: Tor Teen

People have always treated seventeen-year-old Mana as someone in need of protection. She's used to being coddled, being an only child, but it's hard to imagine anything could ever happen in her small-town, normal life. As her mother's babying gets more stifling than ever, she's looking forward to cheering at the big game and getting out of the house for a while. But that night, Mana's life goes haywire. First, the hot guy she's been crushing on at school randomly flips out and starts spitting acid during the game. Then they get into a knockdown, drag-out fight in the locker room, during which Mana finds herself leaping around like a kangaroo on steroids. As a flyer on the cheerleading squad, she's always been a good jumper, but this is a bit much. By the time she gets home and finds her house trashed and an alien in the garage, Mana starts to wonder if her mother had her reasons for being overprotective. It turns out, Mana's frumpy, timid mom is actually an alien hunter, and now she's missing--taking a piece of technology with her that everyone wants their hands on, both human and alien. Now her supposed partner, a guy that Mana has never met or heard of (and who seems way too young and way too arrogant to be hunting aliens), has shown up, ordering Mana to come with him. Now, on her own for the first time, Mana will have to find a way to save her mother--and maybe the world--and hope she's up to the challenge.

Flying is an exciting and dangerous race to find the missing, to find the answers to Mana's sudden questions. Like where her mom is. Like why the guy she was crushing on can suddenly spit acid. Like what's happening to her.

Mana is snarky and quirky, a great friend and a great daughter. A little coddled by her over-protective but also supportive mom. Being kept from a number of things as she grew up, she's curious. Inquisitive. Maybe a little nosy. She refuses to back down when it comes to finding her mother, when it comes to finding out the truth. And when it turns out her mom is an alien hunter, that she works with this abrasive guy named China who's been sent to take Mana to their people in order to help them out? Mana's all in. Anything to save her mom. Which pushes her head-first into a fair amount of danger.

I would agree that this does read like Buffy meet Men in Black, a plucky, snarky cheerleader somehow falling in with aliens and alien hunters and plots to kill all humans. There were parts I found interesting, like the beginning when we're introduced to Mana, to her friends Lyle and Seppie. The moments of banter between Mana and China. It definitely felt a bit different than other books I've read recently. The stakes are high, the tension is building, but the repeated moments of adult characters refusing to explain anything to Mana near the beginning of the book slowed things down. The silence and runarounds only made Mana annoyed and angry and made me annoyed for her.

(I received an e-galley of this title to review from Macmillan thought Raincoast Books.)

Me on The Hunt

Title: The Hunt
Author: Megan Shepherd
Release Date: May 24, 2016
Publisher: Balzer + Bray (HarperCollins imprint)

They've left the cage—but they're not free yet. After their failed escape attempt, Cora, Lucky, and Mali have been demoted to the lowest level of human captives and placed in a safari-themed environment called the Hunt, along with wild animals and other human outcasts. They must serve new Kindred masters—Cora as a lounge singer, Lucky as an animal wrangler, and Mali as a safari guide—and follow new rules or face dangerous consequences. Meanwhile, Nok and Rolf have been moved into an enormous dollhouse, observed around the clock by Kindred scientists interested in Nok's pregnancy. And Leon, the only one who successfully escaped, has teamed up with villainous Mosca black-market traders. The former inhabitants of the Cage are threatened on all fronts—and maybe worst of all, one of the Hunt's Kindred safari guests begins to play a twisted game of cat and mouse with Cora. Separated and constantly under watch, she and the others must struggle to stay alive, never mind find a way back to each other. When Cassian secretly offers to train Cora to develop her psychic abilities—to prove the worthiness of humanity in a series of tests called the Gauntlet—she'll have to decide fast if she dares to trust the Kindred who betrayed her, or if she can forge her own way to freedom.

The Hunt is a dangerous game, a dangerous mission of survival. The tension is still high, their chances of getting caught or killed is still high, and the thought of escaping and returning to Earth is drifting further away.

Cora knows more of what's true now, now that they're outside of the cage. Now that she knows who Cassian really is. Now that she knows she can't funny trust him. But to be able to leave, to be set free, she has to work with him, let him teach her how to use her growing abilities. She needs him, and she's willing to lie to him. But is that really for the best? Out of the cage, Lucky and Mali are now part of the Hunt, part of the meager workforce of a safari-type area. Where the animals are the least dangerous creatures. Leon is off running packages for a dangerous alien, learning who he can really trust, who he can call family. And Nok and Rolf are being watched because of their unborn baby, because a scientist is extremely interested in their baby. Because they want the baby. Out of the cage, no one is safe.

As with the last book, no one can really be trusted. Certain people can, certain humans, but that's about it. How can you trust those who imprisoned you, who tested you, who put you in danger over and over again? The betrayal, the lies, all the moments of doublespeak, are fresh in Cora's mind, in Mali's and Lucky's, in everyone's. They just want to go home, to leave the station and go back to Earth. And as with the last book, it's all about staying alive. Being quick and clever. Being strong.

I was never sure on what would happen because I could never predict the choices of the Kindred. Aliens with a moral code. They would do what they thought was best, but it wasn't always the human choice. I'm curious as to what the last book will bring, what will happen and how it will all end.

(I downloaded an e-galley of this title from HarperCollins through Edelweiss.)

Me on Their Fractured Light

Title: Their Fractured Light
Authors: Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner
Release Date: December 1, 2015
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion

A year ago, Flynn Cormac and Jubilee Chase made the now infamous Avon Broadcast, calling on the galaxy to witness for their planet, and protect them from destruction. A year before that, Tarver Merendsen and Lilac LaRoux were rescued from a terrible shipwreck—now, they live a public life in front of the cameras, and a secret life away from the world's gaze. Now, in the center of the universe on the planet of Corinth, all four are about to collide with two new players, who will bring the fight against LaRoux Industries to a head. Gideon Marchant is an eighteen-year-old computer hacker—a whiz kid and an urban warrior. He'll climb, abseil and worm his way past the best security measures to pull off onsite hacks that others dont dare touch. Sofia Quinn has a killer smile, and by the time you're done noticing it, she's got you offering up your wallet, your car, and anything else she desires. She holds LaRoux Industries responsible for the mysterious death of her father and is out for revenge at any cost. When a LaRoux Industries security breach interrupts Gideon and Sofia's separate attempts to infiltrate their headquarters, they're forced to work together to escape. Each of them has their own reason for wanting to take down LaRoux Industries, and neither trusts the other. But working together might be the best chance they have to expose the secrets LRI is so desperate to hide.

Their Fractured Light is the last in a series that has traveled the stars, ripped apart planets, and revealed that perhaps humans are not alone in the universe.

Sofia is a lonely girl bent on revenge, determined to con her way up to the top and put an end to Roderick LaRoux and his less than ethical dealings. Make him pay for the death of her father. Gideon is a tech whiz, spending his days and nights searching out the secrets that LaRoux Industries hides from the rest of the known universe. Both are passionate, determined, scarred, and stubborn. Neither trust the other, not at the start. How could they?

The interludes, the memories and the words of the whispers, as Lilac calls them, are haunting and thoughtful. Here is an intriguing alien life form, a sort of consciousness, and their encounter with the human race. Through their words we see the highest points of humanity, our ability to love and laugh and create, and the worst. The hatred and the revenge. The warring, the imprisonment. The manipulation. The destruction. And it makes them wonder, it makes them curious. It makes them cautious. And it makes one vengeful.

Everyone comes together in this book, like they were all fated to come together. To learn the truth about the whispers. To help them. To stop their suffering. The fact that each book has focused on different characters shows that in something epic like this, it isn't just one or two people who fight back, who struggle. It's a group of people who all have parts to play, who all have hopes and dreams, who all suffer because of someone's megalomania. This book, this series, has been all about hope and faith and trust. About those parts of the human condition that we can't escape from. The parts that push us forward towards our goals.

(I borrowed a copy of this book from the library.)

Me on The Cage

Title: The Cage
Author: Megan Shepherd
Release Date: May 26, 2015
Publisher: Balzer + Bray (HarperCollins imprint)

When Cora Mason wakes in a desert, she doesn't know where she is or who put her there. As she explores, she finds an impossible mix of environments—tundra next to desert, farm next to jungle, and a strangely empty town cobbled together from different cultures—all watched over by eerie black windows. And she isn't alone. Four other teenagers have also been taken: a beautiful model, a tattooed smuggler, a secretive genius, and an army brat who seems to know too much about Cora's past. None of them have a clue as to what happened, and all of them have secrets. As the unlikely group struggles for leadership, they slowly start to trust each other. But when their mysterious jailer—a handsome young guard called Cassian—appears, they realize that their captivity is more terrifying than they could ever imagine: Their captors aren't from Earth. And they have taken the five teenagers for an otherworldly zoo—where the exhibits are humans. As a forbidden attraction develops between Cora and Cassian, she realizes that her best chance of escape might be in the arms of her own jailer—though that would mean leaving the others behind. Can Cora manage to save herself and her companions? And if so... what world lies beyond the walls of their cage?

The Cage is mysterious, puzzling, and dangerous. Trapped in an impossible place, will Cora and the others learn the truth of where they are, why they're there, and what's wanted from them? Will they even want to know the truth?

Cora is a bit rough, smart and practical but wary of everything and everyone, which makes sense, considering where she was before the book started. She wakes up lost, confused, wondering why she's no longer with her brother. It doesn't take long for her to realize she's in a place that shouldn't exist, and it doesn't take her long to realize she's not alone. But she never really trusts any of them completely. She's learned not to trust people. Until Cassian.

I worry about the romance between Cora and Cassian. On her side, she's wary, yes, but also confused, in near constant pain from her headaches, desperate to get out, to return home. She's strong but vulnerable in a number of ways. On his side, he seems obsessed with her. He's focused on keeping her alive, keep her her safe, leaning from her. Which leads to her trusting him and him gaining more and more control over her. It doesn't seem healthy to me, seems rather manipulative on his part. I wonder what will happen between them in the next book.

The reason for the teens' abduction is chilling. Captured by aliens, settled in an enclosure to be watched. Their purpose is simple now, according to their captors, but not to them. Their rebellion is human resistance at its best. It's our refusal to be controlled, to have someone in charge of our basic needs like where we sleep, where we live, what we eat, and who we must be with. When Cora and the group realize that they're caged like animals, to be observed in a zoo for the rest of their lives, the primal instinct to flee and find freedom takes over. But it's not that simple. It never is.

This book is rather strange. It went from me thinking it was going to be about finding an escape to some kind of dark and twisted science fiction tale to an exploration of human defiance, risk, challenge, and the strength of our emotions. It's intriguing, yes, but the possibilities of what could happen, what has happened to humans taken previously by the aliens, is disturbing. I'm curious as to how the rest of the trilogy will play out, what other secrets about the aliens will be revealed. What is happening to Cora and the others. I do wonder if everything will end with Cora strong and confident, not taking any lies from anyone, completely in charge and in control, but only time will tell.

(I downloaded an e-galley of this title from Edelweiss through HarperCollins.)