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 Waiting on Wednesday (382)

Waiting on Wednesday is a bunch of weekly fun hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. :)

Title: Wildcard
Author: Marie Lu
Release Date: September 18, 2018
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers (Penguin imprint)

From Goodreads:

Emika Chen barely made it out of the Warcross Championships alive. Now that she knows the truth behind Hideo's new NeuroLink algorithm, she can no longer trust the one person she's always looked up to, who she once thought was on her side.

Determined to put a stop to Hideo's grim plans, Emika and the Phoenix Riders band together, only to find a new threat lurking on the neon-lit streets of Tokyo. Someone's put a bounty on Emika's head, and her sole chance for survival lies with Zero and the Blackcoats, his ruthless crew. But Emika soon learns that Zero isn't all that he seems--and his protection comes at a price.

Caught in a web of betrayal, with the future of free will at risk, just how far will Emika go to take down the man she loves?

I'm really looking forward to reading this, but from the mystery/tech/e-sports side. Not the romance side. When reading Warcross, the romance part between Emiko and Hideo felt really weird to me. But that's my opinion. I'm curious to see how everything will play out and how it'll all end.

Me on Heart of Iron

Title: Heart of Iron
Author: Ashley Poston
Release Date: February 27, 2018
Publisher: Balzer + Bray (HarperCollins imprint)

Seventeen-year-old Ana is a scoundrel by nurture and an outlaw by nature. Found as a child drifting through space with a sentient android called D09, Ana was saved by a fearsome space captain and the grizzled crew she now calls family. But D09—one of the last remaining illegal Metals—has been glitching, and Ana will stop at nothing to find a way to fix him. Ana's desperate effort to save D09 leads her on a quest to steal the coordinates to a lost ship that could offer all the answers. But at the last moment, a spoiled Ironblood boy beats Ana to her prize. He has his own reasons for taking the coordinates, and he doesn't care what he'll sacrifice to keep them. When everything goes wrong, she and the Ironblood end up as fugitives on the run. Now their entire kingdom is after them—and the coordinates—and not everyone wants them captured alive. What they find in a lost corner of the universe will change all their lives—and unearth dangerous secrets. But when a darkness from Ana's past returns, she must face an impossible choice: does she protect a kingdom that wants her dead or save the Metal boy she loves?

Heart of Iron is a book of secrets hidden among the stars, a book of fire and iron and blood. Of plots and plans, treason and murder. It's a book about one girl's search for a way to save her friend and the ghosts she uncovers, the darkness that unfolds.

Ana is rough and brash, an orphaned girl found with a Metal guardian in an escape pod, face scarred and memories lost. She has no family but the one that took her in, the pirate captain and her crew that helped Ana and D09, raised her and trained her. Cared for her. And she'll do anything for them, even if that means searching for ways to fix the glitching D09, who knows he doesn't have much time left before the glitches shut him down permanently. Robb is a Valerio, an Ironblood. One of the elite. And he's searching for someone. He's desperate to find his missing father, searching for the location of a lost fleetship. Desperate to answer questions he's had since he was a child. Desperate to get away from his plotting mother and evil brother. But then a dirty pirate girl and a Metal trying to take the coordinates from him. But then they follow him. But then he ends up on a pirate ship on a journey to the lost fleetship. On a journey toward the hard truth.

I was rather intrigued by this book. It moved a bit slowly at times, setting up for surprises and action in the later half of the story, but all the setting up needed to happen. I was curious how it would go, the author taking the idea of the lost Romanov princess from the early 1900's, putting it in deep space in the far future, and adding some deep dark galactic mystery to it. The different view points were a good choice. In a story like this, with players deep in their plans but a little shallow in others, seeing more than one side provides depth and characterization. The determined Ana, the glitching D09, the Ironblood elite Robb, the roguish pilot Jax. They all have their strengths and their flaws, and those flaws are often manipulated as they all try to stay alive. I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for the next book after that ending, and I would recommend this to fans of Defy the Stars.

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

Me on Defy the Stars

Title: Defy the Stars
Author: Claudia Gray
Release Date: April 4, 2017
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Noemi Vidal is a teen soldier from the planet Genesis, once a colony of Earth that's now at war for its independence. The humans of Genesis have fought Earth's robotic "mech" armies for decades with no end in sight. After a surprise attack, Noemi finds herself stranded in space on an abandoned ship where she meets Abel, the most sophisticated mech prototype ever made. One who should be her enemy. But Abel's programming forces him to obey Noemi as his commander, which means he has to help her save Genesis--even though her plan to win the war will kill him. Together they embark on a daring voyage through the galaxy. Before long, Noemi begins to realize Abel may be more than a machine, and, for his part, Abel's devotion to Noemi is no longer just a matter of programming.

Defy the Stars is eye-opening and expansive, thrilling and dangerous. A race against time and through space, an exploration of the stars and of the soul.

Noemi is determined, focused. Single-minded. She has a mission, one shes willing to die for. Genesis has a plan to cripple Earth's incoming mech armies, at least for a time, but it has to be done. Genesis was right to separate from Earth, to claim its independence. They're the ones in the right, right? Her discovery of Abel is a surprise, but considering his programming and his information, she'll be able to use him in order to help Genesis survive. In order to keep so many from dying. But Abel isn't what she thought, and after seeing the universe outside of Genesis, Noemi isn't so sure about a lot of things she thought she knew.

Abel. It's hard to describe Abel. Yes, he's a mech, an Earth creation that's a combination of technology and organic material. He's programmed to follow orders, to take in information and extrapolate. To be practical and truthful. But he's got a personality. He feels things like pride and confusion. He sleeps. He dreams. And he wonders, as the only one like him, what he was created for. Was he only created to serve? Or is there no limit to what he can do?

This is a curious science fiction story that covers multitudes. Like faith, like belief in a high power or being, after all of their technological advancements and exploration across the galaxy. What is humanity? How is a soul created? Like empire and colonization, like immigration, how people of all races and background travel to different planets looking for the same things they've always looked for. Employment, companionship, entertainment. Safety. Hope. Freedom. I adored this book and I imagine that fans of the author's past books, especially of Lost Stars, will as well. Even with the wait for the next book.

(I received an advance copy of this title to review from Hachette Book Group Canada.)

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 Spare & Found Parts

Title: Spare and Found Parts
Author: Sarah Maria Griffin
Release Date: October 4, 2016
Publisher: Greenwillow Books (HarperCollins imprint)

Nell Crane has always been an outsider. In a city devastated by an epidemic, where survivors are all missing parts—an arm, a leg, an eye—her father is the famed scientist who created the biomechanical limbs everyone now uses. But Nell is the only one whose mechanical piece is on the inside: her heart. Since the childhood operation, she has ticked. Like a clock, like a bomb. As her community rebuilds, everyone is expected to contribute to the society's good... but how can Nell live up to her father's revolutionary idea when she has none of her own? Then she finds a mannequin hand while salvaging on the beach—the first boy's hand she's ever held—and inspiration strikes. Can Nell build her own companion in a world that fears advanced technology? The deeper she sinks into this plan, the more she learns about her city—and her father, who is hiding secret experiments of his own.

Spare and Found Parts is at times enchanting and other times frightening, a cautioning against relying too much on technology and a welcoming embrace of it. Of the multitude of things it can show us, teach us. It's a story of a lonely girl searching for a companion, searching for answers. Looking to make her mark on the world.

Nell is a quiet and lonely girl who resents the ticking in her chest. She's looking to make the decisions when it comes to her future before anyone else does. Trapped in the shadows of her accomplished parents, pioneers in contributions that helped save the town. More than a hundred years after the Turn, after the pulses that swept across the land and made so many sick, there are only so many options Nell has when it comes to the future. She can go away to the Pasture, a place of quiet and without the chance to experiment. She can marry, which is a thing that makes her sick, especially to someone like Oliver Kelly. She can head to the stoneyard, build up the statue her mother first envisioned. Or she can contribute something to the community, make something of herself, something the town needs. But what can she contribute? Her tinkering can only go so far with secret batteries and no codes. She needs something more, wants something more. But can she make a companion, a person, a human soul, out of spare parts?

The reader is set down and eased into Nell's world, a world that's come out of our own. A world without higher technology, without computers, after a devastating apocalypse that left many dead and most of the living scarred. Now people must contribute to society, must do something that will boost morale or provide for the community. Something without the use of computers than can think for themselves. You can see the pokes taken at the modern day and its obsession with technology, with creating a machine that can do the work for you. The pokes at the lack of human conversation and interaction that screens and the Internet can provide. But technology isn't all evil.

This is like a steampunk-esque post-apocalyptic futuristic reimagining of Frankenstein and his creation in a world that fears technology. I think this book nudges towards finding the middle ground between technology and humanity, between creating and advancing and not moving away from human contact. And I think Nell's search for a companion, her desire to build one, is her way of having someone in her life that doesn't expect anything from her. It'll just be, be there to be with her, to talk with her and share with her, and make no demands. Some of the later chapters have a certain charm brought on by a certain character. And the last chapter made me chuckle. I would definitely recommend this to readers looking for something a little different, like Leah Bobet's An Inheritance of Ashes or Moïra Fowley-Doyle's The Accident Season.

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

Me on Waiting on Wednesday (268)

Waiting on Wednesday is a bunch of weekly fun hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. :)

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

From Goodreads:

Moving to a space station at the edge of the galaxy was always going to be the death of Hanna’s social life. Nobody said it might actually get her killed.

Hanna Donnelly is the station captain’s pampered daughter; Nik Malikov the reluctant member of a notorious crime family. But 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.

How excited am I for this book?! I love how they've set up this 'series/trilogy' as each book holding the pieces of a bigger story. It just means that the ending will be massive and far-reaching. Similar to Amie's previous series with Meagan Spooner. And I love the blue of this cover, it'll contrast well with the reds and oranges of the Illuminae cover.