Book Review: Rebel

Title: Rebel

Author: Amy Tintera

Genre: YA dystopian

Book Blurb: 

After coming back from death as Reboots and being trained by HARC as soldiers, Wren and Callum have finally escaped north, where they hope to find a life of freedom. But when they arrive at the Reboot Reservation, it isn't what they expected. Under the rule of a bloodthirsty leader, Micah, the Reboots are about to wage an all-out war on the humans. Although Wren's instincts are telling her to set off into the wilderness on their own and leave the battle far behind, Callum is unwilling to let his human family be murdered. When Micah commits the ultimate betrayal, the choice is made for them. But Micah has also made a fatal mistake . . . he's underestimated Wren and Callum.

Review:

Oh my god oh my god it's out! It's finally out! After waiting a whole year for the sequel and conclusion to the Reboot duo-logy, Rebel is released!! Receiving the book a day earlier than expected was a bonus as well :-)

Okay...some background info before jumping into this review.

Reboot has a special place in my heart because it was the book that dragged me out of my book slump. From grades 1-7, I was a super avid reader. Then grade 8th and 9th grade rolled around I my schedule got saturated with activities. Needless to say, the numbers of books I read dwindled...until I was lucky to even read a book for fun every few months or so. Then, on one fateful summer evening, I entered Barnes and Noble (something I hadn't done in ages due to said schedule) and Reboot caught my eyes. I picked it up and the rest is history...I was a lean, mean, reading machin

Book Blitz+Giveaway: The Only Boy

Title: The Only Boy

Author: Jordan Locke

Genre: YA dystopian

Book Description: 

Mary is stuck in Section One, living with three hundred women in a crumbling hospital. She wonders what life was like two centuries ago, before the Cleansing wiped out all the men. But the rules—the Matriarch's senseless rules—prevent her from exploring the vacant city to find out.

Taylor's got a dangerous secret: he's a boy. His compound's been destroyed, and he's been relocated to Section One. Living under the Matriarch means giving up possessions, eating canned food and avoiding all physical contact. Baggy clothes hide his flat chest and skinny legs, but if anyone discovers what lies beneath, he'll be exiled. Maybe even executed.

Mary's never seen a boy—the Matriarch cut the pictures of men from the textbooks—and she doesn't suspect Taylor's secret. If she knew, she might understand the need to stop the girls from teasing him. If she knew, she might realize why she breaks the rules, just to be near him. Then again, she might be frightened to death of him.

Taylor should go. The Matriarch is watching his every move. But running means leaving Mary—and braving the land beyond the compound's boundaries.

Blog Tour + Author Interview + Giveaway: Dark Luminance

About the book:

Quantum energy. Unlimited power. Humanity’s salvation. 

The Frameway Project promises all of this and more, and Mackland Luther is guiding the project to its final culmination. On the eve of what promises to be their biggest breakthrough, Mackland and his friends, Billy and Sean, prepare the test that will provide the almost limitless power needed to take the human race into the future. 

Initial success and excitement quickly turn to horror as the Frame goes out of control, ripping Mackland and his friends from their world and depositing them in a world that is completely different yet strangely familiar. Along with Lily, a hard-charging security guard that was caught by the Frame along with them; and Grizzly, a rough yet gentle survivalist they meet in this new world, Mack and his friends must figure out some way to understand and undo whatever brought them here if they ever want to return to their own world. 

But first they must survive an increasingly dangerous world full of undead drug addicts, giant mutants, and a relentless telepathic madman who will do anything to get his hands on the Frame for his own purposes.

About the Author:

Born and raised in Northwest Indiana, E.M. McDowell first started writing in high school, consisting primarily of sappy poems aimed at impressing girls. A four year stint in the Marine Corps pushed literary endeavors to the background, where they remained for the next twenty-odd years, until they were uncovered by a mild mid-life crisis. 

In the intervening years, he has worked in various technology jobs, and is currently the technology manager for a small county government. 

Married for twenty-two years to his best friend, and blessed with two wonderful daughters, he works to balance his writing while living in a house full of women.

Book Review: The Drowned Cities

Title: The Drowned Cities

Author: Paolo Bacigalupi

Genre: YA dystopian

Review:

I absolutely adored Paolo Bacigalupi's Ship Breaker, a novel that is on my top 20 favorite books of all time (speaking of which, I need to make time to reread that book!) I was expecting a good read from The Drowned Cities, nothing spectacular, but still a worthwhile read. Well, I got much more than I bargained for. I loved The Drowned Cities and it has secured a place on my bookshelf. Although this novel is listed as the sequel to Ship Breaker, this book actually works as a stand alone novel as well.

I feel like The Drowned Cities was written with a naturalistic/naturalism theme in mind. Naturalism is basically a movement in which humans are stripped down to their most basic form and nature is depicted as neither good nor evil.  The world simply is the world. So basically naturalism deals a lot with survival of the fittest, man vs. nature and all that stuff with no sugar coating.  And let me assure you, there was no sugar coating in The Drowned Cities. The author didn't try to beat around the bush with the cruelty featured in this dystopian, futuristic world. The violence and graphic descriptions weren't gratuitous, but they weren't rainbows and ponies either.

Blog Post: Dystopian December!

Let's kick off the holiday with the Dystopian December Giveaway!  With 17 prizes to be won, this is going to be one EPIC giveaway! 

Prizes:

1 copy of Uglies

1 copy of Brain Jack

2 copies of Stung

1 copy of Katya's World

1 copy of Glitch

5 copies of The Breeders (ebook)

1 copy of Angelfall

1 copy of Divergent

1 copy of Under the Never Sky

1 copy of Entanglement

1 copy of the Moon Dwellers (ebook)

1 copy of Lockdown

***Giveaway open to US residents only***

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