The only reason I read this book was because of the movie starring Emma Watson and Tom Hanks but I'm one of those who [for the most part] read the book first before watching the movie because we all know that books are always better and have more details than the movie versions.
I've been on the fence about deactivating my Facebook and Twitter accounts and signing up for Instagram or keeping my blog, Ravelry and GoodReads active since I use Ravelry and GoodReads mainly as online databases for my yarn craft and books respectively so I won't have to create an offline database from scratch and my blog as a way to share things that I enjoy and my book reviews like this one. The Circle by Dave Eggers definitely showed some pros and cons to going "off the grid" to quote Mercer and some pros and cons to being online to keep up with family and friends and social media is good way to reconnect with old friends especially if you have no way of contacting them because your address book hasn't been updated in a long while.
Enter Mae Holland who hasn't used her social media account in a while and ends up working for the Circle, a tech company who is all about sharing [everything] and being social online and offline and unifying everything into one account. I rated this book 4 stars not because it's really good but mostly because the author managed to make me feel something and made me think. When Mae first started working at the Circle, I felt as stressed out and exhausted as Mae felt while learning about her new job and balancing her work-related duties as well as her "social" duties and the constant need to "smile," "frown," and "zing" can be overwhelming for someone like me who likes to moderately share things online. Yes, I do believe that there are things that should be kept private and still do even after reading this book.
I don't think it is healthy to spend so much time online "smiling," "frowning," and "zing-ing" what other people share to the point where you no longer have time to live your life in the real world. And changing your opinions because you don't like getting "frowns" is not being human. Being human is about having different opinions and thoughts and it shouldn't matter if your opinion is unpopular because it is you. The way it is presented in this book is that slowly, everyone in the world is of one mind, one opinion which is already happening in the real world. People get shamed, hated on or bullied online when you express sentiments that are not in line with the sentiments of others. And this mentality should stop.
There are some aspects of unifying databases from this book that I liked the idea of. An example would be medical records that way when you switch medical providers or during medical emergency situations, all your records can be found in one centralized system/location to make it super efficient for the medical team to give you the right medication or treatment as well as if you're unconscious, there's a way to alert your medical/care team to send help. While it is also great to get real time results on polls and surveys, being forced to vote by suspending all electronic/computer/online activities until you've voted is wrong in the sense that people have the right to vote or not vote. Sure it will help a lot if everyone voted but to make it mandatory like what the Circle suggests violates the right to decide whether to vote or not. I'm on the fence about humans getting micro-chipped like most of our pets are micro-chipped because I personally don't want everybody in the world to know where I am. I only want my I.C.E. (In Case of Emergency) contacts to know where I am and that's about it. There's more examples in this book that I'm either on the fence on or completely against the idea of but I have to end it here otherwise, this review will be as lengthy as the novel itself.
Moving on to the general overview of the plot. It's believable to some degree and I can see the parallels to the real world especially on the social media aspect and we are somewhat slowly getting there on the other technological aspects. The pacing of the story is slow to moderate and sometimes it makes you think if there's any point to this whole thing. The whole time I was listening to this book, I was waiting for a really cool plot twist or a big revelation or a big self-discovery, but unfortunately, none of those happened. There was a revelation towards the end but it was a bit of a let down because somehow, at the back of my mind, I already knew that.
As for the characters, I feel like they're not as well-developed as I'd hoped. There's no real depth to Annie, Dan, Jared, the three wise men, Francis, or any of the rest of the characters, including Mae (more on that, later). It feels like these other characters are there to either add drama in the case of Francis, to move the story along in the case of Dan, Jared, the three wise men, etc., and as proof of validation and someone to vent to as in the case of Annie. As for Mae, I somewhat resonated with her in the beginning but as the book progresses, her character became less real and more fake in the sense that the Mae readers liked in the beginning slowly disappeared as she became "one with the hive" err Circle and lost her own individuality. Another thing that was disturbing about Mae was in the end, while visiting her catatonic best friend, Annie, she looks at one of the monitors scanning Annie's brain waves and wonders what Annie's dreaming/thinking about while in a coma and decides that people's thoughts should be accessible to everyone and that "the world deserves nothing less" which to me, is frankly, quite disturbing.
Finally, the narration. Dion Graham did a wonderful job narrating/reading this book even though this book follows Mae's perspective and there's none of that high-pitched voice trying to sound like a woman/girl.
In conclusion, if you are someone who shares everything online then you might enjoy this book and if you are someone who is on the verge of deactivating all of your online and social media accounts, you might find extra reasons in this book to permanently go offline. If you are someone who likes to see characters evolve into a better version of themselves, this book is not for you.
1984, written by renowned author George Orwell, a pseudonym for Eric Arthur Blair, follows the protagonist Winston Smith set in what Smith believes to be the 80s in London. In fact, Smith is not sure of anything anymore, definitely not the exact year or what happened to his family or who the mysterious dictator called Big Brother is or who his state is at war with. Eurasia, right? No, must’ve been Eastasia... All Smith knows are the mottos of each of the ministries that form the government in Oceania, where London is. WAR IS PEACE. FREEDOM IS SLAVERY. IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH. He is told what to think, what to say, and what to do for nearly every part of his life. His government banks on strict organization and dire consequences for disobeying the rules. 1984 is an interesting read that set the bar for dystopian novels, defining inefficient governments from real life examples.
The novel is more realistic being inspired by Orwell’s hatred for totalitarianism and the events of World War II. I recommend 1984 to anyone curious about examining different types of societies, their standards and how those effect the population. The novel is fairly political and examines rebellion, although not as face paced as typical young adult reads. 1984 allows for an in depth examination of the character’s internal conflicts, Winston is one of the more detailed and complex protagonists because there are many parts where he cannot he sympathized with due to his lesser characteristics. The setting is clearly presented in a more world-building way than just giving out straight information. I was especially pleased, surprised, curious, and angry throughout the progression of the story.
Overall, I did enjoy this book more than most others, but the fact that Winston does not form any significant relationships until the second part and is the primary person talking, I was relatively bored during the middle chapters.
Reviewer Grade: 11
Among one of the first Dystopian genre novels ever published, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World questions the extent at which technology could potentially control society. Set approximately 632 years after the creation of the Model - T, a World State now controls society with the intent on eradicating personal thinking and individual creativity. With a new system called the Bokanovsky process, the World State utilizes the idea of Henry Ford’s assembly line to produce thousands of nearly identical embryos that will grow up to work for the State. All embryos are conditioned to be in one of the 5 castes: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon; with Alphas destined to control the World State and Epsilons to perform menial labor. When Bernard Marx, Helmholtz Watson, and John decide that something is wrong within this “perfect” society, they take it into their own hands to expose the World State and stop this flawed Utopia. Huxley’s novel, written in only 4 months, is phenomenal because it challenges the ideals of the limits to which technology can override nature. With the novel being published in 1932, Huxley questions practices that were uncommon and unrealistic back then, but are slowly becoming a reality now as our society leans more and more towards technological innovations. I recommend this novel to high school readers, especially those interested in the Dystopian genre, since this is a perfect example of a Dystopian Utopia.
Reviewer Grade: 11
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams is witty, genius, and an example of common English humor: dry, but hilarious.
Seconds before Earth is blown away to make way for an intergalactic freeway, Arthur Dent discovers galaxies and planets, lightyears beyond his own. He hitches a ride with his best friend, Ford Perfect. Ford is a cleverly disguised alien, who has been stranded on Earth for the past 15 years as he writes a revised guide to the galaxy. Arthur and Ford happen to hitch ride with the most disagreeable and intolerable creatures, the Vogon. They are then discovered and thrown into the soul-sucking abyss of space. Seconds before they suffocate, Ford and Arthur are picked up by a recently stolen ship, stolen by the president of the galaxy, Zaphod Beeblebrox, and his girlfriend, Trillian. The ship is on an improbability drive, which is why they crash land on a long believed mythical planet, called the Heart of Gold.
The planet was in a hibernation-like state, and has only just awoken recently. Trillian, Ford, and Zaphod explore while Arthur meets Slartibartfast, who explains that the Earth was a test, run by mice, to discovery the Question of Life, since they know the answer is 42. However, Earth was destroyed seconds before test completion. Trillian, Zaphod, and Ford are captured by the mice and kept in a dream-like prison. That is, until Arthur is brought to the mice and the group is reunited. The mice explain that they are interested in harvesting Arthur’s brain as organic evidence.
So, naturally, the group manages to escape in the knick of time, avoiding both the mice and the galaxy police, who are searching for Zaphod.
Reviewer Grade: 7
This is the sixth and final book in the Tunnels series. The adventurer will find their heart racing often during the amazing, fast-paced, roller-coaster ride these characters are involved in from Tunnels until the final pages of Terminal. The historian is excited about the creative use of many myths and legends of the world. The dreamer wonders if some of this book is based on fact and finds themselves thinking about the possibilities throughout the day as their whole mind is consumed by the characters and stories that weave throughout this series.
I found myself ordering books and doing research on many of the ideas in this book to see what else I could find.
But most importantly, this series ends in a way that was unpredictable and THAT made this whole reading adventure WORTH EVERY MINUTE!
When I picked up this book, I have to admit, I was surprised, because sci fy steam punk fantasy stories is not the type of book I usually read, yet it ended up being so much more than I had imagined. The Clockwork Dynasty is not just a book about a race of humanlike mechanical creatures or avtomats that secretly live among us and are fighting a war that has raged for centuries, but it’s a story about life and the constant search for meaning and purpose.
This book waffles back and forth between present day Orgon, Washington and other places, and the 1700’s beginning in Russia and taking the reader on a journey through history and time. And while this may bother some people, the non-linear storytelling I think, adds so much more to the book and allows the author to unfold the story in a deeper more meaningful way.
In present time it follows the story of June someone who has made a career in ancient technology, ever since an encounter she had a child with her grandpa changed her perception of the world and started her fascination with this avtomat technology. A couple years after her grandfather’s death she receives a avtomat artifact that will cause her to team up with an avtomat named Peter, launch her into a great adventure in the secret avtomat
world, and ultimately determine this race’s extinction or survival. In
the 1700’s it follows the story of brother (Peter) and sister (Elena) two humanlike avtomats that were resurrected by a Russian clock maker using something called an anime which serves as the Avtomat’s heart and soul. As they live through the years they spend it hiding their secret, trying to blend into society, and fighting a war that has been raging among their own race for centuries.
This story explores the character’s constant search for meaning in a way that is both at times sad and extremely insightful. In the book each avtomat’s anime is marked with a Pravda or a special word that is their bond and command. As long as they satisfy their Pravda, they are at peace, otherwise they suffer. In Peter’s case this word is justice. As the book progresses we see his idea of justice shift and change as he lives through the years. Through a fascinating inner dialogue, Peter perception shifts from gaining justice simply by serving rulers in war to something far deeper and more moving, as this quote, when he encounters a dying soldier on the enemy’s side in the battlefield, suggests:
“Once Pravda was clear to me. By obeying my emperor all was well. But what was simple is becoming complex. I can see no evil inside this grievously wounded man, only honor. And though no clockwork flutters beneath his throat, I can see the inevitable forces that led him here, through no fault of his own, fating him to die in the shadow of this crumbling wall.”
As the book progresses a new perspective of right and wrong emerges leaving him questioning not only who he is but why he was made.
Another major theme this story also explores is the theme of war. As Peter recounts from his past, countless experiences on various battlefields throughout his life, and in the present, his own thoughts on his own race’s war; the reality of war is pressed heavy on the reader making this book at times very depressing, sad, and dark.
This reality is made even more real by the moving prose and incredible worldbuilding that takes place throughout the book. Another reason I love this book is the incredible character development between Peter and Elena.
How she is treated by him as a little sister at the beginning of the book, and how he sees her changes through the book from a little girl needing his protection to a sophisticated, wise learned, woman who’s one desire is to make her own way in the world is absolutely incredible. Daniel H Wilson does an amazing job of weaving together past and present into an engaging literary story that has something for everyone. Thank you to Doubleday books and Netgalley for an e- ARC in exchange for an honest review!
In this dystopian novel, Reds (those with red blood) live like peasants and servants to the god-like Silvers (those with silver blood), who live in luxury and royalty, possessing mind bending powers that make them superior. While the Reds slave away, Silvers feast. Mare, a Red, finds herself right in the middle of it all when she is surprisingly allowed to work in a Silver palace. In a freak accident, Mare finds out something about herself… she possesses one of the many god-like powers, like the Silvers.
And not just any power, a power that has never been seen before. She is betrothed to marry a Silver Prince and forced into a Silver life. She embarks on a quest to find out who she really is. This book, I think, deserves a 4 out of 5. The plot was amazing, but several things kept it from a full score.
First of all, the author’s attempt at creating a heartfelt and loving romance failed miserably, leaving me gagging from the sappiness of it all. On that note, I felt like the main character, Mare, was too dependable on her lover. However, I did like the overall plot and outcome, and I didn’t regret reading this book.
Piper lives in a dystopian planet far away. Almost every night, meteors shower down in her hometown, sometimes destroying homes and lives. The selfish King Aron turns a blind eye to their suffering. But when Piper finds a lost girl who can’t remember a thing about her past life, the adventure begins. The lost girl, Anna, has the mark of the dragonfly on her; an elite tattoo, only given to the most high class and honor worthy citizens, granting them the King’s protection. Piper and Anna embark on a quest to find out who Anna is, and return her to her home and family… if she has one. I gave the book 3 out of 5 stars, because I thought the plot was great, but it was just poorly written. Also, some of the ‘twists’ were predictable, the main character (Piper) made some really stupid decisions, and the romance between Piper and another character was sappy and cliche. Overall, it was a pretty good book, and I don’t regret reading it.
Reviewer Grade: 7
Kathy isn’t a normal kid, and neither are any of her friends. They were all cloned, and someday, their vital organs will be harvested until they die. But for now, they will grow up in a secluded boarding school nestled in a corner of England, called Hailshem. Hailshem is idyllic: creativity is nurtured, friends are everywhere, and there are supported teachers. Kathy retells her experiences as she looks back on her life in preparation for her organ donations. And…. that’s basically it. It sounds like a really interesting concept for a book, but the author completely butchered it! His writing drags on and on, and completely bored me to death. If he had written it better, or if someone rewrites it, the book would be fascinating. But the writing style is so dreadfully dull. I warn you-- do not read this book! You will seriously regret it if you do!
Reviewer Grade: 7
This is an amazing book to read! It is a sci-fi, action filled, parody of the classic Cinderella fairy-tale. This is the first book of the Lunar Chronicles. Please read the books in order!!! This book will keep you on your toes! There’s a cliffhanger at the end (so make sure you get next book Scarlet before you finish Cinder). Cinder is one of the best books I have ever read!
Reviewer Grade 8.
What happened to the last expedition? Was the last expedition male? Where are the male of the local species? Is Jael the only male in the area? Has he created his own harem of native women, driving off the males with his pheromones?
I found this book on a must read list from NPR for 2017. It looked interesting and had a fascinating synopsis and review. I read it, liked the drawings and wanted to know who “Jael” was from the story. The last interaction between the women is about his criminal history. Aphra asks Sarai what it says and she responds with “It doesn’t matter.” However, I suspect it does, I think it had a direct impact on everything that occurred in the story. The author did a good job of “setting the hook” with that closure. Considering the dream fish sequence, I think it was intentional. As I reread the story a few more times, elements that seemed trivial began to come together and illuminate more of the story. I think it is worth a read, or several reads.
Most people know this book by its numerous film adaptations, including Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956 and 1978), Body Snatchers (1993), and The Invasion (2007). In fact, I like to think that many facets of this story have become a part of popular culture, including the replication “pods” and Donald Sutherland’s scream in the 1978 film version. While the source material is inherently pulpy, a result of the genre and the era in which it was published, there is an entertaining quality to the story that has allowed it to survive for so long.
Simple in its execution, but brilliant in its reveal, The Body Snatchers builds up an inherent distrust of the people surrounding the main characters as they investigate why everyone seems “off” in this small, California town. While the full explanation of the aliens’ presence and purpose is relegated to an enormous information dump more than half-way through the book, it nevertheless contains some interesting ideas and concepts that could be plausible given the circumstances. I would have preferred better integration of this information into the plot, but sometimes the characters just need to sit down and explore these ideas in depth.
In the end, The Body Snatchers has plenty of strong moments in its plot. Sure, there’s the weaker section or two, and the more upbeat ending didn’t have much explanation other than the aliens’ annoyance of humanity’s persistence. Still, it’s a fun story, and even decades later it’s clear why The Body Snatchers is a timeless classic, even if it’s not “on par” with more significant literary titans. Maybe that’s its charm, though. By making it about the “everyman,” the horror and terror of everyone around them being replaced by emotionless beings is much more relatable on a visceral level.
A timeless pulp classic, I give The Body Snatchers 4.0 stars out of 5.
Day of the Predator, by Alex Scarrow takes place in 2001 in an archway in New York. The main characters are Time Riders, people who watch over time and make sure it doesn’t become corrupt. The story start when someone who would write a report in 2026 that would eventually begin time travel is assassinated in 2015. The Time Riders head to 2015 to try to stop the assassination before it can happen. The setting is in Texas where they land in a laboratory that is testing zero-point energy. The entire class the writer was in and the Time Riders are caught in an explosion caused by tachyons, particles that move faster than light. Instead of killing them, the explosion sends them 65 million years ago, 250,000 years before the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs happened. There a super intelligent undocumented species of reptiles (not dinosaurs) discovers them and silently begins to hunt them. They don’t make their appearance until later in the book. This species is intelligent enough to think and successfully manages to kill off the humans, except the Time Riders and the two humans that they could save who managed to warp back to 2001 in time. But when they get there, there is another problem. Actions packed and interesting, Alex Scarrow makes his book seem like a possible future for humans in another reality.
The novella “Mitosis” by Brandon Sanderson is not about mitosis, but is about an Epic who can create multiple copies of himself. The more he makes the less individual intelligences they have. When there is a lot of them they all speak with one voice and work as one intelligence. This novella is technically book 1.5 in the Steelheart Series. It has about 57 pages and happens shortly after Book 1. An Epic is a normal human who has been given powers and turns into a tyrant. Epics feel darkness in their powers and often succumb to it and start killing innocent people and other Epics. There are different levels of Epics from normal one to High epics. Normal Epics can be killed by conventional means, in ways that normal people can die. High Epics can’t be killed by conventional means and often the only way to kill one of them is to use their weakness against them. Some Epics can fight the darkness and these Epics tend to be Gifters, Epics who are able to give some of their power to other people. They aren’t using their power for themselves and that gives them some relief. Steelheart was one of the most powerful High Epic who was invincible. He could could fire powerful bursts of energy from his hands and he could also fly. He was the ruler of Newcago and could only be killed by someone who wasn’t afraid of him. He had a habit of killing people with their own weapon. The only reason he died was because the main character, David, put a detonator inside the gun Steelheart was going to fire at him and the bomb blew up. If David had detonated the bomb it would not have hurt Steelheart at all. Since Steelheart detonated the bomb and he wasn’t afraid of himself, the bomb killed him. Shortly after Steelheart’s, David and the Reckoners, a group who have dedicated themselves to fighting the Epics before he joined them, are left to watch over Newcago while their leader and founder Jonathan Phaedrus, or Prof, is away. Mitosis sneaks into the city looking for “Steel Slayer”, as David is called by the city. He threatens to kill one person every five minutes until he shows up. When he does, Mitosis tries to kill him and the Reckoners have to fight him.
The book The Maze Runner by James Dashner is a fascinating book. It places the reader in a semi- dystopian world. The time for this story takes place in the late 2200s (Maybe. Dates tend to come in this format 231.5.4 or May 4, 231.). As a disease ravages the world outside turning people into savages, the main character, a 16 year old boy named Thomas wakes up in a swinging box having no recollection of his life before that point. He remembers nothing except his name. Half an hour later, the box opens and Thomas meets the Gladers (as they call themselves because they live on a glade). All of them are male. They are all surrounded by towering walls and giant gates that shut whenever it gets dark. The giant gates lead to a seemingly impossible maze with moving walls and creatures that threaten to hurt them. These creatures are called Grievers and they are hideous bulbous creatures with concealed blades and needles. Whenever someone gets caught by one of the Grievers, they are Stung, which has a lot more meaning than getting stung. When someone is stung, they experience horrible pain and occasionally go mad. The Gladers have people they call Runners who go into the Maze every day to find new passageways. They receive food and water and antidote for Stung victims at the same times every day. Someone new arrives once a month and they are always male. All that changes when someone new arrives two days after Thomas and she is female. Then supplies and antidotes stop arriving.
How Few Remain is a alternate history novel by Harry Turtledove. In his book, it depicts an alternate universe where the south wins the American Civil War, and the Confederate States of America is now its own independent country. What I enjoyed about this novel is the many different characters and how they view the other country. In every page you can just see the tension that will eventually snap between the two powers. People from the North and the South always spewing insults at each other. Each character that comes into play are very interesting and all seem like they have their own backstory. My favorite character in the story would be Abraham Lincoln. Just because you get to see what his life is like and how the country views the man who lost the civil war. The book is also just the first part of a series which goes through the period of World War I and World War II and how the North and South react to that. I believe there are two things that make this book standout, its characters, and its lore. For those two reasons alone I will have to recommend this book. Or the entire series, what ever is your cup of tea.
The novel “Uglies” by Scott Westerfield is an adventure into the future. In this futuristic society, everyone is “ugly” until they turn 16. When they turn 16, they get surgery to become pretty and go live in the pretty world. The story is focused on a girl named Tally. She has been anticipating the day of her 16th birthday ever since her brother went to the world of pretties. But Tally wasn’t the best ugly out there. She broke some rules before her 16th and might have to face consequences for her actions. This includes losing the privilege of becoming pretty. Everyone in her world wants to become pretty, but she happens to meet a friend who doesn’t want to change. She and this girl are the last ones to turn 16. I recommend this novel to people who enjoy scientific fiction and adventures. This book sucked me right in. There are 3 more in the sequel and I ended up buying and reading all of them!
Reviewer Grade: 10
The book "The Stand" by Stephen King is a novel about a disease. It starts out at a gas station where the disease is first seen in the novel. This book has many different characters as it progresses. The main antagonist is the embodiment of evil. He is basically the Antichrist. Although I didn't like this book as much as some of Stephen's other works because I have a short attention span and some parts are not attention grabbing. It is still a very good book and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who likes horror. This novel is very unpredictable which is one of the main reasons I like it as much as I do. Because there are so many characters in this book, it was very easy for me to relate to their situations.
Reviewer Grade: 9
In this creative, futuristic graphic novel all technology has been stolen by a species known as the Pipers. When a young girl and two of her friends stumble into a hidden cache of robots, they become the targets of a wild chase. This book is exciting, unique, and includes a battle in outerspace! Recommended for grades 3-6.
In this Sci-Fi thriller sequel to the first Saucer book in the series, Stephen Coonts brings back ex-air force test pilot Charley Pine, Rip Cantrell, and some new key characters. Charley Pine is hired to fly a french spaceplane to the moon, where she finds a french Millionare by the name of Pierre Artois. Charley soon finds out what Artois and his conniving wife Julie are actually up to. A massive Anti-Gravity gun is stationed on the moon, Pierre and his wife have been planning for years for their ruler ship over the earth. All the while this is going on, Rip's uncle, saucer expert, Egg Cantrell is kidnapped by mad scientist Newton Chadwick and is forced fly him to the moon in another saucer... Rip Cantrell and Ms. Pine find out about this and steal another saucer from a Smithsonian. Soon a fierce battle in outer space takes place. Who will come out on top? This sequel to the first Saucer book should definitely be on everyone's radar. Young or old, this book will leave you all wanting more more every page you turn over!
9th Grade Review