Dystopian Books

      I Love Dystopian books!  I must admit that when they first started coming out, I truly had my doubts.  Then as more came out, I thought, How can you keep telling the same story and still make it different?  Well, duh, they do it all the time in other genres.  With Dystopian, I enjoy reading the man versus nature type of feeling it invokes.  When they can throw in a weird creature that is wreaking havoc on the humanity that is left is also great.  Then throw in a control-freak that thinks they are the answer for the remaining civilization and wowsa!!!!! 

     Now, they Dystopian books are carrying over to movies and television.  The fascination of The Hunger Games both in book and movie form has really brought the Sci-Fi sub-genre out into the forefront.  And then there is NBC's new television show Revolution that focuses on a teenage girl that lives in a time where electricity no longer works and is attempting to rescue her brother from a crazed military leader with the help of her estranged uncle, a rebel, and a nerd.  I watch that show and it makes me realize how much we all rely on technology and what would happen if it was taken away from us.

Here is my review of the latest Dystopian book I have read:  Defiance by C.J. Redwine.  There are a few spoilers, but the biggest ones have been left out.  If you like The Hunger Games, Shatter Me, or Under the Never Sky you will like this first book in The Courier's Daughter Trilogy. 


Defiance by C.J. Redwine
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Rachel’s father is a missing courier for the city-state of Baalboden. The Commander, who rules the city-state in an a dictator fashion has him declared dead. Rachel is heartbroken and certain that her father is still alive. The Commander tells her that her new protector is not Oliver, the grandfather-like figure that has always been in her life, but rather her father’s apprentice Logan McEntire. Rachel bristles at the thought of Logan, a boy she declared her love for just two years earlier and rejected her, being her protector. However, there is little that can be done. Rachel plots a way to escape the city-state and go in search of her father, but is caught by the Commander’s soldiers. The Commander kills an innocent soldier and threatens Logan’s life to bring Rachel under control.

Rachel and Logan are determined her father is still alive and holds a secret the Commander very much wants. There attempts to escape are thwarted again and Rachel comes under control of the Commander while Logan is beaten and thrown into the dungeon. Rachel and Melkin, her forced traveling companion, strike out and encounter unfathomable dangers, including the Cursed One – a dragon-like worm that destroys everything in its wake. Logan, with the help of people who want him and Rachel to lead a revolt, escapes the dungeon to track down Rachel. The two return to Baalboden for a confrontation with the Commander in hopes of overthrowing him, but instead he disappears. With everything left in chaos, half of the people leave Baalboden and the other half throw their support behind Rachel and Logan.

This story is told in the alternating voices of Rachel and Logan.

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Happy Reading!

Tammy Jo

Robin Hoodesque...

Do you like the idea and romanticism behind Robin Hood? Who doesn't? Rob from the rich and give to the poor (and really who among us doesn't thing we are poor and can always stand to have more?). I have just read the cutest little book about a Robin Hood wannabe. Girls will love it! I also have some other books in the library about Robin Hood and twists on the Robin Hood tale you might want to check out....

Outlaw - graphic novel; Robin Hood, His Life and Legend, Robin Hood, The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, The Outlaws of Sherwood by Robin McKinley, Scarlet by A. C. Gaughen, Hood by Steve Lawhead, Bandits and Outlaws. Check some of these out! And see my review of Pretty Crooked below. (There is a spoiler!)....


0Pretty Crooked by Elisa Ludwig
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Willa is fifteen and lives with her free-spirit artist mom. She has been to a dozen schools in her young life and is about to make the move again from Colorado to Paradise Valley, Arizona. Paradise Valley is like no place they have ever been before. It is a town where wealth is a way of life -- for everyone. Willa's mom enrolls her in Paradise Valley Prep - an exclusive preparatory academy. For the first time, Willa is accepted into the "in crowd" known as the "Glitterati". Willa begins doing things she has never done before, like spending outrageous amounts of money on clothes to keep up with her new friends.

Life is good until Willa begins to read a school gossip blog trashing some new girls at school. They call them the "Busteds" because they are brought into the school from another district and are attending PV Prep on scholarship. Willa is even more upset when she overhears some of her new friends trashing these girls. Deciding to help them out, Willa takes on the persona of Robin Hood (after some training from a friend). All of the sudden the Busteds are a hit and the Glitterati are mad. When Willa finds out that one of her Glitterati buddies is the author of the gossip blog, she sees red and becomes reckless.

Willa's life spirals out of control when she is caught breaking into a friend's house and is forced to spend the night in Juvie. She is given community service which she serves with Aidan, a boy that annoys and intrigues her from PV Prep. She also finds out that half the school hates her and half the school considers her a hero and have even nicknamed her the "Sly Fox". Aidan drives her home from her first day of community service to find her house being ransacked by a mystery man. This is not the first mystery man in her life. Her mother has been meeting one and will tell Willa nothing about him. Willa and Aidan give chase to the man, but he gets away. When she comes back home, it is to see mom's mystery man driving off and a business card from an FBI agent under the doormat. Mom's mystery man?! And did I mention Aidan and the big kiss that makes her forget everything bad that has happened to her?

Cute read that girls grade 7+ will enjoy. There is some references to major parties and the drinking that goes on (for that reason might do a disclaimer to the younger girls). Otherwise cute and can't wait to see what happens in Pretty Sly with Willa and Aidan, her mom and the mystery FBI agent!

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