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.

View all my reviews

Happy Reading!

Tammy Jo

Ruby Red

If you have not had the chance to read Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier, then what are you waiting for?  This book pulled me in and wouldn't let me go.  First of all, let's just talk about that beautiful cover.  It is definitely "ruby red", not scarlet or fire engine red, but deep and intense.  The girl on the cover is eerily beautiful, and then you have the little clock looking item at the bottom.  The book is about ordinary and plain sixteen-year-old Gwen.  Gwen has grown up going to school, the movies, and hanging with her best friend Lesley.  Everything that her cousin Charlotte has been unable to do because she has been training all her life to be a time traveler.  When the gene mysteriously, and quite unexpectedly falls to Gwen, everyone's life is irrevocably turned upside down.  Gwen's mum is accused of conspiring to put her daughter ahead of Charlotte and sabotaging the entire project.  In a place where secrets and secret societies abound, Gwen is torn between the life she knew and the life she wants to know.  Along with the gene, Gwen inherits Charlotte's time traveling partner-to-be, Gideon.  Two years older than her, Gideon is more seasoned in the ways of time travel, especially with Gwen not having any training.  This book has mysterious characters lurking around every zap back in time.  Who can they trust?  Can they trust each other?  And will their lives ever be normal again?  Great read!  Highly recommend it!