Throwback Review: Green Heart

Another Throwback Review - this time from back in 2012! Enjoy!

Green Heart is the combination of two YA novels Green Angel and Green Witch by Alice Hoffman.

The day it happened, fifteen-year-old Green was angry and refused to speak to her family as they left. She had wanted to go with them to the city, but they needed her to stay home.

Her father, mother, and sister all died in the terrible disaster – leaving Green all alone, and plagued by the memory of her last moments with them.

She struggles to survive in a world turned topsy-turvy, a place where nothing wants to grow among the ashes. Green becomes one with the thorny, lifeless realm of her garden – but finds she must allow herself to open back up to life, to possibility… to magic.

Even though all she can see is pain.

Green Heart was a majestic read!

I read The Foretelling by Alice Hoffman years ago and was dumbfounded by it – so I had high expectations, and, my, were they reached!

The haunting, mournful, poetic sentences create an almost ethereal, atmospheric tone – a poem that goes on and on with grace and elegance.

As I read the Green Heart, or I should probably say absorbed, I hoped for a happy end, for healing, but I knew that anything Alice Hoffman created would be more complicated than that, more real.

Green Heart is a novel of lovely, wistful, staggering simplicity of words that brings a quiet power to this otherworldly tale. This is especially true when it comes to the allure and hypnotic pull of nature and animals (Animal lover, here!). There’s a sense of magic, of wonder, of hurt and hope intertwined.

Both Green Angel and Green Witch are beautiful, the sequel taking us deeper into a surprisingly revealing and exquisite story that is tonally the same.

If you’re a bit sick of reading about the apocalypse, various dystopias, that really just kind of depress you (I know that I have started to be), Green Heart is a refreshing read.

Here we have a book that is touching, transcends genres, and brings lightness to the dark.

If you haven’t already, you should definitely read Green Heart!

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Illuminae

Illuminae is the first book of the YA futuristic sci-fi thriller series The Illuminae Files by Amie Kaufman and Jay Krisftoff.

It started off like a day like any other in the year 2575 on the human inhabited planet of Kerenza. Kady had made the difficult decision to break up with her boyfriend Ezra – and she thought that would be the toughest thing about the day.

She didn’t realize her planet would be attacked that afternoon, the victim of two rival mega-corporations battling over the tiny speck of universe they called their home. There was no warning before nearly everything was on fire and people were dying all around them. Suddenly she and her ex, barely speaking since that morning, are forced to flee together – in a desperate attempt to evacuate the planet.

Yet even once they are off Kerenza, it is not the end of the nightmare. There is a warship after their refugee fleets. There’s mysterious talk of quarantines. And the AI that is supposed to be keeping them safe may actually be their enemy…

Wow.

I tried to keep the synopsis relatively brief but still hopefully titillating. This is QUITE the book. A space thriller, sci-fi, espionage, romantic horror story written in a unique manner – interviews with witnesses to the planetary attack, government memorandums, instant messaging, emails and surveillance footage summaries. Plus, even more.

Illuminae presents a distinctive storytelling method that is captivating and very well done. This is a suspenseful novel unlike any other I’ve read – an exciting, frightening, mind bending read that puts forward a clever story.

I very much look forward to the second book in the series and managed to read through the 599 pages of Illuminae quite quickly, taking into account my busy life.

Strongly recommended!!

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Uglies

Uglies is a YA dystopian novel by Scott Westerfeld.

Still an ugly, Tally is looking forward to her upcoming sixteenth birthday.

That is the day she will have her operation to become a pretty, as everyone does at sixteen, and move to New Pretty Town - the place all the newly gorgeous young people in society spend their time having fun all the time.

Her best friend Peris has already turned pretty – and the loneliness Tally feels as she waits for her day to join him is hollowing out a hole in her heart. She worries he forgets about her as he adapts to his new, pretty life.

When she meets Shay, Tally is shocked to learn that Shay is not as excited to turn pretty. She says odd things, such as not liking the idea of looking like everyone else – not liking that they are unable to consider their current faces pretty.

So, Shay running away right before her own operation stuns Tally – but not as much as it might have. Yet, when heretofore unknown authorities in their society approach Tally and offer her a choice – find Shay and the rebel group she joined outside their city limits or never have her own operation – Tally knows the world she knows will never be the same…

Uglies is a fairly popular book – there’s a good chance you’ve already read it or have heard of it. The concept of everyone being cosmetically altered to be pretty at the age of sixteen sounded interesting to me, so I finally jumped in. This is the first book in a four book series.

Though Uglies has an intriguing premise and some compelling dystopic details, I found myself not loving Tally. She was not all that likable to me. A bit boring, a bit too much of a follower sheep and just all together not interesting as a heroine to me.

As the story continued, my ongoing inability to get myself to care about Tally caused me to become more and more disenchanted, unfortunately. Uglies definitely felt like more of a plot driven novel, rather than character focused.

Instead of fleshing out its people and peeling back layers of information as to how this society came to be, what is truly going on, etc., I felt that not much was truly happening. There’s an odd little love triangle and romance that did not work for me either – no chemistry, no tension, no true suspense.

Despite having a hopeful bibliophile heart and still being attracted by the original premise, Uglies never lived up to the hype for me. Sad, but true.

By the end, I had a slight curiosity as to what might happen next – but I wish I’d liked it better. Unless I was handed the remaining three books for free, I do not see myself pursuing the rest of the series any time soon.

Definitely check it out for yourself, though! It’s a bestselling series that MANY readers have found extremely suspenseful! This is simply one book lover’s opinion alone.

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Shades of Grey

Shades of Grey is a dystopian satire novel by Jasper Fforde.

In a world where color perception determines the hierarchy of a Colortocracy society, what you can see is everything.

That’s why Eddie Russet is trying to secure a marriage into the powerful Oxblood family to combine his better-than-average Red perception to their aristocratic name – yet those plans are upended when he and his father are sent to the fringe town East Carmine.

Manners, rules and accepted mores in the Chromatacia seem a bit more lax in East Carmine – dangerously so. Beyond the normal fear of lethal swans and lightening, the sneaky Yellows seem sneakier than ever, the deMauve’s are angling to marry their horrid Violet to Eddie and he’s finding himself fascinated by a Grey named Jane.

Riskiest of all is the knowledge Eddie begins to gather in East Carmine – truths behind the ordered, peaceful, rule-abiding Colortocracy that shed light on its deceptions…

And it’s that innate inquisitiveness that could lead him away from a life of conformity – of career and spouse – and into trouble.

Jasper Fforde has to be one of the most imaginative authors out there right now. Seriously, what a unique, wonderfully bizarre concept!

We are introduced to a futuristic world in which everyone is, essentially, color blind. What they can see leads to where they are ranked in society – who they can marry, what jobs they can do, etc. Education, preference and love have nothing to do with it.

Plus, there is the abundance of RULES. Rules ranging from the illegality of manufacturing spoons (therefore making all spoons currently in existence a high-value, high-demand item) to the time of day you are allowed to drink Ovaltine.

Eddie is, of course, a fully immersed member of this society and we get to watch him go from embracing and believing in it to beginning to question it. He’s a likable character that cannot seem to help his curiosity, yet fears it as well.

Characters in Shades of Grey have, dare I say, colorful personalities! They burst from the pages with snappy dialogue and make the wacky world around them easier to accept – though the intricacies of Chromatacia are still confusing at times.

I loved it. It’s so absolutely different in every way. It’s hilarious, insightful, suspenseful and even a little romantic. There are supposed to be two more books – rounding out a trilogy – yet it has been six years since the release of Shades of Grey.

That’s okay. I will be patient. I am immensely interested in where this story will go – and willing to wait as long as it takes!

In the meantime, Jasper Fforde’s other novels will continue to sweep me away into a level of intelligent creativity that is not so easily found in today’s literature.

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Seeker

Seeker is a YA futuristic fantasy novel by Arwen Elys Dayton.

After years of training, Quin Kinkaid and her two fellow trainees, Shinobu and John, they are finally ready to take the Oath that will officially make them Seekers – protectors of the weak and wronged.

Yet – once the Oath is taken, Quin finds the truth is much darker.

After centuries of nobility, the life of a Seeker now is not what it once was. Everything has changed.

Nothing is what she thought – her family, the boy she loves, the life she’s been preparing for since a little girl.

And it’s too late.

Seeker looked kind of cool and interesting, so I went ahead and put it ahead of some other books on my shelf. Sadly, that was not a correct choice.

First off, trying to get a handle on the period we are in is very difficult – I finally landed on some sort of futuristic world with a medieval Scottish highlands vibe. Sort of odd.

Seeker starts with an action sequence featuring an oily weapon that can change shape at will – different, but not enough so to grab me the way it was meant to.

Very quickly we get descriptive passages on all three of the main characters – Quin, Shinobu and John – and get a fast understanding of their relationship to each other. We’ve got some love triangles, unrequited feelings and a forbidden affair. Also, we have multiple instances of adults in their lives giving rather ominous warnings about the Oath – urging them to not go through with it, to think of other options for their lives.

Sometimes all of this can work. Depending on the plot, writing and charisma of the characters I could totally get into all of this and ignore some cliché alarms. Unfortunately, nothing was good enough for me in Seeker to do so…

Honestly, I don’t have a good handle on what I just read. The plot itself is very obscure – and not in a brainy way, more in a way that nothing is explained or understood by the reader. I guess you’re just supposed to go along on the action and suspense ride – problem is that I feel no suspense when I don’t know what is happening.

It’s too bad but I was just never into Seeker at all. And I tried – I really did.

In the end, I kind of felt like shrugging. The direction of the romance went to, in my opinion, a weird place. Quin was never a heroine for me – she seemed a bit weak-willed. And the plot… well, what WAS it?

In the end, Seeker was billed far higher than what I got – it certainly did not feel like a mash-up of The Hunger Games and Game of Thrones to me!

However, as always, this is only MY opinion. Clearly, there are many who enjoyed Seeker! Read it for yourself and feel free to share your thoughts!

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Cinder

Cinder is a YA futuristic sci-fi fantasy retelling of Cinderella, and the first book in The Lunar Chronicles, by Marissa Meyer.

Being a cyborg is almost as shameful as being an android – despite the fact that Cinder knows she is human, there are many in New Beijing who would argue that fact.

So, as she spends her days utilizing her gifts as a mechanic to provide income for her derisive adoptive mother and sisters, Cinder doesn’t advertise her cyborg parts. Not good for business.

Yet, she’s never felt the weight of being a cyborg as strongly as when her path crosses with Prince Kai – an admittedly attractive and charming young man. Not to mention royal.

Soon, Cinder is pulled deeper into the most concerning struggles of Earth – a ravaging, deadly plague that they’ve been trying to find a cure for without success in twenty-five years and a possibility of war hinging on nothing more than the whims of a mad queen from the country Lunar, on the moon.

There are secrets to Cinder’s past that make her far more unusual than she ever realized…

I really, really, really liked Cinder!

Cinder is a breath of fresh air – impressive, effective, exciting and different! I loved the reimagining of Cinderella as an intelligent, down-to-earth cyborg mechanic. She felt so relatable – sympathetic without ever being self-pitying – and lacking any of the superficialities that can be a blight in fairy tales.

Plus, it creates many new avenues – making it an entirely different story with some of the main stalwarts being featured in unique, new ways.

First, the Lunar planet and people? Super creepy. I thought the presentation of the Lunar’s as a threat was very well done – and fascinating. Secondly, the disease that is tearing the people of New Beijing apart felt effectually frightening.

Really every aspect of Cinder was intriguing to me – so much happens yet it wasn’t lacking character development and world building amongst all that plot. Truly awesome.

I have to say I am very eager to read the next books – which I hear will feature twists on other fairy tales, such as Little Red Riding Hood, in this same world, while continuing Cinder’s story also.

Cinder is a GREAT read!!!

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Savage Run

Savage Run is a YA futuristic dystopia by E. J. Squires.

In one of the last hierarchical societies, Newland has a set standard of classes – and seventeen year old Heidi Cruise, being both a Laborer and a female, is in the lowest ranking set.

She has already seen her best friend suffer under the ruthless hand of her Master in less than a year and soon it will be Heidi’s turn to be assigned a Master, as well.

But she refuses to accept that.

It is the time of year that the Savage Run begins – a brutal, male-only obstacle program that offers the lower classes to compete with one goal in mind: survive and become a Master.

Determined to find freedom, Heidi is convinced their only chance is to pretend to be male and enter the Savage Run. Yet before they are even able to register, things begin to fall apart.

Is it possible for a Laborer, and a female one at that, to ever be free?

I will say that occasionally the writing and editing of Savage Run felt like it could use some improvement – but the story is gripping and absorbing enough to move beyond that very quickly.

This is, in my opinion, a very well developed futuristic dystopia – a little shades of Hunger Games but different enough to not be too similar.

Savage Run is suspenseful and vigorous with some romantic elements that are strong but happily do not overwhelm the survival plot.

It’s a horrifying cruel obstacle course – in which you feel that the higher level of society is only giving this “opportunity” by gritting their teeth and bearing it.

With these nail-biting elements and a likable heroine, the very present-tense “in the mind of” narration works very well.

I found that I liked Savage Run quite a bit – every time I sat it down I looked forward to picking it back up. Very good!

And, um, I would like to read book two!

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The Well of Ascension

The Well of Ascension is the second book in the high fantasy trilogy Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson.

If you haven’t read Mistborn yet, I would strongly suggest you do not read this review. Instead, go read Mistborn!

Though Vin and her group of thieves-turned-rebels have ended a tyrant government that had been held for a thousand years, the final words of the Lord Ruler haunt Vin.

She may not want to believe that the Lord Ruler was holding something even worse back, but she cannot ignore the growing threatening nature of the mists and the figure that is watching her amidst them.

Beyond the supernatural concern, Elend’s new freedom-focused government of Luthadel is being confronted with multiple outside armies who’ve decided they’d like to take the kingdom from the young king.

Defeating the Lord Ruler was only the beginning…

The Well of Ascension was quite something.

Just as when I entered into Mistborn, part of me wondered if The Well of Ascension could possibly be worth the time consumption of 750+ pages.

And initially, with the natural digression of memory regarding the particulars of the allomancy magic and multiple characters, the action sequences at the outset felt tiresome.

Yet with just a teeny tad bit of patience, the novel sparks the memory and you suddenly remember just how fascinating it all is – and yes, just how awesome it is.

The Well of Ascension brings back the complex characters that are multi-faceted, sometimes hard to like but always amazingly believable. The fantasy aspects, the fact that this word is a hinted at future, the original and often creepy creatures and nail-biting intrigue is to die for!

I’m surprised just how attached I am to the characters and as a deep suspense builds the intrigue to the max, I was turning pages never knowing what would happen next. And my goodness was there some doozies of twists!!!

Wow, wow, wow.

Unforeseen revelations gut wrenching shocks and edge of your seat epic storytelling has me in its grips.

Yes, The Well of Ascension was very good. A gamechanger.

Here I come The Hero of Ages!

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Deviation

Deviation is the first book in the futuristic sci-fi YA series The Sophisticates by Christine Manzari.

Cleo is a Sophisticate – one of the children genetically engineered in the Program to combat terrorism since the both economically and murderously destructive Wormwood hit America 30 years ago, changing everything.

She’s a Vanguard – focused more on advanced academics to create a brighter economic future for the country one day. Sophisticates do not have family – they do not have control over their own lives – they are owned by the Program and are reminded of it constantly.

Yet Cleo is not content with this – and when she’s caught hacking into a Program computer system to try and learn more about her donors she gets very upset.

And when she gets upset… something bad happens. A dangerous, unexpected anomaly.

As much as Cleo tries to hide what happened, she’s sent to the Academy to switch from a Vanguard to a Mandate – the military branch of the Program, where Sophisticates are trained to track and kill the nation’s enemies.

She’s not the only Sophisticate that looks like a Vanguard amidst the bulky, muscular Mandates…

Cleo’s determined to find out why.

Deviation was a fine book.

Not the strongest praise, I know.

As always, I strongly recommend people read books for themselves to form their own opinions as we are all so different – and Deviation has a LOT of fans out there!

For me, I found the plot of Deviation to be rather unoriginal and there seemed to be a lot of repetition in the narration.

I felt like we never learned enough about Wormwood. Even though we’re given the impression that the whole story isn’t being revealed – shouldn’t we be told everything that is common knowledge, at the very least? Seemed rather sparse.

Then there’s the aspect of romance in the book – which, though probably one of the strongest plots in Deviation, felt cliché and not genuine enough for me to truly care.

Deviation has some humor and has a vibe of being a mash-up of a high school teen movie and X-Men – but more teen movie, in my opinion.

Sadly, the novel never pulled me in enough to make me feel really connected or invested in anything or anyone. Due to this, after dutifully reading the first half of the book I began to skim the remainder.

I feel bad – but sometimes a book doesn’t harmonize with the reader and there are so many books to read, we sometimes have to make that decision.

Again – READ IT FOR YOURSELF!!!

This could be your next favorite book!

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