The Maze Runner (The Maze Runner, #1), by James Dashner

The Maze Runner (The Maze Runner, #1), by James Dashner on Goodreads

Release Date: October 6th, 2009
Age Group: Young Adult
Publisher: Delacorte Press Books for Young Readers

Overall: 5 Monkeys
Categories: Dystopian, Post-Apocalyptic, Sci-Fi

Challenge: 100 Books in a Year
Other books in the series: The Scorch Trials (The Maze Runner, #2), The Death Cure (The Maze Runner, #3)
Read in July 2011

Summary from Goodreads:

Imagine waking up one day in total darkness, unsure of where you are and unable to remember anything about yourself except your first name. You're in a bizarre place devoid of adults called the Glade. The Glade is an enclosed structure with a jail, a graveyard, a slaughterhouse, living quarters, and gardens. And no way out. Outside the Glade is the Maze, and every day some of the kids -- the Runners -- venture into the labyrinth, trying to map the ever-changing pattern of walls in an attempt to find an exit from this hellish place. So far, no one has figured it out. And not all of the Runners return from their daily exertions, victims of the maniacal Grievers, part animal, part mechanical killing machines.
Thomas is the newest arrival to the Glade in this Truman-meets-Lord of the Flies tale. A motley crew of half a dozen kids is all he has to guide him in this strange world. As soon as he arrives, unusual things begin to happen, and the others grow suspicious of him. Though the Maze seems somehow familiar to Thomas, he's unable to make sense of the place, despite his extraordinary abilities as a Runner. What is this place, anddoes Thomas hold the key to finding a way out?
In The Maze Runner, Dashner has crafted a creative and engaging novel that's both mysterious and thought provoking.

My Opinion:

I'd read a lot about this book, some really good reviews, and it had always been on top of my TBR list. So when I saw it in my local bookstore, I knew I had to buy it. Not that many American books find their way to Latin America, so I was really happy to find this one. 

Cover of my/Latin American edition.

And it did not disappoint! What an awesome first-book-in-a-series! It left me aching for more!

I missed the buzz over this book when it was first published, so I'm not going to make this a long review, as I imagine you may have read a lot of reviews already, but I am going to say this: I saw The Scorch Trials in my bookstore, and I'm getting it when I have money (lol).

I can't remember ever reading a book about a Maze, this one was something fresh. Every chapter ended leaving you more confused and with more questions than before, and I can definitely see why some people compare it to Lost. It has that mysterious air that the TV show had, and that I loved. I can definitely see myself becoming a fan of this trilogy. 

Another thing that suprised me in a wonderful way, was the fact that James wrote a book where teenage (this is a crucial fact) boys are capable of working and living in a very well crafted community. Yes, they got help from the "Makers" (? - I read the book in Spanish, so I don't know the term in English), the people who put them there, but in the end it was up to them to get things done. Eventually, the girl who arrived at the Glade also participates, but the boys are the ones who've built up everything before she got there. 

Why do I like this? Because it shows teenagers can do more than care for trivial matters! Leaving aside the fact that this is a Sci-Fi, these boys worked hard not to let anguish and pain bring them down. So, kudos to Dashner, Thomas and the Gladers!

This book is full of fast-paced action, suspense, mystery and some laughs thrown in there too. I highly recommend this is you still haven't read it!

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Shatter Me cover revealed!

Yesterday, Hollywood Crush revealed Tahereh Mafi's (I still don't know how to pronounce her name!) debut book's cover! And it is quite stunning! Take a look:

Juliette hasn't touched anyone in exactly 264 days. The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette's touch is fatal. As long as she doesn't hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old-girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don't fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color.

The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war- and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she's exactly what they need right now.

Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior.

In this electrifying debut, Tahereh Mafi presents a world as riveting as The Hunger Games and a superhero story as thrilling as The X-Men. Full of pulse-pounding romance, intoxicating villainy, and high-stakes choices, Shatter Me is a fresh and original dystopian novel—with a paranormal twist—that will leave readers anxiously awaiting its sequel. (from Goodreads)

Isn't that an awesome cover! And the summary, so cool. A mix of dystopia and paranormal. Something fresh and interesting, can't wait!

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Inside Out (Insider, #1), by Maria V. Snyder

Inside Out (Insider, #1), by Maria V. Snyder on Goodreads.

Release Date: April 1st, 2010
Age Group: Young Adult
Publisher: Harlequin
Source: NetGalley

Overall: 5 Monkeys
Interest: Series
Categories: Dystopian, Science Fiction

Challenge: 100 Books in a Year
Read between March and April 2011


Summary from Goodreads:

Keep Your Head Down.
Don't Get Noticed.
Or Else.
I'm Trella. I'm a scrub. A nobody. One of thousands who work the lower levels, keeping Inside clean for the Uppers. I've got one friend, do my job and try to avoid the Pop Cops. So what if I occasionally use the pipes to sneak around the Upper levels? The only neck at risk is my own…until I accidentally start a rebellion and become the go-to girl to lead a revolution.

My Opinion:

What a great book to introduce me to the work of Maria V. Snyder! Truly amazing! Maria has created a whole new world, for lack of a better term, and it's incredibly exciting to see how it works.

When I started reading it, Trella explained how they lived in a place called Inside, and how it was built. She showed us where she was going in the pipes, but it was hard to keep up with her, I really needed a map! And guess what. I found a map of Inside, after reading the book. So now that I'm done, I can think back on it, and understand her movements better. I really think the map should have been included on the book, so we'd be able to keep better track of Trella's moves through the pipes.

Considered to be the Queen of the Pipes, and not because everyone loved her so much, Trella is a wonderful character, and I loved watching (reading) her evolution on the pages. She starts out as a closed-in character, with Cogon as her only friend (No one recycles Cogon!). But, as she realises how life on Inside really is, and how she has the power to change that, she takes a spin in the other direction. While she couldn't trust anyone before, now she's learning there's strength in numbers.

I loved Riley too. *swoon* He's the Upper who changes Trella's view of the world.

Basically, every single character is written to perfection. They all have their tempers, their characteristics, those things that make them unique, and I love that in a book.

What I love about Dystopian books are the revolutions. I get really excited about them, when I read them, because in the real world, we could really do with a few. And those that are set in motion need our support.

Trella needs to find Gateway, the door to Outside. She'll have a lot of help, a lot of it. The bad guys here are the Trava family, who rule Inside, spreading lies to the Scrubs and Uppers, so they won't unite against them.

The search for Gateway was one of the most thrilling things I've read this year. Trust and treason, friends and enemies, this book has it all. Even love, which I'm a sucker for. And I don't particularly like Sci-Fi, but man, I didn't even know this was a Sci-Fi until the end of the book! So brilliantly introduced! I'm in awe, seriously. 

I'm a new Maria V. Snyder fan, and I'm off to read Outside In. Can't wait to see what happens next!

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Catching Up Readathon - Update

Just finished reading Inside Out, by Maria V. Snyder. 

And:

OH. MY. GOD.

It is the most amazing Dystopian book I've read this year!

Sooooooooooooooo freaking good!

Wow, I need time to recover, before moving on to my next read.

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Wither (Chemical Garden, #1), by Lauren DeStefano

Wither, by Lauren DeStefano on Goodreads

Release Date: March 22nd, 2011

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing

Age Group: Young Adult

Categories: Paranormal, Dystopian, Teen Pregnancy, Kidnapping,  

Source: Simon & Schuster's Galley Grab Program

Overall: 5 Monkeys

Read on March 2011

Summary from Goodreads

What if you knew exactly when you would die?

Thanks to modern science, every human being has become a ticking genetic time bomb—males only live to age twenty-five, and females only live to age twenty. In this bleak landscape, young girls are kidnapped and forced into polygamous marriages to keep the population from dying out.

When sixteen-year-old Rhine Ellery is taken by the Gatherers to become a bride, she enters a world of wealth and privilege. Despite her husband Linden's genuine love for her, and a tenuous trust among her sister wives, Rhine has one purpose: to escape—to find her twin brother and go home.

But Rhine has more to contend with than losing her freedom. Linden's eccentric father is bent on finding an antidote to the genetic virus that is getting closer to taking his son, even if it means collecting corpses in order to test his experiments. With the help of Gabriel, a servant Rhine is growing dangerously attracted to, Rhine attempts to break free, in the limted time she has left.

My Opinion:

Wither is a great book to start off a series. I loved it!

We're first introduced to our main character, Rhine, and the world she lives in. How it's normal for her and her brother -and most kids their age- to be orphans and live alone, fending for themselves. How it's normal for them to have fences and tricks to keep robbers -kids trying to get something to eat, or Gatherers looking for brides to sell- away. How girls having babies at ages as early as 12 is okay. 

Rhine is tricked into the open arms of the Gatherers and ends up at the back of a van with a dozen other girls. What seems to her to be days later, the doors of the van open, and three girls are picked out. Rhine is one of them. The others are disposable. The gun shots can be heard even from the inside of the rich, ominous limousine the three girls are taken to. 

What I loved about Rhine was that she always knew what she wanted. She wanted to escape from that idyllic place from the moment she set foot in it, and no matter how beautiful the place, how kind the people, she could still see it for what it really was: a prison. Even when she started falling for Gabriel, a kitchen attendant, she didn't think of staying longer than she should. She missed her freedom, and her brother. 

Linden, her husband, is like a caged prince, one who's been told fairy tales to guard him from the horrors of the world. Despite herself, Rhine begins to care for him. 

Cecily and Jenna, Rhine's "sister wives", couldn't be more different from her. Cecily's incredibly happy to have been chosen to be the wife of a very wealthy man in a good position, and Jenna wishes their husband would die, like her sisters did in the back of the van that brought her there. Their relationship blossoms into one of friendship, and Rhine feels she can trust them. Well, she trusts Jenna the most.

The Mansion is surrounded by gardens: the orange grove, the rose garden, and many more places like those. All beautiful, all chemically sustained. And there's no way out. No visible way out. 

It'll be Rhine's job to find out a way to leave, before she ends up like Rose, Linden's first wife, down in the cellar, with Linden's father, who'd do anything to find a cure to save his son. 

All in all, Wither is a great debut for author Lauren DeStefano, that set out the path for the rest of the series beautifully. I can't wait to read the sequel, and see what happens to Rhine and the others!

*Read for the 2011 Debut Author Challenge by The Story Siren*

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