Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion

My goal this summer is to complete a first draft of a book. I think if I’m going to seriously pursue being a writer in life I need to start now, get in the habit of MAKING time for that.  My friend Gabi said to me today that she heard people get less busy when they go to college. WE’LL SEE BOUT THAT. I hope she’s right heehee.

R is a young man with an existential crisis--he is a zombie. He shuffles through an America destroyed by war, social collapse, and the mindless hunger of his undead comrades, but he craves something more than blood and brains. He can speak just a few grunted syllables, but his inner life is deep, full of wonder and longing. He has no memories, no identity, and no pulse, but he has dreams. After experiencing a teenage boy's memories while consuming his brain, R makes an unexpected choice that begins a tense, awkward, and strangely sweet relationship with the victim's human girlfriend. Julie is a blast of color in the otherwise dreary and gray landscape that surrounds R. His decision to protect her will transform not only R, but his fellow Dead, and perhaps their whole lifeless world.

What makes Warm Bodies so loveable, is the idea of being in the zombie’s mind instead of on the outside and R – oh boy does he have a heart. The writing in this book uses lots of cacophony at the beginning, but as the protagonist develops and slowly falls in love, the lyrical paragraphs turn from gruesome to appallingly romantic.

There are several underlying themes that I think make the book, for example the focus on  hope. There are two characters that strongly contrast their views on the current zombie apocalypse, one bitter about the world, one who is a beacon of hope to everybody – especially a certain zombie boy.

Even though R can’t express himself much to other characters in the book, his mind is as colourful as Julie’s heart and reading his thoughts are what make this novel so pleasurable. You’ll never care this much for a zombie ever again!

Loved it :) As well as the last half of the movie I saw. I recommend this book, a 5 OUT OF 5.  Took me a couple days to finish because I was glued to the pages. http://www.isaacmarion.com/ There is a link to Marion’s website.

-MRR

out.

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

Grad dinner and dance is finished! I am done with high school. Not much else to say, nothing else is going on in my life right now other than getting a $50 dollar gift card to chapters woooo! I bought 3 books that are outside the genre that I normally read so it will be fun.

In order to develop a secure defence against a hostile alien race's next attack, government agencies breed child geniuses and train them as soldiers. A brilliant young boy, Andrew "Ender” Wiggin lives with his kind but distant parents, his sadistic brother Peter, and the person he loves more than anyone else, his sister Valentine. Peter and Valentine were candidates for the soldier-training program but didn't make the cut-young Ender is the Wiggin drafted to the orbiting Battle School for rigorous military training. Ender's skills make him a leader in school and respected in the Battle Room, where children play at mock battles in zero gravity. Yet growing up in an artificial community of young soldiers Ender suffers greatly from isolation, rivalry from his peers, pressure from the adult teachers, and an unsettling fear of the alien invaders.

Ender’s Game is witty, exciting and has you hooked  in from the very start. Thrust into the future, the reader gets snippets of what is going on in the setting but the most vital thing is the buggers: the alien’s that invaded earth twice and almost won. Ender - who is only 6 years old when he is sent off to battle school -  has the weight of his entire planet on his shoulders as he is expected to win the last battle.

As he grows up in space, training every day of his life, Ender is tested until it seems he will break. But he is the smartest and most capable, no matter what his age, and no matter how many other older soldiers underestimate him. Orson Scott Card was imaginative in describing the games between armies and his writing really pulled me along. The characters are what really make the story.

The ending comes before you realize it, and even after the climax there is a nice twist. PROPS TO CARD, he did a splendid job once again. I’ll give Ender a 5 OUT OF 5. The movie is coming out soon with Harrison Ford http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SRizeR4MmU and if you want to check out Orson Scott Card’s website, there you go: http://www.hatrack.com/

Until next time!

-MRR

The Droughtlanders by Carrie Mac

I am SO VERY busy so sorry about the slow reading, usually I can get these suckers done in a day or two if I feel like it. Graduating and softball are taking up my time recently, its quite exhilarating. Speaking of exhilarating, lets talk about this lovely book.

Twin brothers Seth and Eli Maddox are Keylanders brought up within the privileged and protected Eastern Key. Keylanders, the boys are told, must keep within their walls to avoid the filth and disease spread by the Droughtlanders-those who struggle to survive on the parched land between the Keys. But when Eli sees their mother helping one of the wretched Droughtlanders, a chain of terrible events begins to unravel the life they've all known and will pit brother against brother in a life-or-death struggle between two worlds. The first book in the Triskelia trilogy, The Droughtlanders is a brilliant blend of futuristic fantasy and gritty social realism, with unforgettable characters and a compulsively readable story.

The first thing that I noticed and appreciated about this novel is that right on the first page, you are thrown into the story and left to figure out what’s going on. I thought that the protagonist was younger than 16 in the first couple chapters because of how he was acting, but there was good character development throughout the plotline for both Eli and his twin Seth.

There are many parallels between the world of the Droughtlands and of our current society, Mac reflects on these in her futuristic fiction. The rebels of Triskelia are trying to fight for their people, the Droughtlanders – who are stuck in poverty and sickness because of the Keys.

Overall this was a very compelling story to read, I couldn’t put it down. I loved the vocabulary and slang the characters had, and I could keep up with it without being confused. I think the best part about this novel is the contrast between the two brothers, and how different they turn out in the end.

Mac leaves you on a cliff-hanger so be prepared for me to reviewing the second one! Visit the website for the trilogy here http://www.triskelia.ca/books.html . I’m giving this one  5 OUT OF 5. I really couldn’t put it down.

Until next time, Chow!

MRR