Night of the Purple Moon by Scott Cramer - Book Review

Night of the Purple Moon by Scott Cramer is a young adult post-apocalyptic science fiction. A comet's dust turns the sky purple, and space germs kill everyone who is past puberty. The world is left with a few scientists who were quarantined, and thousands of kids. On an island off of Maine, a group of kids bands together to survive.

The high stakes and constant motion just kept building throughout the book. I didn't want to stop. The idea was what really intrigued me, but the personality and writing really hooked me. It's written in third person so we can bounce from character to character. I liked that, but I also think it could have benefited from being first person for the emotion. Still, a lot of moments had me gripping my seat in anticipation.

The characters are all very solid and real. For the story revolving entirely around children, it didn't feel childish or silly at any point. A lot of science and knowledge was thrown in because of one nerdy character; hope and love and worry were projected by another. They all had their roles and were connected to each other in simply beautiful ways.

Scott touched a few times on the fact that these thousands of children would one day have to procreate in order to keep the race continuing, but it was never weird or wrong. There were still twelve-year-old crushes, not intense love you wouldn't expect from pre-teens, and every once in a while someone would mention it but they would just continue on as if it wasn't said.

The beginning of the book threw me a little. The timing seemed strange, but once I got into the flow of the writing and the comet dust fell into the atmosphere, curling its way around the moon, I couldn't stop.

I received this book from the author for review.

Classics Challenge - The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

For the classics challenge this month, I read The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

There is a lot of comparison to split personality disorders and this novella. The allegory hidden in the writing definitely points to that. But most visual portrayals of this book make Mr. Hyde a hideous creature, almost ape-like and deformed. Robert Louis Stevenson did not write him that way. None of the characters could describe why he made them uneasy, there was nothing wrong with his appearance. It was the evil shining through that made them cringe.

Stevenson wrote this book after having a nightmare, and he wrote it in a hurry. Not having known him, or much about him besides what Wikipedia says, I'm not sure why he would write this book. I think there is an innate sense in every human to explain the unexplainable and perhaps that what he was doing here. Maybe he felt that his mind was cracking in two and the only way to stop it was to put it outside of himself.

Bumped by Megan McCafferty - Book Review

Bumped is controversial. I was worried that it would be crass. The premise is that a virus causes humanity to lose fertility after age 18. Sixteen and Pregnant, in other words. Teenagers are selling babies, both as amateurs and as pros - paid up front. Melody is one of a set of twins, and she is set up for a very expensive pro contract, but she hasn't been paired yet. Harmony, her sister, was raised separately in a very religious community and doesn't believe in sex before marriage.

The first few chapters were a bit of a jolt. The slang was confusing, Melody and Harmony were very difficult to tell apart, but the world was fully formed and I just needed time to settle in. Once I understood the world I was sucked in. It wasn't girly and silly or too R-rated and sexified.

The ending. My normal pet peeve. It closed somewhat, but was so open-ended. When are YA writers going to stop writing books like they are just a way to sell a series and make more money? Writing is an art, books are complete stories. The art of finishing a story but making me fall in love with your writing so that I will read more of your books is your goal.

Have you read this one? What did you think? Controversial or normal YA?

Delirium by Lauren Oliver - Book Review

Delirium by Lauren Oliver is a testament to what we are as humans. What makes us tick? According to this book, it's love. And in the future someone figured out how to cure us of love.

Lauren Oliver is extremely perceptive about humanity as whole. A few lines:

"You know you can't be happy unless you're unhappy sometimes, right?" (Page 21 Kindle)

"No wonder the regulators decided on the segregation of boys and girls: Otherwise, it would have been a nightmare, this feeling angry and self-conscious and confused and annoyed all the time." (Page 57 Kindle)

She brings all kinds of things from our world into the mix including blogs (or isn't that what she's describing as banned here?):

"...people can't just write whatever, or post things themselves, or write up false information or 'inflammatory opinions'..." (Page 93 Kindle)

The characters have traits that make them seem extremely human. Like how Lena, the main character, has gum wrappers and paper clips and random junk in her locker and her backpack. Or when Lena says something that she didn't consciously realize until it's coming out of her mouth. I do that all the time.

The change in Lena is gradual. She is gung-ho for being cured. It's all she's ever known and it's safe. But her best friend, and so many other circumstances, make her realize that safe doesn't mean best.

It ended without ending. I hate open endings. I know it's a sequel, but I want to be hooked by the writing not by the fact that the story isn't finished. That was my one and only pet peeve.

Have you read it? What did you think?

Drabble Dienstag - The Future of Medicine

This time present tense came a lot easier. What do you think? Am I horribly morbid?

She puts her coin in the vending machine, and the door swishes open to allow entry. Inside the metal box she finds a robe lying on a metal table, undresses, and lies down. Her eyes follow the blinking lights and buzzing noises around the silver closet. When it dings, she dresses again and goes outside to await her printout. People walk by her on the street, not noticing her nervous eye twitch or the sweat gathering in her palms. Finally, the machine prints out a ticket for her and says cheerily, “Thanks for visiting the Quick Doc. You’ve got cancer!”

When She Woke by Hillary Jordan - Book Review

When She Woke by Hillary Jordan is a science fiction remake of The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Can I just say that I hope high schools start moving on to newer syllabi and teach things like this. Hannah Payne, the main character, had an abortion and was accused of murder. The punishment is to infect her with a virus that turns her skin red, so everyone she sees knows what she is.

The first chapter was absolutely superb. Intense, gripping, it sucked me in to the moment and wouldn't let go. Throughout the book I had a lot of emotional response to the characters. A lot of them really pissed me off, but that's a good thing because it meant I was impassioned and wanted to keep reading.

Hannah had such a visible and strong character arc. She went from timid, perfect Godly daughter to strong, independent, knowing-what-she-wants adult. I think she even found the happy medium of still believing in God but not blindly following people who think they knew what she needed.

The ending was a little too romancy and anticlimactic for me. It ended too easily when there were so many possibilities for more conflict.

I would definitely recommend this book, but beware that it does get rather religious. It's not that the book is telling the reader to become religious, but it is a touchy subject and I'm sure some people would not enjoy it.