Book Review: The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau

The world has changed since all the countries rebelled against one another in an all out battle to the end. Bombs dropped on major cities in the United States have rendered many of the animals extinct or mutated. The ground is infertile, and plants struggle to produce anything edible. In the aftermath of the devastation, people are trying to rebuild. The old-world city of Wichita is transformed into Tosu City, the hub of the country where many of the governmental choices are made, and the future leaders are primed after they undergo “The Testing”. There are a multitude of counties/colonies surrounding this main hub, where some previous students of the University (those who pass “The Testing” are allowed to go to school there and learn ways to fix and revitalize the country) have families and hope to send their own children to become the future leaders. Malencia is one of these students. All her life, she’s wanted to go for The Testing and prove her worth among the best and brightest. There haven’t been any candidates chosen from their colony of Five Lakes in almost a decade, but she hopes she will be “the one”. Even though it’s kind of obvious that’s what is going to happen, “Surprise!”, Malencia, as well as three others, are chosen and whisked off to the city. But before they go, there are quick words of doom and warning from her father, a previous University student. He  warns her not to trust anyone, and to prepare to survive some pretty traumatic and freaky stuff. Things that will more than likely prompt her to have nightmares like the ones he still has to this day.

She makes it to the city, and launches into the Testing. Betrayal, dishonesty, manipulation, death, suicide, murder, disappearances, subterfuge, and more occur within days, and continue to mount in severity up until the last stage of the test, where they throw these kids into the ruins of Chicago and tell them to make their way back to Tosu on their own. It is a game of survival, wits, and endurance that many of them face, and not all of them can win. If they pass this test, then they’ll make it to the University. Will Malencia make it?

I really, really, really got into this book. It seems like over the last few weeks I’ve been kind of dredging through the last few books I read. I mean, I’ll enjoy them mostly, but they just drag. This one was interesting to me, and picked up almost immediately. It had many of the same qualities as a Hunger Games type setting…more or less tranquil, with undertones of something more dangerous going on in the background. While there isn’t the immediate threat of death due to rebellion, its more like the colonies are in a fragile state, and don’t want to revert back to the previous way of life that led to the world war. And then The Testing begins. This brings in more of the survival, kill or be killed kind of attitude, and the moral high ground the protagonist finds herself on. Malencia, or Cia, wants to do things the “right” way, and not succumb to the desperation or brutality some of the other “future leaders” rely on. Her quick intellect and intuition guide her through the difficult tests, but ultimately putting her trust in others helps her meet the end goal. I liked the quick pace, and the way the reader can discover things about the facilities, students, and testing officials as Cia discovers them. There isn’t any of the background insight into what is going on with other characters or behind-the-scenes. This helps keep the mystery alive, and allow the reader to ponder the possible outcome along with Cia. While there was a lot of similar characteristics to dystopian stories like the Hunger Games, thank goodness they didn’t bring in a love triangle. Cia only loves one person, more or less, but the story line brought in the element of trust, and how far she would put her trust in Tomas. But also like the Hunger Games, the officials are always listening, always watching, and this knowledge helps Cia “play the game” and survive.

Despite all the similarities to some other dystopian novels/trilogies, I like the premise, and the higher dependence on knowledge and skill they place on the characters. If, say, the world did come to a crashing halt, I would love to imagine that we would band together and put a serious dependence on knowledge, learning, and learning skills to fix the world. But, you know, without all the killing and manipulation for a test. Just saying.

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Book Review: Far From You by Tess Sharpe

Sophie has survived trauma in her teenage years, which range from car accidents that almost leave her crippled, to surviving an attach where her best friend is shot and killed. Far From You is the aftermath of Sophie’s ordeals, as she struggles to stay clean of her painkiller addiction and find the reason her best friend had to die. The police, one detective in particular, chalk it up to Sophie’s addiction and that it was a drug deal gone wrong. Sophie’s internal mantra of the months, hours, and minutes of her being clean say otherwise. Through the years and reflections on times past, we see Sophie and Mina’s friendship grow (and their love) and the events that surround Mina’s death. There is mystery and intrigue about the secrets both the girls kept, and how they knew everything about each other with the simplest touch or glance, yet would hide things–even from themselves. Sophie feels lost without her friend, but after struggling through her grief in an unnecessary stint in rehab, she vows to discover a secret about Mina she never knew, and find the person(s) responsible for her death.

This novel not only is a murder mystery, but ultimately a reflection on grief, how one struggles with addiction, friendship, and love. I figured this was just going to be another angst-filled story about some obvious-killer-boyfriend who “accidentally” murdered Sophie’s best friend (and was “Gonna get her too!”). One of those that there seems to be dozens of out there. Then the story started to blossom and show deeper sub-plots and further mysteries that were hidden from the reader. It became more a story of a hidden love between the two girls, and how they struggled to not only hide it from their friends, families, and lovers, but from themselves. There was real, raw pain behind many of the girls’ actions, especially when Sophie started to fall deeper into her drug addiction. I liked how Sharpe didn’t immediately make it an unrealistic dive into the drug world, but a slow and irreversible descent. Sophie was in real pain from her car accident, and was struggling with the physical therapy and the realization she would never be the same again. That’s one of the things I could never stand from other books that talk about drug addiction…it seems so staged and unrealistic. But here, Sophie just digs herself deeper into it, even astonishing herself when she steals her father’s prescription pad, and prolongs her unnecessary pill-popping.

The greatest thing from this book was the realism; the emotions of the family members, the betrayal of friends for love, unrequited love, odd stages of grief (and how everyone handles it differently), and ultimately, just how people grow from trauma and great relationships. Sophie wasn’t the deepest or most well-rounded of characters, but you understood her emotions and actions, and how they aided her recovery from such death and self-destruction. Her relationship with Trev was full of tension and sadness, and her parents seemed, well, like parents. No one’s perfect, and all the characters were able to make mistakes here and there with little detriment to the story. I really enjoyed the realism, and gut-wrenching, tear-jerking moments. Sigh. But the ending. The wrap up with the criminals was a little odd, and felt misplaced. I felt the main story with Mina and Sophie’s relationship and turmoil was the real focus, and the murder mystery an afterthought. Besides that…pretty darn swell.

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Book Review: Grim, ed. by Christine Johnson

This book, a compilation of short stories inspired by the prolific Grimm fairy tales, explores lives of traditional characters in a variety of situations. Whether in the future, in alternate realities, or just re-imagined by talented writers of youth literature, these classic and creepy tales are fantastic. The authors include: Ellen Hopkins, Amanda Hocking, Julie Kagawa, Claudia Gray, Rachel Hawkins, Kimberly Derting, Myra McEntire, Malinda Lo, Sarah Rees-Brennan, Jackson Pearce, Christine Johnson, Jeri Smith Ready, Shaun David Hutchinson, Saundra Mitchell, Sonia Gensler, Tessa Gratton, and Jon Skrovan.

I enjoyed almost 90% of the stories included, and while I didn’t recognize some of the characters/story lines/themes, I still got a kick out of the sheer expansiveness of the stories and their awesomeness. Their was a fair amount of brutality, sex, hate, deception, secrets, love, mystery, and everything that is quintessential in a classic fairy tale. Some were particularly short and sweet, with a quick concise wrap-up; while there were others that had more characters, a more extensive plot-line, and occasionally, drug on for longer than felt necessary. Some stories were honestly surprising! I would be half-way through a story, and then *duh!* would realize the characters related to, say, Red Riding Hood, or Sleeping Beauty, or (quite often), Beauty and the Beast. That was one thing that I kind of disliked–there were multiple versions of the same story/tale. I think it would have been preferable to stick to all different stories, or at least have separate versions that were so different, so altered, that they wouldn’t be comparable. I did enjoy the theme of the Grimm fairy tales, or classic fairy tales–doing just fantasy seems to run to close to other short story compilations like Firebirds, Firebirds Rising, or even the third in the compilations, Firebirds Soaring (which I totally need to get to at some point). Anyhow, the stories were intriguing and unique, and kept me interested throughout the entire book. I recommend it!

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Book Review: Extremeties by David Lubar

David Lubar combines multiple types and flavors of horror, with no stone left unturned in this gruesome compilation. His stories follow murderers, innocents, those stuck in the wrong-place-wrong-time, and the otherworldly. Some are short and “sweet”, while others give a little more depth and gore.

I like some horror stories, but mostly like the suspense and unknowing that many novels or epics use throughout the storylines. In Lubar’s Extremities, he uses short stories that can give you a quick scare, without too much thought. While many were very detailed and interesting, these sort of reminded me of an adult version of Goosebumps. Just a bit of entertaining horror, without too much to think about later when its pitch black in the house. And you think a character is hiding just like they were hiding in the story. And they have a knife. Or fangs. Or will suck out your soul.

All in all, a light read without too much to think about.