Abandon

Abandon

Meg Cabot

★★★★☆

            “Everyone wants to believe that there’s something else – something great – waiting for them on the other side. Paradise. Valhalla. Heaven. Their next – hopefully less horrible – life.”

             After the accident that changed her life, Pierce tried to start over. She moved to a new town and started at a new high school, where she made new friends. But as hard as she tried, she couldn’t avoid him. Every time she was in trouble, he showed up and helped her out- then promptly disappeared. As a underworld deity, he could come and go undetected as he pleased, and that’s what got her into trouble the first time, right after she died. The only proof of his existence was a rare diamond necklace he gave her- and the hole he left in her heart. If Pierce falls any further, she might end up spending the rest of eternity in the place she fought to leave and swore to never return….. . his world: The Underworld.

            Abandon is a romance/mythology novel similar to Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini. I enjoyed the adventure of it, but I’m not really much of a romance person so that was the only thing that brought my rating down. To tell the truth, though, the book wouldn’t have been as original without the romance. The storyline sort of follows that of the myth where Hades traps Persephone down in the Underworld, except the plot is way more complicated and interesting, and involves many twists and turns. I really liked how the author complicated the story with the addition of the Furies possessing people and how when you least expect it, something drastic happens.  This book also has really awesome foreshadowing- if you read it more than once you’ll be able to find where Meg Cabot has set the stage for events to come. If you like mythology and romance, you can give this book a try J

The Maze Runner

The Maze Runner

The Maze Runner book #1

James Dashner

★★★★☆

He began his new life standing up, surrounded by cold darkness and stale, dusty air.

Metal ground against metal; a lurching shudder shook the floor beneath him. He fell down at the sudden movement and shuffled backward on his hands and feet, drops of sweat beading on his forehead despite the cool air. His back struck a hard metal wall; he slid along it until he hit the corner of the room. Sinking to the floor, he pulled his legs up tight against his body, hoping his eyes would soon adjust to the darkness.

 With another jolt, the room jerked upward like an old lift in a mine shaft.

 Harsh sounds of chains and pulleys, like the workings of an ancient steel factory, echoed through the room, bouncing off the walls with a hollow, tinny whine. The lightless elevator swayed back and forth as it ascended, turning the boy's stomach sour with nausea; a smell like burnt oil invaded his senses, making him feel worse. He wanted to cry, but no tears came; he could only sit there, alone, waiting.

 My name is Thomas, he thought.

 That... that was the only thing he could remember about his life.

            Thomas woke up in a metal box with no idea who he was, no idea how he got there, and no idea why he was there. The only thing he knew was his name. He emerged from the box to find a crowd of boys gathered around him, and learned that he is trapped in a place called the Glade, and the boys are called Gladers. There are no girls, and the Glade is surrounded by an unsolvable Maze infested with monsters known as Grievers. Supplies, such as medical supplies and food, arrive regularly in the elevator Thomas came in.

            One day after Thomas arrives, the Box starts to rumble and out comes the Glade’s first girl. To Thomas, she looks familiar and he becomes infatuated with her. After she arrives, a series of events begin unfolding that have never happened before in the Glade’s close-knit community, including Thomas being among the first three to survive the night in the Maze, the sun disappearing from the sky, and the Gates failing to close.

            As Thomas, Teresa, Alby, Chuck, Newt and the other Gladers struggle to survive and escape the dying Glade, many answers are revealed but some questions still remain unanswered, and insanity and death lurk around every corner.

I would recommend this book to readers of the Hunger Games ages 13-ish. What’s unusual in this book is the all the characters are boys-except for one girl, Teresa. Like the Hunger Games, it’s a post-apocalyptic novel, but in this book the world is ending from solar flares and it’s missing some of the Hunger Games’ ingenuity. It’s also reminiscent of the Lord of the Flies. What I liked about it was the action and how the plot always seemed to get another twist just when I was sure it was getting less exciting. The setting was also quite unique. Give this book a try!

before i fall

before i fall

Lauren Oliver

★★★★☆

            They say that just before you die your whole life flashes before your eyes, but that’s not how it happened for me.

            To be honest, I’d always thought the whole final-moment, mental life scan-thing sounded pretty awful. Some things are better left buried and forgotten, as my mom would say. I’d be happy to forget all of fifth grade, for example (the glasses-and-pink-braces period), and does anybody want to relive the first day of middle school? Add in all of the boring family vacations, pointless algebra classes, period cramps, and bad kisses I barely lived through the first time around……

The truth is, though, I wouldn’t have minded reliving my greatest hits: when Rob Cokran and I first hooked up in the middle of the dance floor at homecoming, so everyone saw and knew we were together; when Lindsay, Elody, Ally, and I got drunk and tried to make snow angels in May, leaving person-sized imprints in Ally’s lawn; my sweet-sixteen party, when we set out a hundred tea lights and danced on the table in the backyard; the time Lindsay and I pranked Clara Seuse on Halloween, got chased by the cops, and laughed so hard we almost threw up-the things I wanted to remember, the things I wanted to be remembered for.

            Friday, February 12 should just be another day in Samantha Kingston’s life. Samantha Kingston has three amazing best friends and first pick of everything at Thomas Jefferson High due to her popularity. The last day she lives is spent skipping classes, hanging out with her best friends, cheating on tests and partying her brains out. Then the crash happens, and Samantha wakes up to find her alarm ringing- it’s February 12 all over again. She relives the day she died seven times, unraveling the mystery behind her untimely, purely coincidental death, and discovers the true value of everything she will lose.

            Before I Fall is a heartbreaking, riveting story of one girl’s solo quest to redeem herself and fix her death by saving a life. What makes it so good is how even though it’s basically the same day repeated 7 times, it’s not boring or repetitive. Each new day brings with it a new plot, and by the end it’s almost unrecognizable.  Also, the characters are vividly real and the story brings up the question: ‘What would I change if I died today?’. I would recommend this novel to readers of If I stay by Gayle Forman. It’s beautiful, complex, emotional and ingeniously written.

Link to the book trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ldyMb9cneAQ