Review: Legend by Marie Lu (Legend #1)

Legend takes place in the future United States, but the states have been divided into two separate countries, the Republic and the Colonies. Within the Republic, all children at age 10 take a Trial, to assess a number of things, including their physical and mental abilities, and to find a place for them within society. The ones with high scores are privileged, given access to education, wealth, and thorough medical attention. The ones with lower scores are sentenced to a life of poverty, menial labor, and sickness. The ones that fail are said to go off to work at labor camps; however, they are never seen nor heard from again.

June is a young elite, the first person ever to score a perfect 1500 on her Trial. At the ripe age of fifteen, she has already finished college and military training and is well on her way to working up the ranks. Day, on the other hand, is the Republic's most elusive and wanted criminal. After he fails his own Trial, he manages to escape and has been giving the Republic grief ever since, carrying out elaborate heists and slews of perfect crimes.

"Sometimes if feels like we're the same person born into two different worlds."

And that about sums up the character dynamic. The two protagonists come from opposite ends of the spectrum, but they manage to essentially be the same person.

It is not a bad thing that these two people are so similar. For one thing, they are both fiercely loyal, highly intelligent, and, best of all, absolutely lethal. For another thing, they both hold strong ties to family, and these ties represent their singular weaknesses. I personally did not find it unbelievable how they make minuscule perceptions that lead unerringly to the truth. I overlooked the unlikeliness of this kind of perceptiveness, because, quite simply, it fit with both of their characters.

The only thing I find unbelievable about the main characters is the fact that these two geniuses are fifteen years old. Because of their smarts, their skills, and even their social graces, both Day and June seems years older than what they are. But I guess that is why they are called legends, why they are called prodigies.

As far as this dystopian world goes, I for one am glad that Marie Lu left so much to the imagination. I detest nothing more in dystopia than the author trying to explain everything away with little trinkets of fictional history that don't actually make sense. Many of them try to get us from Point A (our current time) to Point B (the world of their story), but this is just exhaustive and counterproductive. In Legend's case, only the date of the month and the day of the week are given. There is minimal history and no implication at all of what year it takes place in. 

Furthermore, I don't think this book actually needs to be a dystopia. In fact, it may be better if the Future USA took no part in it at all. This world does not need the states (or any other real country) to be a complete story. The world could stand on its own. Because of the overpopulation of dystopia in the book pool, I think Legend would've had more potential had it separated itself from the genre.

The story passes in a whirlwind, but it is never too rapid to follow. Rather, it is so compelling that the pages just slip by. Aside from a few minor questions, like what happens to Day's father and what the Colonies are like, I think the amount of information provided is perfect. It does not get bogged down in the details, but almost everything is provided for you if you pay attention. Sure, elements of the story are predictable, but, in this case, that does not make it any less enjoyable.

Perhaps for the first time in a long time, I am greatly looking forward to reading the sequels. I have a love-hate relationship with series, as they take a good deal of dedication and time when there are just so many other great books to read. It's been a while since I've finished a book and have been hungry for more of the same characters, of the same world, and of the same story. This book did that for me. This is by no means my favorite book, but I am still highly impressed with it. It has been a refreshing taste of dystopia. And here I thought the genre was dying out. 

I highly recommend this book to anyone that has the faintest interest in dystopia or even science fiction/fantasy. Even if you end up disliking it, the story blazes by so quickly there's no excuse for not reading it. If all of Marie Lu's other books are as good as this one, I intend to read every single one of them. I still can't believe it took me so long to read this one.

Review: Paper Towns by John Green

Paper Towns is told from the perspective of a boy named Quentin, who has been in love with his next-door neighbor, Margo, since they were young kids. Apparently close in childhood, they have since drifted apart, her to the popular crowd, and him to the band geeks. One night, Margo climbs into Q's window and invites him to chauffeur her around on a night of highly specific pranks targeted at those she believes have wronged her.

Because of his strong obsession for Margo, Q does everything that she asks of him, even breaking into SeaWorld and removing an eyebrow off a longtime bully. As the night goes on, he develops the impression that things will change between the two of them. Much to his dismay, Margo does not attend school the next day, or any day henceforth. Q develops an even stronger obsession of needing to know where she went and if she is still alive. He spends hours and days trying to figure out what he believes are clues to where she went.

Despite the exciting premise of this story, I was surprisingly bored by the entire thing. At no point did I truly enjoy it, although there are random bits of laugh-out-loud humor. Those bits are few and far between, but, when they do occur, they are worth the wait. Much of the story is Q thinking about Margo, Q talking about Margo, Q going off on various hunches to see if he can find Margo. It's all about Margo, and, quite frankly, I don't see the appeal. She is a completely unsympathetic character, and, if all our main character cares about is Margo, then he is unsympathetic too.

This is unfortunate, because I quite enjoyed just about every other character in the book. His best friend Radar is great, with his intelligence that spans absolutely everything and his parents' collections of Black Santas. The other best friend, Ben, is hilarious, even though he can be beyond abrasive. Even Q’s parents are fabulous. For the longest time, they were my favorite part in the story. They are both therapists, thus making our narrator is the most "well-adjusted person in the world." That bit may not be true, since he is clearly delusional about Margo, but it is still wonderful to observe the parents' back-and-forth discussions that involve psychoanalyzing whatever they are talking about.

One thing I did like about the book is the ongoing theme of Moby Dick. The attention is not focused so much on the book itself, but whether Captain Ahab is a hero or a madman for his relentless pursuit of a whale. When Q's class is assigned an essay to answer the hero vs. madman question, he picks the hero option. When he does this, it becomes clear that he is meant to be Ahab and Margo the whale. That's essentially what the story is: Q relentlessly chasing after an obscure idea of a person, someone that he has set up on a pedestal for almost all of his life.

I don't mind that Q's character is similar to others in John Green books, such as Colin in An Abundance of Katherines or Miles in Looking for Alaska, although all three protagonists are essentially identical. That's not the problem. The problem is really that all of these boys allow girls to push them around and dictate their lives and still manage to think of said girls as ethereal heroines deserving of any and all praise. This trait is detestable and its ongoing repetition baffles me.

I will say: most of this book bored me to tears and the only reason I kept reading was to see what really happened with Margo (even though I cared for her even less than I cared for Quentin), but I am still glad I read it. John Green does write quirky, intelligent characters that are enjoyable, but I think the more important thing is that this book felt real. All the angst of high school could not possibly be better expressed. Unfortunately, the malaise and monotony could not be better expressed either.

The literary references in the book are pretty great, although there’s nothing truly obscure. There's Slaughterhouse-Five, The Bell Jar, Leaves of Grass, Moby Dick, and perhaps a few more that I have forgotten. The book has little bits of wisdom spread throughout, as well as practical philosophy to live by.

I’m glad I read this book. I’m glad I found out what all the fuss was about. But I definitely don’t intend to buy into all the hype next time.

Review: The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson

Laurie Halse Anderson's latest book for teens, The Impossible Knife of Memory, is about a young woman named Hayley struggling to adjust with her new "normal" life. For the past several years, she has been on the road with her father, never settling in one place too long. Her veteran father has a myriad of painful memories that follow him wherever he goes, leading him down a path of alcohol, drugs, and severe mood swings. With his PTSD, it is nearly impossible for him to live a normal, functional life. Since her the death of her mother and grandmother, and her stepmother's abandonment, Hayley has switched roles with her father, playing the parts of caregiver and defendant.

The book begins not too long after the start of this "normal" life. Hayley sets herself up as an underachieving rebel, seeming to care about little aside from the declining health of her struggling father. She has a very small group of close-knit friends that seem to level her out and provide her with the uniformity her father wants for her. It is clear from the start that she has above average intelligence, despite the fact that she has not attended structured school in years.

The start of the story is a bit slow to me. The characters are quite John Green-esque, with the snide, reserved girl and the overly witty, nerdy-but-cool boy. However, after several pages, the characters settle into their roles and the pages begin to move more fluidly. Really, Hayley is quite obnoxious, both in her treatment of others and in her filing everyone away into one of two categories: freaks or zombies.

Hayley’s brashness is one of the reasons this book started out a little slow to me, but then I realized that this trait does not make her unlikeable. Rather, it can be attributed to the fact that she feels no loyalty to anyone except her father, that she has been abandoned by all of her caretakers (by death or otherwise), and that she has never had the luxury of friends. It makes sense that she would assume an air of presumption and cynicism.

Trouble finds Hayley at all sides. Her boyfriend’s family is divided thanks to his drug-addicted sister, and her best friend’s parents are in the middle of a tumultuous divorce. Many of her teachers view her as a troublemaker, but she rejects the few that do try to help. Perhaps because Hayley has never known normal, she does not recognize how abnormal her life really is.

It is beyond frustrating to watch the deterioration of Hayley's father and her denial that goes alongside it. Hayley's love for her father runs so deep that she is blind to his descent, despite all the blatant cries for help. He flits from job to job, then regresses to spending days locked away in his room. She watches his alcoholism progress, his drug habits gain momentum, his rejection of all his old friends, and his outright refusal to seek professional help. It goes from a difficult situation to flagrant danger.

Her relationship with her boyfriend Finn is funny and provides the story with a bit of much needed lightness. This courtship is enjoyable enough to read about, but it’s not necessarily realistic. He’s sweet, smart, good-looking, and just the right amount of pushy. I didn’t know they made them like this in high school. Or maybe they just didn’t make them like this in my high school. What I’m trying to say is that I think Finn is a little too good to be a real teenage (human) boy.

My biggest and only real complaint is the ending. Without giving away too much, I will just say that I do not like all ends to be tied up so tightly. If everything is resolved, if everything becomes perfectly neat, it takes away from the heart wrenching experience of everything you read prior. But I’m not saying that I like cliffhangers either. There’s a happy medium after all.

Regardless, this is a very important book, as is everything Laurie Halse Anderson writes. She tackles sensitive issues with grace and poise, allowing you to read something that may make you uncomfortable, but is something necessary all the same. I personally have not read many books that deal with PTSD, but this one is quite eye opening. At times, it is simply frustrating; at other times, it is heartbreaking; yet at others, it is infuriating. However the emotion, you know a book has done a good job when it makes you feel right alongside its main character.

Review: Where She Went by Gayle Foreman (If I Stay #2)

Where She Went resumes the story of Adam and Mia that began in If I Stay. The story is set three years from the ending of the first book, this time told from Adam's perspective. From the looks of things, both he and Mia have turned out to be quite successful musicians, although both have received that recognition quite differently.

Mia has developed into a renowned cellist, setting off an international tour with a concert in Carnegie Hall. Adam has risen to the level of ridiculously famous rock star and is dating a well-known actress/producer that makes regular appearances in the tabloids. Unlike Mia, he has grown weary of the music he is making, the people in his band, and his complete lack of privacy. The recognition and fame both Adam and Mia have received is slightly fantastical for the short amount of time that has passed, but it could happen. It just goes to show that a lot can change in three years.

Like If I Stay, there is a dual time perspective. Though the storyline follows Adam's current life, much of his time is spent reminiscing over the past three years or even from the time before the accident. At times, it feels like attention is retracted from important things, such as Mia's time at Juilliard. Perhaps this is because I am a mediocre musician, but this school and the students that come out of it have always fascinated me. Not only does the story gloss over the three years following Mia's accident, it skips over what I imagine to be a course of very intense and rigorous study. However, it is interesting that both stories follow this format, this division between the present and the past. It strikes me that both books take place after their main event has already occurred. In If I Stay, the accident has already happened. In Where She Went, the revolving factor is Adam and Mia's breakup.

This book is incredibly well written. In fact, I think it is much more fluid than the first one. There are many similarities between the two, but there is a very clear distinction between Mia's voice and Adam's. Adam is quite eloquent about his feelings, both in his narrative and the lyrics he writes for the album Collateral Damage.

I did say in my review of the first book that I do not care for Adam very much. Honestly, despite the enjoyment of reading this, that opinion did not change. Rather than being sympathetic for him, as I know I should have been, I really just wanted to tell him to get over himself and to move on with his life. Really, he spends so much of his time pining over Mia that there is room for little else other than a rapid spiral of self-destruction.

I also dislike the notion of the "one and only.” It just contributes to the idea that it is impossible to get past breakups. The fact that fate brings Mia and Adam back together justifies the three years he has spend holding onto her, justifies his waiting as a rational thing to do. Splitting up with someone you love is always hard, but it is not undoable. Mia and Adam's breakup lacks closure, but sometimes you don't get closure. Sometimes things simply end and you have to move on with your life.

To be fair, Adam tells us that he and Mia never have an official breakup. One day she just stops talking to him. I was a little disappointed in Mia when I read this, as it makes her a much less sympathetic character. Sure, it explains why he is so hung up on it and why he is so desperate to know the “why” of things, but it does not rationalize the aching that goes on for years and years.

Enough of that. The "one and only" spiel is probably just a personal issue I have with this book, one that I need to work past.

 Once again, music plays a very crucial part in this story. Although Adam has come to resent the music along with the other aspects of his life, it is exciting to read about the rekindling of his passion. It is good to see the blame shift from music in general to the music he is currently making. There is a sort of hope unveiled as, towards the end, he realizes that his musical journey is not over; only this chapter is.

It's also great to see a different form of music in this book. It's no longer just Mia's cello playing and Adam's guitar. At the beginning of every chapter, there is an excerpt of one of Adam's songs from his album Collateral Damage. Perhaps even more so than the rest of the story, these lyrics convey the depths of his despair, longing, and betrayal.

To be honest, my first notion about this book was that it is unnecessary. I liked the ending of If I Stay and would have been just fine with things being left that way. However, as the pages progressed, I actually began to enjoy this book. Its resolution wraps up just a little too tidily for my taste, but, despite my earlier complaints, this book is a quick and enjoyable read.

Review: If I Stay by Gayle Forman (If I Stay #1)

If I Stay follows Mia's story, a girl reminiscing on her old life and watching over her wounded body in present time. In the opening chapter, her family has a terrible car crash that rips them torn apart. Both parents die immediately, leaving Mia and her much younger brother in critical health.

Though the story is centered around the time of the accident, half the time Mia is recalling events that happened in her past. Very little of her memories are in chronological order, as she remembers everything from her young childhood to situations that happened mere days ago. Many of her memories are centered on her boyfriend, Adam, who has been steadily drifting apart from her. Other memories pertain to her family, her family friends, her longtime best friend, and her passion of playing the cello.   

One of the things I like about this book is that Mia does not come out and tell the reader that she is devastated. In fact, I was initially a bit surprised by her lack of reaction. This absence of reaction could be attributed to shock, but she speaks very articulately and lucidly about both her past and her present. It is only as you continue reading that you begin to experience the overwhelming love she feels for her family and friends and the astounding despair she experiences at their loss. Mia tells the story in a detached voice. It is her stories themselves that make you see the incredible depths that she loves her family.

Another great thing about this book is its focus on music. Regardless of whether Mia is the midst of a memory or she is watching the horror of her present life, music saturates every page. From her rock-and-roll parents to her punk boyfriend to her personal lifelong obsession with classical composers, music is a crucial part of this story, incorporated both thoroughly and well.

But Mia is not portrayed as a prodigy. She is painted as someone who has worked very hard to get where she is. In her younger years, her parents complain about the noises her cello makes when she practices, but she practices for hours and hours regardless. She feels anxious and self-conscious when performing. And, despite her astounding ability, Mia is neither an arrogant nor conceited. She is instead a very quiet, shy person. She is mature, but not unrealistically so. This book very truly could have been told from the voice of a teenager.

The fact that this book has a sequel with the same characters gives away the harsh decision portrayed in the title: whether to hold onto her life or to go forward into whatever death holds for her. However, that does not take away from the journey or its struggles. It's astounding that she has any decision at all in it. From the medical scenes in this book, it is very evident that Mia is entirely control of her own fate. When she is feeling warm toward those who remain, her health improves. When she feels the despondency from all she has lost, her health suffers. Though this is most likely not realistic, it is nothing short of fascinating.

I have praised this book a good deal, although I think I like the subject matter more than I liked the book itself. Mia felt very real to me, but perhaps that sense of realness comes in part from mundane descriptions of her life before the accident. The whole story is not entertaining; in fact, parts of it are even boring. But that just adds meat to the skeleton of Mia's character and to many of the other characters that decorate her life.

One exception to this is Adam. Her parents, their friends, her brother, her best friend... they are all great. In fact, with the exception of Mia's cello prowess, those characters are perhaps more interesting and entertaining than Mia herself. But Mia's love interest falls a tad short in my mind. I'm not sure what it is about Adam that I don't connect with. I think it may have been the feeling that I was supposed to like him and be impressed by him that ignited the dislike.

Regardless, the reality of this book is undeniable and heartbreaking. The dual time periods of the past and the present mixed with the lack of chronology leave you with a sense of vertigo. At first, the mix gives you a little confusion about the specifics, but the overall big picture comes together wonderfully.