Ashes by Ilsa Bick

Ashes is a book full of non-stop action. I really enjoyed reading it, and I think most teenagers would enjoy it as well. However, since it is a zombie book, eventhough it has its own twists, I know it won't be for everyone. It does have some pretty gruesome details in places. 

Alex is a 17 year old girl with a brain tumor. She knows that her life is at its end, so she decides to hike into the wilderness to spread her parents' ashes, while she is still healthy enough to do so. However, everything changes in an instant when an electromagnetic pulse flashes, destroying every electronic device, wiping out every computerized system, and killing billions. Alex joins forces with Tom, a young soldier on leave, and Ellie, an 8 year old girl who lost her grandfather to the pulse. Alex, Tom, and Ellie soon discover that the pulse changed some of the survivors for the better, while others were turned into ravenous zombies. Not only do they have to protect themselves from the changed, but they also have to protect themselves from survivors who will ruthlessly do whatever it takes to survive, even if it means killing and stealing from other survivors.

Unwind by Neal Shusterman

I really enjoyed Unwind. Like Article 5, it deals with some prety serious issues. The story takes place in the United States many years after a civil war called The Heartland War. The Heartland War was fought over the right to life between Pro-Choice and Pro-Life supporters. The war ended with a horrifying compromise. They decided that children have the right to life until the age of 13. Between the age of 13 and 18, the child's parent can choose to retroactively abort him or her, as long as 99.4% of the child stays alive. If a parent chooses to unwind the child, he or she is sent to a harvest camp, where every part of the child is harvested for transplant. The book is thought provoking and tense in places, but it is also hard to read in parts. Unwind focuses on three very different teenagers who are set to be unwound. Connor is a rebellious teenager who is able to escape and go on the run. In the process of his escape, he causes a bus wreck, and a great deal of chaos, which allows Risa, a girl from a state home, to also escape. Risa is a good student and a talented piano player, but she is a victim of budget cuts. The government just can't afford to support all of the children who are unwanted. In the process of Connor's escape, he takes Levi hostage. Levi is a 13 year old boy who was raised by his family as a tithe. His family tithes 10% of everything, and since Levi is the 10th child, he has been marked since birth as a tithe. Levi sees his unwinding as something that God wants and he accepts it....almost. The story focuses on the very different paths these three teenagers take to try to prevent their unwinding

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Okay, since it seems that even though this blog has been opened up so that the filter at my school won't block it, it is still giving many students problems when they go there. Therefore, I am going to try to put my posts here and on the school website. I'm hoping it will be as easy as copyng and pasting, but we will see.
Cinder was an interesting take on the Cinderella story. I looked forward to reading it, but it took me awhile to really get into it. The story is set in New Beijing during a time where a plague is quickly killing large part of the population. Cinder is considered a second class citizen because she is a cyborg; therefore, she knows it is silly to have a crush on the prince when he comes to her to fix his android. Cinder is one of the best mechanics in New Beijing, and she uses her skill to keep her adopted mother off of her back to some extent. However, when her adopted sister, her only human friend in the world, catches the plague, her cruel adopted mother signs Cinder over to the government for plague research. No cyborg has ever survived the research

Article 5 by Kristen Simmons



I have read a lot of books this summer, but this book is by far, one of the best.  I could not put this book down once I started it.  I began reading it last night and finally made myself go to bed sometime after midnight.  Then, I spent the entire morning finishing it, because I had to know what happened.

In a (hopefully) distant future, The Bill of Rights have been replaced by The Moral Statutes (see below).  These Moral Statutes are enforced by The Federal Bureau of Reform, known to civilians as the Moral Militia.  At first, if you are not compliant, you receive a citation and you are required to pay a fine.  Now, the rules are becoming more strict and the punishment is getting worse.  Now, if you are not compliant, then the government comes in and makes you disappear.  Seventeen year old Ember's existence is enough to condemn her mother.  She was born out of wedlock, which means that her mother is arrested and Ember is sent to a reform school.  She is not even considered a legal citizen.  What hurts Ember the most is that her boyfriend, who was drafted into the Moral Militia, is present when she is arrested.  She feels betrayed, but she knows she must find a way to escape and help her mother. 

The Moral Statutes of the United States of America
ARTICLE 1 - The United States embraces the Church of America as her official religion.
"Article 1 denied individuals the right to practice or 'display propaganda' associated with an alternative religion to Church of America" (53).

ARTICLE 2 - Literature and other media considered immoral are hereby banned and shall not be owned, bought, sold or traded in any capacity.

ARTICLE 3 - Whole families are to be considered one man, one woman and child(ren).

ARTICLE 4 - Traditional male and female roles shall be observed.
"Traditional male and femal roles were outlined in Article 4.  The importance of a woman's subservience.  The necessity for her to respect her maile partner while he, in turn, supported the famil as the provider and spiritual leader....when I searched for some clause prohibiting domestic violence, I found no mention of it" (53).

ARTICLE 5 - "Children are considered valid citizens only when conceived by a married man and wife.  All other children are to be removed from the home and subjected to rehabilitation procedures" (53).

Simmons, Kristen.  Article 5. New York: Tor Teen, 2012.

Sequels

I've been focusing on reading some sequels lately, so instead of posting a blog over each one, I thought I would just lump them all together and give a brief opinion.  The main reason I don't want to blog extensively on them, is because I will have to give too much of what happened in the first book away. 

 

 

 I recently blogged about City of Bones, which was the first book in The Mortal Instruments series.  I just finished book 2 and 3 of this series and I really enjoyed them, though there were some parts that were very predictable.  Also, while it is such a fast read and action packed, there is always some sort of crazy drama going on too.  This series was originally meant to be a trilogy.  I felt like the author pretty much wrapped up the main conflicts at the end of  City of Glass, so I'm curious to see what she will do with the next three books in the series.  It may be awhile before I read those though, since book 6 has not been published yet.  Since I am at a good stopping point, I think I will probably hold off with the rest of this series until the final book comes out.  The author also has a related series set much earlier called The Infernal Devices series.  I'm not sure if I'll move on to those or not.

On this book, I'm kind of cheating, since I'm not quite finished with it.  I have the audio version, so it takes a lot longer for me to finish a book this way.  However, I am 2/3 of the way through it and I have really enjoyed it so far.  This is the sequel to A Discovery of Witches.  Diana and Mathew have traveled back in time to Elizabethan England.  I would say that this book is probably for more mature readers than the first book.  It also helps if you are somewhat familiar with Elizabethan England and the historical figures associated with that time period, since it appears that Mathew was great friends with every important historical person who existed then.  We meet Christopher Marlow, Henry Percy, Queen Elizabeth, and Sir Walter Raleigh, just to name a few. 



GoodReads

If you haven't already joined goodreads.com, I highly recommend it.  It is a great place to keep track of what you've read and what you want to read.  If you're like me, when you walk into a book store/library, you see tons of books that interest you.  However, you don't have time to read all of those books at that moment.  Later, when you're between books and you are looking for something to read, all those books you were interested in have been forgotten.  Goodreads helps you keep this from happening.  If you are using a computer to access the site, you can search for the book and add it to your to-read list.  If you have a smartphone or an ipad, simply download the goodreads app.  Then, all you have to do is pick up the book off the shelf and use the barcode scanner to add it to your list.  It's an easy way to keep track of what you want to read next!  Also, you can review the books you've read and read reviews of books that you are interested in.  You can also add friends and see what your friends are reading.  It's a great site, so check it out, and be sure to add me as a friend when you do! 

Ender's Game

I wasn't sure if I should blog about this book or not, since I didn't actually finish it.  This is a book that most boys would enjoy, but it just wasn't for me.  I have heard many great things about it over the years, but I just got bogged down too much in military strategy and training to finish it.  Parts of the book were very interesting, which is why I made it as far as I did through it. 
In the far future, Earth is preparing to defend itself from another alien invasion.  To prepare, the military is training child geniuses to be the next starship commanders and soldiers.  Ender Wiggins is taken from his family at the age of 6 to train.  He soon shoots up the ranks to command his own army.  He may be the last hope of the human race, but in reality, he is still just a child trying to cope with the world around him and the monster he fears he will become.