Book(s): Pure, Apollyon, Sentinel
ISBN13(s): 9780983157229, 9781937053161, 9781937053574
Average Ratings: 4.36, 4.43, 4.51
My Ratings: 2 Stars, 1 Star, 4 Stars
Hey peoples! It's been a while since my last post because I've been finishing up the Covenant series and my thoughts for each book were pretty much the same. Soo I thought I would avoid being repetitive by combing all of the books into a single post. I have finals in two weeks and I should probably be studying so I'm going to make this as brief as possible. But well... 3 books. So this will be interesting.
I was really hating life in book 3 and 4. Especially 4 (excuse me. Apollyon) Alex has to deal with the fact that she's battling good and evil inside of her in a pretty literal sense. That whole concept is a pretty common trope that is honestly starting to push the fine line between trope and cliche. The whole 'Am I good? Am I bad? What if I'm actually a monster? But... I have to be a hero. Right?' thing is actually really cool if <--- That's a huge if) it's done well. The idea adds a lot of depth to a character because black and white 'good' and 'evil' characters are actually worse since they are dangerously close to being cardboard characters. Sorry Superman.
But these books were sickeningly cliche. Alex's humor seemed to get lazier throughout the series. Maybe I was just getting tired of it but by the end of Apollyon all of the jokes just seemed trite. *cracks old man back* I don't understand why these youngin's find this so funny. I'm pretty sure I said this in my last two post about the series, but I must be missing something! There are so many good reviews for this series and I have a good friend who recommended these to me who absolutely adores Alex and Aiden. But I just... meh. I'm usually the one who loves everything but for some reason I didn't with this one. Then again, two of my other book club friends got through book one and wanted to throw it at a wall. So... Maybe i'm not crazy.
However I gave the last book a much higher rating because I think the series ended really well. I wont go into specifics because of spoilers. But Alex actually did have a noticeable shift around book four and definitely in book 5. She was much less impulsive and more mature. She settles whatever childish feud she had with Lea. She also makes the realization that her actions can affect people other than herself which is a big thing! Alex always seemed borderline selfish to me but she started to lose that a little bit at the end of Apollyon. All of the loose ends are tied up in the end of the series and of course, I was glad that Seth managed to redeem himself. I always thought he was a really interesting character, more so than Aiden and maybe even Alex. He was almost certainly my favorite character in the series. Aaand he's getting his own spinoff series. Should I read it? I don't know. I'm kinda debating that. It will be three books and part one came out about 4 months ago.
Overall, this series annoyed me a lot. I almost stopped reading halfway through book 4 but I have this annoying thing where if I start something I absolutley must finish it. Call it persistance, call it OCD. Both are accurate. But there were times I found it amusing, especially early in the series. So... for all 5 books I would give it an average of 2.5 maybe 3 stars.
Saturday, May 23, 2015
Monday, May 4, 2015
Terminal by Kathy and Brendan Reichs
Book: Terminal (Virals book 5) by Kathy and Brendan Reichs
ISBN 13: 978-1595145284
Average Goodreads Rating: 4.41 Stars
My Rating: 5 out of 5 popsicle sticks
I've been reading this series for years now... (waiting a year in between each when it came out) So that's why I don't have posts for the rest of the series. When I heard this was the last one in the series my heart broke a little. These characters will be missed more than certain dead relatives of mine. Just sayin.
One of the coolest things about this series was that Tory, our protagonist is the niece of Temperance Brennan! For those who don't know, Temperance Brennan is the main character on the TV show Bones. That's loosely based off a book series. Which is one the only 5 shows that I really watch. I've thought of reading it, but I hear it's extremely different from the show and I would be constantly comparing the two. Anyway! End of tangent, back to Tory. She's a smart, sarcastic fifteen year old that's ten times more mature that most 17 or 18 year old main characters in YA. So I like her very much for that. I think thats mostly because Kathy Reichs is used to writing adult books so her teenage characters are a lot more adult-like than usual.
Aaaand the love triangle I've been dealing with for the past three to four years has finally been resolved! I wasn't surprised with who it was... (not saying his name in case yall don't want spoilers) But I mean... They've been dropping hints since day one! Moments where his eyes linger a little too long or they're hands touch and it feels all electric...and stuff. I know, I know, I am very romantic. But you get the point! Little things where it's still considered tasteful and at the same time you know what's going on. There's some sort of romantic tension between her and the other guy but it never really felt right.
All of the books had really solid and thought out plots. When an author does their research the reader can tell. So the science behind the transmission of the virus, and lab testing and the evidence procedures was all really accurate. (Then again, Kathy Reichs is a real forensic anthropologist who would know all of these things. So maybe it wasn't 'research') My point is that there was a really good balance in the story. There was science, action, humor, and romance and it all came together really well. Something for everyone.
Spoiler alert But! I must acknowledge this! All of the loose ends of the story are tied and it's perfect and cool and no more mutant teenagers and everything is normal. But then there's the epilogue!
"I caught my eyes in the mirror. They were green. Always would be now." ... Next Page.
"The sadness morphed into anger. I didn't WANT to change"..."My fingers began to tingle. An electric jolt traveled up my spine. Outside, Cooper howled. I looked up at the mirror. A confident girl stared back. Her eyes glowed with pale blue flame..." THE END
WHAT? What just happened? This is YA! We don't do open ended ambiguity! Is she really human again and that was just some kind of metaphor or... did something else happen? I don't know. And there are no more books to clear it up! Erghhh. I guess i'll have to just soothe my sense of incompletion with a whole bunch of fanfiction. lol
Thanks For Reading!
-R
ISBN 13: 978-1595145284
Average Goodreads Rating: 4.41 Stars
My Rating: 5 out of 5 popsicle sticks
I've been reading this series for years now... (waiting a year in between each when it came out) So that's why I don't have posts for the rest of the series. When I heard this was the last one in the series my heart broke a little. These characters will be missed more than certain dead relatives of mine. Just sayin.
One of the coolest things about this series was that Tory, our protagonist is the niece of Temperance Brennan! For those who don't know, Temperance Brennan is the main character on the TV show Bones. That's loosely based off a book series. Which is one the only 5 shows that I really watch. I've thought of reading it, but I hear it's extremely different from the show and I would be constantly comparing the two. Anyway! End of tangent, back to Tory. She's a smart, sarcastic fifteen year old that's ten times more mature that most 17 or 18 year old main characters in YA. So I like her very much for that. I think thats mostly because Kathy Reichs is used to writing adult books so her teenage characters are a lot more adult-like than usual.
Aaaand the love triangle I've been dealing with for the past three to four years has finally been resolved! I wasn't surprised with who it was... (not saying his name in case yall don't want spoilers) But I mean... They've been dropping hints since day one! Moments where his eyes linger a little too long or they're hands touch and it feels all electric...and stuff. I know, I know, I am very romantic. But you get the point! Little things where it's still considered tasteful and at the same time you know what's going on. There's some sort of romantic tension between her and the other guy but it never really felt right.
All of the books had really solid and thought out plots. When an author does their research the reader can tell. So the science behind the transmission of the virus, and lab testing and the evidence procedures was all really accurate. (Then again, Kathy Reichs is a real forensic anthropologist who would know all of these things. So maybe it wasn't 'research') My point is that there was a really good balance in the story. There was science, action, humor, and romance and it all came together really well. Something for everyone.
Spoiler alert But! I must acknowledge this! All of the loose ends of the story are tied and it's perfect and cool and no more mutant teenagers and everything is normal. But then there's the epilogue!
"I caught my eyes in the mirror. They were green. Always would be now." ... Next Page.
"The sadness morphed into anger. I didn't WANT to change"..."My fingers began to tingle. An electric jolt traveled up my spine. Outside, Cooper howled. I looked up at the mirror. A confident girl stared back. Her eyes glowed with pale blue flame..." THE END
WHAT? What just happened? This is YA! We don't do open ended ambiguity! Is she really human again and that was just some kind of metaphor or... did something else happen? I don't know. And there are no more books to clear it up! Erghhh. I guess i'll have to just soothe my sense of incompletion with a whole bunch of fanfiction. lol
Thanks For Reading!
-R
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)