My Reading Frenzy

A Satisfying Ending

This holiday weekend I had time to read Reached by Ally Condie, the final book in the Matched trilogy.  I was worried I would not remember enough of Crossed to jump into the story, but I was ok.  I enjoyed the trilogy and look forward to whatever Condie will do next. 

As for Reached, I liked it.  There were no shocks, but I did not feel it was predictable either.  You may have noticed, I mention the "predictable" problem a lot.  I read a lot and value a unique story and/or concept.  I can live with repeated themes because I believe the number of these is finite.  The ways a writer gets there are infinite.  I appreciate a clever/unique/special approach.   I do also understand this is difficult to do and that is why I admire an author with a new idea. 

Condie wraps up the story of Cassia, Ky, and Xander in a satisfying way.  As with many YA novels each is searching for his/her place in the world and each comes a bit closer by the end of the novel.  It would be unrealistic for them to just find a niche and be content, but I believe we are meant to realize there is hope for all three.  Not all the characters fare as well, but this too is realistic.  I like a healthy dose of realistic mixed in with my dystopian fiction. 

Overall, this was an excellent trilogy, I would place it 3rd in line of series I have read recently and are complete; cannot judge until all the books are out:

1.  The Hunger Games

2.  The Maze Runner

3.  Matched

The exception to the rule...

I made up the other day about the second book in a trilogy, is Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor.  This book was fabulous.  I rarely take my time with a book in order to savor it, I am more of a "devour it quickly" kind of reader, but this one made me want to slow down in part to keep it from being over, because now....I have to wait for the next one.  This folks makes me sad...and frustrated...and depressed.  I was lucky enough to be able to listen to Daughter of Smoke and Bone just before reading this installment.  It helped to refresh me.  This is a problem when books are released a year or more apart.  [This is gonig to be an issue when I begin reading Reached by Ally Condie next as it has been a year since I read Crossed and a year before that when I read Matched.  Details from Divergent's sequel (by Veronica Roth) Insurgent keep popping up whenever I try to remember Crossed.] As I have no reading impulse control I cannot wait until all the books are released to read them, I just have to rely on my faulty memory and the generosity of the author to do a bit of review (though philosophically I hate the idea).

So, if you have not figured it out yet, I loved the book.  It still had a bit of an unfinished feel, but I truly felt like the characters grew and progressed.  Karou and Akiva both had many moral decisions to make about their world and ours.  I am not sure if Taylor intended the story to be a commentary on current world events such as the ongoing turmoil in the Middle East, but it can be read that way as the chimera and angels persist in killing each other, with each side viewing the other as monstrous, with good reason.  Taylor keeps the reader moving back and forth unable to decide which side is "right" and which is "wrong."  Both Karou and Akiva feel a strong pull to make a change to prevent the extinction of both their peoples.  It may come back to the cliché, "Love conquers all," but in this case I would be ok with that as the story is so well written it really defies cliché. 

Additionally, I am a big fan of the world Taylor has created.  The characters spend some time in the human world, especially in the first book, but the second takes place almost entirely in Eretz a world of creatures and magic, but again without predictable elements.  Sadly, as I have read so many books both YA and otherwise I find too many commonalities, but this series is unique and surprising, which I love. 

I would certainly recommend starting with the first book but if you are easily frustrated by waiting, I would consider holding off until the third book is released, hopefully around this time next year.  I am sure I will read many wonderful books between now and when the next one comes out, but if Taylor sustains the level of emotion and tension in the final book this will be one of my favorites of all time. 

2nd in a YA Trilogy

I have decided I am not a fan of the second book in a YA trilogy.  Too often these stories feel like they are treading water instead of advancing the story.  Sure, some stuff happens, but little is resolved.  I feel like authors write the first book not knowing if there will be a second so the story is complete even though there may be an opening to continue, but essentially the author has told a tale with a beginning, middle, and end.  However,  the second book deal seems to come with the deal for the third.  The author seems to think therefore there is no need to have the three parts when a third book is forthcoming.  This drives me crazy.  A 3RD BOOK DEAL DOES NOT RELIEVE YOU OF THE RESPONSIBILITY TO TELL A COMPLETE STORY.  There I have said my peace about that.

So the two books I have read and been frustrated by are The Crown of Embers by Rae Carson, and Rebel Heart by Moira Young.  Now do not get me wrong, I enjoyed both books as far as they went.  I can also appreciate the need for a cliffhanger in order to get me back for the 3rd book, but I feel like little progress was made.

I read Rebel Heart first.  While it was good to see Saba interacting with Lugh I felt like more of him was needed, or more Jack.  I guess the third book will show how the two function when they are both part of Saba's life, but I felt we really got to know Jack in Blood Red Road, but the real Lugh, not the one of Saba's memories is still elusive.  This book was the chance to reveal him without the shadow of Jack, but that just did not happen.  I enjoyed especially the world building though new ways of living seem to have cropped up quite quickly after the death of Vicar Pinch and the take-over of DeMalo (who is just about the most interesting character in this installment).  So I liked this enough to continue when the 3rd book is released, but I am going to really be looking for some rich storytelling to make-up for the stagnation of this story.

My next read was The Crown of Embers, sequel to The Girl of Fire and Thorns.  I had high hopes for this book, but was also a bit disappointed.  Elisa does take control of her kingdom and make some actual decisions about her love life, but so little happens here.  I feel like too much of the movement was internal and there was a serious lack of action!  The romance was the best part if I ignore the ridiculous introduction of primitive birth control.  I suppose Carson was trying to include a message here about safe sex, but it felt seriously contrived and not at all empowering for Elisa to be making decisions about sexual activity and love.  As with the previous book, I have hope for the final installment of the trilogy. 

Kate Morton has done it again...

she has written a book whose ending I could not predict.  While there were some elements of the story I could see coming, she stumped me in many ways in her most recent novel, The Secret Keeper.  You know what this means, I will be able to continue reading her books, which I really enjoy.  I find her similar to Jodi Picoult in that I am drawn in by the story.  These two authors are vastly different in every other way, but once I begin a book by either I have trouble stopping until I have finished.

Morton writes historical fiction in a small way.  Meaning, reading her works do not teach me about BIG historical events and their import, but instead I learn about what it was like to live in a particular period and/or place as a regular person.  In this latest book, WWII London, which is a time and place by which I am fascinated, is a significant setting.  What is predictable about the novel is the switch between the past and the present, as the main character Laurel Nicholson tries to make sense of some haunting childhood memories involving her mother who is close to death in the present.  

If you have seen the movie Midnight in Paris, which I liked a great deal despite the involvement of both Woody Allen and Owen Wilson about whom I have mixed feelings, you will know that in it, Wilson travels back in time to Paris of the 1920s.  He believes this time period to be far superior to his own.  While there he meets Marion Cotillard with whom he travels back to the Belle Epoch where she decides to stay, believing this time to be superior to the time Wilson finds so enthralling.  To finally get to my point, this is the way I feel about a number of time periods in history, but I feel the most drawn to the second World War, specifically England.  Therefore I am happy to read both fiction and non-fiction about this time. 

Sigh, sadly, while I fervently wish Morton were home working on her next novel, she is instead travling Australia to promote this one.  I do not think authors should have to do that....I think they should be home writing, so I do not have to wait too long for another book.