Book Review: When She Woke by Hillary Jordan

When I first heard about this book, I just couldn’t wait to read it. It sounded a bit like The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, a book that is a favorite of mine.

Dystopia? I love it! When it’s a good story. This one’s good. It missed a little something for me, but overall it was a very good and original read.

When She Woke: What it is about

Hannah Payne wakes up in a detention center, her skin colored red all-over. A virus had been injected as a punishment for having an abortion. Abortions are not allowed in the very religious society she lives in, a post-scourge USA that left many dead with the survivors trying to build up a community again.

Being red she is recognizable as a criminal and anyone in the streets can attack her, kidnap or rape her without others stepping up to help her. Luckily, once she’s out of the detention center her father arranges a place for her in a rehabilitation center for chromes (criminal girls that have been dyed red, yellow or another color, depending on their crime).

It turns out that the rehabiliation center is even more strictly religious than the outside world but Hannah is lucky enough to make a friend, making her stay more bearable.

After many challenging events Hannah has to decide how she will survive in the big bad world.

When She Woke: What I thought

This book indeed reminded me a lot of The Handmaid’s Tale. The story is very different but it had the same suffocating, religious, atmosphere.

The story was quite bleak, with lots of unpleasant things happening, and I didn’t feel totally attached to Hannah. However, it wasn’t all bad: there was also love, friendship and altruism.

I thought the story was too focused on Hannah and the Chrome system, with the rest of the new, changed world (compared to ours) not explained quite so well. I like dystopian novels especially for the way the author presents a new world to the reader, and it was a pity that wasn’t further though through.

The events around Hannah were very interesting and original. The book was well-written and because of the events and a certain suspense in the story I found it hard not to skip sentences to find out what would happen next.

Compared to The Handmaid’s Tale, When She Woke seems less likely to happen in the future and was therefore less unnerving.

Because 26-year old Hannah had been brought up by very strict parents, allowing her very little freedom, she seemed more like a young adult with very little experience with the real world. However, the book is not particularly aimed at young adults and makes a good read for older adults, too.

Rating: 4/5 stars

I got this book: from Algonquin books for review

I read this in: English, the original language

Number of pages: 352

First published: 2011 (October 11th)

Genre: science fiction, dystopia

Do not confuse this book with: Before I Go To Sleep by S. J. Watson, a thriller about memory loss. Very different from When She Woke.

I enjoyed this book a lot. If you read it and absolutely loved it, consider nominating this book for the Independent Literary Awards under Speculative Fiction. Any reader can nominate titles! 

Book Blogger Events in September and October

There are some great events happening in September and October in Book Blogging World.

There is a new Literary Giveaway Blog Hop, the Book Bloggers Appreciation Week, the 24 Hour Read-a-Thon, and the Indie Lit Awards. Don’t miss them!

Literary Giveaway Blog Hop – October 15-19

Do forgive me for mentioning my own event first. It’s not the first event to happen!

Yesss!  Another Literary Giveaway Blog Hop! It takes place from Saturday October 15th to Wednesday, October 19th.

If you were around in February or June, you know exactly what this is: a blog hop for people interested in books that have a certain literary merit.

There are a lot of Giveaway Blog Hops around but most seem to be directed towards young adult and romance audiences. For people that like to give away (or win) books that are more literary, the Literary Giveaway Blog Hop was created.

The last two Literary Giveaway Blog Hops had 30 and 70 participants (people giving away books), respectively. If you’d like to participate and give away a book or book related item, keep an eye on my blog, the “official” announcement where you can sign up, will be posted in a week or so.

Book Bloggers Appreciation Week – September 12-16

The Book Blogger Appreciation Week is only 8 days away! It’s a great celebration in the book blogging community. There are awards for best book blog in different genres (and you can still vote for best meme, best feature and some other categories – look HERE and click on your BBAW account in the first sentence).

There will also be daily themes that you can discuss on your blog if you want to, interviews with fellow book bloggers, giveaways, and much more. So keep an eye on the BBAW blog: HERE.

Dewey’s 24 Hour Read-a-Thon – October 22-23

Happening twice a year, the 24 Hour Read-a-thon is a big event in which many book bloggers (and other readers) like to join in. There are hourly challenges in which prizes can be won, there are cheerleaders to cheer the readers on, and it’s just a great excuse to read as much as you can in one 24 hour period.

Now, some people actually try to fill the full 24 hours without sleeping, cooking, or getting out of the house. Others take it more easy and will make sure they don’t miss out on their beauty sleep. In any case, it’s a great community event! Have a look HERE.

Independent Literary Awards – Nominations for 2011 now open

Nominations for the Indie Lit Awards are now open! You can vote which book published in 2011 is the best book in one of these genres:

• Biography/ Memoir
• GLBTQ
• Lit Fiction
• Mystery
• Non-Fiction
• Poetry
• Speculative Fiction

You can nominate up to 5 books in each genre. Check out the FAQ for more information. Do nominate your favorite books of 2011 – this award is about what we think are good books, us, the independent readers that are not connected to the publishing industry!

Which of these events are you planning to “attend”?

Book Review: Robopocalypse by Daniel Wilson

When I first heard about this book, I was very excited: this seemed a really good book. You know I love dystopia and this looked like a great story.

Pam, of bookalicious Pam, on my panel of the Speculative Fiction section of the Indie Lit Awards, heard me going on about the book, and was so kind, very kind indeed, to send it to me, all the way to the Netherlands (she’s in the US). Thank you very much, Pam!

People had meanwhile warned me that they didn’t think the book was quite as good as they had expected, so I was a little worried.

I found the beginning of the book absolutely wonderful, but the story did dwindle down to just “OK” for me nearer the end. I did enjoy reading the book, though, and I am looking forward to the movie (Steven Spielberg, 2013)!

Robopocalypse: What it is about

Cormac Wallace of the Gray Horse Army presents in short chapters the transcripts of witness accounts, camera recordings and other digital records of people who have been part of the recent robot wars in some way.

Robots are taking over the world. The transcripts show unconnected cases in which a robot (previously harmless) has attacked human beings. Before people realise, all robots have taken over and start harming people (this includes household robots, cars, etc.).

Several people are followed through time: first attack cases, zero hour (when it all really starts), fighting back, etc. These read like separate stories within the same post-apocalyptic world, but eventually these all come together into an attempt to damage the robot brain behind the war.

Robopocalypse: What I thought

I loved the beginning of the book and I was convinced this was going to be a great read. In the end, I must say, it became a bit boring and I became disinterested. So on average, it was a good read.

I am not a keen short story reader and because of the way the book was set up, it seemed as if I was reading several short stories, of which an instalment was added in each main section of the book. Later on, these story lines came together, but before that happened, I began to be impatient with it.

I liked the human interest parts of the story (a couple surviving in an apartment building, a family escaping town, etc.), but the ending was more like a military story, which I enjoyed less.

The idea was interesting, and, given that the author is an robotics PhD himself, probably also possible: robots/machines being so intelligent that they take over from the humans. It wasn’t quite clear why so many humans needed to be killed, though.

In all, an interesting idea, with some great situations in the beginning, but with a somewhat boring ending.

Rating: 4/5 stars

I got this book: from Pam at bookalici.us because she knew I was keen to read it (ARC)

I read this in: English, the original language

Number of pages: 368

First published: 2011 (June)

Genre: dystopia, science fiction

A disappointed reader: Dead Trees and Silver Screens (review)

A happy reader: Under My Apple Tree (review)

I enjoyed this book a lot. If you read it and absolutely loved it, consider nominating this book for the Independent Literary Awards under Speculative Fiction. Any book blogger can nominate titles! (nominations open September – December)

Book Review: Altered by Aubrey Coletti

Altered is the first in a series about J. Alter Academy. The author asked me to review it and it sounded very interesting, as it seemed to fit into the Speculative Fiction category of the Indie Lit Awards for which I try to read as many books as I can, since I’m one of the judges.

Aubrey Coletti wrote this book between the ages of 15 and 18, but I wouldn’t have known just by reading the book.

Altered: What it is about

J. Alter Academy is a school taking in pupils from the local area as well as boarders. But it seems that the boarders are all there for a reason: they were sent to the school because no other school wants them or because their parents insisted.

The regime at the school is harsh and there is a special treatment room for boarders: behave badly and you’ll be sent to the basement where you’ll receive shock treatment. As if this isn’t bad enough, a new method for controlling the pupils is introduced, and that is one step too far: the pupils make plans to sabotage the school and run away.

Early on, the reader discovers that these special pupils all have supernatural skills, such as making fire without matches, or telekinesis. They use these skills in their attempts to sabotage the school. Are they crazy, delinquent kids, or kids with special powers that should be cared for in a different type of institution?

Altered: What I thought

The dialogue was very realistic, especially the way the school managers talked to the children was spot-on. However, there was too much dialogue for me. I love dialogue in stories, but I need a context too. I would have liked more description (where are we (room, situation), what are we doing here, who else is there) rather than diving straight into yet another conversation in apparently another situation.

Probably because there wasn’t much description, I was confused a few times. E.g., after school, the pupils are on a bus to somewhere but as far as I understood they were boarders. Then much later in the book I understood that they were boarders in other people’s houses rather than on the school premises (I knew they were boarding in small units, but didn’t realise this was not at the school itself). Maybe I just missed a reference somewhere, but in any case, it wasn’t made explicit enough.

I liked it that the story made me think about the (seemingly delinquent) pupils even when I was not reading: was the school right to treat them harshly (although the school definitely took it too far), or were the pupils innocent and capable of living under a less strict regime? I was on the side of the pupils the whole time, but never felt they were justified in their attempt to sabotage the school. Also, I wondered why the day pupils didn’t tell their parents how abominably the boarders were treated.

There was a love story that was really well done. Nothing soppy romantic, these were damaged teenagers and they took their relationship very slowly and with the necessary hurdles. I liked it how these two teenagers came together and how their romance was build out slowly to something more meaningful.

While the book starts out very good, in the end, I got bored. But the actual ending was interesting and opened quite nicely the way to a next book in the series. There was no cliffhanger, though. The book can easily be read stand-alone.

It was a book with some interesting ideas to think about. It wasn’t quite what I expected, but I think a reader of YA age would probably enjoy it a lot.

Rating: 3/5

I got this book: from the author for review

I read this in: English, the original language

Number of pages: 271

First published: 2011

Genre: YA, fantasy/futuristic

Extras: Another review by this book: The Phantom Paragrapher

I enjoyed this book. If you read it and absolutely loved it, consider nominating this book for the Independent Literary Awards under Speculative Fiction. Any book blogger can nominate titles! (nominations open September – December)

Book Review: Among Others by Jo Walton

This book was a giveaway from Sarah at Book Worm Blues. The book sounded interesting so I entered and won. And what a beautiful book! A hardback with beautiful font, little squiggles to decorate the chapter (entry per day) headings and just very pleasant to read (physically, if you see what I mean).

Among Others: What it is About

First we find the main character, Morwenna, and her twin sister make a factory shut down because of some magic they carry out as instructed by their fairy friends.

Four years later, it’s 1979, 14-year old Mori is being sent to boarding school by her father and his sisters, who all live together. Her twin sister is out of the picture (it takes a little while before we know what happened) and Mori has been placed with her estranged father by social services as she somehow can’t live with her mother anymore.

Soon the reader realises Mori is afraid of her mother, and especially of the magical powers she has.

As she has a limp (and a walking stick) as well as a Welsh accent, the children at the posh English boarding school ignore her or call her names. Mori doesn’t mind too much, she’s a reader: she loves fantasy and science fiction novels, and is excited to find out that her father also enjoys these.

Through her love of books she eventually makes some new friends and finds a way to deal with her mother.

The book is written as a diary with (almost) daily entries for about 6 months from the moment Mori starts at her new school school.

Among Others: What I thought

This book is about magic, in quite a subtle way initially, but later it becomes more important. It never becomes the focus of the story, until we’re nearing the end.

No, I’m not one for fairies normally, but in this book, they didn’t take center place. In fact, I was able to maintain for many pages that Mori was just making them up, seeing things that weren’t really there.

I enjoyed the story, although I did think that nothing much happened for a long time. Still, it didn’t bore me. Just. It almost did, but then the book had a little twist and the story meandered on in a more interesting way.

A lot of books were mentioned: most were fantasy and SF from the 1970s and 1980s. I recognised quite a few author names and there were some books that I’d read too. I found it fun, but a bit unnecessary to keep on reading about yet another book, and another book, that Mori was raving/talking/arguing about.

I don’t think I’d call this a YA book. Just because the main character is 14/15 years old doesn’t make it YA. The writing is good and adult readers will enjoy reading between the lines to understand things that Mori herself didn’t maybe see that way.

Other than that it was a bit slow, with not a great deal happening, this was a satisfying read.

Rating: 4/5

I got this book: won from Sarah at Book Worm Blues

I read this in: English, the original language

Number of pages: 302

First published: 2011 (January)

Genre: speculative fiction, magic

I enjoyed this book. If you read it and absolutely loved it, consider nominating this book for the Independent Literary Awards under Speculative Fiction. Any book blogger can nominate titles! (nominations open September – December)

Book Review: The Summer of the Bear by Bella Pollen

I’ve had on my wishlist another book by the writer for a long time. That was Hunting Unicorns. So when I found out this book, The Summer of the Bear, was available from NetGalley, I immediately asked for it!

The Summer of the Bear: What it is about

After the father dies in an accident in Germany, a family consisting of the widow, two teenage girls, and a son of eight moves to the Outer Hebrides in Scotland where the family have a cottage. They all lived in Germany because Nicky, the father, was a diplomat for the British government there.

This is the 1980s when the Cold War is still going strong. Nicky Fleming’s death is considered with suspicion by his colleagues. Was he killed, was it suicide or was it really an accident? Maybe he was a spy and things turned awry?

Mother Letty is falling apart and cannot look after her children. Alba is the middle child and running wild. She is sulky and negative the whole time and bullies her small brother, Jamie. Georgie is the oldest child and seems to cope best.

Jamie hasn’t quite understood what has happened to his father (or hasn’t wanted to understand it) and believes his father has had an accident and has gone away (as he’s been told “Your father is gone”). He keeps looking for his father everywhere and when a bear is on the loose on their Scottish Island, he believes it may be connected to his father.

Letty, even though she’s almost catatonic with grief, manages to find out bit by bit what has happened to Nicky, her husband, and whether he’s has been spying against his country, or is in fact, a hero.

The Summer of the Bear: What I thought

I somehow am attracted to stories about English (UK) families. Maybe because I used to live in England when my children were small and we knew lots of similar families around us.

This story started off well, with the family moving to Scotland after the death of the father. I love to read about remote places and this certainly was one. So I hoped to be swept away, virtually, by the wind and the sea. But unfortunately, this didn’t happen for me. I could envisage the place and the weather quite well, but it was from a little distance, rather than directly in the story. In other words, I didn’t feel “present” in the story.

The way the family was coping with the recent loss and the move to the remote island was described very well and was absolutely believable. The mother, Letty, did not have any energy to look after her children, Alba took it out on her young brother especially, Georgie went her own quiet way, and Jamie was searching for clues as to where his father had gone.

The only thing that was less believable in that respect was how Letty somehow did manage to bring up enough will power to think about and act upon the clues she finds about her husbands activities. But she couldn’t look after her children in any way!

There was one major problem I had with the book, and that was the bear in the title. This was a rather anthropomorphic bear. For instance, it recognized that a piece of paper in a bottle was a map of Europe, it finds a wooden box from the Ukraine, Irish naval uniforms. It  thinks walruses are interesting because they can explore ship wrecks.

This could work, if there were other elements of magical realism or other thinking animals. But just this one bear? It didn’t work for me.

The story was built up well. I liked the family and wanted to know what would happen. It was an easy read and I read it within a few days. An original idea, for sure!

I got this book: free from the publishers via Netgalley (ebook).

I read this in: English, the original language

Number of pages: 448 (ebook)

First published: 2011 (June)

Genre: contemporary fiction, magical realism

I enjoyed this book. If you read it and absolutely loved it, consider nominating this book for the Independent Literary Awards under Speculative Fiction. Any book blogger can nominate titles! (nominations open September – December)

Book Review: The White Devil by Justin Evans

The description of this book appealed to me so I requested an ARC from Harper. And I was right: this is a great book!

It’s a ghost story with a kind of murder mystery interwoven: further killings by the ghost have to be stopped. How can this be done?

The White Devil: What it is about

Andrew Taylor has blown it at school in America. After a drugs scandal and expulsion from school his chances of finding a good university are zero. His parents sent him to England to retake his last year at high school at Harrow, one of the country’s leading private schools.

Andrew is housed in The Lot, an old house that is used as a residential place for 80 boys. Piers Hawkes is the house master in charge. He’s a poet and is working on a play about Byron, who was at Harrow school 200 years ago. When it is discovered that Andrew looks a lot like Byron, he’s given the lead role.

But  while Andrew is still settling in he finds one of his house mates being killed in an alleyway. The killer is a strange looking person who disappears without Andrew seeing him go. That was only his first encounter with the ghost of The Lot.

Andrew, Hawkes, and the lovely Persephone, the only girl at the school, investigate the murder and the identity of the ghost and figure out the reason he is trying to kill people. They need to stop it before other people die.

The White Devil: What I thought

I loved this book. I didn’t expect it when I started, somehow, but after a few pages, I was already gripped.

Of course, a story that takes place at one of England’s most expensive and oldest private boy schools is going to be interesting. Add an American boy who looks at it with the eyes of an outsider. Add a centuries-old ghost. And you’ve got a great story.

It wasn’t very scary but it sometimes threatened to become very scary. The encounters with the ghost could be read without hiding under the blankets but the story was creepy enough to keep me reading (so I could get past the scary part).

It was a bit unlikely that a girl would be studying at this school for boys, and yes, of course she and Andrew soon fall in love. A bit unlikely and too obvious, respectively.

I loved Hawkes, the dissident house master, who believed in Andrew’s visions of the ghost and helped him solve the case. Hawkes was a very real person (and a real underdog at that), who should have been fired long ago. I loved it how Hawkes tried to better his life.

Andrew was a believable protagonist. He was behaving himself (against his character) as much as he could, but ignored the rules when he found that there was no other way to do what was needed.

Rating: 5/5

I got this book: free from Harper in return for a review (ARC)

I read this in: English, the original language

Number of pages: 384

First published: 2011, mid-May

Genre: fantasy, mystery

I loved this book. If you love it too, consider nominating this book for the Independent Literary Awards under Speculative Fiction. Any book blogger can nominate titles! (nominations open September – December)