Quote of the Week (:

A short quote this week... but still true! And this is one of my favorite pictures, though for the life of me I can't remember where I found it.

Have a great week, everybody! For those on Springbreak, be safe & responsible! :P

My feat of the week: finishing Incarceron! Yeah, I only manage about 1 book a week, but hey -- that's better than 0 books, right? :)

Books Read

Incarceron - finished

Books Reviewed

Incarceron

My Posts

Thought on Reviews

In My Mailbox [4]
Teaser Tuesday

Contest Update (still brought to you by Zac & Corbin!)

Scorch Trials Cover

Cover Wars [6]

Friday Finds [5]

INCARCERON review--sorry, it's a rambler!

Incarceron – Catherine Fisher
Genre: Science Fiction/Fantasy
# of pages: 464 (UK paperback edition)
Publisher: Penguin

Overview
If Incarceron was a school subject, it would definitely be science. I love science, I find it fascinating, but I’m not very good at it… kind of like my reading experience!

Okay, so in a nutshell – how about I go ahead and set the stage for you, and maybe save your brain some racking? I have no idea if this is supposed to be Earth or if this is an entirely fictional universe, but whatever it is, it’s sometime in the future after a major war has taken place. Sound pretty Dystopian 101, right? Well, this society decides to halt progress of any kind (technological, mostly) and return to a simpler way of life; thus the society is 18th century based, with some contraband technology thrown in (sidenote: I really, really do love this concept! I love the blending of the old with the new! COOL!) Meanwhile, the powers that be created Incarceron – an experimental “prison” that they populated with criminals, political prisoners, and all other kinds of undesirables…* One of these prisoners, a 17-year-old boy named Finn, truly believes that he does not belong in Incarceron: he is convinced that he came from Outside. When he finds a Key that allows him to communicate with a girl on the outside, Finn launches a desperate escape plot all the while attempting to unravel the secrets of his past.

Plot: From page 1, Incarceron hits the ground running! I can definitely say that there are no dull points in this riveting, action-packed story. I think, though, that the fast-paced action comes at the expense of character and story development. There’s so much action in this story, but there’s not a lot of explanation and so a lot of the time there’s confusion as to what’s going on and how things relate to each other. It seems like you learn things in fragments. But hey, this book is incredibly fast-paced and so you don’t stay in the dark for long.

Characters: I really liked the two main characters, Finn and Claudia, and thought that their respective storylines were pretty interesting. I loved seeing their separate lives start to blend and was definitely cheering for them the whole way! As usual, I’m divided on the supporting characters.** Because there’s so much action in this 400+ book, characterization seemed to take a backseat. That’s not to say that characters weren’t developed; they just didn’t really seem explored. Incarceron seems like a very psychological novel, and I honestly could have done with more in-depth character exploration, especially when it came to relationships and how characters dealt with each other. Claudia/Jared/the Warden are very well done, and I felt like I really understood their part of the story and what they were going through, but I didn’t feel like I got as much from the characters inside Incarceron. For everything that has happened to Finn, I would have liked more psychological exploration. And Finn and Keiro’s weird, warped relationship confused me – for example, *why* does Finn just take Keiro’s crap?
So to summarize: VERY GOOD characters – they’re all interesting and useful to the plot (no “filler” characters, in other words)…SOMEWHAT LACKING on how these characters are explored and how they relate to each other.

Amelialand Rating
- Violence: Yeah, so this is a dystopian science fiction book that, even though marketed to children/YA audiences, has a great deal of violence. Hey, most of the story takes place in a prison, though, so it’s not really out-of-place.
- Sex: there’s no sex in here, but I did catch a couple references to it, just so you know…
- Language: I was actually surprised at the language in here. Nothing “hardcore” but still...and interestingly enough, it's Claudia, the *girl* who does most of the swearing! Haha, I think that's kind of butch for a girl to swear...it just seems kind of out-of-place. Oh well, whatever.


If this book was a movie, I think it would be a high PG-13. It’s not quite bad enough to be an ‘R,’ but it’s pretty intense.

This book was definitely fun to read, and also fun to figure out. Yeah, I had fun figuring everything else out! This book also got me thinking about a lot of things: can everybody escape, and who must stay behind? Can everybody be saved? Does everybody deserve to be saved?
See what happens when books make me think?! I love it! I’ve got Sapphique to read next, but I’ve been thinking about a change of pace…maybe reading something with a little less nuance next. Still, I’ll be hitting Sapphique soon! I want to find out what happens to Finn, Claudia and Incarceron!

Final Rating: 4.3 – in between my 4-and-4.5 star rating. I know, I can’t make up my mind! Incarceron is an awesome plot with great characters, but it could have been better explained and explored.

Friday Finds [5]

Friday Finds are books that you've heard about during the past week. For me, I'm taking it a step further: these are books I heard about and may potentially read. Friday Finds is hosted by MizB @ Should be Reading

This week I found...

Wondrous Strange (Wondrous Strange, #1) by Lesley Livingston

17 year-old Kelly Winslow doesn’t believe in Faeries. Not unless they’re the kind that you find in a theatre, spouting Shakespeare—the kind that Kelley so desperately wishes she could be: onstage, under lights, with a pair of sparkly wings strapped to her shoulders. But as the understudy in a two-bit, hopelessly off-off-Broadway production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, wishing is probably the closest she’s going to get to becoming a Faerie Queen. At least, that’s what shethinks... In this fun, urban fantasy, Kelly's off-stage life suddenly becomes as complicated as one of Shakespeare’s plot twists when a nighttime trip to Central Park holds more than meets the mortal eye.

and part two in the trilogy...

Darklight (Wondrous Strange, #2) by Lesley Livingston

"Much has changed since autumn, when Kelley Winslow learned she was Faerie royalty, fell in love with changeling guard Sonny Flannery, and saved New York City from a rampaging Faerie war band. When a terrifying encounter in Central Park sends Kelley tumbling into the Otherworld, her reunion with Sonny is joyful—but cut short. For they’ve been plunged into a game of Faerie deception and wavering allegiances in which the next move could topple a kingdom...or part them forever."

Hmm, I have to say, I never thought I'd read faerie fiction again! I have been so angrily disappointed as of late with these new urban fantasy faerie books: I was less than impressed with Holly Black's Tithe, and I won't even begin to describe Melissa Marr and her Wicked Fugly series... but this one looks cute! It seems to have a heavy Shakespeare emphasis...and I've heard of many good things about this series, so I'll give faeries a try again!

And in the other direction, I'm looking forward to reading about post-apocalyptic America with the Moon series...

Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer

It's almost the end of Miranda's sophomore year in high school, and her journal reflects the busy life of a typical teenager: conversations with friends, fights with mom, and fervent hopes for a driver's license. When Miranda first begins hearing the reports of a meteor on a collision course with the moon, it hardly seems worth a mention in her diary. But after the meteor hits, pushing the moon off its axis and causing worldwide earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanoes, all the things Miranda used to take for granted begin to disappear. Food and gas shortages, along with extreme weather changes, come to her small Pennsylvania town; and Miranda's voice is by turns petulant, angry, and finally resigned, as her family is forced to make tough choices while they consider their increasingly limited options. Yet even as suspicious neighbors stockpile food in anticipation of a looming winter without heat or electricity, Miranda knows that that her future is still hers to decide even if life as she knew it is over.

There are 2 other books in the series: The Dead & the Gone, which switches perspectives to another character in a more urban setting, and the final installment, This World We Live In (April 1, 2010). I'm wondering, for those who have read advanced copies, if it is necessary to read The Dead & the Gone to understand the last book. Answers?

What did you "find" this week?

Last week's finds: Beth Fantaskey's Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side, Brenna Yovanoff's The Replacement, Lisa Mantchev's Eyes Like Stars

Friday Finds 3: Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver, James Dashner's Maze Runner

Friday Finds 2: Katherine Langrish's Troll Trilogy

Friday Finds 1: Catherine Fisher's Incarceron & Sapphique, Sarah Addison Allen's The Sugar Queen

Totally Outrageous Springbreak Goal!

Amelia's Get 'Em Read Real Fast! week is about to begin! From Friday, March 12th - Sunday, March 21, I will try to speed-read through 4 novels and hopefully get crackin on my research papers (#1 - the impact of siege warfare in the Crusades, and #2 - education in the Third Reich)... Now, this goal sounds pretty ludicrous even to me, but I'm shooting for the stars anyway :)

• Sapphique, Catherine Fisher
• Troll Fell, Katherine Langrish
• Troll Mill, Katherine Langrish
• Troll Blood, Katherine Langrish

I definitely want to get through Sapphique, and I'll see how far I get with the Troll Trilogy :)

How about you guys--anybody approaching Spring Break? Do you have reading goals, too, and if so, how do you set them?

Oh, and I forgot: I have to read To Kill a Mockingbird again for school :) Oh well, at least it's one of my faves! Dill cracks me up!!

Have a great Friday, everybody!!

Cover Wars! [6]

Cover Wars is a weekly meme (I run mine on Wednesday, but it can be any day) where you pick your current read - or any other fun book - and try and find as many different cover editions as you can!

Continuing from last week... now it's time for The Sea of Monsters!

Here's the American cover:

UK Covers - Older & Newer

Indonesian Cover

German Cover

French Cover


Chinese Cover

Those are the only ones I could find ;)

And real quick - here's a mini-Cover War with The Maze Runner!

New UK cover (I got this from James Dashner's site!)

vs the American cover

I cannot wait to read THE MAZE RUNNER, especially since I saw a [maybe] cover design for The Scorch Trials!

I had some issues with the Mr. Linky from last week, so if you want to participate in Cover Wars, just drop your link and I'll check it out! :)

Scorch Trials...maybe?

Hey Maze Runner fans!



I saw this on German Amazon (amazon.de) while doing "research" for Cover Wars! There's still no cover design listed for The Scorch Trials on US Amazon...so I'm not sure how authenitic this is--but it still looks cool, none the less!


From what I hear, plan on The Scorch Trials hitting bookstores 12 October 2010.