These Books Among Us

As most of you reading this know, there seems to be a trend in the "hero complex" in young adult, middle grade, and children's novels. Stories like Percy Jackson, Hunger Games, and Whichwood all have younger people saving the world. But why has this become the norm for a lot of current writings? Well, let's explore that together. First off, what is the superhero complex and how can we try to identify the features of it in our literature and our lives? The superhero complex is often when a character has a desperate need to protect the people around them. They do not necessarily think of their own safety in the matter, only that they must protect. This person will have an inherent desire and compulsion to help people. There is also a need to do it all alone, to hopefully trim down the list of casualties. Many of the identifiable features of this include over protection, a disinterest in self preservation, and being quite controlling over any and all situatio...

Hey guys! So I am going to go into my thirteen reasons why I think Young Adult novels are good for the world. These are going to range from the trivial to being more serious reasons. So without further ado, here we go. 1. Young adult novels are good for all ages. For actual young adults, they can help through times of change. Many of the characters are the same age as the young adults reading them. And while their problems may be on a much larger scale, there are still the social issues they have to navigate through in their own lives that the young readers may be going through in their own school. 2. Adults can relive their youth. Yeah, I know, this one's pretty cliche. But it's true. Maybe they're re-reading one of their favorite series from when they were in high school and it brings back the warm and fuzzy feelings they had getting their friends into the book. Maybe they are reading about young adults who had the same issues they were going through when they wer...

Hello Everyone! Nice to see you again! As I told you in the last post, I am changing this blog up a little. Instead of doing book reviews, I am going to be attempting to do some more “intellectual” posts dealing with themes that I can then transition onto the books I am reading or have read. There will also be some recommendations on the genre I am talking about in the post and some possible topics that you can come up with your own answers for in the comments! So, without further ado, here’s the first post. So let’s talk about King Arthur. I know, I know. Why talk about some legends that don’t tie into anything I like to read? How can this tie into young adult novels? I am glad you asked. I am going to explain my theories to you right now in this, probably, long winded post! Okay, we all know the legends of King Arthur. A man, who is chosen by his lineage, draws a sword from the stone, becomes king, gets betrayed by his best friend and his wife, then being possibly ki...

A Madness So Discreet by Mindy McGinnis (376 pages) My Rating: 4.5 Stars Date Read: 30 December 2016 Synopsis: Grace Mae knows madness. She keeps it locked away, along with her voice, trapped deep inside a brilliant mind that cannot forget horrific family secrets. Those secrets, along with the bulge in her belly, land her in a Boston insane asylum. When her voice returns in a burst of violence, Grace is banished to the dark cellars, where her mind is discovered by a visiting doctor who dabbles in the new study of criminal psychology. With her keen eyes and sharp memory, Grace will make the perfect assistant at crime scenes. Escaping from Boston to the safety of an ethical Ohio asylum, Grace finds friendship and hope, hints of a life she should have had. But gruesome nights bring Grace and the doctor into the circle of a killer who stalks young women. Grace, continuing to operate under the cloak of madness, must hunt a murderer while she confronts the demons in her own pas...

Heartless by Marissa Meyer (456 pages) Date Read: 29 December 2016 My Rating: 3.5 Stars Synopsis: Long before she was the terror of Wonderland—the infamous Queen of Hearts—she was just a girl who wanted to fall in love. Long before she was the terror of Wonderland, she was just a girl who wanted to fall in love. Catherine may be one of the most desired girls in Wonderland, and a favorite of the unmarried King of Hearts, but her interests lie elsewhere. A talented baker, all she wants is to open a shop with her best friend. But according to her mother, such a goal is unthinkable for the young woman who could be the next queen. Then Cath meets Jest, the handsome and mysterious court joker. For the first time, she feels the pull of true attraction. At the risk of offending the king and infuriating her parents, she and Jest enter into an intense, secret courtship. Cath is determined to define her own destiny and fall in love on her terms. But in a land thriving with magic, ma...

Reign of Shadows by Sophie Jordan (297 pages) My Rating: 3 Stars Date Read: 23 December 2016 Synopsis: Seventeen years ago, an eclipse cloaked the kingdom of Relhok in perpetual darkness. In the chaos, an evil chancellor murdered the king and queen and seized their throne. Luna, Relhok’s lost princess, has been hiding in a tower ever since. Luna’s survival depends on the world believing she is dead. But that doesn’t stop Luna from wanting more. When she meets Fowler, a mysterious archer braving the woods outside her tower, Luna is drawn to him despite the risk. When the tower is attacked, Luna and Fowler escape together. But this world of darkness is more treacherous than Luna ever realized. With every threat stacked against them, Luna and Fowler find solace in each other. But with secrets still unspoken between them, falling in love might be their most dangerous journey yet. My Review: Okay, so in this review, there will be some pretty general spoilers in the charact...

Vanishing Girls by Lauren Oliver (357 pages) My Rating: 5 Stars Date Read: 22 December 2016 Synopsis: New York Times bestselling author Lauren Oliver delivers a gripping story about two sisters inexorably altered by a terrible accident. Dara and Nick used to be inseparable, but that was before the accident that left Dara's beautiful face scarred and the two sisters totally estranged. When Dara vanishes on her birthday, Nick thinks Dara is just playing around. But another girl, nine-year-old Madeline Snow, has vanished, too, and Nick becomes increasingly convinced that the two disappearances are linked. Now Nick has to find her sister, before it's too late. In this edgy and compelling novel, Lauren Oliver creates a world of intrigue, loss, and suspicion as two sisters search to find themselves, and each other. My Review: I am not sure why I keep being surprised at how good books are, especially since I have read some of these authors before! This book is no dif...

A Wicked Thing by Rhiannon Thomas (337 pages) My Rating: 3.5 Stars Date Read: 19 December 2016 Synopsis: Rhiannon Thomas's dazzling debut novel is a spellbinding reimagining of Sleeping Beauty and what happens after happily ever after. One hundred years after falling asleep, Princess Aurora wakes up to the kiss of a handsome prince and a broken kingdom that has been dreaming of her return. All the books say that she should be living happily ever after. But as Aurora understands all too well, the truth is nothing like the fairy tale. Her family is long dead. Her "true love" is a kind stranger. And her whole life has been planned out by political foes while she slept. As Aurora struggles to make sense of her new world, she begins to fear that the curse has left its mark on her, a fiery and dangerous thing that might be as wicked as the witch who once ensnared her. With her wedding day drawing near, Aurora must make the ultimate decision on how to save her ki...

The Crown's Game by Evelyn Skye (408 pages) My Rating: 4 Stars Date Read: 18 December 2016 Synopsis: Vika Andreyeva can summon the snow and turn ash into gold. Nikolai Karimov can see through walls and conjure bridges out of thin air. They are enchanters—the only two in Russia—and with the Ottoman Empire and the Kazakhs threatening, the tsar needs a powerful enchanter by his side. And so he initiates the Crown’s Game, an ancient duel of magical skill—the greatest test an enchanter will ever know. The victor becomes the Imperial Enchanter and the tsar’s most respected adviser. The defeated is sentenced to death. Raised on tiny Ovchinin Island her whole life, Vika is eager for the chance to show off her talent in the grand capital of Saint Petersburg. But can she kill another enchanter—even when his magic calls to her like nothing else ever has? For Nikolai, an orphan, the Crown’s Game is the chance of a lifetime. But his deadly opponent is a force to be reckoned with...

Blood and Salt by Kim Liggett (346 pages) My Rating: 3.5 Stars Date Read: 17 December 2016 Synopsis: Romeo and Juliet meets Children of the Corn in this one-of-a-kind romantic horror. “When you fall in love, you will carve out your heart and throw it into the deepest ocean. You will be all in—blood and salt.” These are the last words Ash Larkin hears before her mother returns to the spiritual commune she escaped long ago. But when Ash follows her to Quivira, Kansas, something sinister and ancient waits among the rustling cornstalks of this village lost to time. Ash is plagued by memories of her ancestor, Katia, which harken back to the town’s history of unrequited love and murder, alchemy and immortality. Charming traditions soon give way to a string of gruesome deaths, and Ash feels drawn to Dane, a forbidden boy with secrets of his own. As the community prepares for a ceremony five hundred years in the making, Ash must fight not only to save her mother, but herself—...

Shards and Ashes by Marissa Meyer (369 pages) Date Read: 11 December 2016 My Rating: 1.5 Stars Synopsis: Gripping original stories of dystopian worlds from nine New York Times bestselling authors, edited by Melissa Marr and Kelley Armstrong. The world is gone, destroyed by human, ecological, or supernatural causes. Survivors dodge chemical warfare and cruel gods; they travel the reaches of space and inhabit underground caverns. Their enemies are disease, corrupt corporations, and one another; their resources are few, and their courage is tested. Powerful original dystopian tales from nine bestselling authors offer bleak insight, prophetic visions, and precious glimmers of light among the shards and ashes of a ruined world. My Review: I am keeping this review short because I was not a fan of the book, so I don't want to spend a lot of time on it. I did not really like this book, but I have read most of these authors and I have loved their books before, so I think...

Stars Above by Marissa Meyer (400 pages) Date Read: 10 December 2016 My Rating 4.5 Stars Synopsis: The enchantment continues.... The universe of the Lunar Chronicles holds stories—and secrets—that are wondrous, vicious, and romantic. How did Cinder first arrive in New Beijing? How did the brooding soldier Wolf transform from young man to killer? When did Princess Winter and the palace guard Jacin realize their destinies? With nine stories—five of which have never before been published—and an exclusive never-before-seen excerpt from Marissa Meyer’s upcoming novel, Heartless, about the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland, Stars Above is essential for fans of the bestselling and beloved Lunar Chronicles. -- The Little Android: A retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid,” set in the world of The Lunar Chronicles. Glitches: In this prequel to Cinder, we see the results of the plague play out, and the emotional toll it takes on Cinder. Something that ...

Winter by Marissa Meyer (832 pages) Date Read: 9 December 2016 My Rating: 5 Stars Synopsis: Princess Winter is admired by the Lunar people for her grace and kindness, and despite the scars that mar her face, her beauty is said to be even more breathtaking than that of her stepmother, Queen Levana. Winter despises her stepmother, and knows Levana won't approve of her feelings for her childhood friend--the handsome palace guard, Jacin. But Winter isn't as weak as Levana believes her to be and she's been undermining her stepmother's wishes for years. Together with the cyborg mechanic, Cinder, and her allies, Winter might even have the power to launch a revolution and win a war that's been raging for far too long. Can Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter defeat Levana and find their happily ever afters? Fans will not want to miss this thrilling conclusion to Marissa Meyer's national bestselling Lunar Chronicles series. My Review: There will be spoile...

Fairest by Marissa Meyer (220 pages) My Rating: 3 Stars Date Read: 5 December 2016 Synopsis In this stunning bridge book between  Cress  and  Winter  in the bestselling Lunar Chronicles, Queen Levana’s story is finally told. Mirror, mirror on the wall, Who is the fairest of them all? Fans of the Lunar Chronicles know Queen Levana as a ruler who uses her “glamour” to gain power. But long before she crossed paths with Cinder, Scarlet, and Cress, Levana lived a very different story – a story that has never been told . . . until now.  Marissa Meyer spins yet another unforgettable tale about love and war, deceit and death. This extraordinary book includes full-color art and an excerpt from  Winter , the next book in the Lunar Chronicles series. My Review: As always, there are going to be spoilers in this review, so be warned. As much as I love the Lunar Chronicles series, I did not enjoy reading this book. Yes, we got backstory into Levana...