Sometimes it's better to not read a single review of a book, or any synopsis of it before you decide to dive in. Sometimes, when you see flurries of excitement of a book on Twitter and Instagram, you should just pick it up immediately. And then when an old college buddy recommends the audio, you just go ahead and stop procrastinating.

Here's one thing that I feel is fairly consistent with every review I've seen since I finished the book: you can't really give anything away. It wouldn't be fair to write about one piece, one thing that makes this story so very, very unique from all the other ones that have come out. You don't want to spoil it one bit. Instead, you have to just say that it's about a little girl named Melanie who is very, very smart and she goes to school every single day and loves to learn about the world and her favorite teacher is Miss Justineau. And then you throw in the part that there is also a man in the military who picks Melanie up from her cell every morning, who very meticulously straps her into a chair, following a process so specific as to keep him far from her, who then takes her to a classroom filled with other children similarly held down in their chairs. You should probably also add that there is a very ambitious doctor, a completely disturbing sociopath who evaluates them, one by one.

And then you just have to write that the story is engaging, absolutely perfect for those who like extremely smart and uniquely driven characters, who enjoy twists that are unexpected and who fancy a tale of a young girl who is smarter than your smartest human out there.

This is an adventure told by an author with an imagination who has taken our current culture of a dystopian society and placed an excellent spin to it, and is voiced through narration in the audiobook by Finty Williams, who is just powerful and PERFECT for every role. From Melanie to Miss Justineau to Gallagher to the Sergeant, this audio is one of my favorites this year, no doubt about it.

Click here to listen to a sample from Audible.com.

FTC Disclosure: I downloaded this book through my membership with Audible.com

About the Author 

M.R. Carey is an author of comics, novels, and films, according to Wikipedia. I couldn't track down a website for him, but it seems he's fairly active on Twitter.

Visit him:

• On Twitter

"Because survival is insufficient."

So proclaims the tattoo on Kirsten Raymonde's arm, as she works with The Traveling Symphony, more than ten years after almost 99% of the world succumbed to a deady flu outbreak. Traveling with her fellow actors and musicians to ensure that the arts never die, Kirsten becomes one of the key figures to the description of life after.

Kirsten Raymonde once performed on stage with a famous actor from Hollywood, Arthur Leander, when she was a child. Her most vivid memory of life before is the night he died onstage of a massive heart attack. Jeevan, once a member of the paparazzi and now an EMT, rushes onstage to try to bring Arthur back to life, and Clark, an old friend of Arthur's, is the one who calls Miranda to tell her the news. Miranda, a high-powered executive in the shipping world and one of Arthur's ex-wives, is on the other side of the world, successful in both her career and in her ongoing hobby of drawing and writing her graphic novel Doctor Eleven, full of imagination and adventure in an otherworld known as the "Undersea." That very same night, a deadly flu outbreak quickly tore through civilization, frightening viewers watching the news and eventually killing nearly everyone on earth.Within a few weeks, the once beautiful life of civilization and law and order was over. 

Alternating between the years after devastation and the years before, Emily St. John Mandel's delicately detailed design of life is incredibly vivid. Focused on a few key characters, the descriptions of the flu, the desolation following it, and how survivors crafted solutions to maintain life is brilliant. And my favorite character, Miranda, and her ongoing project of Doctor Eleven, was fantastic. I am thrilled to hear that the author is working on bringing Doctor Eleven truly into the graphic novel arena. I'll certainly be first in line to check that out.

Post-apocalyptic fiction for die-hard fans can be very specific, and for me, Station Eleven was divinely sad, thoughtful, and has easily secured its place on my own personal "Best Books Read in 2015."

Kirsten Potter, the narrator, fit perfectly. Her voice smoothly fit into each of the characters well and I enjoyed listening to her tell me the story. I don't believe I've listened to her before. That can always be a little scary, trusting a voice you've never listened to before tell you a story, but Potter was exceptional. I'll look for more from her again.

We are all connected, whether by a tiny thread or stronger, but somehow, the link is undeniable. And in Station Eleven, the characters are tied together so delicately that it is incredible how Emily St. John Mandel has delightfully woven them through into an incredible adventure of lives lived after everything we've ever always trusted and believed would never change has now broken down.

FTC Disclosure: I downloaded this audiobook through my membership from Audible.com

About the Author (from her website)

Emily St. John Mandel is the author of four novels, most recently Station Eleven, which was a finalist for a National Book Award and the PEN/Faulkner Award, and won the 2015 Arthur C. Clarke Award. A previous novel, The Singer's Gun, was the 2014 winner of the Prix Mystere de la Critique in France. Her short fiction and essays have been anthologized in numerous collections, including Best American Mystery Stories 2013. She is a staff writer for The Millions. She lives in New York City with her husband. 

Visit the author:

• On her website
• On Twitter
• On Tumblr

About the Narrator

Kirsten Potter rocked this audio. Here is a complete list of everything on Audible.com that she has performed. I'm sure that you won't be disappointed. Click here to listen to a sample from Audible.com

I was a huge fan of Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go, and apparently, this is the sort of premise I like in my freaky, horror dystopian novels. Unwind, by Neal Shusterman is one heck of a story, told from the perspectives of three runaways who are to be "unwound" and will be "donating" their body parts in one fell swoop because their parents or guardians don't want them anymore. It's not just about organs in this future society, though, not heart or kidney transplants from accident victims. Now, no longer do you have to deal with that pesky and boring eye color, you can now purchase a new set of eyes from an "unwind" and have the color you want. It is freaky and it is disturbing, particularly in one scene at Happy Jack, a place where all the "unwinds" go to before they undergo the "chopping block." This story is of Connor, Risa, and Lev, as they come of age and run from the law, fugitives from a world that somehow turned into a society that doesn't considered being "unwound" as dying.

Connor is the troublemaker and his parents are done with him; Risa is an orphan and the orphanage is looking to cut costs, and Lev is the religious offering from his family, who has been preparing for this "special" moment his whole life. When Connor, Risa, and Lev cross paths as they run from their fates, with Lev as their hostage, they know they just have to make it until they reach their eighteenth birthday and then they are free.

This is a wild and unforgettable journey, one I won't soon forget. While at first, I wasn't sure about the narrator's intonation, at some point about an hour in, it seemed to *click" and either I got more into the story, or the narrator really got into the groove of it, relaxing the initial monotone, and really digging deeper into each characters' individual personalities, truly giving this story its deserved frightening tension and action-packed ride. By the end of this audiobook, I couldn't go anywhere without listening to it, and made up excuses to go on errands so I could listen to it in the car. I can't tell you anything about what happens at Happy Jack, an absolutely insane camp where the "unwinds" go before their operation is performed, but there is one scene... one scene that really is sticking with me and still freaks me out. And the fact that in this society, people truly believe that these kids aren't dead, but instead are in a "divided state," is just fantastically horror-filled and completely disturbing. And don't worry, the only political agenda is the extreme of a side, whichever side that may be, and it is always scary.

Don't give up on this audiobook because of the first hour or so; stick with it. The story is SO worth it, and I plan to download the rest of the trilogy. Even if there's that one scene at Happy Jack... I can't get that one out of my head at all.

Publisher: Brilliance Audio

Release Date: 11/1/09

Audio Time: 10 hours, 10 minutes

Narrator: Luke Daniels

Click here for an audio sample of Unwind by Neal Shusterman, narrated by Luke Daniels.

FTC Disclosure: I purchased this book from Audible.com

I read this for Stainless Steel Droppings' RIP IX Challenge.

About the Author

Neal Shusterman is an award-winning author who grew up in Brooklyn, New York. He is an author, director, and screenwriter, for such projects as "Goosebumps," and is in constant demand to speak at schools and conferences. The Unwind is a trilogy and I've heard is going to be made into a movie.

Visit the author:

• On his website
• On Facebook
• On Twitter

About the Narrator (from Goodreads)

Luke Daniels has performed at various repertory theatres around the country, with an emphasis on Shakespeare. His many audiobook credits range from action and suspense to young adult and adult fiction,including works by Philip Roth and John Updike. He currently resides in the Midwest.

Visit the narrator:

• On his website
• On Facebook
• On Twitter
• On Tumblr

I make this commitment today: I will never again listen to a book while I am running if it requires complete and total focus and concentration on each and every single word. If I learn in advance that a book requires this much attention, plus so much, much more, I will consider it another form of exercise and will instead pick up the printed version.

One of two things happened for me with this book. Either I should only have read the printed format, or I am just too feeble-minded to understand the complexities, nuances, and brilliance of this novel.

Broken into six stories from different characters in multiple time periods, David Mitchell tackles the connection one life has to another, ultimately coming full circle to the initial start. Without question, this is an extremely intelligent story, and the attempt to interweave each tale is unique.

The Six Stories

The Pacific Journal of Adam Ewing

Starting in the 19th century on a Pacific island, Adam Ewing is waiting for his ship to be repaired. While there, he meets a variety of people including Dr. Henry Goose and a slave from the peaceful Moriori tribe named Autua. Adam continues his personal documentation of his travels and while waiting for his ship, he begins to feel ill and Henry begins to take care of him.

This was a challenging introduction to the story. Written in convoluted nineteenth-century prose, I found it quite distracting with my concentration veering off a bit. It ends abruptly at the partial conclusion of Adam's journal entries, which had it not been for a note on Audible.com's site, I completely would have thought that I had a faulty copy. Apparently, David Mitchell designed it to be jarring, and he was successful with it.

Letters from Zedelghem

The story jumps to the 1930s and Robert Frobisher is in Belgium working with a famous composer. He writes letters to his lover Rufus Sixsmith, while simultaneously having an affair with the composer's wife. He finds the journal of Adam Ewing, but what he finds is incomplete.

I also found this story challenging in both the accent and the method of narration delivery, and considered taking a break from listening. I found the story interesting, but difficult to focus on.

Half-Lives: The First Luisa Rey Mystery

Jumping to 1975 in California, Luisa Rey is a journalist with a tabloid newspaper, but wants to break out of this type of reporting. She begins an investigation into the local nuclear power plant and meets Rufus Sixsmith, who was the recipient of the letters in the previous story with Robert Frobisher. He reveals to Luisa that the plant is unsafe and she begins to pursue the investigation.

This jumped out as my favorite story thus far. Narrated by favorite Cassandra Campbell, I found this to be the easiest to understand and was the most engaged in the investigation Luisa was working on. I was heartbroken when the story shifted to the next tale as I wanted to hear more about Luisa.

The Ghastly Ordeal of Timothy Cavendish

Ah, Timothy Cavendish. A publisher with considerable financial problems in the present day, Cavendish's brother helps him escape from thuggish collectors to a hotel far from home. It's only until the next day that Cavendish realizes that he is not in a hotel, but rather in a nursing home. Cavendish struggles to explain to the hospital staff, his "captors," that it's a mistake and he must return home.

This was hilarious. While it was a little all over the place, I enjoyed this part and ended up not regretting the shift from Luisa's story to Timothy's. I felt so bad for him, yet found his humor to be delightful.

An Orison of Somni-451

Jumping to the future in a dystopian world set somewhere in Korea, an interview between two people is shared. The interviewer is the archivist documenting the events of Somni-451, a cloned human being, or a fabricant. A fabricant is not truly aware of who they are and is solely created to perform menial tasks that need to be done in this futuristic society, and Somni-451 works in a fast food restaurant. She slowly ends up becoming aware of herself, but this self-awareness and the actions coming from this are not approved of.

While I completely understood this story and that the narrator was supposed to deliver the tale in a way that would convey that the speaker was not fully aware of who they were to a certain extent, it was too robotic, or monotonous, for me to be truly engaged. Granted, I felt the "hollowness" that Somni-451 was experiencing, and I was horrified by certain sections, but I wasn't pulled into this one as much as I know I should have been.

Sloosha' Crossin' an' Ev'rythin' After

Zachry is now an old man and is relaying the adventures of his youth. Living in Hawaii, the world is now in a dystopian state, after a major catastrophic event that caused those who survived to live in an extremely primitive state. Meronym, a woman who is a "Prescient," visits the island to study Zachry and his people. He regrets her visit and observation, considering it an intrusion and an insult, yet is confused with whether he can trust her or not.

While one of the more crucial tales reflecting the connections to others, this was by far my absolute least favorite.  In fact, this was PAINFUL. I so wanted it to end. The dialect and verbiage used was extremely challenging to understand, and unlike the other stories in which just when I was starting to understand what was happening, things switched to a new tale, I never quite completely felt like I "got" Zachry's story. Words were shortened for this made-up dialect, and it was annoying. Usually, when I listen to the audio format, it's much easier to understand dialect, but not in this case. "Spesh" meant special, "un'stan" (or something like that) meant "understand," etc. Given that this was the only tale to be told without interruption, I was floundering through it and praying it would just. end. already.

What's the bottom line?

While I will emphatically state that each story had a certain triggering event that would make my ears perk and I waited for more of that intrigue to continue, invariably, one story would jarringly shift to the next and I was left wistful, wishing a little more was given so that I could sink my teeth into it and really grasp the meaning.

I just couldn't get into the story, though. I found the complicated method of storytelling to be confusing and mostly abstract, and for the most part, I was perplexed by the events. I have a sneaking suspicion that I'm not bright enough for the intricacies of the tale, especially the audiobook while running! (Maybe I just don't have my wits about me? Possible.) I do plan on watching the film; perhaps the greater reveals of the story's brilliance will finally be unfolded for me then.

That all being said, it would be a book that could be read more than once, simply because so much is involved with each character; one reading is really not enough. With an abundance of themes, ranging from corporate corruption, racism, sexism, and more, for the right reader, this will keep you thinking for days. For me, it was all just a blur.

Passages of Note (both from The Ghastly Ordeal of Timothy Cavendish)

Books don't offer real escape but they can stop a mind from scratching itself raw.

Looking back, I see that Ernie tolerated my posturing because he knew Veronica was only humoring me. Ernie had never read a work of fiction in his life. "Always a radio man, me." But watching him coax the Victorian boiler system to life one more time, I always felt shallow. It's true. Reading too many novels makes you go blind.

Audio Notes
Multiple narrators always ease the listener with cues on the shift in perspective, which is helpful. This was the case with Cloud Atlas as well, and I felt most drawn to the narration of Luisa Rey and Timothy Cavendish as they were the most engaging and delivered extremely well. You can listen to a sample from Audible.com by clicking here.

Others said:
Buttery Books
Care's Online Book Club
Leeswammes' Blog
Love, Laughter, and a Touch of Insanity
The New Dork Review of Books

Publisher: Random House Audio
Release Date: 11/23/04
Audio Time: 19 hours, 33 minutes
Narrators: Scott Brick, Cassandra Campbell, Kim Mai Guest, Kirby Heybourne, John Lee, Richard Matthews

FTC Disclosure: I purchased this from Audible.com

About the Author (from his website)

David Mitchell is the acclaimed author of the novels Black Swan Green, which was selected as one of the 10 Best Books of the Year by Time; Cloud Atlas, which was a Man Booker Prize finalist; Number9Dream, which was short-listed for the Man Booker as well as the James Tait Black Memorial Prize; and Ghostwritten, awarded the Mail on Sunday/John Llewellyn Rhys Prize for best book by a writer under thirty-five and short-listed for the Guardian First Book Award. He lives in Ireland.


Visit the author:

• On his website

This is the second in The Passage trilogy.

In The Passage, told mostly through emails and journal entries, the world was destroyed by a virus created in a government lab, injected into twelve death row inmates. Breaking free from confinement, these "virals" possess increased strength, power, and infinity, living off human blood. Within months, the world once known is no more. One hundred years later, the Colony survives in a self-imposed compound, protected by the lights that shine throughout night, shielding them from virals. When the batteries keeping the lights on die, the Colony must find another way to survive.

The Twelve picks up where The Passage left off from the first section, immediately following the aftermath in Year Zero. Moving from that year and progressing with certain sections throughout the next 100 years, the original Colony residents (Peter, Michael, Alicia, and Amy) return and the remaining humans in America have created small factions of government and military. Members of the Colony have immersed into the world, several lost. Finding the original group, led by Amy, a young girl who, while her blood is merged with the virus injected into her by the government lab 100 years prior, doesn't live off blood at all. The only indication that she is different is that it has taken her a century to grow from an adolescent to a young woman, but she also possesses a powerful internal way to communicate with the original Twelve virals, and their "Many." Through a violent journey that encompasses a wide range of villains from the original twelve virals, their Many, and from corrupted humans enslaving their own, The Twelve is another fierce installment in the trilogy.

My Thoughts.

First, let me say I read The Passage and I loved it. I couldn't put it down and read it in a few days. The initial jump from events following the aftermath to 100 years later with the Colony was a little jarring at first, but then I settled into it. One note I had from that reading was that I didn't like how Cronin would lead you into a spectacular event and then the section would end. The next page would be the results of that spectacular event, but he never allowed you to dig your heels into what was actually happening as it occurred. That was frustrating, and it happened often enough that I made a note of it, but all in all, it was an incredible story and world, and I loved every page of it.

I picked up The Twelve the day it was released. It was ON. I was ready to pick the amazing story back up and for the first one hundred or so pages, I was enjoying it. I thought.

You know that feeling you have when you pick up a random book because it sounds amazing and right away, you feel unsure, brushing off the disjointed storytelling because you're confident it will clear up soon? There's this nagging suspicion that maybe, the book is part of a series and you might be right in the middle of it? Yeah, you know what I'm talking about.

The problem is that I obviously knew this was the 2nd in a trilogy. I read the first one and I loved it. I knew the characters, I knew the story.

While I didn't mind that Cronin jumped right into Year Zero and introduced new characters following the aftermath of the virals' exposure to humans, I was disappointed. The Passage concluded with such intensity that I was ready to pick up from there, keeping consistent pace with tension-building and fear. Once I realized that just wasn't going to happen, I settled in with the characters and spent 150 pages with them and it was...interesting. It was decidedly slow, and there was just not a lot of suspense, at least not the way Cronin was so magnificent with building in The Passage, and so I spent the majority of my time fighting this horrible guilt, aware that I wasn't enjoying it. I was confused with the jump in timelines and I had this eerie and remote sense of detachment. It is a clear-cut lesson for me that if the time between installments in a series is more than two years, I simply need to re-read the one that came right before it. Or, at the very least, I need to hop onto Wikipedia and read the Cliff Notes version of the book to remind myself of events and characters. (Which I didn't think of until later.)

Yet even re-reading The Passage, I still would have waffled in confusion. There were too many new characters, and events which jumped all over the place. I spent the majority of my time drifting aimlessly and I even rushed through events in the end. I can't believe I did that.

There were just too many confusing elements, events, new characters that came and went, and timeline switches to be engaging. I missed the mostly epistolary format Cronin used in The Passage. With increased melodrama and shocking soap-opera like moments (Wait, that's really her father? And then someone else found their daughter?!), it just missed the mark for me. Don't get me wrong, I'll still pick up the final installment, but this post serves as a reminder for me to be more on guard. I missed the original universe, the feeling of being swept away into a story, the scary setup of the story, and most especially the refined method of storytelling Cronin previously implemented. This was just a little too scattered for me to really get into. I'm so disappointed to share that.

But, I have no idea what I'm talking about.
As I always say (er, write) in my posts, please remember that there is a reader for every book, and my opinion is simply my own. There are more than enough readers who loved this book. A simple check on Goodreads should give you more insight. After all, it currently has a 4.18 starred review rating, coming from 1,786 readers.

Favorite Characters.

• Alicia. She rocked. Didn't understand the scenes where she was confined, or with Sod, though.
• Ah, the disgusting Guilder. There was a lot of depth to the early introductions of his character and the reasons that clouded his judgement. While the concluding pages of his deterioration were a bit insane, I will recall fondly how villainous and interesting he was in the first half of the book.
• Lila has gone cray-cray. Oh, Lila, you are nuts. But sheesh, you're funny even when it's horrifyingly sad and I think you're awesome.
• Danny. I just love this guy. The determined bus driver who tries to drive everyone to safety. I want to be your friend. If they do end up making the movies for this trilogy, you doggone better be in it.
• Peter and Michael. Equal parts goodness. Loved ya both.

Characters I didn't care about.

• Amy. Sorry, I just wasn't as interested in her tale. Although I did feel the sad points in her interactions with Wolgast. Broke my heart.
• Lore. I just thought she was a little over-sexed and it didn't seem genuine.

Comparisons to The Stand?

I felt bad for Cronin a couple years ago when readers began comparing The Passage trilogy to Stephen King's The Stand. When I first read The Passage in January 2011, I hadn't read King's epic tale, so I couldn't see it. This year, however, I did read The Stand, and yes, I can completely see why there were multiple comparisons. There really are a lot of similarities, and for a few excellent side-by-side references, head on over to Fizzy Thoughts' page. I would also add to her list that Lacey was essentially Mother Abagail from The Stand and that Farmstead in The Passage trilogy is Hemingford Home. If I were to continue to make comparisons, though, I would say that while Cronin has a gift for writing, I much prefer King's "plainspeak." There's just no fluffed up pretty way to spell out that it's a cold day, for example, so in King's world, it just is so damn cold it'll freeze your n1pples off. Know what I'm sayin'?

But, either way, The Twelve, while it didn't work for me, picked the story ball up and carried it for yet another game. I'm still committed to Justin Cronin's trilogy and I will eagerly await the final installment.

Publisher: Ballantine Books, an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group
Release Date: 10/16/12
Pages: 568

Others said:
A Bookish Way of Life
The Boston Bibliophile
Chrisbookarama
Fizzy Thoughts
The Guilded Earlobe (audio review)

FTC Disclosure: I purchased this book from my local bookstore in Virginia Beach.

About the Author
Born in New England, Justin Cronin is the author of Mary and O'Neil, which won the Pen/Hemingway Award and the Stephen Crane Prize, and The Summer Guest.  Having earned his MFA from the Iowa Writers Workshop, Cronin is now a professor of English at Rice University and lives with his family in Houston, Texas.

Visit the author:

• On the official Passage site
• On Twitter
• On Facebook

This is my final selection for Carl's RIP celebration. For other participants' reviews, please click here.

I was hesitant. This book was marketed for The Hunger Games fans. Was it possible there was another book out there that I would enjoy as much as The Hunger Games? After my disappointment with Wither, I wasn't sure if I should pick up another YA dystopian book for a couple months, but this one did not let me down at all.

Years ago, it was deemed there were certain actions that without them, would cause ultimate chaos in society. Because of this belief, five factions were created and while the Chicago residents in Divergent work and go to school with other factions, they are fiercely segregated. The five factions are Abnegation, selflessness; Amity, peacefulness; Erudite, intelligence; Abnegation, selflessness; and Candor, honesty.

Beatrice and her family are part of Abnegation. She has known nothing but sacrifice for others, whether for her family or for strangers. It's Abnegation's belief that selflessness is the most important quality and without it, society will break down. Although other factions ridicule the Abnegation, deeming them weak, it's the only life Beatrice has ever known.

At the annual Choosing Ceremony, sixteen-year-olds from each faction will make a life decision to either stay within the faction they were raised in (and ultimately stay with their family), or to choose another and forget everything they ever knew before. In this world, faction comes before blood. When Beatrice uncovers a secret about herself, she daringly chooses to leave her family behind and join the courageous Dauntless, and endures a difficult initiation under the watchful eye of Four, the enigmatic and cryptic training coach, in order to prove that she is brave. Now known as Tris, what she uncovers about herself, her "friends," and the world in which they live, is daring, secretive, and surprising.

Marketed for readers who loved The Hunger Games, I was skeptical. After all, I thought there couldn't possibly be another book that would rival my affection for the crazy nonsense I loved so much in the world of Katniss, Peeta, and Gale and the Districts. But Divergent was surprising and, I freely admit, it convinced me to stick with the audio versions of these thrill-ride dystopian novels (provided the narrator is spot on amazing). The audio kept me rapt with attention: I was loyal to it and didn't stray to any other audios or to my regular book to give myself a break; instead, I was turning Divergent on every chance I got. It sort of makes me think what The Hunger Games may have been like in audio. Anyone out there listen to it?

Veronica Roth created a wonderfully odd world of the future in which people segregate themselves into five factions and strive to be the best examples of it; the Dauntless throw caution to the wind and do everything they can to prove how unafraid they are, wildly dare-devilish actions that made my fear of heights even more pronounced. The Candor are honest to the point of being rude and inappropriate, and the Erudite wax philosophic and snobbishly exert their intelligence over others. It's a creative and eclectic order and in this story, works extremely well.

Events and characters were fully established and I had a clear picture of it all, along with their personalities. It wasn't hard to root Tris on in everything, and while I was a bit frustrated with her family (well, they were the selfless Abnegation), I did enjoy Four's hard edge and gritty approach to situations. Tris' friends in Dauntless were also surprisingly multi-layered and it was a positively challenging experience to know if they were truly friends, or if there were deeper secrets that questioned credibility. Perfect for this dystopian landscape!

I'd highly recommend Divergent to anyone interested in dystopian fiction. Veronica Roth created an extremely fun ride that was difficult to put down, and I eagerly await Insurgent in just a few months.

Audio Notes: Emma Galvin was remarkable. She had the perfect voice for the character of Tris and had just enough of a tone variance to distinguish other characters. As Tris began to grow from innocence in Abnegation to unabashed fearlessness in the Dauntless group, so too did Emma Galvin's voice successfully project this evolution. I will definitely pick up Insurgent in audio when it's released, especially if Emma Galvin is at the helm. Click here, and then click on the play button underneath the Divergent picture, to listen to the five-minute sample on Audible.com (you might need a membership, so if you do, head to iTunes to listen).

Others said (If I missed your review, don't be shy! Let me know so I can add it here):

Adventures in Borkdom

Book Addiction

Book Journey

The Book Whisperer

Devourer of Books

Rhapsody in Books

The Story Siren

Publisher: Harper Audio

Release Date: 5/3/2011

Audio Time: 11 hours, 11 minutes

Narrator: Emma Galvin

About the Author

Veronica Roth is the twenty-three-year-old New York Times best-selling debut author of Divergent, the first in a trilogy. The second book, Insurgent is expected to be released in May 2012. She lives in Chicago with her husband.

Follow the author:

• On her blog/website
• On Tumblr
• On Twitter
• On Facebook

Although the Science Fiction Experience hosted by Carl at Stainless Steel Droppings has concluded, I had to include this book and one more I still need to write up. So, this is my fourth selection for the event. All reviews from Experience participants can be found here.

Another audio selection for the 2012 Audio Book Challenge hosted by Teresa.

This might be just the book for readers who are convinced they won't enjoy science fiction or dystopian fiction. A Young Adult book scheduled for release in June of 2012 (available for pre-order now), The Age of Miracles is an absorbing and studied glimpse into the world of an adolescent as she struggles to grow up while the earth is slowly coming to an end. The earthquake which caused the 2004 tsunami in Indonesia was so massive that it actually quickened the earth's rotation and our days were shortened by a fraction of a second. This true event sparked the idea for Karen Thompson Walker's beautiful fiction debut, The Age of Miracles, only she chose to slow the earth's rotation down, which became a much more eerie approach to the end of the world.

The California suburbs are just like any other: the day begins and ends, children go to school, parents go to work. But on one day, eleven-year-old Julia is settling down to breakfast with her family after a sleepover with her best friend when national news releases a breaking announcement. The earth, which has reliably spun on its axis since the beginning of time, is now slowing down. And slowing down fast. Before just a few weeks have gone by, an extra hour and a half have been added to a total day, increasing it from 24 hours to more than 25. And it continues to slow. At one point, 50 hours comprise one total day.

Everything changes. Animals suffer and crops begin to die after too many hours under the hot sun. Solar storms begin and some people are more physically affected by the slowing than others. Even Julia's own family begins to suffer personal changes that are heartbreaking for her. It's a frightening time and society begins to separate between "real timers," those who now choose to live their life by the daylight, and "clock timers" the rest of society who live on the standard twenty-four hour clock no matter how many hours are newly added each day. And adults continue to go to work while their children go to school to maintain a routine way of life at the most unsure period in human existence.

I was surprised by this story, and thrilled that I enjoyed it as much as I hoped I would when I read the synopsis. The layered story lines in this quiet novel were mesmerizing, beautifully depicting the changes for both Julia and the earth, all while she tries to find her own place in it all after losing her best friend, dealing with bullies at school, loneliness, and falling in love. The world is changing each day, but life still has to go on. The greater issue of the world ending lurks menacingly, but Julia's coming-of-age takes the front seat and is heartfelt and sad.

It was a beautiful and captivating read, thoroughly genuine in its description of each event in Julia's life and the world as the evolution of society's decay occurs, from order to confusion. The hints at ultimate chaos were unsettling and while I'm no expert on what might happen should the earth's axis ever slow down, each event made complete sense, never once nudging me to jump on the internet to look something up. Everything seemed to snugly fit, and the writing was fluid, effortless in each painful coming-of-age moment amidst eventual chaos.

Karen Thompson Walker's debut novel is a quiet story, about a young girl coming of age at the end of the world. Frightening, thoughtful, and genuine, Karen Thompson Walker's debut novel portends of much, much more to come from this new author.

Not surprisingly, The Age of Miracles has been optioned for the big screen by River Road Entertainment.

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Publisher: Random House Publishing Group

Release Date: 6/21/2012 (available for pre-order now)

Pages: 288

FTC Disclosure: I received an advanced uncorrected proof from Random House through Netgalley.

About the Author

Karen Thompson Walker is a graduate of UCLA and the Columbia MFA program and a recipient of the 2011 Sirenland Fellowship as well as a Bomb magazine fiction prize. A former editor at Simon & Schuster, she wrote The Age of Miracles in the mornings before work. Born and raised in San Diego, she now lives in Brooklyn with her husband. The Age of Miracles is her first book.

This is my third selection for the Science Fiction Experience, hosted by Carl at Stainless Steel Droppings. All reviews from Experience participants can be found here.

In this Young Adult post-apocalyptic story of the future of North America, the only surviving continent, a scientific attempt to eradicate all diseases results in new generations having a limited life span. Boys can only grow up to reach the age of twenty-five before a fatal virus attacks their system and kills them. Girls only live to the age of twenty. Because of this known death sentence, maturity is escalated and marriages begin young for reproduction. Rhine, a sixteen-year-old living in Manhattan which is completely different from what we know it to be, is kidnapped by the Gatherers to be sold as a bride into a wealthy home in order to continue their bloodline. Separated from her only family, her twin brother Rowan, she is hurried into a car with other young girls, while gunshots ring outside of the car for those not deemed worthy of the sale.

Arriving at her new "home," Rhine, Jenna, and Cecily, become the young brides for the son of the house, Linden. Cecily, the youngest bride at thirteen, is away from the orphanages that are so common in this new future and is excited about her new life. Rhine and Jenna, unhappy at being separated from their families, initially direct their hatred to their husband, Linden, but it's his father who is the lurking and malevolent presence. As a member of the "first generation" that engineered the accidental virus, he is now relentlessly pursuing the antidote at all costs and his presence hints at much more he is capable of doing. It's up to Rhine to figure out a way to ultimately escape a mansion with no visible entrance, to return to her twin brother, and to also deal with the conflicting emotions of loyalty for her sister-wives, and the passion she has for a servant in the house, Gabriel. Slowly, Rhine also begins to realize that Linden isn't the warden of this extravagant "prison," but rather his father is the one to fear.

Note: Keep in mind that this is my opinion only and I'm sharing with you my reading experience of this popular book, so please check out the other reviews I've linked to at the bottom that can give you a different perspective. There are a few mini-spoilers throughout this review, but nothing I think could affect what you might expect or already know about this book, but to play it on the safe side, only those who have read the book should continue to read on...

What I enjoy about science-fiction is that both the plot and the actions are, while a bit far-fetched at times, usually plausible. I'm no expert on science or evolution, but with Wither, I was nagged by my logical side and I often debated the inconsistencies. I tried to tell myself to let it go, but I was reminded that this is not what you do with science fiction; normally, you can feel the foundation of the story and imagine this new world. Sometimes, you can even close a book and reflect on the possibilities outlined in the story and believe it could happen. With Wither, unfortunately I was left confused and disappointed. I thought the story was interesting and the pacing was good, but I was uncomfortable with several aspects in where the story went and, most especially, in the character development.

In Rhine's old life, North America is desolate and her options are nil. Her parents were killed and she and her twin are left to fend for themselves in a house that is fiercely cold and filled with rats. With little food to keep them alive, they are forced to sleep in shifts so they can keep watch for any potential intruders. The Manhattan they live in is an industrial and bleak wasteland of factories and there is no hope...

But now, Rhine lives in a sprawling mansion, with food so incredible and in unlimited quantities. There are golf courses, pools with incredible underworld holograms which give one the illusion they are swimming in underwater shipwrecks, or swimming with schools of fish and dolphins. There is a full library of books to read, custom clothing to wear and magical baths to take.

Let me get this out of the way: Abduction and rape are nightmares, and completely illegal in the world we know today. In the world Wither portrayed, though, I don't think there would be a need for abductions to supply girls for marriage. Here's why: This new post-apocalyptic world is about a few generations into this automatic virus which kicks in at certain ages depending on gender. I would imagine "survival of the fittest" would come into play and each person would now be vying for the opportunity to escape their squalid life in a wasteland, to move into a mansion and have unlimited food and warmth for the short amount of time they had on earth, right? In the world of Wither, it would seem that the overall mindset would now change as each generation is born, and the goal would be to end up in one of these marriages. After all, it's not as though not being in a marriage gives you the chance to live longer: Everyone dies at 25 and 20, bottom line, whether married or not. If it's "freedom" Rhine's looking for, wouldn't she rather sacrifice this version of it in order to live in comfort rather than almost dying every day, miserable conditions swallowing her up? I think people would be fighting to get into the mansions, and abductions wouldn't be common at all.

My other frustration was with Linden and Gabriel, the two that create a love "triangle" for Rhine, which is a loose description for something that doesn't feel fleshed out and might be coming in the next installment. But I felt nothing for either of them, which may be because I didn't know much about them. Linden is described as fragile and weak but has a brilliant mind for architecture, and he pines for his true love, Rose, the wife before Rhine, Jenna, and Cecily show up. That's it. There aren't long conversations with him, he doesn't seem interested to ask anything at all about Rhine's life before coming to his house, he doesn't understand the eventual bond that the wives have with each other, and overall, he seems pretty weak-willed about everything. I don't understand why Rhine, a seemingly tough young lady, would feel even the slightest bit of interest for him.

The servant, Gabriel, is only familiar with the orphanage he lived in before being purchased to work as a servant in this mansion. Other than that, he is so vaguely described and there isn't even a physical description of him. I even went back to the point of when he first enters the story and still couldn't find out what this kid looked like. At some point, Rhine describes him as being bigger than Linden, but it seems like anyone could be since Linden is so frail. It wasn't until the end of the story that I finally found out he had blue eyes. I still don't know what color hair he has, though.

But the primary angle I couldn't understand with Gabriel was his motivation to leave this life. He's only lived in an orphanage before working in this extravagant mansion, and I couldn't grasp his willingness to risk it all for one of the wives. I could write it off and say he just loves Rhine, but I think there's only so much of the "willing suspension of disbelief" that I can give. Did he fully understand the risk he was taking? I don't know.

With a statement like the one below, I expected to really know Gabriel and why they had such a connection with each other. 

Gabriel's voice can reach me anywhere. Even in a hurricane. (p.185)

This is my opinion only, so please do take a look at the below links. I will seek out the second book to see how it plays out. My disappointment for Wither is centered around the fact that this is such an interesting idea for a story, and the author does have a wonderful ability at times to convey actions and events, that these inconsistencies stick out and brought such a disappointment. Here's what I think would have been interesting for our hero, Rhine: I would have much preferred Rhine to plot for a way to take over the house, locate her brother and bring him to the compound so that they could all be safe together. Why leave all this food, warmth, and shelter behind?

Did I miss it? What did you think of this book?

This book will be included on an upcoming giveaway, so stay tuned!

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Rhapsody in Books
Devourer of Books
The Story Girl

About the Author

Lauren DeStefano is the celebrated author of the popular Young Adult dystopian fiction The Chemical Garden Trilogy. The second book to the series, Fever, will be released by Simon & Schuster in February 2012.

Click here to visit the author on her website.
Click here to follow the author on Twitter.
Click here to like the author on Facebook.

I knew that downloading The Passage, by Justin Cronin would be the perfect selection to read on my Nook Color for the first time, especially as the size is daunting.  So many incredible events take place throughout this book, that I almost don't know where to start.

The Passage is a sweeping dystopian story that starts out a few years after our current time in a society that is still "normal."  It is FBI Special Agent Wolgast's job to collect identified human test subjects for a secret Army project that has been developed after a virus was uncovered in the jungles of Bolivia that cures illnesses and slows aging - and it could potentially be turned into a weapon of unbelievable proportions.  Soldiers that heal themselves?  It would be a fighting force of unprecedented capabilities.

Wolgast is post-divorce and going through a complete separation of a personal life he once knew.  He is knee-deep in his work with interviewing and convincing the test subjects to agree to be part of the project.  What other choice do they have?  They just happen to be death row inmates, so it's not like they have a better option for their lives.

But one is different.  Amy is a six-year-old girl whose mother is a prostitute -- she is dropped off at the doorstep of a convent and initially the sisters aren't quite sure "what" Amy is.  Wolgast, though, has now been tasked to bring Amy in to be one of these test subjects, and it is appalling to him - after all, Amy is just a little girl.  He realizes that he must do everything he can to protect her.

As Wolgast and Amy hide away in the mountains, as far away as they possibly can, the society that we now know is swiftly destroyed. The problem that no one expected is that the death row test subjects have become advanced super-human creatures, and they eventually break out from their prisons. Now predators roaming America, complete chaos sets in as they rip people apart or turn them into what the test subjects are - virals. A monster of unbelievable strength and quickness, who maintains the human form but is a wild animal in every sense - they communicate by making clicking sounds, they travel in pods of three, and they hide during the day, live at night, and kill. There is nothing human left that can be visibly seen. America is being destroyed from the inside out. The remaining society must survive, but how?

This story isn't just about current life with Wolgast and Amy, though. There. Is. So. Much. More. And one hundred years later, the compound with the last remaining humans in America is protected by floodlights that the virals can't get past. But as time goes on, the batteries supporting the lights are getting weaker and will eventually go out, leaving the compound in darkness.

This is one of the most incredibly engaging stories I've read in quite a while - I was pulled into each character's story and event. The structure is interesting - in one section, it's in third person, and then in the next, the story unfolds through a chain of emails. In other chapters, a full report of what occurred while patrolling the compound wall on watch is detailed, and then later, a diary entry is included, or a newspaper article. It's an absolutely fascinating way to keep the reader engaged in every aspect. There were a few minor issues here and there that I could quibble with, such as pivotal moments that I wish had been revealed to the reader as they actually happened, instead of jumping to the next chapter and reviewing how the characters dealt with these major moments. It happened often enough that I noticed it and was wishing that we instead got a chance to experience these incredible events with the characters as it happened.

Please - don't write this off as a vampire book. Although capturing similar elements to the popularity of vampire culture, it is so not a book about that. In fact, don't even use that word with this book. Instead, it is a post-apocalyptic story, the dystopian culture setting it far apart from anything you've probably ever read. It is a story about religion, survival, and love. Justin Cronin has successfully created an unbelievable journey into an alternate future, one that still encompasses the very basics of humanity and decency, but is also consumed by an ungodly force and power that cripples the existence of the most important thing of all: hope.

What about the audio?  I had a Twitter conversation with the fabulous Posey Sessions regarding her audio experience of the book - I absolutely enjoyed reading each word so I can completely see why the audio book experience may be much tougher to like, simply based on how the book is formatted.  I would personally recommend the printed version versus audio for this book.

When's the next book coming out?  Thank goodness it's going to be part of a trilogy because when that last page hits you, you might freak out that it ended. What a cliffhanger!  My only complaint is that the next book won't come out until 2012.  The Entomology of a Bookworm blog had a fantastic post on how horrible it is to wait for a sequel.

What about a movie?  Rumor has it that Ridley Scott has purchased the rights to turn it into a movie...

About the Author

Born in New England, Justin Cronin is the author of Mary and O'Neil, which won the Pen/Hemingway Award and the Stephen Crane Prize, and The Summer Guest.  Having earned his MFA from the Iowa Writers Workshop, Cronin is now a professor of English at Rice University and lives with his family in Houston, Texas.

- Visit The Passage site by clicking here.

- Follow the author on Twitter by clicking here.

- Oh, yeah - there's even an iPhone app for this.  I downloaded it here because I have to be able to keep up with when the next book is coming out.

Happy Reading,

Coffee and a Book Chick

It seemed like a crazy idea to go from reading The House of Mirth, a classic novel about gossip and drama in New York's high society in the 1900s, to a young adult dystopian novel in The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins -- I was so afraid because I don't normally read Young Adult novels (well, I mean, other than Twilight) and I was worried that the hype would be better than the book.  But, my good friends, I must admit it was even better than all the hoopla that has swirled around this series!  It was absolutely fantastic!

Katniss is sixteen-years-old and lives in District 12, the poorest of the twelve total districts that was born out of "a place once known as North America."  The Capitol is a rich and wealthy thriving city that controls the districts and runs The Hunger Games every year, which is televised through every district.  It's a requirement to enter your children into the Reaping, a raffle that randomly selects one boy and one girl from each district between the ages of twelve and eighteen to fight to the death in The Hunger Games.  And every year along with all of the other districts, District 12 will see two families close their windows in sadness and fear after the Reaping, fearing for the survival of their child who was selected to fight.  The winner of the games receives wealth and food beyond all imagination for the rest of their lives, but the losers -- the losers are killed by each other's young hands in the "arena," which changes every year.  It's designed by the Gamemakers and one year could be a desert, or another year the 24 participants could be dropped in the middle of mountains and woods.  It's then up to these kids to survive in the wilderness and literally take each other out.  And it's also required television viewing for all districts to watch this awful "sport" live, to effectively remind them that the Capitol has that much control over their lives.

Seriously, how twisted does all that sound?  I don't normally read Young Adult or dystopia (though my book reading schedule is changing a bit with The Handmaid's Tale read along with Hey Lady over at Classic Reads Book Club), but I literally got so caught up in Katniss and Peeta and their moral and physical battles, not to mention love, that I literally did nothing all evening and finished this story last night, annoyed that all the bookstores were closed and I couldn't get book two in the series, Catching Fire, until this morning.  I mean, I had to wait twelve whole hours!!  What??  Noooo!!  I can't wait!  I watched terrible TV last night, tossed and turned, then got up bright and early to be at the store literally 5 minutes after it opened so I could dive right into book two.  Suzanne Collins' writing is easy to read and was thoroughly full of action, rebellion, love, and ethics amidst the bizarre Capitol propaganda and laws.

Tuesday is the big day for the final book in the series Mockingjay to be released, and I cannot wait!

Happy Reading!
Coffee and a Book Chick