2013 Challenges Wrap-Up

2013 Reading Challenge
Hosted by GoodReads

Completed: 40/50

Well, isn't that a nice block of books there? So symmetrical and colorful.

I'm very happy to have read this many books this year. Much, much more than I managed to read last year. And because of the many duplicates I read (audiobooks along with print/electronic books), GoodReads actually says I met my goal! So while I may have re-read a couple books, and technicalities work in my favor, I'm still very happy to have accomplished all I did for this challenge.

A Changeling Put Among Us By Strange People

~Changeling~
Order of Darkness
Book 1
By Philippa Gregory
Amazon ~ Powell's

The year is 1453 and all signs point to it being the end of the world. Accused of heresy and expelled from his monastery, handsome seventeen-year-old Luca Vero is recruited by a mysterious stranger to record the end of times across Europe. Commanded by sealed orders, Luca is sent to map the fears of Christendom and travel to the very frontier of good and evil.

Seventeen-year-old Isolde, a Lady Abbess, is trapped in a nunnery to prevent her from claiming her rich inheritance. As the nuns in her care are driven mad by strange visions, walking in their sleep, and showing bleeding wounds, Luca is sent to investigate and driven to accuse her.

Forced to face the greatest fears of the dark ages—witchcraft, werewolves, madness—Luca and Isolde embark on a search for truth, their own destinies, and even love as they take the unknown ways to the real historical figure who defends the boundaries of Christendom and holds the secrets of the Order of Darkness

The first in a series, this epic and richly detailed drama is grounded in historical communities and their mythic beliefs.

I'd heard of Philippa Gregory—I mean, it's hard not to after the huge success The Other Boleyn Girl became. I knew she was mainly a historical romance writer who tended to write historically 'factual' novels with a few embellishments. I happen to enjoy the occasional historical novel, especially those that focus on women and/or teens of the time (see Tamora Pierce and Robin LaFevers). So when I heard that this renowned author was tackling a YA-focused historical series, I was pretty excited for it.

And then I read it. And then I shook my head and sighed.

Making Ourselves Feel Ugly Is Not Fun

~Uglies~
Uglies
Book 1
By Scott Westerfeld
Amazon ~ Powell's

Everybody gets to be supermodel gorgeous. What could be wrong with that?

Tally is about to turn sixteen, and she can't wait. Not for her license—for turning pretty. In Tally's world, your sixteenth birthday brings an operation that turns you from a repellent ugly into a stunningly attractive pretty and catapults you into a high-tech paradise where your only job is to have a really great time. In just a few weeks Tally will be there.

But Tally's new friend Shay isn't sure she wants to be pretty. She'd rather risk life on the outside. When Shay runs away, Tally learns about a whole new side of the pretty world—and it isn't very pretty. The authorities offer Tally the worst choice she can imagine: find her friend and turn her in, or never turn pretty at all. The choice Tally makes changes her world forever.

Perhaps I've been reading too many well-written and utterly fascinating Dystopian books lately. Maybe I've grown too used to the idea that the world is doomed, humanity has all but killed itself, and the future holds nothing but torture and injustice. Or perhaps I've heard too much praise for the series. Because when it came to Uglies, I just didn't get the punch I was expecting.

Worrying About Ghosts Or—Shudder—High School

SPOILER ALERT
This review is for those who have read or are familiar with the previous books, Hex Hall, Demonglass, & especially Spell Bound or don't mind knowing some spoilers for them. School Spirits, however, will remain spoiler-free.
SPOILER ALERT

~School Spirits~
Hex Hall
Book 4
By Rachel Hawkins
Amazon ~ Powell's

Izzy Brannick was trained to fight monsters.

For centuries, her family has hunted magical creatures—and fifteen-year-old Izzy is the last of her line. But when her older sister vanishes without a trace, Izzy's mom decides they need to take a break from the Brannick's age-old calling.

As Izzy and her mom move on to Ideal, Mississippi, however, they discover the town is not as normal as it appears. A series of hauntings has been plaguing the local high school, and Izzy is determined to prove her worth and investigate. But assuming the guise of an average teenager is easier said than done. First, her clothes are all wrong. Second, what are these things called "friends"? Third, there's a boy named Dex making her heart skip—but not in a bad way...so, that's weird. For a tough girl who's always been on her own, it feels strange to suddenly be the center of attention.

Izzy's training taught her to never get attached, but she doesn't know if she can solve the case alone. Can she trust her new friends to find the secret behind the hauntings before more people get hurt?


After the disappointment I had with the last Hex Hall book, I admit that I was a bit reluctant to return. True, Hawkins had moved on to a new character, one with a completely different backstory, and there were no promises that this would be dragged out into its own trilogy, but I knew it was still a matter of whether the writing itself had changed or not.

Turns out that changes were made, and a lot of them were for the better.

This Place Is A Safe Haven

~Haven~
Winterhaven
Book 1
By Kristi Cook
Amazon ~ Powell's

Destiny brought them together.
Now it will tear them apart.

Violet doesn't understand why she feels drawn to the Winterhaven school. She just knows it's the right place for her. When she discovers the school's secret, it all makes sense: Everyone at Winterhaven has psychic gifts. For the first time in her life Violet doesn't have to hide her visions. She's always seen them as a curse, but now she can hone ther ability and try to control it.

But she's thrown completely off balance when she meets the most alluring—and most mysterious—boy in school. She's never connected with anyone the way she does with Aidan, and the intensity takes them both by surprise. But as their relationship deepens, she begins to have visions of Aidan's death—and sees that she's the one who's fated to kill him.

Violet's never been able to prevent her visions from coming true. But this time she'll do whatever it takes ... even if it means sacrificing herself for the boy she loves.


I will apologize beforehand if this review gets a little repetitive because it is so hard not to make constant Twilight comparisons. No, really, almost everything in this book can be traced back to Twilight. You've heard of the Twilight Clones? Well, get ready to meet the clone to end all clones...except better?!

Every Day She's More Withered

~Wither~
The Chemical Garden
Book 1
By Lauren DeStefano
Amazon ~ Powell's

What if you knew exactly when you’d die?

By age sixteen, Rhine Ellery has four years left to live. A botched effort to create a perfect race has left all males born with a lifespan of 25 years, and females a lifespan of 20 years--leaving the world in a state of panic. Geneticists seek a miracle antidote to restore the human race, desperate orphans crowd the population, crime and poverty have skyrocketed, and young girls are being kidnapped and sold as polygamous brides to bear more children.

When Rhine is sold as a bride, she vows to do all she can to escape. Yet her husband, Linden, is hopelessly in love with her, and Rhine can’t bring herself to hate him as much as she’d like to. He opens her to a magical world of wealth and illusion she never thought existed, and it almost makes it possible to ignore the clock ticking away her short life. But Rhine quickly learns that not everything in her new husband’s strange world is what it seems. Her father-in-law, an eccentric doctor bent on finding the antidote, is hoarding corpses in the basement; her fellow sister wives are to be trusted one day and feared the next; and Rhine has no way to communicate to her twin brother that she is safe and alive.

Together with one of Linden's servants, Gabriel, Rhine attempts to escape just before her seventeenth birthday. But in a world that continues to spiral into anarchy, is there any hope for freedom?

As I'm rather late in reviewing this book, I'm sorry to say that I was not completely impartial in my reading of it. I'd read less than savory things about this book/series. Now, I don't remember exactly what I'd read, nor do I want to find and read it again as I feel it's important to express my personal reactions, plus I don't want to repeat someone else's words. That being said, I admit that I went into this book expecting to hate it.

Well, there's good news, and there's bad news.

Surrounded by the Rot and Ruin

~Rot & Ruin~
Benny Imura
Book 1
By Jonathan Mayberry
Amazon ~ Powell's

Benny Imura couldn't hold a job, so he took to killing.

In the zombie-infested world Benny has grown up in, teenagers must work once they turn fifteen—or they'll lose their food rations. Benny isn't interested in taking on the family business, but he reluctantly agrees to train as a zombie killer with his boring brother, Tom. He expects a dull job, whacking zoms for cash. What he discovers is a vocation that will teach him what it really means to be human.

As his worldview is challenged again and again by the lessons he learns from Tom, Benny is forced to confront another horrifying reality: Sometimes the most terrible monsters are human.


These days it seems like you even mention the word "zombies" and people shudder. Not because they're creeped out, but because we've become overloaded. It's like we've been living with them so long, instead of being repulsed or scared by them, we just sigh and move along. So, it would take something pretty significant to break out of the sameness, right? Rot & Ruin might just be that book.

It's a Link - a Telepathic Link

~Linked~
Linked
Book 1
By Imogen Howson
Amazon ~ Powell's

When Elissa learns her telepathic twin is the subject of government experiments, the girls find themselves on the run with secrets worth killing for in this futuristic, romantic thriller.

Elissa used to have it all: looks, popularity, and a bright future. Now, all she has is nightmarish visions and unexplained bruises. Finally, she's promised a cure, and a surgery is scheduled. But on the eve of the procedure, she discovers the truth behind her visions: She's seeing the world through another girl's eyes. A world filled with pain and wires and weird machines. Elissa follows her visions, only to find a battered, broken girl on the run. A girl—Lin—who looks exactly like Elissa, down to the matching bruises. A twin she never knew existed.

Elissa helps Lin evade the government agents who are ruthlessly tracking her down, but they're struggling to avoid capture, and soon Elissa is forced to turn to the only person who can help: Cadan, her brother's infuriating, arrogant best friend, and new graduate of the SFI space flight academy. Cadan is their one chance at safety. But Lin is too valuable to let go, and Elissa has knowledge that is too dangerous. The government will stop at nothing to get them back.


This book has it all. Space battles, estranged twins coming together, psychic powers, love/hate relationships, government conspiracies, human rights activism... But, honestly, where the plot was full of action-packed things happening, I found it slightly lacking in substance.

Witness Anonymous Relocation Program

~The Reluctant Assassin~
W.A.R.P.
Book 1
By Eoin Colfer
Amazon ~ Powell's

Riley, a teen orphan boy living in Victorian London, has had the misfortune of being apprenticed to Albert Garrick, an illusionist who has fallen on difficult times and now uses his unique conjuring skills to gain access to victims' dwellings. On one such escapade, Garrick brings his reluctant apprentice along and urges him to commit his first killing. Riley is saved from having to commit the grisly act when the intended victim turns out to be a scientist from the future, part of the FBI's Witness Anonymous Relocation Program (WARP) Riley is unwittingly transported via wormhole to modern day London, followed closely by Garrick.

In modern London, Riley is helped by Chevron Savano, a nineteen-year-old FBI agent sent to London as punishment after a disastrous undercover, anti-terrorist operation in Los Angeles. Together Riley and Chevie must evade Garrick, who has been fundamentally altered by his trip through the wormhole. Garrick is now not only evil, but he also possesses all of the scientist's knowledge. He is determined to track Riley down and use the timekey in Chevie's possession to make his way back to Victorian London where he can literally change the world.

Eoin Colfer is indeed back at it again. Upon the completion of his widely acclaimed Artemis Fowl series, I genuinely hoped he would come back with something equally as charming. He's always had this way of writing compelling characters. Whether they are serious or humorous, human or alien or demon or fae, they've always felt real; like you wanted to be their friend, or were relieved they were on the other side of the page. And sure enough, once again Colfer doesn't disappoint.

May You Find Who - And What - You Are Searching For

Avatar: The Last Airbender
The Search
By Gene Luen Yang & Gurihiru
in collaboration with Bryan Konietzko & Michael Dante DiMartino
Amazon ~ Powell's

For years, fans of Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra have burned with one question - what happened to Fire Lord Zuko's mother? Finding a clue at last, Zuko enlists the aid of Team Avatar - and the most unlikely ally of all - to help uncover the biggest secret of his life.

Immediately following the Avatar's adventures chronicled in The Promise, this remarkable oversized hardcover collects parts 1-3 of The Search, from Airbender creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko! Featuring annotations by Eisner Award-winning writer Gene Luen Yang (American Born Chinese) and the artist team Gurihiru (Thor and The Warriors Four), and a brand-new sketchbook, this is a story that Avatar fans need in an edition they will love!


Once again I must lament over the decision not to put these stories into a fourth season. This story in particular was one that EVERYONE wanted to know, was teased in both the finale of Airbender, as well as in the premiere of Korra, and could have easily carried its own made-for-TV movie. But, as it stands, it still was an amazing story.