Sulan Blog Tour: Author Camille Picott Guest Post

Today is Day 2 of Camille Picott's Sulan, Episode 1: The League Book Tour and we have a special guest post by her. Her post is about the evolution of her very intriguing book cover and how the process of creating it developed....

Evolution of a Book Cover

For me, cover creation is the most exciting and most terrifying part of publishing a book. I know from my own shopping habits that readers do judge books by their covers. I spend a lot of time thinking about my book covers and working with Joey Manfre, an amazing illustrator and graphic artist. 

Before Joey begins a cover design, we sit down and discuss concepts. We talk about main characters, setting, target audience, and the overall feel the cover needs to have.

For Sulan, Episode 1: The League, I wanted the cover to target a YA audience with a potential crossover into adult. The story has a strong blend of cyberpunk and fantasy, both of which I wanted to be conveyed in the final piece of art. It was also important for the name SULAN to be prominent. SULAN is the central brand for this book, so it needed to stand out on the cover and catch the eye of readers.

1st Draft:

 

I really love the strong font Joey chose for SULAN. It really stands out and draws the reader’s eye. For a branding image, it’s hard to miss. I also love the way he worked in the cyberpunk theme with the stylized circuit board in the background. The central image of Riska (the winged tiger) also brings in the fantasy element I wanted to convey.

2nd Draft:

 

I have to admit, I freaked out just a little when I saw the bright green wing. LOL. But, I also saw what Joey was trying to accomplish. Giving Riska a black wing, which he has in the book, really caused him to disappear into the circuit board background. The green wing helps him visually pop. Once I saw the image of Sulan the character in full cover, I also wasn’t sure she was the right image for the front cover, either. The overall feel was too adolescent with an anime sensibility, which is not the audience I wanted to target.

3rd & Final Draft:

In the end, we decided to move the image of Sulan and Riska to the back cover. For the front, we opted for a simpler, more streamlined image of a blue sea serpent, which maintains the fantasy element that I wanted to include. You can see that Joey tied the serpent to the circuit board theme. If you look at the back cover, you can see he also used the serpent image on the background. Thematically, this really tied the front and back covers together.

Another thing to note is the purple border that surrounds the entire cover. Joey did this for a technical reason. In print-on-demand, there is a certain amount of drift tolerance with every print run; the paper moves on the press as it shoots through. In other words, your graphics will shift. No book cover produced on a POD press will ever be perfectly centered. Joey compensates for this by implementing the border, which helps disguise the tolerance. If the art went all the way to the edge, the shift would be much more obvious.

It is very common for Joey and I to do lots of tweaking as we work toward a final piece of art. (We actually had a lot more drafts, but this guest post would be WAAAAY too long if I included all of them!) We toss ideas back and forth and try different things as we work toward the ideal cover. For us, it’s all part of the creative process, which is very engaging and a lot of fun. It always yields a cover that I love.

Thanks, Cathy, for hosting me at Abnormally Paranormal! 

Author Bio

Camille Picott is a mom, wife and writer. She writes and self-publishes speculative fiction with Asian-inspired settings and Asian main characters. She is the author of the Asian inspired middle grade book series, Chinese Heritage Tales, Raggedy Chan and Nine Tail Fox as well as a short story "Warming Demon" and the first in her latest YA dystopian series, Sulan, Episode 1: The League. Visit her website at camillepicott.com. 

Book Review: Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Insurgent (Divergent, #2)

by Veronica Roth 

Genre: Science Fiction/Dystopia

Reading Grade: Young Adult

Publication Date: May 1, 2012

Source: hardcover purchase

Age Rating: 13+

| Amazon | | Barnes &Noble |

Tris's initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable—and even more powerful. Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical new discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so.

"New York Times" bestselling author Veronica Roth's much-anticipated second book of the dystopian "Divergent" series is another intoxicating thrill ride of a story, rich with hallmark twists, heartbreaks, romance, and powerful insights about human nature. 

 

My Review

Wow, it took me a long time to finish this one since it's so long and I had family visiting for a good chunk of the time I spent reading it. All I can say is that I didn't like this one as much as Divergent. Tris spends so much time bouncing from one thing to the next, one place to another, all without any direction or purpose. She finds out very early on from Marcus, Tobias' father, that he knows why Jeanine attacked the Abnegation faction at the end of the first book, but Tris doesn't get that answer at that time. She doesn't even feel it's all that significant of information to go after until the end of the book.

I just feel like it should have been much shorter and it would have been easier to get through. There are a lot of unnecessary scenes and lengthy descriptions that could have been left out completely. It bogged down the flow of the story and made it soupy to tread through. Shouldn't this story be more action-oriented and adrenaline-pumping? It is for a few short scenes, but that's all in its entire 525 pages.

For some reason, I sometimes find the second book in some trilogies to be “the sagging middle” books, and Insurgent seems like that to me. There is a plot twist at the very end that leaves you wanting to read the third book because it promises to answer the overarching, pink-elephant-in-the-middle-of-the-room question, why are all these people living in factions in Chicago, Illinois and are completely unaware of the outside world? So, I'll likely read Book 3 just to find out, but it better be more focused, more action-oriented and less cluttered with meaningless prose so it's not such a pain to get through.

To authors: Please remember you need to write a real story even in Book 2 of your trilogies. If you can't, then save us the pain and write duologies, instead. 'Kay, thanks.  

My score: 3/5 stars.

Novella Review: Weighted by Ciara Knight

Weighted (The Neumarian Chronicles, #0.5)

by Ciara Knight 

Genre: Science Fiction/Steampunk

Reading Grade: Young Adult (Novella)

Publication Date: August 2012

Source: review copy by author

Age Rating: 13+

| Amazon | | Barnes &Noble |

The Great War of 2185 is over, but my nightmare has just begun. I am being held captive in the Queen’s ship awaiting interrogation. My only possible ally is the princess, but I’m unsure if she is really my friend or a trap set by the Queen to fool me into sharing the secret of my gift. A gift I keep hidden even from myself. It swirls inside my body begging for release, but it is the one thing the Queen can never discover. Will I have the strength to keep the secret? I’ll know the answer soon. If the stories are true about the interrogators, I’ll either be dead or a traitor to my people by morning. 

My Review

This is a short story prequel to a series of steampunk novels coming out in 2013 called The Neumarian Chronicles. From this story, I can gather some aspects of the world building and that there are two types of people against one another, Slags and Neumarians. I don't know why they fought a war or why they hate each other so much, but what happens to the protagonist, Raeth, happens because of these feuding societies.

Raeth is a Neumarian and seems to be around 12-years-old. She has some sort of ability that she needs to keep hidden from the Slags who captured her in order to find out what it is. The Slags are people with bionic body parts—cyborgs, basically. That is so cool, but they are the bad guys and they are very not cool, not even towards each other. The Queen is execution-happy and everybody smacks everybody's faces all the time. Raeth suffers torture and near death at the hands of the Queen of the Slags who is completely evil and one-dimensional, but successfully strikes fear in you.

Although, a lot of the story is confusing, it still has elements I usually am drawn to: cyborgs, a mad scientist (Raeth gets tortured by a man in a gray coat at the behest of the evil Queen), sci-fi technology and even a fantasy element in Raeth's supernatural ability. It's quite an intense read for all it's worth and really gets your appetite whetted for the future subsequent novels.

My score: 4/5 stars.

*I received a copy of this title from the author in exchange for my honest review.

Review: The Annihiliation of Foreverland by Tony Bertauski

The Annihilation of Foreverland

by Tony Bertauski 

Genre: Science Fiction/Dystopia

Reading Grade: Young Adult

Publication Date: December 31, 2011

Source: Kindle store

Age Rating: 15+

| Amazon | | Barnes &Noble |

When kids awake on an island, they’re told there was an accident. Before they can go home, they will visit Foreverland, an alternate reality that will heal their minds. Reed dreams of a girl that tells him to resist Foreverland. He doesn’t remember her name, but knows he once loved her. He’ll have to endure great suffering and trust his dream. And trust he’s not insane. Danny Boy, the new arrival, meets Reed’s dream girl inside Foreverland. She’s stuck in the fantasy land that no kid can resist. Where every heart’s desire is satisfied. Why should anyone care how Foreverland works? Together, they discover what it’s really doing to them.

My Review

This is a pretty interesting sci-fi novel with a decidedly different type of dystopian “society” portrayed compared to all myriad The Hunger Games-eqsue novels being published. The story takes place on a remote island closed off from the rest of the world and these boys, ranging from ages 13 to 18, all live there not having a clue as to why. But, they just do what they are told by the people who run the island—a bunch of old dudes about to croak from old age. The boys have virtually no memory of who they are. They get to study without doing homework, or taking tests and they get to play video games as much as they want.

It's practically paradise for boys and young men, minus the presence of any females, except that every couple of weeks or so, they must endure torture for about a day so that they will want to voluntarily plug into a network that will allow them to escape into a virtual reality that takes them away from their physical suffering. I know—that makes no sense, but as you read the story, it starts to make sense. Like a mystery novel, this one unravels piece by piece and answers (almost) all of your questions by the end.

The story mostly follows a 13-year-old computer hacking genius named Danny, or 'Danny Boy' as he is typically called. He has been acquired by his Investor to live on the island for unknown reasons, just as every other boy on the island has been. All of them have their own Investor, an old man with creaking bones who seems to take care of them and looks after them. The boys are told that they are on the island to rewrite their minds, like rewriting a faulty computer program, because the boys' lives had been so awful, they need new mental programming. That's why they go into the needle—the way into the network that leads to the alternate reality they call Foreverland.

Each boy has a hole in his forehead in order to insert the needle, which then causes them to enter Foreverland. Foreverland is like being in a lucid dream. You can do anything and everything you've ever wanted to do. It's super fun and addicting, and the boys all look forward to it, even when not stripped naked and cold water-tortured. But, there's one boy named Reed who simply endures the torture and never takes the needle, no matter how much they torture him. Reed says he dreams of a red-haired girl who tells him not to take the needle—never to take it because they'd never get to be together otherwise. He doesn't remember who she is, but it's enough that he believes he once knew her.

Danny starts going into Foreverland, but because of Reed's abstinence, he starts to get suspicious of everything going on with the program. Why are they all there? Who were they before they came to the island? Why do they need to be tortured just to take a needle and why do they need to go into Foreverland? What really happens to the boys when they graduate? Why do the graduate's Investors suddenly disappear? Danny uses his computer hacking skills to dig deeper into the truth and the truth is shocking! This makes for a pretty great unraveling mystery and I can easily see this as a future film.

Despite how cool this novel is, it isn't perfect. There are too many POVs going on and sometimes they hop around in the middle of paragraphs without any transition. My biggest reading pet-peeve. Also, don't expect too much character development because it's not much of a character driven story. Although, I love the issues and themes this novel addresses—what is the nature of reality? Is reality real, or is our dream life the reality? Men will stop at nothing to satiate their own greed—stuff like that. But, I wanted to see how these issues affected the characters themselves. Getting inside their emotions would have allowed me to empathize with them and really feel their problems for what they were worth.

Still, this is great science fiction and the perfect dystopian novel for anyone who wants to read something different from The Hunger Games-type of dystopia. Since it's self-published, I wasn't surprised to see a lot of missing words, indicating lack of proper editing, but they were words I could fill in on my own. This is the type of YA literature that may leave you contemplating human existence and reality itself. 

 

My score: 4/5 stars.

Book Review: Wool by Hugh Howey

Wool (Wool, #1)

by Hugh Howey 

Genre: Sci-fi/Dystopia/Post-Apocalypse

Reading Grade: Adult (Novella)

Publication Date: July 29, 2011

Source: Kindle store

Age Rating: 16+

| Buy from Amazon |

They live beneath the earth in a prison of their own making. There is a view of the outside world, a spoiled and rotten world, their forefathers left behind. But this view fades over time, ruined by the toxic airs that kill any who brave them.

So they leave it to the criminals, those who break the rules, and who are sent to cleaning. Why do they do it, these people condemned to death? Sheriff Holston has always wondered. Now he is about to find out.

My Review

I read about this story in a blog post somewhere (I forgot where). It's very short (12,000 words), yet was making waves like it's the next great sci-fi/dystopia out there for adult readers. I had to check out how this self-published novella got all these people so riveted over it.

• Plot: Holston is an aging man, weighed down by his desperation over wanting to leave his home in an underground silo. His wife is already dead because she dared to break the stringent rules of their community, and the sentence was to go outside, above ground, and clean the lenses on the cameras that reveal the outside world's view. That outside world is filled with toxic gases that will destroy anything in minutes, so this punishment truly is a death sentence. But now Holston wants to follow in her footsteps. He wants to find out why she and all the others sentenced to clean the lenses have always followed through with cleaning them, as ordered, even though they all died shortly afterward. He wants to know what's really up on the surface outside.
• Characters: It mostly centers around the very depressed Holston and why he's decided to willfully break a rule, despite being the silo sheriff, in order to get the cleaning sentence. His wife is featured in a few flashbacks, and she's an amazing character, what little we see of her. She's the one that got this ball rolling because she thought she found some evidence that computer files had been deleted or altered from previous generations. Did it mean their ancestors had lied to them? She ended up wanting to go outside so badly, she broke the rule of declaring she wanted to go out, and thus, got exactly what she wanted. That happened three years earlier, and now Holston is unable to live without her anymore. He wants to put all the pieces of the puzzle she left behind together and solve it, once and for all.
• Writing: The writing is really top-notch. This author is quite good with words, not to mention his storytelling ability.
• Story: And, now to mention that storytelling ability. Wow. This one is impressive. I finished it thinking, “I couldn't possibly hope to ever think up something like this. What a story!” It left me questioning so many things about the society Holston and Alison (his wife) had been raised in. And, the shocker at the end.... Yeah, not a happy ending, but it answers the question of why the cleaners always end up cleaning the lenses. Leaves you wondering a lot about stuff like, what did Holston do to get his sentence? I either missed it or can't remember. Who is really in charge down in that silo? Holston is the sheriff and there is a woman mayor, but she seemed so uniformed about stuff. Alison said the IT guys knew everything. Did they? There are sequel novellas, but I'm unsure if they reveal these answers.
• Overall Quality: Super high! I don't think there was a thing wrong with it, unless you count how short it is.
• Favorite Scene/Moment: I can't even reveal it to you because it is a major spoiler, but it happens at the end when Holston does finally go outside the silo, above ground to see the real world with his own eyes. Craziest fake-out ever. O__o
• My Score: 5/5 stars. 
  
   

Book Review: Across the Galaxy by Heather Hildenbrand

Across the Galaxy 

by Heather Hildenbrand 

Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Reading Grade: Young Adult

Publication Date: March 9, 2011

Source: Author review copy

Age Rating: 12+

| Buy from Amazon |

Orphaned as a young girl, Alina Leone has spent the last few years in dusty Arizona, being raised by her guardian, Peter, and wishing for a friendship that isn’t filled with lies and deception about exactly what she really is. Just before she can begin senior year she meets someone from her past – a talking wolf from another galaxy who won’t stop calling her ‘Empress’ - and in a single moment, her future is changed forever. She becomes a fugitive, on the run from the Shadows, the same monsters who killed her parents, and flees to the safety of the planet Bardawulf for refuge. But not everyone in this magically protected fortress is what they seem.

My Review

• Plot: I had a feeling as I read Across the Galaxy that the plot was a bit off to my natural senses. It seemed some key plot points were arrived at either too early, too late, more than one time, or not at all. It made it hard to get into a good flow of reading. The inciting incident/catalyst happened perhaps too early, although that's my own opinion. I don't even remember what happened at the halfway point, and the ending had two different climaxes. Very confusing. I found myself wondering why the book still had 60 pages to go after reading the first climax, only to discover the second one at, appropriately, the end.
• Characters: Main character Alina is an Ilya, a being from a world called Gliese, but she spent several years of her childhood in Arizona in order to hide out from Tharos and his evil shadow minions that had taken over her world. She had lost her memory of ever being on Gliese, but her caretaker, Peter, raised her informed of her identity as the heir to the throne of Gliese. She was a pretty good female character and brave enough to respect, but I didn't find her all that interesting. None of the characters really stood out to me and made me take notice of them. They felt like they were all just there to play their parts and then “exit stage left” when the final curtain fell.
• Writing: The writing left something to be desired, not counting the lack of proofreading. Not that it was altogether fail, but there were times I felt like it was weak in how it conveyed simple events that occurred. Also, there were quite a few little scenes and conversations that were unnecessary. A lot of those moments and exchanges were pointless and probably should have been cut out because they made the story drag.
• Story: First of all, Alina and her people were called “Glows” because they could generate a glow from the cores of their bodies. Not sure why this was, although it was a pretty good set up for them being the natural enemy of alien shadow people. And, there were large talking wolves for no apparent reason. Why not cows or ferrets? It seemed like a very random animal to use when there was no organic need for any anthropomorphic characters at all. Not that I'm against that sort of thing, but I like the author to make sense of why they are in the story. Otherwise, I found all the other characters' behavior annoying because they constantly restricted Alina from doing anything and everything in an effort to protect her “Royal Highness.” It got super old really fast. “Alina, are you okay? Are you all right?” Multiply this by 1,000 and that's about how many times she gets asked this by various characters. Not to mention she just happened to be the most powerful of her kind. A little too convenient if you ask me.
• Overall Quality: It's inferior to a lot of YA fiction in this genre, but overall not entirely awful. I just have very high standards for my favorite genre (sci-fi/fantasy). It's enjoyable to plenty of people out there, so get a second opinion, but it lacked way too much for me.
• Favorite Moment/Scene: Unfortunately, I can't say I have a favorite scene.
• My Score: 2.5 stars out of 5. 
  
  
  
   

Book Review: Wither by Lauren DeStefano

Wither (The Chemical Garden, #1)

by Lauren DeStefano 

Genre: Dystopia/Sci-Fi

Reading Grade: Young Adult

Publication Date: March 22, 2011

Source: local library

Age Rating: 16+

| Buy from Amazon |

By age sixteen, Rhine Ellery has four years left to live. She can thank modern science for this genetic time bomb. A botched effort to create a perfect race has left all males with a lifespan of 25 years, and females with a lifespan of 20 years. Geneticists are seeking 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 kidnapped and sold as a bride, she vows to do all she can to escape. 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 is desperate to communicate to her twin brother that she is safe and alive. Will Rhine be able to escape—before her time runs out?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. 

 

My Review

This is an old review I wrote (edited a bit) before I started my book blog, so, obviously I couldn't use my newer review format for this one. I apologize for the lack of my current style....

*****

Wither is a really well written YA dystopian and I loved most everything about it. Great story, very interesting premise and great characters. You feel like you're right there with Rhine every step of the way, immersed in her new horrible situation. She's a sixteen-year-old bride forced into a marriage with a total stranger who marries two other girls along with her, so you can feel how piteous this situation is. All of the wives are as different as can be, and it is interesting to see how the youngest (at age 13) loves her new life, while Rhine hates it, and the oldest wife just waits around to die.

Despite all that works so well, there are some very serious world-building problems. It made it difficult for me to completely "suspend disbelief." As you read this review, you're going to think I mostly hated this book, but that couldn't be further from the truth. Still, I felt the need to address the issues that bothered me when I read it.

In this alternate United States, there is a nationwide genetic problem that causes young people, both male and female, to die in their twenties—or, is it a virus? Both are mentioned as the cause of the shortened lifespans, but they are two completely different things. Which is it? Other things that bothered me were how some of the girls that had been "gathered" (abducted for forced marriages) and not purchased as brides, were shot. Why? The Gatherers shoot them, even though they could sell them alive later on to turn a profit. It's just senseless murder.

On to those pesky starving orphans... They are either so troublesome they require Rhine and her brother Rowan to sleep in shifts every night just to fend them off (before Rhine's abduction), but it's okay for Rhine and bro to both leave home at the same time to go to work. Hard to buy that logic. And, they both go fishing for fish they know they can't eat? Why bother? Why leave the precious basement of your home exposed to those little unarmed orphan pests if they really are such a problem? See, weird logic. How are starving little orphans kids so dangerous, anyway? More weirdness.

There are quite a few things like this that got on my nerves. But, I otherwise really liked this novel and look forward to the rest of the trilogy. I just hope the world-building problems get straightened out. It is as if the author didn't think she needed to invest more time in developing her fictional world completely, thinking everything out so it would make sense.

I have given it a lesser rating as a result. Otherwise, I really thought this book rocked. Make no mistake—this book is very good and worth reading. The writing and story are superb, the characters are interesting, and there is tons of mystery, even the good kind (not just the kind caused by the shoddy world-building). These are just my personal grievances. You may feel differently, so read this one for yourself and see what you think.

Still, I gave it...

My score: 4 stars out of 5.

| Buy this title from Amazon |

Graphic Novel Review: Star Trek, Volume 1

Star Trek: Volume 1

by Mike Johnson, Steve Molnar 

Genre: Sci-fi/Sequential Arts/Graphic Novel

Reading Grade: Adult

Publication Date: April 3, 2012

Source: NetGalley

Age Rating: 14+

| Buy from Amazon |

The adventures of the Starship Enterprise continue in this new story that picks up where the blockbuster 2009 film left off. Featuring the new cast of the film, these missions re-imagine the stories from the original series in the alternate time-line created by the film, along with new threats and characters never seen before. With creative collaboration from Star Trek writer/producer Roberto Orci, this new series begins the countdown to the much-anticipated movie sequel premiering in 2013. 

 

My Review

• Plot: This is a new in-between comic book series that takes place after the 2009 Star Trek movie, but before the sequel film due out in 2013. Because it's a serialized comic book, very little actually happens in this volume. It sets up the story arc with Captain Kirk and Spock, Scotty, Bones, etc. all continuing on with their space adventures post movie. The Enterprise is on its way to the edge of the galaxy when they encounter a ship that had apparently vanished 200 years earlier while on the same mission. A member of the crew gets affected by the old ship and he starts doing weird, paranormal things. Mr. Spock wants to take drastic measures to eliminate the unknown threat, but Kirk is not hearing of it, and it ends on that cliffhanger over what Kirk is going to do about it.
• Characters: With something like this, an adaptation of a good adaptation, you look for whether the characters seem in-character—and they do. The rapport between Kirk and Spock and Scotty (and everybody, really) is very much what you can see in the movie, if not the original Star Trek TV series. They are perfectly lovable, or infuriating, depending the character.
• Writing: Here I'll have to mention not only the writing, but the artwork, too. First, the writing is good, the dialogue is very 'Trekkie,' in that you have the kinds of commands being shouted that you'd expect on a Star Trek episode. It works because it's familiar. Second, the artwork is very good, as expected, and features the typical western comic book style. The characters actually look just like how they do in the 2009 film, not like the original Star Trek TV actors. It gives you the right impression that you're reading about an event taking place in-between these newer films.
• Storytelling: This is like watching an episode of Star Trek. It gets right to the point, or to the inciting incident and then the set-up. I do sort of wish it had gone a bit further than it did, but it's definitely the beginning of a promising story arc.
• Overall Quality: High quality in the story, the writing, the art, even the in-characterness of the characters.
• Favorite Moment/Scene: I didn't think any scene was so amazing, but what stands out to me is when we see Gary, the crew member affected by the 200-year-old ship floating in space, and first realize he's tripping on some space junk, so to speak. It's nothing I haven't seen before, but it stands out.
• My Score: 4 out of 5 stars.

*I received this title from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

Buy this title on | Amazon |.

Favorite Novel Scene This Year: TGIF at GReads! (3)

TGIF at GReads! is a weekly bookish meme hosted by

GReads!

Every week book blogger participants answer a different book-related question and share in the meme-y fun with other book bloggers.

This Friday's (3/2/2012) Question:

 Book Moments: What has been your favorite moment (scene) in a book that you've read so far in 2012? Please be kind & not include spoilers.

____________________

My favorite book scene came from A Million Suns by Beth Revis which is the sequel to her debut novel, Across the Universe.  
 

 

Because I can't reveal any spoilers (and you don't want to know this before you actually read it), I have to be very cryptic about what happens. My favorite scene happens in the middle of the book when Elder has put on a space suit and he goes outside of the ship through a hatch to check up on the ship's exterior. What he discovers while out there amongst the stars and space is so shocking and unbelievable, it made the book! Wow-wee-wow-wow! It's huge....

The excerpt:

I have spent the whole time facing the ship, looking back at the path we have taken. But now I see behind me, toward where the ship is facing. And I realize why Godspeed seemed to glow. This...I never expected this. How did Orion keep this secret? How could anyone keep this secret? It's--it's everything--it's--

There, hanging in the sky, right in front of me-- 


You can read my review of A Million Suns here on my blog (click on title), as well as my review of Across the Universe. 


What is your favorite novel scene from this year so far? 

Book Review: Cicada by Belle Whittington

Cicada (Cicada #1)

by Belle Whittington 

Genre: Paranormal/Sci-fi

Reading Grade: Young Adult

Publication Date: July 14, 2011

Source: BookRooster.com (ebook)

Age Rating: 14+

| Amazon |

For 17-year-old Blair Reynolds and her friends, being the bearer of secrets is getting really old. But it's something she learns to deal with, because there's no other option. If the people in her small town ever found out what she and her friends discovered in the woods and hid in the storage room, the whole town would be up in arms;literally. You see, folks here don't believe in aliens from outer space. Besides, if they ever found out what two of those aliens did to one of their own, well, let's just say what would follow would be all out war.

As the months unfold, their summer becomes consumed with secrets, puzzle pieces that don't quite fit together, and a fight for their lives that leaves one of them at death's door.

 

My Review

• Plot: Things definitely happen, although, perhaps timed a little off what they should be. Blair is a high school girl whose friends have all just graduated from high school, except she still has another year left. Everyone else is going through major life changes, especially when they all encounter a creature that appears to not be of this world. Her old friend Everett ends up being the most affected by this creature, and thus changes the most, and also makes some drastic changes to his future post-high school plans.
• Characters: Blair is a cute country girl from an inconsequential town in east Texas. Her brother, her grandfather, and her other male friends are so convincingly southern men—it's a hoot! I like Everett the best because he is different from everybody else, a nerd-boy who loves bugs and running into daunting situations head first without fear. He is super cute and I like that he gets to play the main hero character—not some popular jock boy. Although, he ends up going through some serious changes that left me, like Blair, a bit uncomfortable because I really liked Everett as the goofy, clumsy, silly guy.
• Writing: It's simple and effective. Nothing artful, but definitely decent. The southern YA voice was also really well done.
• Storytelling: I think the story could have benefited from starting a bit sooner. There is some back-story for a little while before anything important happens to start the plot. But, it does the job of helping us to get to know the characters. I really like the ambiance of the slow, hot, humid summer on an east Texas ranch, with cicadas whining and fireflies floating around under a blanket of twinkling stars. Very relaxing. It was easy to hear the characters speaking with their southern drawls. I love Blair's mother's rhymes as she spoke in rhymes all the time. It was quaint and sweet. “My Blair with the dark brown hair,” things like that. It seems accurate as to what I know of real people from that region, particularly mothers.
• Overall Quality: Pretty decent and very compelling in parts. I would have liked more information on the inhuman element in the story and why it was around them, why it had been hiding for several years, where it came from, who were its enemies, and how all of that tied into the death of Blair's father and brother (which had already happened prior to the story). I like when I'm more in-the-know than not, but it doesn't mean it's a flaw, as it's so common in literature these days to keep things uber mysterious. Everett was such a neat character, in my personal estimation, he made me want to keep on reading, especially to see where his relationship with Blair would go.
• Favorite Moment/Scene: When the non-human life form Blair and her friends had discovered started to emerge from its pod. I thought Everett's reaction upon seeing it was very interesting and memorable. (He kind of freaked out!) What the life form resembled was also pretty shocking.
• My Score: 3.5 out of 5 stars. 
  
  
  
  
  

*I received this title as a complementary copy in exchange for my honest review.

Buy a copy of this ebook from | Amazon |

Tweet