Review: Shattered Minds: A Pacifica Novel

Shattered Minds: A Pacifica Novel by Laura Lam
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I like Laura Lam's books - those that I've read, anyway, because I'm still waiting for my library to get Masquerade. It's been too long. They didn't take nearly as long to get ahold of Shattered Minds, though, for which I'm grateful. It's just...strange, because this is the first time I've read a Laura Lam book and not been totally enamored with it. I mean, don't get me wrong, Lam weaves a deadly dangerous futuristic story like just about nobody else, a super-strong hybrid of Inception and Continuum (maybe not so much Orphan Black, though, not like False Hearts.) But reading this book, I felt it was a lot harder for me to connect to the characters, particularly our heroine, Carina. Though I suppose that was intentional, an exercise in protagonist unlikability worthy of Victoria Schwab. Another point against the book for me was its use of third-person POVs - I've always found it difficult to connect with those, especially when the author has a history of writing seriously engaging and engrossing first-person POVs in their past work as Lam does (and as do examples like Rick Riordan, Maggie Stiefvater, and more.) But there was one character I felt most connected to - Dax, whose backstory, to me, was the most fleshed out. I actually think, perhaps with a little more out-of-lane research (he being trans and Native American), he should've been the protagonist, or at least had more POV chapters so he could feel less like a deuteragonist and more like an equal part of the ensemble alongside Carina. And overall, the book is extremely fast-paced, even more so than False Hearts, which kinda demanded a bit of slow savoring. I had no problem finishing it in a single day.

Since this whole Pacifica universe is an anthology, it's a shame we'll probably never see some of these characters again. (Though I'm still holding out hope that Dax, for one, and also Taema and Tila, make return appearances somewhere down the line.) In the meantime, I'm counting on there being another Pacifica story somewhere down the line, hopefully set in the Pacific Northwest this time - especially Vancouver, which would really enhance the Continuum-esque vibe.

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Review: Zodiac

Zodiac by Romina Russell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Really more of a 3.5, but I'll be cool and round this one up to a 4. The idea of this series - a science-fantasy with an astrological bent - was too cool to pass up when I first discovered this series a couple of years ago, but at the time, I felt like its execution left a lot to be desired, and the second book didn't really cut it for me, so I kinda passed on it for a while. But now, I'm thinking maybe a sort of slow binge might be to this series' benefit, especially since, as far as I know, the final book is about to hit shelves very soon.

Even though this first book is pretty short and suffers from a villain who literally hides in the shadows and whose motivations are known only through the (possibly slanted?) accounts of in-universe folklore, the rest of the cast of characters are engaging and lovable and you really need them all to survive...except of course they don't.

As of today, I've ordered Wandering Star at the library, and hopefully I'll love that one a hell of a lot more - didn't I give that one only one star and a DNF at first?

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Review: Reckoning

Reckoning by Kerry Wilkinson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

So I went into this one seeing that it was a British-themed YA dystopian, and reading it, I was able to see that I wasn't wrong. (Funny thing - I actually picked up the second book in the series by accident at first, and then I had to take it back and wait for this first one to come in after ordering it.) Basically, it's exactly what I expected - a YA dystopian that mashes up elements of all the biggest hits of the genre (Hunger Games, Divergent, The Testing, Legend, etc.) in a post-apocalyptic UK setting. So this book, story-wise, doesn't really tread any new ground, but it's at least an interesting storyline with compelling heroes, even if they have to deal with a villain who just comes across as a one-dimensional royal psychopath.

At the very least, I'll have no problem picking up the remaining books in the trilogy and reading them in pretty quick succession - and hey, maybe they'll improve on this book too!

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Review: The Retribution of Mara Dyer

The Retribution of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Holy crap balls. This story did not let up, let me tell you. The things that Mara found out about herself and Noah and everyone else were nasty, terrifying, shocking, whatever you wanna call it.

A few standout points:

* I was really happy to see Jamie back in the game after he was so criminally underused in The Evolution. Man, did I miss him or what? And he has a new Official Most Awesome T-shirt: the word "trope" upside down, as in "subverted trope" (or "inverted" depending on who you ask.) Though the "Fictional Character" T-shirt I got from a professor kinda challenges him and his at cake-taking.
* The vast majority of the story is devoted to untangling the mystery, at the expense of the epic romance between Noah and Mara, because Noah wasn't there to romance Mara.
* We learn why Noah engages in such self-destructive behavior all the time. As awesome and cool as he is, I still think he desperately needs some of these:



* And the ending. A very experimental one that finally clarifies the exact nature of the bond between Noah and Mara, and also features a few plot points that I eerily echo in my own Red Rain books - especially Blue Monday, which I was writing at the time I first read this one.

Well, that's it. A magnificent end to a magnificent trilogy - though now, of course, there's the forthcoming spinoff, The Becoming of Noah Shaw, to look forward to. Until then, ave atque vale to Mara Dyer and all her friends.

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Review: Paper and Fire

Paper and Fire by Rachel Caine
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was warned that this second book of The Great Library was a bit of a come-down from Ink and Bone, but thankfully, Paper and Fire is only a slight case of Sophomore Slump, unlike, say, Michael Grant's Hunger or Susan Dennard's Windwitch. More like the Scorch Trials book compared to The Maze Runner (not the movie, though - the movie was a vast improvement.) The main issues I had with this book were its somewhat erratic pacing - mostly faster in the beginning, and really slowing down in the middle or so - and also the fact that it felt rather like filler and relied on a few too-predictable twists. Nevertheless, for its flaws, this book sets up its sequel very effectively, especially with a cliffhanger ending that finally brings to the forefront a facet of this world that's been largely neglected thus far, and will make things really interesting in Book 3, of that I'm sure. Seriously, this series needs to be made into a movie yesterday - and I mean a movie, not a low-budget Netflix series.

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Review: The Evolution of Mara Dyer

The Evolution of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I'm mostly gonna focus on the ending and my reactions to it.

My main reactions are as follows:











Even now, after reading this beast of a book all over again, I'm reliving all the old Ballpit of Denial killer feels. Literally. Even after we finally get somewhere with the secret origins of everyone's powers, it's still set up for a devastating ending, the most intense Hodkin's given us yet.

At least this time, though, I don't have to wait too long to read Retribution, not when it's sitting in my TBR pile and I don't have months to go until it's released.

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Review: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Reading this book three years ago, I loved it. Reading it again, even with my attention having been brought to some underlying problems re: representation (Mara being biracial but very ambiguous about it, and not terribly connected to the Indian side of her family, not to mention some sadly rampant whitewashing), I still love it, because even though I really shouldn't, it's downright addictive and irresistible. Especially for some of the supporting cast. Daniel. Noah (I got into this book largely because I was in a GR group with a few Noah Shaw stans, and they weren't wrong - he's surprisingly deep.) And of course Jamie Roth. I freaking LOVE Jamie.

The general vibe of this series is Miss Peregrine meets The Archived, with a bit of Shatter Me and Dexter thrown in for good measure. Based on that alone, it's enough of a mashup of everything that it's one of the most unique, and uniquely awesome, books you'll ever read. It may not be for everyone - some people find themselves defeated by the book's sheer peculiarity, Noah being a serpentine smooth-operating asscrown (how did I forget that particular zinger of Mara's? "The zenith of the hierarchy of asses," indeed.), and especially the fact that it's a long one with next to no explanation of the underlying paranormal-ness of it all. But that comes later, in the increasingly kick-ass sequels, which I'll be re-reading and re-reviewing very soon.



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