Stop Reading This

And if you know someone who’s grieving, do not say: “Call me if you need anything.”

In my most recent short story, the main character, an adolescent male named Luca, jumps off the roof of his high school after hearing about his best friend’s death. He feels responsible for her passing, which contributes to his suicide attempt. Luca has a lot of emotional problems; he wrecks havoc amongst his peers to satisfy his twisted sense of morality.

The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness

Cover via irisonbooks.com.

Rating: 5/5 stars.

“Oh my gosh,” I sighed in frustration,” why can’t he just shoot him already? Just shoot him!”

My younger cousin, who had never heard a pacifist like me say such a violent thing, looked up from her Etch-a-Sketch. I remember thinking – dang, if only all sequels were this good.

The Ask and the Answer is the second book in the Chaos Walking trilogy, and continues from the last line of The Knife of Never Letting Go. I won’t post a plot synopsis in fear of spoiling it for people who haven’t read the first book – if interested (which I hope you will be by the end of this review), here’s the link to the Goodreads page.

Let’s just say that the plot is crazy.

The Death Cure by James Dashner

Cover via Goodreads.

Rating: 4/5 stars.

Have you ever experienced something spectacular, only to look back on it and think “wait a second… why did I like that so much?” That roller coaster or spicy Thai food you loved but then caused you to suffer serious stomach aches? That’s how I feel about The Death Cure and the Maze Runner series.

Just like the first two books in the series The Death Cure delivers a fast-paced story filled with adrenaline-inducing action sequences and thrilling twists. While Dashner’s writing isn’t beautiful, it possesses an exciting energy that sucks the reader in and doesn’t let them go. The sheer suspense of the series kept me content despite other issues that arose. Until this book.

For those who have read The Maze Runner and The Scorch Trials, you probably know that there were a lot of questions that needed to be addressed in this novel. The first two books in the series acted as an action-packed snowball that gathered unaddressed plot issues as it rolled down the hill of total exhilaration. To me, this third book was supposed to be when the snowball finally hit a huge brick wall, sending all of its fluff flying and revealing its true core. But it didn’t exactly live up to that expectation – everything felt too nice and neat, sort of like if the snowball simply melted instead of erupting like a volcano.

I also would’ve preferred if Thomas reflected on what had happened to him instead of just accepting it and moving on. A little more introspection would’ve been nice – what has he learned from being tortured and manipulated by this evil group of people? How will it influence his actions in the future? I wanted Thomas to grow tremendously throughout this series, but especially in this book because he finally learns the truth about his life. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen, at least not to the level that would’ve earned this book five stars.

However, you can tell by my solid rating that I liked the book overall. Maybe I’m biased because of the main character’s name or because this series as a whole impressed me, but, I gave The Death Cure a much higher rating than I’m sure many other people would. I could just be a nice guy.

I recommend the Maze Runner series if you’re searching for exciting and somewhat mindless entertainment. It didn’t change me or make me think extraordinarily hard, but it provided me with a gripping plot that had me eagerly awaiting each and every book.

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Cover via Goodreads.

Rating: 5/5 stars.

My thought process while reading this book:

“oh my god, oh my god, OH MY GOD! that was amazing, wow… oh my god I can’t believe she just did that! OH SNAP FIGHTING OH SNAP BLOOD OH MAN that was sick… man this book is awesome. OH SNAP SHE DID NOT JUST-”

You get the point. My Latin teacher would be very unhappy with me for saying (er, thinking) “oh my god” so many times. But Divergent by Veronica Roth is one of those books that causes mind bombs to explode inside your head constantly, creating a void that can only be filled by reading more of the amazing novel.

I’m not going to bother with a synopsis of the story as you can find one here or by reading other reviews, but in a nutshell Divergent contains action, romance, dystopia, and essentially brain-blowing perfection. I dare compare it to – yes, you guessed it- The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Though the books are very different, I’m pretty sure if you enjoyed one you will enjoy the other.

And though my crazy little introduction to this fanboying mess review may make it seem like this book is pure nonstop action, the parts that weren’t action-packed still shined superbly. The action was pretty intense though. Very intense indeed.

One of the best young-adult releases this year, Divergent will leave readers craving for the second book of this soon to be super popular series.