Gone - Michael Grant

Summary

Goodreads:  In the blink of an eye. Everyone disappears. GONE.  Except for the young. Teens. Middle schoolers. Toddlers. But not one single adult. No teachers, no cops, no doctors, no parents. Just as suddenly, there are no phones, no internet, no television. No way to get help. And no way to figure out what's happened.

Hunger threatens. Bullies rule. A sinister creature lurks. Animals are mutating. And the teens themselves are changing, developing new talents—unimaginable, dangerous, deadly powers—that grow stronger by the day.

It's a terrifying new world. Sides are being chosen, a fight is shaping up. Townies against rich kids. Bullies against the weak. Powerful against powerless. And time is running out: On your birthday, you disappear just like everyone else...

Thoughts

I'm going to start out with the disclaimer that I somehow missed  that this book is part of a series.  I mean, I thought maybe it would be a trilogy (let's be real, everything is a trilogy these days).  I have no idea how I missed that as there's an ENTIRE 6 BOOKS so clearly this has been common knowledge for a while.  So it's my own fault I was frustrated, as I didn't realize is was a series.  On the upside, at least all the books in the series are out so I won't go mad waiting to find out what happens.  So just note that although I might have a frustrated tone, some of that is caused by my own idiocy.

 This is a really mature middle grade novel.  In some parts it's clear that it's for a younger audience, like when the author has a character say words (Astrid is a smart girl as one of the main characters, so she uses big words constantly), and then explains what they mean.  But on the flip side, Grant deals with some pretty mature concepts and it can be really graphic.  When all the adults disappear, it doesn't just gradually slip into Lord of the Flies territory.  People died in car accidents when adults suddenly disappear.  Stoves and ovens were left on from those who were cooking.  Babies were abandoned in homes and died since there was no one to take care of them.  It's pretty dark honestly. 

On the flip side of dealing with the reality of everything that would happen (and I think Grant made a very accurate description of how things would go down if this happened), there are also super powers involved.  I think I would have loved the book just from what I was describing above.  The super powers I think in the long run are going to play an important role, and I did like them here, but it started to change the feel from survivalist to super hero. 

To make this a little easier as I talk a little more details I'll give you a quick lowdown on the characters I mention, as they aren't mentioned at all in the summary.

Sam:  Natural leader, has super powers
Astrid: Genius, Sam's love interest
Quinn:  Sam's ex? best friend
Cain: Anti Sam
Drake - psychopath

There are actually easily about 10 more important characters.  That may actually play a part in why I had a hard time loving this book.  There are so many main characters it's overwhelming.  I mean if you were to simplify it, I suppose Sam is a main character?  But the other characters are side characters in the way that Ron and Hermione are side characters (aka, they aren't at all).  The criticisms I'm about to give aren't reasons I'm not loving the book, I honestly could look past all of them, so again, I have no idea why I'm not crazy fangirling over this series.

I found the romance really distracting and weird.  I think it's just that I found the rest of the book so engaging that I could honestly care less about Sam and Astrid. I also wish we saw more moments where Sam and Quinn are very good friends.  The disappearance happens in the first sentence (or two?) of the book, and things start getting jenky really quickly, so their relationship deteriorates pretty much right from the start.  We're only told they were best friends, we don't ever see it.  I'm also torn on how Quinn was portrayed.  He's the only one who is portrayed as not being able to handle his fear and I think this is the only part Grant didn't nail realistically.  I think there would be a lot more people willing to betray others, people who are inherently good, but who are cowards.  Quinn desperately wants to be brave, but he just couldn't do it.  This may partially be a set up for a long term plan Grant has put into motion as there are 5 more books, I'm not sure.  But he really seemed to focus on Quinn being a coward (*note, I'm adding this in as I've just finished the 2nd book, and Quinn really is a pretty cool guy. I wish we had seen more of that character in this book)

I also don't understand why Caine becomes the focal point for the epic battle at the end.  Yes he is clearly set up to be Sam's nemesis, but

*SPOILERS* It turns out he's Sam's twin brother, younger by a few minutes.  So technically he'll go through the FAYZ after Sam as when you turn 15 you get "blinked" out.  So wouldn't you want to focus on getting rid of Drake who is legitimately a psychopath?  Technically Caine is going to be gone too, so beating him doesn't seem like a smart end goal to me *END SPOILERS*

I think the other reason I couldn't really get into the book is the slow pacing.  Slow pacing usually doesn't bother me, but the book is so fast paced that it's weird.  Here's what I mean since that seems contradictory:  You have NO idea what is going on at the beginning.  Not a clue.  Is it God?  Is it aliens?  Is it the military?  Are they in a parallel universe?  Is there a world outside the FAYZ?  You get a lot of theories and a hint of an answer at the end, but that's it.  NONE OF THOSE QUESTIONS ARE ANSWERED AND IT KILLED ME.  On the flip side, it is so action packed you don't even have a moment to take a breath, so it is very fast-paced in that sense.  I found it extremely frustrating, and a good part of that is likely that I thought this was the only book.

I'm about 3/4 of the way through the book and I'm beginning to believe either there is going to be a really shoddy resolution covered in ten pages or something really fishy is going on.

I'm about 20 pages from the end and google what on earth is going on because NOTHING HAS BEEN EXPLAINED.  Discover there are 5 more book.

Honestly, those are my only negative criticisms of the book.  There is so much I LOVED about this book.  I really think that if this ever happened in real life, this is exactly how it would go down.  It was scarily realistic, I could definitely imagine myself in their situation.  And while I'm not sure having so many main characters is logistically great for a novel, it is also exactly how it would be going down in real life, with everything coming up simultaneously.  I also think that Sam's portrayal is great - I mean he is a 14 year-old kid having to deal with the responsibilities of a government leader and a parent in a way, over a bunch of other scared kids.  And he doesn't want to do it.  But I do believe certain people just fall into those roles because people automatically look up to them (unlike people like Caine...and all politicians ever who DO want that role).  Also oh my goodness the diversity!  There are kids of all races!  There wasn't one token guy from a race - there were a few scattered here and there, just like you would expect in a small town in California.  And the women aren't damsels in distress.  It was so, so nice to have an even playing field for race and gender.  Very refreshing.

Overall

I think this has the potential to be an awesome series.  I'm a bit frustrated that more information wasn't given.  I'm only about 2% less clueless as to what happened than I was at the start of the book.  That being said, there's five more books in the series, so the slow development can potentially be forgiven.  If you are ok with a slow paced, but very intense series, definitely check this out.  There were so many great things about the book that I am extremely interested in where Grant is going to take this series!


Bechdel Test

"Hi, Mary," Dahra said.  "What do we have here?"
"I'm so sorry to bother you," Mary said.  "I know how busy you are.  But she has some kind of pain in her stomach."

The conversation actually lasts a full two pages.  This is particularly impressive since this book primarily follows a male character, although occasionally we get glimpses of the other characters of the book (like this one)

Friday Five (4)

1.  You guys voted, and I will be reviewing The Diviners and Ring of Endless Light.  I'm thinking of doing a review of books I've really loved every couple weeks so I can stay excited about blogging (and not feel like reading is work.  Because reading is never work unless it is nonfiction and/or assigned to you in school haha)

2.  A couple weeks ago I won my first giveaway!  And then like a day later I won another one which is AWESOME.  To celebrate I'll definitely be doing a giveaway for The Magic Warbler won off Vailia's Page Turner sometime in the next month (or month and a bit). The other book, Saving Laura (won on Goodreads), I may or may not do a giveaway for as it isn't a YA book, but we'll see.

3 - 5.  So I'm on to a much more serious topic which is going to take up a bit of space and I haven't been dealing with much else this week anyway.

For the past 4 months I have been harassed by a guy that to my knowledge I don't know, have never met, and have no mutual aquaintances with.  I'm not going to go into too many details because I don't feel comfortable sharing them, but it is an experience that I want people to know about so that they know it is more common than people would like to think, and how to deal with it.

I received a text about 4 months ago from a random number.  I responded, believing it was a friend messing with me.  Needless to say, this was not the case.  I kept texting to be polite and because he seemed like an ok guy.  I know most of you are already banging your head against the wall about my stupidity (don't worry I did too).  After I had not responded for about 10 minutes he called me numerous times and texted me an almost uncountable number of times (counting's not my strong point anyway :p).  At this point I realized I was dealing with a deranged person and I didn't respond to his text messages.  That was mistake number 2.  Not that I didn't respond - don't EVER engage your harasser if you can avoid it.  But you need to make sure you ask them to stop immediately so you have documentation of it.  And there's always the chance they actually will stop.

This continued over the past few months, and I not once responded.  The texts were a little creepy, but more annoying than anything, so I just tried ignoring them.  I tried to laugh it off, as I felt like I was overreacting and that people would think I was just paranoid.  But then this week happened.  He changed his number.  Maybe he just got a new phone, but I'm not unaware there is a chance he got a new number because I was not responding to his old number.  He began texting me sexually explicit content.  Again, I won't go into details, but they were terrifying to read.  At this point I realized I had made a huge mistake in not dealing with this sooner.  After some freaking out, logical thinking, and a few glasses of wine I knew that responding was going to make it worse, but it also had to be done.  I sent a simple text asking him to stop contacting me.  The content became less offensive but the texting continued.  And I'm talking multiple texts per minute.  And then he got mad I wasn't responding and that's when the...explicit pictures started, and more bashing of my character ensued.


I have since filed a police report and changed my number.  I am taking a big chance posting this in a blog.  I'm more than a little concerned about it too.  But I feel this is important enough to share so other girls know they are not alone, and that it can happen to anyone.  And that it is never, never your fault no matter how much you might feel you played a part in it.  I chose to respond to his original texts, and it made me feel like it was my fault it they continued the way it did.  I felt embarrassed that the texts bothered me so much, and that there wasn't anything I could do to make them stop.  It seemed like an overreaction to do anything other than block the number.   (And I have since discovered that AT&T charges $5 a month to block numbers.  That is unacceptable.  While my situation was in no way ok, there are people out there who are in a MUCH more serious situation than I am.  You are going to make victims pay for the crimes of the perpetrators?)

 My inner Olivia Benson was outraged.

I want everyone to know that no matter who it is, if you are feeling uncomfortable with what is happening you NEED to speak up.  I didn't respond to this guy for months and it escalated way beyond just being uncomfortable.  Engaging the person usually makes it escalate even faster. It's easier to deal with if you don't know the person, but no matter who it is, you need to deal with it.  If you ignore it, it will NEVER get better, and it will likely get worse.  Don't let anyone, including the voice in your head, tell you that you are overreacting and that is not a big deal (None of my friends said that.  That one is all on me.)  If you can, get documentation of the harassment or stalking.  Save evidence of EVERYTHING so that if you need to press charges you can.  Be clear that you wish the attention to stop, and document it.  That's all you need to do.  If you ask someone to stop and they continue, legally (as far as I can tell), you have grounds to file a charge.  Even if it doesn't seem like a big deal - when the guy first started texting me, it was mostly conversational and slightly personal questions (what I do, how old I am, etc).  That doesn't seem like a big deal, right?  Sure it was a little weird he kept contacting me when I didn't respond and that he would send me 20 texts in 5 minutes, but that's just annoying, not dangerous, right?  I had warning bells going off in my head for all the right reasons, and I ignored them.  Don't doubt yourself.  Your instincts are 99% right.  If this doesn't happen to you, I guarantee it will happen to someone you know.  I was not exaggerating when I said that it happens way more often than you think (and it only happens to people off in a distant place, right?) Be the voice of reason for your friends and family if this happens to them.  Have them ask the person stop the action, and if you are in a situation where you can do so, stop contact immediately.  As soon as the other person steps a toe across the line, contact the police.  You/he/she might feel silly doing so, but it is always, always better to be safe than sorry.  The consequences of not dealing with it sooner can destroy your life.

There is still a small part of me trying to rationalize what happened, and telling me that I overreacted, that it wasn't a big deal.  Despite all the proof to the contrary, I still feel like I'm being silly.   And that is what is scariest to me.  I feel like I am wrong, even though I KNOW I'm not.  And it's made me feel scared and out of control.  I think I'm partly publicly posting this part of my life out of defiance.  I also love blogging.  I don't want to give it up until I have to, and maybe posting this experience is another stupid choice on my part.  I have not been contacted by him outside of my phone, so I am hopeful.  He does not know my full name, but doing a reverse search is shockingly easy and cheap to do.  I think I am going to delete my Google + profile, just to be safe.  If you follow me through Google + and wish to continue following my blog, I'd recommend you follow me through e-mail, Bloglovin, or the feed thingie.  Also, don't be offended if I delete some of your comments.  If they contain references to personal information about them, I'm deleting them :(

And on that long depressing note, that was my week.  How was yours?  Hopefully better than mine - give me some lovely stories so I can feel better about life!

30 Day Book Challenge: 1. A book series you wish had gone on longer

If you haven't clicked on the link to the 30 Day Book Challenge under my 2013 challenge links, I'll give you a brief explanation.  There are 30 book related questions the challenge asks you to answer.  Instead of doing one a day, I'm using the questions to fill in days if I don't do one of my other usual posts, so that I am always making 3 posts a week.  I skipped yesterday's TTT, as the question asked what stand alone books I would like to have a continuation.  My world is absolutely overwhelmed with trilogies and series, so I'm actually GLAD to have read stand alone books.  Which is why I find it rather entertaining that the first question in the challenge asked is a very similar question.

Here's my answer:

Honestly if this isn't the most used answer for this question, I'd wonder what else it possibly could be.  The fantastic thing about Harry Potter is simply how AMAZING the world building is, and how detailed J.K. Rowling's characters are.  I wouldn't even need to follow Harry Potter, it could be any character, I just love the world and I have loved every character she has written.  It is the reason why Harry Potter fanfiction is almost double the top fanfiction in any other category, and triple the next most popular book fanfiction (Twilight.  Of course.)  - and that's just looking at fanfiction.net, not all the other sites solely devoted to Harry Potter fanfiction.  And of the Harry Potter fanfiction, they have actual categories specifically for Marauders as well as next generation, as well as all the characters we are familiar with, and there are loads of stories with a character the fanfiction author created and simply inserted into the Harry Potter world.  And that's why I love these books so much.  You will NEVER run out of things to do with these characters and their world.  I could never get tired of reading about them (obviously, hence my large collection of HP ff I read haha).


Honorable mentions:

I really loved the characters and the adventures that they went through in this series.  I don't love the world nearly as much as I love J.K. Rowlings, but if C.S. Lewis had written more books for this, I definitely would have read them.

Oh my dear goodness I LOVE Tamora Pierce's books!  I almost chose this instead of Harry Potter, that's how much I love them.  Honestly any of her series would fit this.  I am constantly choosing which series was my favourite (I haven't finished the Terrier or Circle of Magic ones though, so disregard them), although I'm most often switching between the Alanna and Trickster's Choice series.  If I had to pick which one I want to have more of the most though, it would probably have to be The Protector of the Small quartet.  I actually love that Kel is her own person and doesn't end up with a clear love interest.  That being said...as much as I love it....I want to know!! I want her to be with someone! (I'm a Dom shipper, if you were wondering).  I seriously reread all of these on a yearly basis.  I get irrepressible cravings to go through their stories again.  I wish I had more fanfic I enjoyed from the Tortall realm (so if you know of any, send me links.  Please! I want them!)


And that's Day 1 of the 30 Day Book Challenge.  What series would you have picked?  If you're doing this challenge too, feel free to send me a link to your posts! 

Kushiel's Chosen (Kushiel's Legacy #2) - Jacqueline Carey

Disclaimer:  This book contains adult content, so if you are underage this isn't for you

Summary

Mighty Kushiel, of rod and weal
Late of the brazen portals
With blood-tipp'd dart a wound unhealed
Pricks the eyen of chosen mortals

The land of Terre d'Ange is a place of unsurpassed beauty and grace. The inhabiting race rose from the seed of angels and men, and they live by one simple rule: Love as thou wilt.

Phèdre nó Delaunay was sold into indentured servitude as a child. Her bond was purchased by a nobleman, the first to recognize that she is one pricked by Kushiel's Dart, chosen to forever experience pain and pleasure as one. He trained Phèdre in the courtly arts and the talents of the bedchamber--and, above all, the ability to observe, remember, and analyze.

When she stumbled upon a plot that threatened the very foundations of her homeland, she gave up almost everything she held dear to save it. She survived, and lived to have others tell her story, and if they embellished the tale with fabric of mythical splendor, they weren't far off the mark.

The hands of the gods weigh heavily upon Phèdre's brow, and they are not finished with her. While the young queen who sits upon the throne is well loved by the people, there are those who believe another should wear the crown... and those who escaped the wrath of the mighty are not yet done with their schemes for power and revenge. 


Thoughts

I have absolutely no idea how this book came to my possession or how I would have found it in the first place as it is absolutely not something I would have picked up otherwise.  From the description I would have expected it to be more of a romance novel, but it definitely falls closer to the epic fantasy genre.  And by this book, I mean its predecessor Kushiel's Dart.  And you know what?  I'm so, so glad that it happened! I was almost speechless with surprise at how complex Kushiel's Dart was and Kushiel's Chosen didn't disappoint, although this time I was coming with much higher expectations after reading the first book in the series.

The world building in this series is AMAZING.  Between this book and its predecessor you get an idea of the lay of the land and what lands in our world they are based off of.  It has an elaborate religious system for all these lands, again many of them clearly based on some of our more standard religions, but what Carey has tweaked especially with the primary religion is very, very interesting.  It's weird to think of it as a religion because it's not like these people are going to church or as if they have a choice to believe or not believe for the most part, as Phédre herself is marked by the disciple Kushiel, it's clear they do exist.  It doesn't get pedantic and it is vital to understanding the world our characters live in.  The world building is complex and detailed, but it never gets boring.  There is so much action packed in this book that it keeps the plot moving at a brisk pace.

During the book Phédre is torn because she is very much in love with Joscelin, but she is also one of the gods' chosen, and as such is often prompted by him.  I was highly impressed with how delicately Carey handles the situation that leads Phédre to return to her role as an anguissete.  It would be easy to make Phédre seem tawdry or Joscelin seem needy, but their pain feels very real and Phédre's decision was not made lightly, nor did her pain go away as she continued down her path.  She is ashamed of her needs, and in no part heartbroken by what she feels is necessary for her queen and country, as well as what her god has chosen her for.  The same goes for Joscelin, who already feels compromised by his decision to break with Cassiel's brotherhood (Cassiel is another disciple/god) for Phédre.   Phédre also believes her queen to be very much in danger from Melisande, a traitor to the kingdom, and Phédre's nemesis with whom she has a very complicated relationship.  Honestly that's probably my only really big complaint with the series so far - I just don't get what hold Melisande has over Phédre.  Maybe it goes with the S&M thing, which I also don't get, but luckily Carey writes in a way that makes it clear that understanding of what Phédre needs in that way is something that people either do or don't get, which is why her clientele is so varied.  Anyway, back to Melisande.  Phédre knows she needs to spy again, and to do so she must resume relationships with clientele rather than solely with Joscelin, which of course strains their relatioship very much.  Beyond this she is also researching how to free her friend from the Master of the Sea, where he sacrificed himself for her in the previous book,  and now lives in total isolation until the gods release him. 

She pretends to break relations with her queen and travels to a nearby country she believes is harboring Melisande.  The city is clearly modeled after Venice, and it is well researched and cleverly done.  She gets captured by Melisande - and although I quickly figured out where she was hiding, I think that in part has to do with some foreknowledge I had about a later book in the series, so hopefully it actually is a pretty big twist.  She's captured and put in isolation in a tower, has a valiant rescue attempt that fails as she almost drowns, and is captured by pirates.  More betrayal ensues, they travel to lands modeled off of Greece and Crete, there is a religious schism being headed by Joscelin, and she doesn't know if she will be able to make it back in time to save the queen from those who are plotting against her.  As I said, the book is absolutely action packed, maybe even more so than the first book in the series which had its own harrowing adventures throughout it.  

Overall





 I thought it was a fantastic book, and I would really recommend you get into the series.  I loved guessing who the traitors were and where Melisande was hiding, and the action is perfectly paced.  It might feel slow here and there, but the second you think it, you understand why Carey took the time to write the other information as it is almost always vital to the plot.  In particular this series has some of the best world building I've ever read.  Perfectly paced and complex it avoids the trap of being overly detailed or of being sacrificed for plot and characters, as her world building is essential to understanding Phédre and her community.  The book explores love, relationships between lovers, friends, and enemies, racism, religious differences, cultural differences, sexism - the list could go on.  Any issue we are dealing with today can be found in this novel.

My only complaint is that I have never understood Melisande as a villain, and this novel only compounds that as I've had a bit of time between novels and never understood why Phédre was drawn to her in the first place.  She and Phédre have this weird relationship I don't get, I don't understand why she's evil OR why Phédre sort of loves her?  I don't really get it, but luckily it didn't detract from the story too much. This book might not be for my normal YA crowd, but I highly recommend it, so I hope you go out there and find yourself a copy!

Books and nationality

This week, instead of a Friday Five (which can be summed up by the following:  I finished hanging all the pictures in my room, and that I am going hiking tomorrow, so not many interesting happenings in the life of Elizabeth this week), I am going to talk about something that I've been curious about.

As I was looking through the books and authors I've read to meet the 2013 European Reading Challenge I came to a startling discovery.  I'd always had the niggling feeling I primarily read American authors with a smattering of UK authors and the occasional Australian.  And that's EXACTLY what I've been reading.  With addition of Juliet Marillier, the one Kiwi author I've read.  Here's what I've discovered:

1.  ALL contemporary YA authors I have come across are American. (the one exception I can think of is Finding Cassie Crazy by Jaclyn Moriarty, and I discovered that in high school)
2.  The ONLY genre I've read non-American authors is in sci-fi/fantasy, but I'm guessing half of the books I've read in the genre are still American. (With the exception of Rita Charbonnier who wrote Mozart's Sister, a historical fiction novel, and I know over the years there have been a few others here and there.  My point is there aren't very many of them)
3.  Classics don't count.  I'm talking books that have been published since I've been alive


(Except you know authors not kids.  Kids I can't escape. THEY ARE EVERYWHERE.)


I know that much of this can be explained by a few things, primarily that

1.  I live in America
2.  I read primarily YA fiction and of that primarily contemporary or sci-fi/fantasy, and maybe those genres have a higher American author ratio to those of other nationalities
3.  I am limited to countries that speak English primarily, or the books are popular enough they've been translated
4.  America and the U.K. have very high populations, so it makes sense there are more authors from there


Is it just that I'm American? I've read blogs written by people all over the world, but I feel like I'm still seeing the same books there.  I can't think of a single really big name author (keeping in mind I'm dealing with YA, not normal fiction.  In normal fiction it's still primarily American and UK fiction I'm finding, but I can think of plenty of authors who don't fit in that category) that isn't American or from the U.K.  Can you?