Book Review- Do You Dream Of Terra-Two

Title: Do You Dream of Terra-Two
Author: Temi Oh
Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
Release Date: 7 Mar. 2019
ISBN-13: 978-1471171246

Synopsis
A century ago, scientists theorised that a habitable planet existed in a nearby solar system. Today, ten astronauts will leave a dying Earth to find it. Four are decorated veterans of the 20th century’s space-race. And six are teenagers, graduates of the exclusive Dalton Academy, who’ve been in training for this mission for most of their lives.
It will take the team twenty-three years to reach Terra-Two. Twenty-three years spent in close quarters. Twenty-three years with no one to rely on but each other. Twenty-three years with no rescue possible, should something go wrong. And something always goes wrong. 

My Review
I am the first to admit that I am not particularly a fan of anything Science Fiction. So how did I com to have this book? I went to a training session at work that was focused on current YA trends. We had to pick a book at random (they were wrapped in brown paper) and sit and read for 15 minutes. I picked this one up and the second I unwrapped it I groaned and thought 'oh no', but I followed the rules and opened the book and started to read. In those 15 minutes I got to page 28 and I didn't want to put the book down. I begged to be allowed to keep reading because I had been hooked in by the opening chapters and desperately wanted to know what happened to Jesse and the others. I wasn't sure exactly where it was going to go, but I knew I wanted to find out. Luckily, the course tutors were very kind and said that I could take the book to finish and return it when I was done. 
That was a couple of months ago, life got super busy and I didn't find time to continue reading, this book got put in a bag and I pretty much forgot about it. When I was sorting through my work stuff the other day I found it and decided to make it my next read. I had to start again as I didn't really remember anything from those first few pages all those months ago, but once again I found myself drawn into the story and prepared myself for a surprisingly good read. 
The book follows 6 teenagers who attend Dalton Academy - they are training to be Astronauts and have spent most of their lives working towards a mission to a newly discovered planet 'Terra-Two'. The first couple of hundred of pages is set on earth, getting to know the teenagers and how they got selected from hundreds of possible applicants and the build up to the mission. This part of the book felt quite slow to me and there is a lot of set up information and background stuff to help set the scene and get you to 'know the characters'. There is just enough going on to keep you reading, but I did find myself skimming some of the pages to try and get somewhere faster.
Then you have the week of the launch, one of the 6 teenagers changes her mind and does some pretty drastic things, so Jesse who is on the 'reserve list' is called forward to join the crew the night before the launch. 
We then have the rest of the story which follows the crew into space. There are the 6 teens and 4 adults who are well known space veterans and know how to operate a space mission. We are told from the start that the mission will take 23 years to get to the planet, so I was expecting either a fairly slow story or a lot of time leaps. What actually occurred was a very slow story of basic teenage angst. The fact they were on a spaceship didn't seem to make any difference other than it was harder to avoid each other. One of them is depressed, one of them is a psycho, one is a bossy know it all, one feels isolated and like he doesn't belong, one is a loner etc. The chapters alter between each character narrating, but to me it was just 300 odd pages of them whining, moaning and having a go at each other, they were supposed to be a team and I know they experienced tragic events just before they left, but they should have dealt with it all a bit better, some of these 'teens' were almost 20 years old and should've behaved better, instead they came across like whiny little brats. I actually had to pause and check when it said that it was Poppy's 20th Birthday - i couldn't believe anyone who acted that way could be that old.
I think that was one of the main problems for me, there were 6 teenage characters, but they all kind of blurred into one entity, there was nothing striking or appealing about any of them. I wasn't rooting for any of them and I didn't really care about any of them. In fact I liked the adult characters a lot better and they hardly get a word in!
I persevered with the book because I wanted to see what would happen when they reached the new planet, but as the book progressed I realised that it wasn't going to happen. 
About 60 pages before the end, disaster strikes, the ship suffers severe damage and they have to either wait for help or escape back to earth in the escape shuttle - catch is it will only hold the 6 teens, so the adults would have to sacrifice themselves and stay behind to die. Unless they can get help. This really changed the pace of the book and things started to get more exciting, I was hoping for an epic build up to an exciting ending. But no, I was wrong again. The ship gets help from another space ship that is orbiting, and they have to decide whether to continue with their mission to Terra-Two or head back to earth. And that's it. The book leaves you with them just floating in space, with a half-hearted 'we've come this far' sort of speech. At this point they are LESS THAN A YEAR into their voyage, there is still 22 years to go. I read over 500 pages for the book to get absolutely NOWHERE!!! I don't know if this has been done so that a second book can be written and continue the journey, but there is no way I could sit through another one that sort of length and have no more real progress. 22 years of travel is an awfully long time to write about, the author should have saved herself some of this hassle and said it was 10 years away, or at least something more manageable.
Overall I found this book highly disappointing and actually felt let down by the fact it didn't have a proper ending. The little bit of space element you got made it a bit more interesting,and I was surprised by how much I looked forward to having more information about the shuttle and space, but most of it could have been set anywhere, instead of it being a YA Sci-Fi, it was mostly just a teenage angst book.
I hate giving negative reviews, but I would not recommend this book, much too slow with characters I just don't care about. 

My Rating

      

Book Review - Sisters Red

Title: Sisters Red
Author: Jackson Pearce
Series: Fairytale Retellings (Book 1)
Publisher: Hodder Children's Books
Release Date: 7 April 2011
ISBN-13: 978-1444900606

Synopsis
Scarlett March lives to hunt the Fenris — the werewolves that took her eye when she was defending her sister Rosie from a brutal attack. Armed with a razor-sharp hatchet and blood-red cloak, Scarlett is an expert at luring and slaying the wolves. She's determined to protect other young girls from a grisly death, and her raging heart will not rest until every single wolf is dead.
Rosie March once felt her bond with her sister was unbreakable. Owing Scarlett her life, Rosie hunts ferociously alongside her. But even as more girls' bodies pile up in the city and the Fenris seem to be gaining power, Rosie dreams of a life beyond the wolves. She finds herself drawn to Silas, a young woodsman who is deadly with an ax and Scarlett's only friend — but does loving him mean betraying her sister and all that they've worked for?

My Review
I bought this book years ago as I always have a bit of a soft spot for fairytale retellings and this was clearly a bit of a twist on Little Red Riding Hood. However it was another book I never got round to picking up at the time. I was looking for a quick read, so I grabbed this one, I didn't know it was part of a series, but I don't have the others so it was a stand-alone to me. (The series is different fairy tales so they don't directly link anyway).
The book follows sisters Scarlett and Rosie March, sisters who witnessed a horrible attack on their grandmother when they were kids, the grandma was killed and Scarlett got severely injured and lost an eye, but she managed to kill the wolf and protect her sister. Turns out the wolves are 'Fenris' a type of werewolf who can transform whenever they want and prey on young girls, enjoying the chase and creating fear before eating them. They operate in gangs and can be identified by small tattoos on their wrist - arrows, coins or bells are the main groups. There is a sort of rivalry between the groups as they fight to be the biggest and strongest group. But now there is a new 'Potential' - someone who can be transformed into one of them and the groups are coming together to find who it is so they can transform him during the new moon phase. 
Scarlett has now decided to dedicate her life to hunting and killing the Fenris, to her hunting them is everything, she doesn't have a job or any hobbies and certainly no relationships because hunting consumes her 24/7. The only person she cares about is her sister Rosie and she switches between wanting to protect her and keep her safe, to wanting Rosie to join the hunt and put herself at risk hunting the wolves. 
I found Scarlett a really annoying character, she is completely obsessed with the hunt and the world of the Fenris that she blocks out everything else, including normal human emotions. She also admits that she can't reveal the world of the Fenris to everyone as it would expose the danger and the 'fantasy secrets' (not entirely sure why it had to be a secret, other than its a fantasy setting and thats what they do), but she then commented on how stupid people were and at times almost hints that the girls deserve to be attacked because they entice the wolves/men - They are ignorant of what they are doing because they don't know the Fenris exist, but Scarlett blames them for being attacked. 
She is also very controlling over her sister. Rosie dropped out of school to help her hunt and isn't allowed any hobbies or dreams of her own. Rosie does not want to hunt, but feels obligated to her sister who constantly reminds her that it is her 'duty' to fight as she knows the truth. The poor girl just wanted a life of her own.
Then we have Silas, Scarlett's best friend from childhood, and her partner in the hunt, he had disappeared for a year but now he's back and ready to rejoin her and Rosie, but he also doesn't want to just hunt, he's happy to do it every now and then, but he wants a different life.
The group dynamic works quite well and i liked Silas as a character, but Scarlett just dominated everything with her one track mind. And the big 'reveal' about who the new 'Potential' would be - as soon as it mentioned there was one I knew immediately who it would be, it just took over 150 pages for the rest of them to work it out!
The actual storyline was ok, it developed well enough and moved at a reasonable pace, I read it in two short sittings and was interested enough to continue, but I wasn't blown away by it. I found most of it very predictable, Rosie was very weak and I kept waiting for her to step forward and fight for herself instead of for her sister. And Scarlett was self-absorbed and annoying. 
I liked the concept of the Fenris, but would have liked maybe a bit more information on how the groups worked and how the transformations were engineered. Also they are all going crazy for this new 'potential' because they all want to recruit more members, but the situation only comes round  at specific times - it has to be someone from a certain lineage who's birthday is a multiple of 7 during the specific moon phase that's happening. They've been hunting this 'potential' for the last 14 years! -  that's a long time with no new wolves - so you would think that they would have notices Scarlett, Silas and Rosie going round and killing members long before the  events of this book. Over the few years they have been hunting, Scarlett says she has killed 97 wolves and is upset that she hasn't managed more. But 97 is quite a big number when there is only one new one every 7 years!!! But they had never questioned disappearing members before now. Weird!
Overall, it's an okay read and fairly simple, but to me there are a lot of little problems and plot holes that don't quite add up and Scarlett was so unlikable, I kept reading because I quite liked Rosie and Silas and was interested enough to know what became of them. If you want an easy read and you like Fairy tale twists then you will probably enjoy this book. But it just didn't wow me. 

My Rating

       

Book Review - Someone Else's Life

Title: Someone Else's Life
Author: Katie Dale
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Childrens Books
Release Date: 2 Feb. 2012
ISBN-13: 978-0857071415

Synopsis
When seventeen-year-old Rosie's mother, Trudie, dies from Huntington's disease, Rosie's pain is intensified by the knowledge that she has a fifty percent chance of inheriting the crippling illness. Only when Rosie tells her mother's best friend, "Aunt Sarah," that she is going to be tested for the disease does Sarah, a midwife, reveal that Trudie wasn't Rosie's mother after all. Rosie was swapped at birth with a sickly baby who was certain to die.
Devastated, Rosie decides to join her ex-boyfriend on his gap-year travels, leaving England to find her birth mother in America. But all does not go as planned. After Rosie discovers yet more of her family's deeply buried secrets and lies, she is left with an agonizing decision, one with heartbreaking and far-reaching consequences.
Readers will be gripped by this thrilling emotional roller-coaster ride as a web of family secrets is ripped apart, profoundly affecting lives on both sides of the Atlantic. 

My Review
I remember when this book first came out, I was still working at the library and there was such a hype for it. Everyone was requesting it and talking about it. I added it to my 'to read' list but it was never really a priority. Then a few years ago I was in one of my local bookshops and they do a '3 for £5' deal on books and I spotted this one and remembered that I wanted to read it, so I picked it up. It has since sat on my shelf and not been picked up. Even thought everyone said it was good, I wasn't sure it would be my sort of read so I kept putting it off, then I admit that I totally forgot about it.
Anyway, seeing as we are in Lockdown I have a bit more time to read at the moment, I had a spare hour and was browsing my bookshelves when this caught my eye, I picked it up and felt like now was the time. Still not really sure what it would be about, I read the blurb and decided it sounded alright. 
I sat down and began to read and was instantly hooked! I seriously haven't had a book that has grabbed me so severely in a long time, I did not want to put it down and I was hungry for more. I was supposed to read for an hour then start dinner, but I didn't want to stop. Reluctantly I put it down and put dinner on, then raced back and sat down and picked it straight up again - to cries from my husband of 'i thought we were going to watch something together'. I agreed to finish my chapter then put it down whilst we ate and then watched some TV. My husband then asked me about the book and could tell how invested I was with it, and with a smile he told me to read some more! (I am the luckiest girl ever! My husband totally understands my book craziness) I then spent the next couple of hours reading and got 350 pages through the book before I conceded that we should go to bed as my eyes were getting blurry and i was yawning a lot. But i still didn't want to put it down. So this morning I was desperate to pick it back up and finish the story - i just had to know what happened to everyone.
The book follows Rosie, an 18 year old who has spent the last year and a half nursing her sick mother Trudie who has now just died from Huntington's Disease - I didn't really know anything about this disease so the book also helped to educate me a bit about this too. Rosie is terrified that she would have inherited the disease as it is a genetic disorder - she has a 50% chance of getting it in her future, desperate to know the answers she decides to be tested. But this decision changes more than she ever thought it would - her friend 'Aunt Sarah' tries to convince her it isn't necessary to know, and in an argument reveals that Rosie wasn't really Trudie's daughter - she was a baby, switched at birth. Now Rosie is on a mission to find her really family, and find out who she really is. This quest takes her to America with her boyfriend Andy who is going traveling, but she fails to reveal the real reason for her trip. All I can say is that Andy is a saint and she is so lucky to have him, Rosie constantly lies to him and acts rather selfishly, but he always stands by her and comes back to her. I didn't dislike Rosie though, she was raw, passionate, angry and totally selfish, but you could see why she was feeling this way and she never intends to hurt anyone, she just wants to find out the truth. She's actually a very likeable character and her mixed emotions and flaws just makes her that much more real.

***SPOILER ALERTS*****
 
The chapters are divided between Rosie and at first an unknown source - I thought I knew who this would be but I was wrong, great plot twist there! We are then introduced to Holly, the girl that Rosie was swapped with at birth, the baby that everyone thought would die - but somehow survived and lived the life Rosie should have had. I liked Holly at first, but then she becomes very irrational, jealous and a bit crazy at times. She thinks everyone is abandoning her, that Rosie is trying to steal her life and quite frankly she becomes a bit of a b****h, as the story progressed I was starting to get annoyed with her and wanted someone to just slap her and tell her to wake up. I didn't really care what happened to her because she annoyed me so much, but at the same time I couldn't look away and I had to know - it was like a car crash, you know you shouldn't look but you can't help but stare. 

There is a lot going on in this book, lots of dramatic events, twists, turns and surprises, but it was perfect to keep up the pace and make you want to read more. Even though there was a lot going on, I was never confused, I just felt like I was being carried along on a boat riding through choppy waves but thoroughly enjoying the ride. This book is raw and exciting, and honestly one of the best books I have read in a long time. Katie Dale takes a difficult subject and presents it in a fantastic story that will make you truly feel for the characters. 
This was a book that I literally could not put down and had to know what happens. Katie Dale wove the story perfectly and I feel like she has re-invigorated my passion and hunger for reading. 
I honestly would highly recommend this book, it's got everything - Drama, Romance, Adventure, Suspense and characters that you can really connect with. 

My Rating

            

Book Review - Happy Girl Lucky

Title: Happy Girl Lucky
Author: Holly Smale
Series: The Valentines (Book 1)
Publisher: Harper Collins Children's Books
Release Date: 7th February 2019
ISBN13: 9780008254148

Synopsis
Introducing The Valentines. Fame – It Runs in the Family!

Sisters Hope, Faith and Mercy have everything: fame, success, money and beauty. But what Hope wants most of all is love, and it doesn’t matter how far she has to go to find it.

Except real-life isn't like the movies. Even if you're a Valentine... 

My Review
I absolutely loved the Geek Girl series and I met Holly Smale at LFCC a couple of years ago. I definitely class myself as a fan, Harriet is the lovable geek that reminded me of me at times and I love Smale's writing which just hooked me in and carried me away. 
I got this book when it first came out and managed to get it signed by Holly, but i didn't get round to reading it straight away. In fact it's sat on my shelf for the last year. As we are currently in lock down due to Corona Virus, I have a little bit more time to sit and read (around working from home, course study and housework). I wanted something that was fairly easy but would hook me in so I picked this book up. 
Hope is a fifteen year old girl, daughter of famous film star mother and award winning director father, she has 3 older siblings who are all enjoying the lime light too. A family rule dictates that no member of the Valentine family will be exposed to the movie business before they turn 16 so Hope is desperately counting down the days until she is thrust into the world of fame and fortune. Hope loves the movies and sees everyday as action playing out, she often narrates her story like a film script, pausing and re-writing if something doesn't quite go her way.
Within the first couple of pages I already didn't like Hope, she is so over dramatic, self obsessed and just annoying. Although she is supposed to be 15 years old, she seems a lot younger to me - she is so immature and whiny that I would never have pictured her as old enough to be prepping for GCSE"s. Her parents have kept her at home, hiring a private tutor who she rarely pays attention to and her siblings ignore her a lot of the time- too busy with their own lives and issues, so Hope has had to find other ways to entertain herself. However a 15 year old with imaginary friends just seemed a bit juvenile to me, surely with all the advances in modern technology, she would at least be the member of some online forums or groups and have virtual friends.
The actual story line wasn't bad, I liked the idea of a privileged family and the youngest daughter trying to find her mark on the world whilst desperately looking for love and dealing with the split of her parents. However I found the 'scripts' that Hope act out really annoying and within a few chapters I started to skip them and just read the main body of the story. 
The main plot of this book is Hope finding love for the first time, she meets Jamie on a London train, just like the horoscopes said she would and they have a whirlwind romance over the next week. He seems to be the perfect boy, and you know what they say, if something seems to perfect - it's probably not real. Jamie then leaves to go back to LA, but Hope has ways of making things work, her dad is currently shooting a movie in LA - so she jets off to save her own romance and her parents. 
The love story was very predictable, very easy to work out what was coming next and what would happen. Jamie to me felt very superficial and way too 'nice' to be true, and I was shouting at Hope to wake up and see the reality. 
I think my main issue was that i didn't like Hope as a character, she was just too self obsessed and such an airhead, never listening to anyone else and focusing more on clothes and make up than her family falling apart around her. I liked her siblings, the short snippets we got showed different personalities and some developed characters. I have found out that the next book is about Faith, which makes me torn, as she was my favourite out of all the family and I would love to read more about her. 
I sometimes start to wonder if I am too old to read some teen fiction, i am more cynical and a lot of the plot lines seem too predictable and the characters too shallow - but I'm not a teenager anymore, although hair, make up, celebrities and boys were never a focus for me, so maybe it's just not my cup of tea.
If you are a fan of Holly or you want a nice easy read to escape for a couple of hours, then this could be the book for you. But for me, I just wanted to slap Hope an tell her to grow up. 

My Rating

       
    

Book Review - The Fever Code

Title: The Fever Code
Author: James Dashner
Series: The Maze Runner (Book 5)
Publisher: Chicken House
Release Date: 27th September 2016
ISBN13: 9781911077022

Synopsis 
Once there was a world’s end.
The forests burned, the lakes and rivers dried up, and the oceans swelled.
Then came a plague, and fever spread across the globe. Families died, violence reigned, and man killed man.
Next came WICKED, who were looking for an answer. And then they found the perfect boy.
The boy’s name was Thomas, and Thomas built a maze.
Now there are secrets.
There are lies.
And there are loyalties history could never have foreseen.
This is the story of that boy, Thomas, and how he built a maze that only he could tear down.
All will be revealed.

A prequel to the worldwide Maze Runner phenomenon, The Fever Code is the book that holds all the answers. How did WICKED find the Gladers? Who are Group B? And what side are Thomas and Teresa really on? Lies will be exposed. Secrets will be uncovered. Loyalties will be proven. Fans will never see the truth coming. Before there was the Maze, there was The Fever Code.

My Review
Now this is the book I have been waiting for, throughout the whole maze runner series there were so many questions raised, who are WICKED, why is Thomas associated with them and why does he feel such a sense of guilt? Where did these people all come from? Why were the mazes built? And why did no-one stop them? I actually really enjoyed the first book in the series and continues to read, and whilst my enjoyment dwindled a bit as the series went on, I found myself still wanting those answers. I thought i would get them in the 'prequel' book - 'Kill Order', but that just created a whole new situation with entirely different characters and made even more questions. I nearly didn't bother with this book as my interest was waning quite rapidly and I didn't want to read something that I didn't think I would enjoy. But I'd come this far - and from reading the blurb of this book, it sounded like the real prequel that I had wanted. 
 This book follows Thomas from the day he is taken from his home as a small child and taken to be part of the WICKED experiment team, we then follow him and some of our other characters through their time at the lab - leading up to the start of the maze. We see Theresa, Newt, Alby, Chuck - the whole gang and get more of an insight into their stories. I particularly enjoyed Newt's backstory and the link to his family and group B. Theresa is still quite a mystery throughout the book and I wondered if i could trust her, having read the series and seen what she does throughout - i was trying to catch her out during this book and there are a couple of moments that make me doubt her. However one revelation about her past that links to the characters in Kill Order made me have a bit more sympathy for her and made that book have a bit more relevance. 
This book had all the excitement and constructs that made the first book interesting, I felt like I was properly immersed in that world again and I read this in just 2 sittings. Overall I think this is probably my favourite book in the entire series, it really opened things up for me and intrigued me again. It actually made me want to read the first book again to see if I could see evidence of things I had just learnt,  and how it all joined up together. 
This is definitely a must read and reminds me of why i enjoyed the first book so much, this is where Dashner shows his skills as a story writer and made me fall in love with the series again. 

My Rating

  
  

Book Review - The Kill Order

Title: The Kill Order
Author: James Dashner
Series: The Maze Runner - Prequel
Publisher: Chicken House
Release Date: 14th August 2012
ISBN13: 9781909489431

Synopsis
When sun flares hit the Earth, intense heat, toxic radiation and flooding followed, wiping out much of the human race. Those who survived live in basic communities in the mountains, hunting for food. For Mark and his friends, surviving is difficult, and then an enemy arrives, infecting people with a highly contagious virus. Thousands die, and the virus is spreading. Worse, it's mutating, and people are going crazy. It's up to Mark and his friends to find the enemy - and a cure - before the Flare infects them all ... 

My Review
I really enjoyed the first book, and was interested in reading the other two in the series. They weren't my favourite books in the world but they kept me intrigued enough to want to keep going. I liked Thomas as a character and wanted to know how his story ended. BUt the series keeps you guessing all the way through about the backstory, I wanted to know where WICKED came from, how Thomas got involved - throughout the series he feels a sense of guilt and hints that he is responsible in the set up of the maze and possibly the disease, so I was hoping that the prequel would answer these questions.
This book did not answer any questions! It is set something like twenty years before the events of the maze runner and therefore doesn't have any of the characters we know from the main series. Instead we are introduced to Mark, Alec, Lana and Trina who are living in some sort of settlement in the mountains. It is set just after the Sun Flares hit, the world has shut down and thousands have died. Mark and his group are just settling into some sort of normality when a flying berg appears and wrenches apart their society. People start to get sick and they have to find out what's caused it and if it was deliberate. This seems to be the only link with the main series - the disease that makes everyone goes crazy has only just been released, so you get a bit of history from that. 
Because i didn't know the characters, i found it hard to care about them to start and i found the story quite slow to start with, and to be honest it didn't get much better. The story is split between Mark and the team trying to solve the mystery of the illness and work out their next steps, and flashbacks of Mark's experience of the day the sun flares hit the earth. 
I actually enjoyed the flashbacks more, they were more like the writing of the first Maze Runner book, more exciting and pacey. I found myself skimming the rest of the book to get to these parts. This could have been a mini spin off on it's own. 
This book wasn't anything like what I expected and to be honest I don't think it really added anything to the series. I ended up trying to finish it as quickly as I could, just so i could say that I had read the series. I keep thinking that I should just give up and move on but something keeps pulling me back to it. But if I were starting again, I would read the main trilogy but not bother with the prequel, it didn't add anything and just felt a bit flat to me. 
I've just found out that there is another book in the series, 'Fever Code' which sounds like it is Thomas' story and the missing backstory that I wanted - so I will try it to complete the set. But honestly, if you are reading the series, I think Kill Order is one you could skip. 

My Rating

Book Review - Death Cure

Title: The Death Cure
Author: James Dashner
Series: The Maze Runner (Book 3)
Publisher: Chicken House
Release Date: October 2011
ISBN13: 9781909489424

Synopsis
The Trials are over. WICKED have collected all the information they can. Now it's up to the Gladers to complete the blueprint for the cure to the Flare with a final voluntary test. But something has happened that no-one at WICKED has foreseen: Thomas has remembered more than they think. And he knows WICKED can't be trusted ... The time for lies is over. But the truth is more dangerous than anyone could have imagined. With the Gladers divided, can they all make it?

My Review
I haven't been wowed by the series as a whole but they are addictive enough that I want to know how it all ends and I can't walk away from the series, so that has to be a positive, right?
This book carries on right from where book 2 finished, Thomas and his friends are fighting back against WICKED and manage to break out on their own. They decide to head to Denver to find some old allies and work out where to go from there. 
I actually read this book quicker than the other two but I'm not sure if that is just because I had a day of work and so could set aside time to read, or if it was just easier to get through. This book has a lot of action and fight scenes in it and this is padded with slower more descriptive passages, The fight scenes did get a bit repetitive after a while and I found myself skimming through. I could see where Dashner was headed and there were quite a few twists and turns to keep you wondering, but there was also a lot of predictable bits that I had figured out long before I was 'supposed' to. 
Thomas continues to be himself and does grow a bit as a character, but I was expecting more from him. He faces some pretty horrendous things in this book and even has to make some horrible decisions, but he doesn't appear to be all that changed by them. He has some internal monologue along the lines of 'what have I done' and 'i can still see his face as he looked at me...' but considering how he acted when Chuck died, I expected more. Instead it felt a bit rushed and skimmed over, like Dashner was desperate to just get to the end. 
My other quibble with the book was that Teresa has all but disappeared in this book, apart from the odd fleeting moment or snide comment she isn't really in the picture, but in book 1 she was built up to be this all important girl who would change the very foundations of everything, now it seems like she has just faded away. And its not even like she was replaced by Brenda, don't get me wrong, Brenda appears a lot more in this book but she seems to be more like a narrator, guiding the story into a certain direction then fading into the background again, I had hopes for her to grow as a character and for her relationship with Thomas to develop and whilst there are hints of this, nothing is really concrete. 
As for the storyline of WICKED and the Right Arm, it wasn't a bad idea and it was executed fairly well, but there are still a lot more questions that needed to be answered and the whole 'we need your brain' thing just made me roll my eyes. 
I was hoping for some epic conclusion and on the surface you would think you had it - deaths, fights, betrayals, mad scientists, explosions, rebels and friendships breaking and reforming. But it all just felt a bit flat to me. 
I am still going to go on and read the 'Prequel' - 'KIll Order' as I am still curious and hope it will answer some of the left over questions, but I have been left feeling a little bit deflated. 
If you have enjoyed the rest of the series, then I would recommend you read this one to complete the story and find out how it ends, it's a fairly easy read - i did it in about 4 hours.

My Rating

    
 

Book Review - Scorch Trails

Title: The Scorch Trials
Author: James Dashner
Series: The Maze Runner (book 2)
Publisher: Chicken House Ltd
Release Date: 5 Jun. 2014
ISBN: 9781909489417

Synopsis
Solving the Maze was supposed to be the end. No more puzzles. And no more running. Thomas was sure that escaping meant he would get his life back. But no one knew what sort of a life they were going back to...
Burned and baked, the earth is a wasteland, its people driven mad by an infection known as the Flare.
Instead of freedom, Thomas must face another trial. He must cross the Scorch to once again save himself and his friends.

My Review

I enjoyed Maze Runner overall but had a few reservations, but I was intrigued to find out more so started to read Scorch Trials. The Gladers are out of the maze, but it's not the comforting end they hoped for, instead the experiments continue, but on a much larger and more dangerous scale. Thomas and his friends must once more band together to try and overcome all the trials and adversities that are put in front of them. 
THe book is fairly fast paced and has plenty of twists and turns, Teresa becomes a bit of an Enigma which started off as an interesting mystery, but one that i soon got bored with. I didn't really care where she was or whose side she was on. I just wanted them to get on with it and make a decision.
The setting of the plains was interesting and offered a lot more opportunities for danger, the characters mostly stayed true to themselves and developed in a way that you would expect. There was some very intense scenes and one in particular that made my skin crawl so much I nearly put it down. Dashner is very good at setting scenes and creating tension, and being a bit creepy. 
I liked the addition of Brenda and Jorge, they offered an interesting dynamic and another layer to the story. I am interested to see where they go in the next book and what part they really have to play. 
The main frustration I had with this book was that I still haven't learnt anything more about WICKED, this added more questions, but didn't really help to answer any of the hundreds I had from the first book. It was enjoyable enough as a story but I feel like it's just padding out situations. I hoped for a bit more. However, saying that, I did enjoy it overall and am intrigued enough to proceed onto the third book and hope I get some answers.

My Rating

    

Book Review - Maze Runner

Title: Maze Runner
Author: James Dashner
Series: Maze Runner (Book 1)
Publisher: Chicken House
Release Date: 6th October 2009
ISBN13: 9781909489400

Synopsis
When the doors of the lift crank open, the only thing Thomas remembers is his first name. But he's not alone. He's surrounded by boys who welcome him to the Glade - a walled encampment at the centre of a bizarre and terrible stone maze. Like Thomas, the Gladers don't know why or how they came to be there - or what's happened to the world outside. All they know is that every morning when the walls slide back, they will risk everything - even the Grievers, half-machine, half-animal horror that patrol its corridors, to try and find out. 

My Review
I've had this book on my shelves for quite a few years and I've never seemed to have time to get round to it, but I've always heard quite good things about it. I was bought the films as a gift and being the book nerd that I am, I can't watch a film if it is based on a book, until I have read it. So I figured, now was the time. 
The premise of the story sounded really intriguing and I love a good Dystopian novel so I was quite excited to get stuck in. I was grabbed from the first page and knew that I wanted to know more. Thomas wakes up in a strange maze, with only the knowledge of his first name, he is surrounded by a group of boys who have all experienced the same situation, but have been in the Glade a lot longer, some of them a couple of years. They have set up a sort of society, they have their own rules, routines and even way of speaking. But it isn't an easy life, every night the maze doors move, and monsters lurk inside. Thomas has to work out why he and the others are there and how they are going to get out. 
The story is quite fast paced and there are enough events to keep you interested in the story, the characters aren't the best developed but I still found myself liking some of them. Thomas is quite relatable and you can see that he will grow as a character and I looked forward to seeing that happen. 
It took a while for me to get used to some of their language as they had different terms for normal things, such as 'shanks'. However, it didn't take me too long to get to grips with it. The only thing that bothered me was the repeated refrain of 'good that'. I'm not sure why it bothered me that much, but the boys say it so often that it just irked me. 
Other than that, i found the story fast paced, exciting and each page made me wanted to read on. The ending was not what I expected and added a good twist. I definitely enjoyed it enough that I want to continue reading and I have book 2 ready to go already.  
If you are a fan of Dystopian YA, I would highly recommend it as an easy, enjoyable read.

My Rating

    

Book Review - Stars Above

Title: Stars Above
Author: Marissa Meyer
Series: The Lunar Chronicles (Stories from)
Publisher: Square Fish
Release Date: 2 May 2017
ISBN-13: 978-1250106643

Synopsis
The enchantment continues....
The universe of the Lunar Chronicles holds stories—and secrets—that are wondrous, vicious, and romantic. How did Cinder first arrive in New Beijing? How did the brooding soldier Wolf transform from young man to killer? When did Princess Winter and the palace guard Jacin realize their destinies?
With nine stories—five of which have never before been published—and an exclusive never-before-seen excerpt from Marissa Meyer’s upcoming novel, Heartless, about the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland, Stars Above is essential for fans of the bestselling and beloved Lunar Chronicles.



My Review
I absolutely devoured the Lunar CHronicles series in the summer and was desperate for more. When I found out that there was a collection of short stories based on the world and characters, I had to have it. Luckily my birthday was at the end of summer and I got this book as a present. With a new job as a trainee teacher, my schedule has been hectic since the start of September, but I've tried to sneak in some reading for pleasure around my course studies and lesson plans. I actually finished this about 2-3 weeks ago but this is the first chance I've had to come online and type up a review.
The book contains 9 short stories and delves further into the lives of the characters you have come to know and love, and some new added extras. 
The stories included are as follows:-  --
The Little Android: A retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid,” set in the world of The Lunar Chronicles.
Glitches: In this prequel to Cinder, we see the results of the plague play out, and the emotional toll it takes on Cinder. Something that may, or may not, be a glitch….
The Queen’s Army: In this prequel to Scarlet, we’re introduced to the army Queen Levana is building, and one soldier in particular who will do anything to keep from becoming the monster they want him to be.
Carswell’s Guide to Being Lucky: Thirteen-year-old Carswell Thorne has big plans involving a Rampion spaceship and a no-return trip out of Los Angeles.
The Keeper: A prequel to the Lunar Chronicles, showing a young Scarlet and how Princess Selene came into the care of Michelle Benoit.
After Sunshine Passes By: In this prequel to Cress, we see how a nine-year-old Cress ended up alone on a satellite, spying on Earth for Luna.
The Princess and the Guard: In this prequel to Winter, we see a game called The Princess
The Mechanic: In this prequel to Cinder, we see Kai and Cinder’s first meeting from Kai’s perspective.
Something Old, Something New: In this epilogue to Winter, friends gather for the wedding of the century... 

I thnk my favourite stories were the final one that carried on from the series, it was a perfect continuation and just the tie up of events that I needed, and the story of how Scarlett came to live with her gran. However to be honest I loved all of them, it felt like catching up with old friends and finding out a bit more about them. They all fit in with the series so well and explained some of the unanswered questions that you may have been left with in the series. Meyer manages to capture each characters voice perfectly and the stories really do just add that extra dimension - bringing them even more alive than they were.
This will always remain as one of my all time favourite series and one I will be sure to re-read a number of times in the future. I highly recommend it to anyone and everyone - but make sure you start with Cinder.

My Rating