Reviews written by Catherine

Okay. I have one word for you. WOW. WOWWOWWOWWOWWOW! I mean, I had vaguely heard that Blood Red Road was really good, and I knew it was the winner of the 2011 Costa Children's Book Award (that little titbit of info was written on the inside of the copy that I borrowed) but Blood Red Road still blew me away!

My heart was literally pounding as I was swept away across the Dust Lands to join Saba on a high-tension, action-packed adventure. Blood Red Road was written in a very unique style - completely in dialect, lacking in any quotation marks and not really separated into distinct chapters - more like a continuous account of Saba's journey, a new section beginning with each new location she reached.

Here's a little chunk from the beginning of the book to give you an idea of what the writing was like:

'Everythin's set. It's all fixed.

The lives of everybody who's ever bin born.

The lives of everybody still waitin to be born.

It was all set in the stars the moment the world began. The time of yer birthin, the time of yer death. Even what kinda person yer gonna be, good or bad.

You cain't change what's written.'

I suppose some may be troubled by the whole book being written in dialect, but I found it no problem at all. I love how different it was! It made you feel like you had definitely made the transition into a completely different world from ours. Everything flowed really naturally and, personally, I think it made me feel closer to Saba, as if I was really in her head and part of her world.

Now, Saba is what you call a fiery character! When what she calls the 'red hot' takes over, she is practically invincible - a real fighter. She's not a typical 'perfect' heroine, though, in fact she's pretty much the opposite of perfect. Rude, sassy and rather horrible to her nine-year-old sister Emmi (Their mother died giving birth to Emmi and Saba has never been able to look past the fact that her mother would still be alive if it wasn't for Emmi) we should probably not like Saba at all, but somehow I felt myself drawn to her character and I couldn't help admiring her guts and strength. Her character did change and develop along her journey, though, and it was nice to see this.

And Jack. Jack is the perfect match for Saba. Witty, charming and mysterious, I fell in love with him straight away. As did Saba, really, even though she refused to admit it for a LONG time.

Blood Red Road was a red hot novel - amazingly exciting and amazingly...well, just AMAZING! I love dystopians and this has definitely made its way onto my list of favourites, up there with the likes of The Hunger Games and Divergent!

I am crazily excited for the release of Rebel Heart, the sequel to Blood Red Road, which is apparently going to be 30th October THIS YEAR!! I can't wait! And even more exciting news... the film rights have already been bought! It will be VERY interesting to see them bring this story to life, I think.

Have I told you that you should read this yet? No? Well I'll tell you now. YOU HAVE TO READ BLOOD RED ROAD. NOW.

So, Legend brings us yet another dystopian world to explore. This one is the 'Republic Of America', a country fighting a perpetual war against the neighbouring 'Colonies'. The country, as a result, is very militaristic - all the best jobs are involved with the military and all the best students are sent to the best universities where they train to become soldiers because 'better soldiers make for better chance of victory against the Colonies.'

Every child takes a Trial at the age of 10, and this test will determine the rest of their lives. A mix of physical and academic tests, the Trial measures a child's ability and each person is then given a score out of 1500. The education and opportunities you will receive in life depend on your score - it's the difference between university and a successful, happy life or being barred from school and destined to a life in the slums. And those who fail are taken away from their families and sent to labour camps for the rest of their lives.

A perfect Trial score is practically unheard of; only one person has ever achieved it and that's our story's heroine - June. This makes her somewhat of a prodigy and she is the only fifteen-year-old senior in a university meant for sixteen and up. She is very lucky - as well as being smart, she is from a wealthy district.

On the other end of the spectrum is our other protagonist, Day, the Republic's most wanted criminal. He's from the slums and he failed his Trial.

Legend alternates between Day's and June's perspectives and we find that, despite their differences on the surface, they are actually quite similar - both very brave and fiercely loyal to their families.

In my opinion, it took a little too long for June and Day to actually meet, I was waiting for the bit where they finally met each other and this didn't happen until nearly half-way through the book. Also, I didn't feel like I was sucked into Marie Lu's dystopian world - it never really felt completely real to me.

However, Legend was fast-paced and full of action and a very exciting read. I wouldn't say I loved it but I definitely liked it a lot. It was full of twists and turns and mysteries - where do the children who fail their Trial really go? What's really behind the plagues that keep breaking out all over the Republic? And the biggest question of all for June - is the country and government that she trusted and believed in so much, and fought so hard for, really what it seems?

Well. Did I like Wither? YES. Did I love Wither? Ummm...sadly, no.
I think the problem was that, for some reason - and I really don't know why - I just didn't really connect with the characters or the story. I think, if only I had been drawn in to the world and characters of Wither more, then I probably would have loved it instead of just liking it. Instead, though, I felt a little detached from the story throughout and, therefore, it didn't really evoke much of the emotion in me that I feel it should have.

For example, the romance between Rhine and Gabriel. They fell in love but I never really felt it. Sure, I could see the possibility of romance in the early days when Rhine first met Gabriel but I don't think it developed very well - it seemed to jump straight from bud (at the beginning of the book) to full flower (at the end) without ever really blossoming in between. Gabriel always felt more like Rhine's friend to me; the few stolen kisses they shared didn't really change that.

Surprisingly, the character I felt I sympathised with most was Linden. Despite the fact that Rhine could never forgive him for being the reason behind her abduction, I liked Linden. He seemed a truly sweet character and you could tell he honestly loved Rhine. He himself was oblivious to the doings of his father, the only character who really was not very nice, and so was almost as much as a prisoner in his own beautiful, 'perfect' life as Rhine was.

Nevertheless, despite my lack of connection with Wither, it really was a very beautifully-written story. The writing was just as beautiful as I imagine Linden's mansion would have been. The storyline was good and perhaps next time I read it (and I do intend to read it again) I will savour the story more slowly and find myself drawn into it more, and then I will love it.

Delaney should have died. She did die. But somehow she has defied all odds to return to life seemingly unscathed. Seemingly unscathed. MRI scans show her brain to be damaged to an extent that would be fatal in any normal case, but Delaney's case isn't normal, and as the story grows, so does the abnormality of her situation. Delaney begins to feel strangely drawn to the dying.

Fracture is a story about life and death, pain and suffering, and right and wrong. With Delaney's new 'ability' comes an awareness of the constant presence of death, and she struggles with the knowledge of other people's pain, suffering and impending deaths. More troubling is the problem: is it right to 'help' ease other people's suffering? Or is it wrong to make the choice of life or death for someone else without their input?

Is their anything Delaney can ever do to help? Or must she stand helplessly by on the sidelines and watch as people suffer and die without ever being able to do anything?

If she interferes, she may be able to prolong someone's life. But she will also be prolonging their suffering. So is it right? Or is it wrong?

In Fracture, I really liked the relationship between Delaney and her best friend, Decker. Decker was so sweet, and the two of them had been best friends since when they were little and Decker promised to make Delaney smile. They were obviously very close and cared for each other deeply, but during the story complications arise with their feelings for each other, written in a way that tugged at my heartstrings.

The ending, especially, I thought, was beautifully written. I was left with tingles as I finished the book. Seriously, I loved the ending. It was so beautiful. So beautiful that, yes I know, I just had to repeat myself to make sure I get the point across.

All in all, Fracture really was a thought-provoking, sweet and spine-tingling story, and yes, I completely recommend it to all of you!

I am sooo glad that I signed up for the 2012 Debut Author Challenge. Why? Because 'The Unbecoming Of Mara Dyer' is a 2012 debut (at least in the UK) and, while I may have read it sooner or later even if it wasn't a debut, the fact that it was just meant it was sooner. Sooner, rather than later, that I read this AMAZING book, which I completely LOVE!

Nightmares, memories and hallucinations merge unsettlingly with reality, creating a darkly tense, mysterious story. I actually found myself to be quite spooked at some points in the book, with characters involving themselves in Ouja boards and old abandoned lunatic asylums; I know, that makes it sound like a classic, clichè horror story but it's not!

I think the main feature of this story is all the mystery. Right at the very beginning, before the story even starts, we are told "My name is not Mara Dyer, but my lawyer told me I had to choose something." So from the very outset, we are already filled with questions, the biggest one being, 'Who is Mara Dyer???' This question is the foundation of the book, which builds up around it and, bit by bit, gives us fragments of insight into the protagonist's life in order for us to be able to start piecing together the answer. By the end of the book, we do have some answers, but the whole picture still eludes us, leaving us hanging and anticipating the sequel. And the end will leave you inwardly screaming for the next book.

I have already recommended, and passed on, The Unbecoming Of Mara Dyer to one of my friends and I'm recommending it to all of you too!

First off, I love how cute and colourful the cover is! It looks a bit like a whole new world has just exploded, which in a way it has for Emma and Josh in the book, because the whole concept of Facebook is something alien to their Internet-deprived lives in 1996.

A little fact: In 1996, LESS THAN HALF(!!!) of all American high school students had ever used the Internet. Yep, definitely sounds like a very different world to the one we live in today. Now, the Internet is probably a daily feature in most of our lives. I mean, you're on the Internet right now, if you're reading this!

Anyway I got a little sidetracked there, just highlighting some of the ways Josh and Emma's lives would have been different to those of today's teens, but one of the ways they are similar is in how they dealt with discovering Facebook. If you had an opportunity to find out your future, maybe even tweak it a little, what would you do? I'm guessing a lot of people would take it. And that's what Emma and Josh do.

The result is an engaging story with a plot that is constantly moving and changing, just as the future is constantly shifting and reshaping. It's really interesting to get an idea of how the little things we do every day - really insignificant things like what we eat, maybe, the little choices we make, even the things we think - they can all create tiny ripples that, radiating out into the future, morph into big waves of change and have unexpectedly large impacts on our future.

Wow! I really really enjoyed Birthmarked, right from the very first page to the very last one.

I was drawn into Gaia’s world right from the very start. We are thrown straight into her challenging life: delivering babies at sixteen years old, destined to a life stuck on the outside of the walls that enclose the Enclave where people live in luxury, and always suffering the stigma that comes with having a prominent scar on the side of her face. I was reminded a little bit of Katniss from the Hunger Games. Gaia has the same fiery determination to fight for what she believes in and a fierce loyalty towards her family.

This is what drives her to sneak into the Enclave and it is here, really, that things get interesting. Before long, Gaia realises that the Enclave in reality is different to the airbrushed image in her mind and her life is turned upside down during her short time there. She delivers a baby from a dead mother, gets thrown into prison, gets out of prison and discovers and learns so much along the way.

I think that the story really progressed at a nice pace, going into enough detail that you had a nice insight into life in this different society and could really believe in each of the characters, but not too much that you began to get bored. In fact, not once was I bored reading Birthmarked. I was gripped, virtually unable to stop reading, and I thoroughly enjoyed every bit.

Amidst all the action did blossom a romance, which I think complemented the storyline very well. It grew slowly and sweetly, so that you often weren’t quite sure if it was there and intrigued me even more.

Overall, I really loved Birthmarked and definitely recommend it to everyone!

Having finally read Divergent, at last I understand why it is held in such high esteem. And I couldn't agree more with all the people who have read it and described it as one of the best books they have ever read; I am now one of those people myself!

There is just so much to love about this book...

I love Tris, who is fiery, strong and actually very brave. I think her name matches her perfectly - (aside from the fact that her name is very short, like she is physically as well) I think Tris sounds like a fighter, and Tris is a fighter. I actually did a double-take when I first read the name 'Beatrice Prior' at the beginning of the book; it sounded so prim and proper that I didn't even realise it was the protagonist's name but rather thought that it was just another character. Then again, it makes sense - Abnegation Beatrice is sensible and reserved, whilst Dauntless Tris is fiery and wild. Once in the book, Tris is described as 'tough as nails' and I totally agree with this image. There are times when Tris does seem cold and hard-hearted, but she makes up for it with selfless acts of bravery such as taking the place of a friend to stand in front of a target whilst knives are being thrown at her.

I love how Tris visibly learns and grows throughout the book. Tris has never really felt like she belongs in her home faction of Abnegation, where everyone is meant to always be completely selfless, but she has led a relatively untroubled and straightforward life for sixteen years. And then, on Choosing Day, the one choice Tris makes really does change her life entirely.

The tough and brutally competitive initiation into her new faction that follows presents challenging situations and pushes Tris to her boundaries, both mentally and physically. Along the way, she discovers her own capabilities and learns the true meaning of bravery.

I love Four, strong and seemingly fearless, surrounded by the mysteries of his past. When we first meet him, he is cold and guarded but this wall slowly comes down and we fall in love with the person we find underneath.

I love the fascinating plot - tense and full of action, but still somehow managing to be beautiful, and

I love how realistic everything is - somehow Veronica Roth has managed to create both a world, and characters, that felt really real to me as I read Divergent.

I was quite surprised to discover that Veronica Roth is only 23, but hopefully this means we can expect much more wonderful reading material from her in the future; I, for one, can hardly wait until the release of Insurgent!