Review: Into the Still Blue by Veronica Rossi (Under the Never Sky #3)

Title: Into the Still Blue by Veronica Rossi

Release date: January 28^th, 2013 by Harper Collins

Source: ARC from Harper Collins and Edelweiss

Format: eBook

Genre: Dystopian | Paranormal | Romance

Age group: Young adult

Challenge(s): Finish the Series 2013, Dystopia Challenge

Grade rate: A+

Their love and their leadership have been tested. Now it's time for Perry and Aria to unite the Dwellers and the Outsiders in one last desperate attempt to bring balance to their world. The race to the Still Blue has reached a stalemate. Aria and Perry are determined to find this last safe-haven from the Aether storms before Sable and Hess do-and they are just as determined to stay together. Meanwhile, time is running out to rescue Cinder, who was abducted by Hess and Sable for his unique abilities. And when Roar returns to camp, he is so furious with Perry that he won't even look at him, and Perry begins to feel like they have already lost. Out of options, Perry and Aria assemble a team to mount an impossible rescue mission-because Cinder isn't just the key to unlocking the Still Blue and their only hope for survival, he's also their friend. And in a dying world, the bonds between people are what matter most. In this final book in her stunning Under the Never Sky trilogy, Veronica Rossi raises the stakes to their absolute limit and brings her epic love story to an unforgettable close.

My Review

Amazing?  Wonderful? Marvelous?  I wish I could find the right words to describe, not only how good this book is, but how good the series is.  Into the Still Blue is the perfect ending for what has been a worthy addition to the YA dystopian genre. 

Into the Still Blue starts right were Through the Ever Night ended and finds Perry planning a rescue mission for Cinder.   The Dwellers and the Outsiders are having a really difficult time getting along and getting past their views and prejudices about each other.  An unlikely group is pulled together and off they go.  Everything that could go wrong probably does, and the Tides and the Outsiders that escape band together in an attempt to survive the worsening ether storms.

Aria and Perry are a perfect example of a couple that not only complements each other, but they make each other better.  There is no love triangle, there’s no unreasonable jealously; just love, understanding and absolute trust in each other.  I can really appreciate this.  They keep growing as individual and leaders as well and don’t strangle each other.

The road to the Still Blue doesn’t come without sacrifices and many give their lives (some unwillingly and some not) for the good of the tribe.  What happens next is a combination of war, scare tactics, strategy and stealth.  Sable is one of the best villains that I ever encountered in literature.  Like a typical dictator, he forces his will unto others, all the while pretending that it’s for their own good. 

Roar remains one of my favorite characters; he still mourning, but by the end I saw a semblance of his old self and I’m happy for it.  Brooke, Cinder, Hess, Sorren, characters old and new join our beloved couple.  I have to say that the characterization is phenomenal.  I felt so close to these characters. Aria and Sorren go through one of the best character growth that I’ve read about lately.

The plot can make you dizzy because it’s so full of twist and turns!  Really, the unexpected seemed to always be happening and I just enjoyed the ride and went with the flow.  The writing is fluid, easy to read and understand, even if we are reading about a dystopian world.

Veronica Rossi has become one of the best author in my list and I will read anything she writes for sure!  Into the Still Blue is the perfect end to one of my favorite series.  I hope you give it a try.

About the cover: Perfect. Just like everything else about this book :)

Review: Skylark by Meagan Spooner

Title: Skylark by Meagan Spooner

Published: August 1^st, 2012 by Carolrhoda Lab

Source: Library

Format: Audio book narrated by Angela Lin

Group age: Young adult

Genre: Dystopian / Paranormal

Challenge(s):  2013 Dystopian

Grade rate: B

Sixteen-year-old Lark Ainsley has never seen the sky. Her world ends at the edge of the vast domed barrier of energy enclosing all that’s left of humanity. For two hundred years the city has sustained this barrier by harvesting its children's innate magical energy when they reach adolescence. When it’s Lark’s turn to be harvested, she finds herself trapped in a nightmarish web of experiments and learns she is something out of legend itself: a Renewable, able to regenerate her own power after it’s been stripped. Forced to flee the only home she knows to avoid life as a human battery, Lark must fight her way through the terrible wilderness beyond the edge of the world. With the city’s clockwork creations close on her heels and a strange wild boy stalking her in the countryside, she must move quickly if she is to have any hope of survival. She’s heard the stories that somewhere to the west are others like her, hidden in secret—but can she stay alive long enough to find them?

My Review

What a different take on dystopia!  I’m always amazed by the vision, imagination and invention of authors everywhere, that’s why you are so awesome!  Skylark is a testament to that :)

There are books that, for whatever reason, stay with you and Skylar is one of those.  To me, the best components of the story are the story building, the setting and the writing.  The story is very slow to build and I have to confess of losing interest at the beginning, I’m glad I persevered though!  The world created by Spooner is nothing short of magical.  It has been ravaged by wars 100 years ago and the survivors have either mutated to almost monsters, or banded themselves in walled cities that are powered by the ‘resource’, what we know of as magic.  I think one of the biggest lessons that Lark learned is that evil could be found inside and outside the walls equally and that she had to be very careful to survive.  The setting comes alive by the description of Lark experiences.  The writing is poetic and lyrical, rich in metaphors and simile; truly exquisite. I wish I could include some quotes here, but alas, this is harder to do when listening to an audio book.

Now that you read the paragraph above, you might be wondering why I haven’t mentioned that characters yet.  I’m getting to that part now.  It’s not to say that the characterization was poor, but to me, it takes second place to the story itself.  Lark is strong, loyal, but misguided and very incapable, at least at the beginning.  Since the story is told from her POV, we get to experiences all her ‘first’. The first time she sees the outside world as she leaves her domed city is traumatic.  She’s starving, tired, and scared. She makes many mistakes and is saved a few times by Oren.  I loved that Lark is aware of her shortcomings and wants to earn some independence and sense of belonging.

Oren is, as Lark initially called him, a wild boy.  However, he is taken with her and helps her many times, showing her how to survive in the ‘real’ world.  Oren is mysterious, stoic, strong and closed off, but I liked him immediately. I have faith in you!  Nix is a pixie (a machine created by the institute to track magic), that is Lark’s other companion on her travels, I loved her evasiveness and her loyalty.  I don’t know why, but I just didn’t like Kris from the beginning. The other characters, such as Dorian, the renewable leader, and others are not memorable. 

The plot is different and so full of twists and turns that I didn’t see coming and left my head spinning.  I hope that Lark learns to take care of herself and finds her missing brother Basil. I can’t wait to read Shadow Lark, the next book in the series that will be released in October of this year.  

About the cover:  The cover is pretty, but doesn’t give a lot away.  I guess the woods are prominent and that the swirls gives it a sense of whimsy.

Blog Tour, Guest Post, Review and Giveaway: Viral Nation by Shaunta Grimes

Welcome to this stop of the Viral Nation Blog Tour hosted by Rockstar Tours!

Title: Viral Nation by Shaunta Grimes

Published: July 2^nd, 2013 by Berkley Trade

Source: ARC  provided by author

Format: eBook (from NetGalley)

Group age: Young adult

Genre: Dystopian

Challenge(s): Distopyan

Grade rate: A

After a virus claimed nearly the entire global population, the world changed. The United States splintered into fifty walled cities where the surviving citizens clustered to start over. The Company, which ended the plague by bringing a life-saving vaccine back from the future, controls everything. They ration the scant food and supplies through a lottery system, mandate daily doses of virus suppressant, and even monitor future timelines to stop crimes before they can be committed.

Brilliant but autistic, sixteen-year-old Clover Donovan has always dreamed of studying at the Waverly-Stead Academy. Her brother and caretaker, West, has done everything in his power to make her dream a reality. But Clover’s refusal to part with her beloved service dog denies her entry into the school. Instead, she is drafted into the Time Mariners, a team of Company operatives who travel through time to gather news about the future.

When one of Clover’s missions reveals that West’s life is in danger, the Donovans are shattered. To change West’s fate, they’ll have to take on the mysterious Company. But as its secrets are revealed, they realize that the Company’s rule may not be as benevolent as it seems. In saving her brother, Clover will face a more powerful force than she ever imagined… and will team up with a band of fellow misfits and outsiders to incite a revolution that will change their destinies forever.

My Review

Just wow!  I’m a lover of the dystopian genre and I really loved Viral Nation. What a fast paced, complicated and riveting read!

Review: Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi (Under the Never Sky #1)

Title: Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

Published: January 3^rd, 2012 by Harper Collins

Source: Puchased for Audible

Format: Audio book narrated by Bernadette Dunne Flagler

Group age: Young adult

Genre: Dystopian

Challenge(s): 2013 Dystopian

Grade rate: A

WORLDS KEPT THEM APART. DESTINY BROUGHT THEM TOGETHER. Aria has lived her whole life in the protected dome of Reverie. Her entire world confined to its spaces, she's never thought to dream of what lies beyond its doors. So when her mother goes missing, Aria knows her chances of surviving in the outer wasteland long enough to find her are slim. Then Aria meets an outsider named Perry. He's searching for someone too. He's also wild - a savage - but might be her best hope at staying alive. If they can survive, they are each other's best hope for finding answers. 

My Review

I’ve had an amazing luck with my reading choices lately, I haven’t graded a book below “B” for a while now and this one is no different.  My only question is: why did I wait this long to read it?  Under the Never Sky is SO INCREDIBLY GOOD!

I have to confess that I picked this book from the library months ago and after reading the first chapters, I called it quits.  I wasn’t interested in the characters and the story was so strange and that initial chapters were kind of scary.  After so many blogger raved about this series, I decided to give it another try.  I’m glad I did!  I really enjoyed the audio book and it made the “reading” more entertaining for me. 

Besides the characters, I think what I loved the most was the world that Rossi constructed.  I like that the current generation know why the world is different now and how things used to be before the Aether storms. The survivors also preserved their technology, which is often not the case in dystopia.  I loved the new concepts, such as Dwellers and Outsiders and the evolution and de-evolution of each of them.  It was a fascinating world and I hope to visit again soon.

The characterization, as I mentioned above was outstanding.  The story is told in the third person, from alternating POVs, form Perry and Aria’s perspectives.  I really enjoyed this style as it allows me a better insight of the characters and their surroundings.  Aria is 17 and she has lived in a domed city all of her life, visiting virtual places and having whatever she needs at hand’s reach.  On the opposite side Peregrine (Perry) is an Outsider and brother to the Blood Lord of his clan.  These two unlikely characters meet and unite out of necessity; they each need to find someone and also their survival depends on it.  I simply loved brave and pragmatic Aria.  I would not have been able to walk all that distance with blisters on my feet for sure!  Perry is so brave, so tough, loyal and just plain awesome.  I am glad that their ‘liking’ for each other came gradually instead of being instant. The character I loved the most after our protagonists was Roar (I can’t wait to meet Liv!)

The writing is brilliant and although I found the plot to be a bit slow at first, I understand that the world-building was necessary for the reader to understand this new world.  The plot itself is full of twists and turns too, I did not see any of it coming ;) I cannot wait to read Through the Ever Night, book two in the series, which I already got for my Kindle.

About the cover:  Love it!!  It portraits Aria and an Aether storm in the background.

Have you read this series?  Do you love it?  Why or why not?

 Please celebrate Reading with ABCs 2nd Blogiversary by entering thisGiveaway!

Review: Black City by Elizabeth Richards (Black City #1)

Title: Black City by Elizabeth Richards

Published: November 13^th, 2012 by Putnam’s Sons

Source: ARC provided for review

Format: Soft cover (ARC)

Challenge(s): Dystopia Challenge

Grade rate: B+

A dark and tender post-apocalyptic love story set in the aftermath of a bloody war.In a city where humans and Darklings are now separated by a high wall and tensions between the two races still simmer after a terrible war, sixteen-year-olds Ash Fisher, a half-blood Darkling, and Natalie Buchanan, a human and the daughter of the Emissary, meet and do the unthinkable—they fall in love. Bonded by a mysterious connection that causes Ash’s long-dormant heart to beat, Ash and Natalie first deny and then struggle to fight their forbidden feelings for each other, knowing if they’re caught, they’ll be executed—but their feelings are too strong.When Ash and Natalie then find themselves at the center of a deadly conspiracy that threatens to pull the humans and Darklings back into war, they must make hard choices that could result in both their deaths.

My Review

What an awesome book!  I started reading Black City a while ago and for some reason I stopped about 2/3s of the way.  I want to kick myself now for taking so long to read it!

Natalie is only 16, but she’s had a difficult life. She has seen death, betrayal, loss, love and what politics and lies can do first hand.  Natalie is brave, loyal, smart, and tries to do the right thing.  Ash is a half-blood Darkling, is in the Black City side of the wall that divides humans from Darklings, and is the only of his kind there.  Ash had a very hard and lonely life, full of loss and discrimination.  Neither of the characters is perfect, far from it; and the fact that I like them and was cheering for them is a testament to the Richard’s writing.

Other characters are well developed and add a lot of depth to the story. I liked Natalie’s friend Day, Ash’s friend Beetle, Mr. Fisher. I distrusted Sigur and despised Sebastian and Ms. Buchanan.  However, Puritan Rose sounds a lot like President Rose from the Hunger Games and, like him, is both vile and charismatic. I reserve my judgment about Evangeline until later.

The relationship between Ash and Natalie develops really fast, which normally is very off-putting to me, BUT I loved it in Black City.  The reason is that this fact is a critical point in the plot and part of Darkling’s believes (and even anatomy); it is a beautiful concept. I’m glad that the couple felt deeply in love with one another, enough to overcome incredible opposition.

The story is told in alternating points of view, thus we get to know both Ash and Natalie quite well.  I really like this format as it allows the reader (me!) to be in more than place at a time and to understand the characters better.  As you can tell form my incoherent gushing, Black City has incredible characterization, not only regarding the protagonists, but also secondary characters.  The writing is well paced, fluent and descriptive.  The plot is a gem.  I have read many vampire books and this one is unique. There are different types of Darklings (‘vampires’) that not only look different, but have their own language, culture and rituals.  Richards creates a unique world, which undergoes the same struggles and problems of modern society, namely racism, discrimination, segregation and the aftermath of war.  Please note that there are very mature topics in here, such as addiction, nudity, discrimination, and sex (even though is not graphic).

Black City made me cry and I’m happy with the ending (thank goodness!).  I was lucky enough to receive an ARC of Phoenix from Putnam (thanks!) that I plan to read very soon!

Some quotes for you:

“I love you, Ash,” she says.

“I love you too,” I say. “So begins my heart…”

“So begins our life,” she whispers back, remembering the words I told her the night we first kissed…

“Everlasting,” we say together.  The Blood Vow…

“What was it like not having a heartbeat?” I say softly…

“It was hell.” He eventually says. “It was like being stuck between life and death; I could walk, talk, breathe, eat, but I never felt truly alive. I never felt part of this world.”

“And now you do?”

“Yes. Because of you.”

About the cover:  The cover is breathtaking!  A flower (I presume is a rose), a thing of beauty violently exploding and in the background the city.

2012 Challenges Re-cap and New 2013 Challenges

Hi there gorgeous people!  I have to confess to being awful on keeping track of these, but if my tags are to be trusted I will attempt to summarize the progress I made on the challenges I participated last year. Stick around and I will tell you what challenges called my attention for the brand now year that we started (scroll down a bit!)

For the 2012 eBook Challenge, hosted by Woraday Reads,  I accomplished a total of 30 ebooks.

For the 2012 Support Your Local Library Challenge (host blog no longer available), I read a total of 15 books.

NOTE: Do you know if another blog is hosting something similar to this?  I support by local library anyway, so I would like to make it count!

For the 2012 TBR Pile Reading Challenge, hosted by Eview @ Bookish  I only read 3 books (*oh, the shame*).   

For the 2012 ABC Reading Challenge (host blog no longer available), I read 16 books. 

Finally, for my 2012 Goodreads Reading Challenge, which was 100 books, I only managed to read 87 books. 

Now for the 2013 fun!

I signed up for the 2013 eBook Challenge, hosted by Workaday Reads.  I think I can safely read the DVD category, which is 25 eBooks. 

The 2013 TBR Pile Reading Challenge is hosted by six blogs, but you can see the post over at Evie's blog Bookish.  Since I did so badly last year, I plan to step up my reading (the next self-challenge will help too!), and read at least 10 books. 

Finish the Series is my self-challenge for this year, you can read all about it here, and of course you are welcome to join :)

NOTE:  I received an email to let me know that Book Stacks On Deck has a similar challenge, although mine is for series that I've already started and the idea didn't came from that blog.

The 2013 Dystopia Reading Challenge is a new one for me, but I do love dystopian books, so why not make it count!  This challenge is hosted by Blog of Erised, and my goal is to read at least 6 books (Recruit level).

Last, but not least in my 2013 Goodreads Reading Challenge, I'm determined to read at least 100 books this year.   

That was a lot!  I hope I can accomplished these lofty goals and I am planning on tracking my progress better too. 

What are the challenges that you are doing this year?  Are you better than me at this?  What other challenges would you recommend?