Across the Universe : Book Review

4.5/5 Stars

A Million Suns
First in Across the Universe Series

By Beth Revis

Razorbill (November 29th, 2011)

Genre: YA Sci-Fi, Romance

I get the feeling this book plays homage to the Beatles.  I am really enjoying this series, and I wish I would have discovered it later because the third book isn't coming out till sometime next year *sigh*. I almost need a special book calender so I don't forget about the series I've read. I've been trying to read stand alone books or finished series that way I don't have to wait - I hate waiting. Some may find it exciting I do not, it makes me growl at my Kobo.

To Elder, the ship he and two thousand other people inhabit seems to be wrapped in elaborate lies all created by Eldest, the leader and protector of Godspeed. Ever since the Plague the ship has been based on an Eldest System, where a man is born 16 years before the next generation of inhabitants. Soon the Season will begin and the next gen that Elder will lead will be born. But there's a problem Eldest is getting old, and he should already be retired, but since the Elder before the current Elder died, and  Eldest hasn't passed on the ship to its new leader. Actually, because of the disgrace of the previous Elder, Eldest is withholding information from him, information about the ship and how to run it. It's not until Eldest deems Elder worthy enough to continue his lessons on becoming Eldest, and Elder researches the ship itself, does he discover there's secrets hidden deep within. There's a secret level of the ship - and not a small one for that matter - that Elder never knew existed, and is compelled to discover what its hiding - something he never could imagine. Descending into the lower levels of the ship Elder finds himself in a strange room full of rows of metal boxes, he pulls open box 42 and he can scarcely believe what he is a seeing. A girl his age -unlike everyone else on the ship - encased in ice, with sunset hair and pale skin - she is the most beautiful thing he has ever seen. If only he could just talk to her, touch her. Elder is caught by the residential doctor peeping at the girl, and questions Doc about the frozen people. Doc explains they were frozen before Godspeed left Sol-Earth and will remain frozen until they reach Centuri-Earth, 50 years from now.

But something unexpected happens, the fire haired girl is unplugged, and awaken by accident, or is she? Shortly after she nearly dies from waking up alone in the cryo chamber, others start to become unplugged. Some aren't as lucky as her and they don't survive. Someones trying to kill the frozens but why? And why does Amy - the strange and beautiful girl from Sol-Earth- keep claiming that there's something wrong and unnatural about the 'normal' residents on Godspeed? The closer Elder and Amy become the more Elder realizes there's something unsettling happening on Godspeed and it all leads back to Eldest. Now the pair must discover what secrets Eldest has cached inside the ship.

I think what I liked most about this it definitely fills in the missing gaps from A Million Suns which I accidentally read first. I can't say whether or not this book would be predictable because I already knew what happened, but I still enjoyed it a lot none the less. I really like the characters, and the interesting setting of the series. It's an interesting change from the books I normally read, and while I very much enjoy this series, I probably still won't be reading a lot of sci-fi. Revis does a great job developing the misconstrued world that the inhabitants of Godspeed reside on. I also like that there's more to the book than meets the eyes, everyone believe Eldest is a benevolent 'grand-fathery' leader, but that's far from the truth. The truth everyone aboard Godspeed believes is fabricated and manipulated in dark and clever ways.

Though this series is marketed as Romance, it's more of an unspoken one. So if you want some gushy love scenes, you'll have to look elsewhere. I really like this series and I would recommend it, even to non Sci-fi fans. They're pretty quick reads, more in the pacing than the novel's length, so if you're skeptical just give it a shot.

Dangerous Angels (Weetzie Bat) : Book Review

1/5 Stars - Uncompleted

Dangerous Angels

Compilation of Weetzie Bat Series

By Francesca Lia Block

Harperteen (June 2009)

Genre: YA Modern Fairy Tale? 

I picked up these series of books for free off of Kobo. From the reviews and short synopsis it looked interesting, and worth a read. After about 30 pages I had to put it down. The story line was ridiculous, and I don't know how to describe the style it was written in, it was almost like point form. Everything seemed clipped from the dialogue to the story; there really was no describing for the characters or the world around them. It was like reading the bones of the story with no meat, and I felt like I couldn't connect to the character's. From what I read the story goes as follows:

Weetzie (a strange girl that makes her own outfits) meets a good looking guy at school (or 'duck' as she calls them???). They become friends hang out, go clubbing, and she finds out he's gay -which is fine. She meets his grandma (who he lives with), and Weetzie likes the grandma, and one day the grandmother gives her a gold relic. Weetzie polishes it and out pops a genie, she tries wishing for world peace and endless wishes -which is a bust- so she tries a different tatic. Instead she wishes for a cottage for her and her gay friend to live and that her gay friend(I don't mean to keep calling him the gay friend it's just I was so uninvolved in the story I can't remember his name! Maybe it was Dirk?) have a man or 'duck' and she has a 'Super spy lover man' (something like that). So in the next two chapter's the grandmother dies and they inheret the cottage (not what she has in mind and nobody seemed that sad about it???) and her gay friend meets a surfer NAMED DUCK, and they get involved and he moves in. A couple months later whilst Weetzie is working at a Cafe she meets a man named Super spy lover man (yes that is his name :|). After that I couldn't bring myself to read anymore. Most of the reviewer's found it uplifting in someway, maybe if I were able to get by the strange writing style it would have been good. But as far as Weetzie Bat goes, I would not recommend.

Find it here if you are interested on Kobo (no longer free): http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Dangerous-Angels-The-Weetzie-Bat/book-bPbAaqIhM0yX2Afbr2P3Jg/page1.html?s=GdE9-4pLu0mc1xiGKdg9hA&r=1

Tips and Tricks #1

I get these e-mailed to me from my mom, and they are so simple and clever, it makes you wonder how you never though about it, or even got through your life without some of these! Thank god for people for more common sense than me!

So here enjoy and hopefully you find these very helpful:

Use a (clean) dustpan to fill a container that doesn't fit in the sink
 
Place a rubber band around an open paint can to wipe your brush on, 
and keep paint off the side of the can
 

Use a staple remover to save your fingernails 
when trying to add things to your key ring! 
 


Put wooden spoon across boiling pot of water to keep from boiling over. 


Use bread clips to save flip-flops with split holes. 


How to put shoes in the dryer
 


Use sunglasses or a small convex mirror to avoid people 
sneaking up on you while wearing headphones at work 
 

How to keep the straw from rising out of your soda can 
 

Out of AA batteries? Use AAAs and tin foil in a pinch. 
 

Use a microfiber cloth to prevent frost from forming on the windshield. 
 

Use a comb to keep a nail steady for hammering 


Use a post it note to catch drilling debris. 




Dab some nail polish on the top side of your phone charger plug 
so you can feel which way is up when plugging in in the dark. 

Coupons and Codes! Yey!

I've decided to start compiling lists of sites that offer amazon.ca, indigo and kobo coupons. So if anyone wants to purchase a book this may save you some cash money!

Kobo

http://www.bargainmoose.ca/tag/kobobooks/
http://www.retailmenot.com/view/kobobooks.com
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http://promotionalcode.ca/codes/kobobooks-com/

Amazon.ca

http://www.ultimatecoupons.com/coupons/amazon_ca_coupons.htm#b
http://www.retailmenot.com/view/amazon.ca
http://www.couponsnapshot.ca/m110047-Amazon.ca-online-coupons-codes.html

Chapters/Indigo

http://www.retailmenot.com/view/indigo.ca
http://coupons.redflagdeals.com/i.php/all/Chapters.Indigo.ca_255/
http://www.bargainmoose.ca/tag/chapters-deals/
http://www.simplyfrugal.ca/tag/chaptersindigo/



Coupons, Codes save money on Kobo, Indigo Chapters, and Amazon.ca

How to load a new template into the new blogger layout

Go to your blog, hit the design tab in the right corner

Go to Template on the left side

Click Back-up/Restore

****You need to back up your old template or else everything will be lost****

(Copy and paste HTML code in a txt or doc file, but I suggest look into this further so you don’t lose anything)

Click Load template

Find the XML file for you new template

Note : if your new template is in a zip you must extract the files to a different folder

-          Shift select all the files then hit the extract button and choose the destination

A Million Suns: Book Review

4.5/5 Stars

A Million Suns
Second in Across the Universe Series

By Beth Revis

Razorbill (January 10th, 2012)

Genre: YA Sci-Fi, Romance

(I get the impression Revis is British). I had seen this book a couple times and been a little reluctant to pick it up, it sounded a bit like Pandorum (a sci-fi horror movie, that I really liked BTW). So finally I decided why not, it has a pretty cover, sounds pretty good, I'll give it a shot. The funny part is after reading it, it really has little to do with Pandorum, there are similarities for sure, but not enough to say they're almost the same. But my misconception of the book isn't what takes the cake, the fact that it's the second book in the series and I thought it was a stand alone novel is what the kicker is. Yup that's right, I started the series completely out of order. I did have the nagging feeling that it seemed there was more of a back story I was missing, but in all honesty I didn't have to read the first book in order to easily follow the second. So my next book in like is of course the first one of the series, Across the Universe (makes me think of the Beatles movie). Unfortunately everything that happens in the book now, I'm going to know a head of time, so a lot less surprise and suspense, but I think I'll still enjoy this.

If you want to read this series I'd stop here, because there's about to be some major spoiler's. But I will tell you that, the series is about a ship called Godspeed that has left earth with a few thousand people on board, some of which are frozen since the journey is a couple centuries long, and the 'frozens' mission is to arrive at Centuri-Earth their new home and help cultivate it. The series focuses on two characters, a young man that goes by Elder (because he is in line as ruler of the ship that follows the 'Eldest System'), and a young woman Amy (who is a frozen that was awaken accidental before the ships arrival to Centuri-Earth, and is also the only person on the ship born on Sol-Earth and not on the vessel itself). Not only is her awakening harsh and painful but the people are just as cruel, her skin is pale and her hair is fiery red which is a sharp contrast from Godspeeds mono-race inhabitant who all have darker skin, dark hair and eyes.

Synopsis:

Aboard the Godspeed, a ship that has voyaged across the universe, a young man named Elder has assumed the role of leader of the ship far before his time is due. Eldest is dead, Orion is frozen and he was the next in line as leader. Elder has vowed to make a great change for the inhabitants of the ship. Refusing the assume the title of Eldest, and work in the ways of the past, Elder takes the residents of Godspeed off of Phydus, a drug that turns everyone who consumes it into submissive worker bees. Now that everyone can think for themselves they are not happy; some turn lazy and depressed and don't work, others aggressive and greedy. From Elder giving them free choice the ship is going to spiral out of control, and what's worse Elder discovers the terrible secret that Eldest hid from everyone including himself. With problems and tension continuously mounting, a rebellion seems to be reaching a boiling point, and it definitely doesn't help any that Elder has shown favour to the 'freak' Amy the only girl close to his age and also happens to be the only one on board that wasn't born on the ship.
A bread crumb trail is left for Amy to discover a giant secret that Orion was hiding and he scattered across the ship in cryptic clues. The ship is falling apart, the people are losing it, Orion's clues could be their only hope of salvaging everything.

Opinion:

I enjoyed this book and I had a hard time putting it down. I was on to who the 'bad-guys' were, but I was still a little shocked when my uncertain prediction came true. This story is definitely an interesting idea, and even if you don't like sci-fi it's still a great read. I liked the characters, the pacing was good, really kept you on the edge sometimes. The twist at the end was pretty good and the book itself was a lot different than the genre's I'm use to and I think that's what won me over, the idea behind the book itself. You could also notice other inner workings, satire, and deeper meanings. Like how 99% of the people on the ship are repelled by Amy just because she is different, she is still just as human as they are but her outward appearance and knowledge of Sol-Earth terrifies and disgusts the denizens aboard. The fact that once free thought was put into place many are not grateful for this, they want a new leader or their own power, they don't want to work, they turn on each other, some hoard, some even become violent and others murder. I would definitely recommend this book, and do plan on reading the first and third.

The third book in the series is planned to be released January 2013, and she has released a few short stories giving background to characters of the book - I'm not sure if I'll read these.

Madison: Ebook Review

2/5 Stars

Madison 

By Merriam Smyth

Self-Published

Genre: Supernatural, Paranormal Romance 

This is a free kobo ebook. I'm not sure what to categorize this as, it's too long to be a short story and too short to be a novella. It's less than a hundred pages long which surprised me. I would lump this book into a 'paramormal' romance. Here is the description for it given by the author (I don't want to give too much away):

Madison's first glimpse of Damien Stone was fleeting - she walked by him, greeting him with a smile. He was nothing more than a stranger. Damien barely acknowledged her existence until he caught her scent - she was his. But his appearance in her life forces a change she doesn't understand, a change he wants to help her understand.

This is sort of vague, but you are right in concluding that the "change" definitely has a supernatural aspect to it. While the story was pretty good, it was short, and it leaves you with a feeling of 'that's it'? The story is some what enticing I wasn't extremely drawn in. I think the biggest problem with the book I had was that, it was difficult to read. For reasons I don't entirely comprehend the author decided, "Who needs chapters? I don't! And why don't I NOT change the spacing either to signify a new chapter while I'm at it!" I had to re-read several parts, because the story would suddenly switch character perspectives with nothing to show it was a different person! This was very frustrating and confusing. It's hard to enjoy something when you have to keep reorienting yourself. Though, I just discovered today that there are two copies of the ebook available, perhaps one actually has chapters!? A girl can hope!

I would not recommend this book due to its lack of coherency, but if it sounds good to you (it is free of course) then maybe try both versions and hope that one of them has sort of division. X.x.

If you're interested in reading it here's the Kobo link: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Madison/book-wVot8YSPO0m6RUaHbhf4BQ/page1.html?s=xSbQuWG7qEqfhL4MZm8GOw&r=2

Not available for Kindle.