Review: Sever (The Chemical Garden Trilogy, #3) by Lauren DeStefano

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Kristilyn

book reviewing-01

Title: Sever
Author: Lauren DeStefano
Series: The Chemical Garden Trilogy, #3
Date(s) read: February 18, 2013
Genre: YA dystopian
Source: Purchased (Hardcover)

With the clock ticking until the virus takes its toll, Rhine is desperate for answers. After enduring Vaughn’s worst, Rhine finds an unlikely ally in his brother, an eccentric inventor named Reed. She takes refuge in his dilapidated house, though the people she left behind refuse to stay in the past. While Gabriel haunts Rhine’s memories, Cecily is determined to be at Rhine’s side, even if Linden’s feelings are still caught between them.

Meanwhile, Rowan’s growing involvement in an underground resistance compels Rhine to reach him before he does something that cannot be undone. But what she discovers along the way has alarming implications for her future—and about the past her parents never had the chance to explain.

In this breathtaking conclusion to Lauren DeStefano’s Chemical Garden trilogy, everything Rhine knows to be true will be irrevocably shattered.

I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with this series. I absolutely adored Wither, the first book in the series, but felt oddly indifferent about the second book, Fever. Of course, once I’ve gotten 2/3 of the way through a series, I kind of have to finish it just to see if the final book will redeem things.

I’m still really not sure what to think about this one. I was eager to get back to Rhine’s story and see how it all panned out, but it almost fell flat like Fever did for me. I felt like there was a lot of the same things going on in Sever as there were in Fever — lots of nothing. I wanted lots of something, but didn’t get anything. Continue reading →

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

Posted on May 6, 2013 by Kristilyn

book reviewing-01

Title: Under the Never Sky
Author: Veronica Rossi
Series: Under the Never Sky, #1
Date(s) read: March 3 – 6, 2013
Genre: YA Post Apocalyptic
Source: Library & Purchased (Hardcover)

Since she’d been on the outside, she’d survived an Aether storm, she’d had a knife held to her throat, and she’d seen men murdered. This was worse.

Exiled from her home, the enclosed city of Reverie, Aria knows her chances of surviving in the outer wasteland – known as The Death Shop – are slim. If the cannibals don’t get her, the violent, electrified energy storms will. She’s been taught that the very air she breathes can kill her. Then Aria meets an Outsider named Perry. He’s wild – a savage – and her only hope of staying alive.

A hunter for his tribe in a merciless landscape, Perry views Aria as sheltered and fragile – everything he would expect from a Dweller. But he needs Aria’s help too; she alone holds the key to his redemption. Opposites in nearly every way, Aria and Perry must accept each other to survive. Their unlikely alliance forges a bond that will determine the fate of all who live under the never sky.

my thoughts-01

You know those books that are on your radar, but you’re too scared to read them because of ALL THE HYPE surrounded them? Those books that everyone seems to love, but you’re convinced that the second you read these books you’ll hate them? Those books that keep you worried, day after day, on that edge of “should I read it?” and “should I let it go?” — leaving you hovering on that edge, unsure of which way to go?

OK, so maybe you don’t go to the extreme like that, but this was one of those books for me. There are so many hyped books that have left me either disappointed or wanting more and I didn’t want this book to be one of them just because a LOT of bloggers who’s opinions I take into consideration when choosing a book to read loved it. FORTUNATELY, this was not the case with this book. Thank goodness! Continue reading →

Review: Shades of Earth (Across the Universe, #3) by Beth Revis

Posted on April 1, 2013 by Kristilyn

book reviewing-01

Title: Shades of Earth
Author: Beth Revis
Series: Across the Universe, #3
Date(s) read: February 16 – 17, 2013
Genre: YA dystopian
Source: Purchased (Hardcover)

Amy and Elder have finally left the oppressive walls of the spaceship Godspeed behind. They’re ready to start life afresh–to build a home–on Centauri-Earth, the planet that Amy has traveled 25 trillion miles across the universe to experience.

But this new Earth isn’t the paradise Amy had been hoping for. There are giant pterodactyl-like birds, purple flowers with mind-numbing toxins, and mysterious, unexplained ruins that hold more secrets than their stone walls first let on. The biggest secret of all? Godspeed’s former passengers aren’t alone on this planet. And if they’re going to stay, they’ll have to fight.

Amy and Elder must race to discover who–or what–else is out there if they are to have any hope of saving their struggling colony and building a future together. They will have to look inward to the very core of what makes them human on this, their most harrowing journey yet. Because if the colony collapses? Then everything they have sacrificed–friends, family, life on Earth–will have been for nothing.

FUELED BY LIES.
RULED BY CHAOS.
ALMOST HOME.

I don’t know what it is about Beth Revis’s writing, but I was flailing around the room when I finally got this book. In fact, it was the last one on the shelf at the bookstore and I almost did a little “win” dance because I was the one who snagged it. I’m cool like that.

I had to dive into this one right away because it had already been out for a week before I finally got my copy and I didn’t want anyone spoiling it for me! This is the last book in the Across the Universe series and I found myself so sad to see it end. I have had such a great time following Amy and Elder through the universe that I knew I would have a hard time letting them go.

I also should comment that I do really love the new covers for the series and think that the cover for Shades of Earth is even more beautiful on the physical hardcover — I only wish I had the other two books in the series with the same style of cover! But I digress! On with the book review! Continue reading →