Insignia

"Insignia," by S.J. Kincaid is "Ender's Game" with a twist.
       Thomas Raines has spent most of his life traveling from casino to casino, waiting for his dad to finally make a big win.  Tom has always been taught to distrust the government, so when a US general shows up and tells Tom that he would be perfect for controlling one of the unmanned drones that does the army's dirty work, fighting for mines and other territories on distant planets during World War III, Tom is apprehensive.  This is a chance for greatness, though, the chance to join the few elite of the Camelot Company--a military group of children who control the robots in Outer Space--and to finally become someone important. Tom's all in until they tell him that he has to get a neural implant, a machine in his brain that would make him just like the people is father always looked down on.  Thomas Raines must get his mind in order in order to make his own big win, because when gambling with your life everything that makes you you is put into question.


I know that it is unfair to compare anything to "Ender's Game" because Orson Scott Card is a genius writer, but this book can hold it's own.  I mean, the premise is basically "Ender's Game" (boy gets taken for military training and plays games instead of learns lessons), but there are a few crucial differences that make the story its own. First, they are not fighting against aliens, they are fighting against other countries, albeit elsewhere in the Solar System.  Second, all of the kids have computers in their brains.
       The main character, Thomas Raines, is a cross between Eli Monpress and Peter Wiggen, which is fantastic, but I'll get to that in a couple of sentances.  The setting, the Pentagon Spire where the cadet kids learn their lessons is a mix of Ender's Battle School and Hogwarts.  These crazy combinations are the perfect mix to create something unique and wild, and the author takes full advantage of that.
        For starters, Thomas Raines is a unique main character.  He has all of the mainuplative slyness of Peter Wiggen, with three-fourths of the ego and all of the creativity Eli Monpress (of "The Legend of Eli Monpress," a series I've yet to review here).  He's a lonely kid who has issues with authority and doing what he's told without questioning.  He is also one of the most interesting characters I've ever read about.  Most characters, one their character and behavioral patterns are established, are relatively easy to predict.  You know what their path of action is going to be before they take it which, when done right, is the sign of good writing.  T'his book, though, can still surprise you.  It's not written in first-person, so you don't know what Tom knows the moment Tom knows it.  You have to wait and watch the character traits develop, which takes a while.  I'm not saying it's bad, it's just not often that you don't know everything about the main character immediately.  When you do know his behavior patterns, it's difficult to predict what he's going to do next, not because of a bad writing style, more because Tom has such a complex personality.  Really, it's refreshing.
         Tom's friends are also amusing too.  Vik, his roommate, is very funny (I think of him as the Doctor of Doom who has a tummy ace  :P), as is Wyatt 'Manhands' Enslowe, Beamer, and Yuri.  Each of them have their own personalities, and while they might be stereotypical on occasions (Vik has a 'mirror character' in "Ender's Game," except the guy in "Ender's Game" was much more serious) they do provide a nice balance to Tom's suicidal recklessness. The characters who are not Tom's 'friends' are also colorful as well as his enemies.  They make sure that the book doesn't get too silly while having a good time.  Well, a good a time as you can have when pretty much everything you have is at stake.
        Pretty much everything happens at the Pentagon Spire.  The division names--and this is where the Hogwarts part of things comes in--are all named after famous commanders.  I forget which division Vik and Tom are him, but Wyatt's in Hannibal.  There is also a Napoleon division, for example.  One of my favorite parts of the book is when the computer coding instructor, Blackburn, sets division against division in a computer code war.  You see, it's funny because with the neural implants in their brains, the 'student-cadets' can be controlled with computer code.  I just get this picture in my head of hoards of dignified military students acting like sheep and eating the shrubbery . . . Anyway, the place is fantastically (and suitably  wacky.  Just the place that I would like to go to school in.
         Of course, just as all school in all fiction books, there are issues with the school.  Or, more importantly, issues with the faculty.  Everyone has their own private agenda in Tom's world, so even among all of the physiological manipulation a tussle is bound to happen eventually.  Most of the book, though, involves mind games and how physical combat incite deep strategical thoughts.
        The plot of the book is very good.  With Tom's relatively unpredictable though-pattern, paired with the cast of both goodies and baddies and the situation that they are all involved in, things are rocky.  Also, the book doesn't focus on one overall problem.  Most mainstream books today follow one or  two conflicts -- 1) the main character saving the world, and 2) the main character's love life and maybe 3) the main character's relationship with various other characters.  Very annoying.  The conflicts in this book is more like 1) to work with or against the system, 2) who to trust and which secrets to keep, 3) the issue with Dominion Agra, 4) the issue with Medusa and the rest of the rival people who have implants in their brain, and 5) the issue that involves issues 2,3, and 4 but is still very much its own issue.  Really, it's very interesting and complex and much better than a lot of stuff that passes for Young Adult material.  It does make for a very thick volume but, hey, all the more room to showcase the many fantastic characters of the Pentagon Spire.
         This is the first book in what is going to be a trilogy.  The second book, "Vortex" comes out on July 2cnd.  That day, you will find me anxiously waiting at Barnes & Noble, because the twenty dollars that I will spend on that book will be a sure bet.

www.sjkincaid.com  The Q&A with the author on the 'home' page is very funny--she has quite a sense of humor--and the 'extras' tab under 'Insignia' (under 'The "Insignia" Series') has a playlist of songs that match up with the book.

Rebel Hearts

"Rebel Hearts," by Moria Young, is the sequel to the fantastically gruesome "Blood Red Road."
     Since Lugh was captured by the Tonton at Silverlake Saba has always relied on her instincts and gut feelings.  Instinct and gut feelings got her out of Hopetown.  Instincts and gut feelings got her out of Freedom Fields.  But Saba's instincts and gut feelings may be failing her as she races back east when she hears a rumor that Jack has fallen in with the Tonton.  In an attempt to save him, Saba endangers the lives of everyone she's cared about.  As the death toll piles up, she will have to debate what is worth what:  Is having her happy ending worth the life of her sister? Is having all she ever wanted worth losing everyone that ever stood by her?

Say that "Blood Red Road" was the second best contemporary dystopian novel.  "Rot and Ruin" would be at the top, the best, "Article 5" would be in between the middle and the bottom, and "Hunger Games would be festering somewhere below the bottom.  "Rebel Hearts" would be somewhere between "Article 5" and "The Hunger Games."  I swear, it was awful.
        "The Blood Red Road" is the second best contemporary dystopian novel because there's blood and fighting and general goriness.  Epic fights to the death against giant worms, cage fighting, burning down the town in which there was cage fighting, burning down really anything that came close (including demented sun kings and giant worms) . . . Ah, the glory.  There was a bit of romance her and there too, which wasn't so bad.   But "Rebel Hearts" takes it to a whole new level.  It's "Oh, Jack, I miss you" here and "Oh, I want Jack" there and "Jack smells nice" in the middle mixed in with "Oh, I think I might love *insert name here 'cause I won't ruin it for you even though we all knew it was gonna happen*" with a touch of "Oh, *insert name here, I'm not going to tell you because it'll ruin it and it's stupid and random* loves me?"  IT'S ALL MUSHY!  And not fun at all.
        Okay, so, in "Blood Red Road" I sort of got the picture that Saba was like Clint Eastwood in all those Westerns.  You know, the lone cowboy (or cowgirl or whatever you want to call it) who rides into town, gets filled up with some sort of righteous anger, burns the place down, and overthrows the evil mayor, all well having fun and making friends with a merry band of outlaws.  In "Rebel Hearts" Saba is like that in the beginning of the book, righteous anger and what not, but eventually she gets whittled down into a princess who runs around in dresses.  Excuse me?  The Angel of Death is no princess, I don't care about that Sky-person-girl's ruling.
         I mentioned that there are some other mushy-male components in this.  There are.  They are unneeded and unwanted and do absolutely no good for anything anywhere anyhow anywhy.  They should just not be there. Period.  I guess the "random person loves me" was inevitable in some sense.  It's random, but it was mentioned slightly in the previous book and it will probably be a big part of the next book, because it seems that this is to be a trilogy (but from this book, I say they cut it off now, and spare us all the horror).  The other new male component just detracts from everything.  And turns Saba into a princess.  And everyone knew that it was going to happen, it seems, except for Saba, because I figured out that it was going to happen back in Hopetown but our newly-whittled princess here had no clue.
         So, basically what I'm trying to get at is that this is a decent book--for the first part of it.  Then it just goes bonkers.  It seems, and no offense to Moria Young here, but it seems that she forgot the parameters she set out for her characters because they seem to be operating outside of them.
        On a completely different note, DeMalo is crazy.
        So, anyway, "Blood Red Road" and "Rebel Hearts" both seem to be of the "Dust Land Trilogy".  (I didn't realize that the name of "Rebel Hearts" was "Rebel Hearts" 'cause "Dust Land" was bigger on the cover so I thought that the whole trilogy was called "Rebel Hearts Trilogy" and that better not be the case 'cause that would be a pretty bad name for a dystopian novel.  (Worse than "The Hunger Games.")  I don't know what the third one is or when it will come out, but I'll keep an eye for that one.
         Basically, what I'm trying to get at is that Saba's lost her way.  And if she doesn't find it soon, or if she finds it leads into the arms of some handsome male, I may have to put the book down and walk away.  Because Saba's supposed to be my warrior, not my damsel in distress.

As the author's bio says, "Visit www.dustlandsbooks.com to learn more."  It's nothing unusual, really.

"Worldshaker" and "Liberator"

The "Worldshaker" and "Liberator" pair is a version of steampunk class struggle written by Richard Harland.
   
      "Worldshaker":  Colbert Porpentine is next in line to be the supreme commander of the juggernaut, the Worldshaker.  But when he meets a Filthy, a girl who's supposed to be no better than an animal, he begins to rethink what it means to be human and what is the true meaning of civilized.  First, though, he must survive his enemies at school, his scheming sister, marriage, and a revolution that will change the world for ever.

      "Liberator":  After the Filthy revolution, the Porpentines are at loss for what to do next.  With rising hostilities against the "Swanks" the former Filthies have taken over the newly christen Liberator and are treating the Swanks as the Filthies used to be treated.  When a new face appears on the council, Col and Riff are slowly torn apart as the Liberator falls back into the old age.  The Swanks and the Filithies must put aside old difficulties, though, when their secret gets out and enemy juggernauts go on the offensive.

These are good books, in my eyes.  Just to clear up some terms, "juggernauts" are gigantic ark-like metal structures that carry entire cities within them.  They roll around the earth and float on the land, picking up supplies as needed.  Because this is an alternate version of earth, mind you.
       Colbert Porpentine is the main character.  Duh.  He's not a particularly genius main character, but he's not a particularly dumb one either.  He's gullible, though, and he falls for the lies and stories he gets told.  That allows us to sneer at him while sympathizing with him at the same time.  Which is nice, because you don't often get a likable character that you're allowed to hate.
      Riff, the Filthy he meets, is probably the strongest character in the first book. Since Colbert only really comes into his own in the second book, she carries the story in the first book.  She is the problem as well as the solution to the problem, which is an interesting conundrum.  And, of course, she provides the "romance element."
       The characters each have very distinct personalities that board on absurd, but an interesting cast makes an interesting play.  Though, the names of these characters are quiet annoying.  Quienna, Sephalatina, Oris . . . I can't remember half of them, and I sure can't spell them.  When I have to discuss the book with other people, I basically say "Col's mother" or "Col's sister."  I do not use their names.  Especially in the first book, when the last names are so connected to class status, so they're important . . . Urgh.  Eventually you give up on trying to remember who's who, and pray that you know enough to get through the rest of the book.
      The idea of the story is very interesting.  An alternate earth, where Napoleon did invade England, and all of the countries of Europe had a lower class population from which they demanded forced labor.  You don't really hear about Asia, either of the Americas, Africa, or Australia, but you get enough to know that they exists, and they used to be colonies of England.
       Actually, you don't really get anything about the world outside the juggernaut, because that's where the people's whole lives are.  It does add to the overall effect of isolation, which is an asset because it thrusts you deeper into the setting.  It also adds to the overall effect of coolness when the Austrians and the Russians attack the Liberator.
       So while Colbert Porpentine and his rolling city shakes the earth with their gargantuan rollers and magnificent rulers, I'll be sitting on my couch, reading.  And even though it's enjoyable to watch, you can bet that my world hasn't been shaken.

Article 5

Article 5, Kristen Simmons, is another Hunger-Games-like book about a dystopian era, but one that is more . . . realistic, if you don't mind the oxymoron. 
     Ember Miller remembers Chase Jennings as the sweet boy who used to be her boyfriend.  Ember Miller's mother remembers how life in the United States used to be before the new Articles were introduced and the war happened.  But remembering won't get the mother-daughter pair anywhere after the so-called 'Moral Milita'  invade their home and separate them, because according to the government and Article 5 they are not a 'true family'.  The worse thing is, is that Chase was one of the officers who dragged a fighting Ember away from her mother. 
      Things go from bad to worse--Instead of being just hungry and poor, Ember is now stuck in a rehab for 'troubled girl's with no hope for a trail.  Until a familiar face takes her out to be a witness for her mother's trial.  Maybe life will look up after all . . . as soon as Ember can figure out what's going on, and what her heart is telling her. 


This book is a literal all-nighter.  Seriously.  I stayed up until 11 and woke up at 6 to read this.  (I need my beauty sleep, okay?  It can't harm me, not while I have this face.)  Needless to say, I finished it before I allowed myself to even consider breakfast this morning. 
     What is it about dystopian books that captivate us?  With Katniss it was the fear that she might die, and the hope that she could earn something better.  With Ember, though, it's the fear that she might die and the hope that she won't.  There is no cushy side to this new United States as there was with Panam.  The hard life is the only life, and it doesn't matter if you put your life on the line, you will stay where you are or your situation will become worse. 
     One scene from the book that stays with me is when Ember is lined up in a food line in Tennessee (don't ask, I won't tell you) and she sees a beggar, an old emaciated man just standing by the side of the road.  The people start to descend on him and they pull away his cardboard sign and the tin that's by his feet for donations.  Ember keeps trying to save him, but she gets pulled away, and when the people leave she realizes that the man died a while ago.  He was dead standing up-right, and people took all of his clothing while he was dead.
     The better thing is that people haven't waited generations to start a revolution--but I'll keep my fingers still on that one.
      I did love the characters, well, the two main ones.  They seemed to be the best people in the book, the only people who were out for personal gain that wasn't monetary.  Ember becomes a fighter in the course of the book, and the transition doesn't happen as fast as it happens in other books.  It's slow and you can barely notice it, but it's there.  That gradual change is pretty refreshing, actually, watching it happen slowly and not snap!  she's a fighter.  (I won't point fingers, Ms. Everdeen.)  Chase, well, Chase is an interesting case.  I like his character a lot, but he's very, very intense.  I could see his eyes burning holes at me through the paper.  It was different, you know, because usually you can't feel people in books that way.  But if I met these two on the street, I would be able to pick them out and have a conversation  with them.  What we would talk about other than if I meant them harm or not, I do not know.
    I will wait with bated breath for a sequel.  There seems to be a raid on Chicago or something in order . . . and even though my mother won't let me handle a firearm, I will be right a the helm with Ember Miller, fighting my way to freedom.  And though this is not a fate that I wish on the United States of America, or any other country in the world, I'll have you know that liking this book, well, it's as mandatory as obeying the Articles.  (I made a funny.  No, wait, it was a baddie.)

Blood Red Road

Blood Red Road, by Moria Young, is a sci-fi book that tells a story of a girl who will do anything to save her brother -- even paint the road red with blood.
       Lugh is the sun, and Saba thinks of herself as his shadow.  He goes first, and she follows.  He only has to ask, and she will do.  But when Lugh is kidnapped and their father is killed, Saba promises to save him -- the only question is how.  She has lived in Silverlake, now a dried lake bed, since they were born and she has never been to the 'outside world'.  Even the neighbors stop by, when they do, not the other way around.  With Saba's mother dead, Saba is saddled with nine-year-old Emmi and an impossible mission.  Without any knowledge of the world outside, each step could be a misstep and their lives are the forfeit for any mistakes.  With the help of a group of girls called the Free Hawks, a cocky thief named Jack, a bar tender, Ike, and his son, Tommo, Saba fights her way to her brother, slowly coming to realize that he doesn't have to be her whole world. 

I know I say this for just about every book, but this book is amazing.  It is written all in dialect, and it has no quotation marks, so sometimes it is hard to differentiate between what is being said and what is being described, but it provides another level to the book, if you know what I mean.  Suddenly, without quotation marks, you seem to be Saba, not be just visiting her head. 
       As a result, you feel Saba's hates, and her love, or at least her hate for Emmi and her love for Jack.  Lugh, well, I can't see why she would care that much about him.  She seems more like an eager puppy dog when he is around, in the beginning of the book, ready to do as he, her master, commands.  But maybe if I had lived there, as my brother's puppy for eighteen years, I would be as dependent on him as she is, but there is still something off about it.  I don't know.  I just don't get it.  But it's okay -- as long as you know beforehand that she is devoted to her brother, you get the sentiment fine.
       I don't really get the reference to Louis XIV.  Not to give anything away, but why would he have the connection that he had with Pinch?  I thought there was a nuclear war and everyone died?  Or is the resemblance just a resemblance?  I don't really understand that, because it is a more science-fiction book than a fantasy tale.
      Oh, and I think the Wreckers are the beings who dropped the nuclear bombs.  Just saying that for clarification, because that was something else I didn't get until the middle of the book. 
        I really wish that they had had a map in the book, because I thought it would've been cool to track Saba's journey.  Then again, I am a real map person, and I really like to see things, so maybe it's just a strange want that would only occur to me. 
      Other than that, this book is awesome.  At some point the characters stop being characters and become real people.  And you stop being you, you start being Saba, a girl on an impossible quest.  After I finished this book I found myself talking in a slight accent, even.  I started to be able to predict the character's actions, and what path they would take based solely on how I knew they reacted in a situation.  And truly, a book like that is fantastic.
       With plenty of blood and gore, Saba, Emmi, and Jack walk their road.  Where it will take them, one can only guess at.  But you wind up being glad that you were able to follow their tracks and walk in their footsteps, if only for a little while.

The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games series, by Susanne Collins. is now a staple of American pre-teen literature. What girl hasn't read of the escapades of Katniss Everdeen?
   In a dystopian future the people of North America have rebelled against the government and lost, causing their country to be split up into the twelve, or thirteen, districts of Panam.  Each year, districts one through thirteen have been forced to give to of their children up to the Capital to compete in a game where they will fight to the death. Katniss Everdeen, a headstrong sixteen-year-old from district 12, the mining district, is called upon to take place in this tournament.  Afraid for her life Katniss enters the arena . . . and starts a revolution.  The three books span from the beginning of the 74th Hunger Games to the end of a war that has rocked Panam and changed Katniss forever.

I do not see they hype around these books.  Yes, they are very well written and very bloody, but I cannot connect with anyone in the books.  I'm left asking the question, 'Why do I care what Katniss does?  Why do I care if she survives or not?'.  And, of course, there is the 'which dude should I choose' drama.  I don't care about either of them.  She could end up a lonely recluse for all I care.
        The future these books present are grim and very believable.  Emaciated children survive in the districts while well-fed and pampered children frolic in the Capital.  I think I like the first book the best because it shows the connection between these two, and how absurd it is.  It might also be a commentary on this world, this present time, as well.
         In my opinion, the other two books are stretching the plot line a bit.  It is evident that Susanne Collins made up the 'Quarter Quell' just so she could have a sequel.  And why on earth would the Gamemakers turn the streets of their beloved city into an arena in Mockingjay?  While you're reading it it makes some sense, but the illusion of reality it creates shatters if you try to reflect on it. 
         Neither Katniss nor Gale jumped off the page at me.  My favorite characters were Haymitch and Peeta because they have faults and because they seem more rounded.  Sure, Katniss is headstrong and rude, but she eventually becomes predictable. Gale just seems like someone that was sort of stuck on the side so there would be some dramatic tension.  He is usually dismissed as a 'cousin' and Katniss doesn't spend much time agonizing over the lie.  Haymitch, though, is the town drunk with a past full of pain.  Peeta quietly watches Katniss from the sidelines, and you know, dramatic agony, romance gone awry, putting his heart in the wrong place, all that stuff.  But when he gets stung by hornets that make you hallucinate and he starts believing that Katniss is out to kill him, well, I know I'm cruel, but that's where the real fun begins.
         Basically, what I said about the Gamemakers and the Capital apply to the whole book:  While you're reading it, it makes sense and it is a pretty good book, but with a second thought the books loose their meaning. 
          The books are a trilogy, to be read in the order of:  The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay.  And while Katniss Everdeen, the girl on fire, may catch on fire, she just can't catch your interest.

Candor

Candor, by Pam Bachorz, is another great book with another great message:  When adults rule the world, they do it badly.  :)
      Oscar Campbell is the perfect student, son, friend, boyfriend, and criminal. He has a 115% average in biology, he makes his father toast every morning, he hangs with all the nerds so they won't feel left out, he eats carrot sticks in the movie theater with his girlfriend, the second-best student in the school . . . and he's busy undermining his father's Utopian society.  He'll sneak you out from the town of Candor for a "small" fee.  Candor, the town his father created after Oscar's brother died.  Candor, the town where everyone is brainwashed to do as they're told.  Candor, where every thing's perfect.  At least, it's supposed to be.  Oscar's the one anomaly, the one person in the town of Candor who knows how to block out the brainwashing messages.  But will he be able to help bad girl, new girl, Nia, overcome the evil charm of Candor, or will he choose to help himself instead?

Yet another book that I love.  What is there not to love about a book that suggests that kids do it better than grown-ups?  But it's fun watching how Oscar knows more than everyone else does.  It's fun watching him try to impress Nia, even while fighting his good-boy urges.  It's sad looking back into Oscar's memories, and it's heartbreaking how everything all falls into place . . .
      I won't give away the ending, but I'll let you know I have a love-hate relationship with it.  I love the characters though, especially Oscar.  He's exactly what you think he is, and you have to respect that.  Nia, on the other hand, is fun-loving and impulsive.  Not the best combination when you're trying to stay under the radar in a town where parents go to get their wild kids under control.  Sherman is a dirty pig who's trying, to the best of his abilities, to do what's best for him, and it ruins the lives of several people who you think shouldn't have their lives ruined--namely, the protagonists.  Mandi is just a brainwashed freak.  She sort of scares me, actually.  Oscar's dad, though.  Ooh, if I met that man in real life I would hurt him very badly.  He's worse than every villain you've ever met in real life or books, if only because he has no mercy.  I mean, sure, some villains in some may kill without a second look, but Oscar's dad is human first, or, at least slightly human, and then he condemns himself irreversibly in three pages.  It's sickening.  But at the same time, very enjoyable.  Humans impulses in a fictional setting is one of the best types of story, in my opinion, because it shows that humans all over the place, no matter where or when, are never perfect.  In my life, that is a very comforting principle to have.
       But yes, Candor is a book in which nothing is as it seems.  It may come off as perfect, but it leaves a slightly bitter aftertaste.  And the first taste is all the sweeter for that.