{Review} Flyaway by Lucy Christopher

Title: Flyaway
Author: Lucy Christopher
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Chicken House
Release date: October 1, 2011
Date Read: May 28, 2013 - June 2, 2013
Rating: ✭✭✭✭✭

One cold winter morning, Dad gets sick – and goes into hospital. It’s there I meet Harry, with his scruffy hair and firefly eyes. From his window we watch a wild swan on the frozen lake outside. There’s something different about her, truly different. Almost magical. Perhaps, if we can help her, everything else will begin to make sense.

While visiting her father in hospital, Isla meets Harry, the first boy to understand her and her love of the outdoors. But Harry is ill, and as his health fails, Isla is determined to help him in the only way she knows how.

Together they watch a lone swan struggling to fly on the lake outside Harry’s window. Isla believes that if she can help the damaged swan, somehow she can help Harry. And in doing so, she embarks upon a breathtakingly magical journey of her own.

One of the reasons I love Lucy Christopher's books so much are because they're real. She knows that the teenagers reading her books aren't stupid, and instead of treating her younger teenage readers like they're nine, she gives us a novel that can be read by anyone.

Seeing as the narrator of FLYAWAY is a thirteen year-old girl, Lucy Christopher could've written a juvenile middle-grade book with ridiculously simple writing and stiff dialogue. But she didn't. Lucy Christopher knows teenagers; she knows we're smarter than society thinks we are, and she doesn't fuck around. FLYAWAY was a smart book with beautiful messages and intricate characters.

I had a friend die of leukemia several months ago, and when I learned that Harry, one of the main characters in FLYAWAY, suffered from the same type of cancer, I nearly put the book down because it upset me so much. It brought back memories I wasn't ready to face and I spent most of the time reading this book with watery eyes. 

I've always loved the aspect of bonding with animals (I mean, SPIRIT is probably by favorite animation ever) and FLYAWAY gave me that and so much more. I mean, it also caused me a lot of pain and tears, but it was worth it. Every character is detailed and interesting, and Harry and Isla's romance friendship literally made me squeal and sob and scream at the walls.

I have a feeling a lot of people haven't read this because it's a middle-grade novel, technically, but if you're avoiding this book because of its age group...

GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE AND READ IT

OKAY

Also, a million hugs to Vanessa, for sending me a signed copy of FLYAWAY all the way from England. Thank you so much. I love you.



of course i'm not ugly crying who told you that hahaha

Oceana is a French-blooded teenager who enjoys stalking British boys and asking them to marry her. She was diagnosed with severe fangirl disorder in 2011. Able to curse like a sailor with an angelic voice.

{Review} Emilie & the Hollow World by Martha Wells

Title: Emilie & the Hollow World
Author: Martha Wells
Format: Netgalley ebook ARC
Publisher: Strange Chemistry
Release date: April 2nd, 2013
Date Read: February 7th, 2013
Rating: ✭✭✭

While running away from home for reasons that are eminently defensible, Emilie’s plans to stow away on the steamship Merry Bell and reach her cousin in the big city go awry, landing her on the wrong ship and at the beginning of a fantastic adventure.

Taken under the protection of Lady Marlende, Emilie learns that the crew hopes to use the aether currents and an experimental engine, and with the assistance of Lord Engal, journey to the interior of the planet in search of Marlende’s missing father.

With the ship damaged on arrival, they attempt to traverse the strange lands on their quest. But when evidence points to sabotage and they encounter the treacherous Lord Ivers, along with the strange race of the sea-lands, Emilie has to make some challenging decisions and take daring action if they are ever to reach the surface world again.

Actual Rating: 3.75

I've read pretty much every type of YA book there is. Romances, thrillers, horror, science fiction, contemporary... But I can honestly say, I have never read anything like EMILIE & THE HOLLOW WORLD. It's most definitely unique. 

While I use the term "YA" to describe EMILIE & THE HOLLOW WORLD, I use it very lightly. It's at times YA, but for the most part, it feels very MG. Personally, I don't have problems reading MG books (though I usually have poor luck with them), but others might feel this too childish and laughable.

EMILIE & THE HOLLOW WORLD is about a girl, Emilie, who ran away from home and is trying to go to her cousins and their amazing boarding school. She sneaks onboard the wrong ship in her haste not to get caught. It turns out this "ship" is actually a submarine and is going to the "Hollow World" or the Earth's core (which is apparently hollow).

While unique, I at times found it passing unique into the realm of "just plain weird". For me, there's a thin line between "whoa, this is really unique" and "whoa, wtf am I reading?". Sadly, EMILIE & THE HOLLOW WORLD did go into the latter category at times, though I still really enjoyed it.

One problem I had with the story is the sexism. It's fairly light but I was one more "guns aren't for girls, they would never be able to use them" away from screaming. I get it, it's the times but seriously? Use it once and then STAPH.

Another problem I had, which is a bit bigger than the previous one, is that the people on the ship accepted the fact that Emilie was there way too easily. This is supposed to be a very secret voyage and they seemed way to okay with the fact that there's some random girl with them.

Characters

Emilie is brave but fairly stupid - though most of her stupidity is plot needed which doesn't really make me forgive her. I really loved her since she reminded me of September from The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, which was pretty cool since I adore September and that book.

The other characters weren't that developed, but not poorly done. I would have liked some more fleshing out for a few of the characters but in this book, I didn't really care since the reason I loved EMILIE & THE HOLLOW WORLD was because of the descriptions and writing.

Plot and Writing

Plot

The plot wasn't all that defined. I'm not really sure why they were down there in the first place but I'm fairly certain that it has something to do with Miss Marlende's father who went missing down there. I know there was another reason but for the life of me, I can't remember it. 

The lack of distinct plot was all right for me since I read it while I had a pretty bad fever and I don't think I could have been able to get through a very plot focused book. That said, I'm sure other people would find this problematic. 

One slight problem I had with the world building was that I could never really imagine the submarine that they were in. Was it like the one in TWENTY THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA or maybe like a modern day sub? Adding onto my previous problem, what time period was it? Without a clear understanding of when the story was taking place, I could never really imagine the submarine.


Other than that, the descriptions of the creatures and the places were pretty awesome. I really felt like I was right there, watching the kelp creatures swim around. The extreme fantasy of EMILIE & THE HOLLOW WORLD was a refreshing break from the dystopians and paranormal romances that I mostly read.

Writing

At times, the world building was really weak but other times, it was vivid and exciting. I really loved the descriptions of the Hollow World and the creatures there. The novel was very well paced and kept me reading still I finished it. 

Likes and Dislikes

Likes: 

- world building
- writing
- plot
- setting

Dislikes:

- lack of world building at times
- sexism
- lack of definition to the characters

Conclusion

I really loved EMILIE & THE HOLLOW WORLD but it's definitely not for everyone. It's at times very childish and stupid but I still enjoyed it and recommend it to the reader who is looking for a relaxed, MG steampunk fantasy.

Lisbeth is an American teenager who enjoys blowing shit up in videogames and discussing decapitation in great detail. She's also obsessed with Oceana, but you're not supposed to know that.

{Review} Prisoner B-3087 by Alan Gratz

Title: Prisoner B-3087
Author: Alan Gratz
Format: NetGalley e-book ARC
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Release date: March 1st 2013
Date Read: February 1st 2013
Rating: ✭

Survive. At any cost.

10 concentration camps.

10 different places where you are starved, tortured, and worked mercilessly.

It's something no one could imagine surviving.

But it is what Yanek Gruener has to face.As a Jewish boy in 1930s Poland, Yanek is at the mercy of the Nazis who have taken over. Everything he has, and everyone he loves, have been snatched brutally from him. And then Yanek himself is taken prisoner -- his arm tattooed with the words PRISONER B-3087.

He is forced from one nightmarish concentration camp to another, as World War II rages all around him. He encounters evil he could have never imagined, but also sees surprising glimpses of hope amid the horror. He just barely escapes death, only to confront it again seconds later.

Can Yanek make it through the terror without losing his hope, his will -- and, most of all, his sense of who he really is inside?

The story of Yanek Gruener is not an outstandingly unique one. His story, or at least something akin to his, has been told numerous times in the past, under different names of course. Nevertheless, I seem to be attracted to reading these sorts of stories even though I know how everyone of them ends. 

I picked this one up mostly because of the title and the cover. It's sort of beautiful in a very plain and morbid way. It looks similar to a graphic novel's cover I read a while ago - which I would name except it's sort of embarrassing. It's a beautiful cover, with a beautifully haunting story and artwork. It was depressing and wonderful.

This was neither.

PRISONER B-3087 was a very bland story with very poor writing. I do think that if the writing was better this could be a great book. The writing was so... detached and emotionless. I felt absolutely nothing while reading, unless you can count extreme crippingly boredom as a feeling. It was just nothing. I've never felt less while reading a book especially a book about something depressing like these Nazi concentration camps.

I mean, even though characters were dying and everyone was starving:



It was so pathetically boring. I didn't feel anything towards any of the characters. They were just names for me, not really characters and in the same way, the book was just words without any meaning. I spent the entire book trying to connect with the main character but I was just so detached.

Characters

The main character Yanek was the only character that stayed with us for more than a few meager pages. He doesn't really have a personality other than that guy who’s in a concentration camp. He also thinks like a twelve year old even though he's 14+ for the majority of the book. It keeps saying the years pass even though there is little sign of that except for everyone is hungrier. 

Yanek is also a bit stupid and has little survival skills, which is peculiar since he survived six years in a concentration camp. So he has the perfect opportunity to get some food. A piece of bread is right in front of him. And what does he do?

HE DOESN'T PICK IT UP BECAUSE SOMEONE COULD USE IT.

You idiot. He even said that he needed the bread to survive yet he doesn't pick it up. WHAT.

TL;DR version: Yanek doesn't mature - at all. All he does is get hungrier and stupider.

Plot and Writing

Plot

The plot is basically Yanek moving around. He goes through 10 camps (even though a few of them were just holding cells) and survives. I find this sort of impossible even though it says that it's an true story. How could a kid survive through 10 camps with this little trouble? He barely ever goes through any problems.

Writing

The writing was just messed up. It doesn't only have some of the most detached writing I've ever encountered, but terrible pacing as well. It’s just blergh. I don't want to go and rant because I'm trying to be nice but basically:

It was bad. Very bad. 

Likes and Dislikes

Like:
- I guess it's got an... interestingish plot

Dislike:

- Writing
- Yanek

In conclusion

PRISONER B-3087 was a pretty bad book. I don't recommend it to anyone. If you want a good MG book about this subject, read The Boy Who Dared which is a great book on the subject. I read it a few years ago but I'm pretty sure I'd still like it as much as I did back when I read it.

Lisbeth is an American teenager who enjoys blowing shit up in videogames and discussing decapitation in great detail. She's also obsessed with Oceana, but you're not supposed to know that.