Sky Without Stars / Jessica Brody and Joanne Rendell / 592 pgs

I was so lucky to get to meet the authors of this wonderful new book at my library last week. They told great stories about how they came up with the idea of Les Miserables in space and reading this book was a little like a homecoming for me because I love the movie (though I must admit I haven't yet read the book by Victor Hugo).

The story is about how humanity left Earth and 505 years later live in a system with three stars and twelve inhabited planets. Laterre is ruled by the Paress family where there are three estates (royalty, administrative, and the workers), much like how there were three estates in pre-Revolutionary France. The book mainly focuses on Alouette, Chatine, and Marcellus, who are stand-ins for Cosette, Eponine, and Marius in the original Hugo novel. In this far off future, humanity has mostly lost its ability to read the written word save for a few folks who must stay hidden and protect the last library on Laterre. Meanwhile, the Third Estate starves in a rainy, marshy environment while the First and Second Estates live, eat, and play in a massive biodome under a virtual blue sky.

This is the first book in the System Divine series and there are plans for more two books at least. I can't wait for the next one as I really got invested in the characters, especially Chatine.

Also, I don't tend to judge a book by its cover, but the first time I saw this book cover, I knew I would love this book. Isn't it gorgeous? Best Book Cover Ever!

Carve the Mark / Veronica Roth / 468 pgs

This was definitely a return to form for Veronica Roth after the disappointment of <i>Allegiant</i>. The story takes a few chapters to really sink in, since we are invited into a galaxy in which people develop gifts from the Current, a stream of energy that seems to travel along the galaxy and wrap itself around the several inhabited planets. The different planets, nations, people, and objects took a bit to fully understand, and I listened to an audio book, which sometimes hinders the process of understanding new world-building. Nevertheless, the story was very well done. It was original, and since I read so much, I highly value unique stories. I know I enjoyed the story, because at times I didn't want to get out of my car or shut my car's engine because I was so engrossed with what was going on.

The crux of the story is that in this galaxy where people develop Current gifts, one planet is divided between two peoples, the peaceful Thuvhe and the warrior race, the Shotet. When some Shotet soldiers kidnap the two sons of the Oracle of Thuvhe, the sons have to figure out a way to escape or else succumb to their fate, to die in the service of Shotet's ruling family, the Noaveks. Meanwhile, Cyra Noavek, the younger sister of the ruler of Shotet, is plagued by constant pain, a "gift" of the Current. Her older brother uses her as a weapon against his enemies and she's sick of it. Together with one of the sons of the Oracle, she might figure out a way to break away from her brother, Ryzek.
For those who enjoyed Red Rising, the Hunger Games, and the Divergent series, I highly recommend. Like those books, there's quite a lot of violence, but no worse than those books.

Red Queen / Victoria Aveyard / 383 pgs

I just finished the first book in Victoria Aveyard's YA dystopia series. Red Queen has a lot of elements that other books in the genre have. Poor girl, Mare Barrow, is part of a group of people in the future who are oppressed by the elite. In this case, the oppression is due to some sort of human evolution that has changed the color of blood in certain people to silver. The silver-bloods are also blessed with X-Men type powers. Some can control fire, some can control water, some can turn invisible, some have superhuman strength, some can heal, some can control people with their thoughts, etc. These superhuman powers, however, seem to be family traits, so one family is full of water-controllers, while the other family is full of healers, and so on. The king of Norte and his two sons are fire-controllers. The Reds, those with red blood, are just normal humans who slave for the kingdom. Mare, it turns out, is something new, a Red with the power to control electricity. Like a lot of other books in this genre, there's a bit of a love triangle, or quadrangle, There's revolution and violence. There's infiltration and betrayal. It's Hunger Games mixed with Divergent mixed with Red Rising mixed with Cinder.

Despite a lot of YA dystopian tropes being thrown about, I found the series rather new too. I liked the twist at the end and it made me curious to read the next book. For those who love the books I mentioned above, I think you'll enjoy this one too, even if some of the elements are the same.

The Last Star (5th Wave Series, #3) / Rick Yancey / 338 pgs

I just finished The Last Star and really enjoyed it. I found it both less confusing than and better than The Infinite Sea but I still think the first book The 5th Wave was the best overall. My only complaint with this book is that there were too many "Oh, that's sad, this character died" moments only to find out a few chapters later that they somehow survived their seemingly fatal wound and now they're hunky-dory. This happens multiple times, so I am in no way spoiling the book, because people also die and stay dead as well. Have fun predicting who lives and who dies! Unlike some other reviews I've already read on Goodreads, I thought the ending was fitting even if it was a bit inconclusive.

In the last book of the series, Cassie, Evan, Ben, Sam, Dumbo, and Megan continue their fight against both the Others and those who have been programmed to believe they are the Others. The biggest question is how can humanity survive when you can no longer trust other humans?

What's Left of Me (The Hybrid Chronicles #1) / Kat Zhang / 343 pgs

I listened to this book on audio, and I have to admit, it bored me to tears. Had I not been using this book in my #ReadHarder challenge, to read a first book in a series by a person of color, I would have dropped this like a rock before hitting the halfway point.

The book is about a teenage girl living in some sort of alternate reality of Earth in present day. In this world, the Americas (North and South America) are one big country. Not a whole lot about the rest of the world is known since some huge Hybrid Wars occurred a century before. Computers are very rare and it doesn't seem like there's an internet. Everyone is born with two souls, essentially two separate personalities with separate names within one body. Through the early years of childhood, the souls take turns controlling the body, until the recessive soul eventually dies out or fades away, leaving only one soul to control the body. However, some people end up being Hybrids, where no settling occurs, and both souls remain. Those people are usually taken away to God knows where. The book's main character is one such person (or persons), Addie and Eva. They are also taken away to a hospital where experiments are done to try to remove the recessive soul, Eva. It is Eva who narrates the entire book.

This is only the first book in a trilogy, but I've read the reviews of the 2nd and 3rd books, and I know that the author, Ms. Zhang, does a horrible job of explaining how things work. For instance, if there are two souls in a body, how does the persons figure out what to do career-wise? What if each soul falls in love with a different person? What is going on in the rest of the world? Supposedly the Americas are the only country that bans hybrids, and most of the rest of the world is made up of only hybrids. How does that work?

I have no plans of reading the rest of the series. I don't recommend this book to those who are looking for YA Dystopia/Science Fiction books.

Stars Above / Marissa Meyer / 369 pgs

This is the end. The last book in the Lunar Chronicles universe. I'm really sad. I loved these books so much. I've seen a lot of people complain about Stars Above and say that some of the stories were unnecessary. Obviously, none of the stories were necessary, but they were all perfect. A lot of them flesh out what was only mentioned in passing in the previous books, including Carswell Thorne's interactions with his high school crush, Kate; how Winter chose to stop using her Lunar gift and how she got her facial scars; how Cinder came to live with the Linh family; how Wolf was taken from his family and turned into a special ops soldier in the Queen's army; how Cress was taken to the satellite when she was very young; and how Michelle Benoit was roped into helping keep the heir to the Lunar throne safe for eight years. Other short stories were new, like Kai's perspective when he first met Cinder and "The Little Android", which is based on Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid", but the best story of all was the last one, which goes forward a little over two years into the future and gathers all of our favorite characters together as they celebrate a certain two characters' wedding. To tell you who would be to give away plot points. Suffice to say, it was an awesome epilogue to what is definitely now my favorite YA series!

Winter / Marissa Meyer / 824 pgs

I would say that I was upset that the series has ended, what has become my favorite YA series, and indeed one of my favorite series period, but then I would be forgetting that I still have Stars Above and I'm so excited about that! Winter was a bit long, but I still gave the book 5 stars because the ending completely satisfied me.

Winter is considered Book #4 in the series, although with Fairest (Book #3.5), it's actually the 5th book in the series. Everything comes to a head as Cinder, Captain Carswell Thorne (easily my favorite character), Wolf, Emperor Kai, and Cress take on Queen Levana. Scarlett still needs saving. And Princess Winter must learn to overcome her Lunar sickness if she wants to help in the revolution against her evil stepmother. Like the other three main books, a bit of romance for Winter occurs as she deals with her attraction to her childhood friend, now royal guard, Jacin Clay.

Of the four women in the series, Winter was my least favorite and her romance with Jacin was probably my least favorite to read, but that didn't detract too much from all of the action and the final showdown between Cinder and her friends and Levana. That said, I did like that the story of Winter probably most mirrored the original fairy tale (this time it was Snow White) than the other books mirrored their respective fairy tales. All in all, I loved this series and will be sad to finish with Stars Above this coming week.

Fairest / Marissa Meyer / 220 pgs

I just finished listening to Fairest, and loved it almost as much as the previous three books in Meyer's Lunar Chronicles. The reason why I say "almost as much" is mainly just due to the fact that it was completely heart wrenching. Hearing about the tragedy that strikes Queen Levana makes the reader pity the character, but how Levana justifies her horrible behavior and actions makes the reader equally hate her too. This makes for a disturbing book, short though as it was - the book is really a novella. However, the book is a must read if you want to understand the motivations of the Queen of Luna. After her parents, the King and Queen of Levana are assassinated, Levana is the teenage younger sister of the cruel, new Queen Channery, who was responsible for causing Levana's disfigurement. This causes Levana to always be conscious of her appearance. At the same time, her love for a royal guard goes unrequited. What Levana does in response will affect her for the rest of her life.

Cress / Marissa Meyer / 550 pgs

I am absolutely in love with all of the Lunar Chronicles books I've listened to so far. Fair warning, I have not read any of these books yet, rather they have all been listened to on my commutes to and from work through CD Audiobook. Rebecca Soler continues to do an amazing job with all of the voices. She adds the voices of new characters like Jacin Clay and Princess Winter (the latter of whom sounds exactly like Harry Potter's Luna Lovegood).

In this, the third book in the series, Cinder, Wolf, Scarlet, and Carswell all decide to rescue Cress, a Lunar Shell who has been stuck on a satellite for the majority of her life. However, things go extremely badly and our group of heroes are soon torn apart. If I say any more, I shall definitely spoil it for those who have yet to read the series. Suffice to say, I feel like each book I've read in the series so far has ended up being better than the last. I am a huge Marissa Meyer fan now. I've already started Fairest and can't wait to finish the series with Winter.

Morning Star / Pierce Brown / 518 pgs.

The Red Rising trilogy ends with a huge bang. Darrow must complete what he set out to do seven years before, to "Break the Chains" of oppression that his people have lived under for seven hundred years. However, some of his friends have become his enemies while some of his enemies have become his friends. While he wages war against the Golds, a question remains, what will become of the worlds he conquers and can he lead the rebuilding after the ashes have settled?

Of the three books, Morning Star definitely my least favorite. That said, the whole trilogy was so unique that it deserves to be given as many stars as I can possibly deign to give it. What makes Morning Star difficult is that it gets a bit boring in the middle. Not from a lack of action. Far from it! But, honestly, from TOO MUCH action. I got bored from all of the fights, all of the razors and slingBlades and Olympic Knights and blood. So much bleeding! It really started to bore me and that was kind of scary when you think about it.

The heart of the series is the camaraderie between Darrow and his true friends like Sevro, Mustang, Ragnar, Victra, et cetera. When the Mr. Brown remembers that, the book is good. When it got far more gory than was necessary, it faltered. Pierce Brown did continue to do a bang up job with the dialogue, especially my favorite, Sevro. He's the master of getting different voices down and it's a shame that I've yet to get to listen to any of the audio book versions. I'll have to rectify it once I can stomach the brutality again.

Scarlet / Marissa Meyer / 452 pgs

A few weeks ago, I profiled Cinder, the first book in the Lunar Chronicles and I raved big time about it. It had been my favorite book I had read thus far in 2016. That was supplanted by Scarlet, the second book in the series (which will probably be supplanted with Cress, the third book, once I've finished it). Like Cinder, I listened to Scarlet on audio while commuting to and from work. Rebecca Solner, the narrator, is called upon to do even more accents and voices in the second book, and she does a wonderful job. We are introduced to more characters, including my favorite, Captain Carswell Thorne, as well as Scarlet Benoit, her grandmother Michelle Benoit, and Wolf. Unlike Cinder, in which almost all the action was centered around the main character, Cinder Linh, the action transitions between Scarlet and Wolf's story, Cinder's continuing story, and Emperor Kai at his palace in New Beijing. This diversity in action really makes for a better book, and I was far more on the edge of my driver's seat than I was in the first book. I HIGHLY recommend this one, but start with Cinder first.

These Broken Stars / Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner / 374 pgs.

I don't know how I feel about These Broken Stars. Rarely am I so unsure of my feelings about a book after I've finished it.  I enjoyed the book because it was part romance, but also a whole lot of sci-fi. The characters were people who I liked, which is always a big thing for me. If I don't like, or at least respect the characters in some fashion, I will generally hate the book. It's the first book in a trilogy and I have a feeling I am not going to seek out the second and third books. I think perhaps I feel like the story is complete and really does not need to go further. It's wrapped up too neatly to compel me to feel a need to read more.


The book is about Lilac, the teenage daughter of the richest man in the galaxy, aboard the luxury space liner that her father built. The liner crashes on a terraformed, but deserted planet, and Lilac has to rely on the only other sole survivor, Tarver, a young man who came from nothing to become a decorated war hero. Together they must find a way to work together to find rescue.