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More YA, mostly dystopia
May. 19th, 2011 07:25 pmI think after this I'll be caught up on my reading. For now.
Before I Fall (Oliver) 3/5. YA mainstreamish. I almost typed "dystopia," I'm getting so used to using that word. Anyway. Car accidents and death and life and stuff like that. A bit on the problematic side (in my opinion Izzy Willy-Nilly did a similar kind of theme in a much less mawkish way), but gets points for recognizing the kinds of things that ought to be noticed and by doing it in what is, overall, a non-cliche kind of way. Good teenage read.
Delirium (Oliver) 2/5. It's hard for me to believe that Before I Fall was her first book and Delirium was her second. This is a mass of cliches about True Luv that never, ever even thinks about engaging with what ought to be the central question (that is, not "Is it evil to deny people True Love?" but rather, "Is it evil to deny people choices if it increases their happiness?"). When I start making up speeches for the villains because I think theirs are so poor... you know it's a bad sign.
Across the Universe (Revis) 3/5. YA dystopian-spaceship SF. This gets huuuuuge brownie points from me by being just about the only YA dystopia I've read lately where the characters actually realize that, hey, you know, maybe there are reasons why the oppressive non-freedom-loving rules are there other than "we want to stomp on your face forever, thanks!" I mean, sure, absolute corruption and all that, but I was getting really bored at reading about nothing but absolute corruption. Also props for having the main character not necessarily be Extreme Beacon of Truth and Light Compared to Absolute Corruption.
Enclave (Aguirre) 3/5. I liked this a little more than the other YA dystopias I've been reading lately -- I think partially because the writing seems just a hair better (like, Aguirre doesn't seem completely tone-deaf) and partially because I was reacting to Divergent's silly let's-coopt-SF-so-I-can-sound-gritty-even-though-this-is-really-fantasy -- at least this one engages with its post-apocalyptic landscape, you know? She even tried to put some thought into how it worked, as well as into Deuce herself (who seems to be able to talk about her hunting skills semi-knowledgably). And there's even a character arc for more than one character (reeeeally rare in these things), though it's somewhat brief and truncated. The whole thing did end kind of abruptly, in a way that almost makes me think that she got to the end of the material she'd thought about carefully and so had to wrap everything up.
A Wizard of Mars (Duane) 3+/5 - I thought this held together a lot better than Wizards at War, though without the "10-year reunion!!" feel of the latter. Just as well, I suppose. The emotional arc at the core reminded me a bit of one of the most moving parts of Bujold's Paladin of Souls, which I then had to go back and reread. Of course, the Bujold is better and more adult (neither of which implies the other, of course!), not least because Ista's speech is waaaaay shorter than Nita's, but I still liked the Duane quite a bit. Also, more Dairine, please! (She's clearly gearing up for gettting more screen time in another book or two, but I want it sooner rather than later!) Also, it was somewhat refreshing to find an alien race that behaves worse than humans; I haven't seen one of those in a while, it seems. Anyway, a solid addition to the canon. Not one of my favorites, but not one of the worst either.
Before I Fall (Oliver) 3/5. YA mainstreamish. I almost typed "dystopia," I'm getting so used to using that word. Anyway. Car accidents and death and life and stuff like that. A bit on the problematic side (in my opinion Izzy Willy-Nilly did a similar kind of theme in a much less mawkish way), but gets points for recognizing the kinds of things that ought to be noticed and by doing it in what is, overall, a non-cliche kind of way. Good teenage read.
Delirium (Oliver) 2/5. It's hard for me to believe that Before I Fall was her first book and Delirium was her second. This is a mass of cliches about True Luv that never, ever even thinks about engaging with what ought to be the central question (that is, not "Is it evil to deny people True Love?" but rather, "Is it evil to deny people choices if it increases their happiness?"). When I start making up speeches for the villains because I think theirs are so poor... you know it's a bad sign.
Across the Universe (Revis) 3/5. YA dystopian-spaceship SF. This gets huuuuuge brownie points from me by being just about the only YA dystopia I've read lately where the characters actually realize that, hey, you know, maybe there are reasons why the oppressive non-freedom-loving rules are there other than "we want to stomp on your face forever, thanks!" I mean, sure, absolute corruption and all that, but I was getting really bored at reading about nothing but absolute corruption. Also props for having the main character not necessarily be Extreme Beacon of Truth and Light Compared to Absolute Corruption.
Enclave (Aguirre) 3/5. I liked this a little more than the other YA dystopias I've been reading lately -- I think partially because the writing seems just a hair better (like, Aguirre doesn't seem completely tone-deaf) and partially because I was reacting to Divergent's silly let's-coopt-SF-so-I-can-sound-gritty-even-though-this-is-really-fantasy -- at least this one engages with its post-apocalyptic landscape, you know? She even tried to put some thought into how it worked, as well as into Deuce herself (who seems to be able to talk about her hunting skills semi-knowledgably). And there's even a character arc for more than one character (reeeeally rare in these things), though it's somewhat brief and truncated. The whole thing did end kind of abruptly, in a way that almost makes me think that she got to the end of the material she'd thought about carefully and so had to wrap everything up.
A Wizard of Mars (Duane) 3+/5 - I thought this held together a lot better than Wizards at War, though without the "10-year reunion!!" feel of the latter. Just as well, I suppose. The emotional arc at the core reminded me a bit of one of the most moving parts of Bujold's Paladin of Souls, which I then had to go back and reread. Of course, the Bujold is better and more adult (neither of which implies the other, of course!), not least because Ista's speech is waaaaay shorter than Nita's, but I still liked the Duane quite a bit. Also, more Dairine, please! (She's clearly gearing up for gettting more screen time in another book or two, but I want it sooner rather than later!) Also, it was somewhat refreshing to find an alien race that behaves worse than humans; I haven't seen one of those in a while, it seems. Anyway, a solid addition to the canon. Not one of my favorites, but not one of the worst either.
