"Enders (Starters #2)" by Lissa Price, 2014

"Enders (Starters #2)" by Lissa Price, 2014

With a promising start and a great setup from the previous book in the series, the book still manages to somehow fall short from delivering its potential. The novel quickly fell apart about a quarter of the way in and never really recovered.

From the previous book (Starters) , we are left with our protagonist, Callie Woodland, escaping evil mind-swapping services provided by Prime Destinations and the "old man" who heads the institution.  In the midst of her adventure, she gains the trust of the elderly woman Helena who rented her body and eventually inherits half of her vast estate. The riches she acquired allows her younger brother and herself to live in the lap of luxury.

In this sequel, somewhat appropriately name Enders (because this ended my desire to read another book in this series), Callie sets off to identify the "old man" in order to put and end to his reign of terror over her loved ones and to find a way to remove the chip from her head.

Along the way, she finds Helena's granddaughter, Emma, who
eventually leads her to reunite with her father whom she thought was dead.

With our expectation and buildup of the Emma subplot from the previous book, it was a bit of a disappointment to discover she is just a vain, impatient, unlikable character who gets her head popped off (blown up) senselessly.

In the end, Callie is recruited into a "CIA" or some other government black ops group for the chip in her head that allows her to be remote-controlled and for the modification of the chip that bypasses her morals and ethics, allowing her to kill.


The problem I found with this book is that the characters seem to behave outside of what is expected

of them based on how the author wrote and developed the characters.  For someone who has been living on the streets and very street-smart like our heroine Callie Woodland, I would expect her to be clued-in and didn't do obviously stupid things (i.e., getting mugged in a bad neighborhood while driving her nice fancy car when she went on an errand of distributing sandwiches to the poor).

As if the inconsistent character behaviors weren't enough, useless antics are thrown in for good measure. An over the top carnival-like show of "shoot your father" and topped off with a government black ops group recruiting Callie at the end added to the incredulity of it all.

My rating ★★☆☆☆ (2 out of 5 stars) - It was ok.

"Starters (Starters #1)" by Lissa Price, 2012

"Starters (Starters #1)" by Lissa Price, 2012

Fast-paced, near-futuristic, and inventive with twists-- "Starters" is a good mystery story that unfolds in a science-fiction dystopic society.

In a future not far off, everyone between the age of twenty (20) and sixty (60) is wiped out during the Spore War. Through the establishment Prime Destinations, seniors above sixty (60), also known as Enders, can rent the bodies of Starters, anyone under the age of twenty (20). Through this service, the renter can live their lives in younger bodies, experiencing life anew, for an agreed period of time.

Our heroine Callie Woodland is smart, caring, and an unclaimed minor who lives like a fugitive. To make money to care for her younger brother, she agrees to rent her body out to an Ender through Prime Destinations and quickly finds herself in the midst of a body snatching mystery and a murder conspiracy.

Though this novel is classified as Young Adult (YA), I found it quite enjoyable. Others have compared this book to "Hunger Games" and "Divergent" series".  I, however, think it's original, with a clever premise, and a fun mystery-adventure ride.


My Rating: ★★★★☆ (4 out of 5 stars) - I really liked it.

Ender's Shadow (Ender's Shadow #1), by Orson Scott Card, 1998

Ender's Shadow (Ender's Shadow #1), by Orson Scott Card, 1998

Interesting, entertaining, and surprisingly enough not Ender's Game.

I've put off reading this book for a couple of years. I felt I had enough OSC (Orson Scott Card) preachiness after reading the Ender's Game series from Ender's Game to Children of the Mind.

I was surprised to find this story goes back to Ender's Game. Not quite a re-telling of the same story, but rather a new perspective on the events and outcome of Ender's Game.

Bean, was a minor character in Ender's Game. However, here, Bean receives full billing. We get to know Bean. How he earned his name. his special talents. How he lands in battle school. And his relationship to Ender Wiggins.

Seeing through Bean's eyes added new depth and understanding to Ender's Game. The cast of characters is more complete with the additional perspective of Bean from Enders'.

On it's own, the story is good, if not fantastic. There is enough original story to be considered separate from Ender's tale. The beauty is in how the author wove it in seamlessly to Ender's Game.

Bean is a homeless child living in hellish conditions in the streets of Rotterdam. He escapes his circumstance by gaining notice from Sister Carlotta. He is tested and discovered to have an incredible mind and super increased intelligence; traits the battle school is looking for in recruits for the impending war against the Buggers (The Formics).

While in battle school Bean meets Ender and eventually develops an uneasy, if not distant relationship. At first, Ender doesn't seem to recognize Bean's abilities, but time shows that Ender was grooming Bean as his tactical support.

The main theme rests on Bean's struggle with the battle school administration; tyring to uderstand the reasoning for their actions, their treatment of Ender, what they may have in store for him. Amongst all of this, Bean has to contend with the reappearance of someone (Achilles) from his time in the streets of Rotterdam.

My rating: ★★★★☆ (4 out of 5 stars) - I really liked it.

Hissers, by Ryan C. Thomas, 2011

Hissers, by Ryan C. Thomas, 2011

I know what you are wondering, so I will start by saying, "Yes, it's another <groan> zombie story."  In a sea of zombie novels out there, the only thing that sets this book apart is the main cast of characters happens to be all junior high teens kids. And as such, the story is told from their immature point of view.

In the prologue, the dialog between a general and scientist in a government lab pretty much sets up the entire story to come. While the epilogue doesn't do much except sets up the sequel.

The meat of the story contains no plot twists or surprises. It's fairly straightforward; survive while starting at location A and travelling to location B. What might some find of some interest is how the teens thought process worked and placed them in several bad situations. In essence, lack of information coupled with immaturity led them to some bad decisions.

Somewhere in zombie groans, grunts, and grabs, a teen coming of age tale was buried. It wasn't until the latter half of the book when I finally got a whiff of it.

author: Ryan C. Thomas

For me, I found it hard to relate to the point of views of the teens nor believable. A few times, I felt some inconsistencies with how, I thought, a teen behave given the predicament.

Others reviewers claimed the story to be fast-paced and full of action. I mostly disagree. With the exception of a few scenes, most of everything with importance to the plot occurred at a humdrum pace. While I get, the entire story takes place over one weekend, adding chapter opening lines that state date and time to elicit urgency and haste didn't work for  me. Instead, it had the reverse intended effect.

My rating: ★☆☆☆☆ (1 out of 5 stars) - I did not like it.

Paper Towns by John Green, 2009

Paper Towns by John Green, 2009

Who is the real Margo? Well, that would be Alaska!

I decided to pick up and read this book before the soon-to-be-released movie version is out in the theaters. With all the attention John Green books have been receiving lately, I figured now might be a good time to get caught-up with his books; not to mention being able to talk about Paper Towns to others without having to sit through the movie.

It's yet another story about an unbelievable teenager secretly loving another unbelievable teenager.  I found a lot of things absurd that I simply had to consider amusing otherwise I wouldn't have been able to get through the book.

In a nutshell, Quentin falls in love with Margo. She disappears. He takes a road trip, guided by "clues", to find her . He finds her in a "paper town". He goes home.

Personally, this book might as well be Looking for Alaska, John Green's earlier prize winning book.  Paper Towns just isn't as interesting as Looking for Alaska.

My rating: ★★☆☆☆ (2 out of 5 stars) - It was ok.

"Rebels: City of Indra: The Story of Lex and Livia (City of Indra #1)", by Kendall Jenner, Kylie Jenner, Maya Sloan, 2014

"Rebels: City of Indra: The Story of Lex and Livia (City of Indra #1)"

 by Kendall Jenner, Kylie Jenner, Maya Sloan, 2014

I can't even.... so instead I'll just give you the  top 10 best reviews on Amazon of the Jenner girls’ new book.

Perhaps they should have had some of these reviewers help them write their book. At least it would have been entertaining.

1. “B.D.” compares the book to toilet paper…
“Garbage from start to finish. Don’t bother wasting your time or money on this piece of trash. The trees that died to make the paper for this book would have been better off as toilet paper.”

2. “T. O’Connor” gives the girls suggestions for their next literary masterpiece…
“To the authors, I have a suggestion for your next book. It might actually be something you know about. Although you’ll probably have to get a ghost writer for that too. It should be called, ‘Your Big Sister Gets Pissed on In Film: How to Make it Work for You.’”

3. “Madison” mourned the loss of the trees it took to create the book….
“By the time I reached 240 or was it 242, I wanted to shriek like a hellion and soil my tablet with whatever gunk I could find. But, I love my tablet way too much to soil it for anything (even the loss of my brain cells)…I’m mentally holding a memorial service for the trees that perished because Kylie and Kendall decided to “write” a book.”

4. “Alexandra Ware” managed to find a good use for this book–warding off coffee shop creeps!
“Are you tired of cute hipster guys or girls hitting on you in the coffee shop while you try and have a quiet read with an almond milk soy cap frap? Me too! This book acts like an EMP on Sentinels, it shuts that s*** down. Money saving tip – Just print off the front cover and stick it to any old book you’re reading. Honestly, don’t buy it – otherwise you’re just enabling the Cardissian’s filler addiction.”

5. “Knox Kingston” gives us a peek into how this whole mess began….

“I can only imagine how this all begin…
“OMG, like, I’m bored. You know what we should do? We should, like, write a book.”
“OMG I know, right? Writing books is soooo easy.”
“So what do we have to do?”
“Well, like, apparently we have to sit down and write a lot of words.”
“Ugh, that sucks SOOO bad. I don’t even like words. Isn’t there an easier way?”
“I think, like, we can just hire a ghost writer or whatever.”
“Oh, cool! So hey, ghost writer lady, like, can you write a book about us as like, I don’t know, Hunger Games girls? And make us super cute, okay?”
“Totes. And call us when it’s done, cuz, like, we totally gotta have a book party or whatever those author nerds do when they make a book. We love parties.”
“Totes!”
Then the book is released, IQ points are massively destroyed world wide, and I die a little inside from even having written this review.”

6. “David” offers advice for a more exciting alternative purchase…
“Kim Kardashian’s sex tape had a better plot and a more powerful climax. At least there were no misspelled words, I gave it star for that.”

7. “K. Sanderson” figured out how this book came to be…
“I really think that the ghost writer just slammed her head against the keyboard and came up with this crap.”

8. “Luke”— I’d pay to see what you suggest…
“Jenner & Jenner should stay out of novel-writing for the same reasons Stephen King should stay out of bikini modeling–though I’ll venture he’d do a far better job of crossing over careers than they have here.”

9. “Rebecca Wordd” does remind us that the Jenners are good at a few things…
“Awful book, no plot development, character development-what the heck? Sorry pretty little girls-stick to what you do best, posing for selfies and shopping.”

10. “I. Patricia” proves that the characters in the book are based off of Kylie and Kendall…
“The characters were poorly developed – Lex and Livia, are they serious? You just don’t get attached to them, they seem like puppets without real emotions, they act like puppets with no mind…”

My rating: ☆☆☆☆☆ (0 out of 5 stars)