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Since I'm now on campus and I don't have easy access to new fiction, recently I've been reading excerpts on Amazon to satisfy my craving for new books. And, as usual, I have things to say about the excerpts I read.
Matched - Ally Condle
YA Dystopian. Actually, the first few pages were really readable and intriguing. I would argue that the premise is more believable than Lauren Oliver's Delirium, which is kind of similar. From the reviews, unfortunately it sounds like the romance goes downhill after the main character meets her Designated Love Interest, which seems a shame.
The Vespertine - Saundra Mitchell
YA Historical Fiction. Reading this book was like reading poetry. The writing is absolutely gorgeous...but (1) half of the time I couldn't actually picture in my head what she was describing; (2) I got bored with all the descriptions of nineteenth-century-American upper-class-life (and I've enjoyed Austen, so it's not just a time period thing); (3) I know that the main character is half-Dutch and half-Chinese, but that never seems to actually play a role in the story (which seems like an anachronism to me, because there weren't many Asians in Baltimore in the 1800s, so her appearance would be unusual and probably remarked upon); (4) the characters spent a long time mooning over love interests and not doing anything that interesting; and (5) I didn't really like the main characters anyway. (As I said, they don't do much.)
Oh, and another thing that bothered me: the scene transitions were really choppy. I find that puzzling, because I have this problem a lot in my rough drafts, but I always assumed choppy scenes in a final draft = big no-no. Hmm.
Wither (Chemical Garden, Book 1) - Lauren DeStefano
YA Dystopian. This is a seriously bleak story. The premise is somewhat controversial, I suppose (polygamy is the centerpiece of it), but I don't understand why girls (1) die sooner and (2) are randomly murdered, if they don't become prostitutes or wives. For (1), females usually live longer than males according to biology. As for (2)...HELLO, you're dooming your own population here. Anyhow, reading this book felt like being in a sunless room with stale air--the writing and story just felt gray, gritty, and bleak.
The Shifter (Healing Wars, Book 1) - Janice Hardy
YA Fantasy. Yet ANOTHER book that takes far too long for the main plot to kick in. On the up side, it's very readable, and the idea of a pain-based economy is actually pretty interesting.
...Totally random tangent, but why does it seem like a lot of female authors write Dystopians these days? (Then again, Dystopians these days are really more Dystopian-Romance, particularly with books such as Matched and Delirium that revolve around controlling/eradicating love.)
Matched - Ally Condle
YA Dystopian. Actually, the first few pages were really readable and intriguing. I would argue that the premise is more believable than Lauren Oliver's Delirium, which is kind of similar. From the reviews, unfortunately it sounds like the romance goes downhill after the main character meets her Designated Love Interest, which seems a shame.
The Vespertine - Saundra Mitchell
YA Historical Fiction. Reading this book was like reading poetry. The writing is absolutely gorgeous...but (1) half of the time I couldn't actually picture in my head what she was describing; (2) I got bored with all the descriptions of nineteenth-century-American upper-class-life (and I've enjoyed Austen, so it's not just a time period thing); (3) I know that the main character is half-Dutch and half-Chinese, but that never seems to actually play a role in the story (which seems like an anachronism to me, because there weren't many Asians in Baltimore in the 1800s, so her appearance would be unusual and probably remarked upon); (4) the characters spent a long time mooning over love interests and not doing anything that interesting; and (5) I didn't really like the main characters anyway. (As I said, they don't do much.)
Oh, and another thing that bothered me: the scene transitions were really choppy. I find that puzzling, because I have this problem a lot in my rough drafts, but I always assumed choppy scenes in a final draft = big no-no. Hmm.
Wither (Chemical Garden, Book 1) - Lauren DeStefano
YA Dystopian. This is a seriously bleak story. The premise is somewhat controversial, I suppose (polygamy is the centerpiece of it), but I don't understand why girls (1) die sooner and (2) are randomly murdered, if they don't become prostitutes or wives. For (1), females usually live longer than males according to biology. As for (2)...HELLO, you're dooming your own population here. Anyhow, reading this book felt like being in a sunless room with stale air--the writing and story just felt gray, gritty, and bleak.
The Shifter (Healing Wars, Book 1) - Janice Hardy
YA Fantasy. Yet ANOTHER book that takes far too long for the main plot to kick in. On the up side, it's very readable, and the idea of a pain-based economy is actually pretty interesting.
...Totally random tangent, but why does it seem like a lot of female authors write Dystopians these days? (Then again, Dystopians these days are really more Dystopian-Romance, particularly with books such as Matched and Delirium that revolve around controlling/eradicating love.)
