Reading Dystopia: 1984 by George Orwell

Since I am a huge fan of the Hunger Games series, I’ve decided to start reading similar books, but not the Young Adult books like Divergent or Matched that everybody knows, but the classic Sci-fi books about dystopian worlds, the ones that started everything long time ago. So in this series, Reading Dystopia I will continue reading and reviewing until I reach a good number of books of this genre. Also, if you know some, you can always leave a comment with a recommendation! Stay with me in this journey Reading Dystopia!

 

1984 by George Orwell

It is impossible to start talking about dystopia and to completely ignore this book. If you are looking the classic story about a totalitarian regime in a future, where people are struggling with rules and laws, and where many things are prohibited, or if you’re looking something with the same feeling like The Hunger Games, even though they are not alike at all, this is your book.

“1984” was written by the famous writer and novelist George Orwell in 1949, a year before dying of tuberculosis. And since then, it has become a must-read book for everybody, those who are sci-fi lovers, and those who don’t.

The story talks about Winston Smith, a man who lives in a society in 1984 (Yes, I know, 1984 is gone long time ago!), which is protected and constantly controlled by the big brother. You know, be careful, Big Brother is watching you!

Wiston is like any other person there. He works, he barely eats, and he is in constant fear. He thinks different, he sees the misery around him, people disappearing when they do something wrong or something against the Big Brother, he realizes where he is living, the lies around him, and he wonders how the world was before the big brother. Until he meets Julia, and his life starts to change drastically. Suddenly he finds himself in a journey he doesn’t know how is going to end and when. Everything, from the angst and the frustration, the fear and the determination are important parts of this novel. And with that breathtaking ending, 1984 can’t leave you indifferent.

But that is not the only unique thing about 1984, Orwell wrote this book as a sci-fi story, a dystopian novel, talking about a far away future, this was more like a prediction. There are many countries in this world that unfortunately live under the eyes of a Big Brother, where their opinions and needs are nothing, ignored for completely, and where the rules and the laws are completely oppressive, impossible to following without getting crazy or killed. 

This book has been taken to the screen in two occasions, first in 1956, and then in 1984.  Both versions seems to represent some scenes of the book very well, but it seems that many people believe the last one is the best one. I have only seen the one from 1984, and I consider it pretty good, although some things are quite different. But you know how movies are, right? They always change something! 

I really liked this book. It starts slow, and it was a little bit hard to get used to it at the beginning, especially when you don’t know Winston’s society. But after a while, you surrender to its feet. 1984 is dark, gloomy, desperate, sad and disappointing at times, but it is realistic, and shows a dark part of societies. Recommended to all who want to leave behind those young adult books and read something more serious and adult, and recommended to all who wants to start reading sci-fi. 

Happy Reading!

Review: Loving Mr. Daniels by Brittainy C. Cherry

Title: Loving Mr. Daniels

Authors: Brittainy C. Cherry

Genre: New Adult, Romance, Contemporary

Publisher: BCherry Books Publishing

Release Date: May 11^th 2014

Format: E-book

Source: Bought

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To Whom it May Concern,
It was easy to call us forbidden and harder to call us soulmates. Yet I believed we were both. Forbidden soulmates.
When I arrived to Edgewood, Wisconsin I didn’t plan to find him. I didn't plan to stumble into Joe's bar and have Daniel's music stir up my emotions. I had no clue that his voice would make my hurts forget their own sorrow. I had no idea that my happiness would remember its own bliss.
When I started senior year at my new school, I wasn’t prepared to call him Mr. Daniels, but sometimes life happens at the wrong time for all the right reasons.
Our love story wasn’t only about the physical connection.
It was about family. It was about loss. It was about being alive. It was silly. It was painful. It was mourning. It was laughter.
It was ours.
And for those reasons alone, I would never apologize for loving Mr. Daniels.
-Ashlyn Jennings

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After reading Unveiled Innocence by Ella Frank and discovering that there are in fact many books of this topic (teacher-student seems to be a favorite theme for New Adult novels) I decided to read another one.
In Loving Mr. Daniels we meet Ashlyn Jennings, a girl of 19yrs old, who is dealing with the death of her twin sister and at the same time, trying to resolve some problems with her parents. She moves with her father and a new family, and then she meets Daniel. The chemistry is instantly, and both feel in the same way.
Later she finds the truth. He is Mr. Daniels. Her English teacher.
I had read so many good comments about this book, that this was the main reason why I picked this up instead of others. This was a lot cleaner that Unveiled Innocence, but it didn’t touch a lot the dilemma of a forbidden relationship. They meet outside school, and begin their relationship outside the classroom. Later, when they find out the truth, it doesn’t change the situation, on the contrary, it continues almost in the same way. Also, the age difference is almost none, only three years. Like the author says, or Ashlyn says, the problem wasn’t the age, but his profession, which at the end, didn’t affect the relationship at all. So if you’re looking something more “forbidden” and with more moral issues, this is not the book you want to read.
Something I realized, and I wasn’t the only one, since I read a review on Goodreads that said the same thing, it seems that all the characters in this novel were in danger of dying!!! I understand that one of the reasons why Ashlyn and Daniel connected so quickly was because both of them missed somebody, or had lost somebody they loved, but the number of deaths in this book can compete with George Martin’s books! I can count at least five deaths and maybe I’m missing someone. And there was a death I didn’t understand at all. It was completely unnecessary. So maybe the main topic of this book should have been how two people fall in love and deal with their losses, and not a forbidden relationship of a student and a teacher.
What I liked the most was the letters of Ashlyn’s sister. And again, this is something I have read in another books and seen before in movies. So, this isn’t something new. Also, the letters we have the opportunity to read are just a few, so it is a little bit disappointing if you’re expecting more.
Like many other stories of this kind, the ending is just like you expected. At the end, you find people coming to terms and finally coping with the death of their loved ones. Lots of love, a wedding, and some letters. That’s all.
I really liked the story at the beginning. I even cried a little bit with Gabrielle’s first letter, and I really liked the way they meet, and that in comparison with Unveiled Innocence, the secondary characters had more participation in the story. I liked the songs at the beginning of each chapter, and that we could see both point of views. But I ended up a little bit disappointed. I was expecting more, and I didn’t get it. Overall, it is a good book, but not a favorite.
 

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Happy Independence Day!!!!

“What light is to the eyes -- what air is to the lungs -- what love is to the heart, liberty is to the soul of man.”

Robert Green Ingersoll 

Manga Review: Kamisama Kiss by Julietta Suzuki (Vol.1-4)

Today is Thursday and it’s manga time! 



I recently had the opportunity to watch an anime called Kamisama Kiss, which is based on a manga that has the same title and is written by Julietta Suzuki. Since I really enjoyed the anime, and I wanted to continue the story, I decided to buy some volumes of the manga. 

I just finished vol. 4, which is basically all what you can see in the animated version, but it has more depth, and some extras scenes that weren’t in the anime. I’m enjoying it a lot. It’s fun, and light, although I can sense some drama coming soon. It has some mystery and lots of fantasy. Great for those who want to learn a little more about Japanese culture as well!!!

The characters are nothing you haven’t seen before, but together make the story more appealing. Nanami is a schoolgirl who is left homeless due her father’s gambling debts. For some reason, she ends up in a shrine, and becomes a deity. Tomoe is a Yokai, who lives at the shrine, and he is not very happy with Nanami. But of course, things will change… soon. 

Nanami and Tomoe are not the only characters in this manga. As the story moves forward, we meet more and more characters, and have the opportunity to discover new secrets, mysteries, and adventures. Like I said before, I finished vol. 4, and I have like 11 volumes left, so there are much more to read. 

So, if you are a fan of manga, shoujo, romance, and fantasy, I highly recommend you to try this one. It’s not the best manga you’re going to read, but at least is pretty good.

Happy Reading!

Books that I Want to Read

Books, Books, Books!!!!!! Who does not like books? 

Well, I don’t like books, I love them! So every time I see a new one that I haven’t read, I add them to my lonnnnnggggg list. Here are some that I want to read, most of them are New Adult. Or should I say all of them?.

Marvelous cover, catchy name, and pretty interesting blurb. 

I have heard so many good comments about this one, that I’m really curious. 

I’m sure I’ll identify with the main character.  

Why not?

Review: The Black Magician Trilogy by Trudi Canavan

Series: The Black Magician Trilogy

Authors: Trudi Canavan

Genre: Fantasy

Publisher: Orbit Books

Release Date: 2001-2003

Format: Paperback

Source: Bought

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"We should expect this young woman to be more powerful than our average novice, possibly even more powerful than the average magician."
This year, like every other, the magicians of Imardin gather to purge the city of undesirables. Cloaked in the protection of their sorcery, they move with no fear of the vagrants and miscreants who despise them and their work-—until one enraged girl, barely more than a child, hurls a stone at the hated invaders...and effortlessly penetrates their magical shield.
What the Magicians' Guild has long dreaded has finally come to pass. There is someone outside their ranks who possesses a raw power beyond imagining, an untrained mage who must be found and schooled before she destroys herself and her city with a force she cannot yet control.

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Although I’m a huge fan of fantasy and magic, I haven’t had the opportunity to read many books of this topic, and the trilogy of The Black Magician by Trudi Cavanan was one of them. I picked up the first book, The Magicians' Guild, only to try it out. I didn’t know the synopsis, but the cover was pretty interesting. Yes I know, its white, and only have a person with a hood, but it got my attention, so I bought it, and I read it.

The first book, The Magicians' Guild, takes place in a fantasy world, in a city called Imardin, where there are different kinds of social classes, the nobles or rich, the commoners or poor, and the magicians. The Magicians are special people who, naturally, have powers and can do things that normal people can’t. All of them come from rich families, and receive special education. That is why when a poor girl called Sonea is able to do some magic, they are desperate to find her. She is in danger if she doesn’t receive the adequate education, but Sonea, like many other poor people who live in the city's slums, hate the magicians.

The first book is slow, I must say that, and what I mean with slow is that something that shouldn’t have taken more than 3 chapters, is in fact half of the first book. That is a big downside for many, especially for those who prefer books with a plot that doesn’t get stuck with the same thing over and over again. So, if you’re able to read book one entirely, you will find out that the story is a lot more rich in the next books than it seemed at the beginning, and that in fact is pretty good.

I really liked the second book, The Novice, which reminded me Harry Potter, but it is not so great as book three, The High Lord, which is the best of all. The story gets complicated, with more magic, new cities, wars, dark magic, secrets, and why not, love. Yes, there is romance, it is not the main theme of the book, but at the end, it takes some importance. The only thing I didn’t like was the ending. Those who have read the series will know why.

There is another trilogy, The Traitor Spy, which is a sequel, so takes place in the same world but some years later. Naturally, many characters from this trilogy appear in the new one. I haven’t read it, and I’m not planning to do it, since I hated with all my heart the ending of the first trilogy. There is a pre-sequel and stand-alone novel, The Magician's Apprentice, which I will read if I have a chance. 

In conclusion, I liked the series, the story is not the best, so don’t compare it with famous fantasy books, but at least is good enough to have a great time reading.

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Trudi Canavan was born in Kew, Melbourne and grew up in Ferntree Gully, a suburb at the foothills of the Dandenongs.
In November 2001, The Magicians’ Guild was first published in Australia. The second book of the trilogy, The Novice, was published in June 2002 and was nominated for the Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Novel. The third book The High Lord was released in January 2003 and was nominated for the Best Novel Ditmar category. All three books entered Australian top ten SF bestseller lists.

Review: Veiled Innocence by Ella Frank

 



Title: Veiled Innocence

Authors: Ella Frank

Genre: New Adult, Romance, Contemporary

Publisher: Self-Published

Release Date: April 7^th 2014

Format: E-book

Source: Bought

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Tick, tick, tock.

Time.

That’s all I have now.
A small room, a photograph, and time.
They want me to trust them and confess my sins.
They told me they wouldn't judge me—they lied.
I thought we could convince the world that this wasn't a crime.
We were wrong.
Time doesn't stand still.
The clock keeps ticking, the world is unconvinced, and now…
Now he is gone.

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I’ve been gone for a while and when I return I find a new genre. New Adult. Well, it’s not new at all, it have been here, always, but not so well known and used, but I’m sure it will develop more in a not so far away future.

But if you, like me, don’t know what New Adult is, let me explain to you the important characteristics. First, age. Young adult books are for teenagers and people under the age of 18 years old. New Adult is focused on people between the ages of 18 to mid-20s, post high school, where many of the main characters are experimenting with their lives, love, relationships, jobs, and college. Now, the other big factor is sex, and even though New Adult is not so descriptive as many other books are, they are definitive for +18yrs.

Unveiled Innocence is a book that is under the category of New Adult. It is written and self-published by Ella Frank, who already has some other romance novels. This story is the typical forbidden romance, teacher-student, which many people including myself, love and never get tired of. Grayson McKendrick is a History teacher, who has decided to come back to town because his father is sick. Addison is a young girl of 18 years old, but don’t be fooled with her, she knows what she wants, and she’s determined to get what she desires, and the new teacher is one of those things.

My first impression was not good. Addison is different; so don’t expect a naïve, or an innocent girl, because she is not. And that was something that surprised me so much at the beginning that I didn’t like her. But as I continued reading, my opinion changed. She has a dark past, something that she regrets with all her heart, and that has affected not only her behavior but also her parent’s. She is sad, she needs somebody to trust, and to love, and that is when Grayson McKendrick arrives.

I had some troubles understanding their relationship as something else than desire and lust. I found myself in many occasions with my mouth hanging open, thinking how was possible that she was doing certain things, things that I wouldn’t do ever in my life. I mean, that scene in the car and the classroom…OMG! Again, that was at the beginning of the book. There were such scenes that I thought for a moment that this book had in fact nothing more than sex. Fortunately, the story continued in a way that I really enjoyed. It became more dramatic, showed more feelings, and after that I realized that I was somewhat interested in the fate of the characters. The secondary characters are just a few, and their participation is almost none in the first part of the book. Naturally, their presence increases in the second part, but not so much.

I really liked the way Frank worked out the story, how she intercalated the flashbacks with the present, and the point of view of Grayson. It was interesting seeing the story from his point of view too!

Although I wasn’t too happy with the development of the story when I started reading, I ended up falling in love with the story. This is not the best book I’ve ever read, no, and it won’t be, but at least it gave me that curious sensation of happiness when I finished the last chapter. It is a nice reading for those lovers of romance books.

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Ella Frank: I am first and foremost a proud Australian, but currently reside in Texas with my husband. I love to read and write contemporary and erotic romances, but I also like to step outside of the box at times when it comes to telling a story that really speaks to me.

Review: Devil's Wake by S. Barnes & T. Due

Title: Devil’s Wake 

Authors: Steven Barnes, 

         Tananarive Due

Genre: Apocalyptic, 

          Post-apocalyptic, Zombies

Publisher:
         Atria Books

Release Date: 

         July 31st 2011

Format: Paperback, 288 pages

Source: Publisher

I always thought that I didn’t like books about zombies or any other type of monsters that want to kill you or bite you. And maybe that’s the reason why I have avoided those types of books, even though sometimes I have felt curious about them. Just once, I decided to read one, (Young Adult book) and the only thing I can recall is how disappointed I was. And then, I saw Devil’s Wake and I wanted to read it. Just like an experiment. I didn’t know if I was going to hate it or love it. The only reason why I decided to try it is because I liked the name, the cover and because it looked like an interesting and different read. And let me tell you… you can’t imagine how happy I am right now… because I’m totally in love with this book.

Steven Barnes, Tananarive Due… where have you been all this time?

Devil’s Wake is about a world that is becoming something else. A world where people are turning into “Freaks” who want to kill and bite the rest of the humans. Kendra is a young girl who finds herself in a world where she can’t trust anyone.  All her family is gone, and she is headed to “Devil’s Wake”, a place, where she might find some relatives and some security. In her dangerous journey, she will meet other kids that are in a similar situation.

When I started reading this book, I must admit I didn’t like it too much. The story starts in the same day when everything or almost everything is happening, and it was a little bit difficult for me to get used to what I was reading, and to be able to understand it clearly. But after a few pages, everything starts to make sense, and then I realized that I really liked the way it started, because there were no long introductions or boring passages, on the contrary, the book maintains the reader on the edge of their seats.

The story is amazing, breathtaking, heartbreaking and incredibly realistic. I was able to see the changes with my own eyes, and I could understand the fear and the sadness people felt. The characters are amazing. All of them have their own stories and they are credible. Not all of them are good, or bad, they just behave like real people behave in that type of situation or similar. They not always make the right decisions and of course, you can feel their fears and how their dreams are mostly gone.

Devil’s Wake was a great surprise for me. I never thought I would like a book like this one, but I did. It was a marvelous read, very enjoyable, and the best of all, it wasn't as descriptive as I feared it would be.  Like I said at the top of the review, this is my first time reading something like this, but I’m sure it won’t be the last one. Now I’m looking for something similar while I wait for the next book of the series.

This book deserves five stars… and it’s a favorite.

 

Tananarive Due is an award-winning Essence bestselling author of Blood Colony, Good House, and Joplin’s Ghost. She lives in Smyrna, Georgia.

Steven Barnes is an award-winning author of twenty-three novels, including the New York Times bestseller Star Wars: The Cestus Deception. He lives in Smyrna, Georgia.

Review: The Playdate by Louise Millar

Title: The Playdate 

Author: Louise Millar

Genre: Psychological Thriller

Publisher:
         Atria/ Emily Bestler Books

Release Date: 

         July 3^rd 2011

Format: Paperback, 432 pages

Source: Publisher

“You leave your kids with a friend. Everyone does it. Until the day it goes wrong.”

When I got this book, I didn’t know anything about the author or the story itself. It was the first time I was hearing about this book, but I was totally intrigued after reading the blurb. The idea of a psychological thriller was very appealing.

The story talks about three different women who live in a quiet London suburb. The first one, Callie, is an unemployed single mother, who needs to take care of her delicate daughter, Rae, but at the same time wants to go back to work and to be able to have a normal life like other women have.

 On the other hand, we have Suzy, the only friend Callie has. A woman that at first sight looks perfect. She has everything a woman might want. She is beautiful and has a handsome and rich husband, and three lovely kids. But her life is not so perfect. She is not so perfect.  

And the last one, it’s Debs, a woman who just move in to the neighborhood with her husband. She is a teacher. She looks normal, like any person, but she is hiding some secrets.

I really liked this book. When I started reading it, I thought it would be a simple women’s fiction book that talks about women’s troubles and their lives. But it’s more than that. This book is realistic, credible. The characters are all different, with their own problems, fears, desires and secrets. And it was easy for me to relate to them and to understand them, even though I’m not in the same situation.

The author did a wonderful job. I’m in love with her writing style. Every time I opened the book I was transported to that suburb and inside those women’s minds.

Full of twists, secrets, and some mystery, this book is a really good read. 

I wasn’t expecting to like The Playdate so much. The story, the characters, everything was great and very enjoyable. This is Louise Millar’s first book, but it won’t be the last one. I’m looking forward to what she will bring us next.

Happy Reading! 

Louise Millar was brought up in Scotland. She began her journalism career in mainly music and film magazines, working as a sub-editor forKerrang!, Smash Hits, the NMEand Empire. She later moved into features, working as a commissioning editor on women's magazines. She has written forMarie Claire, Red, Psychologies, Stella (Telegraph magazine), theIndependent, the Observer, Glamour, Stylist and Eve.