Reached (Matched #3) by Ally Condie: Book Review

This is the third and final installment of the Matched series of dystopian YA novels by Ally Condie. The three main characters, Cassia, Xander, and Ky, have all left the Society to join the Rising, but at high costs. Cassia is stationed as an undercover sorter working in Central. Ky is a Rising pilot, flying airships here and there and everywhere to aid their cause. And Xander is an undercover medic working in Camas. A major outbreak of a strange illness catapults the entire world into chaos, and the three friends have to rely on each other to survive and to save others.

I enjoyed this enough, but the ending just didn't satisfy me. I felt like the love between Cassia and Ky wasn't believable, probably because they were so rarely together. I couldn't understand why they were so completely devoted to each other when the last time they had any true quality time together was on the hill...in the first book. And the fact that all three of them - Cassia, Ky, and Xander - were so altruistic and completely selfless in their total devotion to one another was unbelievable to me. They are still teenagers, right? Their selflessness and sacrifice to each other (well, at least the boys' to Cassia and to each other) was just not believable. Maybe living in conditions such as those (in the Society), and seeing all the death and destruction that they saw caused them to grow up really fast, but I still feel that there would have been some hint of jealousy or selfish notions on someone's part.

There was too much external conflict in these books, and not enough of an internal conflict to make it compelling. I kind of started to feel like the Plague parts were dragging. I'd had enough of that story line by the end. My feelings toward Cassia were consistent throughout - she's my lest favorite character in this story. I like Xander and Ky more, by far. I wonder if that was the author's intent. All in all, an interesting premise for a dystopian story, and pretty well executed. I'm glad I read this one, but I believe the first book was the strongest of the three. Three stars from me.

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Read about the author, Ally Condie, on Goodreads.com.

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier: Book Review

I've been meaning to read this book for years, and I'm so glad I finally did. It was not at all what I expected, but then, I really don't know what I expected. It's the story of a young, naive woman who meets a dark, handsome, and mysterious stranger while on holiday in Monte Carlo. She becomes infatuated with him, and in a sudden, surprising moment, he asks her to marry him. She does, of course, and is soon whisked away to the infamous Manderley, his huge, gorgeous mansion of a home. But the house has two inhabitants who are not as thrilled with the fact that the master has brought home a new bride--the housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers, and the now-dead, former lady of the house, Rebecca.

I loved the dark, gothic feel--the mystery of it--throughout. However, I kept expecting there to be more of the "ghost story;" I guess I kept expecting the narrator to actually see the ghost of Rebecca somewhere in the house. It took me reading half-way through the book before I realized I did not actually know the narrator's name. I thought that was ingenious. It fit perfectly with her persistent feelings of being nothing, nobody, completely insignificant. Speaking of which, that part did annoy me. I really had very little respect for her because she obviously had zero respect for herself. I was cheered toward the end, when she said she'd finally broken free of Rebecca's and Mrs. Danvers's power over her. I was disappointed that the story ended soon after that and the reader was never able to actually see her as a new creature, reborn, and no long self-loathing and insecure. I also felt an undercurrent of lesbianism in the relationship between Rebecca and Mrs. Danvers. Theirs was certainly not a "normal" relationship; I felt that both women were somewhat mentally unstable. The narrator's tendency to daydream about what she expected to happen in each and every situation became tiresome, but I did love the detail with which she experienced and described everything.

This story was certainly reminiscent of Wuthering Heights and the like. I enjoyed it, 4 stars.

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A Discovery of Witches: Book Review

It's going to be difficult for me to rein myself in and not be too terribly critical of this book. I don't want to hurt any feelings; I know several friends who loved this one. I wanted to love it too, and I really think it could have been a fantastic story. But it just wasn't. Before I go any further, I will say that I am not interested in witches at all, so that may have colored my thinking on it from the beginning. But I was willing to give it a try, based on the glowing reviews. I was surprised at the very beginning to find that witches aren't human! I had no idea they were an entirely different creature; I always thought they were just humans with special powers. So that threw me off from the beginning, and made it much harder for me to suspend my disbelief.

Speaking of disbelief, here is a list of some of my biggest disbeliefs (I'm told this isn't a word.) from this story:
1) Diana has this amazing job as a reputable professor and researcher, and her work is so important--SHE is so important. But from about 45% until the end, SHE DOESN'T GO TO WORK OR DO ANY RESEARCH AT ALL?!! How does that work? I want a job like that.
2) Diana obviously has super-human (super-witch?) intelligence, but is she really an expert in alchemy, history, chemistry, biology, poetry, literature, religion, and every other possible subject as well? Every single line of poetry or literature that was "murmured" by the ancient vampire, or anyone near her, she instantly recognized and could recall perfectly? Yeah right.
3) Diana has resisted her witchy (yet another non-word) skills her entire life, and all of a sudden she finds she possesses every single skill ever known to witches...and then some? Really? Unbelievable. It would have been much more believable if she'd had just one or two more than what is typical for "average witches."
4) Matthew is a vampire who has lived for 1500+ years. What? That's insane. I don't buy it. Even if vampires were real. Not only that but he was also right in the thick of every single human conflict in recorded history. Right. Oh, and he was also close and personal friends to just about every famous historical figure EVER. Honestly? Yes, and not only was he personal friends with everyone famous you've ever heard about, he also has autographed copies of their original manuscripts, drawings, paintings, and anything else these famous people could have ever created. Right.
5) No one seems to have a job, but they keep going places, spending money, doing things, taking private jets and private helicopters, renting cars, buying wine and tea, etc., and spending money! Where does all this money come from? How can you just not work for 40 days and sit around the house sipping tea and taking daily walks in the apple orchard? Once again, sign me up for one of those jobs!

I could go on, but you get the picture. The author was just so over-the-top in everything she pulled into this book that it was simply too far "out there" for me to take seriously.

Harkness writes well though. It's solid writing, and for that I am thankful. Otherwise I wouldn't have bothered to finish it. But the book could have benefited from some heavy editing. I got so tired of reading detailed descriptions of Diana's rowing, running, horseback riding, and yoga workouts; what kind of wine they drank and all Diana's cups of tea; not to mention all the times Diana slept and how long she slept (usually while big stuff was happening). The first half of the book was so tedious with all this tripe, and NOTHING HAPPENED! Seriously, nothing happened until the 56% mark (thank you, Kindle), and then it was like reading a completely different book. Almost as if there were two different authors. Then the action came too fast and furious for the most part, and so much happened but nothing was really significant. Sometimes the action was so briefly described, or described so cryptically that I had to read and reread the sections several times before really figuring out what had happened. New, interesting characters were introduced but you really learn nothing about them. Nothing from the first half of the book is really even mentioned, leaving you scratching your head. In the end, no questions are answered, nothing is wrapped up, and you really have no idea where the next book is going to take you.

The most interesting character in the entire book to me was the Bishop house. What a brilliant idea! And it was so well done - just the right level of reference and inclusion in the story, and it wasn't goofy or ridiculous. I wish we could have learned a little more about the Bishop family history and how it was intertwined with the history of the house. I kind of wanted someone evil or scary to show up, so we could witness the house acting up and maybe even spitting the person/creature out. That would have been great.

2.5 stars from me, and I'm not convinced I care enough to read the second book. Sorry, friends who loved it!

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