Review: Symbiont (Parasitology #2) by Mira Grant

As is usually the case for this time of year, I've done none of the things that I'd planned to accomplish before Christmas, incuding getting up-to-date with reviews. I've been super ill and tired lately, as well as the usual festive busy-ness (I went to Lincoln with a friend yesterday and had the best time ever), but I couldn't not write about Symbiont. The first book in this series, Parasite, was one of the best books I read in 2013, so I started this the second I got my grubby little paws on it.

Plot summary:

THE ENEMY IS INSIDE US.

The SymboGen-designed parasites were created to relieve humanity of disease and sickness. But the implants in the majority of the world's population began attacking their hosts, turning them into a ravenous horde.

Now those who do not appear to be afflicted are being gathered for quarantine as panic spreads, but Sal and her companions must discover how the parasites are taking over their hosts, what their eventual goal is and how they can be stopped.

Whilst I enjoyed this book a lot more than the second book in the Newsflesh series, I'd have to admit that Mira Grant isn't the best at mid-series novels. Symbiont is reasonably good, but falls prey to most of the traps that these things usually fall in to - a lot of talking and travelling around without a whole lot of plot advancement. It's probably safe to say that Symbiont could be removed from the trilogy and the story would remain more or less the same.

I did like this book, as I love the world that the author has created. I find the concept of Intestinal Bodyguards fascinating (if slightly gross) and really well thought-out so I've been looking forward to engrossing myself in the concept again. We don't learn much on top of what we already knew, but then it was explained so thoroughly in Parasite that I don't think we really needed much more.

The between-chapter blog posts and character interviews remain, which add interesting background information. The addition of Tansy's chapters really interested me though. They're brief but brutal, and completely add a stream of horror throughout the novel.

Where the concept falls down slightly, however, is the slight change of tone from the last book. It picks up almost exactly where Parasite left off, but there's quite a large jump in the way the tapeworms are viewed. We're instantly expected to see them as being equal to humans, having as much right to survive as us, but that's asking a bit much this early on. It's as if it tries to pose a moral question that doesn't quite work. It's like asking, 'Hey, if you had to run over either an ant or a person, which would you choose?' and expecting someone to seriously ponder the answer. The best thing about Parasite was how it made tapeworms taking over the world seem believable, but it's lost a little of that now.

Sal seems to accept her new situation incredibly quickly. The narrative attempts to explain it away by saying 'Oh, I guess I always secretly knew!' but no, that's a cop-out. Show me the reaction! It was such a killer ending to Parasite, but it's cheapened slightly by the failure to deal with it properly. Mira Grant has a habit of creating huge plot twists, but then almost taking them back in the following book. 

I kind of liked Sal in the first book, but she's getting annoying now. The melodrama about travelling in cars was always irritating but there's more wandering about in Symbiont, so there's more snivelling. It almost seems like so many people complained about it after Parasite that Sal constantly reiterates how reasonable it is for her to be scared of cars. And I do mean constantly. Shut up already.

This review sounds as if I didn't like Symbiont, but it wasn't that bad. It's just very middle-bookish. The ending is very interesting and I can't wait to see where Mira Grant goes with that. Well, assuming she doesn't backtrack on it...

Read my review of Parasite, the first book in the Parasitology series.

Review: Blackout (Newsflesh #3) by Mira Grant

This book was always going to be a risk for me - I liked Feed, hated Deadline and obviously Parasite is the greatest book ever. With such a mishmash of quality, who knew how the final book of the Newsflesh series was going to turn out? Thankfully, it turned out pretty well so we can all just stop hanging off the edge of our seats now.

Contains spoilers for both the previous books.

Plot summary: The year is 2041, and Shaun Mason is having a bad day. Everyone he knows is dead or in hiding. The world is doing its best to end itself for the second time. The Centre for Disease Control is out to get him. With too much left to do and not much time left to do it in, he must face mad scientists, zombie bears and rogue government agencies before the conspiracy that killed Georgia manages to kill the only thing he has left of her - the truth.

And if there's one thing he knows is true in this post-zombie, post-resurrection America, it's this: Things can always get worse.

I'll admit this took me a while to really get into, but I suspect that's mostly due to the suspicion with which I was viewing it. I was profoundly unimpressed with the predecessor, so it's only natural I was wary at first. It picked up (or I got over myself, either way) around the 1/4 mark or so and I ended up reading the remainder almost in one sitting.

It's a whole lot less lazy than Deadline, which is a pleasant surprise. There's more explanation and in-depth character examination, instead of shoving a fact at us and running off on another road-trip. There is quite a large event that relies far, far too much on coincidence and is, on the whole, written shockingly badly, but the book itself is much better put together than the previous. I'd even go so far as to say that it's written quite well.

Georgia's chapters are infinitely more interesting than Shaun's, although his 'voice' was part of the reason I didn't like Deadline in the first place. We already knew everything that was going on with his situation as it hasn't changed a whole lot from the previous book, so it seemed slower in comparison. To be fair though, he has improved. He seemed a lot less irritatingly thuglike in Blackout and so I didn't quite feel the need to throttle him. 

Georgia... hmm. Georgia is quite irritating, which is a shame as I kind of liked her in the first book. Now she's turned into a caricatured primadonna-ed version of herself, dramatically demanding Coke (the fizzy kind, although the alternative may do her some good) and her sunglasses. I appreciate that she's supposed to be a strong, female character but she's too far in the other direction now and there lies only smugness and arrogance.

I am impressed with her identity issues, however. It would have been incredibly easy to gloss over her doubts over her new existence, but they're given quite a lot of page space. It's something new and interesting to add to what could have easily become another generic zombie book.

Minor relationship spoilers below:

YES! I CALLED IT! Remember how I was all 'yeeeeeah, their relationship is creepy' and everyone was all 'Don't make it weird, Hanna?' I WAS DAMN-WELL RIGHT. See? Sometimes siblings are just fucking each other.  

I hate this. Hate it hate it hate it. I'm actually fairly liberal about incest - if you're both consenting adults, do whatever the hell you like. But this is weird, unnecessary and it just doesn't work. I don't care that they were adopted, they refer to each other as brother and sister throughout. 

They could easily have just been close siblings who bonded over their lack of parental love, but no. They just had to add incest in for shock value, they didn't they!? Somehow this is what makes it unbelievable, not the zombies.

And we're done.

It's not perfect - there are a few issues such as the apparent ability to explain complex immuno-virology lab reports, yet struggling over whether clones have fingerprints. It's nothing major, just a few little things that break my concentration occasionally. The plot isn't as clear as it could be, but I never felt like it was completely going over my head.

On the whole, I really liked Blackout - it's a huge improvement on Deadline and I'm glad I persevered with the series. The characters develop in interesting ways, Georgia especially, although I'm not thrilled with the sub-plot that I totally predicted (see spoilery section above). The thing that made it though, was the time taken to explain new developments and ensuring that readers were fully on board before haring off to the new plot twist.

Read my reviews of Feed (positive) and Deadline (not so positive), the first and second books in the Newsflesh series.   

Review: Deadline (Newsflesh #2) by Mira Grant

Hmm. Alright, well, let's start with what we already know. Parasite, also by Mira Grant, was easily one of the best books of 2013, no question. Somehow, tapeworms taking over the world made perfect sense. Feed, which I read earlier this year was very good, although not quite on a par with Parasite. Yay for well-thought-out zombies. Deadline is the book after Feed, and therefore the next in the Newsflesh series. Everybody with me so far?

Contains spoilers for Feed.

Plot summary: Shaun Mason is a man without a mission. Not even running the news organisation he built with his sister has the same urgency as it used to. Playing with dead things just doesn't seem as fun when you've lost as much as he has.

But when a researcher from the Centre for Disease Control fakes her own death and appears on his doorstep with a ravenous pack of zombies in tow, Shaun's relieved to find a new purpose in life. Because this researcher comes bearing news: the monster who attacked them may be destroyed, but the conspiracy is far from dead.

Now, Shaun hits the road to find what truth can be found at the end of a shotgun.

  
These aren't your typical zombie horror books, not are they the standard YA post-apocalyptic tripe. They're not YA, for a start. The prose is very advanced and holds your attention, which isn't an easy feat whilst explaining advanced immuno-biology. Secondly, whilst zombies are involved, it's definitely more sci-fi than horror, as the novels go into great detail about the science of mutating viruses and the feasibility of a mass outbreak. It's complicated.

Too complicated, one might say (and I do). At the risk of being patted on the head and told to run off and play with my toys... I massively struggled to follow this book. Parts of it just don't make sense. We're constantly given facts without the necessary explanation, like the conclusion/consequences should be blindingly obvious, only they're not. I kept rereading paragraphs in case I'd missed something, but I rarely had.

Basically, it goes too fast. Not action-wise (we'll get to that), but text-wise. It moves on to another topic before we've fully got to grips with one idea, which makes a huge difference considering the entire premise is psuedo-science based. It needs to take the time to explain itself and it doesn't. I'm a normal person of average intelligence... yet I was confused with this. Either I've grossly over-estimated my own intellect or Deadline needs editing.

For example, there's a whole thing about why it's a big deal that Georgia had retinal Kellis-Amberlee (the virus mutation that causes zombieness) when Shaun didn't, which I don't understand because they were adopted separately... so of course they have different genes. And then somehow that makes Shaun a target and everyone's nodding their heads sagely and going ''Ah yes, that makes sense..." but DOES IT!? *hyperventilates*

I'd have to say that Deadline is mostly just talking. I mean, I don't object to that in a book necessarily but it's a large contrast to Feed, which had a good mix of scientific theory and poking zombies with sticks. There's a lot of travelling from place to place (and then back to the original place (via a different place)) in a van, while they talk the entire time. I never thought I'd say this, but I really just wanted them to shoot something.

And now for the point that irritated me most about Deadline: Georgia talks inside Shaun's mind. Constantly. They have conversations throughout. I considered whether this might be mildly spoilery but it's revealed within four pages, and I wish I'd known this before I picked the book up. Partly because it took me a while to understand what and why that was happening (which is never explained), but then I suppose we're back to the lack of communication mentioned above.

Anyway. If you're going to kill off a main character, COMMIT TO IT. You don't get to have the reader's respect for being ballsy enough to do it and still get to use them as a character in the sequel. She comes up with plans, discusses other characters with Shaun, points out pratical flaws in new ideas... exactly as she did she was alive, really. It just seemed like a lazy way to have Georgia feature in the book without that pesky problem of her being dead. 

Just quickly... they are implying incest, right? Because they have a creepy-ass relationship if they're not. 

While, we're on the topic of characters, I actually really did like Maggie and her epileptic bulldogs. There we go, I said something nice. Shaun, however, I did not like (aaaaaaand we're back). He's awful -he's an arrogant thug and his entire team just kind of accepts it. It's a first person narrative too, so we're subjected to him calling people 'bitches' and talking about he constantly 'wants to punch him/her in the face.' I even hated his team for the way they just meekly took it. Get a backbone, people.

I struggled with seeing any of them as adults. I think I assume they're all 17/18 so it's odd when they have (reasonably graphic) sex and one of them is suddenly married. They act like teenagers and it's asking my imagination to out-do itself in order for me to believe otherwise.

Finally, the end of Book IV would have been a perfect place to end the novel, but it doesn't. It's unecessarily dragged-out and I really didn't appreciate the weak and obvious ending.

I know it sounds like I'm being overly harsh on Deadline, but I had high expectations so I feel frustrated and disappointed. I still barely understand what's going on, who's behind it or why. It's dry and repetitive with incredibly irritating characters. I really hope Symbiont, the sequel to Parasite, is better than this.


Go read my happy, positive reviews of Feed and Parasite. See? I do LIKE things occasionally!

Review: FEED (Newsflesh #1) by Mira Grant

After I finished Parasite last year, I was absolutely desperate to read everything else Mira Grant had ever written, ever. Unfortunately I had no money and therefore sat pining for days in front of a rainy window pane, just waiting for the day when Feed and I would be united... And then Charlotte bought it for me as a Christmas gift, which was pretty much the best thing ever. God bless her socks.

Plot summary: The year was 2014. We had cured cancer. We had beaten the common cold. But in doing so we created something new, something terrible that no one could stop. The infection spread, virus blocks taking over bodies and minds with one, unstoppable command: FEED.

Now, twenty years after the Rising, bloggers Georgia and Shaun Mason are on the trail of the biggest story of their lives - the dark conspiracy behind the infected. The truth will get out, even if it kills them.

A lot of other reviewers read FEED before Parasite, and their reviews of the latter basically state that they're both great but very similar. Personally, I don't see it. Maybe the order in which I read them makes a difference but I just don't see many similarities. Obviously the writing styles are similar (it being the same author and all) and both include 'evidence' from different media formats interspersed with the text, which works quite well. I don't intend this review to be solely a comparison of the two, but I did think the overarching story, plot twists and characters were very different from its predecessor.

So. Zombies. And bloggers. FEED took me a while to get into, which I think is partially because I just couldn't take the bloggers-saved-the-world thing seriously. I genuinely and literally managed to break my arm last night by tripping over a non-moving chair leg in a restaurant... ain't no way I could successfully bring the mainstream media to its knees by investigating the zombie outbreak. Not this blogger.

Funny how I can believe perfectly easily in the cannibalistic zombies but not the people who saved the day. But, like in Parasite, Mira Grant has put a tremendous amount of effort into researching the science behind the disease that infected everybody in the first place. She describes in great detail the two strains of completely different viruses that combine and affect the human body in unforeseen ways. I'm not saying it could happen, just that it makes sense.

The blogging thing? Not so much. They're split into three groups, all of which sound like something out of a Thursday Next novel and I just couldn't take it seriously. Newsies, Urwins and Fictionals, I think they're called. I understand the point and what it was meant to achieve, but it came off as a little too cheesy for me.

Feed is gloriously action-packed and fast-paced. There are plenty of undead crawling about along with a variety of twists to keep you on your toes. Some of them I saw coming but it didn't matter because they were dealt with so well. Georgia, Shaun and Buffy have to make some difficult decisions and Mira Grant doesn't pull any punches when she shows you the consequences. I wouldn't go so far as to say it's brutal or gory, but it's not as light a book as you'd think.

Right. Not to be That Person, but I do have some issues with how women are portrayed in this book. Yes, Georgia is a strong female protagonist who doesn't need a boyfriend (except for her truly creepy relationship with her brother) etc etc. Except, it makes too much of a point about this. The narrative constantly goes on about how sexless she is, how she's never dated and how she tries to look as male as possible. She doesn't smile, she doesn't laugh, she doesn't lighten up. This is where her credibility comes from.

Conversely, a female presidential candidate is dismissed as useless because she had a boob job. This from a 'Newsie,' proud of her ability to relate facts without opinion:

Word on the blog circuit is that Kirsten 'Knockers' Wagman had serious breast augmentation surgery before she went into politics... that worked for a while - it got her a seat in Congress - partially because people enjoy looking at her - but it isn't going to get her very far in a presidential race.

We're not talking about one of the great political minds of our age... Judging by the landslide of that first win, we'll be seeing congressional hearings graced by a lady in lingerie long after the end of her term in office.

Georgia hadn't even met Kirsten Wagman. Her campaign, political stance and manifesto were never even mentioned; just commentary how much of a skank she is for having a boob job. The message I take from this is that the only way to be respected is to look like a man and not date. If you have breast augmentation surgery or are in any way feminine, nope, go home. You cannot be President.

The ending to FEED is truly amazing. There's no cliffhanger as such, although certain wider issues are left outstanding. I finished the book sat in Waterstones cafe, where I had such a shellshocked expression that the waitress actually asked if I was alright, which I wasn't. At all. I think that's the main point to take away from this review - Parasite is consistently good from beginning to end, but FEED makes up for it by walloping you with the ending. Both are good, but in very different ways.

Read Ellie's review of Feed at Curiosity Killed the Bookworm. 

Review: Parasite by Mira Grant

In the interests of full disclosure, I haven't read Mira Grant's Newsflesh series so I have absolutely no idea how it compares. That said, based on how truly amazing Parasite was, if I had any money I'd have run out and bought all three books already.
It's just so good.
 
Plot summary: A decade in the future, humanity thrives in the absence of sickness and disease. 

We owe our good health to a humble parasite - a genetically engineered tapeworm developed by the pioneering SymboGen Corporation. When implanted, the tapeworm protects us from illness, boosts our immune system - even secretes designer drugs. It's been successful beyond the scientists' wildest dreams. Now, years on, almost every human being has a SymboGen tapeworm living within them.

But these parasites are getting restless. They want their own lives . . . and will do anything to get them.

I know it sounds really odd - tapeworms trying to take over the world or something. But just trust me when I say that Parasite is so, so much more than that.

First of all, I thought this was YA and it's not - not even the slightest bit. The main character is Sally, who is a full 26 years of age which was a pleasant change. Admittedly she only remembers the last six years since a terrible accident wiped her memory, but having a card-carrying adult as a protagonist is necessary for the science-based and occasionally shocking plot.

The basic gist is that a huge company called SymboGen have developed an 'Intestinal Bodyguard,' which is essentially a genetically modified tapeworm that lives inside you and protects you from illness, allergies, etc. Sally had an almost fatal car accident years ago, but recovered just minutes before her family was due to turn off her life support, thanks to her Intestinal Bodyguard. Now there's a 'Sleeping Sickness' epidemic, where hundreds of people are losing all mental capacity and their implants suddenly aren't working. What could be behind the new illness and why are SymboGen so interested in Sally?

I actually went and looked into whether Mira Grant (real name: Seanan McGuire) had a background in science, because the theories expounded here actually make sense. I'm not about to imbibe a tapeworm, obviously, but the references to the 'hygiene hypothesis,' various parasites and genome splicing indicate a huge amount of research and care. A book doesn't have to be 'possible' for me to enjoy it, but I do like it when your imagination doesn't have to struggle to picture it.

I was hooked from the beginning. Parasite begins with a transcript of a recording made of scientific trials of the Intestinal Bodyguard - the first success caught on tape. After that, in between every chapter there's a newspaper article, interview, textbook excerpt, something, about the history of SymboGen and the development of the project. It may seem gimmicky in other books, but here it worked very well. It's worthwhile paying attention to these as what you've learned there ties in perfectly with the plot later on. The intricacies of the detailed story could be lost without this knowledge.

Being Sally Mitchell sucks sometimes. There's always another doctor who wants a question answered and thinks the best way to do it is to poke a stick through the bars of my metaphorical cage. I didn't volunteer to be the first person whose life was saved by a tapeworm. it just happened.
I have to remind myself of that whenever things get too ridiculous: I am alive because of a genetically engineered tapeworm. Not a miracle; God was not involved in my survival. They can call it an 'implant' or an 'Intestinal Bodyguard,' with or without that damn trademark, but the fact remains that we're talking about a tapeworm. A big, ugly, blind, parasitic invertebrate that lives in my small intestine, where it naturally secretes a variety of useful chemicals, including - as it turns out - some that both stimulate brain activity and clean toxic byproducts out of blood. 

The characters are also pretty much perfect. Sally is slightly naive, but then again she's technically only six years old. Having said that, she doesn't fall into any of the usual traps - she doesn't withhold information from the authorities for no reason, she doesn't fall head-over-heels in love with a horrible man at first sight and she doesn't decide she can deal with the whole thing herself, despite it having nothing to do with her. 

All the characters' decisions are rational and well thought out. There were times when I shook my head at what I thought was a silly twist or lazy writing... only for it to be either a) not what I thought or b) explained so well and so logically that it ended up making perfect sense. Parasite is as far from lazy writing as you can possibly imagine - every plothole, every doubt, every niggle is closed and I cannot think of a single fault with the story.

The only thing that irritated me was a tiny, tiny thing. Sally is terrified of cars, as you can imagine you would be after a near fatal accident. Unfortunately it's just way over the top -  she turns into a sniffling, whiny mess when anybody so much as glances at her while they're driving. 'How could they do that to me!?' Aside from anything else, Sally, you were driving when you had your crash. You. So shut up. Like I said though, small point, and otherwise she's a respectable heroine.

The relationships also work very well. Sally already has a long-standing boyfriend when we jump into the story, so it's a pleasant change not to bother setting up a new romantic interest. Their relationship is a factor, but it's more of a sub-sub-plot. He supports Sally when she needs it and plays a large part in the story in his own right, but he never bullies her or resents her. A good love interest, all told.

What's more complex is Sally's relationship with her parents and sister and it's done... you guessed it, perfectly. There are an awful lot of issues regarding Sally's accident and how her personality has changed, and Mira Grant doesn't shove them under the carpet. The resentment and tension are felt very subtly to begin with, but then it builds gradually until it's an unavoidable situation. Perfect.  

The ending is slightly predictable, but like I mentioned before, it's so well done and so... perfect that it really doesn't matter. it's the journey that's important, not the destination. I was a little frustrated because I hadn't realised that this was going to be a series and now I won't get to find out what happens for practically forever. Points to the author though - there is a dramatic conclusion, but no obvious give-me-your-money cliffhanger. Like I said, no lazy writing here!

So. Perfect. This book is perfect. I do wish the blurb had been phrased differently as it did take away the mystery of what was causing the sleeping sickness, but I understand that isn't the author's fault. It was interesting watching the characters figure it out, but maybe it would have been better to learn along with them. But hey ho. 

Parasite is a book that will capture your full attention and not let you go until you've turned the last page. It's not some silly little zombie book - it's a complete and well thought out story that's, dare I say it, perfect.

Read another review of Parasite by Mira Grant at Curiosity Killed the Bookworm. 

Review: This Is Not A Test by Courtney Summers

The end of 2012 saw nearly every blogger I know posting some kind of 'Best Books of 2012' list. Some books I'd read, more books I hadn't. By far though, the book that featured on the most lists had to be This Is Not A Test. I actually bought it way back in Autumn (or maybe I won it in a giveaway?) and was champing at the bit to read it... but then I didn't, as is always the way. I vowed though that it would be one of the first books I got to in 2013 and I actually kept that promise. The end result is a great, fast-moving, action-packed story... but with a protagonist I loathed like no other.

Plot summary: It's the end of the world. Six students have taken cover in Cortege High but shelter is little comfort when the dead outside won't stop pounding on the doors. One bite is all it takes to kill a person and bring them back as a monstrous version of their former self. To Sloane Price, that doesn't sound so bad. Six months ago, her world collapsed and since then, she's failed to find a reason to keep going. Now seems like the perfect time to give up. As Sloane eagerly waits for the barricades to fall, she's forced to witness the apocalypse through the eyes of five people who actually want to live. But as the days crawl by, the motivations for survival change in startling ways and soon the group's fate is determined less and less by what's happening outside and more and more by the unpredictable and violent bids for life- and death- inside.

On the whole, this book is awesome and I swear that nobody should be able to use the word 'unputdownable' until they've read this book. I ran through it in a day and while I admit it was during a read-a-thon, that didn't have much to do with my desperate need to keep reading.

The action begins straight away and doesn't really stop, resulting in a tense atmosphere that almost seeps through the pages. I think it's that tension that really makes the book - it stays at a stable level throughout but it never gets old. It's actually written very well - and I don't just mean '...for a YA book.' My only gripe with the prose is that it seems to use only very short sentences pretty much all the time. Like this. It's annoying. It stops the flow.  I get it though. Well, sometimes. When there's action. Otherwise? Not so much.

Some parts of the book are very, very moving and made me tear up at some ungodly hour of the morning. You know when you have to kind of pause and look up from the book, just to process what on earth just happened? Yeah, that. I don't mean Sloane's self-pitying monologues here, but when they're talking about lost loved ones, for example, is wonderfully written.

"You let me go out there with you," he says. "You risked my life--"

"I wasn't going to let you die--"

"Oh, fuck you, Sloane-"

"I wasn't! I didn't--"

"Well, it came just a little too close for my comfort--"

"You wouldn't let me go! I wanted to go and you wouldn't let me--"

"If you want to die, do it like a normal person-- slit your wrists or something! Jesus!"

Well played, that man.

And that's a nice sedge-way into Sloane herself. I knew I wasn't going to like her. I heard the premise of the book and was instantly hyper-aware that we just weren't going to get along, so I decided before I started the novel to put this aside and concentrate on the rest. Hey, I thought naively. Maybe I won't even mention it in my review. I'm a grown-up, after all. However. Clearly I was seriously underprepared for exactly how much I was going to loathe her. She sits behind a curtain, listening to her worried friends call her name and panic over the fact that she's missing, and just... sits there. Listening. And self-pitying. That's on page five, guys.

She's awful. Like a caricature of the worst female protagonist ever. Way too over the top. My review notebook just degenerates into a list of scrawled expletives. The thing is, she constantly talks about how she wishes she could die, but NOBODY IS STOPPING HER. I genuinely and literally cannot explain adequately how much I hated her, and yes, it did ruin the book a little.

My other complaint is how rushed the ending was. The first time It happened (I can't really talk about it without spoilering), it was amazing. I was shocked and full of respect for Courtney Summers for actually doing It. Then It happened again. And again. It honestly seemed like she couldn't figure out how to end it, so just scrawled down any way she could. One of the biggest plot points that had to come to a huge revelation... didn't. I felt a little cheated, I think.

Then again... the rest of the book is pretty amazing. I would have given it five stars were it not for Sloane and the rushed ending. Unfortunately both of those combined did ruin the book and while I don't give ratings, it would have lowered from a solid five stars to about three and a half.

Read a different review of This Is Not A Test over at Lit Addicted Brit.

  

Review: Working Stiff by Rachel Caine

I was sent this to review by Alison & Busby publishers, and I can't even explain how excited I was when it dropped onto the doormat. Everybody who came near me that day was informed with a high-pitched squeal of the new book I'd just received and how much I'd loved Rachel Caine's previous books. So, a huge thank you to Alison & Busby and a huge apology to all friends and family who have been anywhere near me this week.

It's a tough job but somebody's got to do it - dead or alive. Bryn Davis knows working at Fairview Mortuary isn't the most glamorous career choice, but at least it offers stable employment - until she discovers her bosses using a drug that resurrects the clientele. Now Bryn faces being terminated...literally. Bryn is given the chance to take down the bigger problem, pharmaceutical company Pharmadene, which treats death as the ultimate corporate loyalty program. She'd better do it fast before she becomes a zombie slave. A real working stiff.

And was it worth all the excitement? Completely and utterly. I absolutely loved this book - an original concept, realistic characters and an action-packed plot. What more can you want from a book really? 

So Bryn (and I have no idea how to pronounce that?) starts work at Fairview Mortuary only to discover that her new boss is selling a special rehabilitating drug to his clients. And that's client's as in, the dead bodies; just so you know. When Bryn finds out, he attempts to silence her permanently... only the company that makes the drug manages to bring her back. Unfortunately it's only temporary - Bryn needs an injection every day or else she'll decay slowly and painfully, and the company are threatening to withdraw the drug if she doesn't find the leak soon.

What I liked particularly about this book was Bryn herself. She's absolutely nothing special in any way - which is brilliant. She doesn't have magical powers, massive physical strength or an array of powerful contacts - she's just like you and me and reacts exactly the way we would. Okay, so she's had military training, but it's realistic in that even the most badass training won't get her out of having a gun pointed at her head. One of the flaws most prominent in paranormal-esque books is the way main characters tend to immediately and completely accept whatever's happening to them, whether it's zombies, newfound powers, apocalyse, whatever. Bryn isn't like that. The prospect of being dead and slowly decaying freaks her out and I have to give her points for that. God knows I'd be freaking out too.

I loved the characters of Joe and Patrick, although I was a little bothered by the InstaRomance. We're told that she and Patrick are falling in love, but we never actually see it happen. One minute she thinks he's cold and stand-offish and the next she's lusting after him from afar. There wasn't really a build-up, it just happened. Still, when their relationship got going, I was a fan of it. I'd happily go to a seedy motel with that man!

"No." She gasped, and fisted her hands in the collar of his suit. "That was me. Going to be me."
"No. Bryn, you're alive; hear me? And I won't let that happen to you. I won't. I swear it."
"What if-"
"Don't."
"You saw; she could still feel-"
His voice turned fierce. "I won't let it happen. I will never let you suffer, Bryn. Believe that, even if you never believe anything else about me."

Mm. There's a lot of action in this book and that serves to keep the plot going at a nice, fast clip. A lot of it is brutal too - not in an 'over-the-top, that just wasn't necessary way,' but some it still made me cringe regardless. I like that though; sometimes books feel a little unreal if they sugarcoat the violence. 

I'm absolutely dying (pun intended: sorry!) for the next book to come out, although I know it won't be for ages yet. In the meantime, I came across the Weather Warden series by the same author when I was looking at this one online. I hadn't even known that series existed, so I'll be keeping an eye out when I eventually scrape some money together. I highly, highly recommended you read Working Stiff - it's one of the best urban fantasy books I've read all year.

Review: The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan

This is the sequel to The Forest of Hands and Teeth, which I reviewed a couple of weeks ago and can be found somewhere, but blogger won't let me find it right now here (sorry, today is not a technologically successful day. Don't talk me me about power-cuts). Anyway, bitching aside, I got The Dead-Tossed Waves at the same time as the first book, but I'm terrible at reading series consecutively. On one hand, it gives me a little space to approach the second book with a fresh and clear mind, but then it occasionally happens that I've forgotten what the hell the first one was about...

Gabry lives a quiet life, secure in her town next to the sea and behind the Barrier. She's content to let her friends dream of the Dark City up the coast while she watches from the top of her lighthouse. Home is all she's ever known and, and all she needs for happiness. But life after the Return is never safe and there are threats even the Barrier can't hold back. Gabry's mother thought she left her secrets behind in the Forest of Hands and Teeth, but, like the dead in their world, secrets don't stay buried. And now, Gabry's world is crumbling. One night beyond the Barrier . . . One boy Gabry's known forever and one veiled in mystery . . . One reckless moment, and half of Gabry's generation is dead, the other half imprisoned. Now Gabry knows only one thing: if she has any hope of a future, she must face the forest of her mother's past.  

The other thing I'm terrible at is looking at the blurb before I actually start reading the damn thing. It means I'm perpetually surprised when the book isn't about what I had expected. I assumed it was about Mary, the heroine of the last book, as it had quite a sudden, unfinished ending. Instead, it's actually about Gabry, Mary's daughter. I'm not sure if I resented Gabrielle because of this or whether I just genuinely disliked her, but I didn't find her half as interesting.

It didn't really hold my interest until roughly 55% of the way through (I'm not that anally precise, by the way - I just happened to notice it on my Kindle screen). Before that point, the story moved from place to place far too quickly, without really introducing the characters much. It just didn't have the same creepy feel as The Forest of Hands and Teeth. The Unconsecrated (or Mudo, as they're called in this book) don't really even feature that much. Instead, two new factions are introduced. First, we have the Soulers - a group of religious fanatics who believe that Mudo have a soul and provide the key to eternal life. Conversely, the second group are the Recruiters - kind of a governmental army trying to control the Mudo population.

I liked the introduction of both of these groups. It highlights the difference between Mary's isolated village and Gabry's town under government protection. They're integral to the plot and make this book a little more frantic and political than the first. The Souler's in particular are a great addition, as it's an idea I've never seen before.

So, the first half is slow, yes. But the second half really is very good. It feels much more like the first book, but with more action. It's fast-paced, brutal and atmospheric. Loved it. I especially liked how they tied in characters from Mary's past in a subtle way. I expected this, but I also expected it to be way over-the-top and obvious; it wasn't at all. There are a few loose ends from The Forest of Hands and Teeth that I wish were tied up, but there's room for that in the last book, I guess.

I wasn't so fond of the silly little love triangle. It worked quite well in the first book because it was more of a slight sub-plot, and Mary wasn't so whiny. Gabry switches from one boy to another instantly like she has Bi-Polar Lust Disorder and when she eventually makes her choice, it's without any evidence, thought process or logic. It forms a massive part of the book and I really could do without it. I hate love triangles. Why are they necessary?

It doesn't sound like it, but I enjoyed the book a lot and even gave it four stars on LibraryThing. I was let down by the first half, but the brilliance of the second half almost makes up for it. I think this is one of my favourite YA series - they're amazing and I can't wait for the last one.

Review: The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

I'd had this on my wishlist for a while (which basically means I'd forgotten about it) until I wandered into Sheffield Library and saw it displayed prominently on a shelf. After recovering from my dead faint that they a) had something decent and b) it was on the right shelf, I grabbed it lest it suddenly fade away like the mirage I half-expected it was.

Amazon: 'In Mary's world there are simple truths. The Sisterhood always knows best. The Guardians will protect and serve. The Unconsecrated will never relent. And you must always mind the fence that surrounds the village; the fence that protects the village from the Forest of Hands and Teeth. But, slowly, Mary's truths are failing her. She's learning things she never wanted to know about the Sisterhood and its secrets, and the Guardians and their power, and about the Unconsecrated and their relentlessness. When the fence is breached and her world is thrown into chaos, she must choose between her village and her future - between the one she loves and the one who loves her. And she must face the truth about the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Could there be life outside a world surrounded in so much death?'

I really, really, really liked this book. Like I said, I've had it on my wishlist for a while, but it kind of sunk down a little after I read a review that slated it. But hey, this will teach me to let other reviews influence me, as I adored The Forest of Hands and Teeth.

Carrie Ryan

Once the face of it, it's a fairly typical teenage zombie story, but when you get in to it, it turns out to be much deeper. Mary has to struggle with the discovery of finding out that all she has ever been told is a lie, and has to find a way to balance her dreams and her future, all while battling hordes of the undead. Her ponderings are actually communicated in a very adult way - she doesn't whine or complain about how hard her life is. She just gets on with it.

The plot isn't all that complicated or original, but so what? It works really, really well. I kept sneaking glances at my Kindle whenever The Boy left the room, I was that desperate to see what happened. The library also had the next book, The Dead-Tossed Waves, and it's taking every ounce of my strength not to jump straight in instead of starting the book I have to review.

It does have romance, but it's not over-the-top - and that's coming from The Queen Hater of YA Romance. There is a silly love triangle, but it's not really made out to be a huge thing. The focus is more on one person in particular, and even that isn't made out to be the usual 'I saw you once but now I'm obsessively in love with you because that's just what REAL love is!' that usually features in YA books. Instead it's a little more subtle as Mary ponders her feelings towards that person and gradually comes to a conclusion.

I'm 100% positive that it will be made into a film, or at least a TV mini-series, before long. I may even watch it, as I'm not sure how you could possibly mess it up. Unfortunately, I can't help but foresee that Kristen Stewart would be cast as Mary... You heard it here first, folks.