Finnikin of the Rock

#7: Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta


Synopsis via Goodreads :


At the age of nine, Finnikin is warned by the gods that he must sacrifice a pound of flesh in order to save the royal house of his homeland, Lumatere. 

And so he stands on the rock of three wonders with his childhood friend Prince Balthazar and the prince's cousin, Lucian, and together they mix their blood. And Lumatere is safe. 

Until the 'five days of the unspeakable', when the King and Queen and their children are slaughtered in the palace. And an imposter king takes the throne. 
And a curse is put on Lumatere, which traps those caught inside and forces thousands of others to roam the land as exiles, dying of fever and persecution in foreign camps. 

But ten years later Finnikin is led to another rock to meet the young novice, Evanjalin. A girl plagued by dark dreams, who holds the key to their return to the Land of light..

I was really excited to read this one because I had heard nothing but good reviews for it. Unfortunately, it didn't quiiiiite live up to my expectations. The writing had a classic fantasy novel feel to it and it kind of reminded me of The Lord of the Rings trilogy-- one of my all time favorite obsessions! The story itself, however, was nowhere near as outstanding as Tolkien's classic tale. Now, the story isn't bad. It's just very.... boring. Very boring. In fact, it was so dry and dull that I found myself flipping through the pages glossy-eyed and falling asleep. It wasn't until the last few chapters that it really started to get interesting for me. I mean, I know everyone wants to hump Melina Marchetta's leg because she's such an amazing writer or whatever, but based on what I have read in this book and in her Printz-winning Jellicoe Road, I think that she tries way too hard. Both of these stories were boring and hard to follow until the very end. This being said, the endings of both books really are excellent. I guess I'm just the type of girl who likes to enjoy an entire book rather than just the end. Must be a brunette thing.

Matched

#6: Matched by Ally Condie

Synopsis via Goodreads:

Cassia has always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her: what to read, what to watch, what to believe. So when Xander's face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is her ideal mate . . . until she sees Ky Markham's face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black.

The Society tells her it's a glitch, a rare malfunction, and that she should focus on the happy life she's destined to lead with Xander. But Cassia can't stop thinking about Ky, and as they slowly fall in love, Cassia begins to doubt the Society's infallibility and is faced with an impossible choice: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she's known and a path that no one else has dared to follow.

I bought this book the day that it came out because I had heard that it was a dystopian love story (<3) and because I heard that the author got a $1,000,000 deal for it. A million dollars?! It has to be good, right?! Wrong. This book was a big fat RIP OFF. I hope that Condie shared her large sum of money with Lois Lowry and Suzanne Collins because those were the real authors of this book. The whole setting of the story was absurdly close to that of The Giver from the assignment banquet at the beginning to the whole hardcore strict government thing and the love plot was pretty dang close to the one in The Hunger Games. Also, at the end of the book I was left with a feeling that they were trying to make Cassia sound just like Katniss.

That being said, this book was not completely awful. I enjoyed some of the new ideas such as handwriting being extinct and poetry being lost and whatnot. These few factors that I enjoyed, however, were also very underdeveloped in the story and didn't convince me as much as I would have liked. Because of this, I was shocked to find that so many people on Goodreads gave this book 4 or 5 stars. I can only assume that these individuals either have not read The Giver or The Hunger Games or are complete idiots.

In short, I would have enjoyed this book much more if the ideas presented in it were original, but because The Giver and The Hunger Games are both as popular and as amazing as they are, I can only assume that the author stole her ideas from Lowry and Collins. I just couldn't get past my anger enough to enjoy the story much at all. Sorry, this review got a bit ranty.

Luna

#5: Luna by Julie Anne Peters

Synopsis via Goodreads:

For years, Regan's brother Liam has been nursing a secret. By day, he is Liam, a passably typical boy of his age; at night, he transforms himself into Luna, his true, female self. Regan loves and supports her brother and she keeps his Liam/Luna secret. Things change, though, when Luna decides to emerge from her cocoon. She begins dressing like a girl in public; first at the mall; then at school; then at home. Regan worries that her brother's transgender identity is threatening her own slippery hold on normalcy. This serious, powerful teen novel was a National Book Award finalist for Young People's Literature

This was a great book! I was drawn to it by the pretty girl and butterfly on the cover only to discover that the girl on the cover might be a boy! The story of Liam/Luna is touching and gives some insight into the life of a trans-gendered person.

I was particularly drawn in by the narrator. Liam/Luna may be going through all this gender crap, but his sister Regan has to deal with her brother/sister which takes a huge toll on her social life. I mean, come on! She has a totally hot boy after her and she can't hang out with him because she's so busy helping her brother/sister express her darn self! Poor Regan :( Anyway, the point is that I really loved the characterization in the book. It was all totally believable and I was hooked! I look forward to reading more Peters novels in the future.