Review: Adaptation by Malinda Lo

Publisher: Little, Brown Books
Series: Adaptation #1

Pages: 400

Source: Received from Hachette Book Group Canada in exchange for an honest review

Release Date: September 18, 2012
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Goodreads Synopsis:

Reese can’t remember anything from the time between the accident and the day she woke up almost a month later. She only knows one thing: She’s different now.

Across North America, flocks of birds hurl themselves into airplanes, causing at least a dozen to crash. Thousands of people die. Fearing terrorism, the United States government grounds all flights, and millions of travelers are stranded.

Reese and her debate team partner and longtime crush David are in Arizona when it happens. Everyone knows the world will never be the same. On their drive home to San Francisco, along a stretch of empty highway at night in the middle of Nevada, a bird flies into their headlights. The car flips over. When they wake up in a military hospital, the doctor won’t tell them what happened, where they are—or how they’ve been miraculously healed.

Things become even stranger when Reese returns home. San Francisco feels like a different place with police enforcing curfew, hazmat teams collecting dead birds, and a strange presence that seems to be following her. When Reese unexpectedly collides with the beautiful Amber Gray, her search for the truth is forced in an entirely new direction—and threatens to expose a vast global conspiracy that the government has worked for decades to keep secret.

My Review:

Simply put, this book was amazing! I don't even know how to put how much I loved this book into words so bear with me here. Malinda Lo knows how to write a gripping story and keep you interested through everything that happens. The story progresses in a very slow way with readers not really understanding what happened, and then all of a sudden everything comes out at once. But the information isn't overwhelming, it's done perfectly.

I actually was talking with another blogger (Christa from Hooked on Books) and we mentioned how this book reminds us of an episode of THE X-FILES. A lot of weird things begin happening, and if it wasn't for the way that Lo wrote the story I think I would have found the story confusing and too much. There are not a lot of authors that can write a story like ADAPTATION and make it as amazing as it turned out to be.

 The idea of a government conspiracy is always attractive to me in a story, I love the idea, and love how the characters really research things and bring up other conspiracies throughout. I adored the conspiracy that came out of this story, it was interesting and done well.

The characters were interesting, I really enjoyed Reese and how she dealt with what was happening to her. She is very head strong and works hard to find out the truth when she realizes that she is missing a lot of information.

Honestly everything about this book was amazing, there is nothing I didn't like about it. Even the ending was jaw dropping. I really want to know what Lo will do in the next story, even though this is a story that could end where it is (I am glad she is continuing because I hate books that leave you with questions at the end). This is a book you must pick up and read now!

Review: Safekeeping by Karen Heese

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

Pages: 304

Source: Received from Raincoast Books in exchange for an honest review

Release Date: September 18, 2012
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Goodreads Synopsis:

Radley’s parents had warned her that all hell would break loose if the American People's Party took power. And now, with the president assassinated and the government cracking down on citizens, the news is filled with images of vigilante groups, frenzied looting, and police raids. It seems as if all hell has broken loose.

Coming back from volunteering abroad, Radley just wants to get home to Vermont, and the comfort and safety of her parents. Travel restrictions and delays are worse than ever, and by the time Radley’s plane lands in New Hampshire, she’s been traveling for over twenty-four hours. Exhausted, she heads outside to find her parents—who always come, day or night, no matter when or where she lands—aren’t there.

Her cell phone is dead, her credit cards are worthless, and she doesn’t have the proper travel papers to cross state lines. Out of money and options, Radley starts walking. . . .

Illustrated with 50 of her own haunting and beautiful photographs, this is a vision of a future America that only Karen Hesse could write: real, gripping, and deeply personal.

My Review:

The idea of this book was really intriguing to me, an assassination on the president and a new government in power, it sounded a little dystopian like to me. What I got out of this book was completely different from what I expected. Throughout the entire book I felt like I was a fly on the wall watching Radley do everything and listening to some of her conversations with people. Every little action and thought is described to the reader.

The main idea of the story is following Radley through her journey to find her parents after this big disaster. What I did like is that this is a story about survival in the hardest of times. There are curfews everywhere and wherever you go there is danger lurking in the dark. The story really details what it's like when you have to survive out in the streets, getting food wherever you can find it.

The pictures that go along with the story are beautiful, Heese has an amazing talent for photography, and it was interesting to have a story with real pictures beside the passages. I fund that many of the pictures did not fit the story though, there were many randomly placed pictures of flowers and animals and they didn't really fit the story. At times they seemed to be just added in for no reason at all.

For the most part I found Radley's journey interesting and inspiring, watching her get through the toughest of times. But this book just wasn't for me, this story was just the experience Radley had, and there was not much of a story to it. I was hoping for a little more from what I read from the synopsis.

Review: The Diviners by Libba Bray

Publisher: Little, Brown Books
Series: The Diviners #1

Pages: 578

Source: Received from Hatchette Book Group Canada in exchange for an honest review

Release Date: September 18, 2012
Buy From Amazon.ca / Buy From Chapters.ca

Goodreads Synopsis:

Evie O'Neill has been exiled from her boring old hometown and shipped off to the bustling streets of New York City--and she is pos-i-toot-ly thrilled. New York is the city of speakeasies, shopping, and movie palaces! Soon enough, Evie is running with glamorous Ziegfield girls and rakish pickpockets. The only catch is Evie has to live with her Uncle Will, curator of The Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult--also known as "The Museum of the Creepy Crawlies."

When a rash of occult-based murders comes to light, Evie and her uncle are right in the thick of the investigation. And through it all, Evie has a secret: a mysterious power that could help catch the killer--if he doesn't catch her first.

My Review:

I was so excited when I heard about this book!! I read a few Libba Bray books back when I was in high school and I remember loving her work (not that I can remember the story now, but it was interesting lol). I was hooked in by the synopsis of THE DIVINERS right away, an occult based serial killer on the loose, and the main character having a secret mysterious power, add in that this all takes place in the 1920's--I was "pos-i-toot-ly" in love. Though this book is massive, coming in at almost 600 pages, I found myself flying through the story because I just needed to know what would happen next and how the murders would come together. If I had read an ebook version I don't think I would have realized the page count.

There was a huge cast of characters in this book, it was a little nerve-racking at first, not sure where Bray was taking the story. She was switching between all the characters quite often, but as the story continued I could tell where they would all meet up and I can take a few guesses as to where the story will go in future books. It became more interesting to see how each of the characters had their own secrets and watching as they slowly unravel for the reader. The only little issue I had with the book was that I felt like I wanted to know more about some of the characters. There were certain characters I just wanted more of, especially Theta, it took awhile to get to her story and even then I can tell there is still a lot of information missing.

Bray definitely brought the 1920's to life in this story, with great descriptions of the speakeasies and the Ziegfield acts. The dialogue was also awesome, it really made me feel like I was back in the 1920's, there were a few instances where I found myself wondering what they were saying but as I kept going I could get behind the dialogue and found myself having fun with the characters.

Bray did a great job with the level of creepiness to this story. I haven't seen many good murder stories in YA that really detail the disturbing parts of it (which is understandable, TEN by Gretchen McNeil was one of the first). But Bray really brings out the scariness and I really love how she draws out the murder scenes so that even though you know what is coming she really wants the reader to be scared as well.

I absolutely loved the ending of this book, it was really surprising and I really didn't expect it to happen. And I'm really interested to see what is to come in the next book. THE DIVINERS by Libba Bray is definitely a huge read but readers will fly through it anxiously wanting to know what will happen next. This is one book I suggest picking up ASAP.