Destiny's Fire by Trisha Wolfe

Name: Destiny's Fire by Trisha Wolfe.
Pages: 224.
Publication: 10th January 2012/Omnific Publishing.
Rating: 4/5.
Buy It: Amazon | The Book Depository |


"It’s the year 2040, and sixteen-year-old Dez Harkly is one of the last of her kind—part of a nearly extinct race of shape-shifters descended from guardians to the Egyptian pharaohs. Her home and her secret are threatened when the Council lowers the barrier, allowing the enemy race to enter the Shythe haven. 

As the Narcolym airships approach, Dez and her friends rebel against their Council and secretly train for battle. Not only is Dez wary of war and her growing affection for her best friend Jace, but she fears the change her birthday will bring. When Dez’s newfound power rockets out of control, it’s a Narcolym who could change her fate… if she can trust him. 

Dez’s guarded world crumbles when she discovers why the Narcos have really come to Haven Falls, and she's forced to choose between the race who raised her and the enemy she's feared her whole life."

Review.

What attracted me to Destiny's Fire was the fact it was a dystopian as well as a steampunk novel. That and the awesomeness of both the Shythe and Narcolym.

From the first page you are into the action. We meet Dez and her closest friends that are the Tuner triplets, Jace, Lana and Nick.  They are training, especially with the Narco's coming into their territory, they must be on guard, despite the fact the Narco's are moving due to a Peace Treaty. All four are on the brink of their transition to their full powers, except it's not that easy for Dez.

I liked Dez. She is a realistic seventeen year old girl, except she is a little more bad-ass in my opinion. She is brave and head strong but is in no way arrogant. She is smart, she thinks about the consequences of her actions. She is also content in herself and does not see how special she is to other people, she's a little dense that way. ;) Her family and friends are her life and she would give up hers for them in an instant. Dez is also kind and hates to hurt people's feelings which does create a  situation that involves a bit of a love triangle.

All the secondary character in Destiny's Fire were interesting and they definitely added to the atmosphere of the book. There is Lana, Dez's BFF, who loves dressing up and going. That said, Lana can definitely hold her own and is no pushover. She is definitely level-headed triplet. You have Nick who is in the book but does not do too much. He is, however, the comic relief in his own special way which makes him the funny triplet.

Then you have Jace. Dez's best friend. The serious and irrational triplet, who missed out on the level-headedness and the humour. That said, Jace is nothing short of sweet. He just has his own of showing it since he is not great with feelings. Straight into the book, you can see he has a very soft spot for Dez. He is protective of her and his siblings but he means it the good way. Reece, is very similar to Jace, in that he is hot-headed and defensive but he is also quite sweet. There is similar personalities clearly shows Dez's preference of guys. To me, Dez would have made the right decision with either guy as you can see they both truly care for her. However, I felt Dez's and Reece's relationship moved a little too fast. At times the love triangle takes away from the main plot and since it is the sub-plot, it makes sense. All I have to say, Dez is one lucky girl!

Wolfe's writing is Destiny's Fire is so vivid. She had created this amazing world that feels completely real especially the Cog and the falls as well as the power system. It was great to be immersed completely into Haven Falls.

The book's ending makes me feel like there will be a second one. I really hope so anyway! 

Final thoughts.Destiny's Fire is a unique and fresh take on steampunk fiction. It is also addicting! I did not want to stop reading! There is no book I can think of to compare it too. For people who haven't read steampunk before but would like too, this is the book for you.

Article 5 by Kristen Simmons

I read Article 5 over a week ago and actually forgot to review it so, sorry! 

Name: Article 5 by Kristen Simmons.
Pages: 384.
Publication: 31st January 2012/Tor Teen.

Buy It: Amazon | Kennys | Easons (Pre-order in UK/ROI)
Rating: 4/5

"New York, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C., have been abandoned.
The Bill of Rights has been revoked, and replaced with the Moral Statutes.

There are no more police—instead, there are soldiers. There are no more fines for bad behavior—instead, there are arrests, trials, and maybe worse. People who get arrested usually don't come back.

Seventeen-year-old Ember Miller is old enough to remember that things weren’t always this way. Living with her rebellious single mother, it’s hard for her to forget that people weren’t always arrested for reading the wrong books or staying out after dark. It’s hard to forget that life in the United States used to be different.
Ember has perfected the art of keeping a low profile. She knows how to get the things she needs, like food stamps and hand-me-down clothes, and how to pass the random home inspections by the military. Her life is as close to peaceful as circumstances allow. 

That is, until her mother is arrested for noncompliance with Article 5 of the Moral Statutes. And one of the arresting officers is none other than Chase Jennings…the only boy Ember has ever loved."

Review.

Article 5 starts with a bang. You are straight into the action before you even notice. Ember is separated from her arrested mother for breaking laws in Article 5. Ember is thrown into a state rehabilitation center where she must stay until she turns eighteen. But Ember has other plans, she has to get out and find her mother. 

A lot of action occurs in the first one hundred pages or so. From then on, the pace slows as Ember searches for her mother as well her volatile relationship with Chase. It doesn't slow so much that you are bored. There is the right amount of action throughout to get you from losing any focus from the story. 

From page one, you can practically tell that Ember is one head-strong, independent and defiant girl. She will not give up without a fight yet she is not the smartest cookie. She is to an extent, irrational and sometime her actions just do not make sense. She is also very naive. She seems to believe that she will be able her mother despite having no idea where she is or where her mother is being held. She is likable but not too likable due to her actions.

Chase, on the other hand, was both likable and unlikable all at the same time due to is personality. You can understand why Ember feels the way she does about him. He is very rash, kind of like a Romeo-esque character, do now, think later. He has a good heart, putting himself on the line for Ember and I don't think Ember gives Chase a chance to explain that.

I would have liked to read about the back story of Article 5 and why the USA is in the state it is now. Hopefully, Simmons will bring out a novella to explain it. I think it would be a good read!

Article 5 has some interesting plot twists that pretty much rattle the entire point of the novel. It, in my opinion, made it better! The ending of Article 5 gives me a lot of hope for the second in the series, which has yet to be titled.

Final thoughts.

I would advise reader of 14/15 years up who enjoyed Birthmarked or Enclave to read Article 5. 

Pure by Julianna Baggott

Pure by Julianna Baggott.


Information.
Pages: 448
Publication: February 8th 2012/Grand Central Publishing 
Pre-Order it: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kennys (Free WW shipping)
ARC supplied: Publishers at NetGalley. 


"We know you are here, our brothers and sisters . . . 
Pressia barely remembers the Detonations or much about life during the Before. In her sleeping cabinet behind the rubble of an old barbershop where she lives with her grandfather, she thinks about what is lost-how the world went from amusement parks, movie theaters, birthday parties, fathers and mothers . . . to ash and dust, scars, permanent burns, and fused, damaged bodies. And now, at an age when everyone is required to turn themselves over to the militia to either be trained as a soldier or, if they are too damaged and weak, to be used as live targets, Pressia can no longer pretend to be small. Pressia is on the run.

Burn a Pure and Breathe the Ash . . .
There are those who escaped the apocalypse unmarked. Pures. They are tucked safely inside the Dome that protects their healthy, superior bodies. Yet Partridge, whose father is one of the most influential men in the Dome, feels isolated and lonely. Different. He thinks about loss-maybe just because his family is broken; his father is emotionally distant; his brother killed himself; and his mother never made it inside their shelter. Or maybe it's his claustrophobia: his feeling that this Dome has become a swaddling of intensely rigid order. So when a slipped phrase suggests his mother might still be alive, Partridge risks his life to leave the Dome to find her.

When Pressia meets Partridge, their worlds shatter all over again."

Review.
When I first began reading my ARC of Pure, I will be honest, I wasn't really feeling it. I found it difficult to connect with anything that was going on. I was also a little bit confused because I felt as if I was just thrown into this devastated world in the Prologue but once I was a few chapters in, everything fell into place for me.


Pressia is in her own right the heroine of the book. She has just turned sixteen, something that I failed to remember because she speaks so maturely. She has seen more than enough of sadness for only being sixteen years. That said, Pressia is courageous and she is a fighter. She does not let anyone take advantage of her yet, she is also kind and helpful and willing to give up her life for the ones she loves. She stands up Bradwell, the third main character who begrudgingly helps to Partridge's mother for as he puts it "his own selfish reasons". So, to me, Pressia is a heroine.


Partridge, however, has only seen what happens in the Dome. He has read about the Outside and although he has not lived through what Pressia has, he has had his own battles to fight. With his mother presumably dead, a brother who has committed suicide and an absentee father, Partridge is lonely. I liked Partridge. Even if he was a little naive, he was smart enough to know that he would not survive on the Outside by himself. I enjoyed reading Pressia's and Partridge's interactions, as if they understood each other on another level.


The book is told in an omnipresent manner but from different characters points of view. This is included El Capitan, a soldier whose brother is fused to his back and who seems to be fighting his inner demons. There is also Lydia, a potential ally/love interest who is in the Dome. I liked reading about where Lydia was in the Dome. I thought she was a loyal and brave friend to Partridge. 


Baggott is very good at one thing and that is tying up plots at the end. The book ended neatly, with many of the subplots intertwining with the main plot. If you read the book closely, they are clues to the surprises that emerge throughout the book. This, in my opinion, is a sign of truly good writing, to be able intermingle plots in a way that does not seem out of the blue for the reader.  

Although the concept of Domes in dystopian fiction isn't anything new, it is the world that she creates outside the Dome that is so engrossing. Baggott has created a sinister and cruel place  even border-lining on creepy where everyone carries a scar from the detonations. People are fused with each other as well as solid objects. I think it is the descriptions that Baggott writes about these people is what up the creepy factor of the book. Sometimes I had trouble imagining the creatures which is new for me, so I would love to see Pure turned into a movie or a graphic novel to see how other people imagined the Outside world.


Pure is a book of survival and hope set in a haunting world which will have you captivated page after page.


Rating: 4/5.

Under the Never Sky (Under the Never Sky #1) by Veronica Rossi

Under the Never Sky (Under the Never Sky #1) by Veronica Rossi


Information.
Pages: 384.
Publication: January 3rd/February 7th 2012/ATOM.
"Aria has lived her whole life in the protected dome of Reverie. Her entire world confined to its spaces, she's never thought to dream of what lies beyond its doors. So when her mother goes missing, Aria knows her chances of surviving in the outer wasteland long enough to find her are slim. 

Then Aria meets an outsider named Perry. He's searching for someone too. He's also wild - a savage - but might be her best hope at staying alive. 

If they can survive, they are each other's best hope for finding answers." - Goodreads.


Review.
When I first heard about Under the Never Sky, I knew I was going to have to read it. Why? Well, for my selfish addiction to dystopian fiction, of course and since I hadn't read a bad review of Rossi's debut novel.


The concept of Under the never Sky is popular and in some cases overdone. Books similar include Enclave, which I loved, Blood Red Road and Birthmarked are two others. That said, Rossi has put an interesting twist on her version. She has created a world in the Pods, that are deemed safe and have highly technological advances. Then she has created the outside, the real world, where food is hunted and traded, where people live in tribes and some are gifted with better senses, and the aether lurks in the sky. 

The story I enjoyed. It possessed all the attributes wanted in a good novel: adventure and action, as well as romance and when Roar is around, humour. 

The negative aspect of Under the Never Sky for me was the lead characters. Aria and Perry are interesting characters. Two different people from very different worlds come together for, at the beginning, their own reasons, yet find solace and peace in each other. I, however, didn't connect either character which is always disappointing when reading a book. I did not find Aria or Perry particularly unique or engaging characters. 
Aria actually got on my nerves quite a lot at the beginning of the story but as the book goes on and she grows and understands the outside world so does her personality and towards the end of the story, she is quite a admirable character.
The minor characters such as Roar and Cinder intrigued me more than the lead characters. Questions arose about the characters, regarding Roar and Perry's sister Liz, and what is with Cinder and his special "power"?


I am undecided on whether to give Under the Never Sky a rating of three or four. At the end, I have decided on  three and half. :P I liked Under the Never Sky but I didn't really really like it because I didn't connect with it, like I had hoped. However, with that said, it is a readable and enjoyable book that I would encourage anyone who likes dystopian fiction to read.


Rating: 3.5/5.