THUNDERHEAD By Neal Shusterman

I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

THUNDERHEAD By Neal ShustermanThunderhead by Neal Shusterman
Series: Arc of a Scythe #2
Published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers on 1/9/18
Genres: Dystopian, Fantasy & Magic, Science Fiction, Young Adult
Pages: 509
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
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Humans learn from their mistakes. I cannot. I make no mistakes.

The Thunderhead is the perfect ruler of a perfect world, but it has no control over the scythedom. A year has passed since Rowan had gone off grid. Since then, he has become an urban legend, a vigilante snuffing out corrupt scythes in a trial by fire. His story is told in whispers across the continent.

As Scythe Anastasia, Citra gleans with compassion and openly challenges the ideals of the “new order.” But when her life is threatened and her methods questioned, it becomes clear that not everyone is open to the change.

Old foes and new enemies converge, and as corruption within the Scythedom spreads, Rowan and Citra begin to lose hope. Will the Thunderhead intervene?

Or will it simply watch as this perfect world begins to unravel?

Short and Sweet Review

After the events of Scythe, Citra has become Scythe Anastasia and has Scythe Curie as her mentor, while Rowan has stolen Scythe Goddard’s ring and has become Scythe Lucifer. Citra tries to do her gleaning with compassion and her way of doing things are starting to rock the boat. Rowan on the other hand is gleaning scythes that he finds to be corrupt. The Thunderhead is also more engaging in this book. It still has rules it has to abide by but it uses one of its favorite people to try to be able to make sure that Citra is safe. The Thunderhead is also upset with all of the corruption that is going on around the world. We also see old and new enemies, and the question is will the Thunderhead do anything to help?

Thunderhead was a pretty well written sequel. Now that Citra is a scythe we see how divided things are within the scythedom, every scythe has different opinions on how things should be conducted. We’re also introduced to a new character Greyson whom the thunderhead uses as a go between because it’s not allowed to speak to scythes. There was a lot of Greyson in the story but it made sense because I think this book really revolved around the Thunderhead and how it was feeling about the things it was seeing and Greyson was its way of trying to fix things. I do think there wasn’t a lot of Rowan we saw him go about taking out scythes that he found to be corrupt and then more towards the end when an old foe shows up to use him for their gain. There’s also a lot of Citra as she’s new to being a scythe and we see her new ideas aren’t going over well with other scythes and there’s someone trying to take either her or scythe curie out.

This book was so good and hard to put down. I remember some parts made my jaw drop because I just wasn’t expecting the book to take the turns it did. I enjoyed reading the little tidbits from the Thunderhead and seeing its reactions to the things going on. The ending was great and I’m excited to see where things will go from here. I would definitely recommend continuing on with this series as it only gets better!

H2O By Virginia Bergin

I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

H2O By Virginia BerginH2O by Virginia Bergin
Series: The Rain #1
Published by Sourcebooks Fire on 10/7/14
Genres: Dystopian, Science Fiction, Young Adult
Pages: 354
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
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.27 is a number Ruby hates. It's a number that marks the percentage of the population that has survived. It's a number that means she's one of the "lucky" few still standing. And it's a number that says her father is probably dead.

Against all odds, Ruby has survived the catastrophic onset of the killer rain. Two weeks after the radio started broadcasting the warning, "It's in the rain. It's fatal and there's no cure," the drinkable water is running out. Ruby's left with two options: persevere on her own or embark on a treacherous journey across the country to find her father—if he's even still alive.

Short and Sweet Review

Ruby is hanging out at a friends house when the panic begins that something is wrong with the rain and it ends up being all the water. The rain is deadly and one drop hitting you could kill you, Ruby ends up surviving but its been two weeks since the initial rain storm that started everything and now drinkable water is running out. Now Ruby has decide whether she wants to stick it out on her own or try to go to London and find her dad.

This was an interesting book because it’s all about your survival instincts and Ruby has to learn to think about herself if she’s going to make it. After the first storm, Ruby was with her mom, baby brother, and step dad, but eventually it’s just Ruby. When it’s just Ruby that’s when I thought the book started to pick up mainly because we get to see how she’s going to survive on her own and make the trip to London. Eventually she meets up with someone from school Darius and a girl that he found and they begin to travel with Ruby. This is where things started to go downhill. I thought Ruby was better off on her own, there was nothing wrong with Darius he honestly had a lot of good input but for some reason Ruby always wanted to argue with him, most of their dialogue was Ruby shouting at him. She also started to make some questionable decisions. The book is written in a way in which its Ruby writing about her experience. I didn’t mind the writing style but I did mind how a promising character seemed to forget what she should be focusing on.

Overall the premise is interesting and I may read the sequel just to see how everything ends.

THE VAULT OF DREAMERS By Caragh M. O’Brien

I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

THE VAULT OF DREAMERS By Caragh M. O’BrienThe Vault of Dreamers by Caragh M. O'Brien
Series: The Vault of Dreamers #1
Published by Roaring Brook Press on 9/16/14
Genres: Dystopian, Mystery & Detective, Science Fiction, Young Adult
Pages: 433
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
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The Forge School is the most prestigious arts school in the country. The secret to its success: every moment of the students' lives is televised as part of the insanely popular Forge Show, and the students' schedule includes twelve hours of induced sleep meant to enhance creativity. But when first year student Rosie Sinclair skips her sleeping pill, she discovers there is something off about Forge. In fact, she suspects that there are sinister things going on deep below the reaches of the cameras in the school. What's worse is, she starts to notice that the ridges of her consciousness do not feel quite right. And soon, she unearths the ghastly secret that the Forge School is hiding—and what it truly means to dream there.

Short and Sweet Review

The Forge is a prestigious arts school and Rosie Sinclair is lucky to be attending the school. The students are supposed to take a sleeping pill so that they get 12 hours of sleep to help their creativity. The students lives are filmed for the other 12 hours a day and their streams can be watched and based on their stream views the students are ranked. Rosie isn’t very popular she’s usually at the bottom of the rankings. Rosie skips her pill one night and she realizes that there is something off about the school.

Honestly this school has a plot that’s interesting and will pull you in but for me Rosie put me off. Rosie was basically playing a game of cat and mouse with the dean. I wish Rosie was smarter in the way she went about things. Obviously she found out that weird things were happening at the school during the times she should have been asleep, and instead of trying to be discreet she made it easy for the adults to figure out what she was up to. I will admit dream mining and seeding is quite intense and wrong and Rosie learns that the dean is doing these things, but the dean also knows that she’s sneaking around. It was a mess in that aspect it made you want to grab her by her shoulders and shake her, like be more careful. Anyway Rosie gets involved with Linus a guy who works in the kitchen and unfortunately because of Rosie he gets fired. I also didn’t like some of the conversations Rosie had with other people. She had a I’m right and I’m going to do what I want, a act now think later kind of attitude, even when people tried to warn her to be careful.

This is the second time I’ve read this book and I feel like my rating has gone down. The concept is great but Rosie as a main character just made me shake my head. I’m interested in seeing what happens in the next book just because of how this book ended.

THE ELITE By Kiera Cass

I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

THE ELITE By Kiera CassThe Elite by Kiera Cass
Series: The Selection #2
Published by HarperTeen on 4/23/13
Genres: Dystopian, Romance, Young Adult
Pages: 336
Format: Hardcover
Source: Reviewer Purchase
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ReviewedbyDani

Thirty-five girls came to the palace to compete in the Selection, and to win Prince Maxon’s heart. Now six girls remain, and the competition is fiercer than ever—but America Singer is still struggling to decide where her heart truly lies. Is it Prince Maxon—and life as the queen—that she wants? Or is it still Aspen, her first love?

Short and Sweet Review

The Elite picks up right where The Selection left off. There’s six girls left and the competition is fierce. America still isn’t sure if she should pick Aspen or Maxon. Maxon on the other hand is sure about America and would end the selection to make her his one. This book was entertaining but also had it’s moments where America’s indecisiveness got annoying. America would decide that Maxon was the one she wanted to choose but then she would find something wrong with him any little reason to push him away. Honestly if I was Maxon I would be annoyed because America was just playing with his feelings. When America saw that Maxon was interested in Kriss, she got jealous and realized that she needed to fight for him and stop playing with his emotions. I liked how we saw more of the rebels and found out what they wanted. We also got to see the girls learn about important things like philanthropy. I’m interested in seeing how things play out in the final book, because America isn’t a front runner and she’s walking on thin ice. I liked The Elite it was a fast read and made me realize I would never want to be in a competition like this, but it is fun to see how things play out.

RED QUEEN By Victoria Aveyard

I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

RED QUEEN By Victoria AveyardRed Queen by Victoria Aveyard
Series: Red Queen #1
Published by HarperTeen on 2/10/15
Genres: Dystopian, Fantasy & Magic, Romance, Young Adult
Pages: 388
Format: Hardcover
Source: Reviewer Purchase
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Mare Barrow's world is divided by blood--those with common, Red blood serve the Silver- blooded elite, who are gifted with superhuman abilities. Mare is a Red, scraping by as a thief in a poor, rural village, until a twist of fate throws her in front of the Silver court. Before the king, princes, and all the nobles, she discovers she has an ability of her own.

To cover up this impossibility, the king forces her to play the role of a lost Silver princess and betroths her to one of his own sons. As Mare is drawn further into the Silver world, she risks everything and uses her new position to help the Scarlet Guard--a growing Red rebellion--even as her heart tugs her in an impossible direction. One wrong move can lead to her death, but in the dangerous game she plays, the only certainty is betrayal.

Short and Sweet Review

In Red Queen the people are separated by their blood, the reds and the silvers. The silvers have powers and live in high society. The silvers look down on the reds and think they’re inferior. Mare Barrow our main character is a red, one night she meets Prince Cal although she doesn’t know it at the time. Cal gets Mare a job at the palace as a servant and that’s when Mare makes a spectacle. Mare is an anomaly she has red blood but she has the ability to form lightning from her hands something a silver should be able to do. After that the Queen and King decide to pretend that Mare is a lost silver and they have a political use for her. Mare also decides to work for her own agenda she teams up with the Scarlet Guard, a group that wants to take down the Silvers. In her time at the palace Mare is engaged to the youngest Prince Maven, and she’s trying to get intel for the Scarlet Guard.

This is my second time reading this book and my thoughts have changed. Mare is a selfish character and she makes rash decisions. Prince Cal was a good character he tried to do what was good for everyone. Mare just tried to do things for the reds but it was almost like she was doing it for herself and her family. Mare is engaged to Maven but she and Cal have feelings for each other so things get complicated there, I think if things were different it would have been Cal and Mare from the start. We follow Mare as she pretends to be a generals daughter, she takes lessons and training classes and meets interesting people. During her timeMare learns that people can betray her but she puts that on the back burner and decides to trust most people which led to her downfall. I’m hoping in the next book Mare becomes a little more street smart. I’m interested to see what’s going to happen next especially because she’s now enemy #1.

SUPERNOVA By Marissa Meyer

I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

SUPERNOVA By Marissa MeyerSupernova by Marissa Meyer
Series: Renegades #3
Published by Feiwel & Friends on 11/5/19
Genres: Dystopian, Fantasy & Magic, Science Fiction, Young Adult
Pages: 560
Format: Paperback
Source: Reviewer Purchase
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Nova and Adrian struggle to keep their secret identities concealed while the battle rages on between their alter egos, their allies, and their greatest fears come to life. Secrets, lies, and betrayals are revealed as anarchy once again threatens to reclaim Gatlon City.

Short and Sweet Review

Everything has come to this, the end. The real battle is about to begin and Nova and Adrian will have to fight what they believe is right in their hearts.

Adrian is a renegade all he knows is being a hero. Nova is an anarchist disguising herself as a renegade but after all the time she’s spent with the renegades she’s trying to decide if taking down the renegades is really what she wants. Nova has conflicting feelings about everything going on, she doesn’t fully agree with either side, but with the anarchist she’s like their leader and even if she doesn’t agree they’ll go on with their plans.

This was an amazing conclusion to this series. I remember starting this series and thinking that I wouldn’t finish because I thought the first book was so slow but I’m glad I continued on. There’s a lot going on in this book, but in a good way. I think my favorite part was seeing the characters especially Nova and Adrian struggle with what people wanted them to do but knowing in their heart what they really wanted. The both of them grew a lot and I did like their relationship, the enemies into lovers trope except he doesn’t really know that she’s his enemy. There’s a lot of things that were revealed, twists and turns, and things that just keep me turning the pages. I love all of these characters and it was kind of intense to see how everything would turn out. I don’t want to spoil anything but just know that the battle and ending of this book was perfect.

I loved this series and would definitely recommend it!

SCYTHE By Neal Shusterman

I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

SCYTHE By Neal ShustermanScythe by Neal Shusterman
Series: Arc of a Scythe #1
Published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers on 11/22/16
Genres: Dystopian, Fantasy & Magic, Science Fiction, Young Adult
Pages: 448
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
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A world with no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery: humanity has conquered all those things, and has even conquered death. Now Scythes are the only ones who can end life—and they are commanded to do so, in order to keep the size of the population under control.

Citra and Rowan are chosen to apprentice to a scythe—a role that neither wants. These teens must master the “art” of taking life, knowing that the consequence of failure could mean losing their own.

Short and Sweet Review

Humanity has conquered hunger, disease, and even death. Now Scythes are the only ones in the world who can end someone’s life to keep the population under control. Citra and Rowan are chosen by Scythe Faraday to be his apprentices and learn all about becoming a Scythe.

Citra and Rowan were normal teens until they were chosen by Scythe Faraday to become his apprentices. Neither one of them wants the job but they don’t really have a choice. Citra and Rowan join Faraday on his gleanings and learn what it means to be a scythe. We see that each scythe has different methods for what they do. When Citra and Rowan go to a scythe conference the other scythes notice a friendship between them which isn’t ideal. Now Citra and Rowan are pitted against each other and only one of them can win the job and the other will lose their life.

This book was amazing! There was so much going on, but in a good way. I liked seeing how different scythes operate and how sometimes the gleanings did take a toll on them, we get to see more of their thoughts with their journal entries. We see Citra and Rowan taken under the wing of other scythes and it was interesting to see what they learned and it was kind of sad that they were separated from each other. It’s such a fascinating world that Shusterman has created, it made me want to be a scythe. I loved the little mystery and seeing how everything played out. The characters are great and I loved how they never lost who they truly were. I can’t wait to read the other two books in this series!

ARCHENEMIES By Marissa Meyer

I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

ARCHENEMIES By Marissa MeyerArchenemies by Marissa Meyer
Series: Renegades #2
Published by Feiwel & Friends on 11/6/18
Genres: Dystopian, Fantasy & Magic, Romance, Science Fiction, Young Adult
Pages: 487
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
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Nova’s double life is about to get a lot more complicated:

As Insomnia, she is a full-fledged member of the Renegades, a syndicate of powerful and beloved superheroes. She works with Adrian’s patrol unit to protect the weak and maintain order in Gatlon City.

As Nightmare, she is an Anarchist - a group of of villains who are determined to destroy the Renegades. Nova wants vengeance against the so-called heroes who once failed her when she needed them most.

But as Nova, her feelings for Adrian are deepening, despite the fact that he is the son of her sworn enemies and, unbeknownst to Nova, he has some dangerous secrets of his own.

In this second installment of the Renegades trilogy, Nova, Adrian, and the rest of their crew – Ruby, Oscar, and Danna -- are faced with escalating crime in Gatlon City, while covert weapons and conflicting missions have Nova and Adrian questioning not only their beliefs about justice, but also the feelings they have for each other.

The line between good and evil has been blurred, but what's clear to them both is that too much power could mean the end of their city – and the world – as they know it.

Short and Sweet Review

After the battle with the Detonator, Adrian and Nova are thrown back to work after their victory. The Anarchists are still depending on Nova to be successful in her infiltration of the renegades, and the renegades now have a new weapon they believe will take care of their enemies forever.

Nova is living in a web of lies that she created and now she has to keep everything straight. After the events of the last book everyone thinks that Nova’s alias Nightmare is dead and now Nova is just working as a renegade without the worry that the renegades are still looking for Nightmare. Not much is new with Adrian, he still hides the fact that he’s the sentinel. Thinking back on it I don’t think Adrian did much in this book it mostly felt like Nova taking the lead in this book. 

The renegades develop a chemical called Agent N which will remove a prodigy’s powers when they’re injected with it. Though Nova feels it’s wrong to use it she decides that it’ll come in handy during her take down of the renegades. Nova’s main goal in the book is to get Ace Anarchy’s helmet and finally be done posing as a renegade. Adrian on the other hand feels like his pursuit of Nightmare isn’t over he has a feeling that she’s still around so he spends most of the book chasing leads. 

The romance between these two I’ve decided is horrible. Adrian likes Nova, but Nova on the other hand may have feelings for him but she has the other anarchist reminding her that she needs to use Adrian to get what she wants and that’s exactly what she does. It feels like the romance is one sided and that is unfortunate and makes me feel bad for Adrian because he doesn’t know what’s up. 

The ending was exciting and full of action it was interesting to see the big battle and Nova execute her plan. It’ll be interesting to see what’ll happen next especially with the world knowing that Ace Anarchy isn’t as dead as they once thought he was.



GENERATION MANIFESTATION By Steven Bereznai

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

GENERATION MANIFESTATION By Steven BereznaiGeneration Manifestation by Steven Bereznai
Published by Jambor on 9/14/21
Genres: Dystopian, Fantasy & Magic, Science Fiction, Young Adult
Pages: 256
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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DON'T BE DNA REGULAR. BE GENERATION MANIFESTATION.

The Genetic Wars that turned most of the planet into a wasteland are over. The so-called “dregs” (DNA regulars) and superpowered Supergenics now live separately from each other—the Supergenics in the shiny towers of Jupitar City; the dregs across the river in the squat concrete buildings of the boroughs. But some dreg parents bear Supergenic children; under repressive laws, they must be sent to live with their own kind.

THEY ARE GEN M.

To find these special few, every teen faces Testing Day. When her turn comes, socially isolated Caitlin Feral is determined to Manifest powers like the heroes in the comic book propaganda she loves. If she fails, she faces a lifetime of loneliness and drudgery in the boroughs.

How much is Caitlin willing to sacrifice to be a supergirl?

When she uncovers dark secrets, does she dare start another war to reveal the truth?
And...who will pay the price?

Short and Sweet Review

In Generation Manifestation we are brought to a world where people either have powers or they don’t. If you have powers you are known as Supergenics and live in Jupiter City, and if you don’t you live across the river and are known as a dreg.

Our main character Caitlin has been waiting for testing day to see if she’s going to manifest and is a supergenic, but she doesn’t and she’s a dreg. Caitlin is disappointed and like every other dreg is given a list of jobs that she would be well suited for. While Caitlin is still living life in the boroughs she has more interactions with a classmate Normand, who she thinks is weird and he also gives her a comic book and she knows she can get in trouble for having it but she keeps it anyway. Caitlin also gets training as a protector and meets a guy named Bradie and Caitlin was basically obsessed with him.

Honestly this was a short book but it felt like it was way longer than it really was. I didn’t follow what was going on half of the time, I don’t know if that was a formatting issue with the ARC I think a couple sentencing were missing from each chapter but things were definitely missing. I didn’t think Caitlin was a likable character she was childish and I could not stand her dialogue and the way she would talk to people. There was a bit of a conspiracy surrounding what was going on in Jupiter City and what they were doing, and this book left off on a cliffhanger but I’m not sure if I would continue on with this series.

TAKEN By Erin Bowman

I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

TAKEN By Erin BowmanTaken by Erin Bowman
Series: Taken #1
Published by HarperTeen on 4/16/13
Genres: Dystopian, Fantasy & Magic, Science Fiction, Young Adult
Pages: 368
Format: Paperback
Source: Reviewer Purchase
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Gray Weathersby has grown up expecting to disappear at midnight on his eighteenth birthday. They call it the Heist—and it happens to every boy in Claysoot. His only chance at escape is to climb the Wall that surrounds Claysoot. A climb no one has ever survived . . .

On the eve of a boy’s 18th birthday he will be heisted, this happens to every boy in Claysoot. Gray knows that his time will come soon but after he learns some information that not everything is as it seems he takes a chance and climbs the wall that surrounds Claysoot to see what is outside of a place he’s called home.

Gray is our main character and his brother Blaine is heisted. After Blaine is heisted Gray learns that he should have been heisted too but he wasn’t. Gray decides that the only way he’s going to find out the truth is if he climbs the wall and leaves Claysoot. Emma, Gray’s love interest decides to follow him. When they make it to the other side of the wall Gray and Emma learn that Claysoot was an experiment and that there are two sides AmEast and AmWest and they are at war with each other. Gray and Emma don’t know what they’ve gotten themselves into but they learn that they’re going to have to pick a side and fast.

This was a good book, I liked the pace and the characters. The plot twists were great and kept me reading. Gray is a headstrong character and he worries more about the people he cares about than his own safety. I did like the relationship between Gray and Emma, it was sweet, but I’m not sure what’s going to happen with the whole love triangle.

I’m excited to continue with this series. Its a fun, fast paced dystopian novel and the twists will keep you on the edge of your seat!