The Maze Runner by James Dashner

  I know it's been over a week since I posted, but it's with good reason.  This book is a little longer than the ones I've been reading lately.  More importantly, it was worth savouring, so I limited myself to a few chapters a day (read: I got busy).  The premise of this book is interesting.  I do like apocalyptic type books (as long as they are somewhat believable).  This one slid nicely into that category, but did things I haven't seen before from this sub-genre.  The premise of the book is that Thomas arrives in 'the box' to a place called the Glade.  It's filled with boys who all have jobs keeping the Glade running (cleaning, cooking, farming, first-aid, etc.).  One of the jobs is being a runner.  Each morning the walls on one side of the Glade open up and the runners go out into the maze to map it.  Each day they come back and record their findings and each day the walls of the maze move.  Their only hope of getting out of this place is to figure out the message or code of the maze.  Then one day a girl, Teresa, shows up and brings a message of doom with her.  She triggers the Ending of the maze and the Glade.  The book is great for a reader who enjoys a lot of suspense.  There are great intense scenes and the epilogue is a satisfying enough close to book one, but leaves you excited for book two (which is already out.  Also, this book somehow gets away with bad language, except there isn't technically any curse words in it.  That's what happens when you make up your own words for the Gladers!  This is definitely worth being picked up.  

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

  If you like reading the same story seven times over with some variations each time, then this is the book for you.  This book tested my patience.  I appreciate what it was trying to do, but I felt like I was 'putting up with it' the entire time I was reading it.  This is the story of Sam Kingston, a mean girl, who through a series of self-initiated events, ends up dead.  After the impact, she wakes up and relives the whole day over again (and again and again and again) trying to set the world right each time.  It's an interesting concept, one that has been done before in book and movie format, but here it is being done again.  For the age group that it was most likely written for, they won't know that though. 

A Hare in the Elephant's Trunk by Jan L. Coates

Although this story is not biographical, it is strongly inspired by the real Jacob Deng, a Southern Sudanese man who was driven from his home in Duk Padiet by civil war.  For me, this novel packs a multitude of lessons, not for 'young adult' readers, but for human beings in general.  There is a scene where Jacob asks an elderly traveler why their country is at war, to which the elderly man replies, "because we believe in a different God."  This, among other reasons told to a child, reminds the reader that war is thought a viable solution too quickly in too many countries.  As Jacob grows up, walking all over Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya, he is reminded often of his mother's words, which are to get an education and learn to solve problems with words, not violence.  Jacob is from the Dinka people, who have a term, wadeng, which means 'look always to tomorrow, it will be better.'  After incredible hardships, intense hunger, thirst and suffering, Jacob lives by these words.  If you are a fan of a true survival story that opens your eyes up a little wider, try A Hare in the Elephant's Trunk.

The Bite of the Mango by Mariatu Kamara with Susan McClelland

The fact that I read this novel in a day should give you an indication as to my appreciation for it.  This book demands that it be consumed in one sitting.  It tears you down and you have to keep with it if you want to be built back up.  The Bite of the Mango is the story of Mariatu Kamara, who was caught by armed child rebels on her way back home to get some supplies from a small town in Sierra Leone.  In gruesome detail, she tells us of her experience of losing her hands--the price she paid to live.  Mariatu is an inspiring human being and a very honest narrator.  It amazes me still that no matter how many novels I read about civil war in African countries, I am constantly captivated by the beauty and resilience of its residents.  Mariatu has an infectious spirit that has allowed her to overcome tremendous odds and hardships.  Reading her story is humbling, and I implore you to pick up her book. 

A Great and Terribly Beauty by Libba Bray

This is the story of a girl who is sent to a boarding school and discovers that she has secret magical powers.  It's not until she gets there that she starts to develop a curiosity for the dreams she's been having.  Different magical characters pop up in the story to warn her against her powers and help her along the way.  She forms a sort of sorrority with some of the other girls at the school that she has on and off relationships with.  The main character, Gemma, lost her mother to a dark shadow years ago, and she's been blaming herself ever since.  It seems that Gemma's powers and the other world that they take her to might help her solve the mystery behind her mother's death.  I was hoping for stronger relationships between the characters.  The girls were sometimes catty and spineless, especially for 19th century folk.  I think I was expecting something darker and quicker paced than what I got.  I've got two more by Libba Bray on my e Reader, but I doubt I'll be jumping at the chance to read them.  The last 30 pages were the most boring, when they should have been the most captivating. 

Stick a fork in me, I'm done!

I've noticed that recently I've been staying far, far away from typically 'girly' books.  In fact, I usually make a point not to read them at all.  The book I'm currently reading, A Great and Terrible Beauty, occasionally reminds me why I don't bother with them.  I'll review it soon, but not in this post. 
Lately I feel drawn towards books that would most often appeal to boys.  Why?  I'm kind of done with romance.  I'm pretty sure every vampire book out there quite near killed romance for me.  I like adventure books and survival stories lately.  I only allowed the romance going on in The Forest of Hands and Teeth and The Dead-Tossed Waves because I felt that there was enough zombie killing to balance out the romance scale. It's not that the writing is better in these books, it's that the action grabs hold of you and doesn't slow down to let you brood about the main character's love interest.  Finally, something else besides romance! 
What are your favourite books that aren't so focused on romance? 

I am Number Four by Pittacus Lore

This novel appealed to me originally, and I just don't know why.  I hate books about aliens and everything remotely sci-fi.  In my entire university career, the only course I ever failed was Introduction to Science Fiction (appealed, won!), a measly little half year course with the obvious reading list:  Time Machine, This is the Way the World Ends, The Lathe of Heaven (read: yuck).  I hated the books, and I LOVE books.  I don't identify with them at all (although somehow I do with zombies...) and I feel like I used to feel shopping with my mother as a child--dragged around.  Yes, science fiction (you don't even deserve CAPS!) makes me want to have an honest to goodness temper tantrum!  I mean an awesome, 5 year old starfish position arms flailing legs kicking temper tantrum!

I don't  love I am Number Four.  But now you understand it's because of my bias towards science fiction.  This 'kid' is one of nine kids from the destroyed planet Lorien who escaped with their guardians.  They now live on Earth and are being hunted down one by one in order by the Mogadorians.  Three are dead, our main character is number four.  He's moved around a lot and finally made friends, likes a girl and stands up to the school bully.  But the Mogadorians are moving in right when he is realizing his powers to defeat them (but they aren't well developed yet) and you are left to wonder if he will finesse his powers in time. 

Read it if you like the kind of science fiction where nothing is logical and you are okay with that, otherwise, pass!