Across the Universe!

Okay, so I just finished the book Across the Universe by Beth Revis. I saw on some other blogs recommendations for it and I got it and I totally couldn't put it down. I should be packing right now (ROAD TRIP) but I haven't blogged in a while, so I decided so do this instead. Don't y'alls love me?

This book is dystopian, which implies sci-fi, but it seems more sci-fi than most dytopian books and it's also a mystery and slightly romancey. But not really.

I am going to try and give a summary (WITHOUT SPOILERS!) in three sentences. Wish me luck.

Main chick (Amy) gets cyrogenicly(sp?) frozen to go to Centauri-Earth (a new planet that Earth discovered) because it takes 300 years to get there and her parents (being fabulous (military and scientist people) were chosen to go along and she was brought along. She is unfrozen in an attempt at murder and meets love interest (Elder), a leader (Eldest) in training because people live on the ship, keeping people alive to wake up frozens (they create new technologies and make sure the ship's running smoothly too). Together, main chick and love interest uncover the secrets of the ship and discover that love interest has been living a lie and together, they try and figure out who's killing the frozen people and why.

That counts as three sentences, right? RIGHT?
It totally does.

This book has officially gone to the top (ish) of my favorite books. The current order of favorite books (trilogies too) are Uglies, Hunger Games and then ACROSS THE UNIVERSE.

So I would like to say that it's a good part if you're good at not imagining things. If you are, prepare to be a little freaked out. The first chapter alone made me want to put the book down and never read it again because it described (in detail) the process of freezing people. And it's freaky.

There were a lot of things I definitely wasn't expecting thrown in. I'm not saying that they were thrown in randomly. They had crucial plotness to them and I totally wasn't expecting it.

CHARACTERS!

Main chick/Amy—She's kinda annoying, daddy's girl, but overall, a pretty strong protagonist. She's really angsty, but she has reason to... to a point.

Love interest/Elder—He's cool. He's the rebellious teenager in the line for ruling over the people. And he's a slight liar.

Kinda-semi-antagonist/Eldest—He's mean and stuff. But yet again, he has reason to. He's fifty-six and has been in charge for a gazillion years (since he was twenty, I think) and he knows the horrid (really horrid) deep dark secrets of the ship and he keeps them away from everyone and he comes across this way until the very end. When something mostly unexpected happens.

I don't really think there are any other MAIN characters other than Elder's best friend whose name I can't remember, though I finished the book just a few hours ago.

This is definitely one of those books that like, sticks in your head and you just want to make everyone read it.

Many stars, everyone read it. Now.

Sometimes I hate how it makes sense in my life to say "Don't fling sushi into the elevator shaft."

It's sad that things like sushi and elevator shafts often come together into the same sentence. When they really shouldn't.

The first week of school is over. According to my Latin teacher, there are only thirty-five weeks left of school now. Scoreee.

I really have nothing to blog about. My brain has been focusing on school and reading and things of that nature.

I might post a review tomorrow on a book that I just finished called The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin. If I can get a firmer grasp on the entire thing. It's really confusing.

There are three books that I cannot finish no matter how hard I try.

There are only three books in all of existence that I have tried to read but absolutely could not finish because I thought it was so horrible or I just hated how the story was going. I am planning on trying to finish one of them before Tuesday, though. Maybe. Probably not, though.

Book number one... The strangely semi-popular Eragon series thing. I'll list off all the things that I find wrong with it.

• Wasn't it supposed to be just two books then moved to a triogy and now four? I hate it when authors do that. Like Smeyer. I wouldn't mind it if Suzanne Collins did it. I want another Hunger Games book, possibly from the point of view of Peeta.
• I never really was into the whole fantasy dragon stuff. Sci-fi and supernatural things are more my style. 
• The writing is overly... over. Y'know what I'm talking about, don'tcha?
• He wrote it when he was what... sixteen or seventeen? I've spoken to people before about how people should wait to publish their novels until they're older because their writing style changes and it's all weird. And I've had angsty conversations with Wiffy on this topic. Specifically referencing this author guy. Which I can't remember. Christopher P....
• The intro is so long and boring. I just remember just a flood of detail and I was what... eleven or twelve when I tried to read it? I don't care about all the whatevers of the forest and all the complicated things that I can't be bothered to remember now. I just know that there was a rock/egg thing.

I can't think of anything else at the moment. But I have to say that there is one thing that I admire about the author guy. Apparently it's been two years since his last book came out and people are going insane waiting for the fourth and he's not succumbing to the pressure, which is what I think Suzanne Collins did. That's probably why Hunger Games was the best of the trilogy because she had no one to bother her about finishing it but herself. And Catching Fire she had a lot of people which was why the time in the arena was so short. And before Mockingjay there we so many rabid fans, we can say safely that the reason that the ending was so rushed and Finnick didn't even get a paragraph was because she has succumbed to pressure.

Every girl reads the second book in elementary school/middle school. My friends were always talking about it and when they asked me what I thought of it, I always shrugged it off and said that I didn't really like it. They ignored me and continued. I never really opened a copy of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants until I got it for Christmas from my grandparents two years ago. Whuppee. I decided that I had nothing better to do over winter break, so I tried to read it. I could not get past the tenth page, I just hated the writing style so much. And it was just so cliched. I don't mind the movie, though. I watch it occasionally on sick days along with the Harry Potter movies, Finding Nemo, The Emperor's New Groove and Charlie's Angels.

The third book I read last summer along with its prequel, Peeps. It's by Scott Westerfeld and it's called The Last Days. I don't know why I hated it so much. Scott Westerfeld is one of my heroes and I love all of his books. Except that one. It just bothered me so much. I totally know what happens, though, since Wiffy told me.

And now, since it's one in the morning and I plan to get up early to go biking for a long time and then BBQ and then dance in the streets, I shall retire. Also, please vote on my villain poll.

P.S., school starts the day after tomorrow.

P.P.S., I want a pet octopus.

Mockingjay: REVEALED! Caution! Spoilers!

This is a spoiler on Mockingjay. I've been wanting to do one for a while, and this book seems like a great one to do it.

Oh yeah, and I'm sorry I didn't blog last night. I have a lovely excuse. I was at a party until late and then I wanted to get to bed early so that I could get up early and read this book and then blog about it.

I wouldn't suggest reading it unless you either a) do not care about spoilers, b) do not plan to read the book in the near future/at all (SHAME ON YOU!) or c) have read it.

Warning.

Second warning.

Third warning.

Ready.

Set.

Go.

I hope y'all know I did that so that if people went on here just to check for updates, they hopefully will not be assaulted by spoilers.

I'm going to start out with a flat out list of things that happen that I think might interest people if looking for spoilers.

• Katniss, Gale, and Peeta all live.
• Finnick and Annie get married.
• Finnick dies. I never cry for books or movies. His death made much cryings.
• Prim dies. -insert BAWLING here-
• Peeta gets tortured/messed up by the Capitol by a type of torture called 'Hijacking'. It's a thing that uses tracker jacker poison to make him afraid of certain things. Katniss, in particular.
• Team Gale dies.
• Katniss has not-fake kids. With Peeta.
• Prim DIES. Do you not get that? She DIES.
• President Snow dies. He's supposed to be executed by Katniss. But then Katniss kills the current President (the not so promising ex-President of district thirteen who wants to have a final games for all the children of important Capitol people instead of executing the important people) and doesn't get in trouble for it because she's called crazy which she totally is.
• As I stated above, President Coin dies.
• They live in district thirteen for most of the book. It's underground and completely self-sufficient. 
• Katniss gets shot.
• District thirteen gets bombed by missile/bomb-things that are meant to dig deep into the ground.
• So many people die.

I can't think of much more at this point. I hope you guys know that that was all DEFINITELY NOT IN ORDER. So .... yeah.

Maybe I'll do basic plot-points.

• Katniss is exploring what's left of district twelve. She finds that the Victor's Village survived and not much else.
• Not long after, she agrees to be their (people of district thirteen and people left of twelve. Also the rest of the districts once they're in the rebellion) 'Mockingjay' and the head of the rebellion.
• Everyone had been suspecting that Peeta was dead, but he shows up on TV asking for a cease-fire, even though nothing had started yet. He looks healthy and in control of his head.
• Katniss asks for conditions for her Mockingjayness. She wants immunity for all the previous tributes, no matter what they've done, she wants Gale to be with her during most of the things that she has to do, and she wants to be able to hunt again. She asks President Coin, she agrees, and announces it in front of everyone in the district. But she says that if Katniss doesn't follow the rules, the conditions are broken and the immunity is no more. Including hers.
• So they start filming propaganda that they can feed into the other districts' TVs and eventually the Captiol's.
• They go to district eight. Everything gets really intense because a hospital is bombed and Katniss starts yelling at a camera.
• They watch more interviews of Peeta, with him looking weaker and more tired each time. At the last interview, Peeta warns them of a bombing. During the interview, BeeTee is feeding in propaganda and Peeta is trying to fight it. Eventually, the interview ends with the camera being knocked over and blood is spilled on the white floor. 
• They decide that it's too risky not to take his seriously, so they put everyone in a bunker at the very bottom (try like, forty floors into the ground) of the entire district thirteen building. It is bombed, and they're in there for quite some time. 
• After they're let out, Katniss (along with Gale, Finnick and a camera crew is immediately sent to the outside, where they want her to film things by the craters that the bombs made. But she breaks down because they're using Peeta against her and she can't do it knowing that if they keep going on, they'll keep hurting him. They have to sedate her from freaking out so much and it is said that afterwards, Finnick does the same thing because of Annie.
• When Katniss and Finnick wake up, they find out that a team has finally been sent to the Capitol to rescue Peeta and Annie. And Gale volunteered to go.
• So Katniss and Finnick freak out and wants to go, but the only thing they can do is film more propoganda to distract the Capitol. So Finnick tells some stories about how he was threatened into prostitution by President Snow and by doing that he found out dirty secrets from people in the Capitol and he told them all. It was sweet.
• So then they wait forever and eventually, they're back, and people are hurt, but no one's dead and they have both Peeta and Annie.
• Katniss goes to Peeta who is supposedly just waking up. Katniss goes over to hug him or kiss him or something and he strangles her.

DUN DUN DUN.

Y'know, I'm crying too much while writing this, so I can't do it. Just go read the book. It's amazing. If I could strive to be an author, I would want to be Suzanne Collins.

If anyone actually reads this, feel free to discuss spoilers in the comments.

Unwind—an abridged review.

Golly. I don't know how I could abridge a review. I just think that it'd sound epic.

I've decided that I'm going to follow a system thingy for all of my book reviews. It'll be much more organized.

Anyway, the book I'll be reviewing today is Unwind by Neal Shusterman. It's another futuristic LOLWAT kinda book.

Background—In the near future, I believe it's sixty years or so, the United States had a second civil war (I'm assuming that it started a few years from the present). The war was between the pro-life and the pro-choice people. Eventually, the war ended after an agreement had been reached. They created a thing called 'The Bill of Life'. In that, they agreed that you could not terminate a child until the age of thirteen. Between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, a parent can decide to 'abort' their child by unwinding them. Right before the agreement that ended the war, some scientist figured out how to transplant 100% of the body (actually, it's like 99.4% because of useless organs). So unwinding technically keeps the child alive, but in parts and pieces. It made both sides happy.

Characters—The story follows three 'unwinds'—one a rebellious sixteen year old boy named Connor; another a girl, Risa, who grew up in an orphanage that decided that she wasn't doing as well as she could and they needed room for other children; and Lev, a 'tithe' whose family had ten children, and out of religious reasoning tithed their tenth son.
Connor found out about his unwinding while snooping through his father's office and saw three tickets (one for his mother, father and brother) to some vacation spot, and found the unwinding order after trying to figure out why there were only three. Risa, was doing a piano recital knowing that if she didn't do a good enough job, she'd be unwound for sure. Afterwards, she was taken to some important person's office and was told of her unwinding. Lev knew about his future his entire life and was treated in a high respect for it. He was sent off after having his thirteenth birthday party with his pastor.

Plot—These three kids are on the run. Connor starts it off for everyone by making a big scene on a highway where both Risa's bus and Lev's car are forced to stop. Risa and Connor run for it and Connor drags Lev from his car despite his struggles of wanting to get unwound. Eventually, they find an underground railroad of sorts.

My thoughts on it— It's a terrifying book. I'm almost freaked out, wanting to turn eighteen as soon as possible for fear that my parents might have me unwound. But it's amazing at the same time. My friends and I are making a pretend audiobook for it. :D It's going to be really fun. I'm Risa. The characters that the author created are just so full of the fear of getting unwound and they all have such different personalities. Obviously, the main conflict is them (maybe?) getting unwound, but there are so many miniature ones inside each part and chapter, even. Details that were hinted at in the very beginning pop up at the very end. It's a laid out amazingly.

Movie? Sequel?—A movie is set to be made for this book, and it's supposed to come out sometime in 2012. And I've heard rumors of a sequel, though I'm not sure what will happen. I looked at the author's website and blog, but I haven't seen anything about it. I really hope there's a sequel to it.

Recommendation—I'd recommend this to anyone. Adults, people my age, boys, girls, losers, cool people. It's just that fabulous. If you haven't read it, go get it from the library as soon as you can. Just make sure it doesn't make me have to return my copy to the library. I need it for the audiobook.

Why do YOU less than three the devil?

Let me start off first by saying that this picture is pretty much completely incorrect. In the spelling/grammar type way.

• Homo's

Homo's are quite fabulous. I love how that is the first thing on that list.

• Druggies

Druggies are not fabulous because they do drugs. DRUGS ARE THE DEVILLLL. :O

• Gangster's

I think that gangster's are pretty pimpin'. Except the whole pants thing. (I would like to note that the first time I tried to type the word 'pants', it ended up as 'plants'.)

• Feminist's

A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle. Also, men are okay as long as they stay in the kitchen where they belong. And if they make me a sammich.

• Mormon's

lulz, UTAH. My grandmother is a Mormon thing.

• Buddhist's

Dood. Buddhist's are really sweet. It's all 'HAHAHA. I WAS A UNICORN IN A PAST LIFE AND YOU WERE A FREAKING DUNG BEETLE. I WIN.'

• Drunkard's

Hey, some of my best friends are Drunkard's. HAHAHA JAYKAY. I think drunk people can do what they want. As well as less than three the devil.

• Bahi's

I feel really stupid, but I had to wiki this. I just read probably half of the article and I still don't know what it is.

• Catholic's

I'm guessing that the people who are displaying this sign are from WBC. Catholics are kinda... weird.

• Wifebeater's

I BEAT MY WIFE. I take that as an insult.

• Atheist's

I'm sure a bunch o' people read that and laugh. They don't believe in the devil. Haha. :D Whoever wrote that sign looooooses.

• New ager's

Y'know, I'm not even going to comment.

• Democrat's

Democrats will freaking rule the world. 'Nuff said.

• Environmentalist's?

Uh... WHAT? People who care about the Earth less than three the devil? If anyone, it's the idiots who wrote that. They're the ones who are not recycling and using giant trucks and SUVs that take up so much uckyness. They're probably the people behind the oil spills too.

• P.K.'s

Huh? I'm probably overlooking something totally obvious that I already know of, but all I'm getting when I wiki it is a type of car. Yes. A type of car less than threes the devil.

• Abortionist's

Is that even a group thingy? I've never heard that term before. Whatever.

• Effeminate men

Good golly. These people are so horrible. Effeminate men are the most fabulous thing ever. Do they not want the world to be fabulous? Curse them.

• Racist's

Clearly, these people are racists. That means that they less than three the devil. Go logic fail!

• Scientologist's

I think that sciencey people are the most fab. Don't you? I mean, they're all sciencey and smart.

• Emo's

Emo's are super cool. They're all raccoon like and they have hair that is in their faces. I don't see how they don't run into walls every other second. I guess that is a skill that emo's have and that makes them much cooler. Plus, they empty their emptiness by slitting their wrists. With cell phones. So parents, don't let your children have cell phones in case they're emo and want to empty their emptiness.

I am far too lazy to do the rest. But I want to say that I am more fabulous than everyone else. I believe that I will do a book review tomorrow. It will be on Unwind.

Also, note to everyone:
I purposely did the 's stuff to make fun of the poster thing in the picture. I did not do it on purpose, though some people think I did and felt the need to correct me.

Stop! Book review time!

Okay, so I have decided that like, once a week or whenever I feel like it, I'm going to post a book review. :D But it'll be five times more epic than a normal book review.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

(I've had to shrink the photo for spacing purposes, but if you click on it, a bigger one will pop up and it'll be easier to read what it says.)


This is easily in my top five favorite series, that's how fabulous it is. I'm really into dystopian future stuff. You can tell because my number one favorite series is the Uglies trilogy-type thing.

I really wanted to review Catching Fire, but I know that it would totally give away how The Hunger Games ends.

This book takes place in the near-ish future. I'm pretty sure that it's three to four hundred years into the future, but I don't think they ever actually say 'THIS TAKES PLACE IN THE YEAR 2345!' because that would take away the mystery factor of it. And there's not really a mystery factor, I just like leading people into false dreams.
Back to the setting of the book. Future. In the FUTURE, there's this country-type thing called Panem. And it takes up the entirety of North America (Canada, U.S., Mexico). And within Panem, there are twelve 'districts', which give me the impression of states or provinces. Each District has its own specialty kinda thing. 12 is coal, 4 is fishing, 11 is food, etc.
This story takes place in District 12, from the point of view of a sixteen year old girl named Katniss Everdeen. In this futuristic country, there is a yearly 'celebration' thing called the Hunger Games.
For the past seventy-three (almost seventy-four) years, each district has to come up with two 'tributes', one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen. These twenty-four tributes are put in a giant outdoor arena to fight to the death. Last one alive wins.
That's where Katniss comes in. At the seventy-fourth Hunger Games reaping (where they choose who is a tribute) Katniss's beloved younger sister who deeply cares for all life is chosen as a tribute. Katniss does something amazing that most people would not do for a sibling in many districts; she volunteers as a tribute in place of her sister.
The male tribute for District 12, is named Peeta Mellark, the baker's son (Geddit, cuz its pronounced like pita, as in the bread??! HAHAHA SO PUNNY.). For some reason, the narrative goes off on this random story about how he burned bread and then got slapped and then threw the bread at her because she was so hungry. That's probably the only part of the book I don't like/get. Katniss feels like she owes him or something.
Anyway, they get whisked off to The Capitol (The capital of Panem) to be prepped for interviews and training.

That's all I'm really going to say, since the littlest thing I would say could ruin the entire thing.

If you've never read this amazing trilogy in the works, GO OUT AND GET IT FROM YOUR LIBRARY, YOUR LOCAL INDIE BOOKSTORE (we need to be supporting locally owned businesses), YOUR BEST FRIEND WHO IS IN LOVE WITH THIS SERIES AS WELL, YOUR GRANDMOTHER, YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD BULLY, OR ME. :D I'm sure all of those places and people would love to let you borrow it or sell it to you.

Since I know a lot of book reviews start/end this way, I'm going to do it too.

I GIVE THIS BOOK FIVE BILLION STARS!
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I don't really think that's five billion, but I don't wanna bore y'all with all these fabulous stars that this book totally deserves.

If you've already read this book and the second, Catching Fire, then check this out if you're eagerly awaiting the release of the third (and final? I kinda hope not. I love the world that she's set.) book, Mockingjay. CAUTION. Do not look at if you haven't read it. And by the way, if you're worried about the third book being 'ruined' by reading that (like my mother), don't fret, it's just a bunch of insane ideas put together by this person. And the crazy thing is, they actually almost make sense and I want what he's predicting to happen in the book. -cannot wait-.

I hope you enjoyed the first ever blogging book review by yours truly. I'm kinda hoping to do a review once a week or something. Or whenever I can't think of anything to blog about. :D


Photo is not mine. The images and stuff are Suzanne Collin's and her publisher's. And the cover mash-up with the quotes was all designed and put together by Lesslya.