Zombies vs. Unicorns

It's a question as old as time itself: which is better, the zombie or the unicorn? In this anthology, edited by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier (unicorn and zombie, respectively), strong arguments are made for both sides in the form of short stories. Half of the stories portray the strengths—for good and evil—of unicorns and half show the good (and really, really bad-ass) side of zombies. Contributors include many bestselling teen authors, including Cassandra Clare, Libba Bray, Maureen Johnson, Meg Cabot, Scott Westerfeld, and Margo Lanagan. This anthology will have everyone asking: Team Zombie or Team Unicorn?

Aithen's Review

This was a pretty awesome anthology, to say the least.

I adore zombies (though as a kid, I was a fervent believer that unicorns existed and would be back to save the world - some day), and I was already 100% team zombie before I even started reading this anthology. But that didn't stop me from loving many team unicorn stories (even if the zombies were better, in the end).

Something I really loved is the little introductions Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier gave before each story. They were really funny, and it was cute to see them argue about which kind of mythical creature was best.

It was amazing to see all the different stories that could be done with the theme. Every single one was different, even if a zombie or unicorn had to play a main part. They were all quite different, and that is what made every single story interesting.

Of course, I won't review every single story in the book, but I'll tell you the highlights of my read:

- The Children of the Revolution, by Maureen Johnson
A seriously deranged story that sent shivers down my spine. My favourite story of all. No story can even start to amaze me as much as this one. I had never heard of the author before, but I am definitely hunting down more of her books with my Christmas money.

- The Care and Feeding of your Baby Killer Unicorn, by Diana Peterfreund
A really amazing unicorn story. Killer unicorns? Count me in! This story was really, really cool, and the best of the unicorn stories. If all unicorn stories were as good as this one, maybe my unconditional zombie love would've wavered. Maybe.

- Inoculata, by Scott Westerfeld
A strange spin on a zombie story. Zombie-human hybrids are extremely interesting, and the fact that the main love-story is between two girls just adds to the awesomeness.

- Princess Prettypants, by Meg Cabot
Absolutely hilarious, this story kept me laughing all through physics class (don't do like me, kids, reading in class is bad, bad bad XD). It was a caricature, really, of the sparkling purple and white unicorns of our childhood, and it was exquisitely done, too. Another author I've never heard of and am going to read more from. (Okay, wait, scratch that. ALL her stories are sparkling-colorful-girlish stuff. Guhh. )

These stories could've given this book an easy 10. Sadly, some of them weren't as good (Like Cassandra Clare's Cold Hands. I was so disappointed with it, and I already didn't really like her books and wasn't expecting too much. Margo Lanagan's A Thousand Flowers actually disgusted me. Bestiality? With a unicorn? Uh, sorry, but no. Hating that.) and made me want to give this book a 6. That's the problem with anthologies, I guess. Some stories are amazing, some aren't, and you have to live with it. Overall, though, it was really excellent, and I recommend it to all zombie-, unicorn-, and fantasy-lovers out there.

What team will you be on? Zombie, or unicorn?

The awesome-tastic promotional video

-Aithen

Zombies vs. Unicorns edited by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier
Rating : 8,5/10

Beryl's Review

I'll tell you which story I liked, and which I didn't.

Those that I liked:

Love Will Tear us Apart (Alaya Dawn Johnson): This story is told by the point of view of a zombie, which I found interesting, since no other story did this. All the thoughts and the mentality of the protagonist who is actually the zombie really gave a cool insight.

Purity Test (Naomi Novik): Hilariously ridiculous. It's the kind of story that is so silly you just love it.

The Children of the Revolution (Maureen Johnson): This story was funny, but I found it a bit generic. I know Maureen Johnson is a popular and good author, but I found her story a bit unoriginal. She took the base concept of zombies and made her characters turn into them. Let's say there was no new element. She didn't try to redo the concept of zombies in her own way. The reading was nevertheless good.

The Care and Feeding of your Baby Killer Unicorn (Diana Peterfreund): I think this one is my favorite. I just found it really fun to read and I couldn't wait to learn what happened to the baby unicorn.

Inoculata (Scott Westerfeld) : This story had an interesting concept, and kudos for the lesbian pairing.

Princess Prettypants (Meg Cabot): I laughed so hard while I read this. This story really made me pity and relate to the protagonist. It's another of my favorite stories.

The Third Virgin (Kathleen Duey): The story is told by the point of view of a unicorn, and so it's another interesting insight. Loved the ending.

Prom night (Libba Bray): Libba Bray has a usual succeeded in creating this atmosphere that makes the reader want to keep reading. Her short story really seemed like the beginning of an awesome novel. It only lacked a bit more of zombie action.

Those I didn't like

The Highest Justice (Garth Nix): Very dull, lack of characterization, and a mess overall. I browsed through it quickly instead of wasting my time reading it.

Bougainvillea (Carrie Ryan): It had a nice decor and setting, but the rest was boring.

A Thousand Flowers (MargoLlanagan): Somewhat weird. A failed attempt at creating a sort of fairytale with bestiality. What I hated most was that the story was told by the point of view of three persons, but in the 1st person. You don't write a few pages using the 1st person point of view, because it has the effect that the reader quickly gets attached to the narrator. If you kill the narrator off a few pages after, and switch to another person, the reader is destabilized. The transactions from person to person were also messy.

Cold hands (Cassandra clare): Boring. It's Cassandra Clare, after all.

-Beryl

Rating : 9/10 (if you don't count the bad stories)

The City of Ember

From Goodreads: The city of Ember was built as a last refuge for the human race. Two hundred years later, the great lamps that light the city are beginning to flicker. When Lina finds part of an ancient message, she’s sure it holds a secret that will save the city. She and her friend Doon must decipher the message before the lights go out on Ember forever!

I read this book years ago, and fell in love with it at first sight. It was an amazing read. As a young teenager, I didn’t think science-fiction could get any better than this. The characters spoke to me, the setting marvelled me, the story had me on the edge of my seat. When I found out a movie was going to be made about it, I squealed. Literally. And excitedly jumped up and down for about five minutes.

I have reread it with critical eyes. I found that even though I still appreciated the book, I no longer adored it like when I was younger. I was nonetheless drawn in and interested throughout the book. That, I believe, is the true mark of a good children’s book: it can mesmerize teenagers and adults as well as children.

The characters were interesting, and well constructed, though many things were left untold. I would’ve liked a little more characterization, but then again, it’s a children’s book; so if it were any longer it probably would’ve discouraged the less motivated readers.

The world created was probably what I loved best, and I remember, for weeks after reading this book, how I had an unhealthy obsession with caves. Indeed, the world Lina and Doon live in is built entirely underground, in a huge, brightly-lit, cave. I loved how it was completely decrepit, and how everyone lived in a perpetual state of need, and how there wasn’t enough of anything anymore and the people of Ember had to adapt and recycle literally everything. The ever-lasting longing every citizen of Ember felt for things as essential as food was extremely well described, and this is probably one of the strongest points of the book, with the world-building: the beautiful yet simple very descriptive writing.

The plot in itself is also interesting, though not quite original enough for me to love it. Indeed, it is a basic, simple, “we need to save the world” plotline, with not much twist to it. If it wasn’t for the amazing world, it probably would’ve been a very bland book. So don’t read this book expecting to see an amazing story, because there isn’t one: the true impressiveness of this book lies in the city of Ember itself.

It is a good read; fun, without being light-headed, serious, without drowning the reader in dark themes and nerve-wracking plot-lines. Some issues were still talked about, like corruption, poverty and how a society faces a crisis, but it wasn’t painfully moralizing like some other books. Overall, a nice, quick read that I recommend to those of you who still feel young at heart and want a fast-paced, interesting novel for a weekend’s entertainment.

-Aithen

The City of Ember by Jeanne Duprau

Rating: 7,7/10
P.S.: This book has been made into a movie, but I haven’t seen it yet and the critiques about it are awful. Do any of you have comments about this?

The Giver

From Goodreads: In the "ideal" world into which Jonas was born, everybody has sensibly agreed that well-matched married couples will raise exactly two offspring, one boy and one girl. These children's adolescent sexual impulses will be stifled with specially prescribed drugs; at age 12 they will receive an appropriate career assignment, sensibly chosen by the community's Elders.

This is a world in which the old live in group homes and are "released"--to great celebration--at the proper time; the few infants who do not develop according to schedule are also "released," but with no fanfare.

Lowry's development of this civilization is so deft that her readers, like the community's citizens, will be easily seduced by the chimera of this ordered, pain-free society. Until the time that Jonah begins training for his job assignment--the rigorous and prestigious position of Receiver of Memory--he, too, is a complacent model citizen. But as his near-mystical training progresses, and he is weighed down and enriched with society's collective memories of a world as stimulating as it was flawed, Jonas grows increasingly aware of the hypocrisy that rules his world.

With an eerie futuristic setting, Lowry is once again in top form--raising many questions while answering few, and unwinding a tale fit for the most adventurous readers.

We are so sorry for the lack of updates! Beryl and I are in our senior year of high school, and we didn’t think it was so much work! We’re both overachievers, so we hardly have any time for books and this site. Please stay with us, though! We’ll try to read enough to provide you a few reviews every month.

The Giver is a book the juniors read every year at our school, and they kind of hate it. All of them hate it, really, without exception. I don’t see why, though. I absolutely loved this book, even though it was rather plot-less. It was a book of feelings, and the author has the amazing ability to transmit her emotions through her words.

Jonas, our protagonist, is brave and intelligent, even in his young age. He has started to see things others don’t see, and has been chosen to be the next Receiver of memories of his community. The Receiver knows everything. He is taught everything of a world before Sameness, of the world we live in.

The world built is perfect, supposedly. But to me, it is simply eerie. A guy with whom I was talking claimed it was a magnificent utopia; I call it a disturbing dystopia. I guess it’s just how you look at it, really. Nonetheless, it was a fascinating world I would gladly read more about. I would hate to live in a gray world where everyone is the same. Colors and art are such an important part of my life, I would be unable to live without it, and the way this world works captured me. Who would’ve thought to create a world where people willingly accept never to think, never to choose, don’t ever see color, but also a world with no war, no fear, no hard choices?

The Giver is a book of tenderness, emotion, and feelings. It is amazing. It can make you feel the warmth of Christmas, make you fall in love with colors all over again, show you an orange sunset and give you the calmness that comes with it. But it also can make you disgusted with the world by showing you pain and hunger, though not with as much efficiency as it gives the happier feelings. I highly recommend and praise this book. I didn’t find it had much of a plot, but that might be because I didn’t fully understand the ending I recommend it nonetheless. It is a book you feel in your heart and cherish once you are done.

-Aithen

The Giver by Lois Lowry

Rating: 8/10

Unwind

In a society where unwanted teens are salvaged for their body parts, three runaways fight the system that would "unwind" them.

Connor's parents want to be rid of him because he's a troublemaker. Risa has no parents and is being unwound to cut orphanage costs. Lev's unwinding has been planned since his birth, as part of his family's strict religion. Brought together by chance, and kept together by desperation, these three unlikely companions make a harrowing cross-country journey, knowing their lives hang in the balance. If they can survive until their eighteenth birthday, they can't be harmed -- but when every piece of them, from their hands to their hearts, are wanted by a world gone mad, eighteen seems far, far away. In Unwind, Boston Globe/Horn Book Award winner Neal Shusterman challenges readers' ideas about life -- not just where life begins, and where it ends, but what it truly means to be alive.


This book contains scenes that honestly hurt me inside, disgusted me with human nature and made me want to cry. I recommend you start this book with a specific mindset, open-minded and not awaiting cute little fluffy scenes. This is not a cute and fluffy book; it is harsh, it is raw, and unless you know what to expect, it can even be a painful read. That is mainly why I tagged it as horror, as well as science-fiction. Reading it all in one sitting can be too much. I know I had to stop sometimes, unable to read on without giving what I had just learned a little thought. Or a whole lot of thought.

This book sports one of the most nerve-racking scenes I ever read, one that made me cringe in my sleep and lose a little faith in humanity by its cruelty. It’s a hardly even a graphic scene; the little that is said, though, is sufficient to let my own mind create a horrible mental image. This and the final scenes of Feed by M. T. Anderson have the same effect on me: they leave me weeping.

In spite or because of this, Unwind manages to be one of the greatest books I’ve read in a long time. It has detailed, likeable characters who all sport different characteristics even though they are all, somewhere deep inside, the same. Shusterman even manages to make me feel sorry for some of the bad guys sometimes.

The world created in Unwind is terrifying. The very thought of being allowed to “unwind” your child, sell all his parts to people who want new ones, is chilling. Certainly one thinks one’s own parents would never do that to them, but what if they did? What if they sold your heart, lungs, legs, eyes, brain, your everything, because you’re getting on their nerves, making them mad? Personally, I could never do anything of the sort to my kin, but the very thought that some could makes me mad, and sad.

The ending made me very happy. It’s a good ending, and I like good endings. Bad ones are too painful; bad ones suggest there is no hope. Though I would love another book, I think this one finished very well and doesn’t necessarily need a sequel. In fact, I’m afraid a sequel would screw up the whole thing.

Sadly, the present-tense writing style sometimes got on my nerves and made me rather frustrated. It felt quite strange at times, and though I think it was used to create a feeling of urgency, it didn’t quite succeed with me.

Unwind is an amazing book, a definite must-read for everyone out there who has the guts to do so. If you do, brace yourself for this one. It has well-constructed characters that I was attached too. It has an original plot and story, and the whole Bill of Life concept is unforeseen. A terrifying book that manages to open our eyes a little more to the world around us and to what we might become.

-Aithen

Unwind by Neal Shusterman
Rating: 9,6/10

P.-S.: My brother tells me there is going to be a movie about Unwind. I don’t know if this is the truth, or simply a rumour, but I will try to find out for you lot. If there is a movie, I will definitely go see it as soon as it comes out, if only to make sure it gives justice to this amazing book.

Beryl's review:

I won't repeat all Aithen said, because I loved Unwind equally. It perhaps didn't have the same effect on me as it did on Aithen; I didn't react as emotionally as she did. Nonetheless, it was a great book, great plot, a must read.

I think the only lack in this book are the descriptions. I know that this book was meant to open our eyes on feelings, actions, and consequences, but I disliked the fact none of the characters were described. I ended up imagining their looks by myself. This is only something that annoyed me. It's not a detail that should turn down people to read this book. There's way more attention on the feelings and personalities than on the physics, and that's good.

Read this book. That's all I can say.

-Beryl

Rating: 9,6/10

The Maze Runner

When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his first name. He has no recollection of his parents, his home, or how he got where he is. His memory is black. But he’s not alone. When the lift’s doors open, Thomas finds himself surrounded by kids who welcome him to the Glade, a large expanse enclosed by stone walls.

Just like Thomas, the Gladers don’t know why or how they got to the Glade. All they know is that every morning, for as long as they could remember, the stone doors to the maze that surrounds them have opened. Every night, they’ve closed tight. Every thirty days a new boy is delivered in the lift. And no one wants to be stuck in the maze after dark.

The Gladers were expecting Thomas’s arrival. But the next day, a girl springs up—the first girl ever to arrive in the Glade. And more surprising yet is the message she delivers. The Gladers have always been convinced that if they can solve the maze that surrounds the Glade, they might be able to find their way home . . . wherever that may be. But it’s looking more and more as if the maze is unsolvable.

And something about the girl’s arrival is starting to make Thomas feel different. Something is telling him that he just might have some answers—if he can only find a way to retrieve the dark secrets locked within his own mind.

AITHEN'S REVIEW:

This was a very fast read; I started it the day after I finished Boneshaker, and finished it two days later. It was absolutely impossible to set down, and is gifted with one the greatest science-fiction plots I’ve ever read.

The story starts with Thomas, who, one morning, wakes up to find he doesn’t remember anything about himself except his name. Also, he’s in a dark elevator, and he is quickly going up. The very first sentence seems to have a pull, wanting you to read more, and faster, in order to understand everything that is going on.

Sadly, I didn’t feel much attached to Thomas, because he was a rather typical hero. Courageous, fair, intelligent, though luckily not a beautiful and mysterious sue, he was a little too close to the perfect man to make me completely happy with his character. But the other characters were very good, and I liked them much more than I liked him. Newt was one of my favourite characters, and Minho wasn’t very far behind. I also really liked Gally, even though he was a “bad guy”. Honestly, I kind of thought Thomas was annoying, but I could pretty much ignore him most of the time and concentrate on the extraordinary plot.

The story was very original, one of the most original I’ve read in a long time. A bunch of boys are stuck in the middle of a maze, the Glade, and are trying to get out of it. They have a whole community going on, with farms and stuff, and their whole life revolves around solving the maze, and getting out of the maze before nightfall. Indeed, during the night, horrible creatures called Grievers roam the maze in search of lost boys to eat. The Grievers were disgusting things, seemingly unbeatable, and I hated them passionately and was rather afraid of them throughout the book.

The whole mystery and secret behind how the boys got to the Glade, and who put them there, and why, and why their memory was erased, was mesmerizing. I couldn’t wait to get explanations about everything, like all the characters in the book. Also, I loved the many little clues that were disseminated in the novel, and I was very glad to see my predictions were only half right.

Only one thing seriously irked me: the telepathic communication between Thomas and Teresa. It wasn’t even necessary to the story, and it added a touch of cliché to the novel. This is negligible, though, since it never occurred very much anyways.

Finally, I think this book was, in some aspects, a little similar to Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card. I really loved the whole Ender saga, and I’m certain anyone else who did will like this book too. Overall, this was a terrific piece of science-fiction. I think it deserves more recognition, and definitely more reads.

I find it quite hard to say as much about good books than about bad books; therefore I will end this short review now and tell you to go find The Maze Runner and read it. I just can’t wait for the sequel.

-Aithen

The Maze Runner by James Dashner
Rating: 9,3/10

BERYL'S REVIEW:

Utterly disappointed. This book was just, so boring.

The characters were a joke. Thomas is your common gary-sue and hero that is there to save the day and that knows how to do everything and can deal with everything. His voice was weak and and made the entire story seem unoriginal. I didn't care for any of the other characters, perhaps maybe for Minho because he was actually entertaining, but really, I couldn't relate to anyone deeply enough to enjoy the read.

The plot seems very original, but I think it could have been better. There could have been more to the maze, more mystery, more SOLVING and more riddles. I don't know, but it wasn't enough. The resolution also wasn't amazing. And the Grievers, the evil creatures who eat the little kids? They didn't seem scary enough to me. Really, a lot of elements in this book were plain and flat.

Just as Aithen said, telepathy between the common guy and common girl; blah.

I browsed through the last 100 pages because I was so bored and couldn't take it on anymore. The story never did hook me up, picked up very slowly, and I was very annoyed at first when things were explained only, like, 200 pages after they were supposed to be explained. Aithen though it was mysterious and made you keep reading. I was just annoyed and irritated and it was no fun.

It could have been a great book if the characters were interesting and didn't speak some wannabe-cool slang ('shunk-face' and 'klunk') and if there was way more action and mystery and something to cling to in the story. No really, I disliked this to the point of not finishing it. I could have gladly just been told the spoilers and skipped this read.

For once, Aithen's and mine's reviews are very different. Consider this book wisely before picking it up. If you're more like Aithen, you'll like it. More like me, you won't. I'm not discouraging anyone to read it. I just think that this book is the kind of book you either like, or don't. In my opinion, it could have been much much better.

-Beryl

Rating: 6,4/10

Boneshaker

In the early days of the Civil War, rumors of gold in the frozen Klondike brought hordes of newcomers to the Pacific Northwest. Anxious to compete, Russian prospectors commissioned inventor Leviticus Blue to create a great machine that could mine through Alaska’s ice. Thus was Dr. Blue’s Incredible Bone-Shaking Drill Engine born.

But on its first test run the Boneshaker went terribly awry, destroying several blocks of downtown Seattle and unearthing a subterranean vein of blight gas that turned anyone who breathed it into the living dead.

Now it is sixteen years later, and a wall has been built to enclose the devastated and toxic city. Just beyond it lives Blue’s widow, Briar Wilkes. Life is hard with a ruined reputation and a teenaged boy to support, but she and Ezekiel are managing. Until Ezekiel undertakes a secret crusade to rewrite history.

His quest will take him under the wall and into a city teeming with ravenous undead, air pirates, criminal overlords, and heavily armed refugees. And only Briar can bring him out alive.

This, my dear friends, this is what I call a great book. With its brand new take on the zombie apocalypse, amazing characters and a refreshingly original plotline, it has everything a book needs to be good, grand, a must read.

Do you think you ever encountered a kickass female character? Yeah, so have I. But Briar, one of the main characters, sets all new standards for “kickass”. She is the wife of the deceased, evil scientist who brought the zombie plague upon mankind, she lives in the slums of Seattle, she works all day in a disgusting factory, yet still somehow manages to raise her son alone and not go completely crazy from the stress. Then, when her son Zeke runs off to meet the zombies and she has to retrieve him, she does everything, and I mean everything, in her power to find him. She has an incredible background that is very detailed, and her character is extremely consistent throughout the book.

As my friend (the one who lent me this book) said so well, don’t mess with an angry mom looking for her boy.

The background story of Briar, her father and her husband was only very slowly explained, subtly revealing a few parcels of information every two chapters or so. It was detailed and added a whole lot of suspense to the novel, and contributed to keep me hooked. Sadly, I had more or less guessed rather important parts of the story in the first few pages of the book. I hate to admit it, but some parts of the subplots were immensely predictable, while other ones were so far-fetched I’d never have guessed it, since there weren’t any clues at all to let one even try to guess. This made for a somewhat irregular book at times, but overall, it was great.

Since the very first pages, I was hooked. It kept me reading almost constantly, to the detriment of my rather urgent schoolwork (unlike Beautiful Creatures, which was a slow and very painful read).

The whole concept of a gas that turns people into zombies (called rotters in this novel), and not the bite of a zombie, was excellent. I also liked how it was a very heavy gas, and could therefore be contained in a bowl-like city, with hundred-foot tall walls to keep the gas inside. The zombies themselves were always wonderfully described, and even I was ever so slightly disgusted by their appearance.

Also, the action scenes were memorable, and always realistic and very well written. I absolutely loved how well the weapons were described, too, and all the innovative ones that were created by characters of the book.

In my opinion, there was only one major drawback: historically speaking, the city of Seattle, with its buildings and numerous populations, where the story takes place, didn’t concord with what truly happened in our world. Though I understand the reasons for which the author did this, I would’ve preferred something more accurate.

Boneshaker is a remarkable book that all zombie-lovers out there should most certainly read. But liking zombies isn’t necessarily a must, since its rich characters, plot, and story can hook anyone. Its steam punk feel is also a definite plus. I recommend it for anyone looking for a fun and intelligent read, and anyone who likes action and adventure alike.

-Aithen

Boneshaker by Cherie Priest
Rating: 8,8/10

The Knife of Never Letting Go

Todd Hewitt is the last boy in Prentisstown.
But Prentisstown isn't like other towns. Everyone can hear everyone else's thoughts in a constant, overwhelming, never-ending Noise. There is no privacy. There are no secrets. Or are there?
Just one month away from the birthday that will make him a man, Todd unexpectedly stumbles upon a spot of complete silence.

Which is impossible.

Prentisstown has been lying to him.

And now he's going to have to run...

This is the first installment of the Chaos Walking series. Though at first I was slightly skeptical about this book's quality, I have to admit it is an undeniably good book and a plea for freedom like none other. It is comparable, in terms of themes and mood, to Feed by M. T. Anderson.

It took me some time, at first, to get used to the strange writing of certain words. It is said, later on, that the protagonist, Todd, doesn’t know how to read very well, but that isn’t a reason to confuse the reader with weird words, faltering grammar and impossibly long sentences. It kind of threw me off until I got used to it, though I have to admit it did serve its purpose well, and installed the mood very quickly.

Todd, being the youngest man on New World, is quite lonely at the beginning of the book. He annoyed me greatly, mainly because his swears were so strange and his way of speaking so... bizarre. It felt like he had a perpetual head ache clouding up his head, which, in a sense, he did. Since everyone hears everyone’s thoughts as soon as they are thought, it must get quite hellish inside one’s head. This phenomenon is called Noise.

Of course, the perpetual Noise brought many emotions, but I felt like there were too many at times, and this gave me a headache. It felt more or less saturated with feelings at every single moment. Therefore, when a truly sad or more emotional chapter came along, I didn’t quite feel any difference between it and a normal, non-emotional chapter, like when Todd was picking apples at the very beginning of the book. This truly disappointed me, seeing as some chapters really felt like they could be beautiful, and some gave me the feeling I should be crying. I just couldn’t bring myself to appreciate this feel.

I really liked, though, how nothing was ever explained. Since everything is seen from Todd’s point of view, he doesn’t unnecessarily say things he already knows. The reader has to deduce everything from snippets of information given from time to time. It keeps you on the edge and always craving for more.

It was a very harsh vision of a faraway world, and I like harsh visions of faraway worlds. This one was well built and furnished, though I did long for more information about it. Though, as I said earlier, explaining things raw would’ve broken the mood too much.

Overall, I was really impressed with this book, even though it took me about half the novel to actually get into it, and the emotional overload annoyed me. I recommend this to science-fiction and action lovers. When I find the second book, I will read it, even though the novel could be considered a stand alone with a really, really frustrating ending. . I need to know what happens next!

-Aithen

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ross
Rating : 8.2/10