Saturday, October 15, 2016

The Maze Runner by James Dashner


Genre:  YA Dystopian
The Maze Runner Series, Book 1

Description (taken from James Dashner's website):
If you ain’t scared, you ain’t human.

When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his name. He’s surrounded by strangers—boys whose memories are also gone.

Nice to meet ya, shank. Welcome to the Glade.

Outside the towering stone walls that surround the Glade is a limitless, ever-changing maze. It’s the only way out—and no one’s ever made it through alive.

Everything is going to change.

Then a girl arrives. The first girl ever. And the message she delivers is terrifying.

Remember. Survive. Run.

In the world Thomas enters, no one remembers the past and there's walls that protect them from monsters.  But when the walls are open, he finds an endless maze surrounds them.  If only he could remember his life before he entered the Glade because he somehow thinks he knows the answer.  He's going to find his way out of the Maze.

I'm not going to do a typical book review here because I need to be honest.  I saw the movie before reading the book.  And while my husband stated the book was very different from the book, I kind of disagree.  Sure, there's a major plot line that's missing in the movie, but the movie is about visual effects while the book is more about being inside the mind.  It's explainable.  But I don't really feel like I got anything different from the book.  And Thomas' character kind of bothered me.

I'm a little ho-hum about this one.  But I'm planning to pick up the second one soon.  And hopefully I'll read the third before the third movie comes out.  Then it might be an untainted review...

Sunday, October 2, 2016

The Dark Days Club by Alison Goodman


Genre:  YA Historical Paranormal
Lady Helen Series, Book 1

Description (taken from Alison Goodman's website):
London, April 1812. Lady Helen Wrexhall is set to make her curtsy to Queen Charlotte and step into polite Regency Society and the marriage mart. Little does Helen know, that step will take her from the glittering ballroom of Almacks and the bright lights of Vauxhall Gardens into a shadowy world of demonic creatures, missing housemaids and deadly power.

Standing between those two worlds is Lord Carlston, a man of dubious reputation and infuriating manners. He believes Helen is destined to protect humanity from an unearthly truth, but all he can offer is danger, savagery and the possibility of madness. Not the kind of destiny suitable for a young lady in her first London Season.

Against a backdrop of whispered secrets in St. James’s Palace, soirees with Lord Byron and morning calls from Beau Brummell, The Dark Days Club is a delightfully dangerous adventure of self- discovery and the dark choices of new found adulthood.

Lady Helen is barely debuting as a young and proper adult in old London society.  She is going to do her duty of securing a good match in a man and stay away from the gossip of her mother's betrayal.  However when powerful people point to her mother's past and a man takes an interest in her abilities, she finds nothing is as easy as being right and wrong or good and evil.  And life becomes a little more complicated.

When Helen is introduced to the Dark Days Club, she must decide on whether or not she wants to join.  Will she put herself and her potential betrothed in harm's way to keep the world safe from demons?  Or will she turn her back from it all and be the proper young lady that her society demands? And why is Lord Carlston so vexing?  So many choices at the start of her season...

It took a very long time for me to get settled into this story.  And I find I was quite bored with Lady Helen and the strict life she lives.  I will admit that once the paranormal was finally introduced, I became a little intrigued.  But how the demons worked and the Dark Days Club combatted it was just way too confusing for me.  And nothing of importance was explained!  I wasn't happy with the setting, and I wasn't really invested in the paranormal.  I felt like this big book should have given me more.

There are going to be those who enjoy this book.  And then there's me who's onto another book.

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