Noble Conflict by Malorie Blackman

Kaspar has grown up in a society that prides itself on being one that takes the moral high ground. He signs up to become a Guardian, the group who protect the society against the attacks of the Insurgents. His side have to fight against those who would seek to overthrow the ruling society but unlike the Insurgents, the Guardians never seek to kill or seriously harm those they are protecting their civilians from. A chance encounter with an Insurgent leaves Kapar with some unexpected effects: he begins to see memories that are not his own. As he runs into this same Insurgent again and again he starts to try to make sense of what is going on, only to discover that all is not as it seems. Is it possible that Kaspar and his fellow citizens are being lied to by those who have sworn to protect and rule them?

Once again I feel that the cover for the advanced reading copy is better than that of the finished book. The silver on the plain black background is particularly effective.

I must be one of the only people in the world who wasn't completely bowled over by Noughts and Crosses. I think it's the kind of book I would have enjoyed more if I had read it when I was still at school. However, the cover for the advanced reading copy really drew me in as there wasn't a single detail other than the release date and twitter hashtag and so it piqued my curiosity. Malorie Blackman has also come up a lot at work recently and so I thought I'd give this novel a chance.

Okay so I have to get this out of the way: Why why why must authors resort to such use of swear words so often?! I know, it's partially to reflect the way people speak but is it really necessary? I know plenty of people who rarely, if ever, use swear words and it just really irritates me when an author can't find or chooses not to use a better way of expressing what their characters are saying/thinking! Blackman hasn't been as bad as some but it still didn't add anything to the telling of the story for me. Okay, rant over.

So the best thing about this novel is that it is a stand alone! Woohoo! It is such a relief to have a story begin and end within one book. So much of the teen market is filled with series stories. Whilst these books are good, it becomes frustrating if you can't read the whole series when you want to as you forget details but can't necessarily re-read the previous instalments. Things also become muddled, particularly if two series have similar themes (such as angels or vampires). Blackman probably could have padded this story out to make it more than one novel but it wouldn't have added anything and so I am glad she didn't.

I enjoyed Noble Conflict a lot more than Noughts and Crosses. Blackman isn't trying to force anything that goes against mainstream experience on the reader and so it is much easier to read and get lost in. She creates the world brilliantly. You have no idea where it is set in terms of the real world and this anonymity means you are free to see it how you like without having to picture a country you have limited experience of. For all you know, it could be the future for your own country! The premise is nothing new but it is done well. The plot elements all sit well with the reader. Those that are unfamiliar are not so removed as to be unbelievable. The characters are good ordinary people who's talents are within the realms of the possible (well, aside from the touch-empathy thing). This makes them easy to visualise and connect with. Perhaps Mac lets Kaspar off a bit easily at the end but for once the experience of hope for a happy future is not a huge let down. Of course, everything revolves around Kaspar. He ends up being the one in the thick of things and who figures out the truth. However, I can't get annoyed about this as everyone does it - often there wouldn't be much of a story without it!

The story contained within the pages of Noble Conflict reveals how those in power can have a tendency to misuse their power and become so desperate to hang on to it that they will do terrible things. It also contains the hope that eventually these things will get found out. It is possible to make links to many of history's famous dictatorships. The people of Nazi Germany weren't necessarily aware of the true horrors of the concentration camps. Those in North Korea and China aren't necessarily fully informed of the truth. It makes you begin to wonder just what our government is keeping from us...

Overall, Noble Conflict is well written, fast-paced and has a good plot. It is a novel I would recommend and is suitable for both boys and girls. There is a slight hint of sexuality and, as mentioned above, there are frequent incidents of swearing, yet neither is overdone and are within the limits that are often seen to be acceptable by the majority with regards to the intended readership.

I give it 7/10 :)

Title: Noble Conflict
Author: Malorie Blackman
Publisher: Doubleday
Teenage Fiction

Sever (The Chemical Garden Trilogy) by Lauren DeStefano

Spoiler alert (if you haven't read the first two instalments)! 

Wither: Rhine Ellery is sixteen years old but only has 4 years left to live thanks to a virus that kills females some time after their twentieth birthday and males around their twenty-fifth. With no cure for the virus, the world has lost hope and has begun to fall apart. Young girls are frequently kidnapped and forced into polygamous marriages to help keep the population alive. Rhine is one of those unfortunate enough to be taken by the Gatherers and sold to a cruel man (Vaughn) to be a wife for his son Linden. Linden already has a wife (Rose) whom he dearly loves but her time is almost up and so his father has bought him the unusual Rhine with heterochromatic eyes, the beautiful Jenna and the very young Cecily, all three of whom have been kidnapped by the Gatherers. Linden is kind to them all and becomes particularly fond of Rhine but she longs for freedom and to reunite with her twin brother, Rowan. With the deaths of Rose and Jenna and the birth of Cecily's son Bowen, Rhine can't help but begin to bond with her new 'family' but she also begins to fall for the servant Gabriel and so desires to help him know freedom too.

Fever: Rhine escapes with Gabriel, and immediately falls into a trap in the form of a twisted carnival where Madame rules. She makes Rhine her star attraction but Rhine is still desperate to make it back to Manhattan and reunite with Rowan. Together, Rhine and Gabriel manage to escape but sorrow awaits Rhine at her former home and then she begins to become increasingly ill even though it is not yet her time to die. Linden's father hunts her down and uses Rhine for his twisted experiments.

Sever (taken from waterstones.com): 'Time is running out for Rhine. With less than three years left until the virus claims her life, Rhine is desperate for answers. Having escaped torment at Vaughn's mansion, she finds respite in the dilapidated home of her husband's uncle, an eccentric inventor who hates Vaughn almost as much as Rhine does. Rhine's determination to be reunited with her twin brother, Rowan, increases as each day brings terrifying revelations to light about his involvement in an underground resistance. She realizes must find him before he destroys the one thing they have left: hope. In this breathtaking conclusion to Lauren DeStefano's The Chemical Garden trilogy, everything Rhine knows to be true will be irrevocably shattered. But what she discovers along the way has alarming implications for her future - and about the past her parents never had the chance to explain.'

I first read Wither over 18 months ago and Fever a year ago and so I found I struggled a bit to remember what happened. Ideally I think you need to read all three books together to get the full impact and enjoyment from them as I found I was a bit distant from past events by the time I got to read Sever. I really enjoyed Wither but, as with a lot of trilogies, I found that Fever wasn't quite as good. I think that possibly this is to do with the fact that the story moves on from its original setting. You become accustomed to the world that exists in the first main setting and then it all changes and you lose the sense of being fully immersed in that world. The same happens in The Hunger Games, Matched and Delirium (or at least it did for me). Add this to the delay in being able to read Sever and it did ruin the reading experience for me. If I have the time I would definitely love to read all three together, but sadly I can't for the time being and so I'm sorry if this review lets the trilogy down. It also means I'm not really sure how to approach this review. I don't feel able to review Sever on its own but it's been so long since I read the first two instalments that I can't really do them justice with Sever either and so I hope this makes sense!

In Sever you get to know Cecily well but Linden becomes more distant, reflecting how Rhine's relationships with them both changes. Rhine herself remains fairly constant although she isn't as strong a character as she started out and instead goes with the flow a little more, whereas before she was much more pro-active. Throughout all three novels DeStefano manages to get across the sense of hopelessness that Rhine feels at times and you become desperate for it all to work out, yet you cannot easily predict what will happen. When death visits it is unexpected and is thus quite powerful, although DeStefano didn't quite manage to bring out the strength of emotion as successfully. In a way the style of writing makes it seem like Rhine is numb throughout a lot of this book as she experiences certain traumatic events but you almost feel as if she shouldn't be. Like Rhine I found I couldn't help but like Linden's uncle. He's brilliantly written and was a great addition to the cast in this book. The titles also reflect the contents of each novel which makes a nice change as recently there have been a lot of books with catchy titles that don't accurately or easily associate with their contents. Rhine begins to wither when she is trapped in Linden's house in book 1, she develops a fever after her escape in book 2 and there is the severing of various connections in book 3. 

One of the odd things about this trilogy is that it is so involved in the affairs of one family yet is supposed to have repercussions on a larger scale without ever really connecting with those in power. This has the effect of removing some of the realism and so lets the trilogy down a little. Perhaps it would work better if the story stuck with the consequences for Linden's family and left out those for the rest of the country, or went into more depth about those outside of the family to help make the consequences that little bit more believable. I also found the ending wasn't as strong as I anticipated. In the end it was all a bit too easy and there were no real negative consequences even though murder is committed, two characters could potentially have been seriously ill, and everyone wins even when logically they shouldn't be able to have access to certain things. 

Having said all of this, I still really enjoyed the trilogy. I loved the idea of a society that is suffering in this way (in a novel, not in real life!). The helplessness of the characters is brilliantly written and you really do begin to fear Vaughn. The world is convincing. The characters are vivid. Yes it could perhaps have been done better but it is still quite good and is worth a read. Just don't expect to feel all warm and fuzzy and full of soppy romantic feelings by the end!

I give Wither 7.5/10, Fever 6/10 and Sever 6.5/10 and so overall I give The Chemical Garden trilogy 6.5/10 :)

Title: Sever (The Chemical Garden trilogy)

Author: Lauren DeStefano

Publisher: Harper Voyager

Teenage Fiction

The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

Book description taken from Waterstones.com:
'After the 1st Wave, only darkness remains. After the 2nd, only the lucky escape. And after the 3rd, only the unlucky survive. After the 4th wave, only one rule applies: trust no one. Now, it's the dawn of the 5th wave. On a lonely stretch of highway, Cassie runs from Them. The beings who only look human, who roam the countryside killing anyone they see, who have scattered Earth's last survivors. To stay alone is to stay alive, until Cassie meets Evan Walker. Beguiling and mysterious, Evan may be her only hope for rescuing her brother and even saving herself. Now she must choose: between trust and despair, between defiance and surrender, between life and death. To give up or get up. Cassie Sullivan gets up.'

So this is another one of those books that has been starting to create a bit of a buzz in the bookseller world and for good reason. Yes it's got a strong female lead fighting against the odds to survive. Yes by the end it has hints of a love triangle. Yes it's all apocalyptic doom and gloom. But it is also excellent!

Yancey writes very well. He builds the world brilliantly in a way that makes it completely believable. Like Cassie you are left with no idea who to trust or what is going on. Yancey creates high levels of suspense and tension. He writes characters that are compelling and exciting. He switches between characters to tell the story and for once there wasn't one that I was in a rush to get through to reach the more exciting characters (like Jacob in Breaking Dawn - yawn!).  They face a world that is unrecognisable and they face it well even though they are too young to be expected to bear a burden of this magnitude. Even though you figure out the truth behind Zombie and Evan's identities you still find that you second-guess your suspicions. You can't predict the ending because there are conspiracies everywhere along with action and excitement. The romantic element isn't the focus and so it isn't overdone with the result that it actually works really well.

I honestly didn't want to put this book down and if I had been reading a physical copy I would not have gotten any sleep that first night when I began to read it (unfortunately I was reading this on my phone which gave me headaches after a little while and so I had to stop).

This is one of those rare books that can stand up to the inevitable comparisons with The Hunger Games and come off well. In fact it does more than come off well. It can stand on its own. It is brilliant and one of those books that you should read this year if you like anything with a bit of a science-fiction twist even if you're not a teenager any more. I cannot wait for the next one!

I give it 10/10!

Title: The 5th Wave
Author: Rick Yancey
Publisher: Penguin
Teenage Fiction

Anatomies by Hugh Aldersey-Williams

Anatomies is an exploration of the human body via the mediums of literature, art and history as well as science. It looks at the body as a whole, in parts, in death, in life and in our own perceptions.

Aldersey-Williams' previous book, Periodic Tales, is one of those books that I've been meaning to read for ages. It's one that sells well and has had quite a few good reviews. So when the opportunity came up to read Anatomies I thought I'd give it a go, especially as I was having a bit of a Grey's Anatomy catch up on DVD and so was definitely in a human body/sciencey zone.

Having finished the book it wasn't quite what I was expecting. Being a popular science title I expected a little bit more science but sadly there wasn't that much. Instead this book is more of an examination of how the human body has been represented in culture with plenty of related facts, some scientific, and a bit of history of how we've come to view each body part in that way. It was interesting to read but by the end of each chapter I found that I was still wanting more (potentially this was due to my hunger for more science). I didn't find that the book sucked me in as usually happens with fiction but that may be due more to the fact that it isn't a novel. I also found some of Aldersey-Williams' writing a bit difficult to engage with in places as he uses the odd unfamiliar word that just left me feeling a bit like I do when someone older and extremely well-educated is talking to me who can't help but make sure you know that they are very knowledgeable.

On the whole though, Anatomies is a great introduction to and a fascinating cultural look at the human body and is a book I would recommend to anyone who has an interest in this subject. It definitely opened my eyes more to how I view my own body and I found that for a day or so afterwards I would still be thinking about the body parts I had just read about and sharing random facts with others.

I give it 7/10.

Title: Anatomies
Author: Hugh Aldersey-Williams
Publisher: Viking
Popular Science

Ketchup Clouds by Annabel Pitcher

Zoe has a dark and terrible secret. A secret that she can't share with anyone she knows. She feels terribly guilty because she knows that what she did was wrong but she got away with it. Instead she decides to confide in a man who's on death row in America. She tells him her tale in a series of letters but she's writing against the clock as she soon finds out that his execution date has been set...

I've heard a lot of good things about Pitcher's previous novel 'My Sister Lives on the Mantlepiece' and so I expected quite a lot from this novel. Sadly it didn't quite live up to my expectations. I figured out quite early on what was going to happen and was a bit disappointed when it did and things didn't work out well in the end (Pitcher does get bonus points for making it that little bit more realistic) although this might be because I'd read a few traumatic-ending books in a row and so was starting to crave a bit of happily ever after. I also found Zoe a bit of an odd character to get my head around. She's clearly meant to be a teenager who's at that stage of her life where she's starting to discover her sexuality yet the style of writing in her letters made me think of a girl who was pre-teen and no matter how hard I tried I could not reconcile the two. Whilst Zoe believes that she did something wrong, as an adult and outsider you can see the circumstances surrounding the situation and so I didn't feel that she was as guilty as she thought and again this was slightly disappointing although more realistic (again, I was starting to crave something a little less based in real life).

However, for the teenage audience this book is a good choice. It's got a bit of romance, family life, growing up, joy and sadness. It's a great choice if you like Jodi Picoult style books or are a looking for something similar to give to someone who's not quite ready for Picoult's more grown up content. The letter format works well as it keeps you hooked due to Zoe not revealing everything all at once. Plus you can never be sure that Mr Harris received the letters as he can't reply to her. The letter format also gives it that unusual quality which makes it a little bit different to the majority of titles available.

Overall I give it 7/10 :)

Title: Ketchup Clouds
Author: Annabel Pitcher
Publisher: Indigo
Teenage Fiction

The Bell Between Worlds by Ian Johnstone

Sylas Tate lives in a rickety flat with his uncle on Gabblety Row, for whom he runs errands and lives a slightly cheerless existence. He enjoys his own company and often makes beautiful bird kites with a set of paints left to him by his mother who died a few years ago after she started to go crazy. One day a new shop appears and Sylas finds himself drawn inside. He discovers three mysterious and magical objects, one of which (the Samarok) is given to him to keep by the mysterious Mr Zhi. Not long after, Silas discovers his mum may not be dead after all. He then gets woken up by the overwhelmingly loud ringing of a giant bell and finds himself being chased by a nightmarish hound with the result that he runs into the path of the bell and finds that it has summoned him into another world. Whilst there he must try to find out the purpose for which he has been summoned as well as trying to complete his personal quest to discover the truth about his mother.

This book promised big things. On the back cover the advanced reading copy says "C.S. Lewis. Philip Pullman. and now... Ian Johnstone. From the publishers who brought you Middle Earth, Narnia and the Old Kingdom comes a stunning new fantasy trilogy... The Bell Between Worlds will summon you to another place in June 2013. A place you won't want to return from..." Could I possibly be lucky enough to be holding the next big fantasy novel in my hands? I had to give it a chance. Sadly, I'm not as convinced as the publishers. It was a good fantasy novel. It had weird magic related things going on. No swords though. Or epic battle scenes. But the thing that ruined this book for me was in fact the blurb. This book is 511 pages long but some of what is described in the official blurb (and in fact the main plot point that made me want to read this book) didn't happen until after 400 pages, with part of the blurb never really coming to pass in this book,  and so I spent most of the novel waiting for the story to actually begin. If you're curious about this blurb all you have to do is search for the book online and there it is but I don't want to ruin it for you on here and so haven't included it (admittedly the official blurb sounds more exciting than mine).

The pacing was also a little weird. A lot of the book is fairly slow paced but action scenes, and especially the ending, are over very quickly even though I felt that more could have been included in these scenes to make them stronger and more vivid. Johnstone spends a lot of time in setting the scene in other parts of the book and so is clearly able to do so. The action scenes also kind of lack action. The characters are faced with a dangerous situation but thanks to magic the danger seems to be overcome far too easily, making the scene feel anti-climatic. The other issue I have with the pacing is that in places it becomes very juddery. Johnstone will go to the trouble of describing how the others have walked on but Simia has stayed behind to talk to Sylas but she says one small sentence and then walks off. It wasn't anything majorly profound and so wastes a moment of semi-tension. Or he makes a big deal of Sylas holding hands with Naeo but never mentions that they let go. Moments like this just leave you feeling slightly disorientated. 

Overall I feel like this book is very much the beginning and so it might have more potential when reunited with the other two parts of this tale so that it can be viewed as a whole. However, it does look like this could be a very long tale. which I suppose is a usual fantasy feature. I would love to see more detailed action and a sword or two. On the plus side there is no romance and there is appeal for both boys and girls. The characters are created well, even if Simia did irritate me a little. The plot is easy to follow and the world building is very detailed. For me this book was good but lacked the magic of Tolkien, Lewis and Pullman and so instead left me craving to read some proper fantasy.

I give it 6/10.

Title: The Bell Between Worlds
Author: Ian Johnstone
Publisher: Harper Collins
10+ Fiction