"I'm here to see Parth," I said. "Antigone sent me." "That girl's nothing but trouble," she said. I smiled a little. "I like her just fine." "Then you're"I'm here to see Parth," I said. "Antigone sent me." "That girl's nothing but trouble," she said. I smiled a little. "I like her just fine." "Then you're nothing but trouble, either. Come in."
Ever since Veronica Roth came to speak at my old university a few months ago she has been back on my radar in full force. I bought a copy of Poster Girl which I still have been dying to read and when I saw Arch-Conspirator was out and remembered it was only a novella, I snatched it up from my library. For those of you who didn't know, this is a sci-fi/dystopian-esque retelling of the Greek tragedy, Antigone. Had I remembered what that was about? Nope. Did I do a quick Wikipedia search before diving in? Yes, LOL. All that to say you really don't need to know what it's about in order for this to have an impact on you. I think this has a much more hopeful ending than Antigone but that could also just be me wishing for a future that *could* be there but probably, most likely, isn't. I'll let you all decide for yourselves. ...more
“I think maybe everybody falls,� I say. “I think maybe we all do. And I don’t think that’s the asking.� I pull on her arms gently to make sure she�“I think maybe everybody falls,� I say. “I think maybe we all do. And I don’t think that’s the asking.� I pull on her arms gently to make sure she’s listening. “I think the asking is whether we get back up again.�
Okay here I am failing again. I REALLY liked this book and am really surprised I didn't read it a lot earlier. Luckily Chelsea sent me some intriguing quotes since that gets me every fucking time she does that, lol. I'm just over here being too lazy to review again and I feel like a failure but just know, I WILL READ THE REST OF THIS SERIES AND REVIEW. Also, THAT certain part broke my fucking heart and I'm so glad I was warned about it ahead of time. ...more
“Leave it alone,â€� Cricket warned. Eve’s eyebrows hit her hairline. “Crick, are you smoked? Can you imagine how much scratch this thing is worth?â€� “W±đ “Leave it alone,â€� Cricket warned. Eve’s eyebrows hit her hairline. “Crick, are you smoked? Can you imagine how much scratch this thing is worth?â€� “W±đ got no business with tech that red,â€� the little bot growled. “What’s the prob?â€� Lemon asked. “He looks armless to me.â€� Eve glanced at the severed shoulder. Up at her friend’s grin. “You’re awful, Lemon.â€�
Lol ummmmm. I don’t even know where to begin after an ending like that, lol WOW. I mean UNFORTUNATELY one of the regular patrons at my library spoiled one of the biggest reveals for me a few weeks ago (which really was shitty, like wtf lol) but STILL. I feel like it was just one thing after the other for the last 25% of the book like I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO BELIEVE ANYMORE, WHAT IS HAPPENING!?
“So. You wanna play?� the skinny boy asked again. Lemon looked the kid in the eye. Fingered the stolen creds in her cargos. “All right, you little snots,� she muttered. “Let’s dance.� “What’s your name?� Stinky asked as Lemon pulled up a chair. The girl cracked her knuckles. Picking up the cards, she fanned them out over the table, swept them up into a riffle shuffle, dovetailed them into a perfect stack and set them down before the wide-eyed children. She dropped her stiks on the table and smiled. “You can call me Daddy.�
The first thing I want to mention about this book is that I am obsessed with its characters. Lemon, especially, is hilarious. Eve was BA and I loved the friendship between her and her bestest. Ezekiel was�.intriguing. I don’t know my full thoughts on him and the relationship there just yet. I’ll be excited to see how certain things progress in DEV1AT3 though, that’s for sure. Cricket and Kaiser though�*sobs* perfection. Two cutest bots on the block.
Overall this book was both weirdly not what I expected and exactly what I expected. I was thinking it was going to be a little more sci-fi when really it was a lot more dystopian. Kristoff painted a picture of a world that was ugly AF if I’m being honest. All of that machinery and not one blade of green grass or clean water was mentioned. The thought it horrifying. After I got a better grip on the world building though, everything flowed better for me. A lot of really horribly visceral things happened but since I’ve read The Illuminae Files and Aurora Rising I had kind of expected it. The writing, even though it was solely his instead of also with Kauffman’s, was very familiar to me and I appreciated the consistency of it. What I thought was super interesting was that even though it’s mentioned that this was “part Romeo and Juliet, part Terminator� that this is like 100% an Anastasia parallel. Like�.that could kind of be a spoiler I guess (?) but…It’s still true haha. Once I realized it I was like OMG YES. SO MANY CONNECTIONS! I cannot wait to see what ends up happening in DEV1AT3, wow.
“W±đ can’t just leave her in there alone, Freckles. You know that.â€� “W±đ lied to her. She hates us now.â€� “It’s simple to love someone on the days that are easy. But you find out what your love is made of on the days that are hard.â€� The lifelike held out his hand. “And we still love her,â€� he said simply. “Don’t we?â€�
This final part I think I’ll put under a spoiler tag so I can talk some things out� (view spoiler)[ OKAY. So many thoughts. First of all, the part that was spoiled for me was the fact that Ana was actually a lifelike. So that’s really fucking dumb bc if I hadn’t known that, the scene where she was shot saving Lemon would have such a bigger impact on me. HOWEVER. I still was crazy surprised when I found out that Lemon was the actual “deviate� and that the real Ana’s body was still technically alive and out there somewhere. I’m dying to find out how that factors in with Ezekiel. But also kind of happy. Even though I don’t want Eve to go psycho and team up with Gabriel, I don’t want her to be with Zeke. That felt too weird, too forced. Esp now that she knows she wasn’t even really Ana at all. So awesomely messed up. (hide spoiler)]
You can get up. You have to get back up. I could get back up. I could do it myself. Again, and again, and again. As long as there was breath in my body,You can get up. You have to get back up. I could get back up. I could do it myself. Again, and again, and again. As long as there was breath in my body, I could get back up.
WHATTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT?!?!?!?!? Alright, people. It had been a LONG time since a book has made me ~feel~ this way so you better believe this review is going to be a jumbled mess of thoughts and feelings. First off, this was obviously SO GOOD. Like, a billion stars to Alexandra Bracken for this entire series. I’m angry with myself, though, because I was reading this on an app that didn’t allow highlights and I was only smart enough to actually write one measly quote down so I’ll have to add more the next time around—just know there were so many great ones. SO MANY. (This review might also be half in caps too, we’ll see, I’m just really pumped up about how good it was.)
I started reading this a few days but didn’t actually get into it until I had some time to myself yesterday morning. Once I started, I was COMPLETELY hooked. See, that’s the thing about these books and Bracken’s writing. I become so immersed that I have to drag my eyes away from the writing and when I do, it takes me a few seconds to come back to the real world. That’s when you know you’re reading something amazing. This book gave me the butterflies, it made me shake with rage, and it made me buzz with anticipation. It left me out of breath and has me hoping that even though it wasn’t ended on a cliffhanger, that we will get more from this world—especially Zu’s perspective.
She was always a character that I loved in The Darkest Minds series but getting this entire book from her perspective was amazing. We may not have actually heard her speak until Into the Afterlight but you can tell that once she started, there was no going back. I LOVED when she was in Moore’s facility and was basically having PTSD flashbacks to her time in Caledonia that she finally came to the conclusion that she was not alright and that that was okay. She wasn’t alright because horrible things had been done to her, and were still being done but she could do whatever it took to help turn things around for the Psi kids. She has grown SO much since we were first introduced to her that it gives me the shivers thinking about it. I am so proud of her.
In this book we are introduced to a few new characters, mainly Roman and Priyanka. I LOVED THEM SO MUCHHHH. They became so much more than what I first thought they would when I started the book. Roman is so serious and so caring—he would literally take a bullet for you. Priya was hilarious. She has so much sass and so many good one liners she reminded me a lot of Vida but without the potty mouth lol. Speaking of Vida though—I was so glad that we still were able to see all of our old favorites. Ugh I love them all so much I think I need to drop the other books that I’m reading and go re-read all of those books next.
I don’t really feel like getting into the plot much because I fully enjoyed going into the book and not quite knowing what to expect. All you really need to know is that things are not all fine and dandy in America. Yes the camps had been shut down and Cruz had been trying to get more rights for the Psi kids, but that doesn’t mean that things turned into rainbows and puppies overnight. Not in the slightest. In fact, some parts were still so horrible that it made me sick to my stomach, thinking as if those things were happening in real life (and in some aspects of this world and this government I think that they are). This is why I need more out of this story. I need to know what happens with Zu and the gang. I need to know how she continues to fight for their rights. And most importantly, I need to know what happens with the stupid, slimy, manipulative prick that is Clancy Grey�
Basically my old review was written long before I actually got into ~reviewing~ so I had to redo it....
“Are you sure this isn't a nightmare?" he askedBasically my old review was written long before I actually got into ~reviewing~ so I had to redo it....
“Are you sure this isn't a nightmare?" he asked quietly. "And that we won't just wake up?" I stared ahead at the road, the way the dust blowing in from the desert covered it with a faint golden sheen even as gray clouds began to gather over us. "Yes," I said after some time. “Because dreamers always wake up and leave their monsters behind.�
Do you guys ever just start reading a book and get so swept up that it consumes you until you've gobbled up every last word? Well that's what happened to me these past few days as I've reread Never Fade and In the Afterlight. There's something about certain YA books that really affects me. It's not that I haven't found other books that I've loved or have made me feel things, it's just that none of them have reached in and grabbed my very heart and soul like those special YA ones I’ve found. This series and these characters will always be a prime example of this.
I read these for the first time a while ago, probably shortly after they came out, and the first time around I really wasn’t sure how to feel about this book. I mean, the ending was intense but when I started it this time, my expectations were a little lower because I remembered the problems that I had with it earlier. I don’t know what it was about this time around but it had me clinging to every word like I depended upon them to breathe fully. Like I started even looking forward to when I would have to feed my daughter in the middle of the night because it meant that since I was already awake, I might as well get some reading in.
This whole time, from the moment we met, he’d been waiting for me to realize he’d known me all along, and he had never once wanted me to change.
Mind you, I still recognized those same problems I had the first time around—not much at all happened for the first, oh 75% of the book, Ruby was being a pain in the ass, Liam was being a pain the in ass, COLE was being a pain in the ass…that list kind of goes on and on, lol. I can see how some people didn’t like this because of those reasons…but. But. The ending. The ending that had my heart pounding and had me crying—again—even though this time around I knew exactly what was going to happen.
It might be because this, to me, is a dystopian plot that is the most realistic of any that I have read. I mean come on..it starts out with the threat of chemical warfare and spirals when our government tries combating that by adding a substance to the water that ended up causing a mutation in kids. And to top it off, the very government that made the decision to put said substance in the water without telling ANYONE is the same one that builds the camps, keeps the kids there for “rehabilitation,� say that the outside world hasn’t send aid because they gave up on the people of the United States (even though they have sent rations, medicine, etc.), and whatever other shitty thing they did to cause the wreck the country became. Like that just doesn’t even seen close to out of the realm of possibility.
Another reason these books are so addicting is that the characters are so real. In fact, I’ve been thinking about it for about a day now and I think that Ruby might seriously be my favorite female (or at least top five) character of all time. Her character arc in this series is INCREDIBLE. She starts off as a meek, timid girl and winds up being the person responsible for shutting the camps down. Yes she had help but let’s face it, it wouldn’t have happened without her. She makes mistakes and I got so pissed at her time and time again in this book for thinking she wasn’t good enough or not confiding in Liam because she thought he couldn’t handle it but…that’s so human. She’s SEVENTEEN and has never actually been able to be a teen but she is still allowed to act like one from time to time.
I could go on and one for several more pages about everyone else but I’ll just say that Liam is a sweet cinnamon roll who is literally too good for this earth (he’s also hands down in my top five BBFs), I was heartbroken over (view spoiler)[ Cole’s death (hide spoiler)], elated at Zu’s first words, and cracking up over Vida and Chubs� banter/relationship, and felt so fucking giddy when Ruby was reunited with Sam and got the hell out of that camp. It honestly gave me the goosebumps when she was begging Liam, Harry, and Vida to help her walk out because after all she’d been through, she needed to walk out on her own two legs. And she did.
It rained the day they brought us to Thurmond. And it rained the day I walked out.
I used to dream about turning back time, about reclaiming the things I’d lost and the person I used to be. But not anymore.
The second book in this serI used to dream about turning back time, about reclaiming the things I’d lost and the person I used to be. But not anymore.
The second book in this series picks up a few months after the first leaves off. Ruby is well entrenched with the Children’s League and looks to be a pro at running ops. Interestingly enough the first person we see her and a new face, Vida, break out of captivity is none other than Cole Stewart, Liam’s older brother. The first few chapters actually go back and forth from the past to the present so that we see the process of Ruby being brought to HQ by Cate and meeting her new team which consists of a blue, Vida, a yellow, Jude, and a green, Nico. She meets the head of the League, Alban, who used to be President Gray’s right hand man before the country went down the toilet and finds out that she will be used to interrogate people using her abilities. Basically things are a LOT different for her in this book than in the last.
If a heart could break once, it shouldn’t have been able to happen again. But here I was, and here he was, and it was all so much more terrible than I ever could have imagined.
This book is a lot heavier than the first (if that’s even believable). I mean let’s face it, with this series being a dystopian, none of them are particular happy books BUT this book dives a lot deeper into just how fucked up the country is. First of all, even though the Children’s League was started to “help� the children that are in camps, that’s really not what it’s all about. The children in the league are just used for their abilities to help the adult leaders get officials out of captivity, try to get President Gray out of office, etc. We also see how more and more officers (especially Rob) are just HORRIBLE people and will use any chance they get to “accidentally� pick off one kid at a time on their missions. It’s really messed up.
Then, after Ruby sets off on a mission to find Liam again, we see more of what the outside world is like. Yes, there were two instances of regular civilian adults that helped her and Jude as much as they could, but that was literally two out of millions. There was even horrible turmoil between the kids themselves!!! I think that in particular made me sick to my stomach thinking about it. When Ruby, Jude, Vida, and Chubs find the “new� East River, I was just thinking about how things had really hit rock bottom. This new slip kid was HORRIBLE, only letting his cronies who made the hits have the food and warm clothes and making everyone else starve and leaving the sick to die basically. He even had a pet red who had been part of Project Jamboree that he used to kill kids that didn’t follow his effed up rules. All I could think about was how hopeless things had become if even the kids who were barely surviving because of the target on ALL of their backs couldn’t just work together. Blehh
“I’m…It’s—it’s like torture.� His voice was strained, hardly even a whisper. “I think I’m losing it—I don’t know what’s happening, what happened, but I look at you, I look at you, and I love you so much. Not because of anything you’ve said, or done, or anything at all. I look at you, and I just love you, and it terrifies me. It terrifies me what I would do for you. Please…you have to tell me…tell me I’m not crazy. Please just look at me.�
And don’t even get me started on how much I hate the manipulative SOB that is Clancy Gray. I get it, he was tortured and broken but damn�.he is just so slimy. Not only did he use and abuse Nico into giving him information he never should have had, he of course lies to Ruby and the gang which inevitably leads to them being in a place they shouldn’t have had to be and to someone getting killed who SHOULD NOT HAVE GOTTEN KILLED. I haven’t read this series in a while for I forgot just how much that was going to rip my heart out and stomp allllll over it. I really don’t know if it’s worse this time around because I now have a baby and literally the thought of her as a child out in the wilderness trying to survive on her own makes me die a little on the inside OR just because I’m paying a little more attention this time around. Either way, I’d like this think this is a good warning of what this world should NEVER become.
“Life isn’t fair,� I said. “It’s taken me a while to get that. It’s always going to disappoint you in some way or another. You’ll make plans, and it’ll push you in another direction. You will love people, and they’ll be taken away no matter how hard you fight to keep them. You’ll try for something and won’t get it. You don’t have to find meaning in it; you don’t have to try to change things. You just have to accept the things that are out of your hands and try to take care of yourself. That’s your job.�
It rained the day they brought us to Thurmond, and it went on to rain straight through the week, and the week after that.
About a week ago I was finallIt rained the day they brought us to Thurmond, and it went on to rain straight through the week, and the week after that.
About a week ago I was finally able to pick up the three novellas that accompany this series. After reading them and remembering how good Bracken’s writing was, I decided I needed to reread the entire trilogy. I had missed a world with Ruby, Liam, Chubs, Vida, and Zu.
That girl was gone forever, and all that was left was a product of the place that had taught her to fear the bright things inside of her heart.
The thing that I love about this series so much is how unique of a premise it is. In an America that we are familiar with geographically and historically, a new virus spreads. It affects younger kids; leaving them dead or with certain powers. Once the government realizes how dangerous the ones who have been left alive could be, they build camps. Horrible, horrible camps for these children to live in. The general public think that their children are being “reformed”—that they will someday comeback to them normal. If only they knew. Because such a huge chunk of the population was affected by this virus, the country is essentially in chaos and on the brink of collapsing entirely.
“Time to carpe the hell out of this diem.�
Ruby is the first main character that the reader is acquainted with. We are with her as she is taken to the camp, broken out of the camp, and as she meets up with Liam, Zu, and Chubs. While I have seen a lot of people on this site who dislike Ruby, I couldn’t disagree more. She starts out as a weak character, yes, but she grows. I think part of the reason that I love her so much is that I can relate to her. Growing up, I was always a follower—not a leader. I had a strong willed best friend that I kind of hid behind, just as Ruby had Sam in the camp. I kept my head down and let her do all the talking. However, once Ruby got out of the camp and came to be with the Black Betty gang, she gained a purpose and started to become brave. Now I am a wimp…for the most part. If you stuck me in a dystopian world, I would most likely die pretty quickly. However, me being the eldest in my family, if I was in said dystopian world with my siblings, I would leave the follower attitude behind and do whatever the fuck I needed to to keep my family alive. And I think this is Ruby. This is how she operates and it is why I understand her and empathize with her character.
“Did you know…you make me so happy that sometimes I actually forget to breathe? I’ll be looking at your, and my chest will get so tight…and it’s like the only thought in my head is how much I want to reach over and kiss you.�
Besides Ruby, I think that her supporting cast is just as amazing. Zu is adorable and I was so glad that I finally got to read her novella. Finding out what happened while she left End River was…hard. Chubs of course Chubs. He’s an old soul who is pretty cranky all of the time but will protect those he loves ferociously. I just felt so bad, knowing the kind of potential he had but the fact that he couldn’t go to school. I just feel for all of them. Completely robbed of their childhoods…This would be a horrifying world to behold.
“Cause, frankly, the way I see it, you and me? Inevitable.�
Oh. Liam. Don’t worry, I could never forget about sweet Liam. He’s probably in my top five of BBFs EVER. He’s the only boy whose Southern accent I find charming, let me tell you. I think the romance he had with Ruby was perfect. It may have come on faster than what could be realistic, but in a world like that…I’ll let it slide. And anyway, the romance itself was such a sweet one. Liam helps Ruby feel wanted…feel grounded…feel like she has a home. It’s never overdone, never too much. He’s not a bad boy, there isn’t some sort of horrible misunderstanding between them. He is genuinely good and I found that, in this book and with Ruby, to be perfect.�
Be cunning and full of tricks, and your people shall never be destroyed.
Overall, this will always be one of my favorite series. From the plot, to the writing, to the characters, this book has always managed to sink its claws into me. Recommended to anyone who loves Sci-fi, dystopian esque YA.
Arielle � Chelsea's Nebular Ally and Team Orion �
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