Three Dystopians and an Egyptian

In case you're curious, I thought I would tell you what I thought about the books I just finished. I know I love to know what other people think and I have more to say than can be contained in a coherent Facebook post! The links I use are the same as I linked in my previous post.

Divergent by Veronica Roth

This is the book I actually sought out and requested online from my local library. (The rest of them I grabbed off the shelf upstairs in YA fiction as I had a rare moment to myself in the library.) It is dystopian in the way that it creates our world in extreme conditions. The author divides the populace into 5 distinct factions. You are raised in one faction and then, after a test, choose a faction to live the rest of your life in. We follow Beatrice through her choices and watch as she comes into her own, bending a lot of rules along the way.

I really liked this book. The writing didn't make me pause and have to re-read or mentally correct things. I loved that she was a reluctant rebel in that she wasn't really seeking to be different, she was just discovering how she was inherently different. I loved, loved, loved the Bonus Materials added at the end of this book! She included details about each faction, writing tips, the music she liked to listen to while writing that inspired certain scenes or characters, a Q & A interview, and (my favorite) an essay about Utopian worlds. She talks about how Dystopian novels really start out as Utopian. She created what she believed was the structure for a perfect world. And then she put in characters who are imperfect and let them go! I really loved getting a glimpse into her mind.

Cleopatra's Moon by Vicky Alvear Shecter

I apologize for this link taking you to Amazon. The only true-looking link I could find was to her blog and it wasn't specific to this book, or rather the link there for this book was broken. It's a good place to learn more about the author if you so desire. She writes very close to historical fact.

In this book, we follow the true story as close as the author can paste together the facts of Cleopatra VIII Selene. She was the daughter of Cleopatra VII and Marc Antony. Her descriptions of ancient Egypt were breathtaking. I felt like I was there. She really knows her stuff when it comes to accuracy and keeping things in line with what really happened. Yet she injects a lot emotion and passion into her characters so that I really got to know them well. Cleopatra Selene and her two brothers are taken to Rome after the current leader of Rome (and the whole world as they knew it) took over their kingdom. They are forced to live in his house and are raised with his family. She keeps a fierce loyalty to her kingdom and does everything she can to get back there, including some well planned romantic tactics.

I'm sure it was all part of the accuracy thing, but there were parts that were a little racy for me. Not crossing into pornographic really, just more graphic than I like to let into my brain. I loved at the end where she explained what was known to be fact and what she took creative license with.

Incarceron by Catherine Fisher

Incarceron is the name of a prison to end all prisons. We follow Finn and his friends inside the prison and his counterpart Claudia outside of the prison. Claudia's father is the Warden of Incarceron and so she walks a delicate line as she learns more than he wants her to about the prison. The world inside the prison is amazing and about as far from what Claudia has been told about it as it can be.

There is a lot of manipulation and secret keeping. The prison, almost by definition, is ruled with dark hearts, gore and lots of oppression. They do find friendship and trust also. All in all, it wasn't an uplifting book and I didn't love the ending, but it did have its interesting parts and Finn does have a heart of gold.

Matched by Ally Condie

I don't know how this book got on my shelf. I think someone may have lent it to me. I should really find out who, so I can return it.

In this version of life on earth, the Society is who is in charge. Not the people as a whole, but the government. They rule everything right down to the divided out portions that everyone eats. Life really begins at their Matching Ceremony where they are shown who they are to marry and spend the rest of their lives creating a perfect family within the Society's guidelines and rules for such things. But what's a girl to do when a mistake is made and she finds herself actually having to make a choice between 2 males her age to be matched with?

I liked the tone and writing of this book. It is close to my own, I think. Other than the first person. (What is the fascination with that these days? It's so hard to write that way and can be very distracting, if you ask me.) She is, of course, a bit of a rebel and I surprised myself by wishing she would accept the natural and Society-planned fate over the more rebellious one. I wanted to know more about her original match Xander, not just the "bad boy" Ky. As it turns out, the opening of the next book included at the back, implies that they actually both fight for her and that intrigues me. I love that it's not just her choice, but that they actively go after her. Who doesn't want a couple of boys to compete for your affection?

I also like how she uses the Society's rules to be rebellious. She doesn't cause a whole lot of alarm. She fits what she's doing into their parameters at first. It's not out and out rebellion, it's thoughtful and calculated, but not resentful because she doesn't want to hurt her family. I will probably seek out the other books in this trilogy, but I wouldn't have if it seemed like it was all up to her to choose 2 boys who don't really try. That's one thing that bothered me about a certain vampire tale. They compete a little, but she stubbornly sticks to the more unhealthy relationship of the two. I want a heroine that really has a tough time deciding and then makes a healthy, enduring choice. We'll see how this one pans out.

Have you read any of these? I'm curious to know what you thought!