Book Review: Warcross by Marie Lu

Warcross by Marie Lu (Warcross #1) / ★★★ 1/2

Summary: Emika Chen is drowning in debt when she accidentally glitches herself into the opening tournament of the biggest game in the world, Warcross. Convinced she’s about to be arrested, a bigger shock comes when she receives a phone call by the game’s creator, Hideo Tanaka, asking her to spy on the inside of the game this year instead.

Imagine wandering through the most realistic virtual Paris ever, or lounging in a full simulation of Hawaii’s beaches. Imagine flying through a fantasy world of dragons and elves. Anything. 

Book Review: Renegades by Marissa Meyer

Renegades by Marissa Meyer (Renegades #1) / ★★☆☆☆

Summary: The Renegades protect their society from danger and the villains who once ruled the city- the Anarchists. Nova has a reason to hate the Renegades, and she is on a mission for vengeance. As she gets closer to her target, she meets Adrian, a Renegade boy who believes in justice—and in Nova. But Nova’s allegiance is to a Anarchist who has the power to end them both.

She lifted the stun gun, but…who was she supposed to aim at? Was she a Renegade today, or an Anarchist? Who was she supposed to be protecting? Who was she supposed to stop?

Book Review: Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis

Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis (The Space Trilogy #1) / ★★★☆☆

Summary: Ranson is kidnapped from Earth and brought the Malacandra, where he is to be used as a human sacrifice. He escapes and instead befriends the creatures of the planet- until the men who kidnapped him turn violently against them.

“And I say also this. I do not think the forest would be so bright, nor the water so warm, nor love so sweet, if there were no danger in the lakes.”

Book Review: The Power by Naomi Alderman

The Power by Naomi Alderman / ★★ 1/2

Summary: Women suddenly gain an extraordinary power. They can control, kill, cause extraordinary pain- all with the touch of their hands. As this power is revealed in more and more women, civilization as the world knows it begins to change radically- and not necessarily for the better.

It doesn’t matter that she shouldn’t, that she never would. What matters is that she could, if she wanted. The power to hurt is a kind of wealth.

Book Review: The Hearts We Sold by Emily Lloyd-Jones

The Hearts We Sold by Emily Lloyd-Jones / ★★★☆☆

Summary: In a world in which body parts are exchanged to demons for wishes, Dee finds herself unable to pay for school and desperate not to return home. When she asks a demon for money, he asks her for her heart – and to take part in a mission.

She had walked willingly into a fairy tale, into a world where she could trade her heart for her freedom. She may as well have donned a red cloak and strode into a darkened forest. 

She had always known there would be wolves. 

Book Review: The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon

The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon (The Bone Season #1) / ★1/2☆☆☆

Summary: Paige Mahoney is clairvoyant in 2059 London, where it is illegal to be clairvoyant. When she is kidnapped by unearthly beings and taken to their prison in Oxford, she begins to realize exactly who it is that rules her world, and that she needs to figure out a way to escape.

There was no normal. There never had been. “Normal” and “natural” were the biggest lies we’d ever created.

Book Review: Proxy by Alex London

Proxy by Alex London (Proxy #1) / ★★☆☆☆

Summary: As a proxy, Syd must pay for someone else’s crimes, so when his patron, Knox, crashes a car and kills someone, Syd is sentenced to pay a terrible price. Faced with no other choice but to attempt to beat the system, Syd flees – but not without Knox’s help.

He was not unredeemable and he was not a terrorist and he was not just a body they could discard and replace to teach some patron a lesson. 

Book Review: Winter by Marissa Meyer

Winter by Marissa Meyer (The Lunar Chronicles #4) / ★★★★★

One sentence summary:  Princess Winter battles insanity and her stepmother, evil Queen Levana, and joins the ranks of Cinder and her friends to put an end to her.

“Wait,” said Winter as Scarlet nudged the podship forward.

Scarlet’s heart dropped. “What?” she said, scanning the port for a thaumaturge, a guard, a threat.

Winter reached over and pulled the pilot’s harness over Scarlet’s head. “Safety first, Scarlet-friend. We are fragile things.” 

Book Review: Cress by Marissa Meyer

Cress by Marissa Meyer (The Lunar Chronicles #3) / ★★★★★

One sentence summary: Cress, a Lunar hacker trapped in a satellite for seven years, is about to be rescued so she can help can stop a royal wedding- but things go horribly wrong.

“I am an explorer,” she whispered, “setting courageously off into the wild unknown.” It was not a daydream she’d ever had before, but she felt the familiar comfort of her imagination wrapping around her. She was an archaeologist, a scientist, a treasure hunter. She was a master of land and sea. “My life is an adventure,” she said, growing confident as she opened her eyes again. “I will not be shackled to this satellite anymore.” 

Thorne tilted his head to one side. He waited for three heartbeats before sliding one hand down into hers. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he said. “But we’ll go with it.” 

Book Review: Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer (The Lunar Chronicles #2) / ★★★★★

One sentence summary: Scarlet Benoit teams up with a shy street fighter, Wolf, to rescue her kidnapped grandmother, while Linh Cinder teams up with a convict, Captain Carswell Thorne, to escape the Eastern Commonwealth after she’s imprisoned.

“I suspect you would shoot me all over again if you thought it would help your grandmother.”

She blinked up at him, almost surprised to discover how close they were standing. “I would,” she said. “But that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t be sorry about it afterward.”