Book Blog #65: Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

Title: Ender's Game
Author: Orson Scott Card
# of Pages: 324 (paperback)
Genres: YA, Science Fiction, Fantasy
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Synopsis: Once Again, Earth is under attack. An alien species is poised for a front assault. The survival of humanity depends on a military genius who can defeat the aliens. But who?

Ender Wiggin. Brilliant. Ruthless. Cunning. A tactical and strategic master. And a child.

Recruited for military training by the world government, Ender's childhood ends the moment he enters his new home: Battle School. Among the elite recruits Ender proves himself to be a genius among geniuses. In simulated war games he excels. But is the pressure and loneliness taking its toll on Ender? Simulations are one thing. How will Ender perform in real combat conditions? After all, Battle School is just a game. Right?

Review: Well, this book really threw me for a loop. I can't really say that I love, yet I can't say that I hate it because, honestly, both feelings towards this book were equal.

At first, I wasn't sure what to expect from this book. The movie is going to be coming out in November, and I thought that I ought to read the book before then. I was thinking that it was going to be of those books that require surface level thinking, which is probably why I hated the book. At first. The thought of a child being manipulated by almost everyone around him was absolutely horrifying while Ender's achievements were altogether unbelievable and unrealistic.

However, I began to realize that this wasn't your average young adult book. I had to stop taking everything that was said this book so literally and look at all of those crazy hidden messages. Once I was able to figure out what those were, I could appreciate Ender's Game a lot more, thus why I gave the book a decent rating.

So, as far as deeper meaning, a lot of it was explained at the end of the book for me. But when everything pieced together, I was amazed. For example, there was that fantasy game that Ender liked to play. He experienced those wolf children and had to kill them. The whole game seemed really bizarre to me at first, until after Ender came to the realization that the situation in the game was like what he had experienced when he was tricked into killing all of the buggers. He killed children in the game and in real life to reach "The End of the World".

If you are interested in watching the movie (or your reading the review after the movie already came out and you liked what you saw), then you should read it. But if you aren't into what I described above, then don't. Unless your someone like me, you're more than likely are going to either love it or hate it.

Book Blog #53: Extras by Scott Westerfeld

Title: Extras
Author: Scott Westerfeld
# of Pages: 399 (paperback reprint)
Genre: YA, Science Fiction, Dystopian
Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Synopsis: Extras, the final book in the Uglies series, is set a couple of years after the “mind-rain,” a few earth-shattering months in which the whole world woke up. The cure has spread from city to city, and the pretty regime that kept humanity in a state of bubbleheadedness has ended. Boundless human creativity, new technologies, and old dangers have been unleashed upon the world. Culture is splintering, the cities becoming radically different from each other as each makes its own way into this strange and unpredictable future . . . One of the features of the new world is that everyone has a "feed," which is basically their own blog/myspace/tv channel. The ratings of your feed (combined with how much the city interface overhears people talking about you) determines your social status--so everyone knows at all times how famous they are.

Review: What. The. Heck.

Why is there a frickin' giant eye on this cover? And why does it keep looking at me like that? It's almost like its daring me to give it a bad review. Well, guess what gigantic-eye-surrounded-by-five-tons-of-make-up? I'm giving your book a bad review anyway! [Insert evil laughter]

Prior to reading, I had been looking at a few people's ratings of the book when I came across Marissa Meyer's review. Here's the first line:

Maybe it's the frequent references to anime and Japanese culture.

WHAT?! WHAT?! Did you just say ANIME?!?!? I scroll through the rest of the review.

I would say this was the best book of the Uglies/Pretties/Specials non-trilogy.

Well, duh! Of course it's going to be fantastic if there's going to be ANIME in the book! Eagerly, I snatched my copy of Extras off the shelf and begin reading.

I think you know what happened next.

It's seems that I misinterpreted Marissa Meyer's review. Although there was plenty of references to Japanese culture (the whole book is in a setting based off of Japan. The food the characters eat are like sushi, the language they speak is Japanese, and there is an occasional -chan/-sama/-sensei added to the end of names), there were not that many references to anime/manga.

Every now and then, Westerfeld would mention that some of the characters would have "manga eyes" which are based off of, of course, manga. And that was it. Tada. What a disappointment. So don't start reading this expecting them to talk about Naruto, Fairy Tail, or Bleach like I did.

Since I was in such a rush to read about all the anime/manga references, I didn't realize that this story was just like the title: extra. This story is not about Tally, but about Aya, a whole new character. I think that Westerfeld should have stuck with Tally because Aya is defiantly NOT my favorite person.

She's just a little traitor. I'm so glad that the Sly Girls saw right through her because if they didn't, THEY WOULD BE STUPID! It was VERY obvious that Aya is still a kicker. I'm surprised that the Sly Girls let her kick the story. But all Aya was thinking about was herself. Never mind that her story negatively effected people who considered her a friend.

And, jeez, the constant switching back and forth between "It's a city killer!" and "It's perfectly harmless!" was terrible! It's kind of like Maximum Ride when (spoiler alert!) Patterson kept bringing that guy back to life. Enough is enough.

AND as an added bonus, the ending was BORING! It's not the killer, heart-racing ending I was hoping for. Seriously? No. Just no.

So, my hopes for Specials being build up for an epic ending in this book have been crushed. This book is just a bunch of unnecessary extras. You DO NOT have to read this book!

Book Blog #51: Specials by Scott Westerfeld

Title: Specials
Author: Scott Westerfeld
# of Pages: 350 (paperback reprint)
Genre: YA, Science Fiction, Dystopian
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Synopsis: "Special Circumstances": The words have sent chills down Tally's spine since her days as a repellent, rebellious ugly. Back then Specials were a sinister rumor -- frighteningly beautiful, dangerously strong, breathtakingly fast. Ordinary pretties might live their whole lives without meeting a Special. But Tally's never been ordinary.

And now, in the third book in the series, Tally's been turned into a Special: a superamped fighting machine, engineered to keep the uglies down and the pretties stupid.

The strength, the speed, and the clarity and focus of her thinking feel better than anything Tally can remember. Most of the time. One tiny corner of her heart still remembers something more.

Still, it's easy to tune that out -- until Tally's offered a chance to stamp out the rebels of the New Smoke permanently. It all comes down to one last choice: listen to that tiny, faint heartbeat, or carry out the mission she's programmed to complete. Either way, Tally's world will never be the same.

Review: I was actually really disappointed. I love this series, but I just wasn't feeling the usual excitement I felt when I read the first book. However, I still have hopes for the last book. Maybe this book was just part of the build up.

SPOILERS AHEAD!

What I found extremely disappointing was the fighting scene when Tally first encounters the war. I usually like fighting scenes, but I found myself spacing out and not even paying attention.  I also didn't particularly like the part where they were cutting themselves. Any kind of self-harm doesn't sit well with me at all. So I was really glad when Tally rewired herself.

On the other hand, my favorite part was when Tally figured out that Zane was going to die. That was really sad for me, but I think that it could have went on for a little longer. Maybe she should have stayed by Zane's bedside for the full five minutes versus leaving almost right away.

SPOILERS END!

I don't usually do this last, but the cover is weird, just like the other covers of the series. All these people seem naked...But the cover DOES give off this new, futuristic feel, which is exactly how it SHOULD feel.

The book is okay. I had high expectations. Maybe it will be able to redeem itself in the last book.