Book Review: Cinder

Meyer, Marissa. Cinder. Feiwel and Friends, New York. [387 p]. [$17.99]. 7890312641894

4Q 4P JS

My thoughts on Sci-Fi books are the same as my thoughts on fantasy books. The book I just cannot get into. A show or movie? I'm there. Firefly/Serenity? Love. Dollhouse? Love. Ok, so basicaly Joss Whedon = love. And Marissa Meyer declares her love for Firefly in her bio in the back of this book. So there was already a little love before I started this book.

I've seen this title, and the rest of the Lunar Chronicles at work. They circulate frequently. But the previous librarian put a sci-fi sticker on the spines so I read a summary and never thought to even attempt to read them. They are insanely popular in my library - I had to put a hold on it just to get it for class.

It's sci-fi. I don't read sci-fi. I don't like sci-fi books. And yet I am totally in love with Cnder. Cinderella is not even close to being one of my favorite fairytales and I think this is a great update on it.

Cinder is a cyborg tasked with fixing the prince's android which may or may not hold some secrets. She would like to attend the ball, but as a cyborg who would want to be seen with her? So she plays it cool and pretends she has no interest in balls and would rather be covered in grease fixing various things to pay for her step mother's lifestyle. Her step mother would never let her go anyway. But Cinder doesn't really know who she is or what purpose she could really have in this world. Is she even from this world? Cinder is enthralling and makes it hard for a reader to put it down.

I have a little over 100 pages to go, if I'm late for class tonight it's because I had to finish and coudn't put it down.

The Adequacy of Reviews of Teen Materials

 

In order to fully get a range of reviews both professional and nonprofessional I used one fiction title (Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda) and one nonfiction title (Most Dangerous). I wanted to know if reviews of nonfiction were taken more seriously than those for fiction. Professional reviews were found in Kirkus, School Library Journal, the New York Times, and the Guardian. Nonprofessional reviews were found on various blogs. 

• Reviews for Most Dangerous were slightly more serious in tone than those for Simon. All five reviews for Most Dangerous mentioned the author's past work. They all also stated that though the intended age range for this book is 12 and up, it may be a difficult read for a 12 year old, and that it may be a hard sell to teens in general unless they have a specific interest in the Vietnam War. Though they may be interested in Daniel Ellsberg if they have an interest in Edward Snowden, as all reviews connected the two. 
• The nonprofessional reviews found did not contain any fan-girling as was expected. All of the reviews from the blogs had a casual tone but were well written. 
• No single review contained all of the criteria the assignment asked us to look for. Several contained a few of the criteria, but most did not have these specific elements. The covers were not discussed. For the most part the audience that would enjoy the book was not mentioned. only two gave similar titles that one may enjoy. Being that they reviews were relatively short it was difficult to find a comprehensive review. 
• Multiple sources should be used if these elements are necessary in making a decision. While all of the reviews for each book all shared the same positive opinion, this will not always be the case and therefore having multiple opinions would be beneficial. 
• Nonprofessional reviews can be trustworthy. Just because they are not in a well known source such as Kirkus, does not mean they would be poorly written. Even if they have a casual tone, or some fan-girling that could be useful. If someone gets super excited about something it speaks volumes about how other may perceive it. 

Are YA Dystopias over?

There are many things that make a good YA dystopia. There are many aspects of such books that attract teens whether the story is good or not. But has the YA dystopia reached its conclusion?

My YA collection at work houses various dystopias, including of course The Hunger Games trilogy and Divergent trilogy. These books move frequently, particularly as of late with Allegiant hitting theaters and Mockingjay coming to DVD/BluRay. We have the Matched series. That has circulated recently but since being returned a couple of months ago the entire series has remained in its place on the shelf. Uglies is one I have yet to see circulate in my time there. The 5th Wave has not been in the library since talk of the movie began, everyone needing to reread or begin reading before they see the movie.

The teens frequenting the department enjoy The Hunger Games and Divergent, but they don't seem to want more books like them. They are moving on. They want to see the movies, but they don't seem to want new dystopian books. We have plenty that have yet to read, we have some older ones they don't even want to look at. They are not asking for titles similar to these. Even when given the option as a recommendation they are not taking it.

This could be a local thing. Teens in this town may just be over the dystopia trend. But they could also be representative of the larger teen population as a whole. With new trends emerging their interests are being peaked elsewhere. As of late teens in this town are checking out all of the fairy tale retellings - Peter Pan is a popular one lately.

Only time will tell if YA dystopias are coming to a close or if teens simply need a break from this type of story.

References:

http://www.hbook.com/2012/04/choosing-books/recommended-books/what-makes-a-good-ya-dystopian-novel/

How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff Review

Rosoff, Meg. How I Live Now. Wendy Lab Books - an imprint of Random House Children's Books, New York. [194 p]. [$16.95]. 9780385746779

3Q 3P MJS

When Daisy is sent to live with family in England, she doesn't expect to be caught up in a war. And she certainly doesn't expect to have such a bond with her cousin Edmond. How I Live Now could be so much more than it is. The premise of a war complete with an occupation in the English countryside could have been used much better than it was. When action was expected, there was little. The premise of this novel leads one to expect more action, more fun, more chaos, just more. Despite having won the Printz Award this book does not meet the expectations put upon it. A slow moving story that may have worked better with a faster pace and a more fleshed out story.