Ace’s Blog

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The Long Walk by Stephen King

The story starts when a hundred boys from different states of America joined a yearly “Long walk” contest. The participants need to walk without decreasing their speeds and without stopping until they reach the finish line. Each time they fail sustaining their walks is equivalent to a ticket, they can only get three tickets, the next one will be a gunshot in their heads.

What made me buy this book is because it is in my favorite genre, Dystopia. Maybe, I expect too much when I’m about to read this book.
Many reviews gave it a 4 and 5 stars ratings, which means, it is one of the best dystopian novel. And besides, I read somewhere that this is where Suzzanne Collins got her idea of her novel, The Hunger Games(One of my favorite novel).

I am disappointed when I finished the book. I felt like I wasted too much time reading the book. Though the premise of the book is good, but I think it is poorly written. I’m not sure if King rushed the novel or if he lacks of  idea when he is writing the novel. The sub plots are so hollow that it felt that it is not really needed in the story, that they are just a filler to reach King’s word quota.

The novel is just an OK for me, nothing special or spectacular that happened in the story. I will not recommend this novel to those who are looking for a “hardcore dystopian novel”.

Paper Towns by John Green

This is my first time to read a John Green novel. My plan is to read first “Looking for Alaska” then will followed by his other two novels     which is the “Paper Towns” and “An Abundance of Katherines”. But I doubted myself if that is the right book for me to read first to know John Green, and for that, I decided to ask my GR friends who read the books I mentioned, most of them voted for “Paper Towns” than “Looking for Alaska, for the reason(according to them) that it is much fun and is a light read but is also a moving and compelling novel,  and this is one of the favorite novels of my trusted friends in GR when it comes to YA novels, Aaron and Tina. And they are right…

“Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificently adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar. So when she cracks open a window and climbs back into his life – dressed like a ninja and summoning him for an ingenious campaign of revenge – he follows.

After their all-nighter ends and a new day breaks, Q arrives at school to discover that Margo, always an enigma, has now become a mystery. But Q soon learns that there are clues – and they’re for him. Urged down a disconnected path, the closer he gets, the less Q sees of the girl he thought he knew.”

There is something about the book that is I can’t explain when I’m reading it, and to say that the message of the story goes deeper in me until the end of the story which is I really can’t define, and that is why I loved the novel. It is the experience while reading it and not the story itself, which is not what I expected it to be…

There’s more contemplation when I reached the middle of the story and more realization when I finished the novel. It is just, it is really hard to explain how did I feel while I’m reading the book.

“Margo is not a miracle. She was not an adventure. She was not a fine and precious thing. She was a girl.” pp. 199

This line made an impact in me and made me realize that people around us expect us on what they want us to be, some of them will not appreciate us for who we are until we became of what they want us to be, which is way way wrong…

When I’m choosing my friends I see to it that I’ll let them know my flaws first before I’ll show them who really am, and for this, I saw who really  my true friends are and whose just my “aquaintance “. I also do this because I believe that once they accept my flaws, then most probably, they will accept my perfection, which is true. I know that it is hard to please everybody, but is it really hard to understand somebody if they are not in your own league? ..

I love the way Green wrote this novel.  I love how he narrate the story through the voice of Q or Quentin.  I love Radar,Ben and the gang.  And most of all, I love the road trip.  One thing I’m not sure of is if I love Margo, but she made me undestood that it is not easy to be loved for who you are, though there will be people who will appreciate of who and what you are, but it is also your responsibility to say to them that:

“What a treacherous thing it is to believe a person is more than a person” pp. 282 ; and

“It’s always seemed so ridiculous to me, that you would want to be with someone just because they’re pretty. Like choosing breakfast cereal based on color instead of taste”

And the ending reminds me that it is OK to adjust for the environment you’re in, but if you allow them to make you what they want you to be, then nevertheless, you will loose yourself and will never be the same person you know you are again…

Birthmarked by Caragh M. O’Brien

“Every couple need to give up their first three babies to the Enclave(the higher society) before they can keep the fourth baby. Gaia, the daughter of the town’s midwife, and also the sucessor of her mother in doing the job is so pleased to deliver the babies under the qouta to the Enclave because she have faith in what the Enclave believes. Until one night when her parents got arrested by the guards of the Enclave with unknown reason.

Her parents left her a note, not just an ordinary note – it is made of symbols that she needs to decipher to understand what her parents are trying to say, and that note will change everything…

Gaia decided to go to the Enclave to save her parents after knowing that they are being scheduled to be prosecuted, and this is when she will decide to defy the Enclave’s belief…”

What made me buy this book? It is because of the cover.

After reading the novel, I’ve found out that most of the reviews are comparing this to “The Hunger Games”, which is for me, they are so different. The only way I know that they have in common is that the protagonist of their novel is a girl, and they need to do whatever they need to do for the survival of their loved ones, though they are different(in my opinion). I’m glad that I have read the two novels.

I love how the novel is written, it is descriptive and vividly explained. I felt I’m with them while the story is happening. Though it is written by a female author, but to my surprise, there’s more action than the drama, and it is what I’m looking in a novel. The ending is a cliff hanger and made me want to read the second book which is I’m sad to know that I still need to wait for it next year.

Feed by Mira Grant

“After finding a cure to common cold and cancer, the world became more catastrophic. Instead of making the world better, it turned out to be more disastrous due to the medicine invented to cure the said diseases.

Another president will be voted, who the people expect at least to manage the cause of the uncureable disease. Three journalists was granted an access of following the one of the presidential campaign, and here, their adventure will start…”

Zombies? I’m not quite sure if I love zombies, even in movies. For me, they are one of the lamest creature ever created, next to vampires(sorry for the fans of zombies and vampires).

When my bookish friend, Tina(See her review of feed here), lend me this book, I’m not sure if it will arouse my curiosity of reading a zombie book because I know that the plot will always be the same. Since Tina knows how to determine a great book and I also trust her taste in books, then I felt that I should give this book a try. After reading the book, my belief changed… and thanks to Tina for that.

As I’ve said, the plot is the same as the other zombie movies have, but the way the author wrote the book is much different, that’s why I liked Feed. The book is written in Georgia Mason’s point of view, but it is also followed by the perspective through the other character’s blog in the end of each chapter.

I love Shaun, Georgia’s brother. I love the way he talk, the way he act and the way he think. I wish I do have a brother like him. I swear, If I do have a brother like him, I’ll always spank his face and will always kick his ass!

Honestly, the book started slow and picked up on the later part, but once you got “there”, I swear, you will wish you have all the time to finish the book in one sitting. The author really amazed me on how she concocted zombie and dystopia, she must be a genius because she actually did that awesomely.

The ending is unpredictable, and you’ll be surprised that it is already happening without any warning… so be prepared before you read this novel.

If you love zombies, then you must read this book.

Atherton 1 : The House of Power

Ok, since one of my customers ruined my day, then I guess I’ll be doing my short review for Atherton today to relax my mind…

Edgar has the skill to climb a wall or a tree easily, that’s why he tried to climb the cliff through The House of Power. He is curious of what is  really happening there, and to seek for someone who can read to him the book he found in the tabletop, the book which can answer all the questions about the Atherton and why Edgar is in that world. “Atherton will fall” said in the book, but it is happening now, so how will they handle it?

I find the premise of the story good, but the execution is somehow lame. Patrick Carmen’s narration is so dry that I can put down the book easily and I felt not needing to finish the book because I know what will happen next, coz i already read it in other novels, in short, cliche. I’m expecting a good execution coz this is a dystopian novel, meaning war and apocalypse, but it failed me. though it can be a good introduction to explain what is a dystopian novel all about, but for those who already read some great novel in that genre like: The Hunger Games, The Knife of Never Letting Go and Unwind will be unconvinced of how the narration goes.

The ending is also a trying hard cliffhanger, though I will still read the second and third book because I have them in my list in Y2-D2 challenge.

The Bride Collector by Ted Dekker

What makes a good Thriller/Mystery books? It has to have:

1. A killer
2. The victims (the more victims, the merrier)
3. A FBI protagonist
4. A cliff hanger endings in every chapter.
5. A surprising twist in the story

I’m a fan of this genre, so it means I read a lot of books in this niche, and I confess that I’m already used to the plots of this
kind of story, and that made the story a cliche for me.

The story is all about Brad Raine, a FBI agent who will investigate the killings of the so called “Brides”. He will then probe
the profile of the killer in an asylum because the killer is probably a psychotic. He will eventually meet the patients of CWI, and will ask the help of those insane people. He’ll meet Paradise, a patient who can see ghosts and who happens to be the last “bride”.

When I’m reading the The Bride Collector, I almost know what will going to happen and who ends with whom and who the killer is, coz it is already told in chapter 2 who the killer is, so the guessing game for the killer’s name will stop in that chapter. What made me finish the book is I want to know how The Rain Man stopped the killings.

The story has the five factors of what a novel must have to be called a “mystery” novel. Sad to say, it is not that exciting story but this book made me to contemplate on to something… The question of “How can we say that a person is normal?” Can we say that he/she is not normal because she can see a ghost? Are the patients in asylum not really a normal people? Do the psychotics think the “outside people” are also insane because we can’t understand “their world”? Is being normal means being ordinary? It is really hard to answer those questions.

Though it failed me, I still had fun reading it… And still looking forward to reading the other works of Dekker.

I’ll Take The Challenge (YA-D2 Challenge)

Since all my friends in GR who loves YA and also a dystopian fanatics will join this challenge, then it’s about time for me to join them in Bart’s Bookshelf’s YA-D2 Challenge.

I’ll be joining the die-hard category of the game and it goes like this:

 

Level 3: Is for the dystopian die-hards! Minimum requirement for this level is five young adult dystopian novels, between the 1st October and 19th December. There is, however no maximum cap, you can keep reading for as many books as you like!

And my list is here:

1. Atherton: House of Power No. 1  by  Patrick Carman

2. The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

3. The Enemy by Charlie Higson

4. Lies by Michael Grant

5. The Maze Runner by James Dashner

6. Skin Hunger by Kathleen Duey

7. Birthmarked by Caragh M. O’Brien

8. Feed by Mira Grant

That’s my list for now. I intend to read more, but not sure if I can finish my list if I add more books because I’m now in a graveyard shift.

The Thin Executioner By Darren Shan

Jebel is one of the sons of the executioner in their town (I forgot the name), a thin and accused as weak unlike his brothers. Time has come for his father to retire from being an executioner, so he endorse his two sons excluding Jebel to join a competition to become the next executioner.Because of his pride, Jebel think of joining the competition, but he knows it himself that he can’t win the game.

There is only one way for him to gain the strength he needs to win the competition, Jebel need to do a quest, he need to go in a certain mountain to seek for the god. For him to be granted a quest, he must find a slave who he can offer to the God of that mountain and ask for the invincibility he needs to win the competition. He didn’t fail on finding a slave for his quest and for that, he was granted a quest… This is where the story began…

The book tackles about the equality of the people living in that place, the relationship of a slave and the master. Shan also touched the most controversial topic, religion, though he wrote it in a fictitious and gruesome way (One of the scenes in the book is really disgusting that made me want to vomit). He is lucid on the message he wanted to tell his readers.

And in the end, Shan showed that nobody is perfect whether you’re in a high or in the lowest society, and everybody can be a tool for a change, it is not based on the status you have in your life.

Shan is really a good story teller. He can make you move and can keep you amazed all throughout his novel, this is what I felt while reading his Cirque Du Freak and The Thin Executioner. And because of this, I will certainly say that I am a fan of him.

And by the way, the ending? Did I say “The Ending”? Oh! The ENDING!

*** The names of the characters and places are weird, so I really can’t remember the names except for the protagonist, Jebel…

Freebies From Mockingjay

I hope it’s not yet late for posting this stuff…

A week before the release of the most awaited book of the year, “Mockingjay” by Suzanne Collins, me and my bookworm friends already file a reservation in National Bookstore. It is not just we can get the book during the release date, but there’s a freebie for every reservation, as for this, we got a free “Mockingjay” shirt and some of us got a bookmark.

"Mockingjay" bookmark, shirt and book

I can’t help myself going as early as possible to the bookstore where I made my reservation (I’m just lucky that my boss allowed me to have a leave of absence during this day) and luckily, the shirt they gave me fitted me.

I run as quickly as I can to start reading after they gave me the shirt and the book,  I finished reading  “Mockingjay” after two days of  devouring it (I honestly don’t know if I can do a review of  “Mockingjay”, I still need to read it again and decide if Suzanne really disappointed me).