Marie Lu

In my book club we had all read The Hunger Games. Then we recently read Divergent, and one of the members then passed on the following link:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/ariellecalderon/book-series-to-read-if-you-enjoyed-the-h....

Having read (and loved) two of the 15 series recommended (Divergent, Ender's Game), I decided to give the other books a try.

Legend is the first one. I really liked it. It is narrated in the first person by the two main protagonists: Day (a teenage boy scrounging to survive) and June (a wealthy extremely bright and talented teenage girl). It was a little slow to start, a bit disorienting, jumping straight into the ruminations of Day in a world that had not been described to the reader as yet.

The publisher chose to illustrate the change in voice by alternating fonts and font colours. Initially a little distracting, this quickly became a non-issue (and possibly even a little helpful) as the book's pace picked up. Once I got into it (about p. 73), I couldn't put it down.

The characters are strong and complex, the world-building is done organically: we find out about the extreme separation of the haves and have-nots through the observations and lived experience of the characters. Even the secondary characters are well drawn. The plot is solid and the pace builds to a fever pitch. I could not put it down 'til I'd finished the whole book my heart racing all the way.

In my opinion, Legend is better than The Hunger Games, and at the same level as Divergent. I am anxiously awaiting the sequel: Prodigy from the library. (The third in the trilogy: Champion, is due November 2013).

Next to read in the "15 recommended" list is Graceling.… (mais)

Marie Lu weaves an intricate tale in this young adult book about a world-famous musician. She brings her reader a story of intrigue that is filled with heart stopping moments. There is forbidden romance, self-reflection, and true friendship.

This book is classified as young adult since the main characters fit into that age range. But, in my opinion, if they were not described as older teens, then they could really have been any age – a feature that should make this book popular also among readers outside of that age frame. There are, however, references to sexuality, drugs, and other potentially sensitive topics.

I will admit that it took me a chapter or two to really start enjoying this book, but once I reached that point, well, I was completely hooked and found myself quickly turning the pages. Characters are well developed and settings are carefully constructed so that you feel a part of the story. But don’t think you have everything figured out as you are likely to be surprised at the end.… (mais)

Full review: https://wanderinglectiophile.wordpress.com/2018/04/10/review-warcross-by-marie-l...

Right away, my first thoughts were…”I’ve read very similar content elsewhere…Ready Player One…for one..” which kinda disappointed me. The concept and premise of the story is an interesting one for sure, and I’m glad that Lu was able to make it it’s own in the end. The plot was great, I thought it had a good mix of success and struggle that kept the reader engaged and wanting more.

One aspect I did like was that in the world of Warcross was that Warcross is in the real world. Unlike Ready Player One; where you have the real world and have to login to the Oasis, Warcross has the Warcross world overlaying the real world. Things you do in the real world directly relate to experience points in Warcross. Visiting Tokyo, for example, caused Emika to level up. I found this to be a nice element to the story. But with that in mind, I found myself distracted by logistics for a world like this. How are Warcross players playing in the games? With Ready Player One, it was all online – you got into haptic rigs that would keep you in one place physically, but allow you to run about in the Oasis. That made sense though since the real world wasn’t integrated into the game. Warcross though, has some logistical questions I struggled with. For example; the Dark World…where in the real world are you going or are you blindly bumping about in the real world because you’re seeing the virtual reality instead of the real world?

The characters and inter-character relationships were…a bit one-dimensional for my liking. First we have the relationship with Emika and her roommate…who’s name I can no longer recall…which really proves my point about the characters and relationships lacking depth, doesn’t it? Why bother writing in a roommate if that detail isn’t well developed and used for more than “I wonder what X (seriously, I can’t remember her name and I don’t have to book available to look it up) is thinking back at home?” that Emika thinks as she’s gearing up for the games? Then we have the relationship with Emika and her dad that was basically conveyed through sentiments of “I miss him so much” – nothing of substance to get the reader feeling that connection. Then you have the relationship between Hideo and Emika that is founded on the idea that she’s just so super smart and sassy that she caught the eye of the lonely, billionaire genius. I mean, has he not come into contact with any independent and strong women prior to now? …it was…reminiscent of Christian and Ana if you ask me… *gagging noises* Although, the Phoenix Riders team members was the most well developed relationship dynamic, it still lacked a certain amount of depth for me to feel an emotional connection with them and their success or failure. I did, however, enjoy our heroin’s character. She had spunk and independence, which I enjoyed. I just wish the other characters were more felt out. It would have made for a much more interesting story.

I found some of the details and narratives either a bit predictable or unrealistic. For one, our broke-penniless-about-to-be-evicted heroine has dyed rainbow colored hair….as the daughter of a licensed cosmetologist – and someone who knows the upkeep costs of hair color – I have to ask, WTF is she getting the money for this every-two-to-three-week(if you’re lucky!) dye job?!? …For those of you who may not know; any hair color that isn’t a naturally occurring color (though, even red is a problem sometimes), takes twice as much work to maintain; meaning twice as much money spent. I just find it hard to believe that anyone in her situation would continue the senseless expense of hair color, regardless of her emotional attachment to it. The sad part is that Lu even writes about such an expense and how Emika “doesn’t care when it comes to the cost of hair dye” and I still find it unrealistic. Even if she’s doing her dye job at home – which is going to be that much more unrealistic because she’s not a licensed professional, and trust me, she’d need some mad skills to make rainbow hair happen at home – she’s more likely to end up with a muddied hair color provided by a product that isn’t professional grade which means it will wash out faster and not produce the same results as a professional dye job. I might have believed this crazy color hair dye detail if it was all one color. Pink or blue, for example. But rainbow? RAINBOW. On a I’m-three-months-behind-on-rent-and-about-to-be-evicted budget? No. Just, no.

Unfortunately, the plot twist and ending I saw from over a mile away. This generally disappoints me in any book. I love when an author can keep me guessing and second guessing. BUT. I still enjoyed the ride all the same. The pace was good and the plot was decent. I just knew where the sharp turns were going to be and could prepare myself accordingly.

For the most part, the points made throughout this review are nit-picky ones. I really did love this story and there were just a few things that I wish had been more developed and thought out. ….I’m a little perturbed that I have to wait until September for the next book. I would definitely recommend this book to just about anyone who had an interest in reading though.… (mais)