Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Usher

Title: Thirteen Reasons Why
Author: Jay Usher
320 pages
Genre: Young Adult
Publisher: Razorbill; 1st edition (October 18, 2007)
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

My thoughts:
Thirteen Reasons is the story of Hannah Baker and as the book title suggests, 13 reasons why she died. All these reasons are in fact related to 13 people who helped her reach the state she did-the state where she felt like she had no other choice but to take her own life. Before she commits suicide, all the people who were somehow responsible for it were sent a set of tapes so that the person knows how much his/ her actions affected Hannah.

Whenever I hear somebody committed suicide, my first thought is obviously “Why?”, followed by thoughts like how can something this trivial force someone to take his/ her own life and leave so many unanswered questions and blame games behind. But it’s almost never one thing; it’s never “just” or “trivial”. It’s a culmination of many incidents and as Hannah says “A snowball effect”. Thirteen Reasons Why shows exactly that, the other side of suicide, something which we would probably never get to see or should see.

Hannah Baker is the new girl in town and like everyone else she finds it difficult to fit in. Hannah has left her own town and with that her old life which was filled with rumors and she hopes to start with a fresh slate. But things don’t turn out how she wants them to. Rumors follow her in the new town as well, trusts are broken, games are played and at one point Hannah doesn’t feel safe anymore, neither in her school nor at home.

Clay Jensen is one of the guys who gets the set of tapes. The book is an intermingled narrative between Hannah’s voice in the tape and Clay’s thought process or rather his reactions to it. It helps the reader get a different perspective on Hannah’s story. It also made it difficult for me to get into the story. The moment I felt I was getting involved in what Hannah was saying Clay would come up with totally unrelated things to say, not always unrelated, but many times. I know Clay’s perspective was important too, but it wasn’t done as well as it could have.

The writing was okay. In fact I really didn’t think I was going to like this book at all. Some where after the first 100 pages, the book really picks up pace. But I feel the power of the book lies in the story, in the message. To some people it will help realize how even their smallest of actions could affect someone’s psyche if it was fragile enough. Teenagers usually tend to be insensitive and wrapped up in their own world, it would hopefully make them realize that everyone’s worlds are overlapped and some things could have greater consequences than they realized. But on the other hand, it does not provide any hope to people who are probably thinking of giving up on the world like Hannah.

I would say it’s a good book which would probably be great for teenagers and adults as well.

Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale

Title: Book of a Thousand Days
Author: Shannon Hale
Genre: Young Adult
Paperback: 336 pages
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children’s Books
Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars

About the book (From Amazon):
When Dashti, a maid, and Lady Saren, her mistress, are shut in a tower for seven years for Saren’s refusal to marry a man she despises, the two prepare for a very long and dark imprisonment.
As food runs low and the days go from broiling hot to freezing cold, it is all Dashti can do to keep them fed and comfortable. But the arrival outside the tower of Saren’s two suitors—one welcome, and the other decidedly less so—brings both hope and great danger, and Dashti must make the desperate choices of a girl whose life is worth more than she knows.
With Shannon Hale’s lyrical language, this forgotten but classic fairy tale from the Brothers Grimm is reimagined and reset on the central Asian steppes; it is a completely unique retelling filled with adventure and romance, drama and disguise.

My Thoughts:
Book of a thousand days is based on Grimm’s fairy tale Maid Maleen. But Shannon Hale has effectively twisted the tale and made it her own.

The story begins with a princess and her Maid being shut down in a tower for 7 years. The princess’s father wants her to marry Lord Khasar, the ruler of the down under, but the princess wants to marry Khan Tegus, also the ruler of one of the eight realms. The father wants to teach her a lesson by isolating her for 7 years in the hope of bringing her to her senses.

The maid is a 15 year old girl who has no family of her own to speak of and she is assigned to the princess just one day before she is to be locked in the tower. The maid without knowing anything about this pledges to serve the princess in all conditions.

The maid’s name is Dashti and she is a mucker, the people who roam the grasslands for a living. She knows how to live in frugal and harsh conditions and in turn takes care of the melancholy princess.

This book has the perfect fairy tale ingredients, obviously since it’s a re-telling of one. But I loved how Shannon Hale gave an extra dimension to every character in the story. She created characters you could hate and love. She also created a wonderful atmosphere which was as melancholy as the princess’s situation. Here is one of my favorite paragraphs:

Here’s something true about darkness-after enough time, you begin to see things that aren’t there. Faces look at me, and when I turn my head, they dissapear. Colors wash themselves before my eyes, then fade away. Shiny gray dream rats dart between my feet but don’t make a sound. I wanted to write this down so I can remember that those things aren’t real.

Shannon Hale has also challenged the concept of beautiful in connection to happily ever-after in The book of a thousand days which made me appreciate the story even better. If you’ve read Grimm’s fairy tale or this book, you’ll know what I’m talking about.

All in all I would it’s a very good book with an ending suitable for fairy tales. This is one of the YA books that could be a cross over. I cannot wait to get my hands on other books by Shannon Hale. Recommended.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies…really?

Title: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Author: Jane Austen , Seth Grahame-Smith
Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Quirk Books; Later Printing edition (April 4, 2009)
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 1 out of 5 stars

About the book (From GoodReads):
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains.” So begins Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, an expanded edition of the beloved Jane Austen novel featuring all-new scenes of bone-crunching zombie mayhem. As our story opens, a mysterious plague has fallen upon the quiet English village of Meryton—& the dead are returning to life! Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is determined to wipe out the zombie menace, but she’s soon distracted by the arrival of the haughty & arrogant Mr. Darcy. What ensues is a delightful comedy of manners with plenty of civilized sparring between the two young lovers—& even more violent sparring on the blood-soaked battlefield as Elizabeth wages war against hordes of flesh-eating undead. Can she vanquish the spawn of Satan? And overcome the social prejudices of the class-conscious landed gentry? Complete with romance, heartbreak, swordfights, cannibalism & thousands of rotting corpses, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies transforms a masterpiece of world literature into something you’d actually want to read.

My thoughts:
I started Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (PPZ) and my sister started Pride and Prejudice (P&P) at the same time. I was really excited to read this book. With a first sentence like this who wouldn’t?

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains

After the initial fit of giggling and comparing the first chapter with the original, I settled down to actually read the book in all seriousness. And now after having read the book there is only one question in my mind. Why was this book even written? I mean really it’s just a page by page copy of the original with occasional sprinkling of Zombies and Zombie slang here and there. It would be safe to say that it’s more than 80% similar.

Considering how well this book is doing I’m kind of surprised. I would not be fair to authors who write a book from scratch. Here Seth Grahame-Smith had everything at his disposal, a great setting, a great plot and awesome characters that you’ll never forget. To be fair the book does say it is written by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith. But does that make it alright?

Don’t get me wrong. Although I’m a huge P&P fan I’m not sensitive to altering the original or of the countless sequels if it is well done. If you read the blurb, it says “ultraviolent zombie mayhem”, I mean really? There were occasional zombie’s attacks in the book but the zombies were very easily killed or dispensed. And the attacks hardly lasted for more than a page.

I feel it was a very good idea very badly executed. The author had just modified the fate of Charlotte and Wickham in the book. The charlotte angle was well done but the Wickham one wasn’t, it was absolutely unnecessary and illogical. In fact that’s how I felt about the book. Unnecessary. I felt cheated and it feels like this book is just a ruse to make money from a beloved classic and Jane Austen. The only positive thing was it felt like I re-read Pride and Prejudice which I had been meaning to do for some time

BUT…Care, I cannot thank you enough for sending me the book. I have one book less in my “REALLY want to read” list. Also, I might as well cross out Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters from my wish list Score!!!

If you have liked the book, please do spread some light on why is it so successful. If you haven’t tell me why you didn’t like it. If you haven’t read it, why not? Will you be willing to give it a chance?

Guardian of the Flame by T.L.Higley

Title: Guardian of the Flame
Author: T.L.Higley
Paperback: 400 pages
Publisher: B&H Books (October 1, 2009)
Genre: Historical Fiction
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

About the book:
Guardian of the Flame is book three in the Seven Wonders series of novels transporting readers back to the Ancient World. Characters struggle to find meaning in a pagan society and are confronted by the one true God and His message of redemption.
The year is 48 BC. Sophia, a woman hurt by past loss, guards the famous lighthouse of Alexandria, Egypt, in order to hide herself away from a world she deems cruel and unloving. But there is no escape. Political turmoil swells as Roman general Julius Caesar and his legion storm the city, and Cleopatra, Greek queen of Egypt , fights to retain her country against both Caesar and bloodthirsty rivals within her own household. Sophia is caught in the middle between a loyalty to Cleopatra and her maddening interest in Bellus, the Roman soldier whom Caesar has instructed to overtake the lighthouse.

My thoughts:
Guardian of the Flame takes us to 48 B.C Alexandria, Egypt. It’s the time when Julius Caesar and his troops have taken control of Alexandria and Cleopatra and her younger brother Ptolemy are in exile.

But…this is not the story of Cleopatra, it’s the story of Sophia who is Cleopatra’s tutor and is the keeper of the strategic lighthouse.

Sophia is a woman who has made the lighthouse her refuge and has refused to mix and mingle with the town people. She has closed her heart to every possibility of love in every form for the fear of causing her more pain. This fear has a history of course which is revealed in due course of time. In this fortress of hers enters Bellus, a Roman General, who is given the task of guarding the lighthouse considering it is the most strategic location in Alexandra.

Bellus, who although is a great warrior, is very interested in knowledge and books as well. He is attracted to the mystery that is Sophia and in the end tries his best to guard his heart against what he sees as an obviously wrong and fatal attraction.

Guardian of the Flame is essentially a historical romance, both aspects of which the author T.L.Higley can write very well. The romance between Sophia and Bellus was so well done. She definitely knows how to build a convincing romance while also describing the turbulent conditions in Alexandra during that period. She has a rare skill of not letting one aspect of the story overshadow the other.

That brings me to the history. Honestly I didn’t know much about Cleopatra and Caesar and I got to know so much about it through this book. Of course I did Google a little afterwards just to find out how much was fact and fiction. She describes the hub of knowledge and discovery that Alexandra once was and builds a story around it too. Also the incident where Cleopatra hides inside a carpet and then rolls out of it in front of Caesar was priceless. The author describes what Cleopatra must have gone through during that time. I had a hard time believing it actually happened and that it was not the author’s creation.

T.L.Higley knows how to convincingly mix history and fiction and make it appealing to an average reader too. If you haven’t tried one of her books, you really ought to. Start with Shadow of Colossus, a book, I absolutely adored but then do read Guardian of the Flame too. Both these books are part of the 7 wonders of the ancient World Series. The beauty of the series is that each book stands independently so you can start with any book that appeals to you.

Note: This book is also categorized as Christian fiction but it’s not in the face, so non-Christians like me can enjoy it as well.

Meridian by Amber Kizer

Title: Meridian
Author: Amber Kizer
Reading level: Young Adult
Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers (August 11, 2009)
Rating: 4 stars

About the book: (From Amazon)
Half-human, half-angel, Meridian Sozu has a dark responsibility.
Sixteen-year-old Meridian has been surrounded by death ever since she can remember. As a child, insects, mice, and salamanders would burrow into her bedclothes and die. At her elementary school, she was blamed for a classmate’s tragic accident. And on her sixteenth birthday, a car crashes in front of her family home—and Meridian’s body explodes in pain.
Before she can fully recover, Meridian is told that she’s a danger to her family and hustled off to her great-aunt’s house in Revelation, Colorado. It’s there that she learns that she is a Fenestra—the half-angel, half-human link between the living and the dead. But Meridian and her sworn protector and love, Tens, face great danger from the Aternocti, a band of dark forces who capture vulnerable souls on the brink of death and cause chaos.

My Review:
I was really confused about this book. There were some things that I absolutely loved about it and some things I didn’t. Let’s start with the plot shall we?

Meridian Sozu, a 16 year old teenager, has never fit in. She has always felt different and weird. Death has been her companion right since her birth. She finds dead animals and insects wherever she goes, it’s as if the dead are calling out to her, or worse still, they are dying because of her. As Meridian cannot make sense of this, she finds herself as a recluse at 16.

One day, as she barely misses being involved in a terrible accident, she witnesses it nonetheless, and finds herself being moved from her house and her family to her great aunt with the same name Meridian-Merry. She has never met her or even heard from her except for the quilts she gets as birthday presents every year.

When she reaches her great aunt Merry’s place, a huge castle like home, she finds Merry very frail and tired. A guy called Tens is taking care of her. What Meridian learns about Merry and herself is shocking and unbelievable to her.

Meridian Sozu is half human, half angel. She is the medium of the dead to heaven. Unique isn’t it? As Meridian learns how to be the medium and learns more about Fenestra’s and the threat that she is under, she has to be strong and find a way to defeat an enemy who’s strength is way beyond her imagination.

I loved the plot and loved the whole concept of Fenestra’s. The first half was a little slow for me but it really picked up after a 100 pages. I felt no real attachment to Meridian or even Tens for that matter. I would have liked a little more background on Tens instead of a sketch. But I loved the great aunt Merry. I felt her fear, her frustration and her desperate need to teach Meridian everything she could while there was till time. That shows that the author Amber Kizer is more than capable of great characterization.

I also loved the whole Church thing and the villain, Pastor Perimo. Without giving spoilers, I loved what he did to the town. Again, I would have loved if his character was more fleshed out. There was very little Chemistry between Tens and Meridian except at the end. The writing was normal in parts and brilliant in others. I feel the author has a lot more potential than we get to see in Meridian. The book was a quick read and I couldn’t put it down for most of the part.

Having said all this and having written and thought about all the positives and negatives, I have to tell you one thing. After finishing the book, all I can think about are the positives. There are scenes and moments from the book that have stayed with me long after finishing it. Meridian definitely has an edge over so many other YA fantasy novels released recently and I will definitely recommend you to read it.

About the author:
Amber Kizer is not one of those authors who wrote complete books at the age of three and always knew she wanted to be a writer. She merely enjoyed reading until a health challenge forced her to start living outside the box. She lives in the Seattle area on a veritable Noah’s Ark—without the big boat and only some of the rain.

Pirated Books!!!

Source: bangalore-city.blogspot.com

Okay let’s talk about Book Piracy. Here I’m not taking about eBook piracy where you probably see about hundred’s of eBooks being uploaded to Torrent everyday. I can safely say that I have never ever downloaded a book illegally.

Here I’m talking about paper books. I really don’t know about other countries but in India such piracy is very rampant. If you go to the major shopping areas, you can see number of vendors just display the pirated books on the street.

And people buy them. Now I never thought much of it before but since I’ve started book blogging and interacting with authors and publishers I realize what a huge impact this makes on the book publishing industry.

Am I guilty of it? Yes.

I own only 2 pirated books out of hundreds that adorn my shelf. The first pirated book I bought was The Da Vinci Code. We were going on a family vacation to the North and as we were about to board the train I realized that I had nothing to read in this 20+ hours journey. So I bought one from the only book vendor on the platform and yes, it was pirated.

The second book was The Maximum City by Suketu Mehta. I wanted to read this book really badly and none of the bookstores I asked had it. This was way before the book became a bestseller. I got so frustrated from the repeated trips to the bookstore that I bought one from a guy who was selling pirated books just outside the bookstore.

Do I feel bad? Yes and no. Do I feel disgusted or angry towards people who buy pirated books? No.

Let me explain. Books are expensive and what I’ve mostly observed is that people who read regularly are generally college students. Generally. They don’t have the money to spend 300 bucks on a book when they can buy a new pair of shoes or a T-shirt. I know I never bought books when I was not working. I joined the library. But there aren’t many libraries here. We have those very tiny libraries where you can probably finish all the books in a year. There are a couple of big libraries but then it’s not always feasible to travel the distance.

We also don’t have library sales or second hand book stores, at least not in my city which is also known as the Oxford of the East. In so many years here I have found only one decent second hand bookstore (which I now love). I think Mumbai and Delhi are better whereas second hand books are concerned. But not every city or town has this luxury.

Will I ever be caught buying a pirated book now? NO. Never. That’s the reason why you’ll find me saying over and over again that I’ll wait for the price to come down or I’ll wait for the paperback to release. It would be easier to just go out and buy a pirated copy instead of drooling over the display books and wish I could have them. But my conscience wouldn’t allow it.

I really don’t know where I’m going with this but I keep thinking about this whenever I pass any of these pirated goods. So I just wanted to put my thoughts forward.

What about you? Have you ever bought a pirated book before? What do you think of it? Do you have a lot of pirated booksellers where you live? I’m curious.

Defenders of the Scroll by Shiraz

Title: Defenders of the Scroll
Author: Shiraz
Paperback: 264 pages
Publisher: iUniverse (June 29, 2009)
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 4 out of 5

About the book: A teenage boy.A dark wizard.A mystic scroll. And the fate of a world hangs in the balance. . . When Alex “the Axeman” Logan is pulled from his world to help young princess Dara save her kingdom from the Shadow Lord, he thinks there has been a mistake. He’s a teen guitar player close to failing 11th grade, not some defender of the realm. All he has are some school books, his wits, and his love of fantasy movies. Overnight his life is history. Alex must confront the Shadow Lord and his minions when he is thrust into a land that has changed from a magical paradise to a barren, hopeless, helpless realm invaded by a dark army. But Alex is not alone. He has the help of Dara, a magic scroll, and a band of unlikely companions drawn from his own history books: a hardened Roman Legionnaire, a swift Japanese Samurai, a mighty African Warrior, a fiery Amazon Archer, and a spirited Shaolin Monk. Can Alex become more than he believes and lead his small band of Defenders to the Hall of Shadows, the birthplace of the Shadow Lord? The fate of the realm and everyone in it rests on him.

My Review:
In Short: What an awesome book!!! It’s got action, lovable characters and a superb plot.

As we enter the fantasy world created by Defenders of the Scroll, we are introduced to 2 main people. Alex, a teenager who is bored with his life, who plays video games having ogres and wizards and feels that his calling in life is different than just going through another torturous year at school. He also leads a rock band called ‘Axemen’.

In another parallel universe, we meet 9 year old Dara, the daughter of a powerful wizard and King of Mythos-Mornark. Mornark is not only powerful but also just and kind. He creates a place called Shadow Hall where all the evil in the Kingdom is banished. This hall lies in the heart of the Shadow forest. But one day, all hell breaks loose, The Hall takes on a life of its own, Mornark is captured and Dara is left alone to find safety and a way to release her father from the prison.

You ask how these 2 worlds meet? There is some goof up with Dara’s magic and instead of summoning the head of their army, Dara summons Alex. What ensues next is a ride through hell- with dark forces, magical creatures and even pirates. We also get to meet many other characters summoned by Dara to help Alex and her with the journey.

Honestly, I don’t remember when I had so much fun reading an action packed fantasy novel before. Every chapter is an adventure and every page has a danger waiting to pounce. It’s like a rollercoaster ride. And all these characters were soooo good, I mean loved them all, even the villain. I loved Dara, Mornark, Alex, Bantu, Tenzin, Scorpius, Maya…and so many more. Is it possible to love so many characters from a book?

One more thing I loved is Alex’s sense of humor and how his usage of slang confused other warriors. Defenders of the Scroll is a fun book, one that will pull you in and make you forget your surroundings. I love how in the beginning I could totally switch my mood from Dara’s world to Alex’s world within minutes without getting confused.

But then again, the 1 star less in the rating couldn’t be for nothing right? One very minor problem I found towards the end was how the warriors used language that was a little…let me say modern, language that I wouldn’t expect from an Amazon Archer or a Roman warrior. But that did not disturb me much, as I said it was a minor complaint. Also a little editing would have helped, as in to shorten the book a little.

The major complaint was the ending of the book. It doesn’t have one. I am okay with leaving enough scope for a sequel but this story kind of ends abruptly. It wouldn’t have bothered me much if this wasn’t an action-packed fantasy novel, but it is, and it has a lot of characters and lots of explanations of why things are the way they are. I’m just afraid that until I get my hands on the second book I might forget all. But I know that’s not the problem everyone has.

Finally, I would say that Defenders of the scroll is a book that men and women, adults and children will enjoy. This book begs to be made into a movie, I would be the first in line to see it. Can you tell I cannot wait to get my hands on the next book? When is it coming out Mr. Shiraz?

Oh wait…I forgot to tell you that I LOVED the beautiful artwork inside. It really is gorgeous.

This book has won the following awards and recognitions.
Winner in the Fantasy and Best Editing Fiction categories, and Finalist in the Action-Adventure and Young Adult Fiction categories of the 2009 Indie Excellence Awards
Honorable Mention in the Teenage category of the 2009 Hollywood Book Festival
Honorable Mention in the Science Fiction and Teenage categories of the 2009 Beach Book Festival
Honorable Mention in the Science Fiction category of the 2009 New York Book Festival
Finalist in the Multicultural Fiction and Best Overall Design Fiction categories of the 2009 Next Generation Indie Book Awards
Honorable Mention in the Wild Card category of the 2009 San Francisco Book Festival

Big Stone Gap by Adriana Trigiani

Title: Big Stone Gap
Author: Adriana Trigiani
Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Ballantine Books; Later Printing edition (April 3, 2001)
Genre: Women’s Fiction
Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Big Stone Gap is a small town story and it has all the correct ingredients too. A town settled in between mountains, a bookmobile that makes the rounds every week, a pharmacy, a post office, eccentric characters, gossip passed down from generations and yes, a 35 year old town spinster called Ave Maria Mulligan.

This book is not heavy on plot. It concentrates more on the small town atmosphere, the people and Maria’s life and those connected to her. Maria, as I said, is 35 years old and is also known as the town spinster. She owns a pharmacy in the town. Maria is a very confused woman, she lives her life with very little or no ambition, she has a best friend called Theodore who is the director of the local high school band and she is also eying a guy called Jack who already has his heart set on her.

eeks…I don’t think I am going anywhere with this, I cannot tell you much of the plot because as I said this is a character based novel and giving away anything more might spoil the book for you. I can actually summarize the plot in 5 sentences if I have to.

Let me tell you more about how I felt about this book. This is my first Adriana Trigiani book and I’m actually wondering why I haven’t read anything by her before. I got this book in a sale; otherwise I never would have picked it up.

The first thing I noticed about this book was the humor. Big Stone Gap was funny and I don’t find many books funny. It’s the kind of humor where Maria laughs at herself as well as others. She gets tangled in her mother’s past and finding love and purpose in her life. Along the way we get to know her insecurities and her fears along with a delightful cast of small town characters.

Read this book if you want to read a book that will make you feel all warm and comfortable, the way you feel when you tuck your favorite blanket around you.

Note: Big Stone gap is the first book in a series but it’s a stand alone book.

Have you read anything by Adriana Trigiani? Have you read Big Stone Gap? Which other book by her would you recommend?

Xombies by Walter Greatshell: for R.I.P Challenge

Xombies by Walter Greatshell|August 3rd 2004 by Berkley|352 pages|Science Fiction

2 stars out of 5

About the book: Spreading at an astonishing speed, the “Agent X” virus transforms everyone it touches into maniacal monsters. Lulu Pangloss, one of the few as yet uninfected, flees to the last safe place on earth–but what’s awaiting her there is as unexpected, and as frightening, as what’s followed her.

My Review:
Xombies…What do I say about this book? I picked it up from a store because of the awesome cover and of course because it had Zombies. It does starts with some fun and gory zombie fighting that I was expecting from this book in the first place. The Zombies are created by a virus called Agent X which mysteriously affects women first.

17 year old Lulu and an old guy Mr. Cowper flee from their homes and go to a Navy base to find protection with the navy. Cowper is supposed to be Lulu’s father, the guy who ran away from her mother and someone whom Lulu had never met for the first 17 years of her life.

Circumstances lead to Lulu and Cowper running away together. But what they find at the Navy base is not protection but hundred’s of men and boys who Cowper suspects would be left behind once the Zombie defenses stop working and they invade the base as well. Cowper along with the men takes control of the Submarine which then sails (?) off to the Artic regions.

So far so good. I was really into the story until all the zombies were wiped out from the Submarine. But after that the Zombies kind of disappear for almost 200 pages of the book. That would have been okay if the rest of the book would have been good. But the Submarine descriptions were very tedious and I found myself very disinterested after that. I couldn’t picturize the descriptions and there was too much technical jargon. Honestly I skipped a lot of that section and it’s a huge section of the book.

The last hundred pages or so were really good but then again I was so bored with the middle section that I just wanted to finish the book. So I read the last 100 pages real fast which kind of led to me to missing out certain explanations of the Agent X that caused the Xombies. I found a few loopholes in the story but then again I said I skipped, so I’m not sure they were really loopholes.

The 2 stars are mainly because after the first 100 pages I lost interest in the book. Even the last 100 pages of the book could not revive my interest. But not wanting to be completely unfair, I will tell you what I liked in the book. I liked the writing style. The protagonist Lulu was a very street smart and intelligent girl whom I liked right from the start. The bond between father and daughter though not in the face was nicely developed. The Zombie sections, however few were awesome, so was all the action.

All I can say is that this book needs major editing, especially for the Submarine part.

This book is re-releasing this year with a different cover (which I don’t like much) and title XOMBIES: APOCALYPSE BLUES, with the sequel XOMBIES: APOCALYPTICON coming out in 2010, I think.

Another one down for R.I.P

Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

Title: Hush Hush
Author: Becca Fitzpatrick
Hardcover: 400 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing (October 13, 2009)
Genre: Young Adult
Rating: 4 out of 5

About the book:
For Nora Grey, romance was not part of the plan. She’s never been particularly attracted to the boys at her school, no matter how much her best friend, Vee, pushes them at her. Not until Patch came along.
With his easy smile and eyes that seem to see inside her, Nora is drawn to him against her better judgment.
But after a series of terrifying encounters, Nora’s not sure who to trust. Patch seems to be everywhere she is, and to know more about her than her closest friends. She can’t decide whether she should fall into his arms or run and hide. And when she tries to seek some answers, she finds herself near a truth that is way more unsettling than anything Patch makes her feel.
For Nora is right in the middle of an ancient battle between the immortal and those that have fallen – and, when it comes to choosing sides, the wrong choice will cost her life.

My Review:
After her father’s murder a year ago, Nora stays with her mother in the same old farmhouse just outside the city. As they have to come up with the maintenance cost for the farmhouse, her mother has to work after her father’s death and Nora is mostly home alone with her mother traveling for her job. Nora is a sincere student and none of the boys in her School provide any attraction or distraction for her.

Enter Patch. Patch is a new transfer and is usually quite and detached. Of course Nora and Patch are coupled for biology Assignment and part of it is getting to know each other and then making a report out of it. In spite of the fact that Nora knows something is wrong with Patch, she finds it very difficult to stay detached from him. Without giving much away, what ensues later is unraveling of mysteries, of Patch and of some other guys that enter the picture later.

I started the book thinking it would be heavy on fantasy but it was focused on the mystery aspect of the story for most of the part. But the mystery was so good that I did not mind. The characters were great. Patch was sexy and attractive and dangerous. Although I didn’t like Nora much she wasn’t some dumb female attracted to the dark and dangerous kind and acting on it just because she could (Read Bella from Twilight). She was intelligent and had a mind of her own. Nora’s friend Vee was the most entertaining of the lot. I almost waited for her to come in the picture. She was entertaining even when she was discussed in third person.

The one thing that I do find myself complaining about is the lack of atmosphere. I’m not saying it wasn’t there, just that I didn’t feel it much. Although I enjoyed Hush Hush thoroughly, I wish I could be transported to that place while reading it. I would have enjoyed it even more than I did. But then I haven’t seen this complaint in any other reviews so it could just be my mood. I am not sure.

In spite of my minor complaint, the fact remains that Hush, Hush is a great debut novel and I will definitely be looking out for books by Becca Fitzpatrick in the future.

Highly recommended if you like Young Adult or Fantasy.