The Sky So Heavy by Claire Zorn

Title: The Sky So Heavy
Author: Claire Zorn
 

Release Date: 24th July 2013

My Rating: 5/5
 

Blurb:

For Fin, it's just like any other day - racing for the school bus, bluffing his way through class, and trying to remain cool in front of the most sophisticated girl in his universe, Lucy. Only it's not like any other day because, on the other side of the world, nuclear missiles are being detonated.

From an exciting new voice in Australian YA literature, Claire Zorn, comes a haunting novel, The Sky So Heavy - a mesmerising story inspired by the continued debate over Australia's treatment of asylum-seekers and how a line through a map can determine your fate.

In A Nutshell:

This gripping story of utter desperation and survival is full of suspense as our characters face a near apocalyptic future. Faced with situations no one, let along children, should have to endure, they question where to draw the line when fighting for survival and how far you would go to protect the ones you love. Claire Zorn and her debut novel, The Sky So Heavy, are exciting new additions to the Aussie YA community.

My Review:

The Sky So Heavy is the debut novel by Australian author Claire Zorn. Zorn has created a chilling story of survival set in Australia’s Blue Mountains after another country ‘tests’ nuclear missiles and essentially sends the world back into the dark ages.

Our main character is seventeen year old Fin. Along with his younger brother Max, the boys battle the freezing cold and dwindling supplies after their dad disappears on the first night. As the months go by, they come to the realisation that those not from the city (Sydney), or who do not possess ‘valuable’ skills (such as doctors) are being left to die. The brothers, forced to fend for themselves to survive, team up with new friend Noll and Fin’s school friend Lucy, and attempt to make their way towards the city in search of Fin and Max’s mother. But staying alive and getting into the barricaded city will be harder than any of them expected.

As Fin tries to hold it all together and stay positive for their little group, their new reality means hypothermia, dehydration and starvation become very real possibilities. And if those don't kill them, someone will probably try. The kindness of strangers often surprises them when at the same time, people they have known their whole lives try to kill them for supplies. With the population becoming more desperate and violence escalating in correlation to how hungry people are, Fin, Noll and Lucy question what is right and wrong. Who do they trust? And where do they draw the line in order to survive and protect the ones they love?

This gripping story of utter desperation and survival is full of suspense as our characters face a near apocalyptic future. Yet throughout their struggle, Fin, Max, Noll and Lucy continue to hold on to hope that they will find somewhere they can rebuild their lives.

Claire Zorn and her first novel, The Sky So Heavy, are exciting new additions to the Aussie YA community.

The Rig by Joe Ducie

Title: The Rig

Author: Joe Ducie

Release Date: 5th September 2013

My Rating: 4/5

Blurb:

Fifteen-year-old Will Drake has made a career of breaking out from high-security prisons. His talents have landed him at The Rig, a specialist juvenile holding facility in the middle of the Arctic Ocean. No one can escape from The Rig. No one except for Drake...

After making some escape plans and meeting the first real friends of his life, Drake quickly realises that all is not as it seems on The Rig. The Warden is obsessed with the mysterious Crystal-X - a blue, glowing substance that appears to give superpowers to the teens exposed to it. Drake, Tristan and Irene are banking on a bid for freedom - but can they survive long enough to make it?

In A Nutshell:

The Rig is an action packed, suspenseful novel with a male protagonist. Set in a slightly dystopian future with a science fiction element lurking beneath the surface, The Rig is one for fans of the Cherub series, ACID or any other action adventure featuring secret government agencies.

My Review:

Set in 2025, Alliance Systems and their elite soldiers, Crystal Force, maintain and guard The Rig, a floating prison in the middle of the Arctic Ocean. As the "most secure rehabilitation centre” for juvenile offenders, the inmates follow strict rules, guided by their GPS electromagnetic prison cuffs, and work off their stay. For Will, instantly hated by the Warden, this means cleaning out the sewage pipes and tunnels daily.

Will has escaped three prisons already and while he is originally full of bravado when he arrives at The Rig, once he experiences its inner workings, he's not so sure there is a way off the prison. Not unlike a maze, The Rig, housed on a disused oil platform, has a sinister science fiction element lurking beneath the surface, and as Will discovers, his fellow inmates are being used as guinea pigs. Now, more than ever, Will needs to escape and find his way back to land, even if it means leaving his new friends, friends he’s not all that sure he wants in the first place, behind. But between the guards and the other prisoners, not to mention some mysterious disappearances, Will Drake will need to figure something out quickly if he wants to get off the rig alive.

I found it fun trying to figure out how Will would attempt to escape as well as uncovering more details about the other prisoners, particularly Tristan his cell mate, who has a few surprising tricks of his own. Tristan’s character is from Perth, Australia (my hometown) and this is mentioned a few times. It’s always nice to have our little old city mentioned in novels (usually done by authors who live here, like in this case). It was also nerve-racking to see how far Will would push the guards and how much pain he could take from the various incidents that occurred. Some of the characters also remind us that in a corrupt system, sometimes it is necessary to break the law if it’s for the right reasons and that not all ‘criminals’ are evil (please note I in no way condone breaking the law. We do not live in a dystopian society…yet).

The Rig is an action packed, suspenseful novel with a male protagonist for fans of the Cherub series, ACID or any other action adventure featuring secret government agencies set in a slightly dystopian future.

You can find The Rig on Amazon, The Book Depository, or other online retailers.

ACID by Emma Pass

Title: ACID

Author: Emma Pass

Release Date: 25th April 2013

My Rating: 4/5

Blurb:

2113. In Jenna Strong’s world, ACID – the most brutal, controlling police force in history – rule supreme. No throwaway comment or muttered dissent goes unnoticed – or unpunished. And it was ACID agents who locked Jenna away for life, for a bloody crime she struggles to remember.

The only female inmate in a violent high-security prison, Jenna has learned to survive by any means necessary. And when a mysterious rebel group breaks her out, she must use her strength, speed and skill to stay one step ahead of ACID – and to uncover the truth about what really happened on that dark night two years ago.

In A Nutshell:
Set in a futuristic UK, ACID explores themes of science and technology, government regimes and human rights. ACID is fast-paced with a feisty heroine in Jenna Strong. Dystopian fans will want to read it all in one sitting as the secrets of Jenna’s life are uncovered as she fights for freedom in an isolated, police-run nation.

My Review:
ACID is a dystopian novel following the pitfalls that sabotage and shape the life of Jenna Strong. The story covers seven different periods of Jenna’s life, beginning with her time in prison and her subsequent escape, aided by an unknown group. It is impossible to outline the story without spoilers but I will say she has the opportunity to start her life afresh a number of times, meets a variety of people, some earnest and trustworthy, others manipulative, psychologically scarred and harbouring ulterior motives. She spends a lot of time on the run and is subjected to multiple brainwashing techniques, with and without her consent, as the secrets of her complicated life begin to reveal themselves to Jenna and the reader. To say Jenna endures a lot in a very short space of time (8 months!) would be quite the understatement.

I really enjoyed the majority of the book however there was a lull in the story for about 50 pages (out of 400+). While this was frustrating, it was also necessary for the story arc to be pieced together. I liked that there was no cliff-hanger ending and that the story was wrapped up, even if it was a little abrupt for me.

For the most part, I was on edge with the pace of the novel, desperate to find out how Jenna would get out of the situations she found herself in. It’s the kind of novel you have to sit down and read all at once because you just want to know how it ends and make sure the bad guys get their comeuppance. ACID explored themes of science and technology, government regimes and human rights. Set in a futuristic UK, this is definitely one for dystopian fans.

What is Dystopian Fiction?

DYSTOPIAN FICTION. Being that it is the 'it' genre in YA fiction at the moment, I am quite often asked what it actually means, either at my job in the bookstore or when I talk to someone about the type of books I review. And even though I know what it is, it seems that I never really seem to have a good way of describing it. Or when I try, I just end up confusing the person who has asked me.
So, here are a couple of definitions for you.

From Wikipedia:

"A dystopia is the idea of a society in a repressive and controlled state, often under the guise of being utopian."


"Dystopian societies feature different kinds of repressive social control systems, various forms of active and passive coercion. Ideas and works about dystopian societies often explore the concept of humans abusing technology and humans individually and collectively coping, or not being able to properly cope with technology that has progressed far more rapidly than humanity's spiritual evolution. Dystopian societies are often imagined as police states, with unlimited power over the citizens.


"As fictional dystopias are often set in a future projected virtual time and/or space involving technological innovations not accessible in actual present reality, dystopian fiction is often classified generically as science fiction"

I hope this helps next time someone asks you what dystopian fiction is!

Here are a few YA dystopian novels...

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Days Like This by Alison Stewart
Matched by Ally Condie
Delirium by Lauren Oliver
Divergent by Veronica Roth
All These Things I've Done by Gabrielle Zevin

All These Things I've Done by Gabrielle Zevin

Title: All These Things I've Done
Series: Birthright #1
Author: Gabrielle Levin

Release Date: 6th September 2011

My Rating: 5/5

Blurb:
In 2083, chocolate and coffee are illegal, paper is hard to find, water is carefully rationed, and New York City is rife with crime and poverty. And yet, for Anya Balanchine, the sixteen-year-old daughter of the city's most notorious (and dead) crime boss, life is fairly routine. It consists of going to school, taking care of her siblings and her dying grandmother, trying to avoid falling in love with the new assistant D.A.'s son, and avoiding her loser ex-boyfriend. That is until her ex is accidentally poisoned by the chocolate her family manufactures and the police think she's to blame. Suddenly, Anya finds herself thrust unwillingly into the spotlight--at school, in the news, and most importantly, within her mafia family.

In A Nutshell:
The first in a new dystopian trilogy, All These Things I’ve Done is intriguing and suspenseful with plenty of surprising plot changes. It is set in a society that doesn’t take much of your imagination to believe our world could become like Anya’s. Can’t wait for book two!

My Review:

I totally loved Gabrielle Zevin’s latest novel, All These Things I’ve Done, a dystopian story set in New York, 2083.

All These Things I’ve Done is suspenseful and intriguing and I was constantly surprised by the direction the story took and what was thrown Anya’s way. She is strong, independent, resilient and loyal. She is extremely family orientated, looking after her grandmother, brother and sister, and keeping the peace with her extended family who now run the family business. There is a lot of responsibility sitting on her shoulders and she doesn’t trust a lot of people, keeping things close to her chest.

I think the fact that chocolate, coffee and paper are all illegal, isn’t so hard to believe. Unlike other dystopian stories where we can’t actually imagine life turning out in that way, this situation hits home more than others because it seems more likely and the reader can relate more to the idea, and therefore the story.

I am absolutely giddy with excitement to hear this book is going to be part of a trilogy as I would love to be sucked back into Anya’s world, especially with the potential directions the story could take after the ending of All The Things I’ve Done.

Thankyou to Pan Macmillan Australia for this review copy.

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Days Like This by Alison Stewart

Title: Days Like This
Author: Alison Stewart

Release Date: 1st August 2011

My Rating: 3/5

Blurb:
She has to escape.
But who else is out there?
And can anyone survive days like this?

I want to go back to the days when life made sense. The days before our parents became strange; before the warming ate away at all the living things in the world; before The Committee and their Blacktroopers. Before the Wall.

Lily is a prisoner in her own home. Forced to stay inside by The Committee and guarded by their increasingly distant parents, Lily and her brother Daniel are beginning to ask why. Then, when Daniel disappears just before his seventeenth birthday, Lily knows she is next.

In A Nutshell:
Stewart has cleverly woven together the hot topic of global warming with the escalating obsession of looking young and beautiful forever. A fast paced novel for dystopian fans.

My Review:
Days Like This is an exciting dystopian novel set in a futuristic Sydney. The world has changed as the effects of global warming have drastically altered the planet. The days are filled with blistering heat and water is in short supply. Rules and regulations are set by The Committee and enforced by the brutal Blacktroopers (I kept envisioning them as Stormtroopers!) who have built a wall (think the Berlin Wall) separating the affluent areas around the water and their inhabitants from those further inland. Children and teenagers are not allowed outside and have no interaction other than with their immediate family.

For Lily and her twin brother Daniel, the isolation has become increasingly difficult to cope with, especially since they remember the days before everything changed. No one will answer their questions and they virtually have no idea why their lives have changed so dramatically over the years. The love their parents once had for them seems to have mysteriously diminished and what on earth is meant by ‘harvesting’, a world mistakenly mentioned one day which peaks the twin’s interest. From what Lily and Daniel can figure out, it has something to do with why their parents are acting so strangly and why they are looking so much younger these days.

When I think about the characters, I like Lily and her strong desire to discover the truth, no matter the danger she ends up putting herself in with her impulsive decisions. I like Daniel’s willpower, Ingie’s strength and Kieran’s leadership and intuitiveness.

The novel is a standalone and jumps forward six months at the end. I felt the story ended too abruptly and I think the epilogue is probably why. While I know most people would be happy to know they don’t have to wait around for a sequel, I think a large part of the story is lost because of this. I want the story of how they got to where they are six months later, because given the situation they are put in, it couldn’t have all been smooth sailing! I'm also not a fan of the final pages concerning Lily, but maybe that's just me.

With echoes of the many other dystopian novels released over the past year, Days Like This makes its own mark with the exploration of global warming and the worlds growing desire to look young and beautiful.

Thankyou to Penguin Australia for this review copy.

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Burn Bright by Marianne de Pierres

Title: Burn Bright
Author: Marianne de Pierres

Release Date: 1st March 2011

My Rating: 4/5

Blurb:

Retra doesn’t want to go to Ixion, the island of ever-night, ever-youth and never-sleep. Retra is a Seal – sealed minds, sealed community. She doesn’t crave parties and pleasure, experience and freedom. But her brother Joel left for Ixion two years ago, and Retra is determined to find him.

Braving the intense pain of her obedience strip to escape the only home she’s ever known, Retra finds herself drawn deeper into the intoxicating world of Ixion. Come to me, whispers a voice in her head. Who are the Ripers, the mysterious guardians of Ixion? What are the Night Creatures Retra can see in the shadows? And what happens to those who grow too old for Ixion?

Retra will find that Ixion has its pleasures, but its secrets are deadly.

Listen well, baby bats. Burn bright, but do not stray from the paths. Remember, when you live in a place of darkness you also live with creatures of the dark.

In A Nutshell:
While searching for her brother in an unfamiliar and uncomfortable place, Retra discovers there is more to the party island of Ixion, than meets the eye. A unique sci-fi/dystopian world for ages 15+ due to mature content.

My Review:
When I first heard of Burn Bright, I hadn’t planned on reading it, thinking it didn’t really sound like my kind of book. But, I read a raving review of it over at inkcrush so I thought maybe I would give it a go. I still wasn't 100% sure it was my thing by the time I was about a third of the way in (mainly due to certain scenes) but it was an intriguing world and I was interested in finding out how the story would continue to unfold, so I continued and soon after became completely hooked. I'm so glad I decided to read outside my comfort zone and I mean really, has Nomes ever been wrong about a book before?!

Ixion is a unique place, made for those who make the journey there and want to experience pleasure, decadence, indulgence and gratification, a far cry from the strict places Retra and others have come from. It is a place where your waking hours are spent in nightclubs and having a good time while unseen ‘Uthers’ cook, clean and provide you with clothes at the churches where you go to sleep before you burn out. But underneath the fun image it portrays, there is a darker, creepier underbelly to the fun-filled island, where dangerous creatures lurk beyond the light of the paths.

Imagine a place where there are no Elders. No rules. No punishment. Only music and laughter and freedom. That's Ixion, Ret. That's me.

Retra is an interesting character and one I grew to like. She is mistaken for a weakling but she has actually already battled the odds before she has even made it to Ixion. She faces incredible pain and shows tremendous courage. After arriving on Ixion, she tries to hide the fact that she is different, that she doesn’t come to Ixion seeking fun and good times. What we discover throughout the book is that yes, she may be different in her reason for being on Ixion, but she is also different in other ways; she stands up for others, her courage and bravery outweigh the restrictions she still carries from her upbringing, and she begins to sticks to her own morels, not those of the Elder’s on Grave (Retra’s home), and not those of the Ripers who guard Ixion. Because of this, she sees what has been hiding beneath the surface of Ixion; the Ripers are keeping secrets too, and all is not fun and games.

I had mixed opinions on the other characters of Burn Bright. I instantly liked Retra’s new friend Suki, and Rollo and Krista-belle quickly grew on me. They stick by each other and care what happens to one another while still having fun. On the other side of things, I really didn’t feel a connection with Markes or Joel. I didn’t find them particularly endearing which is unfortunate because I am pretty sure I am supposed to like them. And I am still undecided about Lenoir, the Riper in charge. I found him a bit creepy and I’m not sure what to make of the connection he has with Retra. Let’s hope more will be revealed about him in Angel Arias.

I think the main problem I had with the story was that I was uncomfortable reading the parts where the abuse at the hands of Brand, a Riper, appeared. It irked me. While not overly descriptive, it was implied all the same. However, even though I didn’t like it, it was relevant to the storyline, and the actions and motivations of Retra. Brand really gets off on the pain she inflicts and I find it interesting that a villain with such a persona is female, it’s uncommon. Her character is very well written and somewhat unsettling.

In reference to Marianne de Pierres’s writing style, I think Nomes said it best in her review:

She doesn't patronise her readers with an overabundance of explanations or bore us with oodles of backstory: she just throws us into the story along with Retra. Not everything instantly makes sense or is explained away and I think this is a strength ~ it truly made me feel as if I was submerged 100% into the story along with Retra.

Excerpt from Nomes’ review of Burn Bright. Read more of her fantastic review at her blog inkcrush.

I’m really looking forward to Angel Arias which will be released in Australia in November. And how awesome do the covers look next to each other?! I’m interested to see where the story will go and to find out why Modai reacted the way he did when he heard of Leyste’s death. Burn Bright is intriguing to say the least. Recommended for ages 15+

Check out the Burn Bright website for some very cool extras such as info on the clubs, churches, gangs and creatures. Plus, you can download the song used in the book trailer and find bookmarks and wallpapers.

Find Burn Bright on Goodreads

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Divergent by Veronica Roth

Title: Divergent
Author: Veronica Roth

Release Date: 1st May 2011

My Rating: 5/5

Blurb:

In Beatrice Prior′s dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue-Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is-she can′t have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together, they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are-and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes-fascinating, sometimes-exasperating boy fits into the life she′s chosen. But Tris also has a secret: one she′s kept hidden from everyone, because she′s been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might be what helps her save those she loves . . . or it might be what destroys her.

My Review:
I LOVE THIS BOOK!

When I picked Divergent up, I was unaware of all the hype circulating the blogosphere and was unsure of what I was getting myself into. I like going into reading a novel without a biased opinion and allowing the book to have a clean slate. It wasn't until I finished reading it that I discovered I was not alone in my love for it.

It is so easy to become completely absorbed in the pages of Divergent as Tris struggles with the choices she has made, how they affect her in her new faction, and her feelings towards the family she has left behind.

While I didn't connect with all the characters (when tragedy strikes some of them I didn't feel a great loss, just like Tris didn't), I did really like the slowly evolving friendship and relationship between Tris and Four. I liked his whole 'tortured soul, mysterious background' deal and was glad to not have to face ANOTHER love triangle. The relationship is a secondary storyline and I really liked that it wasn't the main focus. There were some fantastic surprises that I really loved, including revelations about her family and the discovery of a long-lost faction member.

I love Tris's spirit, her courage and trains of thought. I love her innocence but also how she feels when she lets go and becomes the person she is, rather than who she has been told to be, no matter the consequences. She is her own person, who is stronger than she, or anyone else, would have believed.

Think The Hunger Games meets Matched. I was a little worried that it would be more like Matched when I first started reading it but the more I got into it, the more I grew to really love Divergent. While I know I probably shouldn't compare books to each other, trust me, dystopian fans will not be disappointed. Beware, like some scenes in The Hunger Games, Divergent can get quite brutal at times.

I can't praise debut author Roth more. Fantastic!

The Demon Trapper's Daughter by Jana Oliver

Title: The Demon Trapper's Daughter (US). Forsaken (Aust/UK)

Series: The Demon Trappers Book 1
Author: Jana Oliver

Release Date: 1st February 2011 (US). 7th January 2011 (Aust/UK)

My Rating: 5/5

Blurb:
Seventeen year-old Riley Blackthorne is trying to make her way in a futuristic Atlanta plagued by marauding demons and scheming necromancers. With each passing day, Atlanta is becoming the latest battlefield between Heaven and Hell. Enter the Demon Trappers, whose mission is to keep the Hellspawn at bay.

Riley’s father, Paul Blackthorne, is a master demon trapper and she hopes to follow in his footsteps, but there’s never been a girl in the Atlanta Guild. No surprise, she’s not welcomed with open arms. So Riley has a lot on her plate: Heaven and Hell are taking too much of an interest in her, the demons keep trying to kill her and there’s those boyfriend issues to sort out.

My Review:
I honestly wasn't sure if I was going to like this book and I put off reading it for a little while (I'm ashamed to say mostly due to the Australian/UK cover looking kind of lame). It didn't really grab me at the beginning and I spent almost 30 pages crying (either I am one overly emotional person or Jana Oliver is really good at pushing those buttons!) but I really got into the story and can't wait for the next in the series.

Riley is one gutsy, kick-ass girl trying to participate in what has essentially been a man's world since, well, forever. I love that even when she faces her harshest critics she stands up for herself and doesn't let them get to her. She stays true to herself, her family name and her belief that she is just as capable as any of the men.

Regardless of the other trappers' opinions of her, Riley's still battling it out with demons way beyond her level of expertise (I told you she was gutsy and stubborn) from the funny little Ones right up to the creepy, murdering Fives. I actually really like the little Magpie's (no these are not birds), they make me laugh. If that's not all, she is caught up in the Guild's politics, a holy water mystery, discovers illegal demon traffickers and has to face off with necromancers wielding dark magic. The men in Riley's life also make things that little bit more interesting with four potential love interests!

It kind of reminds me of the TV show Dark Angel but with demons, and the fact that the whole city knows about them.

I can't wait to get back to Riley's world!