The Revenge of Seven by Pittacus Lore

Title: The Revenge of Seven

Series: Lorien Legacies #5

Author: Pittacus Lore

Release Date: 26th August 2014

My Rating: 3/5

Blurb:

The worst was supposed to be over. We were reunited after a decade apart. We were discovering the truth of our past. We were training and getting stronger every day. We were even happy...

We never imagined the Mogodorians could turn one of our own against us. We were fools for trusting Five. And now Eight is lost forever. I would do anything to bring him back, but that's impossible. Instead, I will do whatever it takes to destroy every last one of them.

I've spent my entire life hiding from them, and they've stolen everything away from me. But that stops now. We're going to take the battle to them. We have a new ally who knows their weaknesses. And I finally have the power to fight back.

They caught Number One in Malaysia.

Number Two in England.

Number Three in Kenya.

And Number Eight in Florida.

They killed them all.

I am Number Seven.

I will make them pay.

In A Nutshell:

Plot twists, unlikely allies and old characters return. The battle begins...

My Review:

*** Please note this review contains spoilers. Do not read if you have not read The Fall of Five ***

Here’s a little recap from The Fall of Five…

Following Five’s betrayal, Eight’s death and the attack on the Garde’s penthouse in Chicago, the surviving Loriens and their human friends are in disarray and unable to contact each other.

In Chicago, Four awakes from his sleeping nightmare to find the penthouse under attack. With Sarah, Sam and Malcolm fighting the Mogs, Four makes a decision based on the vision to let the Mogs take Ella to Setrakus Ra, knowing she will not be harmed, while he saves Malcolm and the others. While gathering their chests, Four is almost killed except he is saved by Adam, a ‘good’ Mog who helped Malcolm rescue Sam earlier on. Four agrees to accept his help, although is still wary of him. After Five kills Eight in Florida, Six, Nine and Marina escape Five and the Mogs using Six’s invisibility. However they have to leave Eight’s body behind.

* * * * * *

The Revenge of Seven starts with the Chicago Garde driving to Washington DC while the Garde in Florida try to find their way out of the swamp without Five or the Mogadorians spotting them. With no idea that the penthouse has been destroyed, they focus their anger on Five and try to figure out how to get Eight’s body back before the Mogs can begin experimenting on him.

Meanwhile, Ella is on Setrakus Ra’s spaceship. With no way of getting a message to the Garde and while Setrakus Ra politely attempt’s to convince her of his vision, things quickly turn nasty and Ella is put in danger in a way never expected.

Separated and with no way to communicate with each other, things only get worse for the Garde when the Mogadorians war ships land on earth. And then all hell breaks loose. The final battle has come, and no one is prepared for it so soon.

I don’t think anyone was more surprised than me to discover how much I have loved this series. I usually reject sci-fi books, particularly ones that have aliens, but right from the beginning I have been sucked into the Lorien stories and have stuck with the series all the way through. Admittedly, I kind of hoped everything could continue on as it has been and I wouldn’t have to get involved in reading about alien invasions. But the time has finally come and while I have started to waver a little, I’m still interested to see where the storyline will go, particularly now that we have been left with a few plot twists at the end of The Revenge of Seven and the introduction of unlikely allies. It’s also interesting to see some old characters show up and see how they contribute to the current plot. In any case, I’m sticking with the Lorien Legacies and I hope you will too.

Spark by Rachael Craw

Title: Spark

Author: Rachael Craw

Release Date: 1st July 2014

My Rating: 4/5

Blurb:

Evie doesn’t have a choice.

One day she’s an ordinary seventeen year old, grieving for her mother. The next, she’s a Shield, the result of a decades-old experiment gone wrong, bound by DNA to defend her best friend from an unknown killer.

The threat could come at home, at school, anywhere. All Evie knows is that it will be a fight to the death.

And then there’s Jamie. Irresistible. Off-limits

In A Nutshell:

Spark is a compelling and suspenseful debut with a likeable, determined heroine, swoon-worthy guys and a mega twist at the end.

My Review:

I really enjoyed Spark. In fact, I found it so compelling that I stayed up until 2am to finish it. I really shouldn’t start books just before bed...

Evie’s had a tough six months and after the death of her mother, she moves from Pennsylvania to live with her aunt and braces herself for her new high school. Unfortunately she won’t be at the same school as her childhood friend Kitty who has moved back to New Hampshire from London to attend the prestigious Gainsborough Collegiate. However, both girls’ futures become uncertain when Evie discovers she is a Shield, a protector of those who are targeted by Strays (DNA-controlled killers), and is destined to protect Kitty at all costs.

Shields and Strays are the result of a secret synthetic gene experiment originally developed two generations ago that went wrong, and are now passed down randomly through the genetic line. For Evie, all aspects of her life change and she has to learn to adjust to the fact she has a pre-determined future and will never be a ‘normal’ teenager. With her body evolving in response to the mutated gene, she experiences enhanced speed and strength and battles with the consequences of being separated from Kitty, who she has ‘sparked’ with.

I found it a bit confusing when Evie’s situation was explained to her, trying to keep track and wrap my head around the acronyms and reasons for the mutation. However you experience the confusion as Evie does and it becomes clearer as she learns more. While it is a relief that Evie now understands why she has been experiencing strange dreams, hallucinations, heart palpitations and dizziness, as well as the odd feelings towards her friend, it doesn’t make them any easier to deal with. Being an outsider is never easy, but for Evie, fitting into Kitty’s upper-class life will be even harder, especially when her protective instincts kick into overdrive with Kitty’s social life. And if things weren’t difficult enough, the reappearance of Kitty’s brother Jamie complicates Evie’s life once again.

As many of you know, contemporary novels are my thing, favouring them over sci-fi/fantasy/supernatural. However, Spark’s sci-fi element didn’t bother me as the characters live in the real world and are battling the same everyday dramas of teen life: fitting in, not embarrassing themselves, having a crush, etc. These problems just get mixed in with a few more complications, like a killer stalker on the loose.

Spark is a compelling and suspenseful debut with a likeable, determined heroine, swoon-worthy guys and a mega twist at the end.

And how awesome is that cover?!

Spark on Goodreads

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Tuesday, June 24 Diva Booknerd 

Wednesday, June 25 The Tales Compendium 

Thursday, June 26 Kids' Book Review & Happy Indulgence 

Friday, June 27 Fictional Thoughts 

Saturday, June 28 Inside My Worlds: R.L.Sharpe & Aussie Reviews 

Sunday, June 29 Striking Keys & Thoughts by J 

Monday, June 30 Books for a Delicate Eternity & Fiction in Fiction in Fiction 

Tuesday, July 1 The Loony Teen Writer & Kkatie Reads

@RachaelCraw | RachaelCraw.com

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.

The Rise of Nine by Pittacus Lore

Title: The Rise of Nine

Author: Pittacus Lore

Series: The Lorien Legacies #3

Release Date: 30th August 2012

My Rating: 5/5

Previous Books: I am Number Four, The Power of Six

Blurb:

Until the day I met John Smith, Number Four, I'd been on the run alone, hiding and fighting to stay alive.

Together, we are much more powerful. But it could only last so long before we had to separate to find the others. . . .

I went to Spain to find Seven, and I found even more, including a tenth member of the Garde who escaped from Lorien alive. Ella is younger than the rest of us, but just as brave. Now we're looking for the others--including John.

But so are they.

They caught Number One in Malaysia. Number Two in England. And Number Three in Kenya. They caught me in New York--but I escaped. I am Number Six. They want to finish what they started.

But they'll have to fight us first.

In A Nutshell: Awesome, awesome, awesome!

My Review:

The Rise of Nine was truly awesome. Four and Six are back, each accompanied by the new Garde members they tracked down in The Power of Six. There is no rest for the wicked as Six, Marina, Ella and Crayton travel to India in search of Number Eight and encounter rebel fighters in India. Meanwhile, Four and Nine travel across the US, hiding from new enemies and trying to find a way to contact the rest of the Garde.

In the third adrenaline-filled instalment of the Lorien Legacies, the Garde are frustrated to discover that the US Government has stupidly joined forces with the Mogadorians. As lives are lost and new legacies are discovered, the Lorien Garde finally starts to come together, just in time to face the head of the Mogadorians, Setrakus Ra.

New characters, new gadgets, new legacies, new challenges – this series just gets better and better. Book four, rumoured to be titled The Return of Lorien and to be released in August 2013, cannot come soon enough. If it is anything like The Rise of Nine, it will be mind-blowing!

 

POD by Stephen Wallenfels

Title: POD
Author: Stephen Wallenfels

Release Date: 27th June 2011

My Rating: 4/5

Blurb:
Surviving a massive alien siege is one thing-­surviving humanity is another.

I'm all cried out. I'm still alone. The sky is full of giant spinning black balls that kill anyone stupid enough to go outside. I've only been out of the car twice-once to pee and once to look at the sky. That one look was enough for me. Now I sit alone in the car, staring out the window like a rat in a cage. But I don't have anyone to look at. The parking garage is empty, except for twisted-up cars, broken glass, and the smell of leaking gasoline.

POD is the story of a global cataclysmic event, told from the viewpoints of Megs, a twelve-year-old streetwise girl trapped in a hotel parking garage in Los Angeles; and sixteen-year-old Josh, who is stuck in a house in Prosser, Washington, with his increasingly obsessive-compulsive father. Food and water and time are running out. Will Megs survive long enough to find her mother? Will Josh and his father survive each other.

In A Nutshell:
POD is a sci-fi, apocalypse/armageddon–esq story of survival. It is suspenseful and looks at bravery, resilience, desperation, relationships and peoples humanity, or lack of.

My Review:
POD is a sci-fi, apocalypse/armageddon–esq story of survival that centres around sixteen year old Josh in Washington, and twelve-year-old Megs in Los Angeles. It is a suspenseful novel that looks at bravery, resilience, desperation, relationships and peoples humanity, or lack of. The chapters alternate between both characters, chronologically what they go through each day over the space of a month, beginning when the alien PODs first arrive. The question is, what do they want? Will help come? When will they leave? How long can it continue?

We know very little about the PODs except that they make anyone not inside a building, disappear. While there isn’t any specific sightings of aliens, both characters deduct that because of the black spaceship pods and death-by-laser beams, plus some other strange occurrences, (high pitch sounds assaulting their heads, mysterious fog that allows them to see inside people) it must be aliens.

Josh is stuck at home with his OCD dad and old dog Dutch. At first Josh thinks his dad is crazy for rationing food and filling the bath tub with water but as food runs out, the electricity is cut off and the water stops running, he realises the reason behind the madness. While Josh doesn’t have it quite as bad as Megs, his relationship with his father is really tested and he only has the girl he can see across the street to give him something to smile about. Josh is also plagued by nightmares of the PODs and the damage they have caused as well as constantly worrying about the fate of his mother who is in LA on business. As food and water run out, Josh and his dad start to consider their options, death by starvation or death by POD, and have to make some tough and surprising decisions. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Megs is alone in a hotel parking garage, hiding from the tyrannical hotel owner and his ‘security guards’ who like nothing more than smashing things and contributing to the aliens death toll. The poor thing is left to fend for herself, dodging dead bodies and scrounging through cars for food and water, not something that is easily found. Aside from hiding and putting up with hunger pains and thirst, all she has to occupy herself with is a kitten and an Alien vs. Predator comic she finds in one of the abandoned cars (ironic since she is essentially being held hostage by aliens). Megs is only twelve but she is gutsy and smart and is a very likable character.

What makes POD different to other books about invasions is that usually the characters can survive by raiding buildings and fighting back using guerrilla tactics. But in POD, you can't leave your house without being zapped by the aliens and disappearing. So what can you do??? Is any attempt at survival a lost cause?

While the ending doesn't really finish on a cliff-hanger, it does leave the reader with (a lot of) questions, questions that enable the author to continue on with a second book. In my opinion, this is where the story is let down. There are so many questions about the aliens that to reach any sort of real satisfaction, a sequel will need to be read. I am content with the ending and I’d like to think I will be able to wait around until its release, but patience isn’t a virtue of mine when it comes to books so fingers crossed it won’t be a long wait.

Try this if you enjoyed Gone, The Enemy, Chasers or The Road (by Cormac McCarthy).

Thankyou to Allen and Unwin for providing me with this review copy.

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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