The Maze Runner | James Dashner

If you ain’t scared, you ain’t human.

When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his name. He’s surrounded by strangers—boys whose memories are also gone.

Nice to meet ya, shank. Welcome to the Glade.

Outside the towering stone walls that surround the Glade is a limitless, ever-changing maze. It’s the only way out—and no one’s ever made it through alive.

Everything is going to change.

Then a girl arrives. The first girl ever. And the message she delivers is terrifying.

Remember. Survive. Run.

I know I'm a bit late to the Maze Runner party, however I will admit I was a bit nervous to read this book. When popular hype starts surrounding a book (movies being made, merchandise being sold, etc.), the book sometimes disappoints (Ex. Twilight, Mockingjay, etc.). But the driving factor for me reading this book was that I really really wanted to watch Dylan O'Brien in the movie and I can't watch movies without reading the book. 

And so it began, I picked it up, started reading. It was a bit hard to get into since I was suffering from post-percabeth depression after the Blood of Olympus, but once I finally did, it was honestly amazing. 

The best part of this book was without a doubt the plot. The entire plot was completely action-packed, filled with mysteries and plot-twists the entire way through. The world that James Dashner has built is just so interesting. At first it began to seem like a hunger games situation, but as we learn more and more about the plot and the purpose, the story seems to take a different route altogether. 

I wasn't a huge fan of the characters, mainly Teresa. While the boys would troop together and work together to solve every obstacle that comes their way, Teresa honestly didn't really serve a purpose. I'm sure she must have a bigger part in the other books but in this one she was just sitting in a cell the whole time or sorta flirting with Thomas. Of course she was the "most beautiful girl he's ever seen" and "he couldn't take his mind off of her". Her whole presence just seemed too cliche and I wasn't a huge fan. 

As book one in the series, I think this book did an overall great job of setting up the world but also introducing a bigger plot towards the end of the book. Something bigger than them and the Glade. Not at all a slow read, I would recommend this to dystopian lovers, anyone who liked the Hunger Games or Divergent should definitely read this book! 

The Blood of Olympus | Rick Riordan

Though the Greek and Roman crew members of the Argo II have made progress in their many quests, they still seem no closer to defeating the earth mother, Gaea. Her giants have risen—all of them—and they're stronger than ever. They must be stopped before the Feast of Spes, when Gaea plans to have two demigods sacrificed in Athens. She needs their blood—the blood of Olympus—in order to wake.

The demigods are having more frequent visions of a terrible battle at Camp Half-Blood. The Roman legion from Camp Jupiter, led by Octavian, is almost within striking distance. Though it is tempting to take the Athena Parthenos to Athens to use as a secret weapon, the friends know that the huge statue belongs back on Long Island, where it "might" be able to stop a war between the two camps.

The Athena Parthenos will go west; the Argo II will go east. The gods, still suffering from multiple personality disorder, are useless. How can a handful of young demigods hope to persevere against Gaea's army of powerful giants? As dangerous as it is to head to Athens, they have no other option. They have sacrificed too much already. And if Gaea wakes, it is game over.

Words cannot explain how incredibly disappointed I am with this book. Everything about this book was not what I expected. Parts of it were written poorly, unnecessary parts were added and necessary perspectives were taken out. Certain parts felt rushed and the only thing I thought that kept this book together at all was the bits of humor scattered throughout. Other than that, the ending was nothing like the Last Olympian and for someone whose been with the series and the characters for the past six years, this was not how I wanted the series to end. 

Spoiler-Filled Review

Undivided | Neal Shusterman

Teens control the fate of America in the fourth and final book in the New York Times bestselling Unwind dystology by Neal Shusterman.

Proactive Citizenry, the company that created Cam from the parts of unwound teens, has a plan: to mass produce rewound teens like Cam for military purposes. And below the surface of that horror lies another shocking level of intrigue: Proactive Citizenry has been suppressing technology that could make unwinding completely unnecessary. As Conner, Risa, and Lev uncover these startling secrets, enraged teens begin to march on Washington to demand justice and a better future.

But more trouble is brewing. Starkey’s group of storked teens is growing more powerful and militant with each new recruit. And if they have their way, they’ll burn the harvest camps to the ground and put every adult in them before a firing squad—which could destroy any chance America has for a peaceful future.

One of the many things I learned from this book are there are more than two sides to every war. We typically see war as a team vs. team thing, but it's so much more than that. Every individual, every group views the war differently and in order to come to an agreement, there's so much compromise. As the fourth and final book of the Unwind Dystology, Neal Shusterman does a fantastic job of wrapping up the fate of each character, while still presenting a fast-paced storyline. 

I'll admit,a year ago, when I read Unsouled, I didn't know there would be a fourth book, and I was a bit upset that the series wasn't coming to a close. But after reading this fantastic conclusion, I'm so glad this got its own book. If you haven't read the Unwind Dystology I highly recommend it. In addition to entertaining the typical dystopian audience, I feel like it hits some crucial points that our society still has yet to figure out. 

Atancia | Wren Figueiro

After watching a young boy die, college freshman Atancia Clark begins to have panic attacks. Her heart flutters, her breath catches and she can’t control her emotions the way she always has. She wants to be strong, but lately she just hasn’t been living up to her own expectations. When she meets Ben Althaus, her breath starts catching for entirely different reasons. He helps Atancia discover the cause for her odd emotional reactions and the history she thought was lost when her mother left her. Atancia has power beyond that of an average girl, and Ben is by no means ordinary. He wants to help her hone her talents, but her focus is threatened by life-altering events. Thrust into a world where existence has a new meaning, Atancia’s lack of clarity could lead her down a destructive path. 

Atancia is a paranormal romance novel for young adults. It is the first book of The Durand Duology.

THE COVER: 

One thing I really want to highlight is the importance of a good cover. Unfortunately I don't love this cover and I think it really takes away from the story. A frequent saying is 'don't judge a book by its cover' and while that does hold true, there are so many books in the world, one of the factors inevitably becomes how good it looks from the outside. This cover feels haphazardly put together, and I feel like there are so many more ideas for it. For example, something having to do with energy could be on the cover, anything but this. 

THE PLOT:

Going into the plot and story line of the book, I thought this book closely resembled Twilight. I liked the entire premise of the book, including the whole species of Durand and the way they function. I just wish the world had been more developed and more happened within the book, because I felt like throughout the whole five hundred page book, the pace of the book is fairly slow and slightly boring. I thought the plot was picking up when Atty started to look for her mother, but as soon as Ben came into the picture she basically stopped looking and just followed him around. I understand that a lot of this book was going into training Atty and introducing this world, but I feel like too much of the book was spent describing her everyday life and not enough of it went into the seemingly dangerous plot. Several subplots were mentioned within the book but never fully explored, I'm hoping they're mentioned later in the series because otherwise they seemed out of place. 

THE CHARACTERS: 

Honestly, the characters were just meh. I didn't feel myself relating too closely or getting too attached to any of them. Atty reminded me a bit too much like Bella, too dependent and needy. Ben creeped me out a bit, as did the rest of his family. All except for maybe Matt, he seemed relatively normal. Looking back on it, there weren't all that many characters in the book, since we spent so much of the time focused on Atty and her daily routine, I feel as though we missed some foundation to this new species. 

Another thing I realized I didn't like because of this book. Older men with younger women. It happened in Carrie Lofty's Blue Notes and also in this one. Something about a an older man with a college student really makes me feel creeped out, which is probably why for most of the book I shipped Matt and Atty together instead of Ben and Atty. 

As much as I wish that there was more in this book, I do like where this book ended because it really makes me want to read the second book and learn where all of this is going. I think if you like Twilight, this is definitely a book you may like, it's a fairly slow read, but I'm hoping that it picks up in the next book. 

If you've read this book and want to discuss certain parts of it, let me know in the comments below! 

Random Thought: College Applications

The time is approaching. As I write essay after essay and press the submit button, my future gets closer and closer and I can feel the panic building up inside of me. I doubt myself. Everyone else just seems to out-qualify me. My accomplishments no longer matter, rather it's everything I'm missing that's staring me right in the face making me wish I could redo high school.

Conversation about colleges are something that have become part of my daily routine. Questions like "where do you want to go" and "have you applied yet" perpetuate the conversation eventually leading to me admitting my fear of rejection, usually brushed off with an "of course you'll get in!" and a wave of the hand. I had already made the mistake of believing the public, and build up confidence (a little too much) only to be knocked down a couple months later.

Going into college applications, I don't believe I'll get into all of my colleges. I hope. I pray. But I don't know. 

Words With an Author | H.S. Stone

   Hello Fantabulous Readers! 

     Today I got the opportunity to interview the lovely H.S. Stone, author of Beyond New Eden!

Words With An Author | Tyler Lazar

How have you been, my fantabulous readers?

It's been a while since we've done a Words With an Author and today I'm happy to have Tyler Lazar, author of The Last Glass, here with us. Let's ask her some questions!