Reading Abounds

Title:  Reached Series: Matched Trilogy Book #3 Author: Ally Condie Perma-Bound Catalogue #: 79293 Description: In search of a better life, Cassia joins a widespread rebellion against Society, where she is tasked with finding a cure, and must choose between Xander and Ky. Rubric Rating: Level 3 - Laud It Why I Read It: Final Book in the Series. Notes: Unlike Matched which is Cassia's story, and Crossed which is Cassia and Ky's story.  Reached Begins with Xander.  We now have three points of view while reading.  Xander is an Official working for the "Society" but he is also working covertly for "The Rising" waiting for the signal of when they will start their overthrow of the current order.  Xander will know it is time when he hears the "pilot's" voice.  Cassia and Ky have also joined the rising and have been separated again - Ky is a pilot (literally) along with Indie, Cassia has been reintegrated into the society as a sorter....

Title:  Reboot Author: Amy Tintera Perma-Bound Catalogue #: 93743 Description: Twelve-year-old Wren rises from the dead as a Reboot and is trained as an elite crime-fighting soldier, at seventeen she is happily training new Reboots until she is given an order she refuses to follow. Rubric Rating: Level 3 - Laud It Why I Read It: High/Low title with a great tag line.   5 years ago I died, 178 minutes later I woke up. Notes: This was a really good book.  Wren Connolly is a reboot.  At 12 years old she was shot and killed.  178 minutes later she woke up as a reboot.  At some point she was infected by the plague and this caused her body to reboot after death.  Now she is faster, stronger, less emotional, and heals quicker, and can only die if her brain is impaled.  Something of a mercenary zombie the reboots are given better food and housing than the rest of the population but they are also used a force to patrol the cities.  At 1...

Title:  Proxy Author: Alex London Perma-Bound Catalogue #: 82514 Description: Privileged Knox and his proxy, Syd, are thrown together to overthrow the system. Rubric Rating: Level 3 - Laud it! Why I Read It: Good title and interesting tag line - "Some debts cannot be repaid." Notes:   Knox is living the "lux" life.  He gets in trouble but that's ok, his proxy is always there to take his punishment.  So when he steals a car and gets into an accident he figures his proxy will get his punishment and all will go back to normal.  Except he's killed someone.  And Syd, Knox's proxy, doesn't want to pay this debt.  In this book society is split into the Upper City - those of wealth and status, and the Valve - those who eke out a living and accumulate debt and when you live in the Valve, everything costs.  Syd has done everything he can not to accrue any debt but his Patron Knox always seems to be getting into trouble and from the time ...

Title: The Chaos Series: The Numbers Trilogy Author: Rachel Ward Perma-Bound Catalogue #: 70126 Description: Like his mother, Jem, when sixteen-year-old Adam looks in people's eyes he can see the dates of their deaths and now he sees the same date, six months in the future, in nearly everyone around him in the London of 2026. Rubric Rating: Level 3 - Laud It. Why I Read It: Read the first book and wanted to continue the series.  I also love the covers of these novels! Lori's Notes: This book picks up several years after the end of Numbers.  Adam (Jem and Terry's child) now lives with his Nan and sees the numbers just like his mother did - except he can feel how people die - if it's violent or peaceful.  Adam can tell lots of people are going to die on Jan 1, 2027, he just doesn't know how. Then he meets Sarah, who is terrified of him.  He's the boy from her nightmares.  Sarah has lots of problems of her own.  Pregnant, resulting from abuse...

Title: Crossed Series: Matched Trilogy Author: Ally Condie Perma-Bound Catalogue #: 70022 Description: Seventeen-year-old Cassia sacrifices everything and heads to the Outer Provinces in search of Ky, where she is confronted with shocking revelations about Society and the promise of rebellion. Rubric Rating: Level 2 - Like It. Why I Read It: Continuing on with this series.  I do quite like the covers on these books. Lori's Notes: Cassia has made her choice.  She's going to find Ky in the Outer Provinces.  But she is still matched with Xander and when he visits her on one of her last work details he giver her a gift - an opportunity she doesn't expect.  When the society sends a plane to take some of the Aberrations (people who aren't citizens) to the outer villages, Cassia boards as well.  If the aberrations can survive for six months they'll regain their "Citizen" status, but the the Society isn't taking the Aberrations to the outer vil...

Title: Matched Series: Matched Trilogy Book 1 Author: Ally Condie Perma-Bound Catalogue #: 47538 Description: Cassia has always had complete trust in the Society to make decisions for her, but when she is being paired with her ideal mate, a second face flashes on the screen, and Cassia begins to doubt the Society's infallibility. Rubric Rating: Level 2 - Like It Why I Read It: I read this title while reading a bunch of other dystopian selections.  I also really liked the cover. Lori's Notes:  Cassia Reyes has turned 17 and is "matched" with her good friend Xander.  Not often do people in the same community get matched and she feels lucky that she has her best friend for a mate.  However, while looking at Xander's microcard Cassia sees another face - her friend Ky Markham.  Ky is an aberration from the outer provinces who is ineligible for matching.  Could society have made a mistake? Could Ky be her true match?  A dystopian tale, wher...

Title: Delirium Series: Delirium Trilogy Author: Lauren Oliver Perma-Bound Catalogue #: 48617 Description: Lena looks forward to receiving the government-mandated cure that prevents the delirium of love and leads to a safe, predictable, and happy life, until ninety-five days before her eighteenth birthday and her treatment, when she falls in love. Rubric Rating: Level 2: Like It. Why I Read it: I've been reading a lot of dystopian trilogies and this one fit that category.  This cover didn't appeal to me at all. Lori's Notes:  I've read so many dystopian novels now that I've had to categorize them based on theme.  This particular novel I would classify as a "romance dystopian".  The theory is that all unhealthy behaviour and feelings are caused by love and if we can just cure society of this "disease" we can all live happy, healthy and productive lives.  Love is blamed for depression, eating disorders, suicide and the theory for th...

Title: This World We Live In Series: The Last Survivors Series Author: Susan Beth Pfeffer Perma-Bound Catalogue #: 41614 Description:  When the moon's gravitational pull increases, causing massive natural disasters on earth, Miranda and her family struggle to survive in a world without cities or sunlight, and wonder if anyone else is still alive. Rubric Rating: Level 3 - Laud It Why I Read It: I enjoyed the first two books in the series and am continuing on with the third instalment.  I love the image of the moon on each of the covers of the books.  It is so immense and overwhelming. Lori's Notes: This World We Live In takes place a year after the moon crash has happened.  Miranda and her family are surprised when an unexpected knock at their door turns out to be Miranda's father, his new wife, their new baby, as well as Alex and his sister Julie.  The families are still struggling to survive and want to find a way to the government city.  M...

Title: Mockingjay Series: The Hunger Games Trilogy Author: Suzanne Collins Perma-Bound Catalogue #: 44898 Description: Katniss' survival in her second Hunger Games has angered the Capitol and all those she loves are in danger. Rubric Rating: Level 4: Love it! Why I Read It: As the last book in the Hunger Games Trilogy I had to see how it all ended. Lori's Notes:  The Capitol has made a fatal error by creating a symbol of rebellion in Katniss.  She has escaped to District 13 - a district that is beyond the Capitol's control.  The districts are rising up to gain power against the Capitol but those wishing to wrest control may be no better than those in power now. Katniss struggles with her feelings for both Gale and Peeta, but her love for Prim is unwavering.  In the end, Katniss becomes the instrument she feared she would become.  I enjoyed this read whole-heartedly.  The series ended how I preferred and I felt that the consequences of the ac...

Title: The Dead and the Gone Series: The Last Survivors Series Author: Susan Beth Pfeffer Perma-Bound Catalogue #: 25844 Description: After a meteor hits the moon and sets off a series of horrific climate changes, seventeen-year-old Alex Morales must take care of his sisters in the chaos of New York City. Rubric Rating: Level 3 - Laud It Why I Read It: I enjoyed the first book in this series so much I had to read the next book. Lori's Notes: The Dead and the Gone focuses on Alex and his sisters Julie and Bri in New York City during the same time period as Miranda and her family in Life as we Knew It.  Being parallel novels, either book can be read first but I recommend reading this one second.  We meet Alex and his sisters at the time of the moon crash.  We never meet his mother or father and the kids are left to fend for themselves in their apartment in the city. Food, clothing, and heat quickly become issues and they must break into apartments and steal ...

Title: Across the Universe Series: Across the Universe (Vol. 1) Author: Beth Revis Perma-Bound Catalogue #: 49097 Description: Seventeen-year-old Amy awakes from frozen animation to find herself hundreds of years in the future and racing to save herself and the inhabitants of the spaceship Godspeed. Rubric Rating: Level 3 - Laud It Why I Read It: I have been reading a lot of dystopian titles and was looking for something a little different. Lori's Notes: Amy is cryogenically frozen, along with her parents and a few hundred scientists and technicians, to travel to Centauri-Earth to start a colonization project.  A trip that should take 300 years. But something has gone wrong - someone is unplugging and killing people.  Amy survives and meets Elder, the next leader of the ship GodSpeed.  Elder is being taught by Eldest to lead the now monoethnic inhabitants of the ship. But who is the strange man who looks so much like Elder and who is unplugging the frozen ...

Title:  Memory Boy Author: Will Weaver Perma-Bound Catalogue #: 194696 Description: Sixteen-year-old Miles and his family must flee their Minneapolis home and begin a new life in the wilderness after a chain of cataclysmic volcanic explosions creates dangerous conditions in their city. Rubric Rating: Level 3: Laud It Why I Read It: This book was a recommended read from a co-worker. Lori's Notes:  Miles has absolutely no interest in completing his oral history project, he prefers to work with his hands, to tinker and build.  But when he gets paired with the cantankerous and elderly Hans, who has a keen knack for telling a story, Miles finds himself engaged in his stories of wilderness survival.  A series of volcanic eruptions has thrown the environment into chaos, Miles must use his tinkering skills to help move his family from a Minneapolis that is becoming more and more dangerous, to his family's summer cabin.  However, when they arrive, instead o...

Title: Life as we Knew It Series: The Last Survivors Series (Sometimes called the Moon Crash Series) Author: Susan Beth Pfeffer Perma-Bound Catalogue #: 10855 Description: After a meteor hits the moon, teen Miranda must quickly grow from self-absorbed to selfless as she and her family try to survive in a post-apocalyptic world. Rubric Rating: Level 4 - Love It! Why I Read It: This book was given to me by a co-worker to read.  I love that the colophon (the page with the publication date, printers information etc) is designed like a moon. Lori's Notes: Life as we Knew It is a dystopian look at the world after a series of environmental catastrophes.  The first book in the Last Survivors series we find Miranda and her family struggling to survive in the country after a meteor has crashed into the moon pushing it closer to the Earth.  This throws the seasons out of balance and the family must struggle to find food, heat and safety in a new, sometimes hostile w...

Title: Catching Fire Series: The Hunger Games Trilogy Author:  Suzanne Collins Perma-Bound Catalogue #: 36682 Description:  By winning the annual Hunger Games, District 12 tributes Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark have secured a life of safety and plenty for themselves and their families, but because they won by defying the rules, they unwittingly become the faces of an impending rebellion. Rubric Rating: Level 3 - Laud It! Why I Read It: I enjoyed the Hunger Games so much I immediately picked up this novel to read next. Lori's Notes:  As a special 75th Hunger Games approaches, the districts are showing signs of rebellion and President Snow wants to maintain his oligarchy.   This year the combatants in the Hunger Games will be chosen from previous winners putting Peeta and Katniss in jeopardy once again.  They must find a way to outwit the games and escape from the Capitol once and for all.  But we also see Katniss winning over citizens o...

Title:  The Hunger Games Series: The Hunger Games Trilogy Author: Suzanne Collins Perma-Bound Catalogue #: 30907 Description: In a future North America, where the rulers of Panem maintain control through an annual televised survival competition that pits young people against one another, sixteen-year-old Katniss is challenged, when she voluntarily takes her younger sister's place. Rubric Rating: Level 3: Laud It Why I Read It : There were so many people talking about this novel and recommending it, I thought I better get on the bandwagon. Lori's Notes: In order to protect her sister Prim, Katniss volunteers to take her place in the Hunger Games.  Before the games begin, Peeta, the boy chosen from her district, confesses to having a crush on Katniss.  She thinks this is just Peeta's strategy for the game.  However, it gives them both an opportunity to survive. Something that has never before happened in the games.  However, this may put Peeta and ...

Title: Incarceron Author: Catherine Fisher Perma-Bound Catalogue #: 41041 Description:   To free herself from an upcoming arranged marriage, Claudia, the daughter of the Warden of Incarceron, a futuristic prison with a mind of its own, decides to help a young prisoner escape. Rubric Rating: Level 2: Like It Why I Read It:  I loved this book's cover and title and that's the reason I started this novel.   I was captivated by the beautiful key and I liked that the companion novel's cover shows a keyhole. Lori's Notes:  I'm sad that the inside of the book didn't live up to the outside for me.  A living prison and social experiment, Incarceron has been sealed for centuries and no one has escaped. Claudia, the warden's daughter wants to escape an arranged marriage and through the use of a crystal key meets Finn, trapped within the prison.  Finn has no idea whom he is or how he ended up in Incarceron.  Each day is a struggle for survival bu...

Title:  Divergent Series: Divergent Trilogy Author: Veronica Roth Perma-Bound Catalogue #: 66440 Description: In a dystopian future Chicago, sixteen-year-old Beatrice must choose the faction to which she'll devote the rest of her life--while hiding the fact that she doesn't truly fit in anywhere. Rubric Rating: Level 4: Love It Why I Read It: After finishing the Hunger Games Series I was looking for another dystopian series to read and this looked promising. Lori's Notes:  Split into factions, society is made up of the Dauntless, Erudite, Candor, Amity, Abnegation, and the unfortunate factionless.  At 16 youth are allowed to either choose to stay with their families in the faction that has raised them or choose another life.  The factions base their teachings on their values; candor believe that unrest is caused by lying so they value truth, dauntless believe it is caused by cowardice so they value bravery etc.  Beatrice has always admired th...

Title: The Game (Previously Titled: Invitation to the Game) Author: Monica Hughes Perma-Bound Cat#: 157695 Description: An adventure/survival story set in the future as teenagers are either assigned jobs or unemployed status when they graduate from high school. *** Canadian *** Rubric Rating: Level 2: Like It Why I Read It: I was looking for a dystopian novel by a Canadian and this book was enticing.  I also read some of Hughes' other books and quite liked them. Lori's Notes:  After being educated in a government school, Lisse and seven of her friends end up as "unemployeds" living in an inhospitable "DA" (designated area).  When they hear about "the game" they do everything they can to get invited.  A good read but further explanation as to some of the book's issues would have gone a long way, for example: Why couldn't the government get rid of the robots after the population rebounded?  Despite the number of questions I h...