Marie Lu

I listened to this novel by Marie Lu and really enjoyed the fun of it.

Winter Young is the Taylor Swift of music in this book; he can't go anywhere that there's not a crowd. How do these people always find him?!? He's asked by a secret group, Panacea, to go undercover for them. He has skills, so he's really a good choice; he moves gracefully, learns moves quickly, and thinks several steps ahead. He's paired with Sydney--a 19-year-old agent who gets out of tight situations and gets the bad guy. Syd isn't happy about working with another pop star because they're difficult and self-centered. She finds Winter much more introspective and really train-able. He's really good. They are to get to one of the wealthiest people in the world and find out where chemical weapons will be shipped so that it can be stopped. The criminal has a daughter who loves Winter. Winter will be performing at the daughter's birthday party, so Panacea needs him to accept the invitation and help Syd. Syd will play his body guard.

Needless to say, many things go wrong, but Winter and Syd find they work well as a team. There are a few twists that may surprise you. I don't think it's super clever, but it was fun.… (more)

In my book club we had all read The Hunger Games. Then we recently read Divergent, and one of the members then passed on the following link:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/ariellecalderon/book-series-to-read-if-you-enjoyed-the-h....

Having read (and loved) two of the 15 series recommended (Divergent, Ender's Game), I decided to give the other books a try.

Legend is the first one. I really liked it. It is narrated in the first person by the two main protagonists: Day (a teenage boy scrounging to survive) and June (a wealthy extremely bright and talented teenage girl). It was a little slow to start, a bit disorienting, jumping straight into the ruminations of Day in a world that had not been described to the reader as yet.

The publisher chose to illustrate the change in voice by alternating fonts and font colours. Initially a little distracting, this quickly became a non-issue (and possibly even a little helpful) as the book's pace picked up. Once I got into it (about p. 73), I couldn't put it down.

The characters are strong and complex, the world-building is done organically: we find out about the extreme separation of the haves and have-nots through the observations and lived experience of the characters. Even the secondary characters are well drawn. The plot is solid and the pace builds to a fever pitch. I could not put it down 'til I'd finished the whole book my heart racing all the way.

In my opinion, Legend is better than The Hunger Games, and at the same level as Divergent. I am anxiously awaiting the sequel: Prodigy from the library. (The third in the trilogy: Champion, is due November 2013).

Next to read in the "15 recommended" list is Graceling.… (more)