Review: Hope by Theresa M. Jones

Book: Hope
By: Theresa M. Jones
Published: April 29, 2013
Published By: Self Published

Description: Allison now understands who she is and where she comes from, but will it be enough to save the world? She went through a dangerous journey, dragging her young daughter along for the ride, in an attempt to stop the evil Rising Leader, Damien, from opening the Seven Seals and bringing about the Apocalypse.

But she hasn’t succeeded yet. The Rising still thrives and Lilith has made it her mission to open the remaining Seals so that she and her minions can rule the Earth.

David and Allison hope that love can conquer all, but in reality, love is never enough. Will they, along with the rest of the gang back at the Compound, be able to stop the Rising?

And where is The Descendant that is prophesied to save them all?

My Thoughts: This second book in the "Power" series was even better than the first. (To see the review of the first book, click here) Aptly titled Hope the entire story was about just that. It revolved around the power of hope (for the good and the bad), what to do when it is lost, and shows that without it, you have nothing.

This book picked up right where power left off. Allison and David are going strong and about to get married. Allison now knows who she is and how to finally control her power. She's happy for the most part, and ready to try to help make the world a better place as much as she possibly can. Unfortunately, the Rising is still thriving and its new leader, Lilith, is getting entirely too strong. They're working on a plan to rule the world (of course) and turn it to crap.

This was a quick and exciting read. It started off pretty happily and light with the wedding and all the love and I enjoyed reading about it, though that section did seem a little unnecessarily long. Nonetheless it was cute. The bad guys are still being bad and I was happy to see that this leader played the part well. Though she still didn't scare me due to the fact that her actions seemed to be caused by fear and she was too into her beauty to make me scared, she did annoy the crap out of me, and she did enjoy carnage quite a lot. The story was still a bit predictable, but much less so than the last one and I really enjoyed reading it.

There was one thing I really didn't like about the story and that was bits and pieces of the ending. Without giving it away, I'll just say some of the events were a little too convenient. Things seemed to happen right on time and all the tools necessary just so happened to be nearby, and if they weren't the characters could just use their power to do it for them. Speaking of tools, I've never encountered such a sharp letter opener in my life, just saying.

I must say though, that this book was a good read and certainly had me hooked. If things in this series progress the way they are, I know the next book is going to be outstanding. It seems this author takes her reader's opinions into consideration for all her next books because almost everything I felt bad about in the previous book was fixed. That certainly sits well with me. I would recommend this book series to people who like Fantasy books where the main character is an established adult, not a moody teenager, and stories about humans blessed by the gods to protect the world. I give this story 3.5 stars.

Review: Breathe by Sarah Crossan

Book: Breathe (Breathe #1)
By: Sarah Crossan
Published: October 2, 2012
Published by: Greenwillow

Description: Inhale. Exhale. Breathe. Breathe. Breathe . . .The world is dead. The survivors live under the protection of Breathe, the corporation that found a way to manufacture oxygen-rich air.

Alinahas been stealing for a long time. She's a little jittery, but not terrified. All she knows is that she's never been caught before. If she's careful, it'll be easy. If she's careful.

Quinnshould be worried about Alina and a bit afraid for himself, too, but even though this is dangerous, it's also the most interesting thing to happen to him in ages. It isn't every day that the girl of your dreams asks you to rescue her.

Beawants to tell him that none of this is fair; they'd planned a trip together, the two of them, and she'd hoped he'd discover her out here, not another girl.

And as they walk into the Outlands with two days' worth of oxygen in their tanks, everything they believe will be shattered. Will they be able to make it back? Will they want to?

My Thoughts: Breathe was a good book with an interesting premise. In an effort to advance technology and society trees in the natural world have been cut down to build towers. As a result, much of the world's oxygen supply has been depleted causing many to suffocate or go crazy from lack of oxygen to the brain. Breathe, a company who had found ways of manufacturing oxygen, has created a pod and allowed some of the population (the rich people, the important people, and those who won lotteries) to live under their protection. Here, you much pay for the use of oxygen, much like we currently pay for electricity or air conditioning. Society is spilt into classes based upon their benefit to the Pod, but as most dystopians go, its this control over society that ultimately becomes Breathe's downfall.

We follow three characters. Bea, Alina, and Quinn. Bea is an auxiliary, pretty much the bottom of the totem pole in the Pod society. Her parents are struggling to pay for air for them to survive, for that reason, she can't run, or kiss or work out, or do anything that would use up more oxygen than necessary. She's determined to pass a test that would allow her to join the ranks of Breathe and become a Premium so that her family would no longer have to struggle.Quinn, on the other hand, is Bea's best friend and the man she's been pining for since forever. He's a premium, and life is pretty much easy for him since his father works for Breathe. He too, wants to work for breathe and has been practicing with Bea so that they both can make it. Finally, there's Alina, the one person who causes the whole story to go in a completely different direction than everyone else meant it to. She's part of the Resistance. She's practiced her ability to survive off of low oxygen levels so that she can eventually survive outside of the Pod. She practices running in areas where speed cameras aren't located (yep, speed cameras) and after something horrible happens, she must flee the Pod or die, an action that brings all our characters together.

I enjoyed seeing Breathe develop. It was an interesting story. The corruption that filled Breathe was absolutely believable and the events that took place outside of the Pod were as well. I can see us as humans ruining the world's oxygen supply due to the excessive way we cut down trees and I can see a corporation using it to their benefit. All of it was realistic and I loved reading about it.

Though there were some parts that weren't completely realistic in that they were a little too convenient, or I couldn't see the attraction between some of the characters, it didn't take away from the appeal of the story at all. There was a bit of a love triangle, but not in the sense that one guy loved two people and vice versa, but in the sense that there was tons of unrequited love/like between characters. I would give this story 3.5 stars. It was a good story, but didn't keep me on the edge of my seat like I'd hoped and besides an interesting premise, it didn't offer anything that I didn't already expect from normal dystopians.

 

Random Rant Thursday : The Dystopian Obsession

Lately, I have been reading a lot of Dystopian novels and it has me thinking, why exactly do I like reading them so much? Is it the utter hopelessness of the society that does nothing but make you want a hero to rise from the ashes and fix it all? Maybe. Is it the fact that society has been brought so low that baser instincts for human survival are the only thing we, as a society can focus on? Probably. Is it the fact that the worlds have been developed in such a way that we can see the path our society would have to take in order to get there and all the governing principles seem probable? Definitely!

Its strange. I enjoy reading about a hero who, despite all odds, can rise up and defeat an entire society. It interesting to read about the following they receive along the way, the things they learn about themselves. I love the way that despite whatever happened with the world, the appearance of this one character can eventually make everything okay.

I also like reading about the fights, the fact that society no longer focuses on shopping and partying (though at times those are elements of the stories) but instead it focuses on the acquisition of food, water, air, and just attempting to live. However, those arent the things I like the most about dystopians. It's the fact that the world, despite everything, has been brought to it's knees by the stupid actions of us as a society, and I can see how we could get there. It's the corruption, and greed of people in our world who I can see using destruction as a means to gain more power over us. It's the fact that, in order to keep that power, those governing bodies will do anything to keep society weak and make themselves stronger. I love reading it because it's so horrible, but I can see it happening.

In my opinion, everyone has a bit of bad in them, even if it's just the hate we feel for the truly horrible people. Everyone seeks power in some way, even if it's just seeking the power to overcome obstacles. It's for that reason that we can see society advancing to dystopian levels. We can understand that people have varying levels of power and evil, and sometimes, despite the purest efforts, those people can take something that's perfect and turn it into something horrible, and I love reading about that.

Though dystopians are often lessons taken to the extreme, and thus do not necessarily compare to our world, I like to use the lessons I learn, and the things I read about when forming opinions in my own world, and I hope that enough people read the books that we can eventually prevent something similar happening in the future.

What do you think? Do you like Dystopians? Why? Let me know your thoughts on this topic.