Book Review - Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde

Why did I read this book?

This book had been on a list (in my head) of books I’m super interested in, if I ever find them. I had first heard about this book like 5 or 6 years ago, before that other stupid book came out. So no, this has nothing to do with 50 Shades of Grey (which was awful) and because of when that book came out, it made it nearly impossible to find this book anywhere. I hated that the two were so close in title because they have nothing to do with each other. Well I finally came across this book at Powells in Portland and I’ve only just now gotten around to reading it.

What is it about?

It takes place in a futuristic society of sorts. It’s a society where your standing in the community depends on what colors you can see.  The rules of the society can be quite ridiculous at times but they are usually followed and never questioned. The story follows Eddie as him and his dad head to a new town on the outskirts of society where they are taking on some new temporary jobs. All this is happening at a time right before Eddie is moved into being a productive member of society and marriages are decided. All this is told in a way that makes you think how ridiculous this society is and how they do things just because they are following the rules.

Why you should read it!

The ridiculousness of parts of this story lead to it being a very humorous book. Which I didn’t really expect, and led to a very enjoyable read. Starting the book took me a while to realize how weird it was and what was going on, but once I got into it I always enjoyed reading it. The society truly is ridiculous, but it also pokes fun at how there are ridiculous things in our current society. There wasn’t very much information about how society had gotten to this point, but that would’ve taken away from the ridiculousness of it all. If you like science fiction with a bit of dry humor I highly recommend this book, and give it a chance don’t put it down after 50 pages or so, cause if you do you will be missing out!

Audio Book Review - Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

Why did I read this book?

One of my partner’s co-workers gave us a bunch of audiobooks on an external hard drive. I had heard of this book as some sort of young adult book. It sounded futuristic/dystopian so of course I thought I’d give it a try. It actually took me two attempts to get into this book. I was listening to the death cure at the same time and was getting the two confused so I stopped this one and started it again a couple months later.

What is it about?

As far as Aria is concerned, her world in her pod is all she knows. They live almost entirely in a virtual world where they can visit all kinds of different pods and experience almost any situation they want. She knows there is an outside world but is only taught to fear it.  When she unexpectedly land in that outside world (without protection from the aether) she is sure she will die immediately. When she doesn’t, she finds there are savages who live on the outside and ends up realizing that she has a common goal with one of them and they embark on a journey together (even though they really don’t like each other).

Why you should read it!

This is, yes, another young adult dystopian start to a trilogy. So if that’s your thing you’ve probably heard of this book. If its not your thing, I can give you a couple reasons why this book is different than other dystopian YA trilogies. This takes place in a far enough future that you don’t hear much about the collapse of the world. It also focuses a lot on the relationships between the characters and not so much a war or the setting (which could be coming in the rest of the trilogy). There is a bit of a fantastical side to this story with some of the characters adapting to the new world and having a heightened senses or other abilities (I wouldn’t consider them powers, but one step above current humans). If any of these sound interesting, I would recommend this book. Although I do have to say the writing felt very YA, and when reading it next to actual adult books the difference was very noticeable, so if that kind of thing bothers you, I’d steer clear.

Series Review - The Maze Runner, The Scortch Trials, & The Death Cure by James Dashner

Why did I read this series?

I had heard a lot of talk about the first book in the series, The Maze Runner, and it was one of the daily deals on amazon (like a year ago, haha) for kindle. After reading and thoroughly enjoying the first one, I figured I should complete the series. I bought a physical copy of the second book and listened to the third one on audio while we drove to California for Christmas.

What is it about?

It takes place in a futuristic society when much has gone wrong with the world, including global warming and government issues. The series starts off very simply and you slowly start to learn more about the state of the world as the series continues. You learn as the main character learns what is in store for him in the world. What starts off simply turns into the main characters realizing that they needs to save the human race, even though they aren't quite sure how or who to trust.

Why you should read it!

I really liked the first book in this series and was curious to see where it would go next. The second book was just ok, it gave you more of a look into the world they lived in and why they were there. The third book was very unimpressive, I didn't like they way the author tied up all the storylines and it just felt like a long journey to get no where. Also, as the series went on I got very annoyed with the main male characters. These books are told from the point of view of a boy and the more the story went on, the worse the decisions made by the main characters were. It all just felt very male dominated and not logical which really got on my nerves. They obviously need more help from the women in their lives, but maybe that is just my views on life taking over my views on a very male dominated book. 

The movie The Maze Runner was very well done, and I think portrayed the book very well (which is very rare for me to say). However, I think one of the reasons for this is because it was a simple start to the series. I'm not sure how easy it will be to pull of the following movies.