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Shatter Me

Drippy Dystopian Romance Author: Tahereh Mafi The Hunger Games were destined to spawn countless copycat Young Adult dystopian novels.  That's not really a bad thing.  Strong heroines, brave resistance to tyranny, a solid story from beginning to end - all good.  Unfortunately, grabbing a post-apocalyptic setting and tacking on a more typical and cliched "teen book" is a lot easier than borrowing the more complex elements of The Hunger Games.  Shatter Me has a smattering of originality in places, leaving it many steps above sparkling vampires, but stumbles into too many trite potholes to be a worthy dystopian successor to [...]

2016-12-31T17:57:28-07:00April 16th, 2012|Tags: , , , , , |

Sister

Sibling Mystery Author: Rosamund Lupton Told in the first person in the form of a letter, Sister is a story of murder.  It's also a story of self-actualization, healing past wounds and a deep appreciation for the magic of unconditional love. Beatrice is writing to her sister Tess, a sister that has gone missing in their native London.  Beatrice, in her adulthood, has become ensconced in a safe, controlled job and relationship in New York City.  Her free spirited artist sister, very pregnant with her first child, has vanished while Beatrice is on vacation, unwillingly cut off from her usual [...]

2016-12-31T17:57:28-07:00April 16th, 2012|Tags: , , , , |

Book Thief, The

Death Narrates Nazi Germany Author: Markus Zusak Books and movies about war can make the most complicated of human circumstances seem simple, black and white, a basic battle between right and wrong.  In some ways, and in some wars, there is truth to be found in the basics, but to stop there ignores the real people whose lives are ended, destroyed and forever altered by conflicts in whose creation they had no part.  The Book Thief acknowledges all of those people through the vector of a single small girl living as part of the most highly controversial civilian population in [...]

2016-12-31T17:57:30-07:00April 6th, 2012|Tags: , , , , |
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