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Title: The Uprising (The Forsaken #2)
Author: Lisa M. Stasse
Year Published: 2013
My Pre Reading of THE UPRISINGMy Review of THE FORSAKEN
Ashley's Review of THE FORSAKEN
Synopsis: Alenna escaped. It was expected that she would die on the wheel, the island where would-be criminals are sent as directed by the UNA—the totalitarian supercountry that was once the United States, Mexico, and Canada. But Alenna and her boyfriend, Liam, made it to safety. Except safety, they will soon learn, is relative.
In order to bring down the UNA, they must first gain control of the wheel. If the mission succeeds, the wheel will become a base of revolution. But between betrayals, a new Monk leading a more organized army of Drones, and the discovery of a previously unknown contingent, Alenna, Liam, and their allies might be in over their heads. One thing Alenna knows for sure: There will be a reckoning. And not everyone she loves will make it out alive.
Review: The Uprising continues the popular dystopian trend in YA. Like most second books in a dystopian trilogy, the stakes are higher. The protagonists have escaped the oppressions of The Wheel, but they are in deeper trouble. This trouble leads them back onto The Wheel, in hope of saving all their friends.
This book may sound like it is just the first book done again, but it is not. There are so many new things that come into play. Alenna and Liam know so much more than they did in the first book. And, The Wheel has changed. There's a new faction and the Monk makes a reappearance in an interesting way. Many characters from the first book reappear in different capacities. There are many new characters as well.
I liked that we got to see the Resistance more in depth. It is always interesting to see how adults react to these situations that we usually see children involved with in YA dystopias.
If you are a fan of The Maze Runner series, you should definitely check out this book. The Wheel has so many interesting obstacles that make for Alenna's adventures to be quite challenging. I give this book a 4/5.
-PAUL
My Pre-Reading
The Maze Runner series is probably one of my favorite dystopian YA series out there. Everything about it was just fantastic, and I was so excited to find out that Dashner had written a prequel novel for the series. I had so many questions about the world, and the Flare, and WICKED that were still unanswered by the end of The Death Cure, and I was hoping that The Kill Order would be able to answer most if not all of them.
I really was no disappointed. Although The Kill Order has a completely new cast of characters, and the world is a little different (people are still trying to figure out what in the world has happened rather than trying to figure out how to cure it or how to live with it), but it still managed to give insight into the world of The Maze Runner. The characters are still just as interesting, and my heart still broke for them whenever something didn't go their way or something went wrong within their little group.
I really enjoyed that the story was presented almost like a flashback - you start out meeting Thomas, and you end with Thomas and Teresa, but neither Thomas nor Teresa are anywhere to be found within the bulk of the story. This time, we're focused on Mark and Trina and Deedee and all of their friends, in their attempt to find out what is happening with this disease is that's been shot down on them and why anyone would want to infect other people with it.
Although there were times when I didn't really like Mark (the story pretty much follows him and his thoughts), I thought it was really interesting the way we were able to see into his dreams/memories of when the sun flares first destroyed the Earth, and to take this journey with him to locate his friends and try to save them. Dashner did an excellent job portraying Mark's emotions, as well as creating dynamic, round supporting characters.
The plot was fast-paced and very much like that in the other Maze Runner books, so it was nice to have that consistency even though we had to become adjusted to characters we had never seen before. Most of my questions were answered over the course of the book, although some were still left open-ended and The Kill Order raised even more. But it was still a very satisfying read.
I would definitely recommend this book to any fans of the Maze Runner trilogy, as well as to fans of The Hunger Games, Divergent, and other dystopian YA series. 4/5 to The Kill Order, and I hope you go pick up this series soon if you haven't already!
--Ashley
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Title: The Kill Order
Author: James Dashner
Year Published: 2012
Synopsis: Before WICKED was formed, before the Glade was built, before Thomas entered the Maze, sun flares hit the earth and mankind fell to disease.
Mark and Trina were there when it happened, and they survived. But surviving the sun flares was easy compared to what came next. Now a disease of rage and lunacy races across the eastern United States, and there’s something suspicious about its origin. Worse yet, it’s mutating, and all evidence suggests that it will bring humanity to its knees.
Mark and Trina are convinced there’s a way to save those left living from descending into madness. And they’re determined to find it—if they can stay alive. Because in this new, devastated world, every life has a price. And to some, you’re worth more dead than alive
Why?: I read the Maze Runner trilogy and really enjoyed it, so I figured I should probably read the prequel as well! I'm looking forward to finding what life was like before the Maze!
Expectations: I expect that this book will explain more of Thomas and Teresa's back story, without necessarily directly involving them. Maybe Mark and Trina are the original people who created WICKED? WICKED has always been a mystery, and I hope that this book will shed some more light on the organization!
Judging a book by its cover: The cover is mostly oranges and yellows, but the bright colors definitely caught my eye when I saw the cover on Amazon. If I were in a book store or a library, I would probably pick it up. At closer glance, it looks like there are fireballs destroying a village, so I think it's pretty appropriate for a book about how the sun flares decimated Earth.
--Ashley
My Pre Reading
This series has improved with each book. This may be because I am already familiar with the world and, for the original trilogy, the characters.
One thing I liked going into this book was that most, if not all, the characters were probably going to die. There is a lot of violence in this novel. I don't mean, just fist-to-fist combat. Those infected with what becomes known as The Flare are brutal. Children are fighting over dead bodies. Others are eating each other alive. Many try to kill themselves. Dashner did a nice job portraying the brutality of this Apocalyptic world.
I really enjoyed the Prologue and the Epilogue. They both connected this prequel to the original trilogy. I am unsure if something was inferred as to one of the characters that may have survived (Do we already know this person older?). If you have read the book already and understand what I'm talking about, did you think this as well?
The technology in this prequel was more believable to me than in the original trilogy. The only crazy, out there piece of technology was the flat trans, which is like a Transporter from Star Trek. There is also a gun that utilizes the same technology.
I liked the way there were two different time lines being told through dreams. I also liked that within these stories, some characters had already died in one while they were still alive in the dreams of the past.
This was a really good survival/adventure story. Each of the members of the group were interesting and had their own styles or surviving. This is definitely a Young Adult novel for boys.
If you enjoy Post Apocalyptic Survival/Adventure stories or have read The Maze Runner trilogy, this is a must read. If you know a middle grade boy reader, these books would make an excellent present. I give this novel a 4/5.
-PAUL
Title: The Kill Order
Author: James Dashner
Year Published: 2012
Synopsis:Before WICKED was formed, before the Glade was built, before Thomas entered the Maze, sun flares hit the earth and mankind fell to disease.
Mark and Trina were there when it happened, and they survived. But surviving the sun flares was easy compared to what came next. Now a disease of rage and lunacy races across the eastern United States, and there’s something suspicious about its origin. Worse yet, it’s mutating, and all evidence suggests that it will bring humanity to its knees.
Mark and Trina are convinced there’s a way to save those left living from descending into madness. And they’re determined to find it—if they can stay alive. Because in this new, devastated world, every life has a price. And to some, you’re worth more dead than alive.
Why?: This is a prequel to The Maze Runner Trilogy. I enjoyed the trilogy although my biggest qualm was with the science of the world. It wasn't a believable future to me. Hopefully this prequel will show how the world could really turn out that way.
Expectations: I'm expecting there not to be any crazy mutated creatures and kids with psychic powers. I'm looking forward to an end-of-the-world story.
Judging a book by its cover: The cover goes well with the apocolyptic story. Even if I had not read the trilogy I probably would have picked this up off the shelf.
-PAUL
My Pre-Reading
I read this book so long ago, I'm not really sure what to write about it. So probably not very many spoilers, although I'm sure I'll ruin some part of the book for anyone who hasn't read it yet.
I thought that The Death Cure was a very nice conclusion to the trilogy. The ending was a little far-fetched (hey, here's some land that we cut off from ALL CIVILIZATION where you can live free of Cranks and the Flare because nobody knows it exists!), but it seemed almost plausible that there was an emergency back-up plan in case WICKED's plot to fix overpopulation backfired and killed everyone.
I was a little sad about Teresa dying, but she's kind of been on the fence for me since the second novel. I mean, I know she was being controlled by WICKED and all, but come on. Tom is your best friend. Give the kid a break. Speaking of which, he can never catch one. Oh hey, you're immune! But your best friend Newt isn't. So he's going to die. And you're going to be the one to kill him. Hey, you can get your memories back! But wait no, nevermind, that means WICKED just gets to play in your head some more, and you will remember every bad thing that you helped WICKED do. Oh, and by the way, you can't have both Brenda and Teresa, because right as you're about to think about making up with Teresa, she's going to die!
Poor kid, I don't even remember every other awful thing that happened to him because of WICKED.
Although all of the characters were pretty well developed from the first two novels, I think Minho and Tom have continued to grow. And characters like Brenda and Jorge who were introduced in The Scorch Trials were also given more depth and had more of an active role. Who would have guessed that they were agents of WICKED? Well, probably everyone but me, but that's besides the point. Everything is WICKED's fault and doing. They're worse than Big Brother.
Overall, I would definitely give this book a 4/5. I would, and have, recommend this series to any fans of dystopian YA novels, and I'm actually looking forward to the prequel coming out within the next year or so. I'm also pretty sure these books would make an epic movie series.
--Ashley
I still have so many blogs to write... I hate when I get ahead in reading and forget to do them.
Title: The Death Cure
Author: James Dashner
Year Published: 2011
Synopsis: Thomas knows that Wicked can't be trusted, but they say the time for lies is over, that they've collected all they can from the Trials and now must rely on the Gladers, with full memories restored, to help them with their ultimate mission. It's up to the Gladers to complete the blueprint for the cure to the Flare with a final voluntary test.
What Wicked doesn't know is that something's happened that no Trial or Variable could have foreseen. Thomas has remembered far more than they think. And he knows that he can't believe a word of what Wicked says.
The time for lies is over. But the truth is more dangerous than Thomas could ever imagine.Will anyone survive the Death Cure?
Why?: I read the first two books in the trilogy, and they were fantastic. Paul bought this one so we could finish up the series. (Except now there's going to be a prequel to The Maze Runner, so we aren't really done yet)
Expectations: I kind of expect a lot out of this book. I expect lingering questions to be answered, and I expect Thomas to have to deal with a lot of issues dealing with his past, present and future.
Judging a book by its cover: From the cover, it looks like it will be snowy outside. Which doesn't really make sense since the world was destroyed by sun flares, but who knows. Also, it seems like huge buildings will be abandoned and left to the forces of nature because people have migrated away or been consumed by the Flare. (Ok, so not all of that came from the cover, but most of it did. With a little background information from the last two books).
Here's to trying to finish all these blogs by 2012! (Although I really doubt that will happen).
--Ashley
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