Dead Zone

Note: May contain spoilers if you have not read Blackout, the first novel.

Ok, so here is the sequel to and resolution of Blackout. It took me a little time to sit down and read this one since I got distracted by other books, but once more I was pushed to rush through this book in a little over 24 hours by the incredibly fast paced story line. To give you an idea of how short of time frame this story takes place over, near the end of this book Aubrey, our favorite invisible girl, is thinking about the dance that started the story. It took place two and a half months before. So from start to finish these two books capture about 11 weeks in these kids' lives. And a whole lot of hell happens in those weeks!

So, in this book we get to meet the Russians. In particular we have two Russian lambdas who are leading the charge onto American soil to supposedly shift the populace out of areas they want to inhabit. The Russians claim that they will allow the Americans to go peacefully, however, a whole lot of people end up dying in the process.

Once more, Aubrey, Jack, and their team are thrown onto the front lines to find the two lambdas helping the Russian war effort. And this time, they are considered full fledged soldiers, expected to follow orders and take lives when necessary. Again we see Aubrey's issues with authority, Jack's determination to save her, and the chaos that comes when you rely on teenagers to take on too much weight.

As I said before, I believe Wells does a great job of capturing the real possibilities of using teenagers in such a situation. Sure,t hey are the only ones that can do what they do, but the Army does not like it, the teens don't like it, and things fall apart frequently enough to make everyone doubt what they are doing. I love Wells for pointing out the faults in his own story.

And I loved the ending to this story! It was another action packed, fast paced, chaos filled, wonderfully written book! I look forward to reading more of Wells' works if they are as imaginative and well written as this one! So look for more of his titles among my future posts.

Blackout

So I actually picked this one up at the library for my husband to read, because it sounded perfect for him. But he had picked up another series, which I will no doubt read in the near future and tell you all about. On top of that, the book I picked out was bad. No, I will not mention the name because the writing style got to me instantly so I barely gave the book a chance and so I don't feel that it would be fair for me to say anything about it. Anyway, I ended up picking up this book instead and woah am I glad that I did before turning it in!

Ok, I feel that both the descriptions on the jacket and Goodreads.com are not entirely accurate enough to really portray what this book is about, so I'm going to try and tell you. Look at the three and get the average gist of things, 'k?

Alec, Dan, and Laura are terrorists. This point is clear from the beginning. What is a little less clear is how they have anything to do with Aubrey who is simply trying to live her life and gain a few friends. Well, they are all teenagers for starters. Oh, and they all have superhuman abilities that have somehow turned into a virus and are infecting teens around the world. What's worse, the US government finally figured that part out and are now putting all teenagers in camps to figure out if they are infected or not. Because those with powers would be really useful fighting against the terrorists with powers.

So, I'll start this time with the problems with this books since it is kind of right there in my description. Because that description is half the book. Maybe even more than half. At first Wells moves at a normal pace, or at least normal enough, with events happening, the reactions, the capture of all these kids. And you get the sense that maybe everything feels like it is taking way longer because they are teens and they exaggerated time. Because in reality from the start of the book to the end is maybe 3 weeks and a hell of a lot happens in that time. It all moves way too fast! Kids are being turned into weapons and they are barely given time to adjust! I get it, America is at war, but really, we are going to just toss a 15 year old girl in the mix and hope she doesn't collapse under the strain!

And that's about my only real problem. The fast paced and therefore unpreparedness of this plot. Because at the same time it is kind of realistic. America is being attacked from forces unknown at a very rapid pace and the government is simply trying to keep up. And with this half baked plan of theirs comes the consequences. Things fall apart, people slip through the system, more people die and places are attacked. So I think that fast paced world worked out in the end for this book. It had me reading quickly to find out what was going to happen next. And after only 2 days (during which I was also busy so only had a few hours to read between loads of laundry) I am already picking up the next one.

So yes, I encourage you to pick it up! This is a unique take on the superhuman powers plot. These kids are not ready for what they have been given and they are being used by everyone! The world is in peril and we are trusting teenagers to help fix it. And everyone is power has a big problem with this but they are running out of options! It is really interesting! (Done with the !'s for now, I promise.)

Oh, and if you would like to start a little sooner in the story, Wells did write a prequel in the form of a novella. However, it is only in ebook format, for the Kindle, so it may take me a minute to find it and actually get to read it. But if you read Going Dark first, let me know how it effected the others. I am going to move on to the next book, Dead Zone, for the time being. I'll let you know what I think.

The Necklace

"Ownership is overrated. We should elevate sharing. Wealth is individual; sharing is collective. We are not what we own. We are what we do, who we help, and the difference we make in the world. At the beginning, the group was so narrow in its concept of sharing. We think that by sharing we give up something, that we get less. But the more we've shared the necklace, the more profound the experience has become. By sharing, we've gotten so much more. If we share, there's enough on the planet for everyone." -Jonnell McLain, The Necklace (pg. 206)

The rest of the title of this book is "Thirteen Women and the Experiment that Transformed Their Lives." So it strikes me as self-explanitory. 13 women come together to buy an extrodinary diamond necklace, coming to the agreement that they will share it among them. The book is divided into chapters meaning to delve deeper into each woman's life before, during, and after the necklace while still trying to explain everything that happened with the group as time went on. I believe that i gauged the duration of the book as taking place over 5 years, although that was a little hard to discern. And that will be my only complaint, is the slight difficulty in following the timeline.

While yes this book is a little cheesy at times, I wish I had a diamond necklace to give me more confidence in my self, inspire me to get in shape, or help my friends through rough patches in their lives, but I know it's not likely. However, you have to remember that this is a true story, so however cheesy it seems at times, it is real, it happened, and it is possible for others. Plus the fact that not everything goes right for the women or the group is helpful in toning down the cheesy level. We all know that when you place 13 women in a group there are bound to be fights, but surprisingly they were not over the things I had anticipated.

All in all I enjoyed the book greatly. I love learning about people and their different situations, so this book catered to me. I liked the women and the concept, as well as the story they lived. And I can't wait to pass it along to my friends to read!