ARENA ONE

by Morgan Rice   (LWH)  (NOT ON OUR SHELVES YET)

Talk about fast paced book. If you enjoyed The Hunger Games then you'll love this great new series. Another Dystopia type YA fiction which I mostly enjoyed reading. Morgan Rice is a #1 best selling author who also wrote The Vampire Journals.

Seventeen year old Brook and her younger sister, Bree, are living in the wilderness trying to survive after a civil war has broken out in New York and everyone is living in a post-apocalyptic world, with few survivors. Those who still live in the city are Slaverunners, who roam the countryside trying to find survivors on the run, or crazies who are like zombies attacking those who venture out of the city walls. There are also the bio-chem guys who have been terribly burnt and disfigured from bombs during the war.

When Bree is kidnapped, Brook must risk her life to try to find and rescue her sister from certain death. There are plenty of chases, shooting and danger, including a battle to the death in Arena One, much like Hunger Games.

I mostly liked this book however I did find a few annoying factors. Firstly I felt it was trying to be a little too much like Hunger Games and it fell terribly short. The writing was no where near as good, and at times Brook was doing things that were quite unrealistic, and in fact completely unbelievable. I didn't think it was necessary to include very young girls becoming sex slaves in a YA fiction. The ending didn't really excite me which was disappointing, however I would probably still read the next two in the trilogy.

SLATED

by Teri Terry

What a gripping book. I sooo enjoyed this fabulous story.

Kyla is only 16 but has done wrong! A criminal! She's been 'slated'... her memory wiped... she has a new personality and a Levo on her wrist that monitors her emotions. If it gets too low (similar to a diabetic) she will pass out and die. This means a new start and very last chance or else. It should be OK now and Kyla should fit into a new family and start a new life... but things are triggering Kyla's memory and she is experiencing a patchwork of nightmares. What does it all mean? Who can she trust and why do many of her friends and go missing? She confides in her friend... close friend Ben...

I loved this book from the very first page and hated having to put it down for a minute. I got to the very end and waited for all to be revealed and nooooo...! There is more to follow in the next book to be released in 2013. I will just have to wait... but I have my suspicions.

ARTICLE 5

by Kristen Simmons   (LWH)

Yet another Dystopia YA fiction novel, but wow, it was great! I think this was Kristen's debut novel and she did a great job. I connected with Em and Chase and the story was exciting from start to finish.

There was fear, romance, revenge, chases, danger, death, adventure... everything you could hope for all rolled into one book. It was easy to read and really hard to put down.

Set in America after the 'Bill of Rights' has been revoked and there is a new law... 'Moral Statutes'. People are arrested and don't come back. There are no police only soldiers patrolling and arresting. Life as we knew it has changed and you can get arrested for reading the wrong books or staying out after dark.

Ember Miller has shocked when her mother was arrested and she was sent to girls reformation school as punishment, dobbed in by her so-called friend. There starts her mission to escape and try to find her mother and save her from a trial and possible death. There will be struggles and a few surprises in stall but you'll have to read it to find out more!

DAYS LIKE THIS

DAYS LIKE THIS   by Alison Stewart   (LWH)

This book was full of surprises. For a genre I don't usually read I must say I found this novel to be fabulous. The concept of the story was very clever and I read it in two sittings, reading well into the night. The plot was thrilling and there was danger around every corner (or page) and I was on the edge of my seat as to how it was all going to play out.

 Lily is a prisoner in her own home, along with her brother and sister, Blacktroopers and the 'Committee' make sure of that. Her parents are acting very wierd, like they don't have emotions anymore, and they seem to not be aging. A wall has been built to keep out the poor (and to keep those wishing to escape in!). When Lily and her brother discover the Committee are planning to farm teenagers for a special serum, her brother suddenly disappears. She plans to escape to find her brother and get over the wall to see what lies beyond. Along with all this, global warming has damaged the weather and atmosphere, and resources, including water is scarce.

Lily was a great character, very brave, and the budding romance with Kieran (towards the end) wasn't overwhelming and didn't distract from the main story. I love the fact that it was set in Sydney and I could definately picture it. This story touches on many subjects and would be a great class novel to explore with themes on global warming, corruption in society, a dying world, morality, playing God with Science.

Author the author: Alison is a Sydney journalist and writer.  She has lived in Sydney for more than 30 years after growing up in Cape Town, South Africa. The idea for Days Like This came from a growing unease about our diminishing natural resources, combined with the rise of a heartless individuality. The book explores the consequences – a world where people are shockingly exploited to serve the desires of an elite few.

HEARD OF DYSTOPIA?

[DYSTOPIA (noun)  An imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded one. The opposite to Utopia.]

 I've just discovered this genre (which I thought came under Science Fiction...doh!) so I thought I'd like to share it with those out there who haven't discovered it yet. The following information comes from an article by Danielle Binks, which she wrote for 'Off the Shelf', a publication by Penguin. The full publication can be accessed by clicking on the link (forward to pages 22 & 23). It's aimed at teachers but I'm sure you'll enjoy reading it and get a lot of great ideas fro it.

"The word ‘Dystopia’ was coined by Thomas More in 1516, as a counter-point to his theoretical creation of the perfect society called a ‘Utopia’. Dystopia can be post-apocalyptic, alternate universe, science fiction or a prediction of what’s to come. Barren, bleak and disturbing?

Dystopic society is characterised by human misery and oppression – stories are often set in cities, where humans have little contact with nature and are suffocated by their modernized surroundings. Politics in such novels are often brutal and dictatorial, exemplifying the belief that ‘power corrupts’. The genre is bleak by its very definition. It explores and fictionalizes the worst traits of humanity and often predicts a desolate future. So should we be concerned that a genre which exemplifies human misery should be so popular for young readers? How can such storytelling be considered beneficial, let alone entertaining, for young adults?

Bleak it may be, but the Dystopian genre is also a YA category that demands the highest quality of authors and the finest of writing. Complex themes are layered with heroic journeys as writers hold up a fun-house-mirror version of our society – embellished and ruined."

Open publication - Free publishing - More australia