The Earth has long been destroyed by now. Humanity has relocated across the galaxy, and this story takes place on Mars. Near the core, underground where the masses seem to habitat, is where we meet our story’s protagonist, Darrow. He is part of a caste that was created to build a new home for those that haven’t moved to Mars yet. They are made to do the dirty work, putting their lives in danger to find whatever bio-material that can be used to make living on the surface bearable. To Darrow and the rest of the Reds, they are the ones that will help save humanity, that will help make Mars into a new Earth where humans can thrive again. But what they don’t know, what they were never told in the first place, is that Mars is already thriving, and so is the rest of the galaxy.
It’s just that nobody wanted the Reds to know that they were slaves to the higher castes.
Darrow’s life completely changes when he loses the woman he loves, sentenced to die because she chose to stand up for her people and rebel in the most haunting and beautiful way. He almost throws it all away, for he would rather die and be reunited with Eo than live the rest of his days alone and in pain. But he gets a second chance, and doesn’t die like he’s supposed to. Instead, he gets drafted into a secret society that is bent on bringing down the caste system, bringing the Reds to their rightful place among the rest of the colors, and tear down the Golds that have oppressed them for so long. With this newfound reason to live, a reason besides Eo, Darrow transforms himself into a Gold, completely changing his body and mindset, infiltrating their academy where the best of their children go to become warriors, soldiers, important leaders in their world. It is here where Darrow is really tested, where The Institute teaches them about strategy, and how mercy never prevails.
This was one of the best books I ever read, and I’m so glad that I came across it. This book had an interesting take on the popular dystopian genre that seems to be the topic of discussion lately, and I would love to see how the rest of the series turns out. Darrow becomes Gold through and through, and it’s like his entire Red identity disappears the longer he’s in the Institute. He has to be Gold if he is to survive the onslaught of torture and pain that he has to go through. Not just him, but all the other Gold children that survived the initial reaping, the one that decimated the entire Institute population by half before the games really began.
It was only hard to get through this book because I really felt Darrow’s transformation. All the difficult decisions he had to make being a part of the game, helping those on his team survive and take down the enemy that threatens to wipe them out of existence. All of those who died because of him change him even more, and even though he’s Red and they are Gold, there’s a part of him that still feels guilty when he doesn’t wait to. The game is changing him, and his journey to help free his fellow Red people has only just begun.
Rated: 5/5 Stars
Tag: Leelynn’s Reviews
The Siren – Book Review
“There’s always room for love, even if it’s as small as a crack in a door.”
Mermaids are the creatures of the deep, the ones that every little girl has always wanted to be. Even now, as those girls grow up, there’s still some part of them that yearns for their own tail and clam shell top, exploring the depths of the ocean to parts unknown. It’s a fantasy that we can only wish was real life. But, while many little girls think about being mermaids, there’s another mythical creature that lives in the sea, one that is similar to the beautiful mermaids but so much deadlier to those around them. For this creature is said to lure the lives of sailors to their death by calling them to the Ocean with their beautiful voices, singing a song that has no choice but to kill those who hear it.
These creatures are Sirens, and they are so different from their mermaid counterparts.
As we have learned in this book, there are never too many sirens in the world at one time. In fact, the most number of sirens at one time is 5, for any more than that could risk exposure of their kind. In order for sirens to become what they are, the Ocean has to save them from drowning, and when that happens, they are to serve Her for 100 years. No more, no less. It is with this information that this story begins, with Kahlen making the difficult choice of becoming a siren.
Fast forward 80 years, and the story really begins.
Sirens have come and gone, with new ones coming to take the place of those whose times have already passed. Two of the three Sirens that were there when Kahlen’s new life began have already left her, and her oldest friend is Aisling. Her time is almost up, it’s just a matter of months now. Kahlen lives with her two other siren sisters, Elizabeth and Miaka, two party girls that live a completely different life from Kahlen, who is content with people watching around the university that they live near. It’s on one of those excursions, in the library where her silence will not go noticed, that her life changes. She meets a boy, Akinli, who comes to terms with the fact that she can’t talk and still manages to have a full and wonderful conversation with her anyway. Their interactions are short for the most part, especially considering that Kahlen is already 80 years into her sentence, but for some reason, she is so infatuated by him, to the point of falling in love with him. But with her being a siren, she can’t afford to fall in love with a human. The Ocean wouldn’t let her, or any of her daughters of the sea.
But Aisling, right before her time is up and she turns back into a human, confides a great secret in Kahlen, making everything that seemed impossible. Aisling was able to hide her love for her family, from the daughter that she left behind to her great-granddaughter who is already grown up. She was able to hide the fact that she was keeping tabs on her family the whole time she was a Siren, and one of the main rules that the Ocean said was that mothers can never be sirens because they wouldn’t be able to take the lives of children away. Yet, Aisling was able to do her job with no hesitation, and it changes everything that Kahlen was brought to believe. She could love, and still do what she needed to do to serve her time. But when she accidentally speaks in front of Akinli, and he finds himself succumbing to the Ocean’s power, Kahlen begs for Her to spare his life, and leaving him in the process.
This was a wonderful love story, one where it shows that even the act of kindness and friendship without expecting anything from it can lead to the most beautiful kind of love. Kahlen and Akinli couldn’t communicate normally, and yet that didn’t deter them from having a wonderful friendship. Akinli was the boy that Kahlen needed in her life, to show her that love does exist, even from the most unexpected source. Their love was so pure, so strong, that with them far apart from one another, they would have died together. Sirens aren’t supposed to be able to die, but Kahlen almost did, and so did Akinli. With the help of the Ocean, even though She didn’t want to let go of the one Siren that loved her unconditionally, helped Kahlen to get back to the life that she needed to lead, and heal her heart in a way that the Ocean could never do on Her own.
Rated: 5/5 Stars
Tall Cool One – Book Review
The more I go through these books, the more I feel like Anna should just give up on boys completely and focus on her relationships with her girl friends. I mean, when her and Sam are actually on the same side, the two can take on anything, that’s so much fun to see. When she’s constantly having to fight with Cammie and Dee, then it gets hard to deal with. Why can’t they all just be friends and say “screw you” to Ben and the rest of the boys that cause them nothing but heartache and headaches? I say, girls rule and boys drool.
I’m probably not going to go too deep into this review since the book is really short and sweet. Honestly if I really wanted to, I could read it in a day while I’m waiting to fall asleep or while I’m enjoying dinner by myself. It’s that quick, and I’m glad these books are. Honestly we don’t need these books to be over 300 pages in order to be interesting. Zoey Dean keeps it straight and to the point, making sure that the drama contained in each segment of the series is enough to make us wanting more. That’s how I like my teenage drama books, and this is no different.
I still need to finish the rest of the series eventually, and hopefully I will soon. I just say that I need Anna to actually be friends with these girls and I need Cammie to stop being such a biyotch to Anna so much. Ben doesn’t like you anymore, so get over it. Besides, Adam is a much better option anyway. He actually treats you like the princess you think you are.
Rated: 4/5 Stars
Sometimes Leelynn Reads 