A Note:

6/2/13

I once told myself: IF I am accepted into grad school, this blog would no longer be updated. As it turns out, in April, I received news of my acceptance for the Fall 2013 semester, where I will attain a Master's degree of Science in Nutrition.

Running a blog, as many of you may already know, is a demanding side job once the excitement wears off. And once I fell out of the blogging community's loop (have you SEEN how many blogs there are now? Wow!), it was like the kiss of death. Despite my best efforts, I couldn't get into a blogging routine once this happened due to the disconnect I felt from the community.

So I took a break. I struggled with the loss and with missing my blog. And then I realized I didn't have to run Book Faery to still be a book reviewer; I could read my books and post reviews online. I'm still a book review blogger, just not in the traditional sense.

I'll still be online. You can chat with me on Twitter, where I'll be posting links to my reviews and talking books. I'll also be posting links to nutrition articles. And if you'd like to connect with me where I guarantee I will post reviews, just add me as a friend on Goodreads.

So that's all, folks! It's been a fun and amazing journey, and I thank you all for listening to my thoughts about books. I hope we all can keep in touch elsewhere :)

Tori

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Amanda's Review: Dark Parties, by Sara Grant

ISBN: 9780316085946
Released: August 3, 2011
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Genre: YA, Dystopian

Sixteen-year-old Neva has been trapped since birth. She was born and raised under the Protectosphere, in an isolated nation ruled by fear, lies, and xenophobia. A shield "protects" them from the outside world, but also locks the citizens inside. But there's nothing left on the outside, ever since the world collapsed from violent warfare. Or so the government says...

Neva and her best friend Sanna believe the government is lying and stage a "dark party" to recruit members for their underground rebellion. But as Neva begins to uncover the truth, she realizes she must question everything she's ever known, including the people she loves the most.




**Note: This is a DNF review. Therefore, there will be no rating, and my opinion is based solely on the first few chapters of the book.

                I didn’t finish Dark Parties, so I really can’t form an opinion based on the book as a whole. I did read the first eight chapters, though, and this “review” will be based on that. 

                In the first chapter, I didn’t really see any world-building. It opens at one of the dark parties, which makes sense, given the title. However, this is a dystopian, right? I would think the first chapter would give us some sort of idea of their world. I personally saw very, very little of that. Second chapter, a few more things about this world started to trickle in, and I found them to be unbelievable. I just couldn’t buy into the Protectosphere.  The government’s control, I could see, but the literal bubble they’re living in? Not so much.

                Another issue I had is that within the first chapter, there has already been not one, but two make-out scenes. Even worse, they’re with two different guys. I haven’t read enough of the book to know where either of these “relationships” go, but I did read enough to realize that our narrator isn’t very honest, omitting some serious info from her best friend. A few chapters into the book, I still don’t care about the narrator.

                And then she makes things worse, going from not-so-great-friend to doesn’t-even-deserve-the-title-friend, and at this point, I gave up. I just can’t read a book that doesn’t catch my attention with the story, and makes me dislike the main character less than halfway through.

                As a huge fan of dystopian novels, this one failed to grab me.


--Amanda

4 comments:

  1. The main protagonist definitely ruins this book. I found it hard to like her, as well. I did finish the book, but it took more days than usual to complete it.

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  2. @Melissa, glad to see I didn't miss out by not giving her *more* of a chance!

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  3. It's disappointing when the protagonist ruins the story for you. Sometimes, I can stick with a story if the secondary characters make up for the protag's stupidity, but most of the time, I'll give up long before that.

    It's really unfortunate, because I think that a book could be great... even with a bratty protagonist. It seems like a lot of readers give up, though.

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  4. Bummer that this was a DNF, as the premise sounded interesting. But yeah, if the characters are unlikeable, then no matter how intriguing the world building or plot line, I don't care about any of it because I don't care about the character.

    Thanks for the honest review!


    Smiles!
    Lori

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