Book Review | Viral Nation by Shaunta Grimes

Viral Nation is the first dystopian book I have enjoyed in a long time.

Book Description

After a virus claimed nearly the entire global population, the world changed. The United States splintered into fifty walled cities where the surviving citizens clustered to start over. The Company, which ended the plague by bringing a life-saving vaccine back from the future, controls everything. They ration the scant food and supplies through a lottery system, mandate daily doses of virus suppressant, and even monitor future timelines to stop crimes before they can be committed.

Brilliant but autistic, sixteen-year-old Clover Donovan has always dreamed of studying at the Waverly-Stead Academy. Her brother and caretaker, West, has done everything in his power to make her dream a reality. But Clover’s refusal to part with her beloved service dog denies her entry into the school. Instead, she is drafted into the Time Mariners, a team of Company operatives who travel through time to gather news about the future.

When one of Clover’s missions reveals that West’s life is in danger, the Donovans are shattered. To change West’s fate, they’ll have to take on the mysterious Company. But as its secrets are revealed, they realize that the Company’s rule may not be as benevolent as it seems. In saving her brother, Clover will face a more powerful force than she ever imagined… and will team up with a band of fellow misfits and outsiders to incite a revolution that will change their destinies forever.

Viral Nation opens with a virus wiping out most of the world's population. I love a good apocalyptic virus so I was captured by Viral Nation right away. A suppressant for the virus was discovered when the main characters were very young so the focus is much more on the power held by the company who controls the suppressant than on the virus itself.

The main character (Clover) has autism which instantly sets her apart from all of the other YA characters I have ever encountered. Most of the characters were quite likeable, and since Viral Nation is the first book in a series, I get the impression we will learn a lot more about the "Freaks for Freedom" as the series progresses. Clover also has a service dog that assists her with her autism. I loved that. Even more so, I loved that Shaunta Grimes did not use the dog to toy with my emotions.

I'm excited that there is time travel in this series, but it doesn't work well for me yet. If I think about it too hard, I get a headache, but I was able to let go and just go with the flow most of time. In fact, I found Viral Nation pretty hard to put down.

As with most YA series books, I wish I would have gotten more of a complete story out of Viral Nation. That is starting to be a pretty huge gripe with me, but nevertheless, I am anxiously awaiting the next book and will definitely be carrying on with the series.

7/10: Recommended Read

Review copy provided by author via publisher

Book Review | Across the Universe by Beth Revis

Across the Universe is a YA dystopian space mystery from Beth Revis.

Book Description

Amy is a cryogenically frozen passenger aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed. She expects to awaken on a new planet, 300 years in the future. But fifty years before Godspeed's scheduled landing, Amy's cryo chamber is unplugged, and she is nearly killed.

Now, Amy is caught inside an enclosed world where nothing makes sense. Godspeed's passengers have forfeited all control to Eldest, a tyrannical and frightening leader, and Elder, his rebellious and brilliant teenage heir.

Amy desperately wants to trust Elder. But should she? All she knows is that she must race to unlock Godspeed's hidden secrets before whoever woke her tries to kill again.

I'm going to say right off the bat that I did not enjoy this book. I found many things regarding the characters, the plot, the science, and the technological advancements of the spaceship to be completely illogical and highly frustrating.

The people aboard the humongous spaceship of Across the Universe are at least 10 generations of descendents from the people who left Earth 250 years ago to travel to the new world. These people, however, are still fixated on the Earth and still using Earthly terms to describe things like Amy's "sunset" hair when they've never even seen a sunset. They find exercise to be unproductive, yet instead of looking like the folks from Wall-E, they have the kind of hot muscles and carved biceps you can see through clothing.

The ship - 250 years later - is now far more advanced than it was when it left Earth. Where did they get all of the new materials and manufacturing capabilities out in space? I'd also love to know why they can create these amazing technologies but aren't capable of splicing some wires together that get cut on the ship.

I would really love to give bigger examples, but I'm about to enter into spoiler territory so I'll just say a lot of things made no sense to me at all.

There are a couple of redeeming qualities to Across the Universe. It's a fast paced read. Despite the numerous flaws, it did hold my interest until the end. I don't know that I will be joining anyone in reading A Million Suns, but I do have hopes that the series could improve from here. The dystopian framework has already been laid, and the characters have the potential to be likeable going forward.

If you enjoy reading dystopian for the sake of dystopian, Across the Universe provides a new premise within the genre. I would most compare this book to Lauren DeStefano's Wither. They have a similar appeal despite their flaws in logic.

3/10: Didn't Like It

Have you read Across the Universe? Were you able to successfully suspend your disbelief?

Book Review: Those Across the River by Christopher Buehlman

Those Across the River is Christopher Buehlman's debut novel.

Book Description

Failed academic Frank Nichols and his wife, Eudora, have arrived in the sleepy Georgia town of Whitbrow, where Frank hopes to write a history of his family's old estate-the Savoyard Plantation- and the horrors that occurred there. At first, the quaint, rural ways of their new neighbors seem to be everything they wanted. But there is an unspoken dread that the townsfolk have lived with for generations. A presence that demands sacrifice. 

It comes from the shadowy woods across the river, where the ruins of Savoyard still stand. Where a longstanding debt of blood has never been forgotten. 

A debt that has been waiting patiently for Frank Nichols's homecoming... 

Those Across the River had a really slow start for me.  I made it about 50 pages before I put it down with no intention of picking it back up again.  I wasn't enjoying the writing style, and I didn't like the characters or the setting.

Over the course of the next week, however, I continued seeing reviews that claimed Those Across the River was a great "creepy" read.  I love "creepy".  Great "creepy" is hard to come by.  Those Across the River started calling out to me.  What if it really is every bit as creepy as they say and I'm missing out?

So I picked it back up.  There were some good moments in Those Across the River.  It was kind of like what M. Night Shyamalan's The Village would have been if it hadn't all been a farce.  Unfortunately I could have done without 70% of the book.  Those Across the River would have made an excellent novella.  That is what I love about short fiction.  It cuts out all of the filler.

Even though most of Those Across the River was lost on me, I encourage you to seek out some of the great reviews.  This book has been well received by other readers.

4/10: Not for me

Review copy provided by the publisher