Mini Reviews: The Other Life by Susanne Winnacker and Dust Girl by Sarah Zettel

From Goodreads: Sherry and her family have lived sealed in a bunker in the garden since things went wrong up above. Her grandfather has been in the freezer for the last three months, her parents are at each other’s throats and two minutes ago they ran out of food. Sherry and her father leave the safety of the bunker and find a devastated and empty LA, smashed to pieces by bombs and haunted by ‘Weepers’ - rabid humans infected with a weaponized rabies virus. While searching for food in a supermarket, Sherry’s father disappears and Sherry is saved by Joshua, a boy-hunter. He takes her to Safe-haven, a tumble-down vineyard in the hills outside LA, where a handful of other survivors are picking up the pieces of their ‘other lives’. As she falls in love for the first time, Sherry must save her father, stay alive and keep Joshua safe when his desire for vengeance threatens them all.

My Rating: 3.5 hearts

Thoughts on the Novel: The Other Life by Susanne Winnacker reminded me a little bit of Courtney Summers’ This is Not a Test – only it wasn’t as good because the characters were kind of flat. I also didn’t like the flashbacks to the ‘good old days’ at the end of each chapter because they distracted me from staying in the present moment and often didn’t relate to the chapter I’d just read. Nor did I enjoy Sherry’s penchant for listing how many days it had been since she last experienced something (e.g. eating an apple, using shampoo, etc.) because it made me question how she could remember everything so accurately. Overall though, The Other Life was a short, satisfactory read that featured smart zombies, some tense action sequences and an ending that suggests the series has the potential to get better.

The Other Life was released by Marshall Cavendish in May 2012.

In exchange for an honest review, this ARC was received from the publisher (Marshall Cavendish) for free via NetGalley.  

..................................................................................................

From Goodreads: Callie LeRoux lives in Slow Run, Kansas, helping her mother run their small hotel and trying not to think about the father she’s never met. Lately all of her energy is spent battling the constant storms plaguing the Dust Bowl and their effects on her health. Callie is left alone when her mother goes missing in a dust storm. Her only hope comes from a mysterious man offering a few clues about her destiny and the path she must take to find her parents in "the golden hills of the west": California. Along the way she meets Jack, a young hobo boy who is happy to keep her company — there are dangerous, desperate people at every turn. And there’s also an otherworldly threat to Callie. Warring fae factions, attached to the creative communities of American society, are very much aware of the role this half-mortal, half-fae teenage girl plays in their fate.

My Rating: 1.5 hearts 

Thoughts on the Novel: Pretty much the only redeeming thing about Sarah Zettel’s Dust Girl was the way Zettel managed to make the atmosphere of the Dust Bowl era come alive because the plot was just so slow-paced and confusing with things being mentioned or events occurring in an unpredictable manner. Besides the random plot, the ending was really weird and completely out of the blue. As well, the characters weren’t that interesting, and it was hard for me to picture Callie in my mind since her age was never mentioned. This normally wouldn’t be a problem, but Callie sometimes acted like a tween and at other times acted as if she was an older teenager. 

Dust Girl was released in June 2012 by Random House Children's Books.

In exchange for an honest review, this ARC was received from the publisher (Random House) for free via NetGalley. 

Review: The Forgetting Curve by Angie Smibert

From Goodreads: Aiden Nomura likes to open doors - especially using his skills as a hacker - to see what’s hidden inside. He believes everything is part of a greater system: the universe. The universe shows him the doors, and he keeps pulling until one cracks open. Aiden exposes the flaw, and the universe - or someone else - will fix it. It’s like a game. Until it isn’t. When a TFC opens in Bern, Switzerland, where Aiden is attending boarding school, he knows things are changing. Shortly after, bombs go off within quiet, safe Bern. Then Aiden learns that his cousin Winter, back in the States, has had a mental breakdown. He returns to the US immediately. But when he arrives home in Hamilton, Winter’s mental state isn’t the only thing that’s different. The city is becoming even stricter, and an underground movement is growing. Along with Winter’s friend, Velvet, Aiden slowly cracks open doors in this new world. But behind those doors are things Aiden doesn’t want to see - things about his society, his city, even his own family. And this time Aiden may be the only one who can fix things ... before someone else gets hurt. 

My Rating: 3 hearts 

Thoughts on the Novel: The sequel to Angie Smibert’s Memento Nora, The Forgetting Curve, requires you to have read and remembered what happened in the first book since it dives right back into the world of Memento Nora, but recaps everything very, very briefly. I find it therefore ironic that The Forgetting Curve deals with the concept of memory.

In Memento Nora, the story was narrated through the eyes of Nora, Micah and Winter. Although Winter’s voice is back in The Forgetting Curve (though she didn’t seem as fascinating due to the neurochip in her head), the perspectives of Nora and Micah have been replaced by Aiden and Velvet. I understood the reason for the change, but I didn’t like it because I thought Velvet’s story wasn’t as interesting as everybody else’s. Also, I found it hard to relate to Aiden because as someone who isn’t very technologically savvy, he lost me whenever he started talking about hacking.

Aside from the emotional disconnect from the characters, the plot of The Forgetting Curve confused me at times and left me wondering how the Nomuras got involved with TFC’s scheme and what TFC’s end goal is (besides making a profit, of course). As well, *minor spoiler ahead* while the idea of implanting neurochips sounded cool, the science behind it seemed kind of vague to me.

The Forgetting Curve was released by Marshall Cavendish on May 1, 2012.

Comments About the Cover: The cover matches Memento Nora’s pretty well. I also like that it manages to convey Aiden’s coolness. 

In exchange for an honest review, this ARC was received from the publisher (Marshall Cavendish) for free via NetGalley.

Review: Memento Nora by Angie Smibert

From Back Cover: On an otherwise glossy day, a blast goes off and a body thuds to the ground at Nora's feet. There are terrorist attacks in the city all the time, but Nora can't forget. So Nora goes with her mother to TFC - a Therapeutic Forgetting Clinic. There, she can describe her horrible memory and take the pill that will erase it. But at TFC, a chance encounter with a mysterious guy changes Nora's life. She doesn't take the pill. And when Nora learns the memory her mother has chosen to forget, she realizes that someone needs to remember. With newfound friends Micah and Winter, Nora makes a comic book of their memories call Memento. Memento is an instant hit, but it sets off a dangerous chain of events. Will Nora, Micah, and Winter be forced to take the Big Pill that will erase their memories forever?

My Rating: 3.5 hearts 

Thoughts on the Novel: Angie Smibert’s Memento Nora is a short but tightly woven debut that will leave readers thinking about issues such as violence and terrorism, medicalization, consumerism and the role that governments and corporations play in society.

The novel is told from the perspective of three teenagers, Nora, Micah and Winter, each of whom has their own reason for collaborating on Memento. Aside from having their own unique story, the characters also had very distinctive voices, which I really liked. I would have been able to tell who the narrator was even without the heading showing whose viewpoint I was reading from.

I also thought that the ending was well-done though I was surprised by it. In hindsight however, I should have seen it coming! I definitely hope that there’s a sequel because I’d like to know what happens to Nora, Micah and Winter now.  

Memento Nora will be released on April 1, 2011 by Marshall Cavendish.

Comments About the Cover: Although it’s a little too dark to see the features of the model clearly, I like that it’s hard to see her because she becomes more indistinguishable from other girls. Memento is distributed secretly and the identities of Nora, Micah and Winter as the authors must remain hidden in the book. 

In exchange for an honest review, this ARC was received courtesy of Casey from The Bookish Type and Danya from A Tapestry of Words as part of their A Cornucopia of Dystopia event.

..................................................................................................

For those of you who are curious: We are very far from creating a pill that can make people forget traumatic memories. Not only would this pill have to be selective for certain memories but it would also have to be able to cross the blood-brain barrier to reach the brain. Using vectors however, a group of neuroscientists have been successful at selectively ablating fear memory in mice.