Hybrid Chronicles By Kat Zhang

This is the final book in the series, Hybrid Chronicles. I have already the second book briefly in a prior blog post. These three books, What's Left of Me, Once We Were, and Echos of Us are all about a society in a different time line occurring at the same time as ours. This could be debatable but Zhang mentions the "Great Wars" and all these other historical allusions, but they are all somewhat altered to form her society.

 Two souls in one body, hybrid, that's what Addie has been deemed, her recessive soul Eva who should have dissipated around 7 years old didn't can no longer control their body but is still a voice in Addie's head. But when Devin and Hally approach her giving Addie an opportunity, Eva urges to participate, they have a drug that can let Eva take control. But almost as Eva is gaining enough power they take Addie Devin and Hally to a experimental camp where they are trying to extract one soul to "Solve" the Hybrid problem.

Zhang has an issue with keeping the rising action interesting, some parts it drags on and on. But the action or the climax in the last Book is really interesting. I found the last book the most intense and it also kept the plot moving but it also was a lot like The Hobbit By: J.R.R. Tolkin. They just kept losing each other and finding each other then losing each other then finding each other. Although I felt the ending was rushed it also concluded the series naturally not pushed. It was a dramatic ending and was not really believable.

Becca Fitzpatrick's Black Ice

An coincidental time to read a boy based in the snowy mountains coming right out of winter and all but Black Ice was fantastic. When Britt and her friend get trapped on a snowed in mountain road on their way to a family cabin for a spring break getaway, they have to take cover. They find a cabin off the road quite a ways and when the two men are in need to get off the mountain quickly they take Britt hostage to lead them to the nearest highway by foot.

I can't say too much about this book without giving anything away because of the twists and turns in store. But Becca Fitzpatrick does it again, after her ultimately successful debut series Hush, Hush, she really is off to a great carrier.

Hush, Hush is a book about a girl named Nora falling for the wrong guy at the wrong time who ends up being a fallen angel uhoh...

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is a WWII based novel transformed into a 2008 drama. Written originally by John Boyne, this masterpiece takes the innocence of a child's mind and shows you how they believe things are. Played by Asa Butterfield, Bruno, a wide eyed skeptic moves into a new house places across from a concentration camp. Boyne uses an awesome technique of sadistic puns, he spells the hard to pronounce words like Auschwitz and Führer and spells them as though a nine year old would say them, out-with and fury. The reason these are sadistic puns is because out-with is stating out with the Jewish population the Nazis goal, and fury is showing that the Führer uses fury as a technique of control (Führer is the German word for leader, aka Hitler).

While the movie leaves out these small important pieces it still manages to capture Boyne's purpose for the book. The main idea, I believe, is that prejudice is created not an idea you are born with. This is not one of the cases of read the book first, it can be but I does not matter. We were watching the movie in Social Studies and I read the book while (not at the exact same time just within the three day period) were watching the movie and managed to finish the book before the movie. Both show something unique to the story through facial expressions or the diction used, and both truly give you another mind set of looking at the holocaust. If you have read or might read this book your really should read The Book Thief by Markus Zusak it is truly another wonder WWII novel. Another movie to watch is War Horse, this is one of the coolest movies I've seen it follows the horse not the human through WWI and gives you a new perspective on that.

Here are the links to all the trailers below:

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

The Book Thief

War Horse

Dover Beach Post

     Mrs. Phelps and Mrs. Bowles stood quickly and fled the depressing scene. As they walked down the dark street towards there houses Mrs. Phelps began to cry again.
     "Dear Clara please tell me whats wrong." Mrs. Bowles tried to comfort the distraught Mrs. Phelps.
     "That poem just brought back a feeling inside me I haven't felt in a very long time." She gasped as she tried to settle her ever flowing tears. "The feeling that my happiness is a lie." Mrs. Phelps covered her eyes and knelt to the ground. She looked defeated.
     "The nerve of Montag to bring up a subject that makes up so unhappy, to bring up my marriages and to read a love poem. No one should have to listen to the jibberish that we have banned for a reason. Dear Clara should we turn the traitor in?" Mrs. Bowles shook with anger. "Should we Clara, to the firemen tell them he is reading books and makes others unhappy?" And with that Mrs. Phelps shook her head vehemently.
     "To turn Montag in when he showed us such beauty in words. The description of the lovers brought me a feeling I haven't felt before. As I said previously, that my happiness was a lie, that i could get more out of life, that I have never felt true love and that it is precious and feeble and tender and can change at any time. That we need to find it while we can and latch a hold of it as if it will fly away, and it will fly away. Can't you see dear Mrs. Bowles that you let your love go?" Looking deep into Mrs. Bowles eyes all she saw was the deepest effects of sadness and loneliness.
     "Can't you see I  did not let my love go it left me. My first husband was happier with another, my second ripped from my grasp, my third took himself away from me not wanting to live another second. Can't you see!" Mrs. Bowles shoved Mrs. Phelps out of her way, stomping off into the night, only to kill herself from the grief that had overcome her will to live in sadness.

Waterfall By: Lauren Kate

    This book by the author of the Fallen series is quite the let down. Waterfall is about a girl named Eureka that lost her mom in the most interesting part of the book the first chapter, her mother died in a car "accident" when a typhoon wave shoved there car off the bridge they just so happened to be the only ones on... And this guy, Ander, who was part of this plot to kill them both ended up saving her. But she apparently creates a typhoon whenever she cries and that's why they wanted to kill her but they only made one remark to it.
    I know I have to keep reading it because what if it gets better I'll never know because I know myself I never come back to books that I abandon. Is it me or do you think in the first 60 pages there should be something interesting besides the hook because sometimes you take the bait and the rest of the worm is plastic? I might just be too picky but I've read books the whole way through where the most well written part was the first page. Why can't they keep up the same quality throughout the book?

    It doesn't help the cover looks cool another deceiving plan of publishers and authors.

The Body Finder By: Kimberly Derting

                   This book half romance half murder mystery has enough of each to keep you turning the pages. When the main character, Violet, finds a dead body buried in the woods when she was young it starts a life-time hunt to find out whats wrong with her. Turns out Violet has a "gift"  for finding the dead,only the ones that have been murdered, and their killers. So when a serial-killer comes into town and is in it for the "hunt" Violet involuntarily get caught up in the "game".
                   My favorite part of this book is the fact that Derting has designated a few chapters in the book to tell it from the killers perspective.  This adds some depth to the story showing the other side.

                                                                      Goodreads

Winter Reading: Unbroken By:Laura Hillenbrand

Unbroken By: Laura Hillenbrand

        This historical book about WWII shows so many point-of-views from this time period that if not for this book and some other biography's or autobiography's it would not be told books like; Night By: Elie Wiesel or Anne Frank's Diary By: Anne Frank, and even though it is not a nonfiction book The Book Thief By: Markus Zusak. While those show the Holocaust, Unbroken shows the American vs. Japan side of the war. 

       When Louis Zamperini an American runner becomes an American Pilot for WWII his whole world flips upside-down.  He lives through insurmountable odds, and faces many challenges many of us will never have to face in our daily lives including food shortage, discrimination, abuse, and even the idea of accepting death. One of the main concepts of the book is the idea once you loose your dignity you have no reason to live as shown in this quote from the book: “Dignity is as essential to human life as water, food, and oxygen. The stubborn retention of it, even in the face of extreme physical hardship, can hold a man's soul in his body long past the point at which the body should have surrendered it.” As Louis struggles to survive he becomes attached to this notion believing dignity is everything. 
       This as many know became a movie I haven't seen it yet so if you go see it and it is terrible don't blame me blame Angelina Jolie, and another hint you should have read the book. here is a link to the trailer below.

 Unbroken Trailer

Louis Left               Brother Pete Right