The Rule of Thoughts

by James Dashner

Series: Book #2 The Mortality Doctrine 
ISBN: 9780385741415
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Publication Date: August 26th 2014
Number of Pages: 304
Source: Local Library
Goodreads Summary:  Michael completed the Path. What he found at the end turned everything he’d ever known about his life—and the world—completely upside down.

He barely survived. But it was the only way VirtNet Security knew to find the cyber-terrorist Kaine—and to make the Sleep safe for gamers once again. And, the truth Michael discovered about Kaine is more complex than they anticipated, and more terrifying than even the worst of their fears.

Kaine is a tangent, a computer program that has become sentient. And Michael’s completing the Path was the first stage in turning Kaine’s master plan, the Mortality Doctrine, into a reality.

The Mortality Doctrine will populate Earth entirely with human bodies harboring tangent minds. Any gamer who sinks into the VirtNet risks coming out with a tangent intelligence in control of their body. 

And the takeover has already begun.

My Rating:  

So, seeing as this is book number 2, you kind of have to read the first book, The Eye of Minds, to get what is going on. (See my review for that book here) I know if you are like me, you hating reading a book that ends up being a part of a series. I couldn't resist with this because I loved Dashner's Maze Runner series. For those of you who haven't read the first book - book #3 won't be out until October 2015 (so, a year from now). Maybe that will help you decide if you want to start the series now or wait for all three to be out :)

 ~~~~~

Book #1 ended on a major cliffhanger - We discover that Michael isn't a human, He's basically just a computer program that has now been "given" a human body. 

"Everything he knew was a result of artificial intelligence. Manufactured data and memories. Programmed technology. A created life." - The Rule of Thoughts, 2

Michael struggles with this throughout the whole book - who/what is he? It is the time old question of creating artificial intelligence - does creating something in man's image that thinks, talks, and acts like human still just a computer? To me, Michael doesn't seem computer-ish to me. He has feelings and struggles just as a human does. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

"You're the same goofy Michael I've always known. Who's to say we're not all computer programs, layers upon layers upon layers? Or in a dream?" - The Rule of Thoughts, 88

Michael has to seek out his two best friends - Sarah and Bryson in the REAL world to try and figure out how to beat Kaine (the crazy power-hungry computer program that has started to take over the world).

Michael's body (previous belonging to Jackson Porter) is a source of conflict. One that results from this is Jackson's girlfriend, Gabby. Seems like Kaine chose Jackson's body for a reason.....

The VNS is not being any help and time is running out...

A little slow-going but it does pick up towards the end. Again, we are left with an intriguing twist, though not as cliff-hanging as the first book. (Dashner sure does love putting twists in his books!) 

Overall, decent middle book and I will read the last book to continue the journey with Michael and his friends. 

(Don't You) Forget About Me

by Kate Karyus Quinn

ISBN: 9780062135964

Publisher: HarperTeen
Publication Date: June 10th 2014
Number of Pages: 336
Source: Local Library
Goodreads Summary: Welcome to Gardnerville.
A place where no one gets sick. And no one ever dies.

Except...
There’s a price to pay for paradise. Every fourth year, the strange power that fuels the town exacts its payment by infecting teens with deadly urges. In a normal year in Gardnerville, teens might stop talking to their best friends. In a fourth year, they’d kill them.

Four years ago, Skylar’s sister, Piper, was locked away after leading sixteen of her classmates to a watery grave. Since then, Skylar has lived in a numb haze, struggling to forget her past and dull the pain of losing her sister. But the secrets and memories Piper left behind keep taunting Skylar—whispering that the only way to get her sister back is to stop Gardnerville’s murderous cycle once and for all.

My Rating:  

This book had me second-guessing myself at every turn. I kept thinking I knew what Skylar & Piper's secret was, but I turned out to be wrong. This was a very weird book. Some readers are going to love it. I was okay with it myself.

The one complaint I do have is the pacing of this book - it moves soooo slowly. It took me several sittings to finish it (which is a rare thing for me). The characters were intriguing but Skylar got on my nerves - I wanted her to go after Piper or dig deeper for answers! 

What really got me was the ending - talk about twisted! (..this whole book is kinda twisted anyway). With all the revelations you are just like "what?!" and "that makes sense...." and "I DID NOT see that coming!" 

Firstborn

by Lorie Ann Grover

ISBN: 9780310739302

Publisher: Blink

Publication Date: January 28th 2014

Number of Pages: 292

Source: Local Library

Goodreads Summary: Tiadone has been forced to live her entire life as a female accepted as male in her community in order to survive as a firstborn child. But when she needs to pass the rites of manhood, she finds the Creator may have use for her feminine traits after all.

My Rating:  

The setting for this book is hard to place in the context of time. It could be a past civilization or it could be set in the future, or even on a different planet for that matter. The R'tan village of R'tania has been taken over and ruled by the Madronians for years. They don't allow the R'tans to have first born females and they take these girls away and leave them to die on a cliff. A way to save the child is to declare the girl as a male. She must be brought up as a male and contribute to society as a male. 

"'Remember the Madronians believe the first living child carries the greatest strength. Can you imagine them permitting a girl to have that power in a conquered village, or that they'd allow a family to offer only females to society? And we can be thankful they offer us the chance to declare our firstborn girls male to avoid ekthesis on the Scree.'"  

"'But ekthesis is murder! There's no way a babe can survive if she's left alone in that shale wilderness. And what of those parents? That father? He didn't want to risk his future on a female?" My fear claws up and hisses, firstborn females are worthless. "Do you doubt I will provide for you in your old age?'" - Firstborn, 14

Tiadone is the first female to be declared male. The time is approaching where the males and females go through a "rite of passage" so to speak - males go off to defend the borders as soldiers and the females are secluded and focus on having visions of the future.


In order to "suppress" her feminine traits, Tiadone wears an amulet that seems to hang down over her pelvic region. This amulet contains the heart of a desert cat wrapped in her father's hair coils. 

"..imbue me with the power of the fiercest, most dreaded in our desert, the cat. The amulet makes me male in my mind and in society. As a declared male, I'll wear the amulet for life and contribute as any other male in our village." - Firstborn, 15

Another aspect of both their religion and this rite of passage is the hatching of a Rapion (bird) from an egg that they carry on their person at all times. Each child recieves an egg after birth when their parents offer the placenta to the grown Rapions at a cave-like place. The Rapions take the placenta and leave an egg in its' place.


Tiadone's bird hatches with a unique and what most in her village believe to be an evil trait - it is a Singer. Rapions are "meant" to be silent and the fact that her bird sings is a bad omen. 


We then begin the adventure and trials Tiadone faces as a declared male on the border & her growing feelings of attraction towards her best friend, Ratho. This of course leads to trouble and the fact that she openly defies the rulers. 


This book is full of religious undertones and is closely reminiscent of the early explorers coming to native cultures and forcing their own religion on the people. Madronians conquer and force the R'tans to convert to their belief in the Four Winged Condor. They must give up their belief in the Creator Spirit and they destroy their holy texts - the "Oracles of the Creator."


Tiadone fights this and worships her own god in secret (as her father taught her). There are scenes towards the end of the book that further this fight for her own religion. 


Some may not like this undertone, but I think it's good to experience and learn about beliefs other than our own. This also plays a big role in Tiadone's coming of age and finding her true self.


The ending is open-ended and though it could stand alone, I would prefer to see a sequel that continues her story (and that of Ratho & the new character introduced). The ending reminds me of a different dystopian book, Birthmarked. 

Cold Spell

by Jackson Pearce

Series: Book #4 Fairytale Retellings
ISBN: 9780316243599              
Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers 
Publication Date: November 5th 2013
Number of Pages: 323
Source: Local Library

Goodreads Summary: Kai and Ginny grew up together–best friends since they could toddle around their building’s rooftop rose garden. Now they’re seventeen, and their relationship has developed into something sweeter, complete with stolen kisses and plans to someday run away together.

But one night, Kai disappears with a mysterious stranger named Mora–a beautiful girl with a dark past and a heart of ice. Refusing to be cast aside, Ginny goes after them and is thrust into a world she never imagined, one filled with monsters and thieves and the idea that love is not enough.

If Ginny and Kai survive the journey, will she still be the girl he loved–and moreover, will she still be the girl who loved him?

My Rating:  

This book has got a lot in it! It is based on the story of the Snow Queen, a fairy whose heart was made of ice - making her unable to love. She goes around stealing men and kissing them numb. They forget their families and lives.

"A woman all in white with hair so blond it almost matched the snow...the girl, as she wasn't much older than Dalia - glanced back toward the door, her eyes the same blue-gray as the snow-filled sky. Her lips curved ever so slightly into a gentle, elegant smile." - Cold Spell, 7

Pearce's story gives us Kai (the guy to run away with the Snow Queen) and his love, Ginny. Kai lives with his grandmother, Dalia, who had a run-in with the Snow Queen as a girl when her friend Michael disappeared. She warns Kai about mythical creatures and doesn't trust even Ginny. When she dies, a mysterious girl named Mora (aka the SNOW QUEEN) shows up and convinces Kai to leave with her. Before this though, Kai is changed into a heartless guy who says hateful things to Ginny.

Of course Ginny doesn't believe him and decides to take off after him (stealing dead Grandma Dalia's car) armed with Grandma's "recipe" book which includes spells and descriptions of the gruesome creatures she warned them about.

She runs into the Fenris (aka wolves) and is saved by Lucas, who can track and find anyone. He brings Ginny home to his wife, Ella, who was Miss Tennessee and is very rich. She cracked me up! Loved her character.

Her adventures also lead her to a bad of Travellers (think gypsies) where we meet their Queen, Brigit and her daughter, the Princess of Kentucky, Flannery. Flannery is awesome and fierce.

"Don't worry, I won't let them kill you...If you need to be killed, I promise I'll off you myself." - Cold Spell, 175

She is so blunt and I love it! And insightful too:

"What kind of leader would I be, though, if I got married just to hold on to the crown tighter? Nah. If I'm not queen enough on my own, then...maybe I'm just not queen enough." - Cold Spell, 193

We have the tie-ins to the previous books:

We still have the Fenris that are in all three previous books - Sisters Red, Sweetly, and Fathomless.

"I get it. The Fenris stole you; they stole your life. But that doesn't mean you can do the same thing to others." - Cold Spell, 294

And we also have some aspect of the mermaids we learned about in Fathomless.

"Madeline. Her old name, her human name. In the ocean, she'd been Ry; as a human, she'd been Madeline, and now she was ..." - Cold Spell, 143

I enjoyed the story very much and I loved the adventure. There is a bit of a lull in the middle, but it is setting the scene for the friendship that blossoms between Ginny and Flannery.

Recommend for all lovers of fairy-tale retellings and those that have read the previous books in this series.

Got to include my favorite quote, spoken by the lovely Ella:

"People who don't do anything annoy me. People who don't do anything yet excite me, because they can potentially do everything." - Cold Spell, 108

It really describes the real reason for Ginny's quest and shows how she begins to realize who she is.

Spending Spree: The History of American Shopping

By Cynthia Overbeck Bix

ISBN: 9781467710176

Publisher: Twenty-First Century Books (CT)
Publication Date:  November 1st 2013
Number of Pages: 88

Source: Local Library

Goodreads Summary: Love it or hate it, everybody shops. Shopping is an integral part of American life, but it hasn't always been so. From small, country general stores to the first shopping emporiums in New York, shopping grew and spread until now, in the twenty-first century, we stroll through malls that are larger than real-life main streets. Spending Spree traces the lively history of shopping in the United States, from the where the shops, department stores, discount barns, malls, and computer keyboards to the whys of consumer behavior.

My Rating:  

This is a non-fiction book all about the history of shopping that goes up until today & looks to the future. It was interesting to read about how shopping has evolved through the years and where the future is going.

We have general stores where you could barter for your items, to the evolution of malls and making shopping an all-day event for a lady to go and eat and socialize in addition to making purchases.

"Victor Gruen designed Southdale, the nation's first indoor mall. Disliking the isolation of U.S. suburban towns, he designed the mall as a community center, where people could socialize as well as shop. He used plants and waterfalls...to help create an attractive, leisurely environment." - Spending Spree, 51

We have super-centers and now the internet.

"You might call them [online shoppers] the 'new window shoppers': whenever they want something, from a flat-screen television to a 36 pack of toilet paper, they just open a new window in the web browser." - Spending Spree, 60 - Original quote: Megan McArdle, "The Future of Shopping," 2012

Recommend this book to anyone who likes to shop or is fascinated with the history of shopping. 

The Huaca

By Marcia Mickelson

ISBN: 9781462111909

Publisher: Cedar Fort, Inc.
Publication Date:  May 14th 2013
Number of Pages: 256

Source: Local Library
Goodreads Summary: Seventeen-year-old Ellie Cummings just wants to be a regular teenager, but after her mother’s mysterious murder, she isn't sure if she’ll ever be normal again. Her mother’s death has left Ellie and her father worlds apart. And when her best friend abandons her, Ellie has no one else to turn to—except for the strange boy who says he can help.

Gabe de la Cruz seems to know way too much about everything,

and her instincts tell Ellie to stay far away. But when he claims that he can communicate with the dead through an ancient Incan artifact, Ellie can’t resist the temptation of seeing her mother again. In the hanan pacha—the Incan afterworld—Ellie’s mother sends a message to help Ellie understand what happened the night of the murder—a message that may be better kept a secret . . .

My Rating:  

I really wanted to like this book more than I did. It is such an interesting story filled with intrigue and mystery. El's mom was murdered and her killer never caught. She has grown apart from her best friend, as they no longer prize the same things. Her father is distant and avoids discussing her mom. Enter the mysterious loner Gabe, who introduces El to his ancestral history - he descends from the Incas.  

"'No. It's not a jewelry box. It's a huaca.' He pronounced it 'wa-ka.'
'What?'
'It's a sacred object. That's what huaca means. The Incas believe in performing worshipping ceremonies. They give sacrifices to the gods through a huaca.'" - The Huaca, 45

This huaca has the power to transport you to the hanan pacha - which is the Incas' version of heaven. El is able to meet her mother there and through Gabe's sacrifice, she is able to slowly piece together what happened the night she died. 

I feel like the story was executed poorly. There are so many conversations that I felt were just repeating themselves over and over. It got really tedious.

El is an okay character. I can't fathom a person's reaction to what she went through but I do feel that she treated Gabe unfairly at times - this is probably to be expected, but his reaction? Not believable. He is always understanding and caring. He doesn't ever really fight her back and it just didn't feel right to me. Yes, they are 17 years old and should be maturing, but can you see a 17 year old guy acting like that? And how obsessed he was with her? I just found it all....kinda creepy (yes, yes he is wonderful after you get to know him but still!)

Gabe's family history and his quite absent mother held my interest and intrigued me. He suffered a lot in his life and has turned out great, but like I said above, he sounds a little too good to be true. 

The big secret (which I'm not giving away) I had guessed from the beginning. So really, I was just reading to see when they would figure it all out and how it would end. 

It is a quick read and I enjoyed the mythology discussed. It is a mystery book and it is thrilling enough to keep you reading.  Though there are some character holes, I did like the book and would recommend it!

Rags & Bones: New Twists on Timeless Tales

Edited by Melissa Marr & Tim Pratt

ISBN: 9780316212946

Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: October 22nd 2013
Number of Pages: 356
Source: Local Library
Goodreads Summary: The best writers of our generation retell the classics. Literature is filled with sexy, deadly, and downright twisted tales. In this collection, award-winning and bestselling authors reimagine their favorite classic stories, ones that have inspired, awed, and enraged them; ones that have become ingrained in modern culture; and ones that have been too long overlooked. They take these stories and boil them down to their bones, and then reassemble them for a new generation of readers.

My Rating:  

This book is anthology of different tales that have been re-worked by today's authors to bring new perspective.

There was artwork by Charles Vess, but I did not read any descriptions (not too interested); I only glanced at the pictures while turning to the next story.

There are twelve short stories; these are my reviews. 

1. That the Machine May Progress Eternally by Carrie Ryan

Inspired by E.M. Forster’s “The Machine Stops”

Rating: 4 stars

I really enjoyed this short story, though I did not read the one that inspired Ryan. We have Tavil, a boy from the surface, who wants to take a peak at "The Underneath" where a what is called just "the Machine" runs the place. 

"That tight feeling Tavil experienced the first moment he realized he was trapped underground beings to crawl along his arms. Perhaps it is the taste of the surface on the back of his tongue or the knowledge that he has finally found a way out of the labyrinthine Machine, but he is unable to hold back the sensation of being buried alive" - Rags & Bones, 13-14

He becomes trapped in this world but he slowly begins to become accustomed to the way the Machine provides for all his needs. 

"He would rather live his last moments below the surface, ensconced in the Machine, than spend eternity aboveground away from its comforting hum." - Rags & Bones, 25

A spooky tale that makes you think about our reliance on technology.

2. Losing Her Divinity by Garth Nix

Inspired by Rudyard Kipling’s “The Man Who Would Be King”

Rating: 2 stars

This short story is told both in the present by the narrator, Kipling and he is talking to two men - Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz of the past. He tells them the story of his run-in with the Goddess Pikgnil-Yuddra (the Darkness).

Interesting story but didn't quite hold my interest.

3. The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman

Inspired by “Sleeping Beauty”

Rating: 4 stars

Really liked this one! Twist on the tale of Sleeping Beauty but Snow White (not named as such, but description leads you to this conclusion) is the heroine of this story. Her kingdom becomes threatened by the sleeping curse, as it is spreading. She sets off with her loyal dwarfs.

I really liked how unique Gaiman’s take on this old tale was. To incorporate another fairy tale character we all know and then add a different ending to this story really made it a great read!


4. The Cold Corner by Tim Pratt

Inspired by Henry James’s “The Jolly Corner”

Rating: 4 stars

Really bizarre story – think twilight zone (if you can remember what that was….perhaps the younger generation doesn't know. It was a TV show that showed alternate realities, science fiction ideas that had unexpected twists and sometimes horror aspects)

 TJ, a gay man from North Carolina who moved to California and became a chef, has decided to come back to his hometown of Cold Corners for his family reunion. He feels he has nothing left in California after being dumped by his boyfriend, getting fired from his job and not winning on a reality TV cooking show.

Weird thing is, he keeps running into himself. Different versions of whom he could have been, how life could have went if he had made a different choice at certain crosswords in his life.

Liked the science fiction aspect and how TJ reflects on himself and makes you wonder what your life could look like if you had taken a different path.

“I don’t know if we’re ghosts or projections from alternate dimensions Doesn't much matter to me. What we are is family…We started comparing notes, using each other to test things out. What would happen if I dated that girl, or bought that truck.” - Rags & Bones, 107

5. Millcara by Holly Black

Inspired by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu’s “Carmilla”

Rating: 2 stars

This was a vampire story that tells the somewhat romantic but definitely gothic tale between two young girls.  I would be interested to read the inspiration, “Carmilla” as it predates Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” but I hadn’t heard of it. 


6. When First We Were Gods by Rick Yancey

Inspired by Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Birth Mark”

Rating: 3 stars

This is a neat science fiction story that tells of a time where humans have been made immortal. You download yourself into a computer chip and just upload yourself into a new body, potentially allowing you to live forever.

"May you wake safely upon that far shoreWhen night is through May you find no everlasting sleep When breaks the Eternal Dawn!”- Rags & Bones, 143

Of course, not everyone is allowed to do this. This is for the elite and powerful – the First and Foremost Families (the 3Fs). “Normal” people – called the finitissium: the finite ones only live out a natural lifetime in their one body. If you are lucky, you are a persist, a servant to the 3Fs. They get food and shelter versus the others who live in scary cities where you need to fight to survive.

When Beneficent Page falls in love with his wife’s Persist, he decides to break the rules and give eternal life to Georgiana.

But do you really want eternal life?

“’I may be immortal, but I am still human.’‘I suppose that depends on the definition.’‘Of immortality?’‘Of what is human.’ She moved at last toward the door, away from him. ‘And what is not.’” - Rags & Bones, 155

7. Sirocco by Margaret Stohl

Inspired by Horace Walpole’s “The Castle of Otranto”

Rating: 1 star

This is a horror story, the remake of “The Castle of Otranto” set in modern times. A movie is being filmed at this castle in Italy but it is haunted. It didn't really hold my interest.

8. Awakened by Melissa Marr

Inspired by Kate Chopin’s “The Awakening”

Rating: 5 stars

Really enjoyed this story about a Selchie (a seal that can shed its' skin and turn into a human to walk on land). Eden is our heroine and she is caught off-guard by a man, Leo, who steals her skin (she also refers to it as her soul) thus gaining control over her. She can't return to her seal form and must know obey his commands. 

This was a powerful story about women and the few choices they had  (and sometimes still do) about the controlling of their own lives. I also liked the mythology and the story as a whole.

"It is not the choice I thought I would make, but like so many women before me, I cannot survive in a cage." - Rags & Bones, 259 

9. New Chicago by Kelley Armstrong

Inspired by W.W. Jacobs’s “The Monkey's Paw”

Rating: 3 stars

Interesting story set in the futuristic dystopian world of "New Chicago." Cole and Tyler are brothers just trying to survive in this city. Tyler works for what sounds like a mobster so that Cole can educate himself. They are saving money so that they can buy passes into the better part of New Chicago - Garfield Park.

Cole follows a man from Garfield Park; he watches as he meets with a peddler who gives him a gift - a monkey paw. The old peddler says that it has the power to grant three wishes. Cole steals the paw for his own. Little does he know that you have to be very careful with wishes. 

Kept me reading and the consequences of the wishes makes you think about what you would wish for and at what cost. I did not like the open-ended conclusion though :/

10. The Soul Collector by Kami Garcia

Inspired by the Brothers Grimm’s “Rumpelstiltskin” 

Rating: 4 stars

Oh this was a great story with Garcia's take on Rumpelstiltskin! He takes the form of the Soul Collector in this tale - he grants favors to a girl named Petra in return for small tokens - a kiss, a memory. Then comes the time when she makes a deal with him that when it is time to collect, she loses something very important. 

The conclusion gave me chills and the character of the soul collector is creepy and haunting. I loved the author's note:

"The crossroads demon (or Soul Collector, as I call him in this story) is the Rumpelstiltskin of the urban fantasy world. He can solve your problems and even grant you wishes - for a price. The question is always the same: What are you willing to trade?" - Rags & Bones, 313

11. Without Faith, Without Law, Without Joy by Saladin Ahmed

Inspired by Sir Edmund Spenser’s “The Faerie Queene”

Rating: No Stars

Did not read beyond the first page; was not interested.

12. Uncaged by Gene Wolfe

Inspired by William B. Seabrook’s “The Caged White Werewolf of the Saraban”

Rating: 1 star

This could have been a real thrilling story but I found it very confusing. A woman named Kay/Marthe that may or may not be a leopard and a man who travels to Africa to save her after receiving her letter. Strange tale.