Review: Slay

Slay by Brittney Morris

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction
Maturity Level: 4-
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Rating: ⋆⋆⋆

By day, seventeen-year-old Kiera Johnson is an honors student, a math tutor, and one of the only Black kids at Jefferson Academy. But at home, she joins hundreds of thousands of Black gamers who duel worldwide as Nubian personas in the secret multiplayer online role-playing card game, SLAY. No one knows Kiera is the game developer, not her friends, her family, not even her boyfriend, Malcolm, who believes video games are partially responsible for the “downfall of the Black man.”

But when a teen in Kansas City is murdered over a dispute in the SLAY world, news of the game reaches mainstream media, and SLAY is labeled a racist, exclusionist, violent hub for thugs and criminals. Even worse, an anonymous troll infiltrates the game, threatening to sue Kiera for “anti-white discrimination.”

Driven to save the only world in which she can be herself, Kiera must preserve her secret identity and harness what it means to be unapologetically Black in a world intimidated by Blackness. But can she protect her game without losing herself in the process? 

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I realize that as a white 30-year-old woman this book was not really written for me. I also realize that my opinion maybe doesn’t (and probably shouldn’t) matter. But I’m in the habit of writing reviews for nearly every book I read, so here I go.

Review: A Very Large Expanse of Sea

A Very Large Expanse of Sea by Tahereh Mafi

Genre: Young Adult
Maturity Level: 5
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Rating: ⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆

It’s 2002, a year after 9/11. It’s an extremely turbulent time politically, but especially so for someone like Shirin, a sixteen-year-old Muslim girl who’s tired of being stereotyped.

Shirin is never surprised by how horrible people can be. She’s tired of the rude stares, the degrading comments—even the physical violence—she endures as a result of her race, her religion, and the hijab she wears every day. So she’s built up protective walls and refuses to let anyone close enough to hurt her. Instead, she drowns her frustrations in music and spends her afternoons break-dancing with her brother.

But then she meets Ocean James. He’s the first person in forever who really seems to want to get to know Shirin. It terrifies her—they seem to come from two irreconcilable worlds—and Shirin has had her guard up for so long that she’s not sure she’ll ever be able to let it down.

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A Very Large Expanse of Sea was everything I was expecting it to be, and then so much more. It was like The Hate U Give meets Eleanor & Park. I felt all of the feels, but I also had to walk in the shoes of someone completely different than me. I swooned, and I also examined my own privilege. This book was everything, and everyone in America should read it.

Review: Gunslinger Girl

Gunslinger Girl by Lyndsay Ely

Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction (?)
Maturity Level: 4
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Rating: ⋆⋆⋆

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Seventeen-year-old Serendipity “Pity” Jones inherited two things from her mother: a pair of six shooters and perfect aim. She’s been offered a life of fame and fortune in Cessation, a glittering city where lawlessness is a way of life. But the price she pays for her freedom may be too great….

In this extraordinary debut from Lyndsay Ely, the West is once again wild after a Second Civil War fractures the U.S. into a broken, dangerous land. Pity’s struggle against the dark and twisted underbelly of a corrupt city will haunt you long after the final bullet is shot. 

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I’m sorry to say Gunslinger Girl did not live up to my expectations. It was a fun enough book, but it failed to deliver on being a high-octane Western adventure, and there wasn’t anything to make it stand out in the noise of YA adventure novels.

Review: Turtles All the Way Down

Turtles All the Way Down by John Green

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction
Maturity Level: 5
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Rating: ⋆⋆⋆⋆

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Sixteen-year-old Aza never intended to pursue the mystery of fugitive billionaire Russell Pickett, but there’s a hundred-thousand-dollar reward at stake and her Best and Most Fearless Friend, Daisy, is eager to investigate. So together, they navigate the short distance and broad divides that separate them from Russell Pickett’s son, Davis.

Aza is trying. She is trying to be a good daughter, a good friend, a good student, and maybe even a good detective, while also living within the ever-tightening spiral of her own thoughts. 

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I have always felt that it’s important to differentiate between something’s quality and how much you personally liked it, but with Turtles All the Way Down that distinction is even more necessary than usual.

Not everyone will like this book.

Review: The Heir

The Heir by Kiera Cass

Series: The Selection
Genres: Young Adult, Romance
Maturity Level: 3
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Rating: ⋆⋆⋆

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Princess Eadlyn has grown up hearing endless stories about how her mother and father met. Twenty years ago, America Singer entered the Selection and won the heart of Prince Maxon—and they lived happily ever after. Eadlyn has always found their fairy-tale story romantic, but she has no interest in trying to repeat it. If it were up to her, she’d put off marriage for as long as possible.

But a princess’s life is never entirely her own, and Eadlyn can’t escape her very own Selection—no matter how fervently she protests.

Eadlyn doesn’t expect her story to end in romance. But as the competition begins, one entry may just capture Eadlyn’s heart, showing her all the possibilities that lie in front of her . . . and proving that finding her own happily ever after isn’t as impossible as she’s always thought. 

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Upon finding out The Heir existed, I fully expected this review to be mainly lamenting the fact that Cass didn’t quit writing after book 3 and scolding myself for continuing to read. But I was pleasantly surprised at how much better this book was than the last two.

Review: The One

The One by Kiera Cass

Series: The Selection
Genres: Young Adult, Romance, Dystopian
Maturity Level: 3+
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Rating: ⋆⋆⋆

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The time has come for one winner to be crowned.

When she was chosen to compete in the Selection, America never dreamed she would find herself anywhere close to the crown—or to Prince Maxon’s heart. But as the end of the competition approaches, and the threats outside the palace walls grow more vicious, America realizes just how much she stands to lose—and how hard she’ll have to fight for the future she wants.

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As far as creating and end for this story, The One was perfectly adequate. But all of the problems and poor writing that plagued this series were still there.

Review: The Elite

The Elite by Kiera Cass

Series: The Selection
Genres: Young Adult, Romance, Dystopian
Maturity Level: 3
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Rating: ⋆⋆

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The Selection began with thirty-five girls.
Now with the group narrowed down to the six Elite, the competition to win Prince Maxon’s heart is fiercer than ever—and America is still struggling to decide where her heart truly lies. Is it with Maxon, who could make her life a fairy tale? Or with her first love, Aspen?

America is desperate for more time. But the rest of the Elite know exactly what they want—and America’s chance to choose is about to slip away. 

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The Selection wasn’t that great, but every good quality it had was pretty much non-existent in The Elite. It was pretty much two hundred pages of “I don’t know who I looooooove!!!!!”, and everything I hate about shows like The Bachelor.

Review: The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Series: The Hunger Games
Genres: Young Adult, Action/Adventure, Dystopian
Maturity Level: 4
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Rating: ⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆

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The nation of Panem, formed from a post-apocalyptic North America, is a country that consists of a wealthy Capitol region surrounded by 12 poorer districts. Early in its history, a rebellion led by a 13th district against the Capitol resulted in its destruction and the creation of an annual televised event known as the Hunger Games. In punishment, and as a reminder of the power and grace of the Capitol, each district must yield one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 through a lottery system to participate in the games. The ‘tributes’ are chosen during the annual Reaping and are forced to fight to the death, leaving only one survivor to claim victory.

When 16-year-old Katniss’s young sister, Prim, is selected as District 12’s female representative, Katniss volunteers to take her place. She and her male counterpart Peeta, are pitted against bigger, stronger representatives, some of whom have trained for this their whole lives. , she sees it as a death sentence. But Katniss has been close to death before. For her, survival is second nature.

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I think The Hunger Games is probably one of the best YA Books available right now, but I always have a hard time articulating what is so brilliant about it.

Review: The Host

The Host by Stephanie Meyer

Genres: Science Fiction, Young Adult (?), Fiction
Maturity Level: 4
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Rating: ⋆⋆⋆

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Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away. The earth has been invaded by a species that take over the minds of human hosts while leaving their bodies intact. Wanderer, the invading “soul” who has been given Melanie’s body, didn’t expect to find its former tenant refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.

As Melanie fills Wanderer’s thoughts with visions of Jared, a human who still lives in hiding, Wanderer begins to yearn for a man she’s never met. Reluctant allies, Wanderer and Melanie set off to search for the man they both love.

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This was a really interesting concept. What can I say, I am a sucker for they-walk-among-us books, movies, TV, whatever. And while this idea brought to mind too strongly the Animorphs books I read as a kid (seriously, did Stephanie Meyer just completely rip off the Yeerks, or what?), I loved the idea of reading about what it would be like from the invading aliens point of view. But then Stephanie Meyer killed this book in her typical three ways.

Review: Vampire Academy

Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

Series: Vampire Academy
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance, Fiction
Maturity: 4
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Rating: ⋆

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Lissa Dragomir is a Moroi princess: a mortal vampire with a rare gift for harnessing the earth’s magic. She must be protected at all times from Strigoi; the fiercest vampires – the ones who never die. The powerful blend of human and vampire blood that flows through Rose Hathaway, Lissa’s best friend, makes her a dhampir. Rose is dedicated to a dangerous life of protecting Lissa from the Strigoi, who are hell-bent on making Lissa one of them.

After two years of freedom, Rose and Lissa are caught and dragged back to St. Vladimir’s Academy, a school for vampire royalty and their guardians-to-be, hidden in the deep forests of Montana. But inside the iron gates, life is even more fraught with danger . . . and the Strigoi are always close by.

Rose and Lissa must navigate their dangerous world, confront the temptations of forbidden love, and never once let their guard down, lest the evil undead make Lissa one of them forever . . .

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This book made Twilight look like literature.