Westerfeld’s ‘The Uglies’ tells thrilling adventure, asks thought-provoking questions

Freedom is a cancer, not a right according to many characters in “The Uglies,” a four-book series written by Scott Westerfeld.

After being blackmailed into betraying her friend, protagonist Tally Youngblood unexpectedly finds a world away from obeying the authority and realizes that the obsession with physical appearances taught to the citizens of her home was just a way for the Authority to gain control. In an epic battle for the right to their minds and their independence, Tally and her friends challenge the way of life they have always known by going against the enormity of power that the Authority holds. Filled with non-stop action, drama, romance and a philosophical outlook on what civilization should look like, this series is a must read.

 In the series, hard-to-answer questions are asked but not all answered, which is one of the many intriguing qualities that this series contains. With amazing logic that relates the reader not only to the protagonists, but the antagonists as well, these books get the reader thinking while also allowing them to enjoy a breathtaking tale of young adults fighting for their lives while participating in an inevitable war against the Authority their civilization had been taught to obey.

Although the writing style is somewhat juvenile, the story is both sophisticated and mature. Frankly, no other style would complement it any better. Facing challenges that most adults wouldn’t be able to handle, the teenage characters deal with problems in their own unique ways while still “curing” the situation.

All in all, Westerfeld tells a story that transports the reader into a world where readers participate in an extraordinary journey. This is definitely an amazing set of books that everyone should read at least once.

‘Mockingjay’ ends ‘Hunger Games’ on good note

“Mockingjay” is the third and final book in the “Hunger Games” series by Suzanne Collins, author of “Gregor the Overlander.” A forewarning: if you have not read the first two books, “The Hunger Games” and “Catching Fire,” please read those before you read “Mockingjay.”  The first two books in the series are excellent and give much more background on the final novel. Read those first and come back when you have.

For those of you still here, “Mockingjay” begins with Katniss in the remains of District 12, which the Capitol bombed after the escape from the Quarter Quell in “Catching Fire.” The final installment of the series takes readers through the underground, military-esque, unfamiliar world of District 13 as the rebels plan their propaganda, starring the Mockingjay, Katniss, who strikes a deal with 13′s President Coin in exchange for the immunity of Peeta, Haymitch, Johanna and Finnick. In addition, to no one’s surprise, she will also have the privilege of executing President Snow if the rebels win.

Collins’s writing is one of the best in modern literature if not one of the best ever. The plot is intriguing; each detail makes the plot flow and holds meaning and the characters are complex and important in their own way. All of it falls into place in an intense and brutal, yet logical manner.

Nothing with a post-apocalyptic story ever held my attention longer than it took me to blow it off until I got into the “Hunger Games” trilogy. I am quite sad it is over, but every good thing must end, and the conflict that drove the series is resolved.

In short, “Mockingjay” is a must-read for anyone who read the first two books.

‘Same Kind of Different as Me’

It is a very rare occasion when you can say the book you read for your English class actually impacted your life.

From the subtitle on the front, “Same Kind of Different as Me” draws in readers at the very beginning as a nearly unbelievable true story of “a modern-day slave, an international art dealer, and the unlikely woman who bound them together.”

But “Same Kind of Different as Me” is, in fact, a memoir of Ron Hall and Denver Moore, Ron, an affluent art dealer who came from a poor background and Denver, a homeless man who grew up in virtual slavery. Denver and Ron switch off narration between chapters, each telling his own side of the story. Denver is very down-to-earth and writes as if he were having a conversation with you, and Ron has a more eloquent way of writing that was slightly less accessible, but just as interesting.

The woman behind the friendship, Deborah Hall, volunteers herself and her husband Ron at a homeless shelter, where they meet Denver. She believed that Ron needed to befriend this rough man from the streets, and so slowly but surely, the friendship began. It develops over time, through racial and financial differences, through a battle with cancer, through loss and grief, Denver and Ron become very close friends.

This book was very easy to read, and though the story takes place over many years, the plot is very fast-paced. It is a very rare occasion when you can say the book you read for your English class actually impacted your life, but “A Same Kind of Different as Me” definitely impacted mine.

‘Shutter Island’

 As a #1 New York Times Bestseller, author Dennis Lehane’s psychological-mystery novel “Shutter Island” takes its readers on a wild, mind-blowing ride that explores the psyche of the “violent man” and the fragility of every person’s sanity. Lehane’s novel takes place on an island housing an asylum for the criminally insane in the 50s. As he elaborately weaves together the fates of his characters, he also explores the history and development of psycho-pharmaceutical psychology, a concept then thought to be preposterous.

Using history to his advantage Lehane takes you back in time to the asylum for the criminally insane located on Shutter Island. Following two U.S. Marshalls in their search for a missing “patient,” readers will see the corruption that plagued the profession of psychology; the mass use of transorbital lobotomies, shock treatments and other frightening tortures.

Lehane utilizes the characteristics of the classic psychological thriller as well as tying in his own, unique form of plot and character development—which at once gets you insanely interested in the novel—to create a world where absolutely nothing is as it seems.

Due to its success and popularity the novel has been made into a motion picture directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Michelle Williams and Max Von Sydow. It is set for theatrical release Feb 19.

‘The Road’ leads minds on an emotional journey

As the snow falls silently downward, it is gray. The ground it lands on is burned black and charred beyond the point of recognition. Cities have fallen and people have all but died away. The silence is almost impenetrable but for the two sets of feet walking through the wasteland. A father holds tightly to his son as they hide away from the savage clans of starving survivors and try to survive this ruined world. They are braving their way to the coast; their last and desperate hope of a better life.

These are the images created in my mind by author Cormac McCarthy and his unique writing style.

The award-winning McCarthy has received a great deal of praise for his literary works, and his fiction book “The Road” is no exception. It won the Pulitzer Prize for its harsh and brutally realistic story of sacrifice, unyielding love, and courage in the face of hopelessness and loss. It is a tale of a father’s love for his son and his desperate attempts to see him through a post-apocalyptic world and into a more beautiful future.

If readers are looking for adventure and tragedy, then this is the right book. It is emotionally stimulating and will leave you on the edge of your seat in suspense. McCarthy’s unique form of character development has readers committed wholeheartedly to the emotional struggles the characters experience.

“The Road” has been widely received as a breathtakingly tragic look at the father/son relationship and the hardships that humans are forced to face. Due to the book’s success, it has been made into a feature film premiering Oct. 16 starring Vigo Mortensen, Robert Duvall, Charlize Theron and Guy Pearce.

‘Unwind’

“Unwind by Neal Shusterman takes readers a short way into the future where newspapers are rarely seen, daycares are now included in every high school, eye-color injections join fashion, and children between the ages of thirteen and eighteen can have their lives “unwound” and their body parts harvested for use by others.

Three teens joined by coincidence run from their chosen fate. Connor, sixteen, is sent to be unwound because of his behavior, Risa, without parents and fifteen, is being unwound to cut orphanage costs, and Lev, thirteen, had been chosen since birth to be unwound in dedication to his religion. Only if they can reach their eighteenth birthday can they dodge the grasps of the Juvenile Cops.

The readers are joined back-seat on their journey and you find yourself constantly turning the pages as fast as they have to run.

Shusterman created a new world and though his pages, readers fall into it. The setting is not foreign but seeps with the ethereal sense of mystery and gothic elements.

“Unwind” is not your ordinary book, and that’s what makes it so appealing for the fanatic readers. It’s a whole different world unlike any other, with characters readers can’t help but get attached to.

Like a rollercoaster, this story will jerk readers this way and that with its gasp-worthy twists and with a satisfying ending, this book is complete with nothing but amazing writing.

Shusterman has this special way of making every person deep with history though it may not be told directly. The main characters grow so quickly it almost seems impossible that they are the same teenagers they were in the beginning of the story.

Connor comes from being an angry, scared teen, to a bold, grown man in less than a year. Risa comes from a life filled with school and her love for the piano to a girl who sees the big picture yet can easily lean in and see the details. Lev is the biggest change forma young, scared, confused kid, to a brave, understanding, and loving boy who now knows who he is.

Readers can be promised a long ride with nothing but gripping characters, gothic settings, dark history, and mind-spinning suspense. This book well deserves to be picked up and will keep you reading to the point you won’t want to go to sleep until you finish.