Review: The Revenge of Seven

The Revenge of Seven (Lorien Legacies #5)
Pittacus Lore
Science Fiction

The have killed four of us.
They will not rest until we are all dead.
They will not stop until your planet is theirs.
They think we are broken.
We will not be defeated.
We are all that stands in their way.
We know secrets they thought hidden.
We have power they never expected.
The time has come for them to fall.


The Garde have suffered the ultimate betrayal: Number Five has allied himself with the Mogadorians, killing Eight and helping the Mogs to abduct Ella from the safe house. Now the fight for Earth's survival has just become that much more impossible.


The Garde may not have time to mourn their fallen ally, but they'll make sure to avenge him. And help is at hand from the most unlikely of sources: Adam, a Mogadorian, has turned his back on his people. He might just be their lifeline, but are the Garde repeating past mistakes by putting their trust in him?

You can read my review of The Fall of Five  (Lorien Legacies #4) here.

As you can see in my above review, I absolutely adored The Fall of Five and the series in general. However, The Revenge of Seven, in contrast, was a let down.

Here's the thing - unlike what I hear about The Fifth Wave, The Lorien Legacies isn't really all that action-adventure-science-fiction-y. I Am Number Four was cool because of its backstory, and the whole alien-falls-in-love-with-human-girl pitch. I loved The Fall of Five purely because of the hilarious cracks and awesome characters.

But now, the writers remembered that, you know, since this IS an alien invasion story, there needs to be, well, an alien invasion.

And they're not as good at writing that.

They played the same card they did in all the other installments - lots of build up then end the book. The whole plot was fairly predictable. Sarah was more or less out of the picture, so the love story that up until now had distracted me from the fact that it took 5 books to reach the alien invasion was gone. Six and Sam kept saying they were NOT going to be lovey mushy like John and Sarah but instead they were a whole different cliche - the No-I-Shouldn't-Form-Attachments-Because-People-Die-In-War one. Yawn.

The things I did like:

- Ella's POV- you GO girl! It is so easy to forget she's 12.

- John being a leader. You, sexy, you. 

- Adam the Mogadorian- he's cool, respectful, and useful. Great addition to the crew. 

- In general, understanding the Mogadorians. Ella's time with Setrakus Ra FINALLY explains a lot of things you've been wondering about for a while. 

- As usual, Nine. His lines make the book(:

All in all, still a pleasure to read, but not nearly as much as the previous one. I will, of course, finish the series, because, well, the Garde are just that cool. Still highly recommended. 
Rating:

Happy reading!
Esty

Review: The Fall of Five

The Fall of Five (The Lorien Legacies #4)
Pittacus Lore
YA Science Fiction

The Garde are finally reunited, but do they have what it takes to win the war against the Mogadorians?

John Smith—Number Four—thought that things would change once the Garde found each other. They would stop running. They would fight the Mogadorians. And they would win.

But he was wrong. After facing off with the Mogadorian ruler and almost being annihilated, the Garde know they are drastically unprepared and hopelessly outgunned. Now they’re hiding out in Nine’s Chicago penthouse, trying to figure out their next move.

The six of them are powerful, but they’re not strong enough yet to take on an entire army—even with the return of an old ally. To defeat their enemy, the Garde must master their Legacies and learn to work together as a team. More importantly, they’ll have to discover the truth about the Elders and their plan for the Loric survivors.

And when the Garde receive a sign from Number Five—a crop circle in the shape of a Loric symbol—they know they are so close to being reunited. But could it be a trap? Time is running out, and the only thing they know for certain is that they have to get to Five before it’s too late.

The Garde may have lost battles, but they will not lose this war.Lorien will rise again.

God, I waited sooooooo long for this book. I have been in love with this series ever since I Am Number Four. I recommend it to EVERYONE.  

This is going to be a short review, for the simple reason of I HAVE NOTHING TO CRITICIZE. Reading this novel was the funnest experience I've had since summer break- as in I had this big, goofy smile on my face for the entire week I was reading it. To emphasize-

Classmate: "We're learning a fairly depressing subject. WHY DO YOU LOOK SO HAPPY?"

Me: THE GARDE ARE PLAYING CAPTURE THE FLAG AND NINE AND FOUR ARE CAPTAINS AND THEY KNOW EACH OTHER SO WELL THAT THEY'RE PREDICTING EACH OTHER'S MOVES AND THEN IT SWITCHES POV AND YOU SEE THAT THE FIRST PERSON WAS ABSOLUTELY RIGHT AND SARAH AND MARINA ARE DISTRACTING FOUR AND EIGHT BY SMILING FLIRTATIOUSLY AT THEM AND GOD THIS IS SO MUCH FUN KILL ME NOW.

All I can add to the above is say that this was just one of my favorite scenes- the entire book was incredible. A bunch of powerful teenagers hanging at a totally decked out bachelor pad in Chicago. I dare you to not enjoy every minute of it. 

The only thing? The ending will make you go WHAT OMG NO HOW-
Rating: 


Love,
Esty

Review: The Host

The Host 
Stephenie Meyer
Dyastopia/Sci Fi

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.

Featuring one of the most unusual love triangles in literature, THE HOST is a riveting and unforgettable novel about the persistence of love and the essence of what it means to be human.

Hi all. Sorry I haven't been around much this week- it's been a holiday so celebrations and vacation.  But of course I found time to read and have just finished this AMAZING  but monstrosity of a book (in a good way. I just mean it's huge:)). 

First of all, let me start off and say that even if you HATED Twilight you HAVE to give this book a chance.  Because while yes, Bella is a pain in the butt,  Stephenie Meyer more than makes up for her with  not one but TWO  courageous and selfless heroines. Both Melanie and Wanderer majorly impressed me with their acceptance and eventually friendship of one another, their ability to love deeply but not unreasonably, the things they both did and were willing to do for their family and loved ones. 

Another thing that this had going for it was the originality. Aside from the Lorien Legacies (which I adore)  this is the only YA book featuring alien invasion of Earth in recent years (at least that I know of. If you have more, tell me!) and it was so different from anything out there- I had no idea what to expect as the plot progressed. Also, the souls weren't trying to destroy Earth,  rather experience it,  which gave the story a whole new direction.

As for the Stephenie Meyer staple- the love triangle. I am happy to announce this was nothing less than A LOVE-FREAKING-RECTANGLE.  It wasn't that simple.  But there were four people in three bodies who all loved each other and it wasn't always requited. Now I know what you're thinking. This could have been a literary catastrophe.  But who better than Stephenie Meyer, who invented the mother of all love triangles,  to tackle this? It was GENIUS.  I loved it.  It caused some heartache, but I am glad to say I wasn't sure of who loves who and how it was going to turn out until passed halfway. And even then,  I couldn't be sure of the ending until I got there.  ( A VERY GOOD THING)

Which brings me to my last point. The ending.  I'm happy to say I couldn't predict it until Wanderer herself decided upon it, and even then, the epilogue came with a mostly surprising twist. I say 'mostly' because I had a hunch something like that was going to happen, but wasn't sure and there was no foreshadowing in which to back myself up. You see, I always feel that authors have a signature way they like to end books and have yet to come across an author who has two drastically different endings (I'm talking about final endings.  As in, the end of a series or standalone novel), so according to my belief, something like that should happen. But it was skillfully hidden and if not for that notion that is my personal opinion (which proved to be right in this case!) I would never have called it out.  Grade: 95%