REMAKE by Ilima Todd

On Goodreads

The Blurb: 
Nine is the ninth female born in her batch of ten females and ten males. By design, her life in Freedom Province is without complications or consequences. However, such freedom comes with a price. The Prime Maker is determined to keep that price a secret from the new batches of citizens that are born, nurtured, and raised androgynously. 

But Nine isn't like every other batcher. She harbors indecision and worries about her upcoming Remake Day -- her seventeenth birthday, the age when batchers fly to the Remake facility and have the freedom to choose who and what they'll be.

When Nine discovers the truth about life outside of Freedom
Province, including the secret plan of the Prime Maker, she is
pulled between two worlds and two lives. Her decisions will test
her courage, her heart, and her beliefs. Who can she trust? Who does she love? And most importantly, who will she decide to be?

The Afterglow:

I've had my eye on this book for quite some time, ever since I first saw it at the local Deseret Bookstore. When I got it for Christmas, I was thrilled!

Gender is a hot-button cultural issue with many psychological and religious, even political, undertones. Thus, I was very impressed to see an author of faith had taken it on. That's brave. People of faith aren't politically popular right now, unless you're the Pope. And wearing it on your sleeve can earn you plenty of condemnation from your peers. Sure enough, when I went to rate this book FIVE STARS on Goodreads, I ended up exposed to plenty of negative, even angry, reviews. Fortunately, there are enough glowing reviews to land it very near to four whole stars cumulatively.

But this is an Afterglow Review, and this review blog is reserved for those books that wow-ed you, impressed you, or changed you, leaving you somehow better. Remake did that for me. I read it with my husband, which made me blush a bit in the particularly gushy parts, but definitely made the humor more fun. The mystery of it left us speculating and predicting throughout the book as we tried to figure out exactly why Nine is the way she is, so different from everyone else, and what the Prime Maker would do with her if she didn't do what was expected.

The part that impacted me, though, was the artful articulation of the true meaning and joy of FAMILY. It is, after all, what this book is all about. It ponders the questions, "Is family important? Necessary? Desirable? Or is it restrictive of freedom, oppressive of women, and inciting to revolution?"

For those of us who advocate for the continued protection of the natural family (I include myself as a homeschool mom who advocates for parents rights), family means something more to us than it seems to mean to those who believe a child is better off as a ward of the state. It means bundles of pride and joy, to be sure, but it also means mutual sacrifice, deep and abiding love, and an eternal sense of belonging that goes beyond all other affiliations in your life. Not everyone feels this way about family, and not everyone has had a beautiful experience in her own family. It can be difficult for family-lovers to articulate exactly why the family unit is worth protecting and proliferating.

Ilima Todd gently and with plenty of awkward humor, helps us discover the depth of meaning in the family pattern through the eyes of an androgynous girl without family who is fostered into a tight-knit, God-fearing, and hard-working family. From her new mother, she learns what a mother even is, that it's sometimes a painful role to play, and that her impact with a few whispered words can reach her children months later across an ocean. From her new father, she learns how fathers and mothers lead together, how the love of parents is the glue that binds the whole family together, and how to lead with love. From her new siblings, she learns that you can be happy no matter your circumstances, that complaining makes things a lot worse, and that everybody in the family has work they can do for the good of all.

Even though Nine is eased into this new life, it is still very alien to her, having grown up in a batch of genetically engineered children as the social pariah with only one best friend to protect her from ceaseless teasing. She weighs the good and the bad in what she sees, and struggles with concepts like freedom vs. loyalty or choice vs. acceptance of things that aren't easily changed. All she's ever wanted her entire life is to change who she is completely so she can be more like her best friend in every way, even down to his gender. She mistakenly believes that strength and courage are male traits. Right up to the last chapter, the reader must wonder what she will choose to be. Even if you disagree with the Biblical and historic definitions of family, this story will allow you to explore what a world would be like where children aren't considered their parents' charges and natural birth within families is not only discouraged, but illegal.

A good dystopia shows us ourselves in a fun-house mirror to make us think about the distortions and what the real picture is and should be. Suzanne Collins in The Hunger Games forced us to realize the disgusting glamorization of violence in our entertainment by inventing a society where war and entertainment were one and the same. Ilima Todd has shown us our disregard for family stewardship, parents rights, and a child's need for the complementary and different abilities of both parents by inventing a society that isolates children from any constant caregivers, punishes parents for procreating and systematically sterilizes new citizens of a city ironically called Freedom 1.

In one particularly haunting conversation with the Prime Maker, Nine asks herself, "And what if I choose to be me?"


 

PITY ISN'T AN OPTION by Jessica Brooks

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I am just... moved. Touched. Changed. Which is exactly what Afterglow Book Reviews is here for, to give us a chance to share these book-induced feelings with the world. There's something different about Jessica Brooks' debut novel, Pity Isn't An Option. It's more contemplative than I'm used to, and the writing is just gorgeous. It doesn't gimmick or formulate. It just goes. It just journeys. That's how I feel, like I just went on a journey that changed me.

Have you ever been on an adventure like that in real life? When I was a kid I went on a hike with my family and some friends. It was horrible and wonderful. Our friends got motion sick in the car on the way there. We hiked too slowly. The sun blazed overhead. We ran out of water at the halfway point and still had a long way to get back to the cars. The mother of the other family collapsed with heat exhaustion. We prayed. We walked along a dry riverbed looking for water. And we prayed. And we sucked on Juniper berries. Did I mention we prayed? When we discovered water, we went crazy, jumping all over in it, soaking our hot skin and our clothes, drinking it where it ran down the rocks. Best day of my childhood. I don't even remember the hike back. Just that incredible moment when our prayers were answered and we could fill out canteens for our friends waiting up the trail. One day, one simple adventure. Life defining.

That's how it feels to read PITY ISN'T AN OPTION.

It's the first of a series. The author classifies it as YA contemporary with dystopian elements. I'd classify it as near-future YA dystopian. It's a five-years-down-the-road-if-the-economy-keeps-going-downhill-and-our-political-system-gets-even-more-corrupt kind of thing. President Kendrick refuses to relinquish the presidency, and he's forcibly conscripting a civilian army for some unknown purpose. All the citizens know is that when their fathers and sons are taken, they are never heard from again. The Union holds meetings and talks about fighting back, but everyone is scared and nothing ever really happens. Hattie and Jonas experience a day-to-day tension that finally reaches a boiling point and forces them to action. The pace of this novel is slow suspense in the beginning and gets super intense at about the 60% mark. By that point, I felt a bond with the characters that wouldn't let me go. Wanless, their town, just feels all too real. (It doesn't help that I just read the part in Gone with the Wind when the land around Tara is desolated.)

The theme of the book (from my perspective) is Luke 12:27 "Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these."

Dark, yet marbled through with streaks of hope, PITY ISN'T AN OPTION reminds us we're not in control of anything except our own choices. And Jonas and Hattie do not disappoint on that score.

The blog tour for PIAO has ended, but you can still read excerpts and get to know the author:

Le Blog Tour Stops

Full disclosure, Jessica Brooks is one of our reviewers.




 

STUNG by Bethany Wiggins

Amazon: Stung by Bethany Wiggins

About the Book

Releases April 2nd, 2013 by Walker Childrens

304 Pages

There is no cure for being stung.

Fiona doesn’t remember going to sleep. But when she opens her eyes, she discovers her entire world has been altered—her house is abandoned and broken, and the entire neighborhood is barren and dead. Even stranger is the tattoo on her right hand—a black oval with five marks on either side—that she doesn’t remember getting but somehow knows she must cover at any cost. She’s right.

Those bearing the tattoo have turned into mindless, violent beasts that roam the streets and sewers, preying upon the unbranded while a select few live protected inside a fortress-like wall, their lives devoted to rebuilding society and killing all who bear the mark.

Now Fiona has awakened branded, alone—and on the wrong side of the wall.

The Afterglow:

I just finished a NetGalley e-ARC of this book, and I'm giddy with excitement over this series. Having read and loved Bethany Wiggins' debut, SHIFTING (Afterglow review here), I jumped at the opportunity for an early look at STUNG, the first book in a new series.

My initial thoughts were that this had some of the same elements I loved from THE MAZE RUNNER (Afterglow review here):

• unreliable protagonist with a compromised memory
• hints about some horrible disease
• a giant wall between safety and horror
• special terms specific to this universe
• twisty plot that plays with the concepts of good/bad, obedience/rebellion
• a balance of hope and despair

This is just to point out similarities within the YA dystopia/thriller genre, and not to imply any kind of copy-catting. STUNG is unique in many ways. One of my favorite ways is the Sleeping Beauty retelling aspect. I also love that Fiona, our first-person protagonist is not hardened against the world. In fact, the last she can remember, she was only thirteen. She woke up four years older but with all the emotions and memories of a thirteen-year-old. That's an ambitious undertaking for any author, but Bethany Wiggins does a great job showing how a thirteen-year-old would act when thrust into a situation--and a body--that demands she behave like an older person. I read a scathing review of this book (I must stop reading those) that questioned a lot of Fiona's reactions. That reviewer seemed to think she was reading about Lara Croft. Fiona is not Lara Croft. She's Fiona Tarsis, a seventeen-year-old girl who can't remember the past four years of her life. A prodigious pianist who is used to comforts and protection. Characterization is one of the areas Bethany Wiggins excels at! Recall my SHIFTING review, wherein I raved about the character Maggie Mae, as one of the most complete, realistic characters I'd ever read. Particularly in a high-concept novel, it's a feat to include this depth of characterization, if only because the author is usually so busy fleshing out a whole new world and keeping the pace lively. 

Fast-paced is how I would describe STUNG. It really did catch me up in the beginning and not let go until the ride was over. I loved the romance. I felt I was watching two people with a shadowy history as childhood acquaintances come to see each other in a new light, and they fall in love at a human pace. Although I love a rip-roaring action pace as much as the next YA dystopia reader, I like my romance to be more thoughtfully paced, a la Katniss and Peeta. 

As a loose retelling of Sleeping Beauty, it has a fantastic twist in the end that puts Fiona in the Prince role, so to speak. And there is lots of kissing. :)

Who will love STUNG? Fans of SHIFTING, THE MAZE RUNNER, THE HUNGER GAMES, DIVERGENT, and anybody who craves action in their fiction. There's no shortage of it here!

p.s. Don't you just love this cover?

Find Bethany: Website | Goodreads | Twitter
Find Stung: Goodreads | Barnes and Noble | Amazon | The Book Depository | IndieBound

Operation Awesome will be joining the STUNG blog tour on March 27-28.

THE FORGETTING CURVE by Angie Smibert

My first read of 2013 was MEMENTO NORA by Angie Smibert, and I Afterglowed that one, too.

But Book 2 in the series?

Even. better!

I just clicked out of my kindle copy of THE FORGETTING CURVE and I am experiencing some serious Afterglow feels. Angie Smibert is an expert at giving me a less-than-happy ending that manages to offer both hope and meaning. I kind of feel like part of the revolution now.

Before I get too rambly, let me show you the book I'm gushing over:

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"This sequel to Memento Nora follows tech-wiz Aiden, who joins the growing underground resistance."

DISCLAIMER: Not the actual blurb. Goodreads was lame, so I wrote my own:

Fresh out of his boarding school in Switzerland, where terrorist attacks are only just beginning, Aiden is looking for trouble, doors to rattle on, code to de-crypt, something--anything--to hack and charm his way into. 
His cousin Winter sent him some strange hollowed out book filled with a homemade comic called MEMENTO, but when he joins her in the states, she doesn't remember sending it... or printing it... or ever seeing it before in her life. All she can tell him is that it's definitely her friend Micah's artwork. 
Winter, you see, is crazy. Her parents think so. Her doctors think so. The hummingbirds that flutter in her mind disagree. So do her kinetic sculptures, lurching and ticking and beeping in the breeze of her grandfather's Japanese-style rock garden. 
Velvet knows Winter isn't crazy, not that anybody would ask a thrift store clerk with no specific talents or hobbies other than being able to throw together a killer retro outfit. Velvet has Aiden's number from the beginning, and she won't be charmed into anything. But when Aiden comes up with a way to save Winter from the over-medication that's turning her into Stepford Winter, even Velvet is impressed... a little bit. 
Then things get intense. People aren't just forgetting anymore. They're remembering things that didn't really happen. The MemeCast infiltrates mobiles. The revolution will be co-opted. 

No place is safe anymore.

My Afterglow: 

I read a review for this second book before I had the chance to start it myself, which I always/usually regret. This time it set my expectations kind of low because the reviewer didn't enjoy the narrating characters (Winter, Aiden, and Velvet)  as much as she had in the first book (Nora, Micah, and Winter).

Boy, I couldn't disagree with her more!

As much as I enjoyed the first book, I LOVED the second book.

The narrators were my kind of crazy (literally, different brain chemistry from "normal" folks), and each with his or her own unique way of seeing the world.

For Winter, it's the hummingbirds (caged bird motif?) that drive her to tinker, to create.

For Aiden, it's this idea of needing to rattle doors, see which ones will open to him (hacker).

For Velvet, it's a killer sense of thrift store fashion with her very own Book of Velvet filled with rules that keep her emotionally safe.

See what I mean? They're crazy. And I LOVED it. Set against a backdrop of corporate/government conspiracy to control the populace with TFC's (the distributor of a neurochemical that "helps" you forget traumatic events), crazy is exactly what we need for tour guides!

Beyond the killer concept of this, and the fantastic characterization, there's this wellspring of emotion that just freaking geysers at the end. The last few scenes are short and painful, and yet...

Like I said before, there's this hope. There's this meaning.

It's profound.

Without the violence of the Hunger Games series (which I also read and loved), MEMENTO NORA and THE FORGETTING CURVE give you all that deep, thoughtful exploration into the mind of man, his free will vs. the machine. Even though both series are dystopias, it's not really a comparison because the books have completely different tones. The narrators of MEMENTO NORA and THE FORGETTING CURVE are more accessible than Katniss, at least to the modern teen. It's a glossy future, not a dusty coal town. It's a future within which many teens can probably picture themselves trapped... in a "safe" living compound with parents who make sure they're properly chipped according to the law. As such, it feels more present, like something you might live through in your lifetime.

The character arcs totally worked. The relationships felt genuine (which is why the emotion geyser at the end hit me so hard). I can't wait to read The Meme Plague.

Here's what the author says about the third book, set to release August 13, 2013.

Unravel Me

The Goodreads blurb:

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tick

tick

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it's almost

time for war.

Juliette has escaped to Omega Point. It is a place for people like her—people with gifts—and it is also the headquarters of the rebel resistance.

She's finally free from The Reestablishment, free from their plan to use her as a weapon, and free to love Adam. But Juliette will never be free from her lethal touch.

Or from Warner, who wants Juliette more than she ever thought possible.

In this exhilarating sequel to Shatter Me, Juliette has to make life-changing decisions between what she wants and what she thinks is right. Decisions that might involve choosing between her heart—and Adam's life.

Wow. Just.... Wow. I'm so glad I stayed away from spoilers before reading this. There were a couple of unexpected twists that had me sitting up in my bed yelling, "Holy crap"! And "This is going to be such a good movie--is it going to be a movie?" and "oh my GOSH!!!"

Without giving too much away, Unravel Me picks up with Juliette and Adam (her boyfriend, one of two people in the entire world immune to her deadly touch) and Adam's pal, Kenji, in the compound they escaped to at the end of the first book in the trilogy, Shatter Me (the compound's called Omega Point). Kenji is by far my favorite character out of all of them, now. He's the quick-witted, sarcastic friend everyone wants to knock upside the head, but still loves to pieces.

One of the main points in Unravel Me is Adam and Juliette trying to learn how to deal with/harness their "energy". Adam discovers something about his "energy" that is a big issue in his relationship with Juliette (Issues are constantly coming up in this book. Constantly.) and that's quite the problem. Juliette still isn't sure how to get her strength to work on command, though boy are there some up close and personal strength moments in there!

Another main point is Warner. Now, if you plan on reading this series, I am telling you, you need to read the novella (ebook), Destroy Me, before reading Unravel Me. I am serious. This is Warner's story, it gives you a window into his brain, his heart and his soul, and not reading it before Unravel Me will only make you want to go read it halfway through Unravel Me to hear more about him, anyway (or kick yourself for not reading it first when you read it after Unravel Me). So, just read it first. I promise you will thank me later.

Regarding sensuality in this book, the heat is turned up even higher than in Shatter Me. Another... wow. There are moments you really truly did not think would ever happen. There are moments you're wanting something to happen, even though you know you should not be wanting it to happen! I wish I could say more, but I don't want to give it away! (As I was reading/reacting, my 13 year-old asked if she could read it. It's going to have to be a no--obviously others will feel different, but I'm talking hot and steamy Nicholas Sparks-y scenes here, guys.)

Regarding the "holy crap" moments, I am not going to ruin the mystery. But let me just say, Tahereh did a wonderful job of tying something in perfectly to where I almost thought later, Well of course she would write it that way--it's perfect. Of course! (And then another OH MY GOSH!)

A quick point before I draw this (hopefully really vague but decent) review to a close: for readers who have issues with Tahereh's prose and metaphors, I personally felt that she relaxed on those a little bit. (Or maybe I was just reading over them too quickly to notice!) And honestly, if just feels like Juliette. That's who she is.

Bottom line: if you liked Shatter Me, you're going to love Unravel Me. If you liked the novella Destroy Me, you're going to love Unravel Me even more. And if you're like me, you're definitely going to be rooting for... Warner.

MEMENTO NORA by Angie Smibert

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The Blurb:

On an otherwise glossy day, a blast goes off and a body thuds to the ground at Nora's feet. There are terrorist attacks in the city all the time, but Nora can't forget.

In Nora's world you don't have to put up with nightmares. Nora goes with her mother to TFC--a Therapeutic Forgetting Clinic. There, she can describe her horrible memory and take a pill to erase it so she can go onlike nothing ever happened. But at TFC a chance encounter with a mysterious guy changes Nora's life. She doesn't take the pill. And when Nora learns the memory her mother has chosen to forget, she realizes that someone needs to remember.

With newfound friends Micah and Winter, Nora makes a comic book of their memories called Memento. Memento is an instant hit, but it sets off a dangerous chain of events. Will Nora, Micah, and Winter be forced to take the Big Pill that will erase their memories forever?

Angie Smibert's remarkable debut novel takes readers on a thrilling ride through a shadowy world where corporations secretly rule and consumerism is praised above all.

The Afterglow:

Memento Nora had me from hello. The title caught my interest because it was so different. Then the blurb held my interest. I immediately put it on my to-read list on goodreads, hoping to spend money on it another day since I was already maxed out that month (a common problem for me). It was just before Christmas that I remembered it. Maybe you can figure out why from the timing. I thought about all the things people wish they could forget, things they can't explain, traumatic things. And I wondered how it would be handled in a book where a pill can help you forget a trauma. 

It was handled well.

From three different points of view, Angie Smibert leads you into this world where consumerism is more than a fashion thing, it's a way of life. And if you stop consuming/buying things long enough to notice what's wrong in society, you might just disappear. 

Things I loved:

• a friendship where half the dialogue takes place through thoughts and facial expressions because they're just that tight. And it actually works. 
• a romance that didn't hit me over the head, was subtle and realistic in a surreal world. 
• a character with an artistic temperament (read: crazy) who builds kinetic sculptures!
• accidental revolutionaries
• unique characters with solid back stories
• the ending. Here's where I always have to be careful because I don't want to give any spoilers. I'll just say that the ending is both inevitable and surprising, troubling and satisfying. Can't figure out what that means? Me neither. Just read the book!

Also, the voice is fantastic! There's art in much of the prose, but it doesn't detract from the story at all. In fact, Winter's POV wouldn't be Winter without it.

As with many excellent books these days, this is the first in a series. I'll be hopping into the next one here soon:

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