Joint Book Review Discussion: The Predicteds by Christine Seifert

So Michelle of Galleysmith and I thought it would be fun to have a conversational review about a few of my dystopian reads this month. These will be more in-depth than my usual reviews and discuss plot points in a non-spoilery way.  We'll be posting about a different book every Thursday, and this week, THE PREDICTEDS is up.

Here's the official summary:

Daphne is the new girl in town and is having trouble fitting in. At least she has Jesse... sort of. He wants to be more than "just friends," but there's something he's not telling her about his past. Something dangerous. When a female student is brutally attacked, police turn to PROFILE, a new program that can predict a student's capacity for drug use, pregnancy, and violent behavior, to solve the case. As the witch hunt ensues, Daphne is forced to question her feelings for Jesse-and what she will do if her first love turns out to be a killer.

Michelle and I decided to discuss four topics: Genre classification, Believability, Discrimination and Predictability.  The first two we discuss below, the second two we discuss over at Galleysmith.

Genre classification 

LENORE:

Based on the premise, I expected this to be a sort of MINORITY REPORT for teens.  I guess that’s why I thought the prologue was Daphne being arrested by PROFILE police for either aiding and abetting Jesse (her Predicted love interest) or rebellion or something of that nature.  But my expectations were way off.  I don’t think readers should go into this expecting a classic dystopia – if anything this is a very, very limited dystopia.  In fact, I was surprised to discover while reading that PROFILE was available at only one Oklahoma school and was very peripheral to the plot for most of the book.

MICHELLE:

I wouldn't classify this book as dystopian at all.  PROFILE wasn't a government-based initiative and it didn't oppress an entire population.  At first I was thinking it was veering into science fiction but the more I thought on it I'd say this book falls more into the psychological thriller or contemporary genre than anything else.  As you mentioned, the bulk of the plot centralizes around personal relationships and there is quite a bit of attention paid to more ethical issues like bigotry and free-will.    I could see where your thought that it was a limited dystopia based on Daphne's rebellion against PROFILE rings true but that still wasn't enough for me to put it firmly in that classification.

LENORE:

Yeah, I don't think readers should go into this expecting a dystopia, though the potential was definitely there.  It was actually set-up like a typical mystery/thriller, except that it wasn't particularly mysterious.

MICHELLE:  True that on the un-mysterious mystery.

Believability

LENORE:

I really liked that the stakes were upped for Daphne by making her mother the designer of PROFILE  (Predictive Readout of Forseen and Illustrative Life Effects: a computer program that examines a range of psychological data to predict how likely someone is to commit a violent act, become an addict or have social problems).  However, what I don’t understand is why, if Daphne’s mother had moral objections to the program that made her quit the project, she moved many states away to enroll her daughter in the one and only test school. That makes her kind of a pyscho if you ask me …

MICHELLE:

I know right!?  And more than that, if her mother had ethical objections strong enough to quit her job, continue research on her own and move to the place where alpha tests were occurring why wasn't she publicly screaming from the rooftops about PROFILE being bad?  I'd be working the whistle-blower angle all over the place!  I felt like she should have been less focused on being in her office and continuing research as opposed to being some sort of active deterrent to it all.  It made the fact that she finally tried to take limited action later feel hollow and pointless.  I also didn't get why she was so intimidated by the school administration.  These people had no influence on her.

LENORE:

But otherwise, I liked the mother.  She's a kooky scientist type, but there was some nice growth in her relationship with Daphne in the narrative.  

MICHELLE: I liked the mother but it seemed out of place for me.  But I agree the development of their relationship was a high point in the book.  Frankly, I actually found Daphne to be most believable character in the book.  She was relatively reserved and quite self-aware.  She wanted to facilitate change but given her position in the HS hierarchy wasn't too thrilled with the prospect of rocking the boat too far.  It was interesting to see her take the steps she did given the fact that she was on a bit of a roller-coaster ride between the popular crowd and outcasts.

Continue reading our discussion at Galleysmith.

Zombie chickens say: We predict mean girls in your future.

THE PREDICTEDS comes out at the end of this month on August 31, 2011.  Find out more about it at the publisher's website.

Song for the Ultimate Dystopian Playlist: The Killer Inside by Better than Ezra.  Sample lyric: "And I hope that she believes. Yes I wonder if she sees the killer inside me."

See index of all dystopian reviews on Presenting Lenore

Book Review: The Water Wars by Cameron Stracher

Vera lives with her family in the Republic of Illinowa – what’s left of the Midwestern US in a future where the politics of water determine whether you have enough water to thrive…or not. Vera’s family is just getting by. And then she meets Kai, a boy who seems to have a limitless supply of water. When Kai is kidnapped, Vera convinces her brother Will that they need to rescue him, and the two set off on the adventure of their lives.

This one really works because of the atmosphere and world building. I really believed in this dried out land and in these dried out people, with their thick tongues, flaky skin and willingness to do anything just to get a drink. And I am a fan of anything that frames the complexities of geo-politics in an exciting way. Stracher is able to weave a convincing portrait of how people would adapt to a world where water is the most precious resource around.

I’ll admit, though, it’s not my favorite type of plot. Vera and Will’s path is more often determined for them than not, like they are being swept away by a raging river and can only hang for dear life. The teens are bounced from one dangerous situation to the next with little breathing room or time for reflection.

Ultimately, I really liked it though. Vera is sympathetic and smart and there are a host of colorful supporting characters, like the water pirate Ulysses and the harpoon wielding vigilante Sula, who are really fun to spend time with. I also liked that it ended on a high note after quite a cool final showdown.

My rating? 3 Zombie Chickens – Well-worth reading, especially for adventure fans.

This one doesn't come out until January 1, 2011 but come back later today for an interview with the author and a giveaway.

See index of all dystopian reviews on Presenting Lenore

Book Review: Picture the Dead by Adele Griffin

Jennie’s brother and fiancé have both been killed in the Civil War which jeopardizes Jennie’s position in her aunt and uncle’s household. When she finds herself getting closer to her dead fiancé’s brother Quinn, strange things start happening. Are ghosts trying to tell her something?

The atmosphere and all the lovingly rendered period details really sucked me into this one. It was a quick read with a mostly satisfying twist at the end (the fact that it was so surprising had to do more with a bit of a lack in the character development, imho).

Although Jennie is of marrying age which makes this YA, the novel is written with a certain simplicity that reminds me more of middle grade novels.

This was one of the books I took with me on my Dublin trip, and the first I started after Finn died. I kept wondering if the spirit photographer would be willing to take a picture of me to see if Finn would show up. He'd probably be biting my ear!

PICTURE THE DEAD is available in hardcover now. Find out more about it at http://www.picturethedead.com/.

Author Interview and Giveaway: Rachelle Rogers Knight discusses Read, Remember, Recommend for Teens

I'm today's stop on Rachelle Rogers Knight's Traveling to Teens tour for her new reading journal, READ, REMEMBER, RECOMMEND FOR TEENS. I shared my impressions of the journal earlier today, and now I welcome Rachelle for an interview.

Your reading journal places a lot of focus on award winners. Do award lists help you yourself select what to read?
I am very picky about what I read, and because I have limited time to devote to reading I feel strongly about reading really 'good stuff'. I love the awards lists - because the highest literary critics and academics in the land have spent countless hours pouring over the latest books to find the "best". This saves the rest of us readers from having to pour over the same books - we get to go right to the cream of the crop and read the best.

Not only do I like the award lists, but I think the finalist lists for those same awards are equally if not more important as a source of reading recommendations. It is hard to conceive of just one 'best' and the finalist lists offer more of a great thing. When I go back over my reading, I have read more of the finalists than the actual winners in some cases.

What resources (other than awards lists) do you use to find book recommendations? Are book blogs important to you? What do you look for in a book blog?
I get recommendations from a myriad of sources including newspaper reviews, online reviews, magazine articles and book blogs. When choosing blogs for my own personal reading, I look for blogs with similar tastes to mine with quality reviews that don't give away too much of the story.

Now that you've been getting user feedback on the journal, is there anything you'd do differently in an updated edition?
I think we may try and increase the number of pages in some of the sections. This is more of a publishing concern, but it is something I will definitely chat with Sourcebooks (my publisher) about. It is a hard balance to include the lists I wanted to include as well as all of the other sections - but not make it too large.

You seem like a very organized person. Is there an any area of your life is chaotic at all?
I wish I could be as organized in every other part of my life as with my books.
My reading life is very important to me - my means of escape at the end of each day. I think it's the one area I feel I have complete control. When I created the fiction journal, it was just for me - I needed some way of keeping this very important pastime organizing, because I didn't want to waste a single, precious minute of my few hours of reading searching for a list or a good recommendation.

Thanks Rachelle! Rachelle has a giveaway of one copy of her journal especially for Presenting Lenore readers. Please follow this link to enter! I'm not sure if this is for international readers as well, but go ahead and enter. Giveaway closes on May 21, 2010.

Find out more about the book at http://www.bibliobabe.com/.

Book Review: Read, Remember, Recommend for Teens by Rachelle Rogers Knight

For my review today I am going to give you a reenactment of my reactions to this book journal for teens as I went through it.

At first glance, I was excited. The design is attractive and inviting enough for a $15.99 price point. The spine/spiral binding makes it look a bit like a cookbook, but the inside pages are sturdy and it’s easy to flip through. I’d be willing to pay more for a hardcover and a three-ring binder format so I could add/take out pages

Now, of course, being a book blogger, my first stop was the Young Adult Literature Blog section I had been hearing so much about. I already suspected I wasn’t on the list (and no I am not), and although she definitely got some things right, I was frankly surprised by some of the odd inclusions and flagrant omissions. First off, I know the publishing process is a long one, but, come on – The Book Bopper hasn’t blogged since June of 2008, and the last time All Five Stars blogged regularly was January 2009!! Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast is a wonderful book blog that I adore, but its' focus is picture books, hardly ever posting anything young adult. And then…no Steph Su Reads? No Jen Robinson? No Bookshelves of Doom? No Bildungsroman? No Chasing Ray? No Angieville? Those are like the bread and butter of YA book blogs!

So my next act was to attempt to find out who the author was and what made her an “expert” on YA lit. I was starting to doubt her credentials, and I needed some reassurance. I looked everywhere, the introduction, the table of contents, the back…not one personal word about the author. Strange – and unsettling. (ETA: an enterprising reader might notice the ad on the last page of the journal that suggests visiting www.bibliobabe.com "for all the newest award winners and news." Even here, however, it doesn't state that this is the personal blog of the author. If you visit the bibilobabe website about page, you will see that Rachelle calls herself a passionate reader, a book lover and a bibliophile. Credentials enough? Debate among yourselves.)

Ok, then I grabbed a pen and started going through the Awards & Notables list, a section that takes up nearly 200 pages or about 2/3 of the book. It starts with the National Book Award and has checkboxes to mark if you own, recommend, have in your tbr, or want each of the books. I marked “want” for Judy Blundell’s 2008 award winner WHAT I SAW AND HOW I LIED. Then I went down the list and marked “own” and “recommend” for Louis Sachar’s 1998 award winner HOLES. I went through another 23 pages, dutifully checking off books before I got bored … and a bit frustrated. What should I do if I own the book but haven’t read it? Check “own” and “to read”? Ok, no problem. But what if I’ve read a book, but don’t own it and don’t recommend it? What should I do then? There is enough room in the margin for me to make my own category, “read, not owned”, so I did that.

Then I flipped through the To Read section and the Journal Pages. All seem pretty useful, but I need more! With all the blogs that I read, I could fill the To Read section within a week! And with all the books I read, the Journal Pages would fill up fast too. This is why I’d love the option of a three ring binder with extra pages.

The Recommendations section is one I probably wouldn’t use, since if I want to recommend a book, I just recommend it. I don’t need to write that info down in a journal. The Loaner Lists is something I do already, but I really like the format here. It’s way more organized than mine!

And then I am back at the Resources section. In addition to the lacking bloggers section, there are some author sites to check out (also missing many of my personal favorites) and some other helpful listings. There’s also a bit about literary terms (not written by the author) and then an extensive index.

Verdict – in its current state, this journal is not really that useful to me, or any voracious reader really, except perhaps for one who wants to read and keep track of many, many award winners. I’d love a more premium version with a 3 ring binder and the ability to buy extra pages separately. Of course I realize that most of the world’s population doesn’t read as much as I do, so for the teen who reads 2-3 books a month, this compact journal might be ideal.

Coming up later today, I have an interview with the author and a chance to win a copy of the journal for yourself.

Book Review and Giveaway: Dreaming Anastasia by Joy Preble

Anne has a terrifying recurring dream that she’s trapped in a tiny cabin – that’s she’s someone else. And that someone else happens to be Anastasia Romanov – the youngest daughter of the last Czar of Russia. One day a strange young man appears who tells Anne that it’s her destiny to save Anastasia and tells her an incredible story of one fateful night back nearly 100 years ago.

One fateful night about 7 years ago, I saw the movie Wes Craven’s They which was about teens plagued by night terrors who are dragged away by dark magic that traps them in another plane forever. Since seeing that film, I’ve had my own terrifying dreams of being trapped somewhere tiny and/or dark. (I’ve even had day terrors to this effect when using airplane lavatories).

Anyway, the thought of anyone being trapped anywhere completely freaks me out, so if I really had force myself through some very unsettling (to me) passages. Fortunately, the compelling mix of Russian history, folklore, magic and a smart modern day heroine distracted me enough from my terror to be able to finish the novel.

On a purely superficial level, the story not only holds up, it entertains mightily. We ride along on a wave of action scenes and of characters’ discoveries of how Anne can go about rescuing Anastasia. Anne and Ethan have an “electrifying” chemistry, and there are touching as well as comic relief moments thrown in as well. But if I dig a little deeper and start to ask myself about character motivations, I find myself with some unanswered questions, especially in regards to the “villain” of the novel (and what he does at the end).

Just one more thing – Anastasia writes five letters to her family from her magical prison – and while these give us more insight into her character and important background information, they are presented in an old-fashioned script typeface which is frustratingly difficult to read. It’s a bit better than the chicken scratch my grandmother pens in her letters to me, but not by much.

DREAMING ANASTASIA is available in paperback now. Find out more about it at the author’s website. Also, find a ton of other reviews and some fascinating interviews by checking out the rest of her blog tour stops (scheldule here).

To kick off Book Blogger Appreciation Week, I also have one copy of DREAMING ANASTASIA to give away to one of my readers with a US or Canadian mailing address. If you want it, just tell me in the comments which historical person you’d pick to meet given the chance and what you’d talk about. Contest ends at 11:59 PM on September 19th.