The books you read.
The music you listen to.
The person you love.
Yet for Cassia the rules have changed. Ky has been taken and she will sacrifice everything to find him.
And when Cassia discovers Ky has escaped to the wild frontiers beyond the Society there is hope.
But on the edge of society nothing is as it seems…
A rebellion is rising.
And a tangled web of lies and double-crosses could destroy everything.
My Review For me, Crossed has that droopy feel of a second book where it’s all about setting up the final story in the series. I wasn’t hooked by the journey from the Carving to look for the Rebellion. I think I wanted the stakes to be different. Cassia wants to find the Rebellion to join them, and while I understood Ky’s reason for opposing her, I didn’t really find Cassia’s curiosity very compelling.
I liked the part of the story where Cassia has to navigate the river. It’s dangerous and foreign to her. The stakes are high. But it’s a short piece of the story.
The characters hooked me enough that I still want to finish reading the series. I also love that the story is pretty clean other than some brief violence. See below for content information.
Recommended for Ages 12 up.
Cultural Elements
Major characters are white.
Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.
Romance/Sexual Content Brief kissing and embracing.
Spiritual Content None.
Violent Content Ky witnesses the deaths of his family and friends. The Society sends boys into battle with faulty weapons.
Drug Content
Red pills from the Society are supposed to cause someone to forget what has happened to them. Blue pills may aid or inhibit survival (different characters believe different things about them.).
About Everless
In the kingdom of Sempera, time is currency—extracted from blood, bound to iron, and consumed to add time to one’s own lifespan. The rich aristocracy, like the Gerlings, tax the poor to the hilt, extending their own lives by centuries.
No one resents the Gerlings more than Jules Ember. A decade ago, she and her father were servants at Everless, the Gerlings’ palatial estate, until a fateful accident forced them to flee in the dead of night. When Jules discovers that her father is dying, she knows that she must return to Everless to earn more time for him before she loses him forever.
But going back to Everless brings more danger—and temptation—than Jules could have ever imagined. Soon she’s caught in a tangle of violent secrets and finds her heart torn between two people she thought she’d never see again. Her decisions have the power to change her fate—and the fate of time itself.
My Review I love the concept of the story—the idea that time and blood are connected and you have the choice (or are pressed to) spend from your allotted lifespan to purchase things. This premise set up some interesting stakes straight from the opening of the story. And Jules is immediately a likeable character since what she wants most is to save the person dearest to her, at any cost to herself.
I wasn’t impressed with her infatuation with Rowan Gerling. Yeah, okay, they were childhood playmates, but what’s admirable about him besides his good looks? I kind of kept waiting for the shoe to drop and for Jules to discover some deep fault in him. I liked the other characters, though, from the stable hand Jules recognizes from her past to her best friend in the village even to Ina Gold.
In terms of the plot, I felt like there were a couple threads that got dropped, or else where I missed their connection to the larger story. Jules carries a drawing that belonged to her father which she believes must be her mother. At one point she seems to realize the drawing’s significance, but never shares what that significance is. And it never comes up again as the story resolves.
Everless does have some interesting twists, though, and those kept me reading for sure. I needed to know what was going on with Rowan’s big, scowling brother Liam, and to understand Jules’s connection with the sorceress. All those questions had me charging through the tale all the way to the end.
Medieval-style dystopian fans (think The Selection by Kiera Cass) do not want to miss this one. If you’re a fan of Nadine Brandes’s A Time to Die, or The Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard, you will love the strong heroine, time-centered story, and forbidden magic elements of Everless.
Recommended for Ages 12 up.
Cultural Elements
No real racial descriptions. All characters appear straight.
Profanity/Crude Language Content
Brief, mild profanity used very rarely.
Romance/Sexual Content Brief kissing between a boy and girl.
Spiritual Content A sorceress created a system in which time and iron and blood are bound. So that one’s time (lifespan) can be traded as currency for goods and services, like rent or food.
Violent Content To extract time, a specially trained person cuts one’s palm and captures the blood in a vial. Time-letting is used as a punishment for a woman who’s accused of a grave crime.
Drug Content
Jules, the princess and another handmaiden go to a tavern and drink alcohol as a last night out before the princess marries.
About The Returning
Twenty years have passed since Carrington and Remko Brant’s baby, Elise, was kidnapped and they were forced to leave her captive in the Authority City. Though they fled with the Seers far from Authority reach, they’ve never given up hope of rescuing their daughter from the man who betrayed them. Now Authority President, he’s ushered the city into a new era of “peace” — one where the Scientist Roth Reynard’s Genesis Serum has eradicated all memory of emotion or rebellion.
But the mysterious Aaron and his Seers are once again on the move, threatening the illusion the Authority has worked so hard to build. As the Seers send seven chosen warriors to rescue Elise and bring restoration to the Authority City, the lines are drawn for a final battle between light and darkness. The key to ultimate victory may rest within the strangely powerful girl who has felt forgotten but was never abandoned — a truth she’ll need to wage war against the powerful forces of evil.
My Review If you’ve been reading my reviews awhile, you’ll know that I have a couple of particular pet peeves in books that get classified as YA. One is having a lot of scenes from adult characters, especially in cases where I think the scenes could have been told from a younger character’s perspective. I felt that way with this book and the scenes from adult points of view. That said, I’m not sure this is really classified as YA. Right now in the Christian fiction world there seem to be more adult novels with crossover appeal to YA readers, and this is probably best categorized as one of them.
The Returning hits a great balance between telling a fast-paced story and yet keeping its readers in the know—even if you forgot what happened in earlier books, you can still enjoy this one without feeling lost or like you’ve missed anything. I love that!
At first I wasn’t sure I’d like Elise. Her early scenes mostly leave her a passive vessel. But as she begins to find her feet and embrace her destiny, I felt like I began to like and admire her more. Despite the number of characters, I felt like it was easy to keep track of who everyone was because they had really specific personalities and roles and were introduced gradually, so I had time to place everyone in the story.
The light versus dark theme emerges as a strong plot in The Returning. It’s simple, sure, and at times maybe a teeny bit contrived, but overall I think it worked. The dystopian setting made a great backdrop for that kind of conflict.
I liked this book better than the first in the series—it’s not quite as dark as The Choosing. The biggest struggle I had with the story really had to do with its theology, which you can read about more in the Spiritual Content section below.
Recommended for Ages 12 up.
Cultural Elements
Really limited cultural or race details. I think the major characters are white, but there really aren’t a lot of descriptive details.
Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.
Romance/Sexual Content Brief kissing between man and woman.
Spiritual Content The Returning has a very strong good versus evil/light versus dark theme. In some places the theology runs perfectly parallel to Christian teaching. Elise must reject the lies she’s been told about herself and others and embrace truths from her heavenly Father.
In other scenes, I struggled with the theology. It seemed to equate suffering with evil, which I just don’t find to be Gospel at all. At times I felt like it was saying humans are basically good and need to simply throw off the corrupt influences of evil around them. The Returning, like the first book in the series, again and again repeats this idea that you are perfect, you are blameless. For me that ran too close to contradicting the salvation message of the Bible. Maybe I simply didn’t interpret the author’s meaning correctly, but I felt like the theology got really muddled and confusing.
Violent Content Battle scenes which turn fatal between soldiers and civilians. In a couple scenes, a character faces torture with some description. Some graphic threats of violence—in one scene, a man threatens to skin a woman alive.
Drug Content
Authority City leaders use a powerful serum to control citizens. The serum erases memories and makes recipients compliant. One character possessed by darkness takes vials of his blood and injects them into others to give them some of his dark power.
What isn’t written, isn’t remembered. Even your crimes.
Nadia lives in the city of Canaan, where life is safe and structured, hemmed in by white stone walls and no memory of what came before. But every twelve years the city descends into the bloody chaos of the Forgetting, a day of no remorse, when each person’s memories – of parents, children, love, life, and self – are lost. Unless they have been written.
In Canaan, your book is your truth and your identity, and Nadia knows exactly who hasn’t written the truth. Because Nadia is the only person in Canaan who has never forgotten.
But when Nadia begins to use her memories to solve the mysteries of Canaan, she discovers truths about herself and Gray, the handsome glassblower, that will change her world forever. As the anarchy of the Forgetting approaches, Nadia and Gray must stop an unseen enemy that threatens both their city and their own existence – before the people can forget the truth. And before Gray can forget her.
My Review
The characters were well-developed, and fit together like pieces in a puzzle. Nadia especially was a unique heroine–she stood out from the crowd of cookie-cutter YA heroines, and made herself heard. I really liked her style of character. It was refreshing. Gray, on the other hand, was a little bit cliche in his “I’m a player but I love only you” style of character, but I liked him anyway. (It seems that everyone can’t help but like Gray.) Liliya–vindictive, nasty Liliya–was sympathetic, even though she made herself disliked from the beginning. And Genivee was an adorable little cinnamon roll.
One issue I had with the characters: Eshan. He wasn’t well-developed, so I was slightly annoyed at how much emphasis was placed on him, even though he didn’t contribute much other than being a plot device to get the main characters together. Also, I wasn’t comfortable with the fact that the author made him (minor spoiler) gay. I felt like it was unnecessary, and thrown in just for show, especially since his character was so little developed.
The plot was engrossing. I was continually mystified as it progressed, and was only able to say”Aha! So that’s explains it,” at the very end. Sharon Cameron did an excellent job in layering her plot, and I’m sure you all will enjoy it. Note: I had problems with her other book, Rook, because of the intense romance and…ahem…the stuff it led to. She did a lot better in this book, but there was still a good bit of romantic stuff. See the content guide below for details.
The world-building in this one was excellent as well. It developed along with the story, and surprised me a lot. I’m not going to say anymore because of spoilers–you’ll just have to read it for yourself.
Overall: I immensely enjoyed this read. It was complex, and developed layer upon layer, so you felt like you were there, discovering and learning along with the characters. The style of writing, atmosphere, and overall feel of the book reminded me a lot of Matched by Ally Condie, but slightly darker. I can’t really put my finger on what it was, but I kept thinking about how similar it felt while I was reading it. Fans of Ally Condie and Ashley Bogner will love diving into this book. 5 out of 5 stars!
Recommended for Ages 14 and up
Cultural Elements
One character is revealed to be gay.
Profanity/Crude Language Content
None that I can recall.
Romance/Sexual Content Heavy kissing and embracing, semi-detailed. Characters almost lose control and go ‘all the way,’ but it doesn’t get beyond kissing and embracing on a bed. Some mentions of unwanted/unexpected pregnancies. Mention of ‘dalliances.’
Spiritual Content None.
Violent Content There is a lot of violence in this one. Torture, beatings, attacks, blood, wounds, burns by acid, etc. Not overly gory, but not good for sensitive readers either.
Drug Content
Trees in and around Canaan produce flowers, the pollen of which causes people to forget their pasts.
A perfect citizen. A captured rebel. One decision could destroy them both…
As a Regulator, seventeen-year-old Katherine Holliday’s duty is to protect the people of the Federation from a group of violent rebels who have exiled themselves to the mysterious wilderness. When one of these rebels is captured within the Federation, the government leaders propose an alternative to execution, a procedure they call Reintegration. The procedure involves erasing the rebel’s memory and attempting to make him a member of society. The rebel, a young man named Matthew, is not the violent criminal Katherine expects, and she can’t help but befriend him. A few weeks after Matthew’s Reintegration, Katherine realizes the procedure failed and she is now presented with a choice no one else can help her make. Can she warn her superiors that Reintegration failed, which could mean death for Matthew? Or will she defy everything she knows to help him escape—and risk her own execution?
My Review
Ashley Bogner’s debut novel, Reintegration, calls to mind some of the best dystopian books of our age–books such as Ally Condie’s Matched trilogy, Nadine Brandes’ Out of Time Trilogy, and The Forgetting by Sharon Cameron. It also follows the dystopian pattern of three, being the first of a trilogy. The sequel is set to release in 2018.
Reintegration‘s strongest suit is its characterization. The reader is deeply immersed in Katherine Holliday’s point of view, and experiences the entire plot through her eyes. It was impossible for me not to connect with Katherine on some level, because while reading this book, I was Katherine. I was thinking her thoughts, feeling her emotions, and following along with all of her actions and reactions.
The deep characterization did lead to some drawbacks, however–for the first 60% of the book or so, I felt like the plot was spinning its wheels a bit. Katherine rehashed the same issues over and over, without coming to any real conclusions. It wasn’t until she decided to stop worrying and start acting that Reintegration hit the ground running. Once the plot stopped revving its engine and got started for real, it took off at light-speed and never looked back.
The last quarter or so of Reintegration was especially phenomenal. I could not read fast enough to find out what was going to happen! Bogner packs a lot of punches into those last few pages, making up for the slow beginning several times over. There are a lot of secrets hinted at through out the book that weren’t explained by the final page, and some major surprises that I wasn’t expecting. Miss Bogner has chosen to play her cards close to her chest, and there’s no telling what will happen in the following books. I’m rating Reintegration 3.75 stars out of 5. While Reintegration dragged some through the beginning and middle, the end made up for it with non-stop action and surprises. I’m hoping that the sequels will keep the action going, and get off to a flying start.
Recommended for Ages 13 and up
Cultural Elements
None.
Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.
Romance/Sexual Content Some light kissing, hand-holding, and hugging.
Spiritual Content Matthew is a Christian, and shares his faith with other characters in the book, resulting in one or more conversions. The Federation teaches relative morality (that there is no “right” or “wrong,” and everything is a matter of opinion), and intolerance is a punishable crime under the Federation.
Violent Content One violent death. Several injuries (some by use of a “stunner”–a taser-like weapon, and others by fist fights.)
Drug Content
Matthew is drugged to forget his past. A character takes a medical drug later, and experiences painful side effects.
Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
About The Hunger Games
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.
My Review
My favorite thing about The Hunger Games is the balance between Katniss and Peeta. Katniss is a survivor. She’s strong and clever with traps and snares but emotions totally mystify her. Peeta’s work at the bakery affords him physical strength, but his real asset in the Games is his intuition, his understanding of others, and his strength of heart. Those two need each other if they have any hope of surviving in the arena.
While the plot moves quickly and the threat of death keeps readers on the edge of their seats, the story’s real victory is its unforgettable characters. Rue, the clever, young tribute Katniss watches in training, and Cinna, her compassionate costume designer and unexpected ally, remain my favorites.
While it’s very clean in other ways, The Hunger Games, as you might imagine from the description, has some strong violence which may make it the wrong pick for younger or more sensitive readers. My daughter has been asking to read Divergent, which has more violence and some sexual content, which I’m not sure she’s ready for, so reading The Hunger Games was an alternative I felt more comfortable with, and which still let her into the young adult spectrum. We read the book together and sometimes stopped to talk about what was happening.
The Hunger Games Movie
After reading the book, my daughter and I watched the movie together. It does have some brief, mild profanity, and of course, gives visual to the violence depicted in the scenes of the book. The movie stays pretty true to the spirit of the book, though it does streamline and minimize some things. For instance, instead of Katniss listening to hours of a tribute being tortured, she quickly ends his life in an act of mercy. You can read a full content breakdown of the movie here.
Recommended for Ages 12 up.
Cultural Elements
Major characters are white and straight, except Rue and Thresh, who are black.
Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.
Romance/Sexual Content Kissing between boy and girl. They spend nights together, but usually one or other is gravely injured, and at any rate, no mention of anything sexual happening.
Spiritual Content None.
Violent Content Strong violence. Tributes actively try to kill one another with weapons and traps. An older teen kills a younger one with a spear. A girl kills opponents with knives. Mutant wasps kill and wound others. A boy bashes another tribute’s skull in with a rock. Genetically mutated monsters which appear to be some kind of human/dog hybrid chase tributes, torturing one they catch. (Katniss describes hearing the pained sounds of the victim for hours, but can’t see what’s happening.)
Drug Content
Katniss samples wine with her dinner. Her mentor, Haymitch, abuses alcohol. He stumbles about drunk and at one point collapses into his own vomit.
