Book Review: The Elite by Kiera Cass

Thirty-five girls came to the palace to compete in the Selection. All but six have been sent home. And only one will get to marry Prince Maxon and be crowned princess of Illea. 

America still isn’t sure where her heart lies. When she’s with Maxon, she’s swept up in their new and breathless romance, and can’t dream of being with anyone else. But whenever she sees Aspen standing guard around the palace, and is overcome with memories of the life they planned to share. With the group narrowed down to the Elite, the other girls are even more determined to win Maxon over—and time is running out for America to decide. 

Just when America is sure she’s made her choice, a devastating loss makes her question everything again. And while she’s struggling to imagine her future, the violent rebels that are determined to overthrow the monarchy are growing stronger and their plans could destroy her chance at any kind of happy ending.


Let’s talk truth here: when I sat down to review this book, I was all expecting to tell you how it was the typical middle book in a trilogy that didn’t really go anywhere or have a point. After starting over about five times and looking back through the text, I realized that this book was so much better than the first one because it built on the first one and developed the plot farther. 

Background: The Selection (book 1) was a combination of “The Bachelor” and Hunger Games, where America Singer was sent to represent her district against thirty-five other girls to win the hand of the prince and, of course, it is televised. The reader was introduced to her current boyfriend Aspen Leger and told how they were in lower castes that dictated that they would be working class forever. America was okay with this fact and was building her dreams of marriage with Aspen. 

Why does she go to the castle? Money and advancement for her family. The longer she stays, the better for her parents and sister—sound familiar? However, things change throughout the book and she begins to care for Prince Maxon. Spoiler Alert: the book ends without a resolution! The competition is down to six girls, but America has decided to compete. I hate books that can’t stand alone! 

Fast forward a year: The Elite (book 2) focuses on the final six girls. The characterization builds and Cass remains true to each character’s voice. America is still the naïve girl that is learning about herself, her friends, and her kingdom. The typical seventeen year-old, she doubts so much about who she can trust and makes decisions without thinking of the outcomes. Maxon is still the charming prince who will do anything he can to win the girl. Aspen is still the silent, dependable back-up guy. 

What works: America’s friendship is tested when she discovers that Marlee, her closest friend in the competition, is going to be banished for treason. Blaming Maxon for not stopping this, she pulls away and into the comfort of Aspen. There is vague foreshadowing about Marlee throughout both books where you can tell she has a secret, but Cass masterfully lets the story unfold so slowly that only a second reading puts the pieces together. 

Maxon also introduces America to the castle’s secret library; this is where they keep history books, banned books, and (something she has never seen) a computer! I love books with libraries in them. This reminds me of Beauty and the Beast because Maxon totally scores points with America and me…I mean, who wouldn’t want a man to give you a library? 

Maxon is an absolute baby doll; he is so sweet and yet you can tell that he isn’t stupid about the workings of the castle or the world. His patience is amazing and he, similar to Peeta, is always doing things subtly to make America happy or keep her safe. Once she hurts him though, he does turn to the other girls and uses them as tools to hurt her. 

Loose ends that left me hanging: There are “banned books” in the library, but at the same time, it doesn’t seem that the general population has access to Books-a-Million or Amazon. The rebels, who attack three times, are stealing books—what are they after? I know, knowledge is power, but what is the knowledge that they seek? We have foreshadowing that the rebels like America as they do not seek to capture or hurt her during the second raid but instead curtsy to her. This is in contrast to the news that they have abducted and killed one of the other contestant’s sisters. Of course, it is also interesting to note why they chose that contestant. There is a little of a “mockingjay rising” effect created, as we learn that the rebels are also pulling for America. It is no secret that they maids in the castle support her. 

Most annoying issue: the love triangle. There are three attacks and during two Aspen “saves” the day. During the third, America manages to flee to safety with Maxon. This is really where they start to be honest with each other (it is one of the last chapters) and iron out their motives. Aspen is not proactive at seeking her, but is reactive to the situations that she falls into. Maxon on the other hand, is proactive and seeks to do anything he can to protect her and win her. America, much like Katniss, does everything she can to screw everything up by overthinking situations and not talking to either of the boys. This trait in characters annoys me more than anything else, but perhaps the most because it is totally what girls do. We create situations by jumping to conclusions. 

So here we are, at the end of book 2, still without a clear resolution…but America has decided (once again) to compete. MSNR gave The Selection three Bards; I’ll up this one to four. Cass is slowly advancing the story, and it is my hope that book 3 will be a five Bard smash.

Article Response: Rating Young Adult Book Content

After the US News posted the article concerning the possibility of “rating” young adult novels, we here at A Midsummer Night’s Read were confused by the so-called “need” for it.  Cheryl, who is a High School Librarian, has written a response to the article: 

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2012/05/18/is-it-time-to-rate-young-adult-books-for-mature-content              

Let me begin by saying that I understand a little bit about young adults; I’ve worked in a high school for(ever) the past twelve years, first as a Brit Lit teacher and now as the librarian.  Before I was a teacher, I was a young adult.  That lasted for a few years too.  During all of this time, one thing remained constant—I was (and remain) a voracious reader. 

                My mother bought me my first Stephen King novel when I was in the fifth grade.  It was somewhere around 400 pages, and it was the biggest fiction book that I’d read at that point.  There were several of us reading King that year.  Now, there were words that I had to look up, and there were situations that I didn’t understand.  Maybe I was not normal because I skipped those parts.  As an adult, a professor from UNC Greensboro once told me that teenagers love sex scenes; this struck me as peculiar because I didn’t remember loving sex scenes as a teen.  I remember skipping them.  Then I realized that more often than not, I still skip them.  I want the meat of the story, not the meat of the character!  

                As I have started building the collection of my school library, I was actually amazed at the language and sexuality of young adult literature.  In Marked by L. J. Smith (House of Night), there is a blow job in the first chapter or so.  In Zombies vs. Unicorns (edited by Black and Larbalestier) the second or third story is about a gay zombie who can’t decide whether to eat or sleep with his prey (stronger words are used).  A teacher came to me about the zombie book and I read it.  Although it will never be confused with great literature (my apologies to the guy who wrote that story) I honestly didn’t think it was that bad—because I’ve heard what they say to each other in the halls.  And because I’ve seen how they dance at the prom.  And because I’ve rescheduled senior projects around someone going into labor.  And because I know that the use of “f—“ is like the use of “damn” in the 70’s.  It is meaningless to them.

                So when Jessica sent me this article about CENSORSHIP I was a little upset for many reasons.  Let me give you the librarian response first.  As a citizen of America, you are given freedom of speech.  Within this law, you are also granted the right to read.  If the FBI comes into a public library and asks to see what you have checked out, I am obligated to refuse; that would infringe on your rights as a patron of my library.  It doesn’t matter if you have been looking up Aryan websites on the computer.  Now, some of this changes since I am in a school library and children relinquish almost every right imaginable when they enter public school, so obviously you should be careful with your googles.  However, if there is a book on my shelves that has been deemed age appropriate by publishers, reviewers, my collection policy, etc.  then the students have the right to read it. 

HOWEVER (now for the teacher response) if a teacher chooses to teach a book as literature, language and content must be considered.  This is a little upsetting when you consider that it would be more appropriate for skilled literary teachers to lead our children through some of these topics.  Parents are more likely to complain about a classic then they are a contemporary work because there is more criticism available to those who haven’t read the work.  In order for a parent to complain about a contemporary work of literature, they have to read it in its entirety and be able to discuss it with a panel.  How many parents do you know off hand who would take the time to do that?  Wouldn’t it be great for the Health class to look at a novel about teen pregnancy  such as After  by Efaw or Make Lemonade by Wolff when they are in their chapters on reproduction?  What about Wintergirls when studying eating disorders? 

                Now, the parent response.  My daughter loves books; I hope she continues to love books.  As an educated adult, I hope to lead her to books that are appropriate and to be aware of what she is reading.  Seriously, last night I read a book called Riley Park by Tullson (fabulous, by the way) in 45 minutes or less.  It’s  from my library shelves.  It doesn’t take that long to read YA literature.  Jessica here reads a book a day usually and maintains a job and a relationship!  It’s not rocket science!  With that being said, my husband and I had a discussion about Hunger Games being read in seventh grade classrooms.  I don’t think of myself as overprotective usually, but we both agreed that 7^th grade is young for such topics.  As parents, we would want to read and discuss the book with her if she decided to read it in middle school.  That is the difference.  We have read the book.  We would want to guide her through the book.  I would like to think that we will know what she is reading because we will see her reading it.  This is a child that has grown up with me constantly having a book in my hand or my purse.  Her father is always reading on his phone or tablet.  She sees it, therefore she will mirror it.  And although I want her to read age appropriate stuff, I have to trust that if I work diligently to teach her right from wrong, that I also have to teach her to make choices wisely and think for herself.  If she reads a book where the characters have sex, she needs to decide how she feels about that; she will face friends and peers that are doing it.  Why should we shelter them from life experiences in literature?  Isn’t it better for her to figure out her thoughts on situations based on fiction before being thrust into realistic situations?   Literature gives people (not just kids) the chance to figure out how they would handle life.

                Oh, dear!  I fear that I have rambled.  I apologize.  These are my musings that Jessica asked for in response to this article.  I leave you with the idea that CENSORSHIP is dangerous and harms children.

What do you think of the CENSORSHIP issue that is being raised for young adult literature?

Book Review: Croak by Gina Damico

Sixteen-year-old Lex Bartleby has sucker-punched her last classmate. Fed up with her punkish, wild behavior, her parents ship her off to upstate New York to live with her Uncle Mort for the summer, hoping that a few months of dirty farm work will whip her back into shape. But Uncle Mort’s true occupation is much dirtier than that of shoveling manure.

He’s a Grim Reaper. And he’s going to teach her the family business.

Lex quickly assimilates into the peculiar world of Croak, a town populated entirely by reapers who deliver souls from this life to the next. Along with her infuriating yet intriguing partner Driggs and a rockstar crew of fellow Grim apprentices, Lex is soon zapping her targets like a natural born Killer.

Yet her innate ability morphs into an unchecked desire for justice—or is it vengeance?—whenever she’s forced to Kill a murder victim, craving to stop the attackers before they can strike again. So when people start to die—that is, people who aren’t supposed to be dying, people who have committed grievous crimes against the innocent—Lex’s curiosity is piqued. Her obsession grows as the bodies pile up, and a troubling question begins to swirl through her mind: if she succeeds in tracking down the murderer, will she stop the carnage—or will she ditch Croak and join in?

I loved the premise behind this storyline because I’m so tired of vampires, werewolves, and zombies.  Exploring the new and fascinating world of the grim reapers was a new take on the gothic revolution.  The central character, Lexi, is a Brat.  She is a bully and a delinquent…but she doesn’t know why.  She recognizes that she is angry and the least little thing sets her off but she can’t seem to stop it.  After several “last chances” from her principal, her parents draw the line and tell her she is going to stay with her uncle at his farm for the summer.  This is the summer before her senior year and the first time that she will be separated from her twin sister, Cordy.

Once Lexi arrives in the town of Croak, she realizes that things are not what she thought.  Her uncle is not a farmer, and Croak is not a sleepy little cow-town.  Uncle Mort is the mayor of this death portal and begins her apprenticeship as a Grim Reaper, which actually calms her down and gives her structure and purpose.  For the first time in years, Lexi has friends and a love interest.  Although she misses her family, she accepts her new world with ease and enjoyment, pondering what she will do when the summer ends. 

She and the other junior reapers begin to notice strange, unexplainable murders that can only be the work of a reaper.  They set out in Nancy Drew fashion to discover who is behind these crimes on their own.  Lexi doesn’t stop to think about being the only reaper with a family on the outside of town…and how vulnerable that makes them!

So here it is: 

The good:  Nice approach to a so-far under explored group of goth.  The story is fast paced and easy to fall into.  The characters are have realistic angst and dialogue.

The bad:  I personally hate books that are obviously setting me up for a sequel.  If you are a good writer, you shouldn’t have to trick readers into purchasing your next book.  Not only did I feel deceived by not knowing that I was jumping into a series, the ending felt rushed.  There was so much build up to a quick and unresolved climax. 

2 Bards but I would have loved this as a resolved stand-alone novel OR a less obvious sequel ploy at the end.

Happy World Book Night!

Happy World Book Night!  Two of us here at A Midsummer Night’s Read are participating “givers” and we want to encourage you to sign up to give next year!  Cheryl is giving away 20 free copies of The Hunger Games to students at Central Cabarrus High School and Jessica Lee is giving away 20 free copies of Ender’s Game to students at The University of North Carolina at Charlotte! 

What is World Book Night?  Here is some information from the website:

What is World Book Night?

World Book Night is an annual celebration designed to spread a love of reading and books. To be held in the U.S. as well as the U.K. and Ireland on April 23, 2012. It will see tens of thousands of people go out into their communities to spread the joy and love of reading by giving out free World Book Night paperbacks.

World Book Night, through social media and traditional publicity, will also promote the value of reading, of printed books, and of bookstores and libraries to everyone year-round.

Successfully launched in the U.K. in 2011, World Book Night will also be celebrated in the U.S. in 2012, with news of more countries to come in future years. Please join our mailing list for regular World Book Night U.S. news. And thank you to our U.K. friends for such a wonderful idea!

Additionally, April 23 is UNESCO’s World Book Day, chosen due to the anniversary of Cervantes’ death, as well as Shakespeare’s birth and death.

Are any of you participating?

Book Review: The Right & The Real by Joelle Anthony

Jamie should have known something was off about the church of the Right & the Real from the start, but she was too caught up in Josh, the eldest son of one of the church’s disciples, and his all-American good looks.  Josh, the most popular boy at school, was the first boy outside the drama geeks to give Jamie a second look.  But when she began dating Josh, getting her dad involved in a cult and herself kicked out of the house was not part of the plan.

Homeless and scared, Jamie’s life has completely fallen apart.  Finding her way back won’t be easy, especially when her dad gets himself in serious trouble.  Will Jamie be ready to rescue him, and maybe even forgive?

Publication Date: April 26, 2012

Guest Review: Cheryl

I didn’t read the back of the book before cracking it open.  I don’t like when it gives away too much, so I had no idea it where I was going.  During the first ten pages, the reader is introduced to Jamie at her father’s wedding.  Then, we are introduced to the church and The Teacher (who professes to be Jesus reincarnate).  Immediately, I was uncomfortable with the religious topic but decided to keep going.  Luckily, this was not a book about religion; it was a book about survival, fortitude, ambition, loyalty, and friendship.

Although Jamie is naïve and gullible, she has inner strength and courage.  With only her savings, she finds somewhere to live, gets a job, prioritizes her needs and wants, and makes her own way.  I read the entire book in one sitting because I wanted to see what she would do next and if it would work out.  Jamie decides to keep her situation secret from her friends, their parents, and her teachers.  She makes friends with an ex-con named LeVon who helps her learn how to manage life without her father’s money or support.

Jamie, unfortunately, is the typical teenage heroine.  She is spoiled and doesn’t really understand money.  She makes bad decisions where boys are concerned.  She doesn’t think about who will pay for her cell phone and insurance once she is on her own.  Pampered.  What makes her likable is that she perseveres and doesn’t give up.  What makes her tragic is that she has people that she could turn to and chooses not to tell them.  What makes her  realistic is that she recognizes hopelessness but doesn’t let it defeat her.  In the end, loose ends are tied up a little too nicely but they only open doors to other loose ends, and that was the only thing that I didn’t like about this book.

4 bards.

Book Review: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 12, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14,a medical miracle shrunk the tumours in her lungs… for now.

Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else, too; post-high school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumours tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault.

Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind.

Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel’s story is about to be completely rewritten.

Let me begin by saying that I am not a nerdfighter. Although I’ve purchased all of his books for the library, this was my time reading a first John Green novel. I had huge expectations…HUGE! And, well, yeah…I’m not running out to catch up on what I’ve missed, people.

On page 33, our two main characters have met and are getting to know each other. Augustus (Romeo) asks Hazel (faux Juliet) what her story is. She hedges the subject and eventually says that she likes reading…

“What do you read?” [Augustus]
“Everything. From, like, hideous romance to pretentious fiction to poetry.
Whatever.” [Hazel]

It was at this point when I realized exactly how I felt about the book. The style, the wording, the verbose nature of the conversations, thoughts, and readings that the teens took part in were pretentious. It’s almost like Green did it on purpose though as he used the word pretentious repetitively throughout the novel. Honestly, I have no idea why a writer would do that, but I also have no idea why the characters talk like they have a thesaurus glued to their hand and must look up every other word either. I’m sorry; maybe kids in Indiana have better vocabulary skills than the kids here in North Carolina, but I have spent over a decade in a high school and guess what…KIDS DON’T TALK LIKE THEY DO IN THIS BOOK.

The novel opens and introduces us to Hazel, a terminally ill fifteen year old girl with a chip on her shoulder. She’s not really mean, just defeated really. Because she has been pulled out of school, her mother feels that she needs socialization in the form of a cancer support group. Honestly, that seemed like one of the most depressing situations ever, but that is how we begin.

So Green’s initial set-up reminds me of Shakespeare. The prologue to Romeo and Juliet tells you that they are both going to die, and yet, when it happens, teens across the country are shocked and confused…it’s all that crap about true love conquering all that they are fed by Disney. Anyway, the reason why the book reminds me of Shakespeare (other than the title and the constant jabber of being star crossed) is that Hazel is terminal so the reader accepts that she is going to be sick and probably die over the course of the novel. It’s a given, a part of the foreshadowing, something to be taken for granted….or not…

So, let’s cut to the chase, after I realized that Green’s diction was going to be a constant irritation, I began to ignore it, similar to Lisa McMann’s writing style in general. Once the writing itself was out of the picture, the story is really beautiful, not believable, but beautiful. Some of the imagery was actually beautiful too. For instance, page 124, August is reading to Hazel.

“’Mother’s glass eye turned inward,’” Augustus began. As he read, I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once.

That is beautiful, and honestly, I found it even more beautiful that it was written by a male author for a female protagonist. I think I’ve used beautiful once for every time that Green used pretentious now.

After experiencing a friend dying from a chronic disease at 21, I felt that the characters emotions and actions were realistic and fascinating. The book was emotional (“like a roller coaster that only goes up” as Augustus describes his life) and the characters were endearing. I didn’t really laugh at the parts that I think were supposed to be funny (Jodi Picoult claimed the book had “staccato bursts of humor and tragedy”) but I definitely cried at some other parts.

Bard-wise, this is a solid 4 Bard Book. If the characters had talked like normal kids, maybe a five would have slipped in…doubtful, but who knows?

Review: What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell

When Evie’s father returned home from World War II, the family fell back into its normal life pretty quickly. But Joe Spooner brought more back with him than just good war stories. When movie-star handsome Peter Coleridge, a young ex-GI who served in Joe’s company in postwar Austria, shows up, Evie is suddenly caught in a complicated web of lies that she only slowly recognizes. She finds herself falling for Peter, ignoring the secrets that surround him . . . until a tragedy occurs that shatters her family and breaks her life in two. As she begins to realize that almost everything she believed to be a truth was really a lie, Evie must get to the heart of the deceptions and choose between her loyalty to her parents and her feelings for the man she loves. Someone will have to be betrayed. The question is . . . who?

Set in the years immediately following WWII, Evie is a naive teen who is very self absorbed with her ideas of what being an adult involves and how to interact with the adults around her. This myopic view of her world leads her into several situations where things are morally and ethically wrong, but she can’t see past her own wants and desires until every thing about the life she knows comes falling down around her.

The book begins with an obscure chapter informing the reader that the events in the story have already happened. Evie and her mom are in a hotel room with her mother pretending not to know that Evie is awake. The following chapter jumps back in time to a few months earlier when Evie is adjusting to life after the war and her step father returning home. We learn about her best friend, the boy she likes, her grandmother that she doesn’t like, her mom’s job, all the deep, dark secrets of a fourteen year old girl in 1946.

Then the reader notices that there are secrets as her step dad gets phone calls from a man and refuses to take them and then he plans an impromptu family vacation to Palm Beach right before school starts. Evie, however, notices none of this; she is preoccupied with why she can’t wear makeup. After a grueling drive from New York to Florida, Evie and her mother soon discover that no one goes to Palm Beach in late summer and fall and everything is closed except for one hotel which has only a handful of guests for them to watch through their boring days.

Everything changes quickly. There’s a dance, they meet a couple named the Graysons, Evie meets a man (who is really the person trying to get in touch with her stepfather) and falls in love…well kinda. She is obsessed with growing up and being with Peter, who is a 23 year old, wealthy ex-GI. She goes on dates with Peter AND HER MOTHER, not at all wondering why a man would want to hang out with a newly-turned 15 year old AND HER MOTHER (who is described as “a dish”). There’s a hurricane. Peter dies. There’s a trial for murder. AND THE MOST EXCITING PART (which takes a while to get to) is that Evie finally gets a clue and starts piecing together the events in the book. The reader isn’t really omniscient in the fact that Evie is just slow, and although the book is only 281 pages and I read it in a few hours, it felt much longer.

What I liked about the book: There are fantastic details about post-WWII America and Jewish history in America. I didn’t know that Palm Beach was a restricted town, and Jews were not allowed to own property or vacation there. As someone who supports Holocaust education, these details are paramount for YA readers since often History course do not touch on the Jewish American experience during or post war. The setting, characterization, and dialogue were spot on for the time period.

What I didn’t like: I didn’t like Evie, although her simplistic view of the world around her and her ignorance to her mother’s history, affairs, and behavior in general was believable. With that being said, she wasn’t nearly as annoying as Bella Swan (is there a character more annoying than Bella?).

Awards: 2008 Nationsl Book Award Winner for Young People’s Literature, A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, and an ALA Best Book for Young Adults.

Bardwise, the book is well written, the facts are interesting and accurate (even the annoying narrator) and there is a moral. I was going to go 3 Bards, however I’ll through in an extra one because of the historical nature and the lessons for YA readers.

Review: The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

In Mary’s world, there are simple truths. The Sisterhood always knows best. The Guardians will protect and serve. The Unconcsecrated will never relent.

And you must always mind the fence that surrounds the village. The fence that protects the village from the Forest of Hands and Teeth.

But slowly, Mary’s truths are failing her. She’s learning things she never wanted to know about the Sisterhood and its secrets, and the Guardians and their power. And, when the fence is breached and her world is thrown into chaos, about the Unconsecrated and their relentlessness.

Now she must choose between her village and her future, between the one she loves and the one who loves her. And she must face the truth about the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Could there be life outside a world surrounded by so much death?

Zombies. I felt compelled to read this book because I constantly have students in my library ask me if I have any good zombie books. Although I am happy to see a shift from vampires, I must admit I am not up to par on my zombie lore.

Furthermore, I wasn’t excited about this book; I’ll be honest, the jacket notes didn’t really inspire me to pick it up. Out of the ten books that I took with me on vacation, it was my second read, however.

Quick synopsis that is hopefully more interesting than the italized one above: Mary lives in a post-apocalyptic village surrounded by attacking zombies (the Unconsecrated). The rules of the village are made by a group of nun-like women called the Sisterhood. Their army of warriors/repairmen are the Guardians (they repair the fence and decapitate zombies). Long story short, Mary’s family all become zombies except her brother, who kicks her out of his house, leaving her to be taken in by the Sisterhood in a stone monastary. Once there, she learns that there are many secrets and the Sisterhood isn’t as nice as everyone thinks. Then the town is attacked and zombies start eating everyone.

The plot itself isn’t necessarily original, it takes elements of popular YA literature and combines them into an interesting mix. We have a dystopian setting where Mary learns that the Sisterhood isn’t all it’s cracked up to be (Down with the Capital, anyone?), a love triangle with two brothers (as well as the “I’ve never thought about marriage” female protagonist), family strife, zombies, and the normal adolescent flip-flopping and bickering.

Here’s what I liked: the characterization is solid. Mary is a believable protagonist and unlike so many authors that first jump into YA lit, Ryan has a grasp on teen emotions and intelligence. She doesn’t make the characters too naive, but also doesn’t make them brilliant and capable of solving all of the world’s problems (whether or not they will do that in later books of the trilogy I do not know but at this point they do not even know who the zombie virus started and therefore have not conjured up a cure from the wild mushrooms that they found while escaping their burning village). Also, the love triangle doesn’t attack the reader; Mary discusses her feelings about the boys before we ever know the boys’ feelings about her.

Then the annoying part: there is a point in a trilogy where too much mystery and too many open ends are bothersome and compel you to stop reading after the first book. The reader is left not knowing what happens to many of the characters, what caused the zombie infection, if Mary has plans past where she ends up (and how she feels about them), how the Sisterhood formed, what it was up to, and does it secretly continue… So many open ends and honestly, not many answers in the first book.

On a side note, all of the good characters keep getting decapitated or falling apart. I guess that is to be expected from a zombie novel, but it became tiresome to get attached to characters when foreshadowing and experience told me that they were doomed.

The second books is on its way from Amazon. I’m not sure where it will go now that so many of the characters are dead. Mary will lead the way (somewhere) and the reader will follow for two more books; I hope she develops more as we journey. As a first book in the trilogy I’m leaning toward 4 Bards; it’s well written, BUT because of the vagueness of its continuality, I’m going to go with 3.