Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Topian Reviews Golden Son by Pierce Brown

Golden Son (Red Rising Trilogy, #2)Golden Son by Pierce Brown

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Politics can be quite confusing, with that being said this book had a lot more political views and I found myself rereading passages to understand it better but one I did I found that the book was great. The war craft battles were exciting and epic. The insult are hilarious and I could not help laughing aloud getting strange looks from those around me. I felt like I was part of this world, this war, crying for people lost and yelling at other when they did some stupid. I absolutely love Pierce Brown's writing and the amazing creations of this soon to be trilogy.

I am unsure if I will be able to read another dystopian book without comparing it to Pierce Brown. I can't wait for the conclusion to come. Waiting with great anticipation.



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Friday, January 16, 2015

5 Go-To Dystopian Themes


Thursday, January 15, 2015

Topian Review Starters by Lissa Price

Starters (Starters, #1)Starters by Lissa Price

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


While certainly not quite perfect, Lisa Price's debut Starters is surely entertaining and will definitely hold the void as readers anticipate more and more dystopian books in this relative fad; and will not fail to provide you with a few quality hours of entertainment, twists, and turns.

America is nearly destroyed by The Spore Wars, which wiped out everyone between the ages of 20 and 60. Following these events, teenage Callie and her deathly sick brother, Tyler, have no option but to run. And run. And run some more. But as time goes on, Tyler is growing sicker and sicker by the day, and Callie's only hope is Prime Destinations: a company that allows "Starters" (children under 20) to rent their bodies out to "Enders" (adults over sixty) who want to become young again. With no other option, Callie rents out her body out to an Ender in exchange for payment to help Tyler. But when the neurochip the surgeons put in Callie's head malfunctions, and Callie wakes up in the life as her renter, Callie discovers that Prime Destinations is more evil than she could have ever imagined. And she needs to stop them, before it's too late.

The wonderful thing about this book is that nothing is as it seems. There are so many absolutely brilliant twists thrown in (especially at the ending) that will boggle your mind.

Callie is a wonderful protagonist. What I really liked about Callie is how Lissa portrayed her as your average, typical teenager; and how easy that made it to connect with her on a deeper emotional level. I really enjoyed how brave, how kind, and how determined Callie was, even when she knew that everything was stacked up against her. She didn't give up, she fought for what she believed in and she was kind and loyal to those she loved and cared for. Even the supporting characters had a decent amount of depth to them. Every one of her characters was well-developed, and had so much personality. I really felt like I actually connected with each and every character in her story.

If I had even the tiniest complaint about Starters, it would definitely be about the world-building. The back story here, especially about the Spore Wars, is not necessarily the most intricate, and I also had some questions about life outside the US during this war and how it impacted other countries. Overall the world-building is relatively solid, but I would have liked there to have been a bit more detail to it.

Starters is SHELL-SHOCKING, STUNNING, HARECORE dystopian fiction, and I'd recommend it to anyone who's a fan of dystopian stories - especially books like Divergent and The Hunger Games. You won't be disappointed by Lissa Price's brilliant debut!




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Sunday, January 11, 2015

Topian Reviews Red Rising by Pierce Brown

Red Rising (Red Rising Trilogy, #1)Red Rising by Pierce Brown

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Let me just start off by saying, I cannot think of anything to say about this book that has not already been said. I absolutely fell in love with Pierce Brown and Red Rising... I will be continuing on to Golden Son after completing this review.

I was really looking forward to Pierce Brown's debut dystopian, Red Rising because it had glowing reviews from bloggers I trust thrown out left and right, and surprisingly I wish that I would have listened. Red Rising was BLOODYDAMN fantastic! It was imaginative, unique, violent, and well written. It had elements of science fiction, military strategy, survival, and dealt with classism in a way I’ve never seen.

The story follows Darrow, who is a Red, the lowest social class. He and the rest of the Reds are forced to mine the surface of Mars to make it habitable for the rest of the social classes. The book launches with Darrow recalling his life, status, and family. After losing the life he so fondly remember only pages ago, Darrow soon discovers that it's all a lie, that Mars has been habitable for generations. He becomes in league with the rebels, who integrate him into an elaborate plan involving the ruling class of Golds. This starts Darrow’s need to revenge his life and all he lost.

I was unsure about the book at first because I couldn’t see how Darrow’s situation would allow much room for any kind of revolution, but fortunately, Darrow didn’t spend much time as a Red and the novel didn’t take the direction I expected. His adventures were cut short by tragedy and the book took off once the group of rebels took him up to the surface and basically turned him into Gold. He had a lot to learn about the world, which was helpful to me since the book just kind of threw me into Darrow’s world and then tilted the world he thought he knew upside down. The bulk of the story took place in the Gold command school where Darrow attended. The students were the best of the best of the Golds and were being tested to find out how high in the social structure they could be.

I hate to give too much of the story away, but it’s hard because the story explored so many things. Each direction or topic that was thrown in was actually explored. The beginning was reminiscent of Ray Bradbury to me because of his obsession with Mars and the way he explored what life on the planet might be like. I enjoyed that part. The part where the rebels turn Darrow into a Gold was definitely the most sci-fi aspect of the book and showed me just what kind of technology was available and gave me insight into how the world was divided by class and “color” of the people.

And the bulk of the story was incredible. The first challenge was brutal, but nothing compared to the brutality of the second and longest challenge. Their situation was similar to The Hunger Games, but when I say that, hear me out. It’s not just a bunch of people killing each other to win that barely skims the surface of what that might actually be like. It was much, much more complicated than that. It was what THG could have been if it had actually gone deeper into the psychology of being stuck in the games and forced to kill people, make alliances, keep those shaky alliances, and win. It was violent, gory, psychologically damaging to the players, and was an elaborate game of survival and chess. If this book is like THG, it would only be if THG was written for adults who aren’t buying the situation just because the author says it’s like that.

Red Rising is what a truly epic sci-fi dystopian novel should strive to be. I’m full of questions and there were many points where I thought the class system was actually kind of smart, despite the unfairness to people who aren’t Golds. I love the way it explored each aspect. The only flaw of the novel is Darrow’s perfectness, but the author wasn’t afraid to make him truly suffer, so it wasn’t as if he was untouchable.

I highly recommend Red Rising and I can’t wait to read the rest of the series. I have had this on my Kindle for months and I’m glad I finally picked it up. However, Red Rising isn’t for everyone. It’s brutal and violent and I can’t stress that enough. If you’re used to the pretty dystopian worlds of YA where suffering is minimal, Red Rising might be too much.




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Saturday, January 3, 2015

Topian Reviews on The Jewel by Amy Ewing

The Jewel (The Lone City, #1)The Jewel by Amy Ewing

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Debut author, Amy Ewing present a shocking new YA series where brutality, duplicity, and jealousy is barely veiled by the sparkling dress, luxurious balls and overwhelming opulence that exists in The Jewel. The Handmaid’s Tale meets The Selection meets The Chemical Garden has elements of all three yet keeping an original concept all its own.

In the Lone City, containing great beauty and talent means a life of servitude where your entire worth is determined by the highest bidder. For some girls, being auctioned off like cattle, as a surrogate to the royal families is a chance to live the dazzling lifestyle of the rich and powerful. For Violet Lasting, known as 197, it means a life devoid of choices, where your body is nothing more than a commodity to be displayed, used, and abused. In the inner city known as The Jewel, Violet is suddenly forced into a world where friendships exist only as facades and cruelty and violence ensure power and status. The life of a surrogate is not easy as they are auctioned, purchased, collared and leashed, and displayed as trophies for the rich. Violet’s sole purpose is to produce an heir as she is forced to become a surrogate for the Duchess of the Lake. But Violet manages to finds a bit of happiness through this ugly and harsh reality, when she meets Ash, a handsome gentleman hired as a companion for the Duchess’s petulant niece. Both Ash and Violet know the dangers involved in their association but they can’t stop the mutual attraction, a classic forbidden love.

The political intrigue, strategic alliances and shocking moments were vivid and realistic. The scandal, lies, and outright brutality displayed by the royals where exciting and unexpected. However, the romance between Violet and Ash was some-what lacking in creativity. The pace of the romance and the automatic connection between the lovers seemed false and at time unbelievable. Their spark, made them feel like this love would not last. There was no friendship in their whirlwind love tale.

Despite the romance view of this story I still found it enjoy and was glad to read it for the first book of the year.




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Friday, January 2, 2015

Janurary Book of the Month 2015

Golden Son (Red Rising Trilogy, #2)Golden Son by Pierce Brown

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Politics can be quite confusing, with that being said this book had a lot more political views and I found myself rereading passages to understand it better but one I did I found that the book was great. The war craft battles were exciting and epic. The insult are hilarious and I could not help laughing aloud getting strange looks from those around me. I felt like I was part of this world, this war, crying for people lost and yelling at other when they did some stupid. I absolutely love Pierce Brown's writing and the amazing creations of this soon to be trilogy.

I am unsure if I will be able to read another dystopian book without comparing it to Pierce Brown. I can't wait for the conclusion to come. Waiting with great anticipation.



View all my reviews

Thursday, January 1, 2015

Give Away Book of the January 2015

Every month we choose a book for the book of month. This January, Golden Son by Pierce Brown has been chosen. We would like to give some on the chance to win this book and also a mini book bookmark that matches the front cover. Please enter below.

Terms & Conditions:
  • This contest is open to US.
  • The giveaways will run for a set amount of time.
  • You must be 18 years or older, or have parents’ permission to enter.
  • All your entries will be disqualified if you pickup entries for something you haven’t done. (I had to do this for so many of my last giveaways, please don’t make me do this again.)
  • If you only use ONE account to do all these tasks and enter under different names, they will still only constitute as ONE entry.
  • If the winner does not respond to my e-mail within 48 hours, I will have to choose another winner.
  • I am not responsible for any items lost in the mail.
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