Redemption by Debra Driza

Series: Mila 2.0 (bk. 3)

Genera(s): Sci-fi/Thriller

Subjects: androids, robots, artificial intelligence, identity, love

Setting: Montana, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a boarding school

POV/Tense: 1st person POV, past tense: Mila

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 405 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: HarperTeen: Katherine Tegan

Summary/ product description: “Mila has been running for her life for so long. But there might be nowhere left for her to go. Especially now that she’s an incredible danger to herself and anyone who dares get close to her.

That’s why Mila has gone into hiding with friend and tech expert Lucas. She can’t take the risk of hurting people worse than the way she hurt Hunter: the boy she’ll always love, the boy who might never forgive her for what she’s done.

But then Mila discovers that General Holland—her ultimate enemy—has plans that are an even bigger threat to humanity than she is. His quest to reclaim Mila is only part of a larger mysterious endgame that will put people’s lives at stake. Mila must make a choice: either push aside her fears and fight him with everything she’s got…or turn her back on the world forever.

My Review:  Redemption is the 3^rd and final book of the Mila 2.0 trilogy. It was pretty awesome. If you have not read this series, then don’t read this review below the first paragraph. The series is about a teenage girl android named Mila who was created as a weapon. You may enjoy this series if you enjoy the Terminator movies, Chappie and Transcendence, and TV shows like AMC’s Humans, Fox’s Almost Human (cancelled after 1 season), Bionic Woman, other robot-android-cyborg TV or movies. Also book like the Insignia series by S.J. Kincaid, Robin Wasserman’s Cold Awakening series (about a girl who’s mind was downloaded into and android body), Unremember by Jessica Brody, False Memory by Dan Krokos, The Taking by Kimberly Derting, or Altered by Jennifer Rush.

At this beginning of the book, Mila is in a cabin in the mountains of Montana with Lucas (General Holland’s pacifistic and genius nephew) and his older brother Tim. Mila just discovered that there’s a bomb inside her body that can be trigger at anytime and has a 2-hour countdown. They stay in the cabin for a while, but decide to ditch it and get a car. They make there way to Philadelphia, in search of information on what happened to Sarah, the girl that Mila was design to look like, and who’s brain matter lives in Mila’s head.

Later they run into Daniel, Samuel, Abby, and Hunter. Hunter is especially angry seeing Mila again. Mila had killed his stepfather under Quinn’s influence. Quinn had taken away Mila’s emotion and controlled her. Hunter, who was madly into love (or interested) with Mila until he found out what she is (an android weapon) acts like she has the measles and don’t even want to look at her.

In the last book they had such an adorable romance. Hunter loves anime, and he’s funny, and he found out that his stepfather works for the Vita Obscuro. Some romance develops between Mila and Lukas. He knew what she was from the start, and knows that she’s got part of Sarah’s brain in her head, so she’s not completely mechanical. Mila and Lucas joke about her androidness. He completely accepts her

The group visits the school that Sarah attending on the suspicious Watson Grant and discover that something sinister and possibly General Holland-related it going on there. I’m a bit disappointed in the ending. Similar to the disappointment of Allegiant’s ending. I like happy ending better. What’s with the martyr, sacrificing trend?

Cover Art Review: I love the purple. I miss the cover being metallic though.

The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall by Katie Alender

Series: Standalone

Genera(s): Paranormal/Horror

Subjects: supernatural, ghosts, spirits, death, afterlife, hauntings, asylums

Setting: An ex-Asylum in Pennsylvania

POV/Tense: 1^st person POV, past tense: Delia

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 329 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover 

List Price: $18.99

Publisher: Scholastic: Point

Summary/ product description: “In this asylum, your mind plays tricks on you all the time…

Delia’s new house isn’t just a house. Long ago, it was the Piven Institute for the Care and Correction of Troubled Females—an insane asylum nicknamed “Hysteria Hall.” However, many of the inmates were not insane, just defiant and strong willed. Kind of like Delia herself.

But the house still wants to keep “troubled” girls locked away. So, in the most horrifying way, Delia gets trapped.

And that’s when she learns that the house is also haunted.

Ghost girls wander the halls in their old-fashioned nightgowns. A handsome ghost boy named Theo roams the grounds. Delia finds that all the spirits are unsettled and full of dark secrets. The house, as well, harbors shocking truths within its walls—truths that only Delia can uncover, and that may set her free.

But she’ll need to act quickly, before the house’s power overtakes everything she loves.

From master of suspense Katie Alender comes a riveting tale of twisted memories and betrayals, and the meaning of madness.”

My Review: I was surprised by this book. I’ve been having a hard time making time to read over the past few weeks and this is the first book that I’ve finished this fast in months. I’ve only read one other book by this author, Bad Girls Don’t Die. This is similar and different. That book was about possession, and this one is about the afterlife.

Delia and her family go to the home of her great-aunt Cordelia, which turns out to be an ex-asylum for trouble girls. This place is haunted. And very soon in the story something causes Delia to jump out a window and kill herself. Delia become a ghost, trapped on the property, forced to live out her afterlife in the last place she’d want to be.

I’ve read a few books in which the main character is a ghost. This one a kind of interesting take. There’s weird time jumps and freezes. Time becomes unpredictable for Delia and she ends up staring out a window for about two year, frozen. Four years after her death is when things get really interesting and she sees her sister as a teen. Delia’s sister Janie has been deeply affected by Delia’s death and want to contact Delia’s spirit.

Delia’s met the other ghost girls of Hysteria Hall. Florence, Eliza and Maria, and a few others. Eliza’s British and Florence is from the south. Maria’s very strange and wears a sheet like a ghost costume. There’s Theo, the dead boy on the ground who’s never entered the house and also become a love interest to Delia.

This book is very fun, creepy, light and fast. It’s a standalone. I definitely recommend it. I recommend this to those who enjoyed: Asylum by Madeleine Roux, Ashes to Ashes by Melissa Walker, Hereafter by Tara Hudson, Anna Dresses in Blood by Kendare Blake, Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson, and Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea by April Genevieve Tucholke.

Cover Art Review: The cover is sparkly opalline paper. It’s creepy, ghostly. It fits the book.

Deceptive by Emily Lloyd-Jones

Series: Illusive (bk. 2)

Genera(s): Near-Future/Dystopian Sci-fi/Thriller

Subjects: crime, criminals, thieves, abilities, superpowers, government agencies

Setting: Washington D.C., Pennsylvania, New Jersey

POV/Tense: 3rd person POV, present tense, rotating between Ciere, Devon and Daniel

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 420 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $18.00

Publisher: Hachette: Little, Brown

Summary/ product description: “Don't miss this thrilling, high-stakes sequel to Illusive.

You don’t belong with us. These are the words that echo through the minds of all immune Americans—those suffering the so-called adverse effects of an experimental vaccine, including perfect recall, body manipulation, telepathy, precognition, levitation, mind-control, and the ability to change one’s appearance at will.

When immune individuals begin to disappear—in great numbers, but seemingly at random—fear and tension mount, and unrest begins to brew across the country. Through separate channels, super-powered teenagers Ciere, Daniel, and Devon find themselves on the case; super criminals and government agents working side-by-side. It’s an effort that will ultimately define them all—for better or for worse.”

My Review:  Deceptive is a good sequel, but not a perfect sequel. It’s not as good as the first book. Maybe I didn’t enjoy it as much because I couldn’t remember certain things from the first book. I kind of good Devon and Daniel mixed up and didn’t know who’s Ciere’s love interest was, or if there was one. It took a while to get into the story. What I loved about the previous book (the awesome super powers) was less prominent. It’s still an interesting story, but just not as exciting.

I love the world building and the different abilities. There’s only seven different possibly powers for an immune to have: perfect recall, body manipulation, telepathy, precognition, levitation, mind-control, and illusions. There’s no other abilities. Ciere is an illusionist, Devon an eidos/perfect recall, and Alan is too. Daniel is an eludure, and can hear thing (preminitions/intuition). Alan and Ciere have a little romance, but most of the book lack romance. It’s mostly a sci-fi crime thriller.

You may enjoy the Illusive series if you enjoy books about super powered teens or supervillains like: Steelheart by Brander Sanderson, Black Out by Robison Wells, Transparent by Natalie Whipple, V is for Villan by Peter Moore, Powerless by Tera Lynn Child and Tracy Deebs, The Curse Workers Series (White Cat) by Holly Black, The Broken Hearted by Amelia Kahaney, Mind Games by Kiersten White, or books about thieves like The Heist Society by Ally Carter. Also, if you liked X-men and other superhero comics and movies and TV.

Cover Art Review: I love this cover more than the 1^st book’s. The colors are interesting. It’s a gradient overlay. The title looks like sky-scrapers and Ciere is standing on it.