Inhuman by Kat Falls

Series: Fetch (bk. 1)

Genera(s): Dystopian Sci-fi

Subjects: mutants, animals, viruses, survival, adventure

Setting: Davenport, Iowa; Moline, Illinois; Chicago, Illinois

POV/Tense: 1^st person POV, past tense: Delaney Park McEvoy

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 375 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover and soon in Paperback

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: Scholastic Press

Summary/ product description: “In a world ravaged by mutation, a teenage girl must travel into the forbidden Savage Zone to recover lost artifacts or her father’s life is forfeit.

America has been ravaged by a war that has left the eastern half of the country riddled with mutation. Many of the people there exhibit varying degrees of animal traits. Even the plantlife has gone feral.

Crossing from west to east is supposed to be forbidden, but sometimes it’s necessary. Some enter the Savage Zone to provide humanitarian relief. Sixteen-year-old Lane’s father goes there to retrieve lost artifacts—he is a Fetch. It’s a dangerous life, but rewarding—until he’s caught.

Desperate to save her father, Lane agrees to complete his latest job. That means leaving behind her life of comfort and risking life and limb—and her very DNA—in the Savage Zone. But she’s not alone. In order to complete her objective, Lane strikes a deal with handsome, roguish Rafe. In exchange for his help as a guide, Lane is supposed to sneak him back west. But though Rafe doesn’t exhibit any signs of “manimal” mutation, he’s hardly civilized . . . and he may not be trustworthy.”

My Review:  Inhuman was as amazing as I expected, but I didn’t expect it to be set in the state I live, Illinois. I didn’t know Kat Falls was from Illinois. I met her at the YA lit conference I Naperville last year and got my copy of Inhuman signed and I finally just read it. Inhuman is unlike and dystopian book I’ve read. Sure, it’s got a virus, but this virus turns people into animal instead of zombies. It causes people to mutate and become “manimals” and later, ferals.

I had thought that Lane’s love interest would be a wild animal-boy, but that wasn’t the case. At least not yet.  Lane ends up having to go to the Feral Zone to find her father who turns out to be a “fetch” (a person who brings requested items over the wall). What he does is illegal and the only way to wipe his record is to do a fetch for an official. Lane runs into some issues. She meets a young line guard named Everson, and a hunter named Rafe. Lane wants someone to take her to Moline because her father may be there. Some romance happens, as well as funny bickering between Lane, Rafe and Everson.

The story reminds me of Madman’s Daughter by Meagan Shepherd, which is a retelling of the Island of Dr. Moreau. The story seems very Dr. Moreau like, but set in post-pandemic Iowa and Illinois. There are the manimals and feral, but there are also mongrel. The mongrels are animals (not humans turned animals) that have multiple species DNA. They are chimeras. There are mole-chimps (chimpacabras) and piranha bats (weevlings), and hyena-boars. Creepy freaky creature that I have a hard time picturing. If this was a movie, then the CQI folks would have a heck of a challenge (and the make-up people too).

The setting of this book makes some familiar to me feel unfamiliar in a good way. Living in Illinois, there is a lot of rural prairie areas, which the author mentioned. Also, part of the story in set in Chicago, in Lincoln Park zoo, which I’ve been to multiple times. The zoo becomes a place for the ferals and mongrels. I recommend this book to fans of the Madman’s Daughter series, the Feral series by Cynthia Leitich Smith, and other books about werewolves, were-people, animal people and mutants.

Cover Art Review: Very cool post-apocalyptic city-scape. The gold color fit. The wall is perfect for the story.

Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi

Series: Shatter Me (bk. 3)

Genera(s): Dystopian Sci-fi/Romance

Subjects: superpowers, abilities, resistance to government, love, war, supernatural, post-apocalyptic

Setting: Sector 45, in the future. Possibly California

POV/Tense: 1^st person POV, present tense. Juliette

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 408 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: HarperTeen

Summary/ product description: “Juliette now knows she may be the only one who can stop the Reestablishment. But to take them down, she'll need the help of the one person she never thought she could trust: Warner. And as they work together, Juliette will discover that everything she thought she knew - about Warner, her abilities, and even Adam - was wrong.”

My Review: I can’t believe this series is over! I don’t want it to be over. I want more. I have so many feels and I can’t possibly express how much I loved this book. This series is probably my favorite dystopian series I’ve ever completed so far. The writing is so wonderfully luscious and poetic. The characters and dialogue are so believable, and sometime ridiculous. Ignite Me did not have any strike-throughs like the previous books. I was disappointed about this at first, but Juliette has really grown as a protagonist. She’s finally comfortable with her abilities and stronger in both power and mind. She’s become more independent, and less shy. She’s really changed for the better.

Warner has changed too. I used to be Team Adam. I really loved him in Shatter Me, and hated Warner right along side Juliette. We get to see Warner through her eyes, so that affects our perception. We found out Warner’s first name in the previous book. We also found out about his mother being sick, and that his father’s last name is Anderson. Adam is Warner’s half brother and Warner doesn’t know.

Juliette is falling for Warner, no longer thinking he’s a sadistic jerk that likes to murder people. He’s actually really smart and perceptive. He has the abilities to sense emotions and also borrow abilities from other people with powers. He can sense and manipulate energies. I also really like how well Warner treats Juliette and always calls her “Love.” I keep thinking of him with a British accent because he reminds me of Klaus on Vampire Diaries and the Originals, but Warner’s actually less cold and mean than Klaus. Warner’s also not a vampire and has cooler powers.

My favorite character though will always be Kenji. I want a whole book from Kenji’s perspective. As I mentioned before, Kenji is like a Japanese-invisible-ninja-clown of a guy and a bundle of excitement and joy. He always says the funniest things and his favorite word to use has four letters and starts with an “s”. I love him so much. I really wish that he got some romance and stopped just being friends with everyone. He needs a girlfriend. There’s a few moments where I though Kenji was going to actually kiss Juliette, but instead he hits on her in a teasing way. I really think Kenji wanted to be more than best friends with Juliette, but he didn’t want to create more drama in the already existent love-triangle. Kenji needs his own spin-off or novella.

This book was full of so much action and cool sci-fi/paranormal stuff. My favorite parts were when Juliette was training with Kenji or warner. He ability became something more than she thought. I like how Warner’s power compliments hers. He’s a real natural at just using the powers that he borrows from other people. I liked when Warner let the group stay in his personal gym. I also liked the romance and the sexy scenes. There were two in particle. One is chapter 55, if you want to jump ahead and check it out.

I will never forget the Shatter Me series. It has a special place in my heart, right up there with Maximum Ride and Unearthly. I really hope that it becomes a movie, or maybe a graphic novel/manga. It would be perfect in comic book form. I’d love to do some more fanart off of it. The ending was epic and Juliette kicked-butt, and everything wrapped up nicely. Or did it? You’ll just have to read the book to find out what happens. I’m so glad I didn’t wait to read this.

I actually started reading it on the way home after I bought it. I read Shatter Me as an ARC in Sept 2011, met Tahereh at a pre-pub in Naperville and made her some fanart. I only read Unravel Me this January, and now finished Ignite Me. I hope the next time I meet Tahereh that she’ll have another awesome book in the works or finish. If she writes anymore sci-fi/paranormal stuff, I will read it, buy it and probably love it.

Cover Art Review: I like the flowers and the spring/summer look to the eyelashes. The book starts out in winter though, so it’s more metaphorical. It’s very beautiful.

Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi

Series: Shatter Me (bk. 2)

Genera(s): Dystopian Sci-fi/Romance

Subjects: superpowers, abilities, supernatural, mutants, resistance to government, love, war

Setting: District 45 (Somewhere in California?) The Reestablishment 

POV/Tense: 1^st person POV, Juliette. Present tense (usually).

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 461 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover, and now in Paperback!

List Price: HC: $17.99, PB: $9.99

Publisher: HarperTeen

Summary/ product description: “tick

tick

tick

tick

tick

it's almost

time for war.

Juliette has escaped to Omega Point. It is a place for people like her—people with gifts—and it is also the headquarters of the rebel resistance.

She's finally free from The Reestablishment, free from their plan to use her as a weapon, and free to love Adam. But Juliette will never be free from her lethal touch.

Or from Warner, who wants Juliette more than she ever thought possible.

In this exhilarating sequel to Shatter Me, Juliette has to make life-changing decisions between what she wants and what she thinks is right. Decisions that might involve choosing between her heart—and Adam's life.”

My Review: It’s been over two years since I first read Shatter Me (as an ARC, sometime in September 2011). Unravel Me came out last February and I feel like an idiot for waiting almost a year to read it. I will not make that mistake with the final book Ignite Me. That’s for sure.

I loved this book so much that I feel like there isn’t enough word in my vocabulary to express it. The writing style of this series continues to amaze me. The poetic use of fragmented sentences and bad grammar works so well, it sounds like a diary. I still love the strike-throughs. I love all the metaphors and similes and when Juliette’s imagination runs away with her. I love the hyperboles and they show her anxiety and panic toward things. Juliette is so relatable in that she gets nervous, and doesn’t always feel confident. She learns to get over herself in this book. She has low self-esteem and learns to be confident. She grows as a character. She starts out withdrawn and then opens up. She’s so well developed, even when she become a bit scatter-brained. She learns that her ability can be more than a curse. She can’t hide because she’s too afraid that she might hurt someone. She’s can’t be meek. She has to be strong. Strong-willed, stubborn, determined. And she needs to fight for what she believes in.

Out of all the characters in these books, Kenji is my favorite. This Japanese-invisible-ninja-clown of a guy is a bundle of excitement and joy. I can see why he was Tahereh’s favorite character to write. He’s funny and a goof ball sometimes. He’s caring and kind, but sometimes annoying. He’s teases and likes to be the comic relief. He’s the guy that makes people feel comfortable. He’s a very important person in Omega Point. His invisibility allows him to spy, and make sure the coast is clear on missions. He makes me laugh, and I pretty much underlined almost every line he had in the book. With Kenji, there’s never a dull moment. 

I also like Adam. He was pretty moody in this book. He had his own issues to deal with. Tahereh had already told us this spoiler: “Adam has a power.” He does. I completely forgot that he didn’t have one in the first book besides being able to let Juliette touch him. And somehow Warner can touch her too. We get a look inside Adam’s head in the short story Fracture Me, and a look inside Warner’s head in Destroy Me. I already knew that Warner had an ability after reading Destroy Me (it sounded like Empathy to me). Warner is very perceptive, but he’s also kills without remorse. Ever after reading the famous chapter 62, I’m still Team Adam. Maybe Warner will change his ways in Ignite Me. But Adam still has my heart, and even if Juliet chooses differently, I’d still want Adam. Chapter 62 was steamy and sexy though, but so far as to seem like erotica.

This book had no shortage of action and science fiction. It’s filled with super powered characters and world building and missions. Castle (who had dreadlocks he wears in a pony tail and may or may not be African American) has telekinesis/psychokinesis. He can move objects with his minds and feel the energy of those objects. This instantly made me think of Glitch by Heather Anastasiu or X-men. Castle is like Professor X, kind of. There’s other characters who can control electricity, heal or stretch their limbs like rubber. There’s so many unique abilities. We also get a better look at what society is like in this series. The Reestablishment and how it’s split up and controlled. We also find out some very big revelations. We get to meet Warner’s dad, and we find out Warner’s name!

If you have not read Shatter Me, then you are missing out so much. If you love X-men, or pretty much anything from Marvel or DC comic, then read this series. If you liked Glitch by Heather Anastasui, Renegade by J.A. Souders, Divegent by Veronica Roth, Maximum Ride by James Patterson, then I recommend this series. If you love this series and have not read any of those books I just mentioned, then add those books to you TBR pile. 

I have less than a month to wait for Ignite Me, which is out February 4^th. There are not ARCs for Ignite Me, so we can all read it at the same time. Also check out the E-Books Destroy Me (Warner’s POV, in-between Shatter Me and Unravel Me) and Fracture Me (Adam’s POV, in-between Unravel Me and Ignite Me). 

Cover Art Review: I loved this cover since I set eyes on it. I love the eye with the icy eyelashes and the title. It’s so different from Shatter Me’s original cover. It’s breathtakingly beautiful. It’s made by Colin Anderson and inspired by Sharee Davenport. The eyes on each cover are the same. Each blue with a bird reflected in it and the same clouds in the background. Each is a different season. Shatter Me=Fall, Unravel Me=Winter and Ignite Me=Spring and Summer.