Prodigy, by Marie Lu (Legend #2)

Synopsis:

Injured and on the run, it has been seven days since June and Day barely escaped Los Angeles and the Republic with their lives. Day is believed dead having lost his own brother to an execution squad who thought they were assassinating him. June is now the Republic's most wanted traitor. Desperate for help, they turn to the Patriots - a vigilante rebel group sworn to bring down the Republic. But can they trust them or have they unwittingly become pawns in the most terrifying of political games?

After reading Legend, I instantly knew I had to read Prodigy soon, that I needed to read it as soon as possible. So I did. I think I read it in a couple of days, back in the beginning of November, and I couldn’t stop for a second. It was the week after Champion had been released, so I started to freak out thinking on how long it would take it to be translated to Spanish and to get here. I don’t know if I’m going to be able to wait. I think I’ll just try to find it in English. 

Prodigy was as good as Legend in every aspect, or even better. I know that there’s a popular opinion that first books are always the best ones. But it is not true, at least not in this case (and I can imagine many more). The relationship between Day and June, which is what I loved the most in Legend has continued developing in Prodigy and that’s one of the reasons I love it so much. The other one is Anden. I’m just so in love with him… My friend got mad at me because I suggested I could see June with Anden instead of Day, but I’ve been thinking about it lately and saw that both Anden and Day are different parts of June’s life. They represent different parts of her that she may or not like. So don't think I prefer Anden to Day. And then putting also Tess into this love triangle, now a square… I thought that was a bit rushed, and it made me dislike Tess more and more as pages went by. I don’t think I like her at all, but it’s not because it’s a possibility for Day’s love life, because Anden is also there competing with Day and I still love him, maybe even more now. And then there’s Thomas, who I started disliking on the very first page of Legend he appeared in, and now it’s just getting worse. There’s something I don’t like about this series, and it’s that most things are expected. Metias’s killer, who’s giving money to Razor and the Patriots, Tess’s crush… So, because of that, my favourite part in Prodigy, even if it’s also the one that made me sadder (I honestly cried), is the ending, since Day’s discovery about what’s happening to him, because that was just so shocking… I think it may have been too surprising. It looks like it had just occurred to Marie Lu about a page before, so she just wrote it down. But the last three pages were so heartbreaking… 

To sum up, I really liked the book, and I think the storyline is quite good, even though Day’s discovery about himself at the end was rushed, but that was another reason for Champion to exist, so I won’t criticize it. I’m really enjoying this trilogy, and it’s definitely one of my favourite books of 2013. Thank you, Marie Lu.

Old blog

I used to have another blog where I used to write what I write here... It's http://dreamsescritos.blogspot.com/, and I still don't know what I'll do with it. I can change it and publish here the posts I have published there, even if they're old, only so people can see them. The people with that blog was that it was in Spanish, so I didn't have as many readers as I do now. But I'm trying to find a way not to waste the effort I used to put in it.  I'll let you know soon. While waiting, please check it out if you know Spanish. And simply thank you for reading what I write and caring. Thanks. 

Orphan Black

One of the best TV series I have ever seen is Orphan Black. A Twitter friend recommended it to me, and I started watching it as soon as possible. I couldn’t stop until I finished the whole season, completely obsessed with it.  

There’s only a season, with ten episodes, so I’m waiting like crazy for April 19^th, when the second season starts. I really need to watch more!!

The Canadian science fiction series is about Sarah Manning (Tatiana Maslany), a quite normal young woman who comes back home, escaping from her abusive boyfriend, and who runs into a woman at the train station who commits suicide right in front of her, jumping in front of a train. But the strangest thing isn’t the suicide, because the woman, Elizabeth Childs, looked exactly like Sarah, they could’ve been twins. Sarah, alarmed by such a weird thing, steals Beth’s purse with all her information and keys, phone… And she thinks what to do with it. Sarah’s purpose back in town is to get enough money so Felix (Jordan Gavaris), her best friend and foster brother, Kira (Skyler Wexler), Sarah’s seven-year-old daughter, and her can run away together. But things aren’t that easy. She ran away ten months ago, leaving Kira with Sarah’s foster mother, Mrs. S (Maria Doyle Kennedy), and now Mrs. S doesn’t want to give Kira back, concerned about the child. So Sarah has to convince Mrs. S that she won’t leave Kira again, she has to get enough money, which dead Elizabeth Childs seems to have had, besides having a really hot boyfriend, Paul Dierden (Dylan Bruce), and deal with the fact that Beth isn’t the only person worldwide who looks like Sarah, and starts doing so by supplanting Beth’s identity.

Everyone should watch this show. There is no way your life is complete without having seen this. Tatiana Maslany is so good acting… Not only she plays Sarah, but also Beth and the rest of clones, in a way that each of them has a different way of walking, speaking, acting… They are all so different, even though they look the same. It’s just awesome. There’s always something happening in every episode. It isn’t like all those series with filler chapters, all those series with never ending episodes where nothing happens. In Orphan Black, if you just get distracted for a couple of minutes, you can miss the key in the series.

An absolutely amazing TV series, one of the best I have ever seen, so everyone should at least give it a try (you won’t be able to resist it). Just watch it. 

Legend, by Marie Lu (Legend #1)

Synopsis:

What was once the western United States is now home to the Republic, a nation perpetually at war with its neighbors. Born into an elite family in one of the Republic's wealthiest districts, fifteen-year-old June is a prodigy being groomed for success in the Republic's highest military circles. Born into the slums, fifteen-year-old Day is the country's most wanted criminal. But his motives may not be as malicious as they seem. 

From very different worlds, June and Day have no reason to cross paths - until the day June's brother, Metias, is murdered and Day becomes the prime suspect. Caught in the ultimate game of cat and mouse, Day is in a race for his family's survival, while June seeks to avenge Metias's death. But in a shocking turn of events, the two uncover the truth of what has really brought them together, and the sinister lengths their country will go to keep its secrets.

I had been recommended that book by a friend so many times, just like I recommended her some of my favourites, but I just didn’t have time and decided to wait for a while. But when I got it, I couldn’t stop. There have been many dystopias going on around here lately, since The Hunger Games and Divergent, and all authors are trying to write something original around this gender, because if it looks too much as a previously written novel, dystopian fans will not be pleased, that’s how we are. 

I read Legend on the last week of October, and then started Prodigy around the time where Champion, the last book in the trilogy, was released. I read Legend so fast and I liked it so much that the day I finished it, I started the next one, Prodigy. Day and June conquered me on the very first moment. June, The Republic’s most treasured person, is such an unconventional main character, an unconventional heroine, and that’s mainly the thing I love about her. And Day… he is just perfect. The most wanted criminal in The Republic, but still the most caring and lovely boy anyone could ask for. I like the way their relationship grows as the story goes on, how they start hating each other, then trusting each other, then hate again… There’s a mutual respect both characters share for each other that is a really important part in their relationship. 

I love this depth that the main characters have. I like how every detail is well taken care of, producing a well-written novel that is definitely one of my favourite discoveries this year. I absolutely loved how everything developed in the book, and couldn’t wait to continue with June and Day in Prodigy. 

My comments: just read it. Flawless.

The 5th Wave, by Rick Yancey

Synopsis:

After the 1st wave, only darkness remains. After the 2nd, only the lucky escape. And after the 3rd, only the unlucky survive. After the 4th wave, only one rule applies: trust no one.

Now, it’s the dawn of the 5th wave, and on a lonely stretch of highway, Cassie runs from Them. The beings who only look human, who roam the countryside killing anyone they see. Who have scattered Earth’s last survivors. To stay alone is to stay alive, Cassie believes, until she meets Evan Walker. Beguiling and mysterious, Evan Walker may be Cassie’s only hope for rescuing her brother—or even saving herself. But Cassie must choose: between trust and despair, between defiance and surrender, between life and death. To give up or to get up.

I hadn’t heard anything about The 5th Wave until I had it in my hands, nothing besides the fact that there were different narrators during the book. That single fact I knew about made me think that I wouldn’t like the book, because different people talking about what’s going on is quite nice to know what everyone thinks and feels about each other, but it makes me really nervous, it bothers me a bit when reading. The last books I read like that were all by Simone Elkeles, who gives the opportunity to the readers to know what the girl thinks in a chapter and the boy in the next one, always one for each. But with The 5th Wave… I could read more than 100 pages from Cassie’s head and then suddenly I knew what Ben was thinking, but only for less than 10 pages, and then Evan for 20, Cassie for 5 more… It was a complete mess. But it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, and it’s an original way of writing, I have never seen that before.

But the story itself, it was good. Everything that happened was really unexpected. The main character, Cassie, may spend three full pages debating about what to do in a specific situations, and after them, she may act as the completely opposite of what I thought she would do. I liked that, because I dislike books which are too predictable. 

But The 5th Wave was different from all books, not only from Yancey’s writing style, which I really enjoyed reading (besides the narrator thing), but because of the plot, the dystopian topics the book is about, like the apocalypse. It’s not a book that changed my vision of life, but it earned a place in my heart.