The Death Cure, by James Dashner (2011)

It was the smell that began to drive Thomas slightly mad.

Thomas has been in complete isolation for three weeks.  Thomas has endured the Maze and the Scorch Trials and has been infected with the Flare.  All at the hands of WICKED.  What's next?

WICKED had taken his life and those of his friends and were using them for whatever purposes they deemed necessary.  No matter the consequences.

On the 26th day, the door opened:  Rat Man.

"Do you think we enjoy all this?  You think we enjoy watching you suffer?  It's all been for a purpose, and very soon it will make sense to you."

Rat Man admitted that WICKED has done some awful things to Thomas and his friends, but he insists that it's all part of a plan that Thomas not only agreed to, but helped set in place.

"You are obviously well aware that we have a horrible disease eating the minds of humans worldwide.  Everything we've done up till now has been calculated for one purpose and one purpose only: to analyze your brain patterns and build a blueprint from them.  The goal is to use this blueprint to develop a cure for the Flare.  The lives lost, the pain and suffering - you knew the stakes when this began.  We all did.  It was all done to ensure the survival of the human race.  And we're very close.  Very, very close."

The virus is man made, airborne, and highly contagious.  Thomas learns that he and most of his friends are Munies, and on the outside they are really, really hated. 

The Death Cure is the third and final book in the Maze Runner trilogy.  Can Thomas and his friends stop WICKED from starting another round of trials?  Can they find a cure?  Can Teresa and Brenda be trusted?  Is this the end of our world?  You'll enjoy this thrilling, and often times terrifying, adventure.

Rating:  10 out of 10 stars
*mild language

To check this book out at NOLS, click HERE!

The Power of Six, by Pittacus Lore

Plot spoiler if you haven't read I Am Number Four!

My name is Marina, as of the Sea, but I wasn't called that until much later.  In the beginning I was known merely as Seven, one of the nine surviving Garde from the planet Lorien, the fate of which was, and still is, left in our hands.

Marina, John and the other seven Gardes were six years old when they arrived on Earth.  It took a year to travel from Lorien to Earth.  In order for the charm to work to protect themselves, the Garde separated.  Marina and her Cêpan eventually traveled to Spain, finding refuge in Santa Teresa convent.  Eleven years have passed.  When Marina turns 18 years old, she can either stay and join the sisters in the convent, or leave and find her way on her own.  Marina has five months.

For the past five years, Marina has been begging her Cêpan, Adelina, to leave Santa Teresa.  In September, Marina received her third scar, the third warning that another Garde has died.  The Mogadorians are hunting each member of the Garde, killing them in order.

Six members of the Garde are left now.  And the eyes of the Mogadorians are everywhere.

Marina's Cêpan has given up hope for Lorien.  Adelina is meant to help and assist in developing Marina's Legacies.  She feels the mission was doomed from the start; it would be impossible to defeat the Mogadorians and take back Lorien.

"It's all one big fairy tale, Marina."

Marina has been following news stories from Paradise, Ohio.  John and Henri Smith are accused of being terrorists, but Marina suspects that John could be a member of the Garde.  But how can Marina hope to find John when the whole world is looking for him, too?

Be safe and stay hidden, I think.  We'll find each other yet.

John and Sam are on the run.  They are considered a threat to national security and the FBI is offering a $100,000 for information about John, $250,000 if someone brings him in.  Six is with them as they hide in a hotel to recover from their injuries.  Their biggest priority is to find the others and train together.

Six shares with them that the Mogadorians have a cave in West Virginia. 

"No, I can't believe that this whole thing is real.  That you're real or that Six is real, or that a hostile race of aliens has scattered themselves across the planet and nobody seems to know it."

Each member of the Garde has an Inheritance, their Chest.  The moment they die, the Chest unlocks itself and everything inside it disintegrates.  It's one of the most important things that John, Six and Marina need to protect.  It's also one of the things that John and Six need to find.

Was there a second ship that left Lorien with 15 Chimaera, 3 Cêpans and a baby?  Can John and Sam find the missing chests?  Can Six find Marina in Spain?  Will they find others?  Will they find Sam's dad?  The Power of Six is an action-packed, exciting read!  I can't wait for the third book!

Rating:  10 out of 10 stars
* some language

To check this book out at NOLS, click HERE!

 

Rip Tide, by Kat Falls (2011)

Easing back on the throttle, I slowed the submarine's speed.  The light-streaked ocean around us seemed vast and empty, but I knew better.  We were heading into the biggest trash vortex in the Atlantic. 

Fifteen year-old Gemma has been living with almost sixteen year-old Ty Townsend and his family in their subsea home in Benthic Territory for three months.  While diving in the biggest trash gyre in the Atlantic, Ty finds a township, home to at least four or five hundred people.  Although most townships stay on the ocean's surface, this township, Nomad, was anchored and the hatches were chained shut from the outside.


Everyone on board was dead.

Settlers in Benthic Territory are now allowed to pay their property taxes in cash instead of in produce, and Ty's parents have made a deal to see their crops to a surf township, Drift.  All of the settlers are nervous.  Perhaps the rumors about the ruthlessness of the surfs are true...

When Ty's parents meet Drift's sachem, Hadal, Ty suddenly realizes the danger.

"Pa!" I hollered as I took aim at Hadal. 

"They've got your surrounded!"

Ty's parents are taken.

Gemma is terrified of the ocean, and she moves to the Trade Station.  She is paralyzed by fear when she's in the ocean.

Three townships have disappeared in the past nine months.  Can Ty and Gemma save his parents?  Can they find the missing townships before their sunk beneath the sea?  Can Gemma live in the sea with Ty and his family?

Rip Tide is an excellent second book to this series.  If you like creative action and adventure books, you'll really enjoy this read.

Rating:  9 out of 10 stars

This book isn't at NOLS...yet!

Divergent, by Veronica Roth (2011)

There is one mirror in my house.  It is behind a sliding panel in the hallway upstairs.  Our faction allows me to stand in front of it on the second day of every third month, the day my mother cuts my hair.

In the beginning of the great peace, factions that embraced a particular virtue were formed: Candor (honesty), Abnegation (selflessness), Dauntless (courage), Erudite (knowledge), and Amity (peace).  Their motto:  Faction before blood.

"In our factions, we find meaning, we find purpose, we find life."

Beatrice Prior is 16 years old.  She and her brother are about to take the aptitude test to find out which of the five factions each of them would best be suited for.  After Beatrice's test, she finds out that she displays aptitude for Abnegation, Dauntless and Erudite:  She is Divergent.

"This is different.  I don't mean you shouldn't share them now; I mean you should never share them with anyone, ever, no matter what happens.  Divergence is extremely dangerous.  You understand?"

Beatrice is forced to choose a faction at the Choosing Ceremony.  If she chooses Abnegation, she gets to stay with her family, but she has trouble living the life of selflessness because it doesn't feel genuine.  She is drawn to Dauntless, but choosing a different faction means leaving her family forever.  And failing to complete the initiation into a faction would make her factionless, living a life of misery and poverty.

Beatrice makes a startling decision at the Choosing Ceremony.  Her entire world changes and she doesn't know who to trust.  She is thrust into a competitive initiation where only the top 10 will be accepted; in the beginning there are 19 initiates.  She also is forced to keep her Divergent identity hidden from everyone.  In the midst of this, she discovers a that society may not be as perfect as she once thought. 

When I first started reading it, I thought, This is The Giver and Matched.  Then I read about the fence and I thought, This is Forest of Hands of Teeth.  There are times when Tris feels like Katniss and I think the lights of the games should come on.  But I quickly realized that even though some great authors may have influenced her story, this is all Veronica Roth and it's delicious.  I cannot wait for her second book, Insurgent, to be released.  Hopefully she's a super-fast writer!

Rating:  9 out of 10 stars

* mild sexual references

To check this out at NOLS, click HERE!

Epitaph Road, David Patneaude (2010)

Charlie frowned as muted sunlight leaked through the ragged umbrella of evergreen boughs overhead.  Someone had discarded a red plastic Coke pouch in the middle of the trail.  Under his breath, he gave that someone a name: 'Pig.'  He stomped the pouch flat and stuffed it in his backpack.  Two days into the hike and already one big compartment was crammed with trash.

Monday, August 8, 2067 - 1 billion dead

Tuesday, August 9, 2067 - 2 billion dead

Thursday, August 11, 2067 - 3 billion dead

Ten days later, more than 4 billion people are dead.  Ninety-seven percent of the male population.

A terrible virus runs its deadly course in less than 24-hours.

Charlie, his sister, Paige, and his mom were hiking deep in the wilderness on the Olympic Peninsula when the virus hit.  They were waiting for Charlie and Paige's dad to join them, but he never did.  Instead Elisha's Bear took him, and 4 billion males, away.

Thirty years later, fourteen-year old Kellen lives in Seattle with his mom and Aunt Paige.   Kellen's dad, Charlie, is a loner, a fisherman near Afterlight, formerly Port Angeles.  His mom, Dr. Heather Dent, works for PAC, Population Apportionment Council.  PAC controls society by restricting male births: no more than five percent of the population should be male.

Kellen and his classmates are about to take the trials which will determine what they were able to do as an adult - if they'd have an education, career, and citizenship opportunities. 

According to everyone I'd talked to, the main thing to do when I underwent my trials - the oral parts anyway - was to impress the examiners with my knowledge and sensitivity, to look sincere when I was doing it, and to exhibit my awareness of how EVERYTHING (almost) HAD IMPROVED SINCE WOMEN TOOK OVER THE WORLD. 

Males don't do as well as females on the trials.  On average 87% of females pass, whereas 72% of males pass.  Males have very limited choices, even if they do pass. 

After Elisha's Bear, women quickly realized the world and its inhabitants were much better off without men.  Wars, crimes, illegal-drug demand, gangs, prostitution, pornography disappeared.  The United Nations gained power and countries merged.  Laws were created to prohibit men from holding positions of power or influence in the public or private sector.

This is the world Kellen is forced to live in.

Epitaph Road is an entrance to a park in Seattle.  It was created after Elisha's Bear.  Millions are buried there.

epitaph

1. an inscription on a monument, as on a gravestone.

2. a short piece of prose or verse written in honor of a dead person.

Kellen and his two new housemates, Tia and Sunday, uncover a theory about Elisha's Bear.  In an effort to save Kellen's dad, the teens discover a dark and terrifying secret.

You're a skeptic.
If you've heard certain things - conjecture, conspiracy theories, wild-eyed accusations - over the years, you've mostly snickered at them and hurried back to the comforts of what passes for reality.  But maybe one rumor - that die-hard, far-fetched, alternate-universe one about the origin of Elisha's Bear, about someone purposefully unleashing it - haunts you.  Maybe you're skeptical instead about the so-called truth you've been spoon-fed from an early age - the idea that the Bear just showed up on its own and targeted only males.
You should be.

Epitaph Road is an exciting read if you like action, adventure, suspense, and stories that take place in Seattle and on the Olympic Peninsula.

To check this book out at NOLS, click HERE!

Rating:  8 out 10 stars
*Mild language (about 6 swear words)

Dark Life, by Kat Falls (2010)

I peered into the deep-sea canyon, hoping to spot a toppled skyscraper.  Maybe even the Statue of Liberty.  But there was no sign of the old East Coast, just a sheer drop into darkness.

Earth has been so destroyed that the sun's UV rays cause serious damage, the glaciers have melted, and every livable space Above is filled.  Hundreds of thousands of people live in every square mile Topside.  There are even crowded ocean townships.  Twenty percent of the continent has crumbled and is now underwater.

The Commonwealth came up with the Subsea Homestead Act: stake your claim, work the land for five years, and it is yours.  Ocean dwellers supply the nation's food and watch the energy sources - tides and hydrothermal vents.  Ty Townson's family owns 200-acres in Benthic Territory, an experimental settlement 60-nautical miles (or more than 3 hours) from the mainland.  Living 400-feet below the ocean's surface, Ty's family farms kelp and plankton.  Ty plans to stake his own claim for 100 acres when he turns 18-years old. 

But the Seablite Gang has been terrorizing the territory, robbing every supply ship.  And their actions have turned deadly, even targeting pioneers' homesteads.  The Ranger hasn't been able to stop the gang so he demands the pioneers to stop them, or else. 

Under unusual circumstances, Ty meets a Topside girl, Gemma, who's looking for her older brother.  She asks Ty a lot of questions about Dark Gifts, especially about Ty's Dark Gifts since he was the first child to be born subsea. 

"Admit it," she said.   "You have a Dark Gift."

But most Topsiders are afraid to settle in Benthic Territory because they fear the Dark Gifts.

Where is Gemma's brother?  Do Dark Gifts really exist?  What do the Seablite Gang want?  And why are their actions becoming more violent?  Can Benthic Territory continue to exist? 

Dark Life is an exciting read, full of mystery, action, adventure.

Rating:  10 out of 10 stars

To check this book out at NOLS, click HERE!

The second book will be released on August 2, 2011.

I Am Number Four, by Pittacus Lore [James Frey and Jobie Hughes] (2010)

In the beginning there were nine of us.  We left when we were young, almost too young to remember. 

Almost. 

John Smith has been hiding on Earth for 10 years.  He's moved at least 21 times, each move required a different name, a new identity.  He is an alien.  And he's being hunted.

"We came to Earth ten years ago from a planet named Lorien.  We came beause it was destroyed by the inhabitants of another planet named Mogadore.  They destroyed Lorien for its resources because they had turned their own planet into a cesspool of decay.  We came here to hide until we could return to Lorien, which we will one day do.  But we were followed by the Mogadorians.  They are here hunting us.  And I believe they are here to take over Earth..."

It took a year to arrive to Earth and now the 9 Garde are scattered around the globe.  The Lorien charm protects them; they can only be killed in order of their numbers, so long as they stay apart.  But the charm is broken when they are together.  When one is killed, a circular scar wraps around every Garde's right ankle. 

John's first scar appeared when he was 9 years old, the first sign the Mogadorians had finally arrived.  His second scar appeared when he was 12 years old.  The third scar appeared only an hour ago.  He is now 15 years old.

John is number four.

The only hope Lorien has for its survival is in the 9 Garde hiding on Earth.  Each time one is killed, Lorien's chances diminish.

John and his Cêpan, Henri, are hiding in Paradise, Ohio - population 5,243.  For the first time in his life on Earth, John has a friend and has fallen in love.  His legacies finally arrive, super-powers that will help him defeat the Mogadorians.  He must prepare for war.

Pittacus Lore is the greatest Elder of Lorien.  When the Mogadorians invaded Lorien, where did the Elders go? 

Join the saga of the Lorien Legacies!

To check the book out at NOLS, click HERE!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars

* Some inappropriate language.

Next in the series:  Released August 23, 2011

Sapphique, by Catherine Fisher (2011)

The alleyway was so narrow that Attia could lean against one wall and kick the other.  She waited in the dimness, listening, her breath condensing on glistening bricks.  A flicker of flames around the corner sent red ripples down the walls.

*Plot spoiler if you have not read Incarceron.

First Sapphique, then Finn.  Finn has escaped Incarceron and is now Outside, but Attia and Keiro are still locked in the Prison.  Attia meets the Dark Enchanter, or Rix, who has Sapphique's Glove.  But is it the true Glove?  And what power, or evil, does the Glove possess? 

Finn's new world Outside is perhaps more dangerous than the darkness of Incarceron, even though his memory is slowly returning.  The Warden is missing and Claudia has presented Finn as the true Prince of the Realm.  But another Prince Giles appears at the Proclamation.  Unlike Finn, the Pretender looks like a prince, acts like a prince, and remembers everything- people, places, events - from Prince Giles's life.  Who is the real prince of the Realm? 

Incarceron wants to escape itself, but if it succeeds, all of the prisoners will die.  And the Realm will be forever changed.

"Incarceron never sleeps.  It dreams, and its dreams are terrible. 

But it never sleeps."

The mysterious secrets of the Realm unfold in this exciting adventure of Sapphique.  Is it possible for someone to save the Realm and Prison from total and absolute destruction?  Or is everyone doomed?

To check this book out at NOLS, click HERE!
Rating:  8 stars out of 10

The Scorch Trials, by James Dashner (2010)

She spoke to him before the world fell apart.

The environment is destroyed.  Humanity near the brink of destruction.  Sun Flares have devestated the planet and a virus, the Flare, is slowly killing the world's population.  WICKED's goal is to save the planet from catastrophe.  Or is it?

Once the Gladers escape the Maze, they have a false sense of security and hope.  Enter Phase 2: the Scorch Trials.  Variables.  Group A.  Group B.  And now the Gladers have been infected with the Flare.  They can only receive the Cure if they survive the Scorch.  The rules?  There are no rules.

As the mystery unravels, Theresa is missing.  The Gladers meet Aris, a teenage boy who has just escaped the Maze.  But unlike the Gladers' group, his group was made up of girls.  The similarities between the two groups is uncanny.  And questions arise about the intent of WICKED and the Creators. 

Memories slowly creep back into Thomas' mind. 

Enter the Scorch, one of the most terrifying experiences ever.  This is the scariest book I've read in a long, long time.  You will love this book if you like thrilling stories, fully of suspense and intrigue. 

To check out this book at NOLS, click HERE!

Rating:  7 out of 10 stars

Incarceron, by Catherine Fisher (2007)

Finn had been flung on his face and chained to the stone slabs of the transitway.

Imagine a world in the future, after the Years of Rage, the first king of the Havaarna Dynasty declares that the world will freeze, technology will not advance, people are forced to follow Protocol and maintain authenticity.  The world looks like 17th century England.  Meet people like Comitatus, Civicry, Halfmen, Sapienti, Sapphique, the Warden of Incarceron, Jormaniric, Gildas, the Steel Wolves, Keiro, Claudia, Jared, Giles, Bartlett, and Attia. 

After the War, the Sapienti developed an experiment to protect society and preserve humanity.  They wanted to create a perfect society in a Prison.  Incarceron.  The Prison is alive.  It feels, it offers justice, it gives and takes life.  Seventy Sapients volunteered to enter Incarceron to oversee the experiment.  Half the population was forced to enter.  Once the prison was sealed, no one could enter or leave the Prison.  Except for Sapphique.

The experiment is a failure.

Finn, a cell born, knows that he hasn't always lived in Incarceron.  He has one faint memory of a different life.  On his hand is a tatoo of the crowned bird, the symbol of the Havaarna Dynasty.  Proof?  When he is given the crystal key, the quest begins. 

Finn must escape Incarceron.

Twists and turns abound, this is an excellent book for a strong reader who isn't intimidated by complex vocabulary.  The dark world of Incarceron is exciting and mysterious.  Enjoy!

Rating:  10 out of 10 stars

The Maze Runner, by James Dashner (2009)

He began his new life standing up, surrounded by cold darkness and stale, dusty air.


Meet Thomas.  Age unknown.  He enters a new world through a metal box.  As the box pushes its way towards the surface, Thomas realizes he has no memory, just feelings of experiences.  Once the box reaches the surface, he is greeted by more than 30 Gladers, boys just like him.  No memory.  No one will answer Thomas' questions.  Thomas' only friend is a boy named Chuck.  Gally glares at Thomas and says cruel things because he saw Thomas during the Changing.  Alby is the leader, the boy who has survived in the Glade the longest.


Once a month the metal box brings a new boy to the Glade.  Everyone has to work.  Order is required.  The Glade is safe; outside the Glade lies danger like you've never known.  Outside the Glade is an enormous maze.  And Grievers.  At sundown each day, the tall stone walls of the Glade close and the maze changes.  Anyone who is left outside the walls in the maze will come to a horrible death by the Grievers.


Two days after thomas leaves, the box returns with a girl.  In her hand she grasps a note:  "She's the last one.  Ever."  Can they escape the maze?  Can they survive the Grievers?  Who are the Creators and what do they want?  How can Theresa and Thomas communicate telepathically?  How are they linked to the Creators?


This dark novel is fast-paced, adrenaline-pumping excitement.  The first in the series...


Rating:  8 out of 10 stars

Uglies, by Scott Westerfeld (2005)

The early summer sky was the color of cat vomit.


Tally Youngblood will turn pretty in three months.  All of her friends are already pretty, living it up in New Pretty Town.  She misses her friends, especially her best friend, Peris.


Tally's world is based on a series of stages: Littlies, Uglies, New Pretties, Middle Pretties, and Crumblies.  Tally is sure she knows what she wants when she meets another Ugly, Shay.  Shay and Tally share the same birthdate - they'll turn pretty together.  But Shay begins to share her ideas with Tally, and they're new and different to Tally.  Tally only begins to think about things differently after Shay escapes Uglyville, leaving Tally with a enormous decision.


If you like books like Fahrenheit 451, Hunger Games, The House of the Scorpion, you'll probably find Uglies an exciting read.


Rating:  7 out of 10 stars